BATTLESPACE UPDATE Vol.20 ISSUE 13
26 March 2018
NEWS
NEWS IN BRIEF – EUROPE
Nerve Agent: Salisbury Incident
Afghanistan: Def Sec Visit
RAF Aerobatic Team: Accident
BREXIT: Draft Withdrawal Agreement
P-8A Poseidon: Procurement
Submarines: Decommissioning
Diplomatic Appointments
Chad: New UK Mission
NATO HQ: Final Phase
Lithuania, UK cooperation
German-Dutch naval tie-up
Boeing loses Danish case
Elliott Backs Melrose
French sales to Saudi Arabia
Polish Patriot deal next week
Belgian AF Chief Suspended
Swiss prosecutor raid RUAG
MoD chief calls for cull
Shoreham pilot, manslaughter
France ups weapon study funds
France faces legal risks
UK-EU security cooperation
Spain Plans to Buy New Weapons
Serbian defence industrial base
Brexit damage to UK aerospace
NEWS IN BRIEF – USA
Trump, Mattis Hail Spending Bill
Trump signs federal budget deal
Congress passes $1.3trn budget
New wings for A-10 Warthog
Arms sales to Saudi approved
Pentagon-boosting omnibus
Boost to Navy shipbuilding
Bill – 143 aircraft added
Uncertainty Harms Readiness
F-35 Logistics System Upgrade
NEWS IN BRIEF – REST OF THE WORLD
Russia names super weapons
Japan Joins Anti-Missile Shield
Indian – Foreign Investment
Afghan strategy paying off
Progress in Afghanistan
Task Force Lion
Lessons in Alaska Exercise
Ukraine agreement with Kuwait
Chinese Wind Tunnel
India commitment to modernise
Japan’s carrier-based jets
Russia military spending reduced
India – No-confidence motion
Dunford Arrives in Afghanistan
F-16 assembly line in India
BUSINESS NEWS
Smiths Group shares drop
Elbit Acquires Universal Avionics
Elbit sees more acquisitions
HAL marginally undersubscribed
Melrose flies into trouble
GD raises bid for CSRA
GKN eyes aero-engine future
GKN says pensions safe
KAI MRO enterprise
Elbit reported results
Columbia rejects Melrose bid
Chemring issued trading update
Boeing eyes growth target
AAR Corp reports rising sales
Micro Focus sales warning
CACI to Acquire CSRA?
Dana seeks London listing
Melrose pumps £1bn into pension
Shares of Zscaler jumped
MILITARY VEHICLE NEWS
Polaris introduces DAGOR® A1
China testing unmanned tanks
US Medium Truck Acquisition
Singapore denies Leopard 2A7
Next-Gen Combat Vehicle in 2020
NEW TECHNOLOGIES, NETWORKS AND COMMUNICATIONS
Licerion L-ion Metal Battery
USN network upgrade
DLA updating battery tech
DARPA’s COMPASS programme
DoD no to “whiz-bang” tech
Aspen, Sensurion JV
US Army Patches Network
3-D printer cybersecurity
Rohde & Schwarz SDAR
HYPRES digital data link
Microwaves/lasers defeat UAVs
Dassault/Thales AI development
AI Inserted into US Army Drones
New US Army battery
US lead in electronics
TE TMS-SCE marker
3D Printing Process perfected
SATELLITE SYSTEMS, SATCOM AND SPACE SYSTEMS UPDATE
ViaSat-2 Comms Now Available
Satellite surprise inside bill
Space Force idea update
Space-Based Ray Guns
ASIM ready for launch
GPS OCX software development
GovSat-1 Satellite Operational
Satellite imaging reforms
Chinese recoverable satellites
Milestone for Landsat 9
Indra Wins Thales Contract
SatixFy UK’s Antenna
DigitalGlobe Selects SpaceX
SES Launches O3b Satellites
C-COM’s Ka-Band Antennas
Swarm launches cubesat
RADAR, EO/IR, NIGHT VISION AND SURVEILLANCE UPDATE
Hurdles for JSTARS recap
Firefield Charge XLT Lasers
RUAG expands EASA DOA scope
JSTARS aircraft divestment
Saab offer radar tech to RoK
US Army’s all-in-one NVG
Lasers Defeat Multiple Drones
Hornets get new AESA radar
Saab MPA is cheaper
GeoSpectrum delivers TRAPS
Latvia delivery of TPS-77 MMR
IOC for Australian P-8A
Pulsar Helion XP50 tested
Paramotors popular alternative
US Army tests JETS-TLDS
Leonardo DRS At AUSA
JSTARS – USAF criticism
Boeing investment in Fortem
Kongsberg Flexview sonar
MISSILE, BALLISTICS AND SOLDIER SYSTEMS UPDATE
Rheinmetall presents GBAD concept
Kinetic boost-phase intercepts
APKWS rockets for MV-22 Osprey
Laser weapon on Stryker in Europe
$3.3bn boost for missile defense
Exoskeleton Technical Advisory Group
BrahMos indigenous seeker
FVL Penetrates Air Defenses
Directed Energy Weapons
Oriole Rocket Motor Rights
US Hypersonics Initiative
Russia Cruise Missile deployment
US Army to demo precision strike
MELLS ATGW into Marder
New Kinzhal ballistic missile
BMDS modernized C2BMC system
Artem 155mm artillery ammunition
RoK to deploy artillery killer
THAAD and Patriot to communicate
Interim US SHORAD solution
Plasteel tenderer for LAND 400
Thales Goalkeeper scores
USSOCOM boosts GBU-69/B SGM
Lockheed tested LRASM
US Seeks Infantry Revolution
UNMANNED SYSTEMS UPDATE
RoK KUS-FS MALE UAV trials
APG family of UAVs
Trump boosts armed UAV exports
Russia Testing Unmanned Helo
Drone ‘hive’ for rapid resupply
Contract for unmanned prototype
Updated US drone export policy
Scan Eagle to Philippine AF
Kratos Tactical UASs Approved
Second MQ-25 drone prototype?
CYBER, EW, CLOUD COMPUTING AND HOMELAND SECURITY UPDATE
DoD’s cloud program
DARPA to demonstrate CFAR
Visualization tools for EW
Mobile electronic warfare
Brains connects machines
DARPA kicks off CASE
INTERNATIONAL PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITIES
UNITED KINGDOM AND NATO
Submarine Main Controls
Submarine Spares
EUROPE
Belgian Fighter Tender
Suppliers for French warship
German-ness of new combat ship
USA
RFP for two-carrier buy
Short Range Air Defense
DOD needs more than OTAs
REST OF THE WORLD
Saudi Won $3.5bn Discount
Elettronica EW deal in Aus
Australian export push
Israeli arms exports to Africa
CONTRACT NEWS IN BRIEF
UNITED KINGDOM
LAND
KBR CWSS contract
Thales Acusonic contract
AIR
Watchkeeper Support
USA
LAND
BAE ENVG contract
Endeavor USMC SUGV order
Lockheed TADSS contract
Northrop CREW contract
Raytheon Cobra Dane contract
SIG SAUER Police contract
SEA
DRS CA2SPER contract
GE Marine contract
Lockheed Trident contract
AIR
Airbus UH-72A contract
Bell Helicopter contract
Harris jammer contract
TECHNOLOGY
KBR USAF contract
NGC ITSS contract
Technica PEO-EIS contract
REST OF THE WORLD
LAND
Harris Asian contract
L-3 Micreo Afghan contract
Oshkosh M985A4 contracts
Rheinmetall Aus contract
SEA
KBR Australian contract
AIR
AeroVironment Egypt contract
MANAGEMENT ON THE MOVE
TopEngineer.com Job Of the Week!
Software Engineer in Cowes
LOCATIONS
LAND
Indian Seychelles base
Boeing RoK research centre
KBR Aus submarine yard deal
MARITIME
USS Ralph Johnson commissioned
China launches surveillance ship
JMSDF submarine rescue ship
USS Wasp operations with F-35B
Peru’s 2nd landing platform
JMSDF Awaji-class minesweeper
Plans for new Qatari vessels
AIR
Chilean AF receives Super Tucanos
Philippines commissions TC-90
Red Arrows crash
Japan’s F-35 costs
Brazil boosts Seahawk ops
PLANT CLOSURES, JOB LOSSES AND STRIKES
Luftwaffe chief dismissed
MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT
PERSONNEL
Peruvian multipurpose brigade
Ulm for NATO logistics command
Canadian task force to Mali
10th Mountain Division Command
EUROPE APPOINTMENTS
Katrin Suder appointed
U.S. APPOINTMENTS
John Bolton appointed
Col. D.T. Lasica nominated
REST OF THE WORLD APPOINTMENTS
Wang Yi appointed
INDUSTRY
INDUSTRY TEAMINGS
Type 45 PIP Team
PERSONNEL
Airbus to name new CEO
EUROPE APPOINTMENTS
- Ozegowski appointed at ATLAS
Ultra appointment of Simon Pryce
U.S. APPOINTMENTS
Alliance appoints Tom Gargan
Boeing elected David L. Calhoun
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS
Veterans Mental Health.
Competition In Procurement
National Security Capability
National Security Capability
Aerospace sector post-Brexit
House of Commons and House of Lords Hansard Written Answers
National Security Capability Review
Yemen: Military Intervention
Defence: Finance
Porton Down: Chemical Weapons
FEATURES
GKN – Final Fair Valuation Call
By Howard Wheeldon, FRAeS, Wheeldon Strategic Advisory Ltd.
More Geo-Political Shocks
By Howard Wheeldon, FRAeS, Wheeldon Strategic Advisory Ltd.
Ban the Bomb? Or Bomb the Ban?
By Brad Roberts |Director of the Center for Global Security Research, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
GKN – Winning The Argument
By Howard Wheeldon, FRAeS, Wheeldon Strategic Advisory Ltd.
TAILPIECE
Finland ranked top in this year’s World Happiness Report, with the happiest immigrants and the happiest population in general. (UN Press Briefing, 20 Mar 18.) (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 18/12, 26 Mar 18)
CONTACT DETAILS
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BATTLESPACE Publications
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e-mail j.nettlefold@battle-technology.com
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NEWS IN BRIEF – EUROPE
Web Page sponsored by Harris Corporation
http://www.harrisforcemodernization.com
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19 Mar 18. Nerve Agent: Salisbury Incident. Independent investigators from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) arrived in the UK (19 Mar 18) to begin their investigation into the nerve agent used to poison Mr Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury on 4 Mar 18. The OPCW team is tasked with collecting samples of the nerve agent for testing at “highly reputable” international laboratories; the process is anticipated to take a minimum of two weeks.
During a joint press conference with the UK Foreign Secretary, the NATO Secretary General expressed (19 Mar 18) the Alliance’s condemnation of the nerve agent attack and confirmed that NATO allies “stand in
solidarity with the UK”.
The European Council meeting of 22-23 Mar 18 concluded that: “…it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is responsible [for the Salisbury attack] and that there is no plausible alternative explanation”. In his concluding remarks the President of the European Council said (23 Mar 18) “…the EU ambassador to Moscow has been recalled to Brussels for consultations. Additional steps are expected as early as Monday, at the national level.”
Comment: On 12 Mar 18 the Prime Minister confirmed that the poison used in the Salisbury attack is part of a group of nerve agents knows as Novichok. Novichok meets the Chemical Weapon Convention’s definition of a
chemical weapon, toxic chemical and precursor and is thus covered by the Convention’s prohibitions. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 18/12, 26 Mar 18)
19 Mar 18. Afghanistan: Defence Secretary’s Visit. The MoD reported (19 Mar 18) the Defence Secretary’s first visit to Afghanistan. During his meeting with his opposite number the Defence Secretary reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to Afghanistan, noting in particular: the continued funding for the Afghanistan National Security Forces; support for the Afghan National Army Officer Academy and the recent increase of UK troops to about 650. Over 3,000 Officers have passed out of the Academy since 2013. The Defence Secretary also met UK troops leading the Kabul Security Force which provides force protection for NATO staff in Kabul.
Comment: The MoD noted that: “The UK has played an important role in supporting Afghanistan over the last 16 years and is committed to continuing this in the future. Through the NATO Resolute Support Mission, the support the UK provides on issues such as security, development and governance is crucial to building a stable state and reducing the terrorist threat to the UK.” (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 18/12, 26 Mar 18)
21 Mar 18. RAF Aerobatic Team: Fatal Accident. The MoD confirmed (21 Mar 18) the death of Corporal J Bayliss of the RAF Aerobatic Team (The Red Arrows). Corporal Bayliss was killed when the Hawk T1 aircraft he was flying in crashed at RAF Valley at about 13.30hrs on 20 Mar 18.
Comment: For 2018 Corporal Bayliss had been selected to be one of the engineers to travel with the aircraft, providing technical support. A Police investigation and a full Service Inquiry into the crash has been started. In the MoD’s words: “It would be inappropriate to speculate on the causes of the incident at this time.” (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 18/12, 26 Mar 18)
19 Mar 18. BREXIT: Draft Withdrawal Agreement. The Secretary of State for Exiting the EU made a statement (19 Mar 18) following agreement on
arrangements for the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community. On Foreign Policy and Defence collaboration, a plan for an “ambitious partnership” has been set out which “goes beyond the relationship the EU has with any other third country.
Comment: Some thorny Defence and security-related issues remain: Northern Ireland’s border with Ireland, Gibraltar and relations with Spain as well as the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed in his Spring Statement (13 Mar 18) that the MoD has been allocated £12.7m for BREXIT preparations. This additional funding is to support work with the Department for
Environment, Food & Rural Affairs on maintaining the UK’s fisheries, principally through the deployment of the new River Class Offshore Patrol Vessels. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 18/12, 26 Mar 18)
19 Mar 18. P-8A Poseidon: Procurement. In the House of Lords (19 Mar 18) the Defence Spokesman said that the urgency to establish a Maritime Patrol Aircraft capability had led to the decision to procure the P-8A aircraft ‘off the shelf’ with associated weapons fit, including the (US) Mark 54 torpedo. The US Department of Defense announced (5 Mar 18) a contract for Boeing which included long-lead items for the last four of the UK’s planned nine P-8As.
Comment: As previously advised the first P-8A is expected in RAF service in 2019, with four more in 2020 and the final four in 2021. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 18/12, 26 Mar 18)
19 Mar 18. Submarines: Decommissioning. Asked about the Submarine Dismantling Project, the Defence Procurement Minister said (19 Mar 18) that work on the demonstrator vessel, SWIFTSURE, was “progressing well”. Stage 1, the removal of solid low level and non-radioactive waste, was on target to be completed by the end of 2018.
Comment: Four SSBN and 16 SSN have been decommissioned and are awaiting disposal. Three SSN (HMS TRENCHANT, TALENT & TRIUMPH) and four SSBN (HMS VANGUARD, VICTORIOUS, VIGILANT & VENGEANCE) remain in service but are included in disposal plans. The Astute Class boats (HMS ASTUTE, AMBUSH, ARTFUL and four in build) are not included in the current decommissioning arrangements. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 18/12, 26 Mar 18)
21 Mar 18. Diplomatic Appointments: Additional Roles. The Foreign Secretary announced (21 Mar 18) that at least 250 new diplomatic roles are to be created overseas and 10 new sovereign missions are to be opened over the next two years. The additional roles overseas build on changes to the diplomatic service that have already been made to support the Government’s preparations for leaving the EU.
Comment: The above announcement coincided with the opening of a new diplomatic office in Chad. The expansion of diplomatic roles is being funded through an allocation of £15.1m, announced in the Spring
Statement (13 Mar 18) as part of funds allocated to the FCO for BREXIT preparations. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 18/12, 26 Mar 18)
21 Mar 18. Chad: New UK Mission. The UK has opened (21 Mar 18) a new diplomatic office in N’Djamena, co-located with the EU Delegation in Chad. It is the first UK mission in the country and will support the work of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development Staff. The Foreign Secretary said that the office in Chad “…will strengthen our diplomatic, Defence and development engagement in the Lake Chad Basin and Sahel region and shows the importance we place on our already strong relationship with the country”.
Comment: Chad hosts the HQ for the Multinational Joint Task Force in the Lake Chad region, the military force combating Boko Haram, which the UK supports with funding and military personnel. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 18/12, 26 Mar 18)
19 Mar 18. NATO HQ: Final Phase. NATO began (19 Mar 18) the final phase of its move to new headquarters in Brussels. Around 4,000 people will move to their new offices over the next 12 weeks. With more than 254,000m2 of space, the new building will be home to NATO’s civilian and military staff as well as 29 national delegations. NATO will remain fully operational throughout the move.
Comment: The decision to build a new headquarters was agreed in 1999. The building was officially handed over to NATO on 25 May 17. Total project costs amounted to over £1,000m (which included claim settlements). (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 18/12, 26 Mar 18)
23 Mar 18. Lithuania, UK strengthen defence cooperation. UK and Lithuanian defence ministers have met to discuss the challenges of adapting the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) for European nations.
The Oshkosh Defense JLTV is being rolled out across the US Army and Marine Corps, and both the UK and Lithuanian governments are considering the vehicle to meet national requirements.
Lithuania’s Vice Minister of National Defence, Giedrimas Jeglinskas, observed testing of the JLTV in Bedford while on a visit to the UK. The minister also met with representatives of the UK Ministry of Defence, the Belgian Defense Directorate General for Material Resources and representatives of the US Department of Defense JLTV programme to address options for integrating weaponry systems into the JLTV.
Topics of discussion between the Lithuanian and UK ministers included aspects of JLTV procurement carried out the by the UK, progress on the IFV Vilkas (Boxer) project, technological potential of enterprises of Lithuania’s defence industry and opportunities in the UK. Potential bilateral cooperation of both countries’ navies in procurement was also covered. (Source: Shephard)
23 Mar 18. Emerging German-Dutch naval tie-up has industry abuzz. Dutch and German defense acquisition leaders have agreed to boost their cooperation on naval matters, a move that could put a fresh spin on major shipbuilding programs currently in play, Defense News has learned.
The topic came up at a closed-door bilateral meeting of national armament directors this week, officials said. The gathering was meant as a broad examination of new defense cooperation opportunities with a particular focus on joint maritime projects.
A defense spokesman in Berlin said details of the meeting were confidential, noting only that the government was broadly interested in harmonizing defense programs with allies.
The Netherlands is in the market to replace its four aging Walrus-class submarines by 2027. Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems was tapped last year to build four Type 212 air-independent propulsion boats for Norway and two for Germany, to be delivered in the mid-2020s.
Meanwhile, the Dutch shipyard Damen, together with Germany’s Blohm & Voss, is in the running for the German Navy’s Mehrzweckkampfschiff 180, a frigate-type surface combatant.
Berlin excluded a competing consortium of TKMS and Lürssen from that deal weeks ago due to what insiders said where insurmountable differences about the TKMS surface ship division’s approach to that program.
That move prompted backers of the only purely German-owned industry team to lament the loss of a purely Teutonic contender in the program. Notably, however, TKMS has shown no interest in challenging the MKS 180 exclusion in court.
It’s unclear how a new umbrella of German-Dutch naval jointness might influence upcoming program decisions. But officials said seeking avenues to bring the Netherlands in alignment with the German-Dutch sub buy may make sense in the spirit of coordinating such acquisitions Europe-wide.
Under the name “Apollo,” Germany and the Netherlands are working to fuse elements of their ground-based anti-missile capabilities. (Source: Defense News)
23 Mar 18. Boeing loses case against Denmark over fighter jet deal. Boeing (BA.N) lost a lawsuit against Denmark on Friday which related to the Danish government’s decision to buy Lockheed Martin’s (LMT.N) F-35 Lightning II combat jets in preference to Boeing’s F/A 18 Super Hornets.
Boeing had taken Denmark to court over a lack of access to documents used in the government’s decision to buy the Lockheed Martin jets.
“The court has found that the authorities’ decisions on refusal of access to the documents are legal and valid,” Copenhagen’s city court said in a summary of the verdict on its website on Friday.
Boeing said it was disappointed by the decision and would now review it and consider how to proceed.
After Denmark decided to buy 27 of Lockheed Martin’s new warplanes in 2016, Boeing complained that the evaluation process for the planes competing for the order had been “flawed” and demanded access to the documents in the case.
“Boeing initiated this legal action to gain a better understanding of the evaluation process, in which we believe the Ministry made a number of critical errors and omissions in its evaluation,” Boeing said in a statement on Friday.
Denmark’s defence ministry had denied Boeing access because the U.S. company had not specified which documents it wanted to see, and that it would too large a task to find all documents since preparations for the order began in 2005. (Source: Reuters)
23 Mar 18. Elliott throws its weight behind Melrose in battle for GKN. Activist investor launches scathing attack on FTSE 100 engineer’s record. Final battle lines over the fate of engineer GKN were drawn up on Friday as US activist investor Elliott Advisors declared its support for hostile bidder Melrose Industries, while the aerospace sector threw its weight behind the 259-year-old company. With just six days left before shareholders have to decide whether to hand one of Britain’s oldest engineers to a new owner, Elliott wrote to GKN’s board to say it would accept Melrose’s £8bn cash and share offer. The US firm is the automotive and aerospace supplier’s second-biggest investor, building up a 3.8 per cent stake in recent weeks. But in an indication of the deep divisions over the hostile bid, ADS, the industry lobby group, called on the government to block the takeover or seek assurances on national security issues from Melrose. It followed concern expressed last week by Airbus, GKN’s biggest aerospace customer, over Melrose’s commitment to long-term investment. We would have real concerns about an inexperienced, financial owner that doesn’t share our long-term horizon Senior executive at GKN customer One of GKN’s top five automotive customers also warned against a takeover by Melrose, which has been criticised for its model of buying underperforming industrial businesses with the aim of improving them and selling them on within three to five years. “We would have real concerns about an inexperienced, financial owner that doesn’t share our long-term horizon,” a senior executive of the company told the Financial Times. Elliott laid out its reasons for backing Melrose in a devastating attack on GKN’s record, saying it was “sceptical of the company’s ability to deliver” on its promises to boost margins and cash. People close to GKN dismissed Elliott’s declaration as expected, given its shorter-term investment horizon. However, it means that Melrose now has the public support of shareholders with roughly 10 per cent of GKN, while the FTSE 100 engineer has won the backing of investors with about 9 per cent. GKN’s biggest shareholders said the race was now very tight as the March 29 deadline approaches. “It is very hard to call, especially if passive [investors] back existing management in large numbers,” said one top 20 investor. More than 20 per cent of GKN’s shares are estimated to be in the hands of short-term investors, many of whom are expected to back Melrose. Shares in GKN closed at 429p on Friday, against Melrose’s cash and share offer valued at 451p based on the bidder’s close of 219p. Paul Everitt, chief executive of ADS, wrote to the Department for Business Energy and Industry, saying: “lt would be extremely troubling if the takeover of GKN is approved even as government is developing longer-term reforms that could potentially have otherwise blocked the bid on national security grounds.” The government does not appear to have any power to block the bid on such grounds. However, Mr Everitt said the Ministry of Defence was already concerned about the vulnerability of the UK supply chain, and reforms were being prepared to allow greater scrutiny of transactions involving UK companies. (Source: FT.com)
22 Mar 18. Pressure mounts on Macron over arms sales to Saudi Arabia, UAE. Two rights groups have given the French government two months to halt weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates or face legal action, adding to pressure on President Emmanuel Macron to scale back support of a Riyadh-led offensive in Yemen.
The action comes as some European states, notably Germany, have curtailed ties with the Saudi-led military coalition due to concerns over its role in Yemen’s civil war. France, Britain and the United States have not followed suit.
France, the world’s third-biggest arms exporter, counts Saudi Arabia and the UAE among its biggest purchasers, and France’s biggest defence firms, including Dassault and Thales, have major contracts in the Gulf.
Droit Solidarite, a legal NGO, and Aser, which specialises in armament issues, argue that France is violating national and international law by selling arms that are being used in the conflict in Yemen.
The United Nations and rights groups accuse the coalition of targeting civilians, which amounts to a war crime. The coalition denies this.
“France is not respecting its international commitments,” Aser’s president, Benoit Muracciole, told Reuters.
Lawyers acting for the two NGOs sent a letter to the office of Prime Minister Edouard Phillipe demanding the export licenses to be suspended.
If the French government does not meet their deadline, Aser and Droit Solidarite will take their case to the Conseil d’Etat, France’s highest legal authority.
“We will go to the Council of State from May 1 if there is an explicit or implicit refusal of the government to respond,” he said.
The Saudi-led coalition is fighting on the side of an internationally recognised Yemeni government against the Iran-aligned Houthi group.
Since the war began in 2015, more than 10,000 people have been killed, at least three million others displaced and Yemen has been plunged into a multi-fronted humanitarian disaster.
In recent years, Riyadh has bought French tanks, armoured vehicles, munitions and artillery, while the UAE purchased fighter jets.
Amnesty International and French rights group ACAT published a legal report on Monday warning France and its weapons suppliers faced potential legal risks over their dealings with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Unlike many if its allies, French export licensing procedures have no parliamentary checks or balances. They are approved through a committee headed by the prime minister that includes the foreign, defence and economy ministries.
Details of licences are not public and once approved are rarely reviewed.
“Arms sales in France are governed by very strict procedures of state control,” the prime minister’s office said. It confirmed receipt of the letter.
In 2016, licences potentially worth 45bn euros ($55.45bn) to the two countries were approved with deliveries worth about 2bn euros.
“French military equipment exports are totally controlled by the state,” a Dassault spokesman said. Thales declined to comment. (Source: Reuters)
22 Mar 18. United States set to sign deal on Patriot missile sale to Poland next week – sources. Poland and the United States are set to agree the sale of Raytheon Co’s (RTN.N) Patriot missile defence system to Warsaw next week, three sources told Reuters.
Poland has previously said it was planning to spend around $7.6bn (£5.3bn) on the project, but the sources said the deal to be announced next week may not be more than $5.5bn.
NATO member Poland has sped up efforts to overhaul its military following Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014 and in response to Moscow’s renewed military and political assertiveness in the region.
The U.S. Department of State approved the sale of the systems in November, with Poland interested in buying eight of the systems.
“The letter of agreement is to be signed on March 28,” a source close to the defence ministry said. Two others sources familiar with the matter confirmed the plan.
Patriot missile defence interceptors are designed to detect, track and engage unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), cruise missiles and short-range or tactical ballistic missiles.
Poland’s defence ministry did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment, but Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said in late January that he expected the deal to be signed by the end of the first quarter. The proposed sale includes 208 Patriot Advanced Capabilty-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement missiles, 16 M903 launching stations, four AN/MPQ-65 radars, four control stations, spares, software and associated equipment.
In addition, Poland is authorized to buy U.S. government and contractor technical, engineering and logistics support services as well as range and test programmes.
The deal approved in November by the U.S. State Department envisaged the sale totalling up to $10.5bn, but two sources told Reuters that Poland has received different options with different individual components and different offset scenarios. The sources estimated the options at up $4.5bn – $5.5bn, but said the negotiations are not over yet. (Source: Reuters)
22 Mar 18. Poland says U.S. missile shield site delayed until 2020. Technical problems will delay the completion of the Polish section of a U.S. defence shield by two years to 2020, Poland’s defence ministry said on Thursday.
The anti-missile site close to Poland’s northern Baltic Sea coast is part of a NATO defensive umbrella that, when complete, will stretch from Greenland to the Azores.
Poland’s Defence Ministry said U.S. authorities had told it there had been construction delays at the Redzikowo site that were the responsibility of the contractor.
The U.S. head of the U.S. Missile Defence Agency (MDA), Lieutenant General Samuel Greaves, acknowledged the delay at a U.S. Senate hearing on Thursday.
The MDA, a unit of the U.S. Defence Department, is overseeing installation of the Lockheed Martin Co -made ground-based Aegis ballistic missile defence system.
“While we have experienced delays in the military construction portion of the Aegis Ashore effort in Poland, we remain steadfastly committed to delivery of that capability,” Greaves said.
According to U.S. Department of Defense records, AMEC Programs Inc of Alpharetta, Georgia, was awarded a contract worth $182m for military construction, research, development, testing, and evaluation for the Aegis site in Poland.
Calls to AMEC were not returned.
Officials from the U.S.-led NATO alliance, who took control of the umbrella in 2016, have said the whole system is supposed to defend against attacks by states such as Iran and groups such as al Qaeda.
But the scheme has angered Russia, incensed by the show of force by its old Cold War rival in formerly communist Eastern Europe.
Poland’s former defence minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, from the opposition Civic Platform (PO) party, said the delay was meant as a political rebuke to the current government.
“This is the price for the … lack of trust in PiS (the ruling conservative Law and Justice party),” Siemoniak told Reuters.
Washington sharply criticised a bill that Poland adopted in January that imposes jail terms for suggesting Poland was complicit in the Holocaust, saying it was concerned about the repercussions it could have “on Poland’s strategic interests and relationships”.
Siemoniak said that “in the context of the (Holocaust bill), the lack of trust has deepened … ‘Technical reasons’ are just a pretext to postpone it until the year 2020. I am convinced that the situation is a result of the deterioration of the allied relations.”
Bartosz Cichocki, a deputy foreign minister, told the PAP state news agency that there was no crisis in Polish-American relations and that the U.S. had informed Poland about the potential delay “weeks before” the Holocaust law was adopted. As part of the shield, the United States switched on an $800m site in Romania in May 2016 and broke ground at the site in Poland later that year. The full shield also includes ships and radar installations across Europe, with command and control run from a U.S. air base in Germany. (Source: Reuters)
22 Mar 18. Belgian Air Force Chief, Others Suspended in F-16 Scandal. At least three Belgian generals, including the chief of the air force, and several senior officers were suspended yesterday by Belgian Chief of Defense Marc Compernol as the F-16 scandal continues to widen, to the point it is now referred to in the media as the “F-16-gate.”
The officers are suspected of having hidden from Compernol and Defense Minister Steven Vandeput studies carried out by Lockheed Martin and which concluded that the Belgian air force’s F-16s could remain in service for at least six years longer that their planned 2023 retirement date. The suspension will last at least until April 20, when an investigation board hurriedly set up yesterday is due to report. The investigation was decided by Prime Minister Charles Michel.
It is also looking increasingly possible that Vandeput will be forced to resign, to take responsibility for the scandal, as he is seen as not controlling his department, and of mismanaging the government’s largest procurement program, which now seems to be premature and unnecessary.
Gen. Compernol issued the following statement on March 21: “As Chief of Defense, and with Defense Minister Steven Vandeput, I met today with several people potentially involved in the non-transmission of the study on metal fatigue. These persons offered to withdraw from their duties for the duration of the investigation. They will remain available for the investigation. The Minister and I have full confidence in the investigation.”
Compernol did not name the suspended officers, but media reports have identified them as Air Force Commander Gen. Frederik Vansina; Gen. Luc Roelants, head of the public procurement section of the defense ministry’s Material Resources agency; and Col Peter Letten, “manager” of the F-16 fleet. Col Harold van Pee, head of Air force procurement, and of the Air Combat Capability Program (ACCaP) which is managing the fighter competition, confirmed to Belga news agency that he had also been suspended. As chief of the ACCaP office, Van Pee supervises four officers and 33 experts, and reports directly to Vansina. Given that both are now suspended, the ACCaP office’s work is likely to slow down. It has also been revealed this week that Simon Put, the defense minister’s deputy chief of staff, was hired by Lockheed Martin as a lobbyist. (Source: defense-aerospace.com)
22 Mar 18. Swiss prosecutor raids homes over alleged secret Russian arms deals. Swiss prosecutors have raided homes and opened “criminal proceedings” after allegations in the local press concerning state-owned weapons maker RUAG. The Office of the Attorney General said on Thursday that it was looking into offences relating to laws on war material, mismanagement and possibly also misconduct in public office. “In the course of the proceedings house searches have been conducted and various documentation / data carriers have been secured,” it said in a statement. The investigation comes after Swiss weekly newspaper Handelszeitung linked a Julius Baer banker to alleged covert Russian arms deals. The bank said it was “looking into” the allegations, adding that “the employee in question will be suspended during the investigation”. RUAG did not respond to several requests for comment but said in a tweet: RUAG found out via its internal whistleblower system that a manager was allegedly involved in a severe compliance breach. RUAG immediately notified authorities, pressed criminal charges and is fully cooperating with the investigation. The OAG said: “As always, the presumption of innocence applies for all persons involved in the proceedings.” (Source: FT.com)
22 Mar 18. MoD chief calls for cull of sacred cows. The armed forces must be ready to slay some “sacred cows” to free up cash for new and more deployable technologies, the top civil servant at the Ministry of Defence has said.
Stephen Lovegrove did not specify which pieces of military equipment he had in mind but said that some capabilities were not deployed very often or were perhaps no longer able to keep the military personnel using them safe from modern threats.
It is the first time a senior official has indicated in public that difficult choices will probably have to be made as part of a review of the armed forces that will conclude in July, unless there is a big enough increase in the defence budget to meet all of the department’s costs.
“If we are going to invest in new, highly destructive technologies, that is going to come at a cost,” Mr Lovegrove, the permanent secretary, said during a question and answer session at the Strand Group, King’s College London, after a lecture on Tuesday evening.
“We need to be rather more ruthless, unless there is to be more money, about getting rid of some of the [capabilities] that are actually deployed less often or [are] incapable of being deployed” because of concerns over safety, he said. “I think we do have some of those capabilities and we need to be prepared to slay the odd sacred cow.”
Potential “sacred cows” could include the army’s fleet of Warrior armoured fighting vehicles that have yet to receive a much needed upgrade, according to a defence expert. The vulnerability of tracked vehicles to anti-tank missiles has been demonstrated in recent weeks in the northern Syrian city of Afrin where a number of Turkish tanks have been destroyed. There is no suggestion that Britain is considering scrapping its Challenger 2 main battle tanks.
Another capability that could be vulnerable is the navy’s amphibious assault ships, HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion. The landing craft were singled out as potential sacrifices last year.
Cutting a whole capability is a more efficient way to make savings than retaining the capability on a reduced scale.
Mr Lovegrove had been responding to a question about whether he thought the Royal Navy, army and Royal Air Force should be merged to some degree to reduce costs. He declined to be drawn on such an idea but said that efforts were under way to reduce duplication in parts of defence. He cited as an example the helicopters operated by the army and the RAF.
The senior civil servant, who has previously said that the MoD needs to find £20bn in efficiencies over the next decade, described his department’s savings targets as challenging. (Source: The Times)
BATTLESPACE Comment: It is a bizarre comment that Stephen Lovegrove quotes that Warrior is vulnerable to ATGWs! All armoured vehicles are vulnerable to ATGWs! That is what they are designed for. Perhaps this will be used as an excuse to scrap Warrior due to the added weight required to upgrade its protection levels? To add the weight and to allow the vehicle to operate within the required MTBF, the powerpack, gearbox and running gear would have to be uprated and at the moment there is no budget for this. Indeed, there is no budget for the WCSP Production phase. Sources suggest that the strong lobby remains for replacing Warrior with MIV in the form of Boxer and to expand the variants offered to include a CT40 Turret version (using the LM Warrior turret?) and the 155mm DONAR variant for which a total requirement for 38 have been identified.
21 Mar 18. Prosecutors charge Shoreham airshow crash pilot with manslaughter. A pilot whose vintage fighter jet crashed into a busy road in southern England in 2015, killing 11 people, has been charged with manslaughter, prosecutors said on Wednesday. The pilot Andrew Hill was performing an acrobatics display at the Shoreham Airshow when the crash occurred, the third – and by far the most deadly – at the event since 2007. The Hawker Hunter plane, of a type developed by Britain in the 1950s, struck several cars on the major road next to Shoreham airport near Brighton, where the show was taking place. Hill was seriously injured but survived. Eleven people, some of them in their cars or on the roadside, were killed.
“Following a careful review of the evidence I have found there is sufficient evidence to charge Andrew Hill with the manslaughter by gross negligence of the 11 men who died,” Simon Ringrose, the reviewing lawyer, was cited as saying by in a statement from Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service.
He said Hill would also be charged with endangering an aircraft and would appear before the courts “in due course”. bit.ly/2IDRYsh
The crash prompted Britain to announce new safety restrictions on airshows. (Source: Reuters)
21 Mar 18. France ups weapon study funds for future jet, tank, aircraft carrier. France is steering a new course in defense spending by increasing funding for concept and feasibility studies for future weapons to €2.8bn (U.S. $3.4bn), analysts have said.
The boost includes the launch of an average annual €1.8bn budget for concept studies for large arms programs, and raising the finance for feasibility studies to an annual €1bn by 2022 from the present €730m.
The funding for concept studies will apply to the future fighter jet, battle tank and a successor to the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, according to Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly, who during a March 20 presentation of the draft 2019-2025 military budget law to the lower house National Assembly.
“With this draft law, we are preparing the future by committing to the preparatory stages of large arms programs, which will structure the future of our forces,” she said.
This ”real change in direction” for studies geared toward future programs will also be tied to other European countries, according to Fabrice Wolf, a defense economics analyst. France is partnering with Germany on a future fighter jet and a tank, as well as teaming with Britain on a combat UAV, although the latter is in suspension due to Britain’s exit from the European Union.
“France has a great deal of know-how — although that is not widely known — while Germany has a good image, particularly in armored vehicles such as the Leopard 2 tank,” he said. If the higher spending in feasibility studies is respected, that prepares the ground for acquisition of equipment from 2025 and onward.
“It’s important,” said a defense specialist, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The studies will look into concept and architecture rather than technology.”
Alongside support for concept studies, there is exploration of technology through the feasibility studies.
There is a conservative approach in arms procurement, with program directors advised to take “no risk” and steered toward “existing and proven technology,” the specialist said.
It is difficult to kick off feasibility studies without the launch of a program, but the whole point of those studies is to explore the options for future programs rather than support existing projects, the specialist explained. The present approach of drawing on “today rather than tomorrow technology” risks leading to delivering obsolete weapons once they undergo several years of development and production.
That support stems from President Emmanuel Macron’s drive to “believe in the future,” the specialist said. There is a readiness to invest and take risk, reflecting an optimism in the economy similar to the spirit found in the U.S.
Perhaps the budget for concept studies will include some level of development, with funding for work to the technical readiness level, said Jean-Pierre Maulny, deputy director of the think tank Institut des Relations Internationales et Stratégiques. (Source: Defense News)
19 Mar 18. France faces legal risks over Saudi, UAE arms sales: lawyers. France and its arms suppliers face heightened legal risks for supplying weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE despite warnings such arms could be used in the war in Yemen, a law firm’s report commissioned by human rights groups said on Monday.
The two Gulf Arab states are leading a coalition fighting the Iran-aligned Houthi group that controls most of northern Yemen and the capital Sanaa. The conflict has killed more than 10,000 people and displaced more than three million.
The report follows criticism of President Emmanuel Macron by rights groups and French lawmakers over his support for the coalition, opaque arms sales and inadequate safeguards to prevent its weapons being used in Yemen operations.
“This study shows a legally high risk that France’s arms transfers are contrary to its international commitments,” concluded Joseph Breham et Laurence Greig, authors of Ancile Avocats’ 92-page report commissioned by Amnesty International and the French human rights group ACAT.
“The French government has authorized exports of military equipment to Saudi Arabia and the UAE in circumstances where these weapons can be used in the conflict in Yemen and could be used to carry out war crimes.”
Asked about the export licensing system, France’s foreign ministry said government processes are “robust and transparent”.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are among the biggest buyers of French arms, receiving tanks, armored vehicles, munitions, artillery and, in the UAE’s case, fighter jets. While some other European states have scaled back their military ties with the Saudi-led coalition, Britain and the United States continue to pursue them.
The report came at an awkward time for Macron, who is due to host Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in early April. French-Saudi relations are more strained than in recent years.
However, French officials say privately they have already told weapons suppliers that they should refrain from seeking new export licenses for Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
“I don’t think you’ll see a clear pushback from us. What’s more likely is an informal message to companies to not bother asking for licenses,” said a French diplomat.
“It will be a de facto restriction but without saying it publicly, so as not to annoy the Saudis.”
Export licensing procedures, however, have no parliamentary checks or balances. Some French diplomats and aid officials say there is no evidence Paris has halted or reduced its arms exports to the two countries. (Source: glstrade.com/Reuters)
21 Mar 18. The Home Affairs Committee today published its report on UK-EU security cooperation after Brexit. Responding to the report, ADS agreed that continuing security cooperation should be a priority area for negotiations and it is especially important for the security sector that UK involvement in collaborative R&D programmes continues. ADS Chief Executive Paul Everitt said, “The UK and the EU share deep common interests in defence and security, making this area another important aspect of Brexit negotiations where no deal is not an option. The Prime Minister made a welcome commitment at the Munich Security Conference to seek continued UK membership of strategic defence programmes and collaborative research projects. It is also vital that the UK security sector is able to continue accessing EU markets and protect supply chains without facing burdensome new customs and border controls. Continued close collaboration with our European partners, including on EU R&D projects designed to strengthen security capabilities across Europe, will help to protect both national security and prosperity, and must be a priority for a comprehensive deal over the UK’s future relationship with the EU.”
19 Mar 18. Spain – Defense Plans to Buy New Weapons for More Than 10bn. In the coming weeks, Spanish Minister of Defense María Dolores de Cospedal will table her new 15-year investment cycle for weapons systems before the Council of Ministers.
“Considering the most necessary and urgent capabilities, the new investment cycle will begin shortly with seven programs whose cost has been estimated at 10,805m euros.” This is how the document, completed on March 12 by the Secretary of State for Defense, and to which Cadena SER has had access, describes its goal.
The seven programs included in the text are: 8×8 wheel combat vehicles, F-110 frigates, new training aircraft, the modernization of the command and air control system, MRTT refueling aircraft, NH90 naval helicopters and the modernization of Chinook helicopters.
These seven programs constitute the first phase of the New Investment Cycle of the Ministry of Defense, a plan to acquire weapons systems for the next 15 years, which was announced by Minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal last Easter. The execution of this new investment cycle will replace the one planned in the nineties, when Spain embarked on the so-called Special Weapons Programs (PEAS) for which we still owe about 20,000m euros and which we will continue to pay until 2030.
The debt of the previous cycle is still alive
Eleven special programs of the previous cycle are still in progress, to which are added another twelve that, although already completed, also involve pending payments.
Among the 11 major programs that are still underway are the A400M military transport plane, the Eurofighter fighter, the Tigre combat helicopters and the S-80 submarine. The latter, due to technical problems during its manufacture, and according to Navy sources, will force an increase in the initial cost foreseen for the program (€2,135m) to €3,685m, although this increase will not be attributable to the new investment cycle.
Council of Ministers and budgets
According to military sources, María Dolores de Cospedal’s department plans to bring the first phase of this new investment cycle to the Council of Ministers in the coming weeks. The process of the Council of Ministers will be the definitive green light for the Ministry’s new procurement plan. What Defense has not yet clarified is the financing model of the new plan.
Sources near to the Under Secretary of Defense do not rule out that the annual items are included in the department’s regular budget (as is the case with the PEAS), which would help Cospedal to comply with the commitment made to NATO by which, in 2024, Spain has to allocate 1.53% of its Gross Domestic Product to military expenditure.
(defense-aerospace.com EDITOR’S NOTE: Spain’s defense expenditure for 2017 is estimated by NATO at 0.92% of GDP, the same as in 2014.
The NATO target, agreed at the Wales summit meeting in 2014, is for national defense spending by all members to increase to 2% of their GDP by 2024.
In January, Cospedal told parliament that Spain would not reach 2%, but would instead attain 1.53% of GDP, conditionally on the national economy performing sufficiently well.) (Source: defense-aerospace.com/Cadena Ser)
(Posted in Spanish; unofficial translation by Defense-Aerospace.com)
19 Mar 18. Serbia develops defence technology industrial base. Serbia is continuing to develop its defence industry under the ‘Defence Technology Industrial Base of the Republic of Serbia – Vision 2020’ project, focusing on its aerospace industry, the head of the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD’s) department for defence technologies has said.
During a panel discussion at the second Southeast Europe Aviation Summit (SEAS) in Belgrade on 9 March, Major General Bojan Zrnic said Serbian efforts are concentrating on fulfilling an industrial co-operation plan with Airbus under a December 2016 agreement to equip the defence and interior ministries with nine Airbus H145M helicopters. This involves turning the Moma Stanojlovic military aeronautical plant in Batajnica into the fifth Airbus-certified regional maintenance and repair centre for SA341 and SA342 Gazelle helicopters, which has huge potential as more than 390 military (and 80 civilian) aircraft of this type are still flying, according to Maj Gen Zrnic. (Source: Google/ IHS Jane’s)
19 Mar 18. MPs warn of Brexit damage to UK aerospace. Regulator not ready to take over from EU watchdog, says head of aviation authority. Britain’s aviation regulator is doing no preparatory work to take over responsibilities from the EU’s watchdog, EASA, after Brexit, as “it would be misleading to suggest that’s a viable option”. The striking comment was made by the chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority in testimony to parliament’s cross-party business committee, which on Monday publishes its findings on the impact of Brexit on the aerospace sector. The MPs conclude that the UK’s buoyant aerospace sector would be irreparably damaged if it did not remain deeply integrated in Europe’s regulatory and manufacturing hubs after Britain leaves the EU. “There is no trade-off between close harmonisation with the EU and access to markets beyond the EU. Instead, the two goals are complementary,” the report states. While MPs welcomed the prime minister’s statement that the UK hoped to remain in EASA, even as a non-voting member, they stressed that the government should push for as much influence as possible. That call was backed up by Rolls-Royce, the world’s second largest aero-engine maker. A non-voting “associate membership” would be “better than nothing”, a spokesman said. But he added: “We strongly believe it is in the UK’s interest to retain its ability to shape future regulation where it will impact British businesses, and we are working with the government towards that aim.” Given the just-in-time supply chains operated by the industry, even border delays of a few hours could materially undermine UK competitiveness Cross-party report MPs also sounded alarm bells over the lack of clarity on transition arrangements, noting that several companies were preparing to take “costly and disruptive” contingency measures, such as stockpiling inventory, which could affect the sector’s competitiveness. “It is in the interests of the UK and the EU27 that both sides . . . reach a firm agreement in the coming weeks on the arrangements for a transition,” they say. They reiterate the industry’s own estimate that increased checks at the customs and immigration alone could add an extra £1.5bn in cost to a sector that depends on people and components being able to cross borders several times and at short notice. Airbus, for example, has a two-hour turnround for its Beluga jet that flies wings from its factory in Wales for integration on aircraft in Toulouse or Hamburg. “Given the just-in-time supply chains operated by the industry, even border delays of a few hours could materially undermine UK competitiveness,” the report states. The analysis is the third in the select committee’s investigation into the impact of leaving the EU on specific sectors of the economy. MPs point out that aerospace employs 114,000 people at global companies such as Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Bombardier and GKN. The report stresses that the sector, which accounts for 0.7 per cent of total UK output and 7 per cent of manufacturing, is one of the UK’s most productive. Output per employee is 18 per cent higher than the average in manufacturing — and 49 per cent higher than the economy as a whole. Just under half of the annual £32bn revenue is exported. “UK aerospace exports are highly dependent on participation in the European and global supply chain,” the report states. Maintaining the sector’s competitiveness would also depend on the UK’s continued participation in EU research and development projects, which would also help to ensure access to European funding and cross-border collaboration. Recommended Unilever’s move is not all about Brexit, but . . . Can Theresa May’s customs plan resolve Brexit dilemma? Winners and losers in an EU-UK free trade agreement The UK is a net beneficiary from EU research and innovation funding, with the aerospace sector receiving some £100m a year from the Horizon 2020 programme, MPs say. Industry welcomed the MPs’ conclusions. Paul Everitt, chief executive of ADS, the industry trade body, said time was running out to give the industry clarity before investment would begin to be affected. “It is vital that the UK and EU27 agree a comprehensive transition agreement as soon as possible, to give industry the breathing space it needs to adjust to the new long-term partnership arrangements,” he said. The Aerospace Technology Institute also stressed that if the UK wanted to win new work on the next wave of aircraft programmes it was important to maintain participation in the so-called “demonstrator” projects that would determine future technology choices. “Continued engagement with Europe in science and technology, both at academic and industrial level, is essential to maintaining the UK’s competitiveness,” said Gary Elliott chief executive. (Source: FT.com)
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22 Mar 18. US House passes Pentagon-boosting omnibus as shutdown looms. The GOP-led House passed a sweeping $1.3trn spending bill, with $700bn for defense, in a race to move the massive bill through Congress and avoid a government shutdown.
The vote was 256-167 for the 2,232-page spending package that congressional leaders released Wednesday evening.
The White House has said President Donald Trump will sign the bill, but the Senate must pass it before 11:59 p.m. Friday or government funding will lapse.
Touted by GOP leaders as the largest year-on-year increase in defense spending in 15 years, includes $654.6bn for the Pentagon, surpassing Trump’s request by $15.5bn and funding new ships, jets and missile defense. The bill also includes some limited flexibility to compensate for its introduction in the midway through the fiscal year.
“This bill provides the largest increase in defense spending in 15 years. Why? Frankly because our military’s been hollowed — hollowed out for many years,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said ahead of the vote. “We’re boosting resources for training, equipment, maintenance, base operations. It means new naval ships, new fighters, new helicopters. It means we are finally building a 21st century fighting force.”
To rally support, the messaging from Republicans leaders in both chambers amplified the military funding boost in the bill and the military’s challenges. For months, GOP leaders have vocally cast the military as underfunded by budget caps, evidenced by high-profile military accidents they attribute to dire training and maintenance backlogs.
“First and foremost, in my view, this bill will mark the end of disproportionate and harmful cuts to the Department of Defense,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a floor speech Thursday.
“These new funding levels will ensure that the training and tools available to our service members remain on the cutting edge, and at long last veterans will receive more transparent and more accessible care. This has been a top priority on our side of the aisle.”
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After weeks of closed-door negotiations to match appropriations to the February deal on the budget’s top line, the bill was unveiled at 9 p.m. Wednesday. A narrowly passed House rule allowed one hour to debate the bill in the lower chamber.
Though the omnibus passed by a comfortable margin, it saw 90 Republican defectors vote “nay.” Of Democrats, 111 voted “yea,” while 77 voted “nay,” including House Armed Services Ranking Member Adam Smith, D-Wash., and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md.
Lead Democrats groused about having to rush to pass a bill there was little time to read, and the conservative House Freedom Caucus opposed the bill over its size, arguing it included too many Democrat-friendly policy provisions.
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The Senate could take up the bill as soon as Thursday, though it’s unclear whether Sen. Rand Paul, the most likely senator to force a temporary government shutdown, will do so.
“Shame, shame,” Paul, R-Ky., said on Twitter Thursday morning. “A pox on both Houses – and parties. $1.3trn. Busts budget caps. 2200 pages, with just hours to try to read it.”
Senate Republicans have a narrow majority, and some members in their conference have expressed misgivings. Fiscally conservative Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., confirmed he would vote “no,” telling ABC News, “I don’t support grotesque things.” (Source: Defense News)
22 Mar 18. Congress readies boost to Navy shipbuilding in FY2018 spending bill. Congress is preparing to vote on a major spending bill that would fund 14 new ships, give the Navy more than $3bn more than it asked for in its budget request. A draft of the omnibus spending bill released Wednesday night showed the Navy in line to get $23.8bn for its shipbuilding account, $2.6bn more than in 2017. The budget buys, among other things, an aircraft carrier, two Virginia-class submarines, three littoral combat ships, two destroyers, a new LX(R) amphibious ship, a salvage ship, and an oceanographic survey ship.
The bill also funds about $862m in advanced procurement for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine program.
Aviation also got a boost. The budget is buying 10 more F/A-18 Super Hornets than the Navy asked for, meaning they’ll get 24 of the jets out of this budget, if its enacted as written. It will also get six MQ-8C Firescouts after not requesting any in 18.
Congress is also giving the Navy an extra three P-8A Poseidon sub hunters over the seven requested.
The bill needs to race through both the House and Senate over the next two days to avert a government shutdown Friday. (Source: Defense News)
22 Mar 18. The omnibus spending bill would add an extra 143 aircraft for the military. Congress seems to have come to an agreement on spending for fiscal year 2018, and military aircraft procurement is slated to receive a major bump, funding an additional 143 aircraft above the services’ requests. That’s great news for major defense primes like Lockheed Martin and Boeing, both of which stand to make billions more from the additional sales. A caveat before diving in: Although the omnibus language marks a big step forward after months of stymied negotiations and continuing resolutions, the bill still hasn’t been passed by Congress yet. The House and Senate must pass either a spending bill or CR before the end of this Friday, and it’s possible that various lawmakers could seek to obstruct the bill.
Here’s how the major aviation accounts fared:
F-35 joint strike fighter
Unsurprisingly, it was a good year for Lockheed Martin’s F-35. Congress added $2.9bn for an additional 20 joint strike fighters, which would put total FY18 procurement at 90 planes.
If the spending bill is passed, the Navy and Marine Corps will get not only the number of joint strike fighters requested in the budget, but also the ones detailed in their “unfunded requirements lists” sent every year to Congress. For the Navy, that’s eight F-35C carrier takeoff and landing variants. Meanwhile, the Marine Corps would get 24 F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing variants and two F-35Cs.
The Air Force will get 56 F-35A models — just four short of its unfunded requirement.
F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
In its FY18 budget request, the Navy requested 14 new Super Hornet aircraft. Lawmakers, who have long been supportive of the program, added 10 aircraft on top of that, funding a total of 24 new F/A-18E/Fs.
Those extra fighters will help Boeing extend the life of its production line and ameliorate the loss of a deal with Canada for 18 Super Hornets, which failed last year due to a trade dispute.
Boeing’s KC-46 refueling aircraft
The Air Force’s KC-46 tanker has been raked over the coals over the past few weeks, with the service blasting manufacturer Boeing for continued schedule delays and a couple new technical problems.
But despite questions from some lawmakers about the health of the program during hearings this month, Congress added $510m to fund an extra three KC-46s. That would bring the Air Force’s total KC-46 procurement for FY18 up to 18 tankers.
Other highlights
Notably, Congress also included funding for aircraft not requested by the services in budget documents at all. For instance, it added 12 C-130J Super Hercules planes for the Air National Guard. The Navy would pick up six MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned helicopters made by Northrop Grumman, at a cost of $84m.
It also included two C-37B aircraft for the Air Force — the military’s designation for a Gulfstream G550 — to meet an unfunded requirement after the divestment of five C-20s.
An extra $600m would add five MC-130Js for Air Force special operators, for an overall procurement of 10 aircraft this fiscal year. The service would also get one additional HC-130J, for a total of three.
Congress inserted an additional $501m for three extra P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft, for a total of 10 P-8s for the Navy. It also increased spending on V-22 procurement by $676m to bring Navy and Marine Corps procurement from six to 14 tiltrotor aircraft.
The bill grows the Marine Corps’ CH-53K helicopter program from four to six aircraft, at a cost of $250m. The service also would get $221 m for seven AH-1Zs, bringing the total for FY18 up to 29 helicopters.
The omnibus also includes significant plus-ups for Army aviation, including an extra $577m for 17 AH-64E Apache helicopters and $90 m for 11 UH-72 Lakota helicopters. The Army National Guard would get $108m for eight UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.
It also included major increases for unmanned systems, growing the Army’s MQ-1 Gray Eagle procurement from 11 to 20 air vehicles and increasing the service’s procurement of RQ-5 Shadow drones by $110m.
(Source: Defense News)
21 Mar 18. Continuing Resolutions, Budget Uncertainty Harm Readiness, Service Secretaries Say. Service secretaries addressed the challenges of providing taxpayers more defense value for their money, and getting innovation into warfighters’ hands faster during a House Armed Services Committee hearing yesterday on the Defense Department’s proposed fiscal year 2019 budget. According to defense officials, China and Russia are taking a more aggressive role on the world’s stage and the U.S. must maintain its military edge.
Budget Uncertainty Harms Readiness
The Army, Navy and Air Force service secretaries testified in support of DoD’s proposed fiscal year 2019 budget of $686bn, highlighting that, if approved, it would provide the services the monetary means to field a more lethal force as outlined in the National Defense Strategy.
“We must have predictable, adequate, sustained and timely funding. Fiscal uncertainty has done a great deal to erode our readiness and hamper our ability to modernize,” Army Secretary Mark T. Esper said.
Esper also pointed out the restrictions under the continuing resolution, which limits the services’ ability to initiate new projects and increase the quantities of munitions, directly impacting the training and readiness of the force.
Continuing resolutions and budget uncertainty have hurt military readiness and wasted tax dollars, the officials said.
“About $4bn burned in a trash can,” said Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer when describing what continuing resolutions have cost the Navy. “It is critical, absolutely critical, that we get a continuous form of funding in order to manage the industrial base to put us back on a footing to be out there [protecting the seas].”
And the defense budget sequester “did more damage to the United States Air Force and our ability to defend the nation than anything our advisories have done in the last 10 years — we did it to ourselves,” Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said.
“We cut 30,000 people out of the Air Force, reduced [the force] by 10 fighter squadrons, and [reduced] weapons systems sustainment,” she added.
Problems with pilot retention can be tied directly back to sequester, Wilson said.
Savings Through Reform
The Army is looking into a number of initiatives to save taxpayers’ money, Esper said. One initiative being discussed, he said, could the Army more than $1bn annually by consolidating and rationalizing its contracting services.
The Navy secretary said he agreed with Esper’s philosophy on revising contracting rules. Changing the thought process and attitudes on how DoD performs contracting services, Spencer said, can help with cost savings.
One cost-saving area the Air Force has identified is using artificial intelligence tools for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance analysis, Wilson said. [
“Right now, we have a lot intelligence analysis, a lot of people watching full-motion video. That’s not a good use of money, or time. And in that case, time is money,” she said. (Follow Army Sgt. 1st Class Jose Ibarra on Twitter: @IbarraDoDNews)
16 Mar 18. P&W Team Deploys Major Logistics System Upgrade for F-35 Operational Fleet. A joint team consisting of Pratt & Whitney, Lockheed Martin, Rolls-Royce and the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) subject matter experts successfully completed the rollout of a major upgrade to the F-35’s fleet management system. All F-35 operational bases around the globe were upgraded with the latest version of the Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS version 2.0.2.4), which now integrates Pratt & Whitney’s F135 propulsion system for the first time. Migrating the F135 propulsion system into ALIS marks an important next step in the evolution of the F-35 in terms of comprehensive weapon system sustainment.
This new release of ALIS automates the tracking of life-limited propulsion parts, manages squadron maintenance requirements with enhanced supply chain features and enables enhanced fault isolation, diagnostics & health trending to streamline resource management during home or deployed operations.
“Integrating propulsion into ALIS at every F-35 operational base represents a significant milestone for the F-35 program,” said Larry Breen, Associate Director, F135 ALIS Program Manager at Pratt & Whitney. “As a result of this upgrade, the men and women that support the F-35 can now manage a wide spectrum of logistics for the aircraft – including propulsion – from a single logistics system, eliminating much of the manual planning that was previously required with multiple maintenance systems. Ultimately, the integration of propulsion into ALIS will provide automated maintenance process capabilities, reducing sustainment costs and increasing aircraft availability. It is also a key enabler for condition-based maintenance, instead of cost-intensive fixed duration schedules, for this multi-role weapons system.”
ALIS serves as the information technology backbone of the F-35, capturing and analyzing condition-based data from the entire aircraft targeting preventative maintenance, prognostic health monitoring, supply chain management, flight scheduling and mission planning. For example, ALIS communicates health reporting codes, which when triggered, identify a component requiring the attention of the maintainers on the ground. ALIS also enables the pre-positioning of parts and qualified technicians, so downtime is minimized and the efficiency of flight line operations is increased.
Beginning in March 2017, cross functional contingents of more than 100 Pratt & Whitney employees partnered with subject matter experts from Lockheed Martin and the JPO to migrate propulsion at every operational base worldwide. Base migrations averaged 15 days from start to finish, and were led by Roger Neama, Larry Breen and Steve Switalski. Migration inventory teams touched nearly 200,000 propulsion assets around the world during wall-to-wall material audits. Data migration teams transitioned inventory records and component usage history into the new system, while post ‘Go-Live’ teams supported each squadron as they took their first steps processing off board engine usage data in ALIS as the official system of record.
“Successful integration of the F135 propulsion system in ALIS is a testament to the caliber and dedication of the dependable men and women at Pratt & Whitney,” said Roger Neama, Associate Director, F135 Program Manager at Pratt & Whitney. “I am extremely proud of the entire F135 propulsion migration team, which includes a wide cross section of our Military Engines employees, contractors and Rolls-Royce counterparts. They worked around the clock and made many personal sacrifices to balance each squadron’s operational needs with the delivery of new ALIS propulsion capabilities.”
Steven Switalski, F135 ALIS Technical Integration Manager at Pratt & Whitney, added: “The ability of the propulsion migration team to adapt and overcome complex technical challenges, crossing organizational and company boundaries, was truly impressive. Their willingness and ability to quickly resolve the unexpected demonstrated how important the success of this effort was to each and every one of them. The team that traveled domestically and internationally depended on support teams back home, often during late nights, weekends and across time zones for help.”
To date, propulsion migration in ALIS version 2.0.2.4 was rolled out at the following F-35 operational bases:
–• Nellis Air Force Base (Nevada)
–• Naval Air Station Lemoore (California)
–• Eglin Air Force Base (Florida)
–• Hill Air Force Base and Ogden Aircraft Depot (Utah)
–• Edwards Air Force Base (California)
–• Marine Corps Air Station Yuma (Arizona)
–• Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni (Japan)
–• Nevatim Air Base (Israel)
–• Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point (North Carolina)
–• Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort (South Carolina)
–• Luke Air Force Base (Arizona)
–• Amendola Air Base (Italy)
Future F-35 base activations will include ALIS version 2.0.2.4 or newer with propulsion already integrated. ALIS version 3.0 brings additional functionality to the front lines and is expected to be fielded later this year. (Source: defense-aerospace.com/Pratt & Whitney)
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23 Mar 18. Russia names Putin’s new ‘super weapons’ after a quirky public vote. Russia has unveiled the names for a new generation of nuclear-powered missiles touted by President Vladimir Putin as invincible after more than seven million people took part in a quirky public vote organised by the Russian military.
The names chosen include ‘Peresvet,’ after a medieval warrior monk, for a laser and ‘Burevestnik,’ after a seabird, for a cruise missile.
The arms systems, which Putin revealed in a bellicose state-of-the-nation speech this month, include a nuclear-powered cruise missile, an underwater nuclear-powered drone, and a laser weapon.
Putin has often used militaristic rhetoric to mobilise support and buttress his narrative that Russia is under siege from the West, and some critics complain that public discourse increasingly resembles that of a country at war.
The culmination of the “name that weapon” vote comes amid fears in both Russia and the West about a new arms race, something Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump have said they don’t want, and after Putin won a landslide re-election victory.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence asked the public to name the weapons systems in an online vote, something it has never done before, and unveiled the results late on Thursday on state TV.
After the results were announced, Deputy Defence Minister Yuri Borisov explained on state TV, to ripples of applause, what the new weapons were capable of.
WARRIOR MONK, GREEK GOD AND SEABIRD
The defence ministry said Russians had voted to name the new military laser ‘Peresvet’ after a medieval warrior monk, Alexander Peresvet, who took part in a 14th century battle against the Mongols. Peresvet is revered by some clerics in the Russian Orthodox Church, whose influence has grown under Putin.
The winning name for the underwater nuclear drone was more conventional – ‘Poseidon’ after the Greek god of the sea, drawing criticism from some Russians who complained the name was too foreign.
The new nuclear-powered cruise missile, which Putin has boasted could hit almost any point in the world and evade a U.S.-built missile shield, will be called ‘Burevestnik,’ Russian for the Storm Petrel bird, the defence ministry said.
The Storm Petrel is a seabird whose presence mariners believe foretells bad weather.
Putin’s boasts about the new weapons have been greeted with scepticism in Washington, where officials have cast doubt on whether Russia has added any new capabilities to its nuclear arsenal beyond those already known to the U.S. military and intelligence agencies.
Among the suggested names for the weapons systems that did not make the final cut: ‘Stalin,’ after the Soviet dictator, and ‘Palmyra,’ after the Syrian city which Russian forces helped Syrian President Bashar al-Assad take back from Islamic State. (Source: Reuters)
21 Mar 18. Japan Joining US Global Anti-Missile Shield ‘Directly Affects’ Russia’s Security Interests – Lavrov. The deployment of US missile shield components in Japan directly affects Russia’s national security and regional interests, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference with his Japanese counterpart in Tokyo.
“Japan’s plans for deploying a global missile defense system directly affect [the] security interests of Russia,” Lavrov noted on his state visit, reiterating Moscow’s concerns over Tokyo’s intentions “to actively engage” in US plans to deploy missile defense components on its territory.
“With full respect for Japan’s right to choose the way it protects its territory, we proceed from the premise that any action of any country should be based on the rule of security indivisibility. No one must ensure their security by infringing on the security of others,” the top Russian diplomat added.
Moscow has long warned that the American Aegis missile-defense system, which Tokyo has decided to acquire, citing the growing North Korea threat, undermines the global balance of power and can eventually be aimed against Russia, because of the system’s potential dual-purpose capability.
While Tokyo previously stated that the Aegis complex will be managed by Japan, Russia believes that Washington would still have operational control over its ally’s systems. Last year’s deployment by South Korea of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system was met with equal criticism by both Moscow and Beijing. For Moscow, both the THAAD deployment and the Aegis Ashore decisions represent the continued expansion of an American global anti-ballistic missile system.
The Russian Defense ministry earlier noted that some 400 anti-ballistic missiles will soon encircle Russia as part of the US military buildup. “A large-scale effort is ongoing to encircle Russia with an anti-missile shield. Anti-missile defense sites have been already set up on US soil, in California and Alaska,” Alexander Fomin, Russia’s deputy defense minister, told Russia 24 TV channel earlier in March. In December, Tokyo decided to boost its ballistic missile defense system against the backdrop of North Korean missile tests and approved the purchase and deployment of two Aegis Ashore batteries – expected to become operational by 2023 – at a cost of around $2bn. (Source: defense-aerospace.com/RT; posted March 21, 2018)
22 Mar 18. India Plans Up To 74% Foreign Investment In Defence. Technologies Without Approval. India plans to allow higher foreign investments in niche defence technologies under the automatic route as the world’s largest importer of arms and defence equipment looks to boost local manufacturing.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration aims to increase the foreign direct investment cap from the current 49 percent to 74 percent in such technologies, according to draft Defence Procurement Policy 2018 released by the Ministry of Defence. As of now, anything over the existing limit is allowed on a case-to-case basis.
India aims to be among the top five countries in aerospace and defence, the document said, seeking comments. The policy aims at reduce dependence on imports and become self-reliant in development and manufacturing of indigenous weapon systems.
The government plans to increase the domestic production nearly threefold to Rs 1.7 lakh crore by 2025. The key focus, according to the draft, will be on:
- Fighter aircraft
- Medium lift and utility helicopters
- Warships
- Land combat vehicles
- Autonomous weapon systems
- Missile systems
- Gun systems
- Small arms
- Ammunition and explosives
- Surveillance systems
- Electronic warfare systems
- Communication systems
- Night fighting enablers.
(Source: Google/Bloomberg)
21 Mar 18. Chairman Expresses Enthusiasm About Military Dimension in Afghanistan. The hard work of Afghan and coalition personnel in the train, advise, assist strategy is already paying off, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is encouraged by the progress.
Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford told reporters traveling with him “that from a military dimension, I am enthusiastic about the prospects for 2018.”
The chairman has met with Afghan and coalition senior leaders and is visiting with U.S. and coalition service members at the train-advise-assist commands in Afghanistan. He brought over a larger-than-normal team to talk face to face with those doing the heavy work in Afghanistan, and he hasn’t been disappointed.
Making Strides in Afghanistan
The Afghan military and intelligence apparatus is making strides in working together, Dunford said. He was particularly pleased that all Afghan leaders stressed the integration the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Defense and the National Directorate of Security.
“It was pretty clear to me that they were delivering a strong message of unity in terms of their level of cooperation as they get ready for the campaign season,” Dunford said.
Dunford spoke to American and coalition service members who advise at the Afghan corps level. He also spoke with members of the Army’s 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade, which started flowing into Afghanistan last month and is beginning its duties now. This unit will carry the train, advise and assist effort to lower echelons of command.
“The advisors are assisting, first and foremost, with the integration of the pillars of Afghan security forces — the National Directorate of Security, the conventional forces, the special operations forces, the aviation piece,” the chairman said.
Dunford said U.S. and Afghan leaders told him about an Afghan brigade-sized effort in the east to free an area from Taliban control. Under command of the 201st Corps here, it was a true unified operation, with intelligence from the security services fed to military and police forces. Afghan special operations kandaks, or battalions, launched shaping operations against Taliban strongpoints and then led clearing operations, Dunford said. Conventional army forces closely followed the special operators, and police units were fighting in the same formations. The valley was cleared and held.
“As soon as there was a legitimate Afghan government presence in the area, the people embraced them,” the chairman said.
Afghans Make Progress
“What the Afghans were able to do is use coalition [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] assets and fixed-wing aviation along with Afghan aviation,” he said.
The chairman called the operation a “textbook example” of a combined arms operation. “This is what we’ve wanted to do for a long time,” he added.
This is an example of what Afghan forces can do with coalition help, Dunford said, and Afghans can integrate coalition capabilities into their campaign plans for the future. “What I saw yesterday and today is, with a relatively small coalition footprint, we are able to leverage over 300,000 Afghan forces that have been built over time,” he said.
This should accelerate with the arrival of the U.S. assistance brigade. “I am actually very encouraged by all the feedback from the Afghans and the SFAB,” Dunford said. “We have the right organizational construct for 2018, and the advisors we are bringing in are the right people, at the right level, with the right training. That’s my takeaway.”
The effort is also helped by an Afghan initiative to create a more professional military. New leaders at the corps level “are very open-minded and flexible,” the chairman said.
“In 2018, we’re already starting to see that momentum is going to favor Afghan forces,” Dunford said. “The advisory effort will serve as an accelerant.” (Follow Jim Garamone on Twitter: @GaramoneDoDNews)
20 Mar 18. Officials Note Progress in Afghanistan, Difficulty for Taliban. Noting “breathtaking” progress the Afghan government and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani have made, a senior officer in the Resolute Support mission said there is never going to be a better time for the Taliban to start talking with the Afghan government about peace.
Army Brig. Gen Michael R. Fenzel, the chief of plans for the Resolute Support mission here, said Afghan security forces are a force in being. They do have problems, but they are being addressed, he said. The Afghans’ capabilities today are something he could only imagine during earlier deployments to the country, he added.
It goes beyond purely military aspects, Fenzel said, as the Afghan government is moving against corruption and nepotism and the government is working to replace older, less professional military officers with better-trained and younger ones.
Ghani’s security roadmap is sound, the general said, and the Afghan president is following the NATO alliance’s Joint Statement of Requirements – a list of tasks he must accomplish to keep the international community involved.
South Asia Strategy
President Donald J. Trump’s South Asia Strategy unveiled in August also played a large part, the general said, as America’s commitment to the Afghan theater is not time constrained now, and more advisors working at different levels with increased permissions.
“I won’t purport to speak for the Taliban, but I have to imagine that their big plans to march on Kabul as we left, and now they see us with no time line, additional commitments, overwhelming commitment of enablers that comes with this shift of the main effort from Iraq and Syria to Afghanistan, and they are seeing it on the ground. … It’s got to be demoralizing from the Taliban’s perpsective,” Fenzel said in an interview with reporters traveling with Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Some 88 percent of the Afghan population does not support the Taliban, Fenzel said. “You look where they are now as we enter this fighting season,” he said. “We are more capable as an advisory force than we’ve ever been before, and the Afghan fighting forces are more effective than they have ever been before.
“I have to wonder if they don’t say to themselves, ‘Perhaps now is as good as it is going to get for reconciliation,’” he continued. “That is our end state: getting to the negotiating table so we can realize peace.”
Ghani is open to negotiations, but he, the Afghan forces and the coalition will continue pressure against the Taliban to help them make the right decision for the country.
Army Maj. Gen. Christopher F. Bentley, senior advisor to the Ministry of Defense at U.S. Forces Afghanistan, has eight tours in Afghanistan, beginning in 2001. This is Afghanistan’s struggle, he said, noting that Ghani and his national unity government have defined the roadmap for the country. Though he and Army Gen. John M. Nicholson, the commander of the Resolute Support mission and of U.S. forces in Afghanistan helped to define the scope, he emphasized that success is an Afghan goal.
Bentley said the South Asia Strategy has caused many changes in Afghanistan. The biggest effect of the announcement was the realization among government leaders and the Afghan population that “America’s not leaving,” he said.
That changed the calculus in the country, he added, with government leaders and forces taking new heart and the Taliban realizing they could not just “wait out” the NATO mission. Taliban leaders realized that “they need to get in the arena or get left behind,” Bentley said.
Security in Kabul is High Priority
Security in Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul is front and center this year, Bentley said, as the nation also readies for elections. Whenever the election is, he added, the security situation will be such that it can happen.
Kabul is a growing challenge. In 2001, its population was around 1.2 million. It is now more than 5 million. The capital is the economic heartbeat of the country, and Afghan forces must provide for the safety of the citizens. “The security piece has been redefined over the last 90 days to better incorporate a holistic national defense infrastructure,” Bentley said.
Recent attacks in Kabul – as horrific as they are – are not military, he noted — they are terrorism, pure and simple. The Taliban cannot challenge Afghan forces in pitched battles, he said, and certainly cannot do so in Kabul. That is why they have reverted to attacks on civilian, soft targets, he explained.
Still, he added, these attacks draw the attention of the world.
“Every event that happens in Kabul, whether we define it as tactical or not, has a strategic implication,” he said. “We must allow for a secure Kabul that allows for the social and economic growth of its citizens.”
(Follow Jim Garamone on Twitter: @GaramoneDoDNews
20 Mar 18. Task Force Lion Continues Partnership with Iraqi Forces Against ISIS. A U.S.-led coalition task force named Task Force Lion, part of Operation Inherent Resolve, is continuing its efforts to support the Iraqi government in its fight against the remnant forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the task force’s commander told reporters at the Pentagon today via satellite from Iraq. Task Force Lion’s mission is to advise, assist, and enable the Iraqi security forces and build their capacity through training programs. The task force includes all four U.S. services, as well as coalition partners from seven different nations.
“We are the fifth rotation of this advise-and-assist task force, which began in late 2014, and we have been fortunate during our tour to participate in the ISF assault to liberate the last of the urban centers of the Middle Euphrates River valley that were under ISIS control here in western Anbar province,” Marine Corps Col. Seth W. B. Folsom said.
Leveraging Coalition Assets
The task force has routinely engaged with senior Iraqi unit leaders, assisting them in operational planning and intelligence collection, he said. Task Force Lion also has worked closely with Iraqi forces to leverage coalition intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and the coalition’s fire support capabilities to target and destroy ISIS forces over the last six months, he added.
From September to November, Folsom told reporters, Task Force Lion supported the Iraqi operation to take back the cities of Rayhanah, Anah, Qaim and Rawah. To accomplish the mission and support the Iraqi forces in their advance across more than 3,700 square miles of battle space, he said, the task force built three forward-positioned, expeditionary firebases and command centers with Iraqi partners, and the Marines, soldiers, sailors, and airmen conducted nearly 100 tactical ground movements totaling more than 11,000 miles.
In the three years since ISIS seized much of Iraq, the terrorists had prepared a daunting array of defenses along the main route through the Euphrates River valley, Folsom said, including minefields composed of hundreds of improvised explosive devices.
In those three years, ISIS fighters subjugated the Iraqi citizens across Anbar province and one of the greatest concerns the task force had as they helped the ISF plan and execute their operation was the potential for civilian casualties, he added.
Clear Mandate
“Our mandate was clear: the Iraqi citizens had already suffered enough under ISIS’ unjust rule, and so it was imperative that we avoid civilian casualties,” Folsom said.
Since the Iraqi forces liberated western Anbar, life for the Iraqis there has slowly begun returning to some semblance of normalcy, the colonel said. The Iraqi forces are working closely with civil authorities to stabilize towns such as Anah and Rawah, restoring essential services, and removing hundreds of pieces of unexploded ordnance left behind by ISIS to kill, maim, and terrorize returning Iraqi citizens, he said.
Internally displaced persons are returning to Anbar in greater and greater numbers, Folsom said, noting that least 20,000 out of 30,000 citizens who were there have returned to Anbar.
“[The Iraqi security forces] are right to be proud of their accomplishments,” the colonel said. “My team and I are likewise proud to have worked with our Iraqi partners during this critical moment in the history of their country.”
ISIS no longer controls any of the population centers in Iraq, Folsom said, but small ISIS elements still seek sanctuary in remote areas in the deserts and mountains, and ISIS elements are attempting to re-establish themselves in populated areas.
Iraqi Priorities
The terrorist organization has one goal in Iraq, and that is to survive, Folsom told reporters. The Iraqi general he advises hasn’t changed his posture in the last year, he added, and has continued to make it a priority to secure the urban centers and the major routes throughout the province and to secure and reinforce the border with Syria and o hunt down the small pockets of ISIS fighters in the desert. The Iraqi general is fond of saying, ‘ISIS began in the desert, and we’re going to finish them in the desert,’ Folsom said.
“When I think about ISIS as it is now, these small pockets of fighters who are having problems communicating with each other and building a coherent strategy — I can say with confidence that their days are numbered,” Folsom said. Iraq’s national elections are approaching, he noted, and he said he is advising his Iraqi partners as they develop their plans to safeguard that important milestone.
The task force’s training effort to build and develop the Iraqi border guard forces remains constant, Folsom said, as does its effort to continue the professional development of the Iraqi security forces at all levels.
“Iraq’s future is brighter than it was three years ago, and the men and women of Task Force Lion remain committed to our partnership with the [Iraqi forces] to ensure the people of Iraq never again have to face the horrors of ISIS,” Folsom said. (Source: US DoD)
20 Mar 18. Arctic Conditions Provide Valuable Lessons in Alaska Exercise. Alaskan Command, a subordinate unified command under U.S. Northern Command, has proven that summer soldiers or sunshine patriots do not exist in the U.S. military. More than 1,500 U.S. military personnel braved snowy and icy conditions and temperatures that dipped well below zero to participate in the multiservice exercise Arctic Edge last week, primarily in the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex and Long-Range Radar System sites in Alaska. Navy and Coast Guard experts also discussed maritime scenarios during a tabletop exercise in Alaska’s capital of Juneau.
The exercise was the first of its kind in more than three decades, and it was the largest joint exercise scheduled in Alaska this year, said Army Lt. Col. Joshua Gaspard, Joint Training and Readiness chief at Alaskan Command. Arctic Edge 18 focused on defending the homeland in extreme cold weather conditions found in Arctic environments, he said, noting that previous Arctic Edge exercises focused on defense support to civil authorities following a natural disaster.
“Alaska provides a great opportunity to conduct this exercise over a great swath of land,” Gaspard said. “The Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex is a great venue for this exercise.”
Vast Exercise Area
The exercise covered 1.5 million acres on the ground and 65,000 square miles of inland air space. Also, 42,000 square nautical miles of sea in the Gulf of Alaska was taken into consideration for a maritime tabletop exercise in Juneau. Service members from multiple forces were spread throughout a 1,100-mile area, Gaspard said, which is the equivalent distance from New York City to Miami.
Some of those training included service members from U.S. Special Operations Command North. The command’s director of operations, who for security reasons cannot be identified by name, said it was a great opportunity to train in the extreme weather conditions and do so jointly with conventional forces.
“Alaska is really the only access to above the Arctic Circle and that kind of extreme-environment training,” he said. “It’s just an absolutely great opportunity for us to get up here and work our mission sets.”
A New Understanding
The operations director said his team walked away with a new understanding of what it takes to operate effectively and efficiently in the extreme cold, and how to integrate with other forces at a tactical level.
“We’re used to doing that around the globe, but it’s an interesting challenge to do it up here in an arctic environment, in March, in Alaska,” he said. “Obviously, the extreme weather, extreme temperature and visibility conditions make a lot of those operations a lot more difficult than they’d normally be, but we’re working out some additional processes that make sure that we’re doing these operations safely and effectively so we don’t have to worry about integrating in other parts of the world.”
The exercise comprised a series of isolated vignettes that included a joint Army and Marine Corps live-fire exercise on snow- and ice-covered ranges, and several elements that focused on defense capabilities, Gaspard said.
Army Lt. Col. Josh Davis, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, said Arctic Edge was the second time his battalion has worked in a joint mission with the Marine Corps since he became commander.
He added the live-fire exercise with the Marine infantry and a Marine air defense unit provided meaningful training.
“We’re always stronger together, and there’s no power like joint power,” Davis said. “If we practice jointly, we’re going to be that much more capable if we go do this for real anywhere in the world.”
Davis said environments are never completely predictable, and Alaska provides a unique environment with some of the toughest conditions on the planet. “If we perform here, then there’s virtually nowhere else we can’t perform,” he added.
Gaspard said the climate and rugged terrain also provided a unique and valuable area for testing new equipment. “This has also given us a chance to relook at our training progression to operate up here,” he said, “so that’s revolutionizing how we would prepare our forces to come and operate in an environment like this and what that progression would look like.”
Preparation for forces coming from the Lower 48 included extreme cold-weather training, he said.
“You’re not going to go from zero to Alaska in a week,” Gaspard said. “There’s going to be a training progression to validate what a good progression model looks like.”
Field training for Arctic Edge 18 ran March 12-16, and a tabletop exercise will continue through March 23. The exercise was conducted by Alaskan Command under Northcom’s authority, and participants included U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, from active duty, Reserve and National Guard units, as well as Defense Department civilian employees and contractors.
“The goal of Arctic Edge 18 is to train military forces to fight and win in the Arctic,” said Air Force Lt. Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach, Alaskan Command’s commander. “The exercise is a great opportunity to develop teams and relationships across services, which allows us to protect and defend the United States.” (Source: US DoD)
20 Mar 18. Ukraine signs defence co-operation agreement with Kuwait. Ukraine and Kuwait have taken steps towards further bilateral defence co-operation, having signed an agreement that will provide a legal framework for the development of military training and education, among others.
Signed between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the emir of Kuwait, Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the two countries will exchange intelligence and other data, bringing together their respective defence industries and capabilities in a number of ways. This will include armament and equipment supply, and the maintenance, repair, and overhaul of equipment, in addition to personnel training.
“The document creates a legal framework for the development and implementation of appropriate programmes, joint research, joint production, and sale of defence equipment through the use of technologies,” the Ukrainian ministry of defence says. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
20 Mar 18. Wind Tunnel to Spur Development of Hypersonic Aircraft. China is building a world-leading hypersonic wind tunnel to test hypersonic aircraft that can travel at speeds of Mach 25 (30,627kph), media reported, saying it will aid the development of future spacecraft that can transport people or payloads into space at far less cost. The 265-meter-long wind tunnel, being developed by the State Key Laboratory of High-Temperature Gas Dynamics, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, can simulate wind speeds of between Mach 10 and 25, Han Guilai, a researcher with the lab, said in a China Central Television (CCTV) interview over the weekend.
“China has had the ability to conduct research on hypersonic aircraft. The hypersonic wind tunnel provides a key platform that supports the technological research and verification of hypersonic aircraft used in multiple fields such as aviation, aerospace and the military,” Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Hypersonic aircraft are defined as aircraft that travel at speeds of Mach 5, five times the speed of sound, or more, South China Morning Post reported in November 2017. Han said the current wind tunnel can simulate flights up to Mach 5 to 9, according to the CCTV report. Although China’s current wind tunnel is a world-leader, Han said it faces pressure from other countries as the world races to reach higher speeds. U.S. media has been speculating about China’s hypersonic weapons tests since 2014, with the Washington Free Beacon reporting on the seventh test of the WU-14 hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) in April 2016, claiming it is an ultra high-speed missile capable of penetrating U.S. air defense systems. A hypersonic wind tunnel can simulate and present the status of air vehicles’ thermal power and aerodynamic force as if they are flying at a hypersonic speed, according to Song. It is expected that the tunnel will be up and running by 2020 to assist in the development of China’s hypersonic weapons, South China Morning Post reported, citing Zhao Wei, a senior scientist working on the project. As China starts developing a more advanced hypersonic wind tunnel, it is matching other countries including the U.S. with advanced technology in this field, Song said.
The U.S. military tested a Mach 20 unmanned aircraft, the HTV-2, in 2011 but the hypersonic flight lasted only a few minutes before the vehicle crashed into the Pacific Ocean, South China Morning Post reported. (Source: defense-aerospace.com/Global Times)
20 Mar 18. India’s OFB outlines commitment to modernise. India’s state-run Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has outlined plans to transition from a defence manufacturer to a systems integrator by modernising facilities and promoting closer engagement with private-sector suppliers.
In a statement by the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 19 March, OFB Chairman Sunil Kumar Chourasia said the group had, to date, achieved an indigenisation rate of 87% with the remaining 13% signifying imported components and raw materials.
In comments made at an event to mark ‘Ordnance Factories Day’ in Kolkata, Chourasia added that the OFB has also “nurtured” about 4,000 private-sector vendors and that the group has offered such suppliers a “100% indigenous solution”, meaning that the OFB is looking to transfer full technologies to private-sector suppliers in support of their production activities. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
20 Mar 18. Japan sets sights on carrier-based fighter jets. The Japanese government is firming up plans to buy U.S. stealth fighters and modify its Izumo helicopter destroyer to accommodate them. But some argue that this step, aimed at deterring China and North Korea, fits poorly with Tokyo’s defense-only policy.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s Research Commission on National Security will outline a proposal Tuesday for changes to defense guidelines. These will include procuring short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft — referring to F-35B stealth planes — and turning the Izumo helicopter destroyer into a base for other air power, including fighter jets.
The party will submit fleshed-out proposals in May for the government to discuss. Revised guidelines are due out late this year.
The F-35B requires less than 200 meters of space for takeoff, according to a defense-industry insider — much less than the F-35A now used by the Air Self-Defense Force. This ability to operate on shorter runways would enhance the nation’s ability to defend far-flung islands, a government source said.
F-35Bs would also be easier to use with aircraft carriers, though the Self-Defense Forces currently have none. The Defense Ministry is studying whether F-35Bs — potentially including the U.S. military’s — could take off from and land on the flat Izumo deck.
With tensions mounting over North Korea’s nuclear and missile development, and China building up its air and naval forces, Tokyo hopes to present a stronger deterrent. The government and the LDP envision deploying the refitted Izumo carrier with F-35Bs to the southwest, where they could respond quickly to problems in such areas as the Senkaku Islands, which are administered by Japan and claimed by China as the Diaoyu. This would enable Japan to repel attacks by enemy fighters or land-based forces.
Tokyo is particularly focused on China, which has been expanding its maritime military activities in the East China Sea and elsewhere. Being able to use F-35B fighters at sea would significantly improve operational flexibility, a former ASDF officer said.
But opposition lawmakers argue that turning the Izumo helicopter destroyer into a de facto aircraft carrier may depart from the constitutionally mandated defensive military posture. The government’s interpretation of the constitution’s war-renouncing Article 9 stipulates that Japan will not possess “offensive weapons designed to be used only for the mass destruction of another country,” specifically naming attack aircraft carriers as an example.
A senior Ministry of Defense official dismissed these concerns, saying that the Izumo would be a “defensive aircraft carrier.” But the line between offensive and defensive in this context is unclear.
Cost is a concern as well. One proposal would involve procuring 20 or so F-35B jets. These are even pricier than the F-35A, which costs 15bn yen ($141m) each. (Source: Defense News Early Bird)
19 Mar 18. Putin pledges to reduce Russia military spending. President Vladimir Putin has said on that Russia would cut its military spending, a day after he won a presidential election with a landslide.
‘We have plans to decrease our defence spending both this year and next. But this will not lead to any decline in the country’s defence capacity,’ he said during a meeting with other candidates on 19 March.
‘We will not allow for any sort of arms race,’ he said.
Putin appeared to set the course for exactly that when he unveiled a new generation of ‘invincible’ nuclear weapons during a state of the nation address earlier this month.
Russia’s military efforts were presented as a response to recent actions by the US, which last month unveiled plans to revamp its nuclear arsenal and develop new low-yield atomic weapons.
The announcement came as relations between the global powers plummeted to levels not seen since the Cold War over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria and accusations that Moscow interfered in the US presidential election in 2016.
Since then, London has accused Moscow of being behind the poisoning of a former double agent on British soil, leading to tit-for-tat diplomat expulsions.
In the meeting on 19 March Putin insisted Moscow would use diplomatic channels to settle differences ‘with our partners’ in an apparent reference to the West.
“From our side, we will do all we can so that the arguments with our [international] partners be resolved by political and diplomatic means,’ he said.
‘It goes without saying that not everything depends on us – as with love, both sides have to be involved, otherwise there can be no love at all,’ he said. (Source: Shephard)
19 Mar 18. No-confidence motion against Indian government increases likelihood of fractured parliament and slowdown in reforms. Key Points:
- On 15 March, the YSR Congress Party filed a no-confidence motion against the Indian government.
- The motion indicates a probable early election and the formation of an opposition alliance that will unite to contest the next election.
- Although the BJP is likely to retain power it will probably be more dependent on coalition support, which is likely to slow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reform agenda during his second term.
Event
On 15 March, the Yuvajana Shramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), a regional political party from India’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh, filed a no-confidence motion against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in parliament’s lower house. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
19 Mar 18. Dunford Arrives in Afghanistan to Assess Campaign Plan. Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived here today to assess the campaign plan now that all personnel are in place and the South Asia strategy is in full swing.
“I want to talk to the actual advisors who are working on the ground with the Afghans every day and make some conclusions about where we are,” Dunford told reporters traveling with him.
The chairman is traveling with a larger than normal party, including senior officials on the Joint Staff who specialize in intelligence, strategy and logistics.
Army Command Sgt. Maj. John W. Troxell, the chairman’s senior enlisted advisor, is also in the party. These officials will travel throughout Afghanistan to gather assessments for the chairman on how the effort is going, ultimately enabling Dunford to get a full picture of the various challenges ahead.
Security Force Assistance Brigade
The general will meet with senior Afghan and U.S. officials to get a top-down look at the situation, but he really wants to meet with soldiers of the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade, which deployed to Afghanistan in February and is now close to full strength. The SFAB is the heart and soul of the train, advise and assist mission. Members of the unit will advise Afghan units down to the kandak-level — about the size of a battalion.
The brigade is composed of officers and senior noncommissioned officers with deployments to Afghanistan in the past and experience working with Afghan forces. They are all graduates of the Army’s Military Advisor Training Academy at Fort Benning, Georgia. They will serve nine-month tours of duty in Afghanistan.
“With the advisory effort now, I want to get a good feel for the campaign plan and what they expect to do over the next couple of months,” Dunford said. “I also want to have a discussion on measures of effectiveness — how will we know as this is going on over the next couple of months we are where we need to be in implementing the Afghan’s plan.”
4-Year Plan
This effort is all tied to the four-year plan promulgated by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani last year.
There are many moving parts, the chairman said. He wants to understand progress in building the Afghan military aviation enterprise.
The chairman will also get a chance to see NATO forces operating in the country. NATO and partner forces contribute to about a third of the train, advise and assist effort and are “inextricably linked” down to the tactical level, he said.
Dunford knows Afghanistan well, as he served as the commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force from February 2013 to August 2014. This visit should give the chairman a good baseline for the new strategy as Afghan forces confront a period of high operational tempo.
The chairman said he also wants to ensure the effort is properly resourced, and to examine the Afghan government’s reconciliation plan.
“There will always be refinements to the force and the better we can understand it, the better we can support them and provide advice to the secretary,” Dunford said. (Follow Jim Garamone on Twitter: @GaramoneDODNews)
19 Mar 18. F-16 enables India to be world’s largest fighter aircraft ecosystem: Lockheed Martin. As India continues to shop around to add new fighter jets into its air force, Lockheed Martin has said that it intends to create far more an F-16 ‘assembly line’ in India. Washington: F-16 jets give India a unique opportunity to be at the centre of the world’s largest fighter aircraft ecosystem and it is the only programme with proven performance to meet its operational needs and ‘Make in India’ priorities, according to an American defence company.
As India continues to shop around to add new fighter jets into its air force, Lockheed Martin, which is the world’s largest defence company which has offered to relocate its entire production line to India has said that it intends to create far more an F-16 “assembly line” in India.
“We plan to introduce two new words into the lexicon of international fighter aircraft manufacturing: “India” and “exclusive.” F-16 production in India will be exclusive—something that has never before been presented by any other fighter aircraft manufacturer, past or present,” Vivek Lall, vice president, Strategy and Business Development, Lockheed Martin told PTI in an interview.
“The F-16 gives Indian industry a unique opportunity to be at the centre of the world’s largest fighter aircraft ecosystem,” Lall said. “The F-16 provides unprecedented manufacturing, sustainment, upgrade and export opportunities to Indian industry well into the future. Only Lockheed Martin and its Indian partners can deliver the capabilities and industrial benefits to truly propel India’s military and defence industrial base into the future,” Lall said.
He has played a key role in some of the big ticket American military sales to India, including the General Atomics-built Guardian Predator Drones announced by the US last year. Known as a renowned global aerospace leader, Lall recently joined Lockheed after spending a few years in General Atomics.
“The F-16 is the only aircraft programme in this competition with the proven performance and industrial scale to meet India’s operational needs and Make in India priorities,” he said, claiming that no competing aircraft comes close to matching the F-16’s operational effectiveness and industrial success.
“The success of the F-16—3,000 F-16s flying today with 25 leading air forces—is a testament to the cost-effective, combat-proven capabilities the F-16 delivers. That combination of cost and capabilities is why F-16 production opportunities today total more than 400 aircraft, including India,” he said.
Lockheed is offering F-16 Block 70, which is the most advanced version of the aircraft. “The F-16 continues to aerodynamically outperform its competitors and advanced technologies are continually integrated into the F-16. Block 70 mission systems are completely new and leverage technologies from the F-35,” Lall said.
The F-16 remains the backbone of the US Air Force, the world’s most capable air force, he said. Structural and avionic upgrades to the US F-16 fleet will extend service life to 2045, while the F-16 becomes even more capable as technology enhancements from the F-22 and F-35 are continuously integrated across all three platforms, he added.
Responding to a question, Lall said the offer from Lockheed is cost advantage for India. The single-engine F-16 has a 30-40% lower operation and maintenance cost per flying hour than twin-engine aircraft in its class, according to figures published by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defence, he said.
“Whether you’re talking about battlefields or budgets, the F-16 is the clear choice for India,” he said. Lall, however, refused to reply questions on F-35. “Any discussions regarding potential new F-35 customers begin at the government-to-government level. It is not our place to speak on behalf of the US government or the government of India,” he said.
Notably the US Pacific Command Commander Admiral Harry Harris during his two recent Congressional testimonies have supported selling F-35 to India. “At the moment, India is considering a number of US systems for purchase, all of which USPACOM fully supports: the F-16 for India’s large single-engine, multi-role fighter acquisition programme, Harris told the Congressional committees last week.
He also said the purchase includes, F/A-18E for India’s multi-engine, carrier-based fighter purchase; a reorder of 12-15 P-8Is; a potential purchase of SeaGuardian UAS; MH-60R multi-role sea-based helicopter; and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. (Source: News Now/Live Mint)
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Harris Corporation is a leading technology innovator, solving customers’ toughest mission-critical challenges by providing solutions that connect, inform and protect. Harris supports government and commercial customers in more than 100 countries and has approximately $6 billion in annual revenue. The company is organized into three business segments: Communication Systems, Space and Intelligence Systems and Electronic Systems. Learn more at harris.com.
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23 Mar 18. Smiths Group shares drop 10% after hit to engineering group’s profits. Shares in Smiths Group have dropped in early trading after the UK engineering conglomerate reported a 12 per cent fall in profits. The FTSE 100 group, which makes products ranging from airport security scanners and bomb detectors to medical infusion pumps, said pre-tax profits in the six months to the end of January were 12 per cent down on the same period last year, at £217m. Operating profits fell by a similar degree, with revenues down by a more modest 4 per cent to £1.55bn. Profit were dented by higher research and development costs and the integration of security business Morpho Detection into the group last year. Still, the company is more positive about the months ahead. CEO Andy Reynolds Smith said: Smiths Group made an encouraging start to the year as we continued to execute our strategy for sustainable growth. The Group’s current trading, the strong order books in John Crane and Smiths Detection, as well as the substantial ongoing programme of new product launches in Smiths Medical, support our confidence that the Group’s growth rate will accelerate over the balance of the year. At current rates, foreign exchange will remain a headwind for the full year. (Source: FT.com)
22 Mar 18. Elbit Systems Receives Governmental Approvals to Acquire Universal Avionics Systems Corporation. Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESLT and TASE: ESLT) (“Elbit Systems”) announced today that it is in the process of completing the acquisition of the privately-owned U.S. company Universal Avionics Systems Corporation through an asset acquisition agreement. The parties received the necessary government approvals for the transaction. The closing of the transaction is anticipated to occur in the coming weeks.
20 Mar 18. Israel’s Elbit Systems sees more acquisitions after IMI. Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems (ESLT.TA) (ESLT.O), which is in the final stages of buying state-owned rival IMI Systems, is already on the hunt for more acquisitions, its chief executive said on Tuesday.
The Israeli government said it expects to complete the 1.8bn shekel ($517m) sale of weapons maker IMI by July 1, pending regulatory approval. The deal will likely make Elbit the country’s biggest defense contractor.
Elbit, a maker of drones, pilot helmet displays and cyber security systems, also reported higher fourth-quarter net profit on Tuesday on record revenue.
“The acquisition of IMI will allow us to sell more, mainly around the world, and allow more production,” CEO Bezhalel Machlis told Reuters.
He said it would bring synergies primarily to three areas: long-range precision rockets, active protection for land-based systems, and guided munitions.
Machlis said there is a trend in the industry towards consolidation and he expects Elbit to buy up more companies.
“Our target markets are the United States, Europe, Australia … We are continuing to look for acquisitions. Our balance sheet can support this,” he said. “There are a few things we are looking into in depth in Elbit’s target markets.”
He also noted that a number of defense budgets globally were on the rise, with the areas in which Elbit is focused receiving increased priority.
Elbit said it earned $2.01 per diluted share excluding one-time items in the fourth quarter, up from $1.82 a year earlier. Revenue rose to $1.01bn from $953.7m. Elbit’s order backlog climbed to $7.65bn at the end of December from $6.91bn a year earlier. Elbit declared a dividend of 44 cents per share for the fourth quarter, unchanged from the third quarter. (Source: glstrade.com/Reuters)
21 Mar 18. HAL share offer marginally undersubscribed. The initial public offering (IPO) of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was marginally undersubscribed when the offer closed on the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) on 20 March. NSE statistics show that 98.57% of the on-offer 34.1 million shares in state-owned HAL were subscribed to by investors following the three-day IPO. The statistics show that while qualified institutional investors (mainly banks and investment companies) oversubscribed to HAL shares by 1.73 times, private investors (or non-institutional investors and retail individual investors) as well as HAL employees all failed to purchase their fully allotted subscriptions. Shares in HAL were selling at a price band of between INR1,215 and INR1,240, meaning the IPO could have raised as much as INR41.83bn or about USD641m. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
21 Mar 18. Melrose flies into trouble as its pension pledges and knowledge of defence are questioned. The countdown to the Maundy Thursday vote for the £8.1bn Melrose bid for GKN approaches rapidly.
It cannot come too soon for the Melrose three, Chris Miller, David Roper and Simon Peckham, who have not enjoyed the harsh light shone on the personal wealth extracted from the financial engineer and their commercial acumen. Until the GKN assault, Melrose attracted admiration in the City for its ability to identify undervalued industrial groups, polishing them up and making quick money. No one worried about governance, social impact or outsized rewards. That has changed and Melrose has become an overnight political embarrassment. Pledges made to inject £1bn into the pension fund are challenged alongside its R&D and other commitments.
GKN’s defence expertise is in the United States, including the F-35 joint strike fighter which will be on the UK’s new carriers
As it makes ever more promises that are binding under Takeover Panel codes, investors must balance the odds of a fast turnaround with the need to adopt a more responsible approach.
Certainly GKN rested on its laurels for too long. But the decision to put its automotive enterprise together with Dana of the US and let aerospace fly has encouraged some investors to give it a second life.
It may be too late for the 5.7 per cent of shareholders who accepted Melrose’s first offer to change its mind.
Aviva Investors did itself no favours in the financial community or within the Aviva group itself with its decision to back its 5.1 per cent Melrose holding over GKN.
Melrose’s knowledge of defence and aerospace looks light.
It argues that GKN is not a top Ministry of Defence supplier, but no one said it was. The defence expertise is in the United States, including the F-35s which will be on the UK’s new carriers.
It described Britain’s Aerospace Growth Partnership as a ‘sector deal’ when it is an industry and government lobby forum.
It mistakenly renamed the ‘Wing of Tomorrow’ as the ‘Wing of the Future’.
Not surprising that Airbus is concerned about an owner that fails to understand precision. Even if Melrose scrapes victory, the path will not be clear.
The rigorous Committee on Foreign Investment in the US needs to be satisfied. If Melrose cannot promise it will protect GKN aerospace from Chinese or other unwanted buyers, it will be stymied. Risky indeed.
Belt and braces
Picking off companies quoted in London is easy-peasy. Mispriced equity valuations, Brexit devaluation and open markets make anything possible.
While eyes have been focused on the Melrose-GKN tussle, predators have been snapping up forgotten engineers. (Source: Google/This Is Money)
20 Mar 18. General Dynamics raises bid for sector peer CSRA to fend off CACI. U.S. defense contractor General Dynamics (GD.N) on Tuesday raised its offer for sector peer CSRA Inc (CSRA.N) to $9.7bn, including $2.8bn in debt, in an attempt to top an unsolicited bid from CACI International Inc (CACI.N). General Dynamics’ revised offer under a merger agreement with CSRA’s board represents an equity value of $6.9bn or $41.25 per share in cash, compared with the prior $6.8bn or $40.75 per share. The revised bid from General Dynamics for CSRA, a provider of information technology and related services to the U.S. defense department, is just shy of CACI’s $41.79 per share cash-and-stock offer, based on CACI’s closing price on Monday.
Given the all-cash nature of General Dynamics’s offer, it has considerably less risk and may prevail over CACI’s bid, analysts have said.
“We still think the likelihood of General Dynamics and CSRA deal remains high,” CFRA Research analyst David Holt wrote in a note.
Shares of CSRA rose as much as 1 percent to $41.44, while those of General Dynamic gained 1.3 percent to $226.90.
On Sunday, CACI, which sells information services to national security agencies, offered to buy CSRA for $44 per share, consisting of $15 per share in cash and 0.184 CACI shares for each CSRA share.
CACI’s stock fell 7.5 percent on Monday, lowering the offer’s overall price. The company’s shares rose as much as 5 percent to $152.80 in afternoon trading on Tuesday.
“The rally in CACI’s shares is a reflection of investors thinking that General Dynamics will prevail, and that CACI will not put itself in this leveraged position,” Credit Suisse analyst Robert Spingarn told Reuters over the phone.
“It remains to be seen though if the CACI management sees it differently.”
CACI said on Tuesday it was reviewing General Dynamics’ revised offer.
While CACI has been trying to scale up through acquisitions, General Dynamics expects a deal with CSRA to help grab more of the revised defense budget.
Federal information technology and services spending, down sharply over the past few years due to cuts in defense budget, is expected to pick up again as President Donald Trump seeks to bolster military spending.
(Source: Reuters)
20 Mar 18. GKN eyes aero-engine future if it escapes hostile Melrose bid. Finance director warns that engineering company ‘could lose for the wrong reasons.’ GKN would explore reshaping its aerospace business through disposals and acquisitions to focus on higher margin aero-engines should it escape the clutches of hostile bidder Melrose Industries. Jos Sclater, finance director, told the Financial Times in an interview this week that the fate of the 259-year-old engineering company was “on a knife-edge” as investors prepare to cast their votes in the final phase of the two month takeover battle. While long-term shareholders understood what was at stake, more than 20 per cent of the group was now held by short-term investors who had bet on a deal, he said. “We could lose for the wrong reasons.” Investors have until March 29 to weigh the merits of GKN’s defence against Melrose’s offer. Should they accept the bid they would have 60 per cent of an industrial turnround company and £1.4bn in cash, with the promise of future payouts when GKN and its other industrial businesses were improved and sold on. With GKN they would have 47 per cent of a UK and US-listed automotive supplier, £2.5bn in cash from disposals and 100 per cent of a standalone aerospace structures and engine components supplier. In recent weeks, leading investors representing 9 per cent of GKN have come out in support of the company while Melrose has won the backing of shareholders holding about 7 per cent. What we want to grow is the engines business Jos Sclater, finance director Mr Sclater said GKN’s management was not just focused on the immediate break-up of the business announced in its defence. Should GKN remain independent, it intended to build a coherent aerospace supplier that would deliver more value to shareholders. This might mean breaking off the aerospace structures unit — which makes wing and fuselage components for civil and military customers — from the unit that makes engine components and is a supplier to Pratt & Whitney, General Electric, Safran and Rolls-Royce. This was “definitely a possibility at some point,” Mr Sclater said. “What we want to grow is the engines business. We might be a consolidator on one end and consolidated on the other if we had a perfect world.” Last year, the aerospace division returned £3.6bn of GKN’s total £10.4bn in sales. Aero-engines accounted for sales of $1.5bn, 80 per cent of which was commercial. Mr Sclater stressed that no decision had been taken and management would first have to deliver on promises to improve cash flow and earnings from aerospace, made as part of the group’s fierce defence against Melrose. GKN has promised to raise margins from less than 10 per cent to at least 14 per cent by the end of 2020 as part of its transformation plan, called Project Boost. Recommended GKN and Melrose: billion pound deals in the art of communication GKN gets support of third-biggest shareholder to hold off Melrose elrose fights for GKN with vow to pump £1bn into pension fund Margins in the engines business are significantly higher than in structures, the division which threw up problems last year in North America, leading to the profit warning that helped make GKN vulnerable to Melrose’s bid. GKN management believes that investors have, in the past, failed to value the engines business appropriately, where risk sharing partnerships on new engines are maturing rapidly and will generate $13.5bn over 30 years. A key part of GKN’s defence has been to elaborate on the cash flow and investment profiles of the business. GKN has compared the unit to rival engine suppliers, such as MTU of Germany, which trade on a higher earnings multiple. However, analysts cautioned against hasty action. “I would like them to settle down and sort out the North American aerospace business first and then talk to us,” said Sash Tusa, at Agency Partners. “Show us you can manage businesses rather than just breaking them up. Then come back and talk.” (Source: FT.com)
20 Mar 18. GKN, fighting off Melrose, says pensions safe under its plan.
British engineering company GKN (GKN.L), fighting off a hostile takeover bid from Melrose (MRON.L), said on Tuesday it had a plan in place to protect its pension scheme as the two sides locked horns over the latest issue to emerge.
Melrose had said on Monday it would inject about 1bn pounds into GKN’s pension scheme as part of efforts to convince shareholders to back its 7.8bn pound takeover bid and win over political opponents of the deal.
Shareholders have until March 29 to choose Melrose’s offer, or back a plan from GKN’s management to split off the group’s auto business and combine it with U.S.-based Dana Incorporated, leaving GKN focused on aerospace parts.
GKN on Tuesday sought to highlight the merits of its plan for pensioners. GKN said it had a binding agreement with pension trustees which suited its pensioners and its shareholders.
“GKN has a clear and comprehensive plan to reduce its pension liabilities and eliminate the deficit in its UK pension schemes,” GKN’s finance director Jos Sclater said in its statement on Tuesday.
GKN noted Melrose’s comments on Monday which related to GKN’s pension scheme: “These comments are misleading as to the true status of GKN’s pension obligations.” Melrose said GKN’s deal to combine its auto business with Dana would leave the remaining GKN business saddled with a disproportionate part of the company’s British pension scheme liabilities.
“GKN are seeking to hide the true picture,” a Melrose spokeswoman said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
“They are not proposing to make any further payments into the scheme to reduce liabilities. Whereas Melrose will pay 60m pounds a year for as long as necessary.”
The fate of deficit-ridden pension schemes during changes of ownership have been in focus in Britain after department store chain BHS collapsed in 2016.
Some politicians have raised concerns that the GKN scheme would be weakened by Melrose’s bid, prompting Melrose to make the 1bn pound pledge over its ownership period, a huge increase on its previous plan to add 150m pounds.
Melrose’s hostile bid has so far split GKN shareholders. Columbia Threadneedle, a top 10 shareholder in GKN with a 3.4 percent stake according to Reuters data, said on Monday it would reject the offer, joining top 30 investor Jupiter Asset Management’s Steve Davies. While Aviva Investors, also in the top 30, has lent support to the Melrose bid. (Source: Reuters)
20 Mar 18. KAI prepares new MRO enterprise. Key Points:
- Korea Aerospace Industries invests in new aerospace maintenance firm
- New company positioned to pursue commercial and military support contracts
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has made concrete steps in its plans to establish a company dedicated to providing maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services.
KAI announced on 16 March that it has entered agreements with eight local firms and agencies to set up the new MRO entity, which will be positioned to pursue commercial and military business opportunities.
KAI said it would hold a 65.5% stake in the new MRO company, which would have a total planned equity of KRW135bn (USD126m). (Source: IHS Jane’s)
20 Mar 18. Elbit Systems Ltd. (the “Company”) (NASDAQ and TASE: ESLT), the international high technology company, reported today its consolidated results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2017. Management Comment: Bezhalel (Butzi) Machlis, President and CEO of Elbit Systems, commented: “From both a financial and a strategic perspective, 2017 was another good year for Elbit Systems. Moreover, we ended the year on a high note, surpassing one billion dollars of revenue in a quarter for the first time in our history. The business environment in which we operate is robust. We are seeing a number of defense budgets globally on the rise, with the areas in which we focus receiving increased priority. Our business is geographically diverse, divided fairly evenly among North America, Europe, Israel and Asia-Pacific, providing an additional element of stability to our business. We are particularly pleased with the continued increase in our backlog, whose year-end level is up 11% versus last year, and which contains a higher portion of longer-term projects than in recent years. The continued backlog growth we have witnessed over the past few quarters translated into fourth quarter revenue growth of 6% year-over-year. All this has enhanced Elbit Systems’ position as a leading global provider of technologically advanced defense and homeland security solutions.”
Fourth quarter 2017 results:
Revenues in the fourth quarter of 2017 were $1,009.6m, as compared to $953m in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Non-GAAP(*) gross profit amounted to $288.7m (28.6% of revenues) in the fourth quarter of 2017, as compared to $288.5m (30.3% of revenues) in the fourth quarter of 2016. GAAP gross profit in the fourth quarter of 2017 was $283.5m (28.1% of revenues), as compared to $280.8m (29.4% of revenues) in the fourth quarter of 2016. The decline in the gross profit rate was mainly as a result of the mix of programs sold in the quarter.
Research and development expenses, net, were $72.5m (7.2% of revenues) in the fourth quarter of 2017, as compared to $67.0m (7.0% of revenues) in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Marketing and selling expenses, net, were $81.2m (8.0% of revenues) in the fourth quarter of 2017, as compared to $88.8m (9.3% of revenues) in the fourth quarter of 2016.
General and administrative expenses, net, were $26.2m (2.6% of revenues) in the fourth quarter of 2017, as compared to $37.6m (3.9% of revenues) in the fourth quarter of 2016. The significant decrease in general and administrative expenses in the fourth quarter of 2017 resulted mainly from revaluation of liabilities related to assets and activities acquired in prior years.
Non-GAAP(*) operating income was $110.5m (10.9% of revenues) in the fourth quarter of 2017, as compared to $97.3m (10.2% of revenues) in the fourth quarter of 2016. GAAP operating income in the fourth quarter of 2017 was $103.6m (10.3% of revenues), as compared to $87.5m (9.2% of revenues) in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Financial expenses, net, were $9.7m in the fourth quarter of 2017, as compared to $9m in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Taxes on income were $25.4m in the fourth quarter of 2017, as compared to $9m in the fourth quarter of 2016. Taxes in the fourth quarter of 2017 included a $10.9m adjustment to deferred tax assets as a result of the tax reform in the U.S. Taxes in the fourth quarter of 2016 were somewhat lower than typical, mainly due to settlements of tax audits for prior years.
Equity in net earnings of affiliated companies and partnerships was $1.4m in the fourth quarter of 2017, as compared to a net loss of $0.6m in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Net income attributable to non-controlling interests was $0.5m in the fourth quarter of 2017, as compared to $0.7m in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Non-GAAP(*) net income attributable to the Company’s shareholders in the fourth quarter of 2017 was $86.1m (8.5% of revenues), as compared to $77.7m (8.2% of revenues) in the fourth quarter of 2016. GAAP net income attributable to the Company’s shareholders in the fourth quarter of 2017 was $69.4m (6.9% of revenues), as compared to $67.1m (7.0% of revenues) in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Non GAAP(*) diluted net earnings per share attributable to the Company’s shareholders were $2.01 for the fourth quarter of 2017, as compared to $1.82 for the fourth quarter of 2016. GAAP diluted earnings per share attributable to the Company’s shareholders in the fourth quarter of 2017 were $1.62, as compared to $1.57 in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Full year 2017 results:
Revenues for the year ended December 31, 2017 were $3,377.8m, as compared to $3,260.2m in the year ended December 31, 2016.
The leading contributors to our revenues were the airborne systems and C4ISR systems areas of operation. The decrease in revenues in the C4ISR area of operation was primarily due to a decline in sales of command and control systems and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in Latin America. Revenues from land systems increased primarily due to an increase in sales of land electronic warfare systems and armored vehicle systems in Europe. Revenues in electro-optic systems increased mainly due to an increase in sales of reconnaissance systems and night vision systems in Asia-Pacific and directional infra-red countermeasure (DIRCM) systems in the other geographic regions. On a geographic basis, the increase in Europe was mainly a result of higher sales of armored vehicle systems and radio systems. The decrease in Asia-Pacific was mainly a result of lower sales of tank fire control systems and UAS. The decrease in Latin America was mainly a result of decreased sales of command and control systems. The increase in the “Other” geographical region was mainly due to an increase in sales of UAS and DIRCM systems. Cost of revenues for the year ended December 31, 2017 was $2,379.9m (70.5% of revenues), as compared to $2,300.6m (70.6% of revenues)in the year ended December 31, 2016.
Non-GAAP(*) gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2017 was $1,020.1m (30.2% of revenues), as compared to $990.8 m (30.4% of revenues) in the year ended December 31, 2016. GAAP gross profit in 2017 was $997.9m (29.5% of revenues), as compared to $959.6m (29.4% of revenues) in 2016.
Research and development expenses, net, for the year ended December 31, 2017 were $265.1m (7.8% of revenues), as compared to $255.8m (7.8% of revenues) in the year ended December 31, 2016.
Marketing and selling expenses, net, for the year ended December 31, 2017 were $280.2m (8.3% of revenues), as compared to $271.0m (8.3% of revenues) in the year ended December 31, 2016.
General and administrative expenses, net, for the year ended December 31, 2017 were $133.3m (3.9% of revenues), as compared to $151.4m (4.6% of revenues) in the year ended December 31, 2016. The significant decrease in general and administrative expenses in 2017 was mainly a result of revaluation of liabilities related to assets and activities acquired in prior years, net of an increase in wages and benefits as a result of the changes in the NIS-U.S. dollar exchange rate.
Other operating income, net, for the year ended December 31, 2016 amounted to $17.6m. This was the result of net gains related to valuation of shares in two of our Israeli subsidiaries in the energy and automotive areas, due to third party investments.
Non-GAAP(*) operating income for the year ended December 31, 2017 was $347.9m (10.3% of revenues), as compared to $322.6m (9.9% of revenues) in the year ended December 31, 2016. GAAP operating income in 2017 was $319.3m (9.5% of revenues), as compared to $299.0m (9.2% of revenues) in 2016.
The main reasons for the improvement in the operating income in 2017 were the increase in the gross profit as compared to 2016 and the decrease in 2017 in general and administrative expenses as a result of the revaluation of liabilities related to assets and activities acquired in prior
Other income, net, for the year ended December 31, 2016 amounted to $4.0m. This was due to a capital gain related to the sale of real estate acquired in prior years.
Financial expenses, net, for the year ended December 31, 2017 were $34.5m, as compared to $23.7m in the year ended December 31, 2016. Financial expenses in 2017 were relatively high, mainly due to losses from exchange rate differences. The 2016 financial expenses were lower due to gains from various currencies exchange rates.
Taxes on income for the year ended December 31, 2017 were $55m (effective tax rate of 19.5%), as compared to $45.6m (effective tax rate of 16.3%) in the year ended December 31, 2016. The effective tax rate was affected by the mix of the tax rates in the various jurisdictions in which the Company’s entities generate taxable income. Taxes on income in 2017 included a $10.9m adjustment to deferred tax assets as a result of the tax reform in the U.S.
Equity in net earnings of affiliated companies and partnerships for the year ended December 31, 2017 was $11.4m (0.3% of revenues), as compared to $5.2m (0.2% of revenues) in the year ended December 31, 2016. The increase in 2017 was a result of higher revenues and better profitability in some of our affiliated companies.
Net income attributable to non-controlling interests for the year ended December 31, 2017 was $1.5m, as compared to $1.9m in the year ended December 31, 2016.
Non-GAAP(*) net income attributable to the Company’s shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2017 was $273.9m (8.1% of revenues), as compared to $254.2m (7.8% of revenues) in the year ended December 31, 2016. GAAP net income attributable to the Company’s shareholders in the year ended December 31, 2017 was $239.1m (7.1% of revenues), as compared to $236.9m (7.3% of revenues) in the year ended December 31, 2016.
Non-GAAP(*) diluted net earnings per share attributable to the Company’s shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2017 were $6.41, as compared to $5.95 for the year ended December 31, 2016. GAAP diluted net earnings per share attributable to the Company’s shareholders in the year ended December 31, 2017 were $5.59, as compared to $5.54 in the year ended December 31, 2016.
Backlog of orders for the year ended December 31, 2017 totaled $7,647m, as compared to $6,909m as of December 31, 2016. Approximately 73% of the current backlog is attributable to orders from outside Israel. Approximately 65% of the current backlog is scheduled to be performed during 2018 and 2019.
Operating cash flow for the year ended December 31, 2017 was $100.9m, as compared to $208.0m in the year ended December 31, 2016. The lower level of operating cash flow in 2017 was mainly a result of lower collection of receipts from customers.
20 Mar 18. GKN shareholder Columbia Threadneedle plans to reject Melrose bid. Columbia Threadneedle, a top 10 shareholder in GKN (GKN.L), plans to reject a takeover offer for the British engineering company from industrial turnaround specialist Melrose (MRON.L). “After careful consideration, we believe the actions set out by the new team at GKN present the best options for shareholders. Accordingly, we are not accepting the Melrose offer,” Richard Colwell, Head of UK Equities at Columbia Threadneedle, said in a statement emailed on Monday. GKN’s management team has presented an alternative plan to Melrose’s hostile takeover offer, which would involve it merging its auto arm with U.S. firm Dana Incorporated (DAN.N), leaving GKN an aerospace-focused business. (Source: Reuters)
20 Mar 18. Chemring Group today issues an update on current trading for the year to date, to coincide with the Company’s Annual General Meeting.
Trading environment
The Group continues to see gradual recovery across all its market segments, led primarily by the US. The latest US budget should provide significant stability for US military spending.
Countermeasures
The Countermeasures segment continues to show signs of solid recovery with increased activity across all its key markets. Order intake in the period provides excellent short-term revenue coverage for the current financial year and the multi-year nature of some contracts provides good medium-term visibility.
Sensors
In Sensors, progress against the long-term US Programs of Record continues to plan, with the Group maintaining its position on the counter-IED, chemical and biological detection programmes. Key milestone decisions are expected to be made by the US Government on all three programmes during 2018. Our cyber security and technical consulting business continues to develop positively in robust market conditions.
Energetics
As previously outlined, with the completion earlier this year of a major ammunition contract into the Middle East, trading in the Energetics segment will, as expected, soften. Our focus remains on mitigating this through operational improvements and in moving away from short-term commodity products to longer-term contracting in more niche product areas, such as our Norwegian high explosives business, where trading continues to strengthen.
Balance sheet
The Group continues to invest in our key programmes and in delivering operational excellence across the portfolio. This investment is balanced with a disciplined approach to capital allocation, where maintaining a robust balance sheet remains a key priority.
Outlook
On a constant currency basis, the Board’s expectations for trading for the full year remain unchanged from guidance given at the Group’s full year results in January 2018. As previously indicated, the inherent seasonality of Chemring’s business will mean that trading performance and cashflows will be weighted to the second half.
Interim results for the six months ended 30 April 2018 will be announced on 21 June 2018.
17 Mar 18. Boeing eyes ‘aggressive growth target’ by supporting older European, Russian platforms. Boeing Global Services is looking to triple its income over the next five years with an aim to reach $50bn in annual business by 2025. This effort could see the company form new partnerships or acquire businesses to support older European and Russian defense platforms and equipment that the original manufacture no longer can support. In a media briefing held at the Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference in Qatar, senior Boeing officials described the business group’s new partnership strategy as a means to accessing markets, creating unique capabilities and discovering new, innovative ideas.
“We have an aggressive growth target coming from our leadership. Today we are about a $16bn annual business, and our leadership is looking to drive us in the coming five years to be a $50bn annual business,” said Howard Berry, the director of global sales and marketing for international government services at Boeing Global Services.
“That’s an aggressive growth target, so we have a lot of work ahead of us,” he added.
The company plans to grow by $200bn in the next 10 years, with an increase of 50 percent in terms of total revenue.
A key focus of Boeing Global Services’ new strategy is involves supporting aging platforms via upgrades, modifications and maintenance, especially considering “only 20 percent of military platforms will be retired in the next 10 years,” according to Berry.
“What we are seeing today is a wide range of well-made platforms with a long length, from an airframe life perspective, which led to an increasing need to update platforms with new avionics systems, weapons and subsystems,” he said. “There are tremendous opportunities to supporting these aging platforms, not only to keep it essentially flying worthy but also tacitly relevant.”
Boeing Global Services serves both the military and commercial markets, with a focus on services in engineering, digital aviation, analytics, supply chain logistics and training support.
Berry stressed that the company’s focus on finding new and innovative ways to grow the business will involve new geographic regions and more international industry partnerships. “In order to achieve that, you are going to see us spending more time looking at non-Boeing platforms, [supporting] European platforms … in the military arena, in addition to perusing Russian heritage hardware, for example.”
“There may be many cases where it makes much more sense for other organizations to lead and for Boeing to partner and bring expertise needed for the solutions,” he added.
Boeing also sees unmanned technology as an area for growth. This is reflected in its acquisition of autonomous system specialists Aurora Flight Sciences and Liquid Robotics.
“With Insitu, Liquid Robotics and Aurora Flight Sciences, we have tremendous capabilities both in the airborne surface and subsurface arenas that allow us to connect and collaborate in environments that we hadn’t been involved in previously,” said Gene Cunningham, vice president if global sales and marketing at Boeing Defense, Space and Security.
He noted that Boeing is already seeing a “significant interest in the unmanned technology” in the Gulf region. (Source: glstrade.com/Defense News)
21 Mar 18. AAR Corp reports rising sales in Q3. US defence logistics and aerospace maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) company AAR Corporation announced financial results for the third quarter of its 2018 financial year on 20 March, revealing a 12% rise in sales year on year.
Revenue for the third quarter increased by USD49m to USD456m, while the company’s earnings per share was USD0.49 compared with USD0.42 in the third quarter of 2017. Government and defence customers accounted for 23.1% of sales, down from 25.8%.
Chairman and CEO of AAR David P Storch said, “Our strategy of driving sales growth across all of our connected businesses through our best-in-class aviation services is on track.
Want to read more? For analysis on this article and access to all our insight content, please enquire about our subscription options at ihs.com/contact (Source: IHS Jane’s)
19 Mar 18. Micro Focus plummets 44% after fresh sales warning. The acquisitive software group Micro Focus shed more than 40 per cent of its market value on Monday after warning problems integrating the HP Enterprise business meant the pace of revenue decline would be even worse than it had previously thought. CEO Chris Hsu is also leaving after just months in the job. Shares in the FTSE 100 company were down 44 per cent at pixel time, following a 17 per cent decline after disappointing with interim results in January. In a timely recommendation, Northern Trust Capital Markets ended their its recommendation on Micro Focus last Wednesday, when it said the company was “not expensive, but we don’t know how it can grow profits beyond the current integration plan”. Investing in a roll-up company — which relies on snapping up businesses using cheap debt then cutting costs to drive growth — made sense when there was little global growth, Northern Trust said. But when growth was picking up and interest rates and debt costs were rising, that model was less attractive. On top of that, Micro Focus suffered from a lack of exposure to one of the biggest trends in the tech industry, artificial intelligence, according to Northern Trust: The problem we see is that being a technology or software business, with no clear growth exposure to what is probably the biggest theme in technology in our view, Micro Focus misses out on a major tailwind. Like so many service businesses, especially technology service businesses, AI presents not only opportunities but also threats. So when the HPE Software integration is finished, where will the next acquisition target come from and how will AI affect profit growth? We simply can’t say today with any conviction. Mr Hsu’s tenure as chief executive was one of the more short-lived for a FTSE 100 company: he took up the role only after the HPE deal completed in September, having previously held the roles of COO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company and executive vice president of HPE Software. (Source: FT.com)
18 Mar 18. CACI Announces Proposal to Acquire CSRA for $44.00 Per Share. CACI International Inc (NYSE: CACI) a leading information solutions and services provider to the federal government, today announced that it has made a proposal to acquire all outstanding shares of CSRA Inc. (NYSE: CSRA), a leading provider of next-generation IT solutions and professional services to government organizations, for $44.00 per share in cash and stock. CACI’s proposal includes a cash component of $15 per share and a stock component in the form of CACI stock at a fixed exchange ratio of 0.184 shares of CACI common stock for each share of CSRA stock.
The acquisition of CSRA by CACI would unite two businesses with long-term customer relationships, complementary capabilities and substantial presence in high-growth markets. Bringing together CACI’s mission solutions and services with CSRA’s broad range of next-generation enterprise capabilities would create a company able to provide customers with solutions that link domain and mission knowledge with industry-leading enterprise support offerings. The combination with CSRA would further capitalize on this opportunity for growth, amplifying both CACI’s and CSRA’s position in key market areas and improving the value proposition and customer footprint.
The acquisition proposal represents an 8% premium over the price CSRA’s shareholders would receive in the announced transaction with General Dynamics (GD). The combination would allow CSRA’s shareholders to participate in the long-term growth of the combined company. CACI expects to realize $165m annually in net run-rate cost synergies—a substantially greater figure than the synergies contemplated by the GD transaction, affording both CACI’s and CSRA’s shareholders the opportunity to participate in additional value creation.
As announced in a separate press release today, CACI is in a strong position for future growth, and is raising its net income and diluted earnings per share guidance, as well as the lower end of its annual revenue guidance for Fiscal Year 2018. CACI’s strong financial outlook underscores the significant value-creation opportunities in the proposed transaction.
Additional information regarding CACI’s proposal is included in a letter that CACI delivered to CSRA’s Board of Directors on March 16, 2018, which CACI is furnishing as an exhibit to a Form 8-K.
CACI has committed financing in place for the proposed transaction and therefore its proposal is not subject to any financing contingency. CACI’s Board of Directors unanimously approved the proposal, which is not subject to any further due diligence. CACI expects that a transaction could close by July 31, 2018, subject to approvals by CACI’s and CSRA’s shareholders. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is acting as lead financial advisor to CACI. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is acting as legal advisor to CACI. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
19 Mar 18. Dana to seek secondary London listing to help win GKN auto deal. Dana Incorporated (DAN.N), the U.S. company seeking to merge with the auto unit of British engineering company GKN (GKN.L), said it would seek a secondary listing in London, a move which would allow more British shareholders to back the deal. GKN is the subject of a hostile takeover bid from Melrose (MRON.L) which it is trying to fight off an alternative plan to merge its auto unit with Dana, leaving it focused on its aerospace business. Dana said in a statement on Monday that some GKN shareholders had said they wanted to hold stock in the new enlarged company and it would list in London in order to enable them to do so, getting around rules that prevent some UK funds holding U.S. stock.
(Source: Reuters)
16 Mar 18. Melrose fights for GKN with vow to pump £1bn into pension fund. Offer comes as support for engineer strengthens amid investment concerns. The bid for GKN, one of the UK’s oldest engineering groups, has attracted opposition from politicians, customers and shareholders. Melrose Industries has stepped up its fight to win support for its hostile £8bn cash and shares bid for GKN, with a pledge to pump £1bn into the UK engineering company’s pension fund. The UK turnround specialist is expected to lay out plans to increase significantly the amount of money it will inject into GKN’s pension scheme, just days after the fund’s trustees criticised Melrose for failing to address “key concerns” in its latest bid. The contentious bid has attracted opposition from politicians, customers and some shareholders. Melrose has already offered to put as much as £150m into the scheme should the takeover go ahead. It is expected to detail plans to increase its total pension injection to about £1bn, by raising its annual contributions and promising to put in lump sums every time it sells part of the business. The move could help allay concerns with Melrose’s bid as the two-month tussle for one of the UK’s oldest engineering companies enters its final stages. The pension plan was first revealed in the Sunday Times. Melrose declined to comment. The pension trustees have suggested the deficit is £1.1bn, but the figure is more than £2bn when based on the amount of money that would needed to enable the scheme to be transferred to an insurance company. Recommended Backing GKN management will be leap of faith for shareholders Opposition to hostile bid for GKN gathers pace Dana woos GKN shareholders with dual-listing option GKN has already laid out plans to sell its Driveline unit to US group Dana in a deal worth $6.1bn. As part of the transaction, it will transfer £1.4bn of its pension liabilities to the buyer. Melrose’s latest proposal comes as support for GKN continues to gather strength, with investors accounting for more than 5 per cent of the group publicly backing the FTSE engineer. Over the weekend, two of GKN’s top 20 shareholders said they planned to reject the Melrose offer. Pelham Capital, which owns about 2 per cent of GKN, and Sanderson Asset Management, which holds about 1.5 per cent, both said Melrose’s increased offer — worth 467p a share including the latest dividend — still undervalued the engineering company. “Pelham Capital supports the recent actions taken by the new management team at GKN. We believe the combination of Driveline with Dana and the plan outlined for the Aerospace business justifies a fair value closer to 600p. This upside is not currently reflected in the revised Melrose offer,” it said. The additional support for GKN comes just days after two other leading shareholders — Lancaster Investment Management and Jupiter Asset Management — both said they planned to reject the Melrose offer. Their comments follow the intervention on Wednesday of Airbus, GKN’s single biggest customer, which told the Financial Times that it would be “practically impossible” to give new work to GKN if it were owned by Melrose. Airbus expressed concerns over long-term investment. However, Melrose has insisted that it is committed to long-term investment in GKN and has pledged to invest at least as much as GKN has done in recent years. Melrose has won the public support of David Cumming, chief investment officer at Aviva, which holds about 1 per cent of GKN. Aviva also owns more than 5 per cent of Melrose. The concerns raised by investors and customers signal that tension is mounting as the closely watched takeover battle draws to an end. Investors have until March 29 to cast their vote. (Source: FT.com)
16 Mar 18. Cloud security group soars in $3.9bn market debut. The focus of the US listing market may be on Dropbox and Spotify, but a smaller, less well-known company could wind up being the hot tech listing of early 2018, on the evidence of its first day’s trading. Shares of Zscaler jumped on Friday to $33, a gain of more than 106 per cent from the offer price, giving the cloud security company the best first-day “pop” for a US-listed initial public offering this year, according to Dealogic, and a market value of $3.9bn. The rally came even after the company had twice raised the price of its offering this week, first increasing the indicated range to $13-$15 per share and finally setting the price at $16 late on Thursday. The IPO raised $192m, more than originally planned and not including an option to sell additional shares on top of the 12m sold on Thursday. “Zscaler checks all the boxes of a hot tech IPO,” said Matthew Kennedy, IPO market strategist at Renaissance Capital, a provider of IPO-focused exchange traded funds and research. He cited among other things the group’s strong position in its industry and revenue growth topping 50 per cent. Founded in 2008, Zscaler had revenues of $125.7m in its fiscal year ended July 31 2017, up from $80.3m, according to regulatory filings. Investors embraced the deal on the growth prospects of cloud storage and the accompanying need for security, even as Zscaler’s net losses widened to $35.5m in fiscal 2017 from $27.4m the year before. The company warned it “will continue to incur net losses for the foreseeable future”. A private fundraising in 2015, which included an investment by TPG, the private equity fund, valued Zscaler “in excess of $1bn”, the company said, and put it among the ranks of unicorns, or companies that have reached valuations of $1bn or more privately. Against a backdrop of concern by public market investors that the latest crop of innovative tech companies are avoiding the stock market, Jay Chaudhry, Zscaler chief executive, told the Financial Times that his company’s goal “was always to be a public company”. It just wanted to reach what it felt was the right point in its business development before listing. Proceeds of Zscaler’s share sale are earmarked for areas including working capital, marketing, research and development and possible acquisitions. The success or otherwise of this year’s early tech flotations will be watched closely by other unicorn management teams. Dropbox is selling shares that give the online file-storage company a valuation of $7bn-$7.9bn, including restricted stock options to employees, below the $10bn it was judged to be worth at the time of its last private funding round in 2014. Music streaming company Spotify plans to list on April 3 in an unconventional “direct listing” where shares will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange without the traditional IPO process, Wall Street underwriting or capital raising. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs served as lead underwriters on the Zscaler listing. (Source: FT.com)
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21 Mar 18. Polaris Government and Defense is evolving its squad-ready DAGOR® off-road vehicle with the introduction of the DAGOR® A1. The DAGOR® A1 provides improved performance and capabilities with better mobility and operator functionality for customers which already include U.S. Special Forces, the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, Canadian Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM), multiple European militaries and additional global forces.
“DAGOR® is deployed around the world. Its flexible and modular design allows it to fulfill a number of missions and evolve with threats,” said Mark McCormick, senior director, Polaris Government and Defense. “DAGOR® A1 is our answer to operators that are asking for more payload and mobility, with an increase of more than 20 percent in total carrying capacity. The DAGOR® A1 is ideally suited to provide enhanced tactical mobility as well as command and control for infantry forces at the squad, company level and higher.”
The DAGOR’s modularity continues to allow for missionization, including the Squad Carrier configuration, the Personnel Recovery Kit, or Canada’s Ultra-Light Combat Vehicle (ULCV) configuration. New missionization components include newly designed fuel or water can holders that can be placed in several locations quickly and easily with newly offered cargo box aircraft rails, RF antenna mounts and a tailgate that is aircraft rail compatible for a convenient and familiar storage options for the tailgate’s 500-pound (227 kilogram) capacity.
DAGOR® provides exceptional off-road mobility, payload and transportability – carrying up to nine warfighters and their gear, for a total payload of up to 4,000 pounds (1,814 kilograms) on the DAGOR® A1. An increased ride height – even at full payload – provides better obstacle clearance and improves off-road mobility. DAGOR® A1 maintains air-drop, sling-load and internal tactical air transportability on CH47 and CH53 helicopters from the original ultralight vehicle platform. And DAGOR® has successfully completed hot weather trials in the Gulf Region.
The DAGOR® A1 also incorporates durability and improved operator functionality. An in-dash power management screen provides in-cab access to vehicle component condition – like battery state of charge – to aid in communications and silent watch. Expanded lighting options and integrated wiring expands on the utility of the open-concept DAGOR®.
“Polaris is centered around delivering constant innovation to our customers as the competitive commercial market demands,” said McCormick. “Our military customers worldwide benefit from our innovative DNA and perfected large-scale processes to field the latest technology, because it allows us to constantly deliver the very latest in mobility to the warfighter.”
Polaris® is under contract to provide CANSOFCOM with the DAGOR® A1 with a specialty ULCV package. DAGOR® ULCV delivery began in 2017 and will be completed this year.
DAGOR® uses a readily available commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) driveline, controls and components streamlining mechanic and operator training, like a diesel/JP8 COTS engine selected for its ideal combination of power, weight and size. DAGOR’s unique design allows for ease of operation, maintenance and sustainment in support of combat operations. The open design of the cargo bed maximizes loading space, flexibility and access for mission-essential equipment. Polaris® provides sustainment for DAGOR® vehicles fielded, including parts through DLA and service through a global network of Field Service Reps (FSRs).
21 Mar 18. China testing unmanned tanks. Images have emerged showing a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Type 59 main battle tank (MBT) being remotely operated: an indication that China has begun trials of unmanned tanks as part of a push to modernise its armed forces.
The images, which stem from video footage released around mid-March by state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), show a Type 59 MBT equipped with additional antennas being driven at an undisclosed location by a soldier sitting at a nearby remote operating station. The move marks the first time a Chinese unmanned tank has been unveiled to the public, according to the state-owned Global Times newspaper. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
20 Mar 18. US Army Moves Forward with New Medium Truck Acquisition. The US Army is plowing ahead with plans to procure a new medium tactical wheeled vehicle that will give soldiers increased payload capacity and performance.
In February, the service awarded Oshkosh Defense a firm, fixed-price contract spanning up to seven years that is worth $476.2m for its family of medium tactical vehicles, or FMTV A2 variant. Oshkosh was the incumbent, having manufactured the previous A1P2 variant earlier this decade.
“The FMTV A2 program is an important opportunity to recover the FMTV’s original design margin and incorporate new capabilities into our vehicles — rebalancing the ‘iron triangle’ of payload capacity, mobility performance and soldier protection for the future,” Alvin Bing, product director of the medium tactical vehicles program at the Army’s program executive office for combat support and combat service support said in an email.
The new vehicles have features that will improve mobility, ride quality and reliability, he noted. These include: a higher capacity chassis; enhanced underbody protection; a higher output, single 24-volt alternator; an upgraded data bus; increased engine power; and the inclusion of antilock brakes and electronic stability control systems.
Included in the initial award is the delivery of the first 41 production trucks and four production trailers for testing and logistics development, Bing said. Those are expected to roll off the production line in the third quarter of fiscal year 2019 for testing that will run through mid to late fiscal year 2020. Bing expects to have new trucks coming off the line by the second quarter of 2021.
The Army has not specified a particular number of vehicles it intends to buy, he said.
“The total quantity that the Army procures will depend on requirements and funding availability over the period of performance,” he said.
The contract also includes the procurement of updates to the government-owned technical data package, vehicle kits and various technical, fielding and support activities, he added.
The Army already owned the technical data package for the FMTV and used it to re-compete the trucks in 2008, according to the service. Oshkosh won that over the incumbent BAE Systems in 2009, and delivered 20,000 vehicles over a period of three-and-a-half years.
The FMTV has historically “formed the backbone” of the Army’s local, line haul and unit resupply missions in combat, combat support and combat service support units, an Army press release said.
Pat Williams, vice president and general manager of Army and Marine Corps programs at Oshkosh, said the company plans to take lessons learned from the FMTV A1P2 and the joint light tactical vehicle and apply them to the A2 line. Oshkosh won the JLTV contract in 2015. The joint Army-Marine Corps program is estimated to be worth more than $30bn, and will result in the manufacturing of tens of thousands of vehicles.
With “every vehicle that we design and we build, we like to apply those lessons learned, whether it be from a design standpoint or from a production standpoint,” he said.
For example, the Army is looking for improved off-road mobility and ride quality on the A2 variant. That is a capability Oshkosh has already developed for its JLTV offering, he said.
Additionally, enhanced protection was a key piece of Oshkosh’s design for its M-ATV mine resistant, ambush protected vehicle that was rapidly fielded to counter improvised explosive devices during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the late 2000s, he said.
“We ramped up quickly to delivering 1,000 vehicles a month,” Williams said. “We can apply what we learned there with our supply chain management, efficiency and effectiveness of our production capabilities … to flex our muscles, so to speak, and deliver very quickly and efficiently on the program.”
While the A1P2 is still a quality vehicle, technological advancements have necessitated the need for a new, upgraded variant, Williams said.
“As the battlefield changes, so do the needs for the vehicle,” he said. “The FMTV really reached the edge of its design envelope for payload capability, for power and for survivability.”
In its offering to the government, Oshkosh plans to improve the horsepower of the existing Caterpillar C7 engine, replace existing rigid axles with the company’s TAK-4 independent suspension, optimize the vehicle’s underbody armor protection, and integrate safety enhancements such as electronic stability control and electrical upgrades, he said.
“The most noticeable change to the vehicle is that the front axle is moved from beneath the cab on the A1P2 to be located out in front of the cab on the A2 to improve the overall vehicle performance,” Williams said. “These changes result in a more powerful and capable FMTV with increased payload capability and improved survivability, mobility and ride quality performance.”
Although the Army did not specify how many vehicles it intends to purchase with the A2 contract, James Hasik, a senior fellow for defense matters at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Washington, D.C.-based Atlantic Council, said he expected it could be a one-for-one replacement.
“The Army’s force structure is not going to be expanding dramatically … but trucks wear out,” he said.
Just like with all vehicles, whether they be tractor-trailers or personal vehicles, at a certain point they need to be replaced, he noted.
“Relate this to over-the-road tractor-trailers,” he said. “Trucking companies will run those things for … a couple hundred thousand miles and then they’ll take them out of service, they’ll tear down and rebuild the engines, they’ll tear down the rest of the vehicle and rebuild it” and put it back in service.
However, there comes a time when sustainment is insufficient and a new truck is needed, he noted.
While the Army is not beating up vehicles the way it was during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s, “there is a point at which it’s time to dump it and just buy another one, buy fresh,” he said.
This is what the Army is doing with the A2 variant, Hasik said. He was not surprised that Oshkosh won the contract. The company has done extensive work for both the Army and Marine Corps and the services have been impressed with its products, he said.
“I’ve never met a Marine who has … uttered anything but glowing words about Oshkosh products,” he said. “Both those military services have a very fond feeling about Oshkosh.” When a request for proposals comes out “we’ve got to grade the RFP according to [the criteria]. But you know there are subjective criteria there, too. … Brand matters,” he added.
During the industry competition, Oshkosh went up against AM General, the manufacturer of the ubiquitous Humvee.
“I was very happy to see AM General challenge them for it,” Hasik said. “But they were always going to be the underdog in this fight.”
AM General attempted to do what Oshkosh did to BAE Systems during the A1P2 competition, he said.
“There has been a big turnaround at AM General, probably in terms of their product quality and also in the rejuvenation of at least some product development capabilities there. But it is a commentary on Oshkosh as a company that that wasn’t enough to take a program away from them,” he said.
For the health of the military vehicle industry, some may have thought the Army would give the contract to AM General, but Hasik said that would have been unlikely.
“The U.S. procurement system is not really set up to make industrial policy choices,” he said. “The awards are determined pretty much by the criteria that are laid out in the request for proposals, and to violate those terms opens you to immediate challenge.”
AM General did not respond to requests for comment.
With Oshkosh’s win, it could set the company up for long-term success, Hasik said.
“They might wind up with a run of many decades as having been the favorite for military trucks in North America,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean that they are guaranteed to keep it because it is an industry in which entry into the military market segment is not as challenging as it is in other segments of supplying the military.”
It’s a big deal to break into the jet fighter business or the submarine market, he noted. However, “it’s not a stretch for any commercial truck manufacturer to start selling trucks to the military although it is a bit more complicated than, ‘Let’s take an off-road truck and paint it green,’” he added.
Hasik said that while there are fewer U.S. military vehicle contracts up for grabs in the future, no one need be concerned about the health of the military vehicle market industrial base.
“I would never worry about the truck industry because there’s a big healthy truck industry in North America,” he said. “Lots of people make trucks here.” (Source: glstrade.com/NDIA)
20 Mar 18. Singapore denies Leopard 2A7 acquisition, but questions remain over anomalies. Singapore’s Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) has refuted speculation that the country has acquired the A7 variant of the German-built Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) Leopard 2 main battle tank (MBT) that stemmed from a recent entry in the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI’s) Arms Transfer Database.
According to SIPRI’s data – which the institute says is drawn from a range of sources, including the UN Register of Conventional Arms (ROCA), national reports on arms exports and imports, as well as official defence budget documents and parliamentary records – Singapore has acquired 12 Leopard 2A7 MBTs that were delivered in the 2016–17 timeframe. The institute also recorded that the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) received a total of 182 ex-Bundeswehr Leopard 2A4 MBTs in the 2007–12 timeframe, with a number of these used as spares and training.
Meanwhile, a separate check on the UN ROCA database has also shown that Germany reported a transfer of 168 MBTs to Singapore, with the most recent entry in 2016 indicating that seven Leopard 2 MBTs – although of an unspecified variant – had been exported to Singapore, further casting doubt on the official information released by MINDEF.
“In 2006, the SAF announced the acquisition of the Leopard 2A4 from Germany to replace the SM1 tanks,” MINDEF said a 20 March statement. “Since then, the refurnished Leopard tanks have entered service and no other variants of the Leopard has [sic] been acquired by the SAF.”
Only 96 Leopard 2A4 MBTs were ever declared to have been ordered by Singapore in a December 2006 announcement by MINDEF. The first batch of six MBTs was transferred in June 2008 and deliveries are understood to have been completed by mid-2010. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
16 Mar 18. First Next-Gen Combat Vehicle and robotic wingman prototypes to emerge in 2020. The first stab at building prototypes for what the U.S. Army intends to be an innovative, leap-ahead Next-Generation Combat Vehicle and its robotic wingman will be ready for soldier evaluations in fiscal 2020, according to the service’s new cross-functional team lead for NGCV. Subsequently, the Army will rapidly produce follow-on prototypes in FY22 and again in FY24, each taking lessons learned from the previous prototypes and refining capabilities. Soldiers will have the chance to heavily evaluate the prototypes at every stage.
Brig. Gen. David Lesperance is in charge of mapping the Army’s plan to develop and field an NGCV, one of the top six modernization priorities laid out by the service. Cross-functional teams, or CFT, were recently formed for each of the priorities and will reside within the Army’s new Futures Command, expected to stand up in the summer.
The CFT has decided to focus on two lines of effort, Lesperance told a small group of reporters in a March 15 phone call. The first line is to build a robotic combat vehicle, “which is an optimally unmanned close combat platform;” the second is the NGCV, an optionally manned vehicle that will get soldiers to a point of lethal advantage in close combat, he said.
The team is executing a detailed proof-of-concept phase to design, test and redesign prototypes that will help the Army define requirements that don’t just procure a Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle or an Abrams tank replacement, but will bring to life something completely new and innovative, Lesperance said.
“Everybody asks the question, is it going to replace the Bradley, or is it going to replace the tank?” Lesperance said. “Bottom line at this point: That is not a useful starting point for the conversation.”
Lesperance was hesitant to delve too far into any possible required attributes of the vehicle — the Army is just at the beginning stages.
Lesperance noted the concept designs from industry partners have yet to be delivered, adding: “I don’t want to stifle creativity nor predict what may come back to us.”
He said the team was reaching out to some non traditional design and engineering sources to look at the problem in a different way. “We are providing much more broad or higher-level requirements to allow industry to come back with a little bit more of their own innovation and creativity.” Those designs are forthcoming, Lesperance said.
“We are looking at an NGCV that really gives us leap-ahead capability from that which we have now. We are looking at critical-enabling and potentially disruptive capability,” he said. That includes a deep dive at reducing weight and shifting the size-weight-power paradigm.
The Army wants next-gen vehicles to be strategically deployable and to operate in dense urban terrain, Lesperance said. The team is looking at robotics and autonomous systems, directed energy and energetics that have lethal and nonlethal protection applications, power generation, and management. These can serve a whole platform’s needs via alternative energy and vehicle protection suites, among a variety of other capabilities that could come from traditional or nontraditional sources.
For the robotic combat vehicle, the Army will take lessons learned from aerial manned-unmanned teaming, which is a capability that has been fielded for several years to fill the armed aerial reconnaissance role left open when the service retired its Kiowa Warrior helicopters.
Teaming a manned and robotic vehicle “opens up a lot of possibilities for different tactics, techniques and procedures,” Lesperance said. Making contact with the enemy first using a robotic vehicle gives a unit leader the time to make better battlefield decisions, he said.
If this sounds familiar, it is. The concept aligns well with the Army’s robotics and autonomous systems strategy released more than a year ago. Lesperance confirmed that plans for robotics as part of the NGCV program are “very nested” with that strategy.
Lesperance said the prototypes will be built based on what is technologically available that keeps the Army on its timeline, at least for the initial prototype, and puts capability in soldiers’ hands to evaluate.
“We are looking at entering shakedown testing in later 2019, and in early 2020 into units’ hands for evaluation; and informed by those experiments, we will feed that back into the prototyping process into Phase 2 and Phase 3 and beyond,” he said.
The team will also conduct early experimentation on the number of armored soldiers that would be optimal inside a vehicle designed to operate in dense urban terrain, Lesperance said.
A major factor that killed the Ground Combat Vehicle was the service tried to build a vehicle around fitting an entire squad together and the platform quickly grew to an unmanageable size.
Based on early simulation experimentation and live soldier experimentation, moving into the next six to 12 months, the service will be better informed on the number of soldiers per vehicle it will work into requirements, Lesperance said.
The Army already kicked off a major prototyping effort in October to develop the NGCV by awarding an industry team a contract to build two demonstrators by FY22.
Fiscal 2019 budget documents show the timeline has been accelerated and prototypes could be finished as early as 2020.
The Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, or TARDEC, awarded the contract to a team consisting of SAIC — the team lead — as well as Lockheed Martin, Moog Inc., GS Engineering, Hodges Transportation and Roush Industries.
At the time, TARDEC asked the team to design a vehicle for a two-person crew and six soldiers, which equates to a split squad or a fires team in the back.
And according to Army Secretary Mark Esper, the door is open for foreign companies to build a new combat vehicle for the Army. Lesperance said the team is engaging with industry worldwide on what kind of capabilities are out there that meet the Army’s vision for an NGCV. (Source: Defense News)
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22 Mar 18. Sion Power’s Momentum Continues toward Commercialization of Its Licerion Lithium Metal Battery. Sion Power®, the technology leader in high-energy, lithium metal rechargeable batteries, continues its commercialization preparation for the production of Licerion® batteries and battery packs. Key to the preparation is a robust hiring program and finalization of equipment procurement. The large format lithium metal-based battery will offer an unparalleled 500 Wh/kg, 1,000 Wh/L and 450 cycles.
“Sion Power is supplementing our outstanding core team with talented scientists and engineers from a variety of fields to support our efforts toward production readiness,” says Tracy Kelley, Chief Executive Officer of Sion Power. Kelley goes on to say that, “When this step toward commercialization is complete, we will be well equipped and ready to produce a rechargeable battery unlike any on the market today. Sion Power is poised to dominate the next-generation battery space.” The pilot equipment for the large format Licerion battery is currently being optimized for production at Sion Power’s Tucson facility. When complete, batteries and battery packs will be available for a variety of applications. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
21 Mar 18. How DoD’s embrace of Silicon Valley could improve the Navy’s next network. Later this year, the U.S. Navy intends to award a contract to upgrade their unclassified network, the Navy Marine Corp Intranet. The new contract, known as Next Generation Enterprise Network Re-compete (NGEN-R) is a multiple award contract that will absorb global networking efforts into a single vehicle that the Navy will administer.
While the Navy Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO EIS) has certainly “leaned forward” in its outreach to industry, it hasn’t yet moved full steam ahead into a total embrace of innovation.
By hosting traditional industry days and other familiar industry outreach initiatives, PEO EIS has ensured that Federal System Integrators (FSIs), who consistently over promise and under deliver on such large programs, will have significant influence over this procurement. By allowing these companies to influence the scope of work, the Navy has ensured it won’t receive the next-gen network needed to “win” in the rapidly evolving cyber-battlespace of the future.
The Navy’s procurement approach for NGEN-R is similar to what the Army did with Distributed Common Ground System – Army (DCGS-A), an intelligence platform. DCGS-A was another ambitious idea to pull the military into the future using cutting edge technologies. The problem with DCGS-A was that rather than seeking solutions from true innovators, the Army decided to go with a Frankenstein system proposed and built by four of the largest FSIs in the Beltway. The result was a $2.7bn dollar disaster.
Palantir Technologies, an innovative Silicon Valley company that had a working, cost-effective alternative was initially stonewalled in its attempts to compete for the contract–despite being the solution of choice by many on the front lines. Fast forward ten years and the Army recently awarded Palantir a contract for the DCGS-A program.
Since the DCGS-A debacle, the Army has made significant strides to adopt new technologies early and often. It has expanded outreach to premier research universities, like MIT, and has consistently engaged with companies in tech hubs like Boston, Austin and Silicon Valley to solve its hardest problems.
The Navy should learn from the experiences the Army has endured in breaking out of a traditional procurement model, especially with a system as important as the global network. Between aged infrastructure with low bandwidth and patchy security oversight, there has never been a better time to evaluate novel solutions throughout the entire network stack.
The Department of Defense has been pushing to work with Silicon Valley and has even opened offices there in an effort to embrace innovation. It appears these efforts haven’t moved much past edge cases at this point. When it comes to foundational procurements, the DoD is generally still embracing the usual Beltway suspects.
If the DoD wants to “win” it’s going to have to break the cycle of relying on FSIs that are much better suited to provide contracted bodies than they are to provide “a look around the corner” on a global network that will be in service for the next 25 plus years. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
21 Mar 18. DLA updating battery technologies. The US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) is working with industry to update battery systems that power some of the US military’s key weapons systems, the DLA announced on 15 March. Recent work led by the DLA includes the development of a new lithium ion-based power system for the TOW 2 anti-tank missile system and new lead-acid batteries used in armoured vehicles such as the Bradley fighting vehicle.
Current ‘flooded’ lead-acid batteries, in the 4HN and 2HN configurations, still require users to deal with the messy and potentially dangerous task of opening the cells and refilling them with acid. The US Army sought DLA’s input in 2017 on whether the 4HN and 2HN batteries could be replaced with ones made with new absorbent glass material.
To meet the army’s requirement, DLA awarded a 12-month development project contract to an unnamed industry partner to develop military-unique 4HN and 2HN lead-acid batteries. The company produces green lead-acid batteries and owns some of the original patents for a glass-like material that has become an industry standard.
The two-phase project will begin with the production of ten handmade prototypes that will be tested by TACOM. Once the design and prototypes are approved, the contractor will – using a standard manufacturing process – provide ten batteries built on its production line for TACOM qualification.
The BATTNET programme is also behind major improvements in the battery used to power the TOW 2 missile system to overcome obsolescence and performance issues. DLA partnered with the Army Aviation and Missile Command and a design team to design and test a new lithium-ion based power system, expected to enter production in 2018. The new system has several benefits, including a reduction in weight by about 120lbs and potential procurement savings. (Source: Shephard)
21 Mar 18. DARPA announces COMPASS programme. DARPA has announced a new programme called Collection and Monitoring via Planning for Active Situational Scenarios (COMPASS) to better understand and respond to adversary grey-zone engagement.
The grey zone sits in an undefined area between peace and conventional warfare. Action in this zone is not openly defined; it’s slower, and is prosecuted more subtly—using social, psychological, religious, information, cyber and other means to achieve physical or cognitive objectives with or without violence. The lack of clarity of intent—the greyness—makes it challenging to detect, characterise, and counter an enemy fighting this way.
COMPASS aims to develop software that will help clarify enemy intent by evaluating an adversary’s responses to various stimuli. COMPASS will leverage advanced artificial intelligence technologies, game theory, and modeling and estimation to both identify stimuli that yield the most information about an adversary’s intentions, and provide decision makers high-fidelity intelligence on how to respond-with positive and negative trade-offs for each course of action.
Current military decision-making follows a process of observe, orient, decide and act (OODA). But this process is not effective in grey zone warfare. Signals in the environment are not rich enough to draw conclusions. COMPASS aims to add a dynamic, adaptive element to the OODA loop for complex, grey-zone environments.
Fotis Barlos, DARPA program manager, said: ‘The ultimate goal of the programme is to provide theatre-level operations and planning staffs with robust analytics and decision-support tools that reduce ambiguity of adversarial actors and their objectives. As we see increasingly more sophistication in grey-zone activity around the world, we need to leverage advanced AI and other technologies to help commanders make more effective decisions to thwart an enemy’s complex, multi-layered disruptive activity.’
The programme seeks experts in AI, machine learning, game theory, modeling and simulation, control systems, estimation and other related fields. A Proposers Day is scheduled for 30 March 2018 in Arlington, Virginia. (Source: Shephard)
21 Mar 18. DoD doesn’t want ‘whiz-bang’ tech if it’s no good for operations. With one eye always on improving capabilities, the U.S. Department of Defense is used to getting bombarded with sales pitches from industry for new technology.
But Elbridge Colby, deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and force development, warned an audience Wednesday that he’s not interested in seeing “whiz-bang” technology if it doesn’t come with plausible ways for how it fits into the Pentagon’s operational concepts.
“We’re not interested in something that’s kind of a whiz-bang thing that’s not connected to a plausible deployment or not nestled within operational concepts,” Colby said. “We do want to encourage breakthrough and creative, kind of, activity and investment in technology, but it’s got to be something that we can actually use in a viable way to serve our strategic approach.”
His comments came during the Directed Energy Summit, an event that naturally brings together advocates for the potential of laser weaponry. Colby, one of the authors behind the Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy, declined to go into detail about how such systems fit into his view of the Pentagon’s operational concepts, though they remain a focus area for both internal and external investments.
While noting it is important the private sector continues to develop technologies, Colby stressed that when presenting those to the Pentagon, they need to be very focused away from a “platform model” and toward explaining how these capabilities could be used to combat near-peer competitors.
“I want to really stress that everything should be circled back to what the problem statement is, what the problem definition is, which is — it is defeating the Chinese or Russian potential theories of victory,” he said.
“What that answer is, is going to be a combination of technology, combat development, doctrine, etc., etc. But we should be taking initiative. They’ve gone after our theory of victory? We should go after their theory of victory so we have a better deterrent.” (Source: Defense News)
21 Mar 18. Aspen, Sensurion to co-develop UAV Avionics. Aspen Avionics and Sensurion Aerospace have entered into a partnership to develop certified avionics for UAS and unmanned air-taxi platforms, Aspen announced 19 March. The companies will focus on the development of FAA-certified autopilots, communications, navigation and surveillance systems for small, medium, and large UAS, including future cargo and passenger carrying aircraft. The initial product development will include an autopilot/flight controller, GPS/GNSS and surveillance systems including ADS-B.
John Uczekaj, president and CEO, Aspen, said: ‘Our consumers demand adaptability and a certifiable pedigree that can help get them to market quickly, operate with an extreme level of safety, and include innovative architectures that combine certified avionics with today’s flying drone service/IoT data platforms, and near future cargo movers and people haulers.’ (Source: Shephard)
20 Mar 18. US Army Patches Its Network For Near Term. The Army knows its network won’t work in a big war. It’s too vulnerable to hacking and jamming, too cumbersome to deploy and set up, too hard for soldiers to use.
So the service is trying to fix things. The long-term solution may take “big, leap-ahead technology,” said Maj. Gen. Pete Gallagher, head of the Cross Functional Team leading the network overhaul (more on that below). But, as Gallagher and other soldiers showed off here yesterday, short-term solutions can be as simple as replacing old server stacks with new ones one-third the size, replacing bulky metal antennas with inflatable ones, or loading new software on an off-the-shelf Android phone.
Nett Warrior Declassified
Nett Warrior was the Army’s attempt to bring the GPS maps, “Blue Force Tracking” of friendly units’ locations, and digital messaging that are standard in command posts and vehicles to the sergeant on foot. It uses a standard Android Galaxy smartphone plugged into the tactical radio network (though it can use cell towers if available). But soldiers found it awkward and difficult to use — in part because of the interface, but in part because the device used classified data, subjecting users to all sorts of regulations like locking it up when not on mission.
So the Army loaded new software, the Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK), and downgraded the encryption. Now Nett Warrior only handles “secure but unclassified” data (though it can be reset to handle secret data if necessary) using off-the-shelf commercial encryption. That means troops can even take it back to the barracks to play around with and figure it out.
When I asked yesterday if I could photograph the screen — showing real-time troop movements in an exercise hundreds of miles away — the soldiers showing it off said sure. (See the top of this story) So what if the world saw? By the time it would take for me to publish my article, let alone for an enemy to crack the banking-sector-level encryption, the soldiers would be someplace else.
How much easier is the new Nett Warrior? Staff Sergeant Jason Roseberry of the 82nd Airborne told reporters here that his team got their devices just two days before heading to the Joint Reading Training Center for high-pressure wargames. “18 hours later, the soldiers…were messaging back and forth, pulling mission graphics down, talking over the radio,” he said. “There was no official training at all.”
Counting both the Rifleman Radios attached to Nett Warrior and more powerful models for higher leaders, there were about 240 radios for the 714 paratroopers in Roseberry’s unit, the storied 1st Battalion, 508th Airborne Infantry. When they arrived at the JRTC on Fort Polk, he said, “we had the full network up in probably five minutes.” Then they strapped on their radios and jumped out of airplanes with them.
Streamlining the Network
Streamlining the network is especially essential for airborne troops, who travel light. Roseberry’s brigade in the 82nd is getting first crack at much of the new equipment.
Other simple but useful innovations include replacing heavy metal antennas used for satellite communications with inflatable ones. Air pressure keeps the parabolic dish in shape and inflates a protective ball around it. Soldiers with minimal training, doing a field test in Alaska in four-degree weather, managed to get it set up and connected to the network in under 30 minutes, an Army briefer told reporters. Packing it up just requires deflating it, folding it and putting it in three bags you could carry on a commercial flight or parachute out of a military plane. (This small system has a big name, Transportable Tactical Command Communications or T2C2).
The Army’s also lightening the server stacks that run all the networks in a brigade. Currently a brigade has three stacks, each taller than a man and weighing 1,200 pounds. But computing power keeps getting smaller and cheaper in the civilian sector, so the Army is issuing new stacks with the same capabilities that weigh 357 pounds apiece — and have room for future upgrades. Setup time has dropped from 30 minutes to ten. There’s also a miniature version of the server that runs off a laptop, which can maintain basic connectivity while the big stacks are being taken down, transported, and set up somewhere else.
The biggest “light” system the Army showed off yesterday at Fort Myer was a mobile Tactical Communications Node (TCN) that fits inside a Humvee. That may seem bulky until you compare it with the original, which required a three-axle FMTV truck.
While the new Tactical Communications Node is smaller, however, it still uses the same WIN-T software and hardware. That’s the Warfighter Information Network – Tactical that Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley decided was inadequate for high-intensity war.
The Army will stop buying WIN-T this year but will keep issuing the ones it’s already bought. When that’s done in 2021, every active-duty infantry and Stryker brigade will have WIN-T Increment 2, which can operate from a moving vehicle. Their National Guard counterparts and all armored brigades will have Increment 1B, which only works when stationary.
The goal, said Gallagher, is to “level set the Army with a common tactical network foundation” as a uniform starting point for future modernization.
Making Army network equipment lighter or easier to use is definitely helpful, but it doesn’t address the fundamental problems with WIN-T, the backbone of the network. Replacing WIN-T is one of those big, long-term efforts.
Halt, Fix, Pivot
The Army’s strategy is “halt, fix, pivot”:
- Halt further purchases of WIN-T and other flawed systems such as Command Post of the Future (CPOF) and the Mid-tier Networking Vehicular Radio (MNVR);
- fix the existing system with near-term experiments like those on display at Fort Myer; and
- pivot to what Maj. Gen. Gallagher calls “a whole new way of doing business,” not only using new technology but involving top Army leadership much more directly in directing network programs.
Gallagher was sparing with details, but he said his Cross Functional Team — one of eight working on top Army priorities — was focused on two aspects of the new network:
- Creating a more robust “transport layer” to move large amounts of data (what WIN-T does now) and;
- Making it interoperable with other US services and foreign allies. Other Army organizations will lead on other aspects, such as lightening command posts and simplifying the current array of command and control software.
Gallagher’s CFT is throwing out old assumptions — “in many cases we’ve held ourselves hostage by the way we’ve crafted those requirements,” he told reporters — and turning to companies outside the traditional defense industry — “not just the normal players.” A “tech exchange” in February at Aberdeen was attended by representatives of 204 companies, 87 of them small businesses, he said. Companies are now submitting white papers on potential solutions, both near-term and long-term. “A lot of aggressive experimentation and demonstration (is) ongoing as we speak,” he said, with ordinary soldiers providing feedback from field tests.
There are many problems to solve, but “probably the main effort (is) assured network transport in a contested environment against a peer adversary,” Gallagher said. “That’s where a lot of our science and technology efforts have been refocused on, and where we’re partnering with industry.” In other words, how can the Army plan stop the enemy from jamming our transmissions or tracing their sources for artillery strikes, electronic warfare techniques which the Russians used to devastating effect in Ukraine?
“There are a lot of innovative anti-jam solutions,” Gallagher said. “DARPA’s got some initiatives for small aperture Advanced EHF (AEHF) capability that we’re interested in and there are other anti-jam solutions that the (Army) CERDEC community and even industry (will) come back to us with.”
There are two complementary approaches, Gallagher and his aides explained. You can make individual point-to-point radio link harder to jam, and you can create alternative links — a so-called multi-path network — so that when one is jammed, troops can just switch to another. Army radios will need to use the kind of Low Probability of Intercept/Low Probability of Detection (LPI/LPD) transmitters now used on stealth aircraft. The software controlling the network will need to be able to do dynamic spectrum reallocation, quickly switching from jammed frequencies to clear ones. And the Army will need to replace its array of single-purpose radios with ones that can transmit a wide variety of signals.
It is a daunting and long-term task. In the meantime, Gallagher said, the Army will “leverage existing capabilities that are already proven by either our joint partners, the Special Operations community, or commercial-off-the-shelf solutions…already out there….to immediately fix our ability to fight.” (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
20 Mar 18. Why the US military needs to take 3-D printer cybersecurity seriously. The use of 3-D printing in the military is becoming more commonplace, and as a result experts are emphasizing the importance of treating 3-D printers like the hackable machines they are.
While a 3-D printer’s capability for experimental on-site manufacturing is far more futuristic than a traditional Wi-Fi enabled printer, the hardware is as vulnerable to cyberattacks as an average laptop or connected printer, said Nikhil Gupta, a New York University associate professor of engineering and materials researcher.
As more 3-D printers become integrated in military labs and deployed in the field, anti-malware software, using encryption and limiting physical access to the printer is imperative, because “it’s just another computer, so whatever you can do to a computer, you can literally do to a 3-D printer,” Gupta said.
The Marine Corps, for example, has printed an experimental grenade launcher: The Rapid Additively Manufactured Ballistics Ordinance, or R.A.M.B.O. The Marines are also working on creating a 3-D printing lab to make drones, spare parts and other items on an as-needed basis in the field.
In addition, the U.S. Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center and private partners designed a 3-D printed submarine hull, which took between three months and five months to print, at a cost of about $800,000, the Navy stated in a news release.
However, if a 3-D printer is hacked or infected with a virus, hackers could program it to add imperfections in the item it’s printing. Those imperfections could mean the item fails during use, and if those parts are weapons or integral to vehicles, those imperfections can have dangerous consequences, Gupta said.
Or consider another scenario. If the temperature of the material being printed is increased or decreased slightly, it changes the chemical structure of the material, potentially weakening the item, Gupta said. Another possible threat would be if small air pockets were added, making the item look secure, but making it structurally weaker.
When it comes to items like a grenade launcher or a submarine shell, a weaker hull or a misaligned barrel could mean the difference between life and death.
In addition to the introduction of an imperfection that causes a part of fail, a compromised 3-D printer could potentially give access to classified materials on military networks. If files are stolen, enemy combatants could print the same type of parts used by U.S. service members and use them in combat or use them to train against.
Gupta said one way his team at NYU proposes countering these attacks, especially the threat of files being stolen, is to design sensitive pieces with flaws built in — but provide a “decoder” separately that fixes the flaw. When printed by the intended owner, the part functions properly; otherwise, it’s useless.
For example, if an enemy combatant prints a stolen file of a handgun that is designed with this flaw, but without the decoder, “that gun will probably not fire or explode,” he said.
Ultimately, however, the best approach to 3-D printers is to identify and correct network vulnerabilities before an issue arises.
A hacker could break into a 3-D printer through a weakness when the printer port is opened to a separate network for diagnostics or through other vulnerabilities, Gupta said. A way to prevent this is to have internal subnets, much like the types that exist at national labs, and make sure the 3-D printers can’t be accessed outside that subnet.
Those early tests for the Marine Corps’ R.A.M.B.O. grenade launcher, for instance, have been done on separate networks until the larger picture of cybersecurity is established with these new tools, said Capt. Chris Wood, co-lead for the Marine Corps’ additive manufacturing projects.
“As we continue to quickly test and learn, we’ve kept our printers off of Marine Corps networks so that we can ensure the value of 3-D printing before we undergo the hard work of ensuring cybersecurity of the equipment and software,” Wood said.
“The Marine Corps does have a robust process for assuring cybersecurity of both new hardware and software, which our 3-D printers would similarly follow. However, our team is also looking into the unique effects and methods of cyberattacks within the realm of 3-D printing processes, materials and design.”
This approach will assure that, as the military identifies the benefits of utilizing 3-D printers to rapidly address much-needed resources in the field, no network shortcomings have real and lasting implications to service members. (Source: Fifth Domain)
20 Mar 18. Rohde & Schwarz is setting new standards with its software defined airborne radio: The R&S SDAR offers secure broadband voice and data communications for network centric operations, allowing customers to remain as flexible as possible. The independent German company is showcasing the new military airborne radio at the leading innovative aerospace trade fair in Berlin from April 25 to 29, 2018. The high-end R&S SDAR extends the company’s successful R&S M3AR airborne radio family. Customers can achieve information superiority in network centric operations with this high data rate, IP-based radio. Together with innovative waveforms, it enables simultaneous broadband voice and data transmission and the creation of nationalized solutions. The open system architecture of the R&S SDAR is based on the international SCA standard and allows government customers to independently develop, adapt and port their own waveforms with encryption. Rohde & Schwarz is the only market provider whose military airborne radios fulfill both civil and military avionics standards – a significant advantage for the civil certification of aircraft.
20 Mar 18. HYPRES partnered with the University of Massachusetts Amherst to complete a high-speed, energy-efficient digital data link between superconductor integrated circuits and room-temperature electronics. The work was conducted under a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) project, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). Superconductor ICs, based on single flux quantum (SFQ) logic, operate at 4 K with signal levels that are several orders of magnitude smaller than standard room-temperature electronics. This property makes superconductor electronics attractive for various applications that require high sensitivity, higher clock rates for faster sampling and higher speed logic, and can tolerate cryogenic operation. Transporting digital data to room temperature, however, has always been a challenge due to the need to balance the electrical and thermal requirements while providing a large amplification factor. By ensuring optimal use of low-power superconductor electronics, these faster, more energy-efficient, data links will maximize the functionality of an electronic system within the constraints of its size, weight, and power consumption. The HYPRES-UMass team developed a hybrid temperature heterogeneous technology (HTHT) data link that distributes the necessary amplification among multiple temperature-distributed stages to optimize the overall link.
“Our approach was to start with the fastest superconductor output driver and connect it to a chain of cryogenic semiconductor amplifiers at different temperatures between 4K and 300K,” said Dr. Deepnarayan Gupta, president of HYPRES’ Digital-RF Circuits and Systems business division and the principal investigator of the project. “We have already reached 20 Gbps data rates per link using this approach, which is better than 14 Gbps data links achieved without any cryogenic semiconductor amplification. We are now working toward enhancing the data link rate as well as expanding the number of simultaneous channels with both electrical and optical approaches. Better data links are vitally important to the next generation of our Advanced Digital-RF Receiver (ADR) product line as well as for future applications, such as streaming high-speed data processing, for which superconductor electronics offer compelling solutions.”
The key technology in this HTHT data link was developed by professor Joseph Bardin’s group at UMass Amherst.
“We pursued two alternative designs, both using silicon-germanium bipolar transistors.” Bardin explained. “At cryogenic temperatures, these transistors produce higher gain and higher speeds. Through a careful design process, we have optimized the tradeoff between speed and power consumption for our cryogenic integrated circuits. Both designs have met our target performance metrics and now offer different alternatives to HYPRES’ system engineers.”
ONR has been a major sponsor of cryogenics and superconductor electronics during the past three decades. Dr. Deborah Van Vechten, ONR program officer, was one of the first to recognize the need for innovation to develop high-speed data links that also minimize power consumption.
“ONR encourages partnerships between university research groups and small businesses to harness innovative ideas into practical products,” she said. “This team has moved through the different phases successfully and has attracted external funding to augment the STTR investment. The HTHT data link is now ready for transition.”
20 Mar 18. High-power microwaves and lasers defeat multiple drones during US Army exercise. Raytheon technology fills in gaps in long-range fires and short-range air defense. Forty-five unmanned aerial vehicles and drones fell out of the sky during a U.S. Army exercise after Raytheon’s (NYSE: RTN) advanced high-power microwave and laser dune buggy engaged and destroyed them. These common threats were knocked down during a Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiment at the U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence.
The event, known as MFIX, brought military and industry leaders together to demonstrate ways to bridge the Army’s capability gaps in long-range fires and maneuver short-range air defense.
- Raytheon’s high-power microwave system engaged multiple UAV swarms, downing 33 drones, two and three at a time.
- Raytheon’s high energy laser, or HEL, system identified, tracked, engaged and killed 12 airborne, maneuvering Class I and II UAVs, and destroyed six stationary mortar projectiles.
“The speed and low cost per engagement of directed energy is revolutionary in protecting our troops against drones,” said Dr. Thomas Bussing, Raytheon Advanced Missile Systems vice president. “We have spent decades perfecting the high-power microwave system, which may soon give our military a significant advantage against this proliferating threat.”
Raytheon and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory worked together under a $2m contract to test and demonstrate high-power microwave, counter-UAV capabilities.
“Our customer needed a solution, and they needed it fast,” said Dr. Ben Allison, director of Raytheon’s HEL product line. “So, we took what we’ve learned and combined it with combat-proven components to rapidly deliver a small, self-contained and easily deployed counter-UAV system.”
19 Mar 18. US NSWC and University of Virginia partner to support 3D printing research.
The US Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren Division has collaborated with students from the University of Virginia to support research into additive manufacturing (3D printing) capabilities.
The partnership has been established via the Naval Engineering Education Consortium (NEEC) and is said to be positively impacting the US Navy programmes.
NSWC Dahlgren Division engineer Dr Tabitha Apple Newman said: “Additive manufacturing research, in particular, reaches across technical fields and capabilities and allows Dahlgren to immediately better evaluate and design products for its customers, whether for gun prototypes, special-use technologies, chemical, biological and radiological (CBR) defence, or electric weapons.”
3D printing is a new technological capability that is intended to serve as an alternative to the existing manufacturing technologies used by the US Navy, which are primarily based on casting, forging and machining.
The current research project aims to develop quantitative connections among materials’ process parameters, microstructure and properties, which would represent an important step towards the qualification of additively manufactured parts that can be used in critical load-bearing components.
The project also intends to combine the extensive and advanced heat treatment, characterisation, testing and analysis capabilities used at the University of Virginia, along with the additive manufacturing capabilities at NSWCDD.
NSWCDD engineer Ricky Moore said: “The research that the University of Virginia is conducting is an important examination of the microstructure and mechanical properties of alloys relevant to the navy, produced by state of the art additive manufacturing techniques.
“Understanding these properties is paramount as the navy begins to design, develop, produce and field components and systems produced with additive manufacturing to improve performance and availability of systems in the fleet.” (Source: naval-technology.com)
19 Mar 18. Dassault begins joint AI development with Thales. A study that will see Dassault Aviation and Thales develop artificial intelligence (AI) technology for future combat aircraft has kicked off under the remit of the French defence procurement agency (DGA). The three-year Man-Machine-Teaming advanced study programme (PEA MMT) was officially launched by Florence Parly, French minister of the armed forces, on 16 March, which will see Dassault act as the prime and Thales as the co-contractor. Parly launched the programme at Dassault’s Saint-Cloud, France, headquarters and was welcomed by the company’s CEO, Eric Trappier, as well as Patrice Caine, chairman and CEO of Thales, and Joël Barre, delegate general for armament. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
20 Mar 18. AI Inserted into US Army Drones. The US Army has eliminated the need to do lengthy pre-flight checks for its unmanned aerial vehicles by applying artificial intelligence algorithms on top of existing software programs.
“They call it an unmanned vehicle because there’s no pilot sitting up in it, but the pilot it is sitting up in a box in the desert doing the pre-flight checks and doing all the flight controls,” said Walter O’Brien, CEO of Scorpion Computer Services. “We’ve now automated that person where you just hit a button to do that kind of stuff.”
O’Brien — who was born in Ireland — founded Scorpion when he was 13 years old. He began programming computers when he was just nine years old, and is known for his high IQ.
The Army contract for the automation technology was awarded in September last year, but it wasn’t publicly announced until January, he told National Defense March 7 at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Cyber-Enabled Emerging Technologies Symposium in McLean, Virginia. He declined to say how much the contact was worth.
O’Brien said the work is complete and the company will be holding an “out brief” later this month in Alabama with the Army to show off the technology. Scorpion was a subcontractor of Stryke Industries LLC for the project.
By employing Scorpion’s Scenario Generator artificial intelligence engine, or ScenGen, processes that once took hours for warfighters to complete can now been done at the push of a button, O’Brien said.
“They spend hours going through pre-flight checks — is your barometer setting right? Is your altitude setting right? Is your GPS setting right?” he said. “They have to do all that before they take off.”
Now, they can just press “the easy button,” he said. The technology works on MQ-1C Gray Eagles, RQ-7B Shadows and MQ-5B Hunters.
Developing the system was particularly difficult given the age of some of the legacy platforms, he said.
“The problem is that in the real world when you go and meet with the government, their systems … might be 10 years old, and the system they are using was bought by a company, by a company, by a company, and nobody has the source code,” he said.
Additionally, the UAV operating systems are classified so Scorpion software developers were unable to install their technology directly, he said.
O’Brien said his company comprises a “collection of oddballs” to solve hard problems. They basically had to hack into the Army’s system to make the AI work, he added.
ScenGen can eliminate software bugs from already written code and alert users when bad code has been inserted into a program either nefariously by hackers, or unintentionally with software patches, he said.
While Scorpion’s software solutions have been used for more than a decade in the commercial sector, this is only the third major military program that has used the technology to remove bugs and glitches in previously installed software.
The company’s system has also been used with the Aegis combat system employed by the U.S. Navy and a battlefield command-and-control platform used in Afghanistan.
O’Brien expressed frustration with the world of government contracting. “It’s all siloed,” he said. “I could invent nuclear fusion tomorrow and the [contracting officer] won’t tell the guy in the cubicle next to him about it. It’s literally that bad.” (Source: UAS VISION/National Defense)
17 Mar 18. The US Army battery you can cut in half and still use. Why should a soldier lug around lots of heavy batteries for radios, drones and other uses? Why not just have one big battery that they can cut down to whatever size and shape is needed?
That’s exactly what researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab have designed, along with scientists from the University of Maryland and the Army Research Lab.
“We can make a battery in the form of a sheet, and then you can literally cut it with scissors, apply an electrical contact and you’re done,” said Jeffrey P. Maranchi, program manager for signature, energy and materials science at APL. “It’s profoundly important for the DoD to have mission flexibility, and this significantly increases your operational agility.”
Maranchi’s talking about a lithium-ion battery, the kind most commonly in use in small electronics today, but the team has made a fundamental engineering change. In the paper “Flexible Aqueous Li-ion Battery with High Energy and Power Densities” in the journal Advanced Materials, researchers describe a method for replacing the battery’s usual electrolyte medium with something more simple and stable: Water.
Lithium-ion batteries offer high energy density – that’s the amount of energy you can pack into a small container. “But what makes them achieve great performance is also what makes them dangerous,” said Kostas Gerasopoulos, senior research scientist and principal investigator at APL.
These batteries typically are volatile: They can explode or catch fire, making them hazardous to transfer or store.
“The average consumer is not rolling around on rocks or jumping off of vehicles or driving over their backpacks or jumping out of airplanes with all of their gear. Our military sponsors are doing all of that and more,” Maranchi said. “They are under a lot of stress and they can’t always pay attention to how they are treating their gear, so we set out to make the battery safer.”
Researchers, in their quest to find a cuttable, flexible, waterproof battery, also wanted to develop a more stable energy source. They say water is the ideal medium.
Others have tried using water in place of organic solvents, but they haven’t been able to generate high levels of electrical density. To thicken their mix, the APL added salt. “You’d think that having a lot of salt in water, it would never dissolve. But this salt can be dissolved in very high concentrations, and it suppresses the electrochemical activity of water,” Gerasopoulos said.
In layman’s terms: The salt allows the water to build up the kind of energy density found in conventional lithium-ion batteries. That gave the team the kind of safe, stable, high-density energy source they felt would function well in a military setting.
Right now, the battery is comparable in charge to a typical cell phone battery, but researchers believe that with some tweaking they may be able to pack in twice as much power. “That means we would be able to power a cell phone with a battery that’s half the size. That is a big win,” Gerasopoulos said.
The team then embedded its water-based battery in a resin base, rather than encase it in the usual rigid plastic box. The resin is flexible and can be submersed without impacting battery performance. It can be cut and shaped to suit a variety of uses.
In the lab, researchers have cut the battery, immersed it in seawater and even subjected it to ballistic testing. The battery has delivered power and performance through all these tests.
Researchers expect it will be three to five years before soldiers are able to head out into the field with sheet of all-purpose battery rolled up in the back of the Humvee. Before then they need to do more extensive field testing in coordination with their Army partners.
In the longer term, they envision their flexible battery being integrated directly into soldier’s uniforms as a sort of all-purpose, wearable power source. “The bigger vision is not only to make batteries that are flexible, but to have a ‘power fabric,’ with a battery 3D-printed into a uniform or printed into gear,” Maranchi said. “The five- to 10-year vision is to get to that degree of flexibility, along with really high levels of performance.” (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
19 Mar 18. DARPA aims to preserve US lead in electronics. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is planning to invest up to USD1.5bn in the coming years to ensure the United States remains the world leader in the electronics field. Working closely with the electronics industry, DARPA is seeking to create indigenous ‘leap-ahead’ technologies to ensure the United States maintains dominance in the electronics field, Bill Chappell, director of DARPA’s Microsystems Technology Office (MTO), told Jane’s. There is not much innovation in the semiconductor space anymore, Chappell noted. “If you look at the venture capital funds they have not gone into the core semiconductor material space,” he said. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
19 Mar 18. TE Connectivity (TE), a world leader in connectivity and sensors, has announced its featured identification solution for February as the TMS-SCE military grade heat shrink sleeves. TMS-SCE marker sleeves are TE’s most popular product, particularly for aviation and defense applications, and are designed to meet wire and cable identification needs with high performance requirements. TMS-SCE marker sleeves are made from durable, flame retardant, radiation cross-linked, heat-shrinkable polyolefin, making them ideal for a wide variety of applications in harsh environments. Although these high performance marker sleeves were originally developed for the aerospace and military sectors, they also benefit applications such as marine, electrical, electronics, rail, and oil and gas. TE’s TMS-SCE marker sleeves have been known to survive for decades. The marks are permanent immediately after printing and remain legible even when exposed to abrasion, aggressive cleaning solvents, and military fuels and oils. The sleeves have an operating temperature range between minus 55 degrees Celsius up to 135 C, making them versatile in a wide range of applications. For example, on an aircraft the material will need to withstand many extreme temperature cycles during flight operations. TMS-SCE marker sleeves are also lightweight, making them suitable for aerospace applications where weight can be a big factor in designing an aircraft. TE sells up to $5m in TMS-SCE markers every year, and they are used widely by leading manufacturers in the defense and aerospace industry.
TE’s TMS-SCE marker sleeves are supplied in a ladder format, with sleeves being held horizontally between two hole-punched polyester strips for ease of printing and kitting.
“Our TMS-SCE marker sleeves are the industry standard for wire and cable identification. They provide extremely fast shrinking for straightforward deployment and once in place they are proven to stand the test of time,” said Stephen Earley, global product manager, Identification Systems, TE.
The TMS-SCE marker sleeves meet the performance requirements of SAE-AMS-DTL-23053/5 class 1 as well as the marker performance requirements of SAE AS5942 and MIL-STD-202 Method 215. They are also CSA certified and UL recognized. They are available in the standard colors of yellow and white, and are also available in black, grey, orange, pink, red and violet.
15 Mar 18. Laboratory Working to Perfect 3D Printing Process. The Argonne National Laboratory is developing technology aimed at improving the 3D printing process, according to the principal investigator for the project. Scientists at the lab — which is based in Washington, D.C. — are examining ways to detect deficiencies while an item is being printed, Aaron Greco said.
“That’s kind of the main technical hurdle,” he said. “Nobody really knows as they are printing things if they are going to form a defect.” Rather, deficiencies in an item are usually found after it has already been printed, which requires the user to reprint the item and stop multiple times. Such defects include unwelded metal, he noted.
The standard process for metal 3D printing usually involves either using a laser across a bed of metal powder to weld the materials or spraying the components and melting them together with a laser, Greco explained. The complexity of the process can lead to defects.
To mitigate these problems, the laboratory is trying to “tune” parameters such as the power and the speed of the laser beam, he said. Part of this includes using high-powered synchrotron X-rays that allow the user to see the item from a submicron-level resolution, he said. However, this technology is not likely to be included in all 3D printers, he said, noting that it costs $100m.
“You can see enough detail as you shine a laser onto that powder bed to see all these multi-physics processes happen in real time,” he noted. “The metal melting, the flow, the molten metal, the ejection of the powder, the recrunching of the metal as it resolidifies and the porosity formation” are all visible.
There are a variety of uses for 3D printing, including military applications, he said. Having the ability to print parts in the field lessens the military’s reliance on its supply lines, Greco noted.
“That supply line is a big source of risk in terms of being targets, so the less reliant you are on the supply lines, the more secure you are, the more mission-ready you are,” he said. The technology also has many aerospace applications because it can manufacture parts using materials such as alloys and aluminums, he added.
The lab is primarily focusing on 3D printing with metals, but is also examining the possibility of using polymers and ceramic materials, Greco said. (Source: glstrade.com/National Defense)
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Oxley Group Ltd
Oxley specialises in the design and manufacture of advanced electronic and electro-optic components and systems for air, land and sea applications within the military sector. Established in 1942, Oxley has manufacturing facilities in the UK and USA and enjoys representation worldwide. The company’s products include night vision and LED lighting, data capture systems and electronic components. Oxley has pioneered the development of night vision compatible lighting. It offers a total package incorporating optical filters, equipment modification, cockpit and external lighting along with fleet wide upgrade services including engineering, installation, support, maintenance and training. The company’s long experience of manufacturing night vision lighting and LED indicators, coupled with advances in LED technology, has enabled it to develop LED solutions to replace incandescent and fluorescent lighting in existing applications as well as becoming the lighting option of choice in new applications such as portable military hospitals, UAV control stations and communication shelters.
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SATELLITE SYSTEMS, SATCOM AND SPACE SYSTEMS UPDATE
Web Page sponsor Viasat
www.viasat.com/gov-uk
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12 Mar 18. ViaSat-2 Satellite Comms Now Available for Government, Defense and Military Ops. Viasat Inc. (Nasdaq: VSAT) has announced the availability of ViaSat-2 satellite communications (SATCOM) service for government, defense and military applications. The service leverages the advanced communications satellite, ViaSat-2, along with innovations in ground networking technologies, that will deliver significant performance advantages over any other commercial or U.S. Department of Defence (DoD) SATCOM system. In early March 2018, Viasat conducted a ViaSat-2 SATCOM system demonstration — attended by representatives from the U.S. armed forces — and showed a number of cloud-based government applications. The speeds on the ViaSat-2 satellite system demonstrated the industry’s fastest broadband connections, exceeding 100 Mbps during the demonstration day.
The ViaSat-2 SATCOM system has the ability to:
- Transmit bandwidth-intensive, media-rich cloud applications: Fast data rates and more satellite capacity will enable 4K and HD video streaming to thousands of electronic devices simultaneously for greater operational capabilities at the tactical edge
- Conduct more simultaneous operations: Abundant capacity will enable warfighters to capture and send Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) sensor data; transmit live two-way video conferencing and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) calls; as well as conduct Command and Control (C2) and Situational Awareness (SA) communications as prioritized traffic to many more platforms in a region
- Continue operating through an electromagnetic, terrestrial or cyber-attack: Resiliency is provided through the ViaSat-2 system’s exceptional anti-interferer performance, Viasat’s unique Satellite Access Node (SAN) gateway diversity, seamless satellite switching and assured pattern re-routing to operate through gateway failures, and through Viasat’s Active Cyber Defense, which automatically detects, mitigates and attributes Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks against the network’s infrastructure. The resilient nature of the Viasat network will enable mission-critical communication packets to be protected and distributed safely, even in highly contested combat environments
- Provide assured communications: Viasat’s Best Available Network concept provides a global, redundant system for military to access Viasat’s global Ku-band networks, its more advanced Ka-band networks, as well as the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) system. The Best Available Network allows terminals to roam across multiple networks to maximize resilience and collaboration for ground fixed, transportable, mobile, maritime and airborne platforms
The ViaSat-2 satellite system validates the performance advantages and capabilities of Viasat’s commercial SATCOM system today with a glimpse into the Company’s ViaSat-3 SATCOM system capabilities. Viasat’s SATCOM network delivers more bandwidth and better resilience, redundancy and active cyber protection required to maximize operational performance in the contested environments military operations face during combat.
Ken Peterman, President, Government Systems, Viasat, said the company is proudly demonstrating emerging U.S. government concept of operations requiring bandwidth-intensive, cloud-connected military applications with our latest high-throughput commercial satellite, ViaSat-2. The innovations in the new ViaSat-2 satellite and network show that Viasat can dramatically improve operational capabilities for military missions. This SATCOM system is the first in the company’s series of ultra-high-capacity global satellite networks, which will enable superior reach, readiness, and resiliency for global military forces. (Source: Satnews)
22 Mar 18. The satellite surprise inside the spending bill. The new spending plan congressional leaders unveiled March 21 unexpectedly includes $600m for the Air Force to extend its wideband satellite communications program by two satellites.
The Air Force’s Wideband Global Satcom program currently consists of 10 satellites, the first of which launched in 2007, and has a total price tag of $4.3bn. Boeing is the program’s prime contractor and the last satellite in the program had been expected to launch in fiscal 2018.
But budget documents from the House accompanying the bill call for an additional $600m for what’s described as “full funding for WGS 11 and 12.” It does not offer further details, but does mention Congress is concerned the Department of Defense may end up replenishing all of its major satellite programs at the same time.
The WGS satellites had not been mentioned in the president’s budget request.
The move is likely to rattle the commercial satellite industry.
The new money comes as the Pentagon is involved in a broader discussion about how it will acquire satellite bandwidth in the future. In late 2016, DoD leaders kicked off a high-profile study, known as the analysis of alternatives, to examine potential paths forward and work more closely with industry.
For years, commercial satellite operators have been trying to win a greater share of Defense Department business and viewed the end of WGS as a way to make further in-roads. But the addition of two more satellites would provide more bandwidth for the military and theoretically minimize the opportunity for commercial operators to sell wideband communications services to the Pentagon, at least in the short term and until the Air Force has a clearer path forward on satellite communications.
WGS bandwidth is commonly used for tactical command and control, communications, and computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, battle management; and combat support information.
(Source: Defense News)
21 Mar 18. STRATCOM leader pushes back on Space Force idea. The head of U.S. Strategic Command said the nation doesn’t need a “Space Force” right now.
“I think that someday we’ll have a Space Corps and Space Force in this country. But I don’t think the time is right for that right now,” STRATCOM’s Commander Gen. John Hyten said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing March 20 to discuss fiscal 2019 budget priorities.
Hyten’s response followed comments President Donald Trump made earlier this month in a speech to the military in San Diego, advocating for a new “Space Force” to combat emerging threats from Russia and China and declaring space as a warfighting domain.
“My new national strategy for space recognizes that space is a war-fighting domain, just like the land, air and sea,” Trump said during his March 13 speech. “We may even have a ‘Space Force’ — develop another one. Space Force. We have the Air Force; we’ll have the Space Force.”
The White House, Defense Secretary James Mattis and the Air Force, which heads space operations via its own Space Command and would have housed the Space Corps, previously opposed its creation. Language for it was stripped out of the latest defense spending bill, but the bill allowed for an independent study exploring what a Space Corps would look like and its requirements.
But while Hyten disagreed with establishing a Space Force or Corps anytime soon, he said he appreciated the president’s thinking.
“I love the fact that the president talked about space as a warfighting domain,” Hyten said, adding that he supports the National Defense Authorization Act’s take on evaluating the needs and elements of a Space Corps in the future.
“The importance of space is not going to lessen over the years, so I see this as a logical progression,” Hyten told reporters following the hearing.
“We just have a fairly small force right now” of about 5,000 space operators plus supporting staff, and Hyten likes that. “I’m happy with where we are right now” having Congress, the president and the law all pointing towards space as a warfighting domain, he said, adding that Trump’s comments were “another great voice” that aligns with national security needs.
Hyten also addressed senators’ cyberwarfare concerns during the hearing, saying that while the U.S. has made progress, it’s inhibited by the belief that cyberspace isn’t a true warfighting domain.
“I always find it odd that we’ll give young soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines lethal authority to operate far from home in harm’s way — to apply lethal force against an adversary using a set of rules of engagement but will hesitate to give a four-star admiral the authority to conduct cyberspace operations because we’re concerned he won’t follow the rules of engagement,” Hyten said, referring to U.S. Cyber Commander Adm. Michael Rogers and adding that the rules of engagement should be the same regardless of domain.
But when Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) asked what Congress should do, Hyten hesitated, saying he doesn’t want to prescribe the legislative body with a solution. However, he said publicly endorsing cyberspace as a warfighting domain is a step forward.
“People always ask me, ‘In space or cyber, how do you deter … how do you fight to win a war in cyber?’ You don’t,” Hyten said. “War, conflict, deterrence — [each] is against an adversary, not against a place. You have to take the place out of it and focus on the adversary,” while leaving room for diplomacy. (Source: Defense Systems)
21 Mar 18. Pentagon’s New Arms-Research Chief Eyes Space-Based Ray Guns. Neutral-particle beams, a concept first tried in the 1980s, may get a fresh look under Michael Griffin.
“Directed energy is more than just big lasers, Griffin said. “That’s important. High-powered microwave approaches can effect an electronics kill. The same with the neutral particle beam systems we explored briefly in the 1990s” for use in space-based anti-missile systems. Such weapons can be “useful in a variety of environments” and have the “advantage of being non-attributable,” meaning that it can be hard to pin an attack with a particle weapon on any particular culprit since it leaves no evidence behind of who or even what did the damage.
Like lasers, neutral-particle beams focus beams of energy that travel in straight lines, unaffected by electromagnetic fields. But instead of light, neutral-particle beams use composed of accelerated subatomic particles traveling at near-light speed, making them easier to work with (though the folks that run CERN’s hadron collider may disagree). When its particles touche the surface of a target, they takes on a charge that allows them to penetrate the target’s shell or exterior more deeply.
This all makes neutral-particle beams attractive as space-based anti-missile systems. Over the years, various defense companies have released mockups of proposed designs that seem to come out of an issue of Popular Mechanics circa 1950.
The Pentagon first tested the concept in the late 1980s as part of a program called the Neutral Particle Beam, or NPB. According to a 1990 writeup that military scientists sent to lawmakers, it explored the possibility of a space-based weapon that could “kill missiles and reentry vehicles in the boost, post-boost, and mid-course portion of an ICBM trajectory as well as discriminated objects during the midcourse phase” — meaning a defensive system that could knock out missiles as they were leaving the launch pad or flying in space toward their target.
In July, 1989, the program put a neutral-particle beam into orbit as part of a project called the Beam Experiment Aboard a Rocket, which analysts described as “a major success for the NPBprogram.” The tests showed that the weapon could be ruggedized for space launch and operation and that the beam was sufficiently narrow to hit a target.
The writeup concluded that a neutral-particle beam would be “difficult, if not impossible, to countermeasure in both the kill and discrimination role since it penetrates in-depth into the target. Analysis and tests have been conducted to verify that the entry level NPB can defeat all proposed counter-measures to the beam-target interaction. It is also effective against homing direct assent [anti-satellite] which allows the NPB to defend itself and other space-based assets.”
Griffin did not say that he welcomed particle beam ideas based specifically in space. Nevertheless, because space was the environment that the U.S. “explored briefly in the 1990s” for such weapons, that is what his comments convey. He refused to answer reporter requests for clarification on his comments after his presentation.
Griffin did express some caution about a different take on directed-energy anti-missile weapons: the Low Power Laser Demonstrator program, to which the military has already devoted $66m in the most recent budget request. The LPLD seeks to put a laser aboard a drone to shoot down missile just after launch. “I think frankly I’m more concerned about exactly how high you have to be in the atmosphere to propagate a laser beam with sufficient density to score a kill at a reasonable range,” Griffin said. “I’ve found that I can get an informed opinion that says you can’t do it. And another opinion that says you can. I think that jury’s still out.”
And so, he said, when it comes to striking North Korean missiles before or soon after launch, the most practical near-term solution remains still “kinetic effects” or missiles, “especially against adversary countries where we can conduct airborne operations not too far off their shores.”
(Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense One)
21 Mar 18. At the private space company SpaceX, the final preparations have been initiated to make the Danish-led space project Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) ready for launch to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch date is scheduled for Monday, 2 April 2018 at 16:30 local time from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It is 22:30 Central European Time (CET).
“The ASIM project is the largest Danish space project ever developed. For Terma, it has been a very exciting journey to lead an international team of scientists and engineers who in the past 10 years have been involved in the development. We are now ready to launch the observatory to the space station”, says Carsten Jørgensen, Senior Vice President, Terma Space.
“We are looking forward to receiving unique scientific data. ASIM is equipped with technology which will also be used for future missions worldwide and will provide a good return on investments in Denmark. This project has shown that Danish industry together with universities and international partners can deliver unique equipment to be used in space”, says Carsten Jørgensen.
ASIM is an observatory, which will be installed on the European Columbus module of the International Space Station (ISS). ASIM will be used to study high-altitude electrical discharges in the stratosphere and mesosphere above severe thunderstorms, the so-called red sprites, blue jets, haloes, and elves, and monitor X-ray and Gamma-ray flashes. A knowledge which can be used to identify climate processes in the atmosphere and improve climate models for Earth.
ASIM is an international project under ESA. The project is led by Denmark with Terma as technical prime contractor and DTU Space as lead of the scientific part. In addition, institutions and companies from a number of other countries participate in the project.
In recent months, a Terma team headed by project manager Ole Hartnack has been very busy preparing the ASIM Observatory for launch.
The instrument package that constitutes the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) is now securely in position in the Dragon Module and ready for launch to the International Space Station with a Falcon 9 launcher.
“We have had some hectic days and weeks in Florida, but the equipment has now been integrated and tested and is ready to be transported to the hangar where the Falcon 9 is being prepared for launch”, says Ole Hartnack, who has been working on the project together with Systems Engineer Dan D. V. Bhanderi during the last 10 years.
Dragon is a free-flying spacecraft that brings supplies and equipment to ISS. It is located at the top of the 70 meter high Falcon launcher, and it returns to Earth after delivering the load.
The load in Dragon is stored in two connected modules, partly in a cargo area that is under pressure and used for supplies that need to be inside the ISS, partly in an open cargo area that is not under pressure. Here are larger equipment and instruments positioned until installation outside the ISS. ASIM is now positioned in the open cargo area together with two other experiments to be launched to ISS. Getting ASIM positioned in Dragon has been carried out in close collaboration between Terma, NASA, SpaceX, and the European Space Agency ESA.
“We have been working on a very tight schedule to be ready for the mission. The integration of ASIM and the other elements in the Dragon spacecraft is precision work with very complicated lifts of both ASIM, the other instruments, and the Dragon modules. It requires high concentration to handle the very expensive and fragile equipment that must be completely intact before launch,” says Ole Hartnack.
ASIM will be launched from Cape Canaveral at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission is called SpaceX CRS-14. Both Falcon 9 launchers and Dragon modules are reused by SpaceX as the launchers return to Earth when the Dragon module is released and bound for the ISS. After a month at ISS, the Dragon module also returns.
Dan D. V. Bhanderi explains that the Falcon 9 launcher for the ASIM launch was in use for the first time on 14 August 2017 for the CRS-12 mission and that the Dragon spacecraft flew for the first time on 8 April 2016 to 11 May 2016 on the CRS-8 mission.
Chief Consultant at DTU Space Torsten Neubert who leads the research connected to the ASIM mission, looks forward to the launch of ASIM and to the new knowledge the mission will provide.
“ASIM is in fact the largest space instrument that has ever been built in this country. It has taken more than ten years to implement this amazing idea, and now we have almost reached the goal. More than 100 dedicated experts from Denmark, Norway, Poland, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, Canada, and the United States have participated in the project. We look forward to reaping the scientific benefits of the great and hard work that has been put into development, design, and testing of ASIM”, says Torsten Neubert.
Following the plan, the Dragon spacecraft will be joined with the Falcon 9 launcher about four days before the launch, and currently the launch date is scheduled for Monday, 2 April 2018 at 22:30 CET. However, weather, technique, and security challenges may lead to changes to the schedule, but the uncertainty will decrease as the time of launch approaches.
ASIM is developed under the auspices of the European Space Agency, ESA. DTU Space has the scientific leadership of the mission. The Danish aerospace company Terma A/S has the overall technical responsibility and the Danish Meteorological Institute supplies global meteorological data products and participates in the scientific studies. Additional partners are University of Valencia, Spain, University of Bergen, Norway, Space Research Center, Poland, OHB-Italia, Italy, and B.USOC, Belgium.
20 Mar 18. Raytheon Company’s (NYSE: RTN) GPS Next-Generation Operational Control System, known as GPS OCX, is in its final software development phase. This phase focuses on increasing automation and building controls for both L1C, a civilian GPS signal aimed at increasing international access, and M-code, a military GPS signal with better anti-jam capability.
Once complete, the team will begin integration and testing to keep the program on track for full system delivery in June 2021.
“Our team has two primary goals this year,” said Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services. “We will support the U.S. Air Force’s GPS III launch this fall and complete the software build for the full operational system by year’s end.”
GPS OCX is the enhanced ground control segment of a U.S. Air Force-led effort to modernize America’s GPS system. The program is implementing 100 percent of DODI 8500.2 “Defense in Depth” information assurance standards without waivers, giving it the highest level of cybersecurity protections of any DoD space system. For protection against future cyber threats, the system’s open architecture allows it to integrate new capabilities and signals as they become available.
Because GPS OCX can manage nearly twice the satellites of the current system, it will increase signal strength in hard-to-reach areas like dense cities and mountainous terrain. Also, advanced automation will free crews to focus on mission-critical tasks such as updating satellite positions more often.
19 Mar 18. GovSat-1 Satellite Goes Operational. GovSat-1 enters operational service today, to provide secure communications to governmental and institutional users. GovSat-1 is the first satellite of GovSat, a public private partnership between the Government of Luxembourg and the world-leading satellite operator SES. The satellite was launched into space on 31 January on board a flight-proven SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and has since undergone extensive testing.
The multi-mission satellite is operated by GovSat from the Secure Mission Operations Centre in Luxembourg. The highly flexible and resilient GovSat-1 payload uses dedicated frequencies in X-band and military Ka-band. It enables an array of applications such as connectivity for theatres of operation, interconnection of institutional or defence sites, border control, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), as well as various types of communications on the move for land and maritime missions.
GovSat-1 is located at the 21.5 degrees East orbital slot, which allows it to support missions over Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, as well as providing extensive maritime coverage over the Mediterranean and Baltic seas, and the Atlantic and Indian oceans. Dedicated entirely to governmental and institutional users, GovSat-1 features high-powered fully-steerable spot beams, an X-band Global beam and a total of sixty-eight transponder equivalent units.
Étienne Schneider, Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy and Minister of Defence said: “I would like to thank all the members of the GovSat team for their hard work and commitment to bring the GovSat-1 spacecraft into operational service. This was the next major step in our public-private partnership with SES. GovSat-1 will further enhance Luxembourg’s excellent reputation in the global satellite communications market. The satellite will enable Luxembourg to meet its expanding obligations in European defence and to further diversify the national economy in a key technology sector.”
“GovSat-1 is a real game-changer when it comes to providing secure satellite communications to governments and institutions. The satellite’s X-band capacity is the most powerful and flexible available,” said Patrick Biewer, Chief Executive Officer of GovSat. “GovSat-1, coupled with our Secure Mission Operations Centre, forms one of the most reliable, cost efficient and secure satellite communications capabilities on the market, and we are delighted to announce that it has entered into operational service.” (Source: ASD Network)
19 Mar 18. For satellite imagery to thrive, industry wants reforms. Leaders from the satellite imaging industry presented a long list of regulation reforms they want to see from the Trump administration during a panel discussion March 14 during the 2018 Satellite show held in Washington D.C. To allow the space industry to thrive, industry officials called for a regulatory process that is more efficient, transparent and narrowly focused. The panelists described the current regulatory regime as a convoluted process that stifles innovation and “tells you no slowly, but can’t tell you why.”
The remote sensing regulatory environment currently operates on “the presumption of no,” said Walter Scott, executive vice president and chief technology officer at Maxar Technologies. Last year Maxar acquired satellite imagery provider DigitalGlobe. “If telecommunications had been regulated this way, instead of smartphones we’d be up here with devices that have big dials and wires attached to them.”
A common concern among the industry panelists was the rise of competition in the space domain, especially from foreign actors that are less constrained by regulatory burdens imposed on American space companies.
“Taking three months to write a report to make a committee to study something about a decision just doesn’t cut it in a world where this technology is becoming rapidly available to almost everyone,” said Peter Platzer, the chief executive, a satellite imagery company based in St. Louis.
DoD leaders have historically said reviews are necessary to understand the national security implications of new satellite technology. Only a handful of DoD officials served on panels during the four day conference.
Industry leaders said they hoped their grievances will be well received by the Trump administration, which has taken a both a pro-space and anti-regulation posture in its first year. The administration reactivated the National Space Council last summer and President Donald Trump recently floated the idea of creating a new “Space Force” dedicated to space warfare.
A report from the Department of Commerce on space regulations is due out by July 1. The department’s secretary, Wilbur Ross, has said he wants to reform the process by creating a single space commerce office. (Ross headlined a keynote dinner to satellite leaders during the conference.) The panelists said they were hopeful that the report would lead to a more streamlined and transparent space licensing process.
Some in the space community have proposed the idea of “permissionless” authorization, in which space licence applications would be automatically approved unless a specific objection is proposed within a determined number of days.
“I don’t think we’re going to go that far,” said Peter Hays, a space policy consultant who works with the Department of Defense. “But I think we’re heading in that direction.” (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
18 Mar 18. China to offer commercial recoverable satellites in next two years: Xinhua. China plans to begin offering recoverable satellites to commercial users between 2019 and 2020, the official state news agency Xinhua reported.
The country has successfully brought back more than 20 satellites from space since 1975 and is confident its technology is highly reliable, said Zhang Hongtai, president of the China Academy of Space Technology, a satellite and spacecraft maker.
“We plan to upgrade this technology in order to satisfy the needs of commercial users,” he was quoted as saying. The satellites allow scientists to send experiments into space on unmanned missions and recover the results. China has used these satellites in the past to send seeds into space, developing new types of plants from seeds that have been exposed to zero gravity and cosmic radiation. Chinese President Xi Jinping has been keen to advance China’s space program which lags its counterparts in the United States and Russia, saying it is needed to enhance national security and defense. (Source: Reuters)
15 Mar 18. Orbital ATK Achieves Significant Development Milestone for NASA’s Landsat 9 Satellite. Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA), a global leader in aerospace and defense technologies, has been given approval to begin building the NASA Landsat 9 spacecraft after completing a comprehensive design review of the mission. Landsat 9, a land surface mapping satellite, will collect space-based images and data that serve as valuable resources for researchers in areas that include agriculture, land use mapping, and disaster relief. Orbital ATK is designing and manufacturing the satellite, integrating two government-furnished instruments, and supporting launch, early orbit operations and on-orbit check-out of the observatory.
Representatives from NASA and Orbital ATK successfully completed a rigorous Critical Design Review (CDR) demonstrating that the program meets all technical performance measures and requirements. The execution of the design review enables the program to effectively transition into manufacturing and prepare for the assembly, test and launch operations phase of the mission. The Landsat 9 spacecraft will be manufactured and tested at the company’s Gilbert, Arizona, facility and is currently planned for launch in late 2020. The spacecraft will be operated by the U.S. Geological Survey once in orbit.
“I am extremely pleased with the progress our team has made since the contract was awarded about a year and a half ago. We have passed every milestone and remain on schedule to launch in 2020,” said Steve Krein, Vice President of Science and Environmental Programs at Orbital ATK. “This will be the fourth Landsat satellite built by Orbital ATK for NASA and demonstrates our continued ability to deliver high-quality land imaging satellites that support the Landsat program’s long record of success.”
The Critical Design Review took place February 26 through March 1 at Orbital ATK’s facility in Gilbert, Arizona. Landsat 9 will extend the length of the overall Landsat series to half a century, providing the longest continuous record of the Earth’s surface as seen from space. Orbital ATK has built three other Landsat satellites, including Landsat 8, which was launched in 2013, and is providing high quality images in quantities that surpass mission requirements. The company was also responsible for the successful Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 satellites launched in 1982 and 1984.
Landsat 9 is based on Orbital ATK’s flight-proven LEOStar-3™ spacecraft bus platform, the same that was successfully used on Landsat 8. The Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation satellite (ICESat-2) and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-2) spacecraft are also based on the LEOStar-3 bus platform and currently in production for NASA at Orbital ATK’s Gilbert facility. (Source: ASD Network)
15 Mar 18. Indra Wins the Thales Contract Again to Prepare for Galileo with Four New Uplink Stations. Indra has been awarded another contract by Thales Alenia Space (France) for providing four new Uplink Stations (ULS) that furthers the ground system in preparation for the European global positioning system, Galileo. Thus far, Indra has deployed the entire network of Uplink Stations (ULS) and Telemetry, Tracking and Control (TT&C) stations of Galileo. All of this preparation is to enable the ground-based infrastructure to assume control of the 30 satellites that the Galileo constellation will have in 2020.
This network will be invaluable once all the preparation has taken place. The globally distributed network will provide critical services such as search and rescue, emergency response and air, sea and land navigation. Indra will also be responsible for the stations´ maintenance and upgrades.
The new stations will join the 10 uplink stations that Indra has already put into service and six others currently in development by Indra from a previous contract. These stations shore up Galileo’s ground segment to be able to assume control of the constellation of 30 satellites that will be in orbit in 2020 upon completion of the system.
The Uplink Stations provide satellites with messages containing navigation data generated after verifying their onboard clocks and orbital positioning, which could be affected by solar winds or the gravitational fields of the Earth or Moon.
Satellites can use these messages to send precise data to the increasing number of mobile devices and positioning systems used by companies and individuals. A deviation in the data sent by merely one billionth of a second would amount to a positioning error of 30 cm on Earth. The data messages that these stations send therefore have a vital role in achieving the precision of the entire system.
In addition to deploying the entire ULS network, Indra has also implemented all the Telemetry, Tracking and Control (TT&C) stations managing Galileo satellites. These stations are distributed at different points around the globe to ensure that satellites remain in permanent contact with at least one at all times for monitoring their positions and sending control orders. Indra engineers have implemented them in places such as Kourou (French Guiana), Kiruna (Sweden), Nouméa (New Caledonia), Réunion Island (overseas department of France), Svalbard (Norway) and Papeete (French Polynesia).
Galileo provides critical services that depend on the perfect operation of this system, including search and rescue operations at sea, which was one of the first services activated when the system was commissioned back in December 2016. Additional capabilities have gradually been included to address situations related to emergency and crisis response and management, shipping, navigation, construction, etc.
Together with the control centers in Germany and Italy, the ULS and TT&C stations deployed by Indra are the key components in Galileo’s ground segment.
In addition to deploying these stations, Indra has also worked on the supply and deployment of Time and Geodetic Validation Facilities (TGVF) within the framework of the Galileo project. This component independently runs performance assessments on the Galileo system to ensure that it supplies correct information. The company handles this element of the Mission Center in Fucino (Italy). Indra also developed the mainframe computer’s processing systems for the sensor station network (GSS) supporting the center.
Indra is also co-leading the development of the EU’s GNSS Service Center, which will be Galileo’s point of contact with the end users of the system’s open and commercial services, providing them with expertise, knowledge, and support. The center is set to be based at the National Institute of Aerospace Technologies (INTA) facilities at Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid).
To date, Galileo is the most ambitious space initiative promoted by the European Commission and the European Space Agency. Indra has participated in developing the entire ground infrastructure since the project’s early phases. (Source: Satnews)
14 Mar 18. SatixFy UK’s New Silicon Based, Electronically Steered Multi-Beam Array Antenna. SatixFy has announced their newest product, the full Electronic Steered Multi-Beam Array antennas (ESMA).
SatixFy UK, designers of next-generation satellite communication chips and systems, introduced its full Electronic Steered Multi-Beam Array antennas (ESMA). SatixFy’s Ku-band IoT terminals with 64 and 256 antenna elements will be showcased at Satellite 2018, at their booth #649.
The scalable architecture supports any antenna size up to 1 million elements (in Ku band 10m by 10m), any frequency through a dedicated RFIC, any polarization including circular and linear simultaneously, any shape including conformal arrays and up to 32 beams both in receive and transmit. The antenna, based on a fully digital beam forming technology, supports an instantaneous bandwidth of over 1 GHz and works in both TDD and FDD modes. Expected array efficiency is better than 70 percent. The antenna includes an ACU (Antenna Control Unit), self-calibration capabilities, and on-chip trigonometric calculator for fast tracking and beam steering.
The antenna supports any external modem through L-band interface but is best used when closely coupled with SatixFy’s current 500MHz baseband modem chips (Sx3000). ESMA antennas use less power based on waveform duty cycle. If there is no traffic, no power will be needed from the antenna, such as in DVB S2X time slicing (Annex M). With its integrated modem, the antenna supports various operational modes such as TDD (half duplex) and FDD (full duplex), very fast Acquisition and Tracking. The SatixFy baseband chip can also serve as an additional DVB S2X overlay. SatixFy’s next generation 1GHz baseband chips will enable the simultaneous use of 8 beams and 8 modems out of a single antenna, through a single modem chip and a single Ethernet port providing both data and control.
Yoel Gat, Chairman and CEO of SatixFy stated that this is truly a remarkable product. Until now, most phased array antenna solutions had limitations mainly in terms of power per element and price. SatixFy designs its own silicon chips on very advanced silicon processes. Their chips enable their unique digital beam forming design, capable of lower power per element. The cost structure is now based on silicon economics as all their algorithms and innovative antenna design are implemented in Silicon.
SatixFy’s Ku-band IoT terminals with 64 and 256 antenna elements will be showcased at Satellite 2018, at their booth #649. SatixFy is in the process of developing anaero antenna through the recently announced joint venture cooperation with Singapore Technologies Engineering (STE). Other applications using SatixFy’s ESMA technology are multi-beam payload for solar drones and small satellites, self-installed fixed antenna, multi-beam DTH antenna, connected cars and mobile Rx only antennas for Satellite TV in cars. Gat continued saying, expect to see a lot of innovation coming from them in the next months and years. They will address multiple markets and offer great performance that seemed imaginary only a few months ago. (Source: Satnews)
15 Mar 18. DigitalGlobe Selects SpaceX to Launch First Two Legion Satellites of the Planned EO Constellation. DigitalGlobe, a Maxar Technologies Ltd. company (formerly MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.) (NYSE and TSX: MAXR), has contracted with SpaceX to launch the next-generation WorldView Legion satellite imaging constellation. DigitalGlobe and SpaceX are working together for the first time to launch the WorldView Legion constellation. The initial block of the multi-satellite WorldView Legion constellation will be launched by two flight-proven Falcon 9 rockets in 2021.
The WorldView Legion constellation will incorporate DigitalGlobe’s and its parent, Maxar’s, most advanced capabilities in Earth Observation (EO) and satellite construction technologies. This satellite will double DigitalGlobe’s ability to collect the world’s highest resolution 30 cm satellite imagery and triple the capacity available over the highest-demand regions, while reducing capital investments by half relative to the GeoEye-1, WorldView-1 and WorldView-2 satellites it will replace. The satellites are being developed by SSL, another Maxar company and the global leader in commercial satellites.
DigitalGlobe President Dan Jablonsky stated that with access to more of the world’s best imagery, collected more frequently, the company’s government and commercial customers will be able to make decisions with confidence and understand this changing planet like never before.
(Source: Satnews)
12 Mar 18. SES Successfully Launches Four for Three … Four O3b Satellites that Drive Digital Equality with Fiber-Like Connectivity.
SES shared the news regarding the successful launch of its four new K-Band O3b Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites by Arianespace onboard a Soyuz rocket, from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana that will join SES’s existing constellation of 12 MEO satellites, orbiting at approximately 8,000 km from Earth, four times closer to the planet than geostationary (GEO) satellites delivering connectivity with a low latency, fiber-like performance.
The four new O3b satellites, built by Thales Alenia Space, will enable SES to bring more capacity, enhanced coverage and increased performance to market. By furthering its O3b fleet, SES is scaling its unique ability to connect people, businesses, and continents with high performance communications anywhere on Earth. The O3b constellation is expanding to continue to drive digital equality and to support digital transformation across the globe. The additional capacity will enable SES Networks to cater to the growing consumption of bandwidth in the telecom, cloud, maritime, energy, and government markets.
Steve Collar, Chief Executive Officer at SES Networks, and CEO designate of SES, said that they are very excited to have four more O3b satellites in orbit, and they look forward to them joining the constellation in May and serving their customers around the globe. The demand for high performance bandwidth and networks continues to grow and, as the only successful non-geostationary broadband system, they need these new satellites to fulfill demand across a wide range of verticals and applications. From connecting underserved communities and meaningfully transforming lives through improved broadband access, to delivering state-of-the-art satellite-enabled network services to ships, planes and government platforms, their O3b fleet offers unique and differentiated performance and is driving their customers’ businesses forward.
Martin Halliwell, Chief Technology Officer at SES, added that this was the fourth launch performed by Arianespace for their O3b fleet and they have yet another batch of O3b satellites planned for 2019 on their Soyuz rocket as well. This is the beauty of their MEO constellation: it can easily be scaled to respond to demand in an agile manner while beams can be allocated dynamically to where the demand is, and thus deliver low-latency connectivity where their customers need it. By augmenting their fleet, they will offer more throughput, more coverage, and more capabilities to their customers.
Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace commented that with this second launch of the year, the 18th Soyuz from the Guiana Space Center, Arianespace is very proud of the confidence placed by SES in their service solutions for both MEO satellites and GEO satellites. They are very pleased to support their long-standing partner SES in the expansion and evolution of its O3b fleet.
In addition to these four new satellites, another four O3b satellites are scheduled to launch in H1 2019. Historically, the first 12, O3b satellites were launched by three Soyuz launch vehicles in 2013 and 2014.
(Source: Satnews)
14 Mar 18. C-COM’s Ka-Band Antennas Pass … Run Rings Around JUPITER™ System that Powers HughesNet™ Gen5 Platform. Hughes Network Systems (HUGHES), a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), gave the approval to C-COM Satellite Systems Inc., (TSXV: CMI) for its iNetVu® vehicle mount Ka-band antenna system, model Ka-98H/JUP, to be used on its HughesNet™ Gen5 platform powered by Hughes JUPITER™ System Technology.
Bilal Awada, CTO of C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. said they are excited that their iNetVu® 98cm driveaway platform, integrated with the latest transceivers and modems, has successfully passed the Hughes testing and approval process.
Operating over the Gen5 service significantly expands C-COM’s addressable market for transportable antenna systems, and will bring very high data throughputs to mobile users. The iNetVu® 98H/JUP antenna systems are available for immediate delivery.
The new antenna operates in Ka-band but is field upgradable to Ku-band, making it ideal for broadcasters, oil and gas exploration companies, telemedicine, first responders, as well as governments and military.
Leslie Klein, President and CEO of C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. said that the 98H/JUP series antennas are supplied with C-COM’s proprietary iNetVu® controllers which have been field tested for over a decade and are in use with more than 8,000 units in the field. This cost-effective driveaway system offers an attractive solution to customers interested in taking advantage of the availability of higher speed and lower cost Ka-band service offerings.
Royce Hernandez, senior director at Hughes added that they are pleased to authorize the operation of the Ka-98H/JUP antenna system from C-COM Satellite Systems onto their HughesNet Gen5 service. They have a longstanding partnership with C-COM and many of their customers around the world have successfully deployed their antenna systems to meet critical communications requirements. (Source: Satnews)
12 Mar 18. Startup Allegedly Launches Rogue Satellites Without FCC Permission. It’s a tale as old as time: a Silicon Valley startup is denied permission by the government to launch satellites, so the startup redesigns the satellites, and then launches them into space before the new designs are approved. So it’s not exactly an old tale, but it could be playing out right now, and the California-based stealth startup Swarm Technologies could be in serious hot water after the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) just accused them of launching four unauthorized cubesat satellites in secret. If these accusations are true, it would be the first unauthorized launch of commercial satellites in history. The original plan, according to documents assembled by IEEE Spectrum, was that Swarm Technologies designed several tiny satellites called “SpaceBees” which they hoped to launch into Earth’s orbit to test out a prototype communications system. But due to their small stature, the satellites couldn’t be easily tracked and the FCC – which has to approve satellite launches from American companies – declared them to be unsafe. Swarm’s application to launch them was rejected.
Following this, it appears that Swarm Technologies did fix up the SpaceBees so they were large enough to be detected in orbit (thus minimizing the risk of satellite collisions), and they submitted a new application to the FCC. That application was still sitting in someone’s desk/inbox when a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket took off in India carrying a mapping satellite and several smaller cubesats from other countries. Four of those small satellites appear to be the remodeled SpaceBees from Swarm Technologies, described as “2-way satellite communications and data relay” and perhaps launched without knowledge that they hadn’t been approved yet. The FCC just responded in kind by formally rejecting a launch that Swarm was planning for next month, citing the four unauthorized satellites in space which are now being investigated. Swarm’s future is now unclear, as the SpaceBees served an interesting goal which is now in jeopardy. The company, created by a former alum of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Google, was working on an experimental “Internet of things” based communications network, and the SpaceBees were a key part of setting that up. The satellites are now in the sky, but if Swarm Technologies faces enough consequences for the rogue SpaceBees, the startup could come to an early end. (Source: Satnews)
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22 Mar 18. Congress’ new omnibus bill sets up hurdles for JSTARS recap cancellation. In the newly released fiscal 2018 omnibus spending bill, Congress doesn’t exactly force the Air Force to move forward with JSTARS recap, which the service wishes to cancel in fiscal 2019. But lawmakers didn’t make it easy for the service to walk away from it.
If passed by Congress, the language in the spending bill would prohibit the Air Force from using the $405 million designated for the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System recapitalization program on any other effort, including the service’s new Advanced Battle Management System plan.
However, it does offer up a back door: Congress might be willing to move the funding to another program if requested by the Air Force, and if the Defense Department submits a report about alternatives to JSTARS recap.
“Despite years of affirmations to Congress on the need to pursue JSTARS recapitalization and an ongoing source selection process, the Air Force asserts that the program will not be viable in future contested environments and lacks compelling improvements over legacy capabilities,” the omnibus language states.
However, “the proposal to cancel JSTARS recapitalization, pursue alternatives, and ensure no duplication between efforts requires careful consideration by Congress through the fiscal year 2019 budget process.”
The Air Force requested $417 million in fiscal 18 to continue development of the JSTARS recap, with a contract award to a single vendor — either Boeing, Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman — expected in calendar year 2018.
But service leadership including Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein grew concerned that modified commercial planes would not be able to survive a battle with a peer competitor in a contested environment. By September, the service had acknowledged that it was seeking alternatives to the JSTARS recap program.
Some lawmakers have argued that the service should move forward with JSTARS recap and pursue a more disaggregated solution later, citing previous analysis supporting the effort and more than $265 million already spent on the recap program.
According to the bill, the defense secretary must submit a report to congressional defense committees that includes the following information:
- The plan for retiring the current E-8C JSTARS fleet and options for retaining them
- Whether the Air Force can address concerns about the survivability of the JSTARS recap by changing requirements, such as radar range or the size, weight, power and cooling margins of the aircraft
- The cost and schedule of the Advanced Battle Management System plan from FY19 to FY23
- The cost and schedule of procuring Army and Navy platforms that could help conduct the battle management and surveillance mission currently done by JSTARS
In February, Air Combat Command head Gen. Mike Holmes said the service is still working out the finer details of its new Advanced Battle Management System plan, but the general idea is that the Air Force could network together some of its existing capabilities to fill the JSTARS role.
Near-term plans include retaining seven E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft and upgrading them with new communications gear, as well as outfitting some MQ-9 Reaper drones with a new ground moving target indicator radar.
(Source: C4ISR & Networks)
22 Mar 18. Firefield introduces new Charge XLT Lasers and Flashlights. Ideal for low-light situations and quick target acquisition at close ranges, Firefield’s new Charge XLT laser sights provide shooters with pinpoint accuracy and increased visibility when it matters most. Charge XLTs are available in four different models; Charge XLT Green Laser Sight (FF25012), Charge XLT Green Laser Sight in Dark Earth (FF25012DE), Charge XLT Flashlight and Green Laser Sight (FF25013) and Charge XLT Flashlight and Green Laser Sight in Dark Earth (FF25013DE). Weighing in at just 6.2 oz., Charge XLT Green Lasers feature a Class IIIA 532nm green laser capable of being seen 600 yards away at night and 50 yards during the day. Constructed of high performance thermoplastic, these durable lasers are able to resist cold temperatures, increasing overall laser performance. They also feature a low profile design that allows them to be mounted in front of optics on AR-15 rifles and other firearms with rail systems without getting in the way. Hand adjustable turrets eliminate the need for tools and make adjustments in the field quick and easy. Charge XLT Flashlight and Laser Sights add an ultra-bright 220 lumen flashlight, allowing the firearm to be utilized in dark environments. On these models, the laser is also offset so it does not interfere with rifles utilizing a front sight post. All Charge lasers come standard with a pressure pad and CR123A battery.
22 Mar 18. RUAG expands EASA DOA scope. RUAG Aviation has expanded the scope of its EASA Part 21 J Design Organization Approval (DOA) to include night vision imaging system (NVIS) capabilities, the company announced on 20 March. The NVIS technical specification enables the aviation life cycle support and services provider to directly classify and approve changes and repairs, to design and develop supplemental type certificates for aircraft with NVIS configurations, and to integrate new NVIS to existing platfor Helicopter operators are increasingly taking delivery of new aircraft from original equipment manufacturers which are already equipped with NVIS configurations. The new DOA terms of approval positions RUAG Aviation to provide full life cycle, integration and support services on behalf of operators using this technology.
The NVIS configuration on helicopters includes a matrix involving both capabilities and personnel. It comprises a mix of devices, such as night vision goggles, and authorised procedures as well as crew members. As a result, the helicopter’s maintenance organisation must be authorised to effect changes and uphold the overall status of the NVIS configuration.
Bas Gouverneur, general manager engineering, RUAG Aviation, said: ‘Requests from our helicopter customers are actively reflecting the clear trend towards an increasing demand for NVIS functionality. As we continuously strive to satisfy our customers, it is absolutely essential that we regularly upgrade the scope of our DOA to include state-of-the-art capabilities. Our reputation as an expert integrator, and reliable maintenance and airworthiness partner, is founded on this principle.’ (Source: Shephard)
23 Mar 18. Pentagon Budget 2018: Spending bill allows JSTARS aircraft divestment. Key Points:
- The FY 2018 spending bill allows the USAF to start divesting JSTARS aircraft in FY 2019
- The bill pauses the USAF’s plan to cancel JSTARS recap until Congress weighs in
A provision in the US fiscal year 2018 (FY 2018) appropriations bill requires the US Air Force (USAF) to follow its original plan for the Boeing E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) recapitalisation effort, even though the service wants to begin divesting those aircraft as early as FY 2019. The USAF announced in February it wanted to divest three JSTARS aircraft in FY 2019 as part of its intent to cancel the fleet’s recapitalisation effort. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
21 Mar 18. Boeing to award F-15C Legion Pod contract before end of year. Boeing expects to award Lockheed Martin a full development and production contract before the end of the year for the integration of the Legion Pod onto the F-15C Eagle combat aircraft, a senior official told Jane’s on 22 March. The modular infrared search-and-track (IRST) sensor package has already flown on the Eagle, and has been chosen by the F-15 original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to replace the current interim IRST that is packaged in the Talon HATE communications pod carried on the aircraft’s centreline.
“Prime contractor Boeing and partner Lockheed Martin worked with the US Air Force [USAF] to conduct 11 test flights of the new system at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida in January,” Steve Parker, vice-president F-15 Programs at Global Strike, Boeing Military Aircraft, told Jane’s. “Legion Pod gives the F-15 the ability to search for and track targets in radar-denied environments. A full development and production contract award is expected later this year.”
Although a USAF platform and upgrade programme, the choice for the F-15C IRST system has been left to Boeing. IRST enables the host aircraft to acquire and track airborne targets through the heat generated by the jet engine and through aerodynamic heating of the airframe as it travels through the atmosphere. Being a passive system, the target aircraft does not know that it is being tracked.
The Legion Pod houses the IRST21 long-wave infrared sensor (officially designated AN/ASG-34), which is already fitted to the US Navy’s Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fleet as part of an interim drop tank/IRST sensor combination. As noted in Jane’s C4ISR & Mission Systems: Air, the Legion Pod is equipped with advanced networking and data processing technology, and also supports the emerging Multi-Domain Adaptable Processing System.
(Source: IHS Jane’s)
21 Mar 18. Saab ready to offer radar tech for new Seoul fighter, if it lands maritime patrol aircraft deal. In an attempt to snatch up a maritime patrol aircraft deal in South Korea, Swedish defense contractor Saab has opened the possibility of transferring its advanced radar technology for the KF-X, Seoul’s indigenous fighter jet development program, a Saab representative revealed.
The offer was made as Saab is trying to convince the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, or DAPA, to decide open up for a competitive bid the $1.8bn anti-submarine aircraft acquisition program, which is expected to go to U.S. Boeing offering the P-8A Poseidon.
Saab is pitching the Swordfish maritime patrol aircraft, built on the Bombardier Global 6000 business jet platform, which the Swedish firm claim shares 70 percent commonality with the GlobalEye airborne early warning and control aircraft.
“We’re open to discuss lots of areas with the DAPA and Korean government,” Richard Hjelmberg, head of Saab’s marketing & sales of airborne ISR, told Defense News during a round-table session at a Seoul hotel on March 20. “If we come to the table for full negotiations and discussions, we’re open to discuss other areas than ones related to the maritime patrol aircraft program.”
The local rules of offset program requires the value of any arms contract bidder to meet at least 50 percent of the total costs of the deal concerned.
Gary Shand, director of sales and marketing of airborne ISR, was more specific about Saab’s list of offset proposals, including the transfer of an advanced active electronically scanned array, or AESA, radar technology.
“We have been talking about the parts production happening in Korea obviously. We have been talking about local industry’s taking part in the integration of certain parts of our mission systems,” he said. “In addition to that, I think Saab has a wide variety of products in portfolio including AESA radar technology for the KF-X program. It could be a discussion point for us to look at the possibility and some cooperation on areas not directly related to the MPA program.”
The ideal of Saab’s AESA tech transfer is expected to draw key attention from the Seoul government since KF-X developers are striving to acquire proven AESA technology.
The state-funded Agency for Defense Development, or ADD, and Hanwha Systems, a local radar developer, joined hands in 2016 to build an indigenous AESA radar to be mounted onto the KF-X. The jet’s development schedule slipped a couple of years beyond its initial goal because of the lack of AESA technology, after the U.S. government’s disapproval of AESA tech transfer following South Korea’s purchae of 40 F-35As.
In May last year, Israel’s Elta Systems was selected by the ADD to support the AESA radar development. Under the contract valued at about $36m, the Israeli firm is in charge of testing an AESA radar system in every phase of development and integrating it with the KF-X prototype.
“The ADD originally wanted to get AESA technology either from Saab or Thales, but the plan was ruptured due to the issues of requirements and budget,” a local defense source involved in the radar competition said on condition of anonymity. “Elta, after all, participated in the project, but some remain skeptical of Elta’s AESA technology level, as the Israeli company has not actually developed an AESA radar.”
An official at Hanwah Systems, formerly known as Samsung Thales, was trying to brush off worries about the ongoing indigenous AESA development but admitted the benefits of taking other nation’s AESA technology if possible.
“Elta is in charge of certifying every phase of the AESA design and development process, and cooperation with the Israeli company has been quite successful,” the official said speaking on condition of anonymity. “But if we get more advanced technology of AESA, the timeline for development will be advanced for sure.”
Saab had been a partner for the exploratory development of KF-X AESA radar in partnership with the ADD and LIG Nex1, a local precision-guided weapons maker. The Swedish firm still has a contract with the Korean partners for cooperation over AESA software development, according to an ADD spokesman.
“Saab was the first overseas company that participated in the KF-X radar project, so the firm obviously keeps good chemistry with the Korean team,” said Kim Dae-young, a research fellow at Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, a Seoul-based think tank. “Years after, however, a local developer was changed and the AESA development program was re-started with a new foreign partner. It is still unclear as to the future of the AESA development bid.”
Led by Korea Korea Aerospace Industries, KF-X full-scale development started in 2016 with the goal of producing six prototypes by 2021. Indonesia’s state-run defense firm PT Dirgantara Indonesia is the only partner for the $8bn project, responsible for 20 percent of development costs. About 120 KF-X aircraft are to be produced by 2032 to replace the South Korean Air Force’s aging fleet of F-4s and F-5s. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)
21 Mar 18. US Army’s all-in-one NVG will merge sighting, shooting, battlefield awareness. For most of modern military history, soldiers who needed to track battlefield movement or simply navigate to an objective while on foot would spend much of their time staring down at a paper map or GPS device screen, much like a distracted phone gazer bumping into people at the mall, but with deadlier consequences.
A new combination of advanced night vision goggle is merging day/night vision, thermal viewing, weapon sight and augmented reality into one view that allows a soldier to see the battlefield while maneuvering.
Think Google Glass, with a gun.
And the head of the Army’s new cross-functional team focused on soldier lethality sees the device as a way to exponentially improve the dismounted warfighter’s battlefield awareness.
“This is a true, fundamental change to the capability we’re giving to our dismounted soldier,” said Brig. Gen. Christopher Donahue during a recent media roundtable phone interview.
The Enhanced Night Vision Goggle, has been paired with augmented reality software and the Family of Weapons Sights-Individual, FWS-I, to put all of the capabilities into the view of the soldier.
The weapons sight capability brings the weapon sight picture into the NVG goggles through a camera on the sight. This allows a soldier to shoot around corners without being exposed. It also can switch views from the sight to a picture-in-picture where the normal view is presented along with the weapon’s sight picture.
“The beauty of the two systems is there’s wireless communication between the goggle and weapon sight,” said Dave Smialek, the business development manager for Survivability, Targeting, and Sensing Solutions at BAE Systems, which is producing the goggle. “What’s transmitted is the aim point from the weapons sight, displayed as an overlay on the ENVG-III image.”
The company recently received two orders for a total of $97m to produce the goggles and thermal weapons sights, according to a company release.
BAE Systems developed a Rapid Target Acquisition Module to reduce target engagement time as part of building the new goggle.
The augmented reality portion creates an almost individualized tracker that lets the soldier mark targets, pick waypoints while on patrol and share those digital icons with other members of the squad.
Smialek said past night vision goggles didn’t have the capability to display video. Advancements in wireless technology have enabled the change.
At a February demonstration at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, soldiers and researchers showcased the system’s capabilities.
Sgt. 1st Class Clint Nelson wore a single-eye display device that shows augmented reality, currently in a monocular but likely to be integrated into a binocular-type night vision goggles. The binocular design allows for greater depth perception and more realistic viewing.
He described standard land navigation in which a soldier shoots an azimuth with his or her compass and map and follows that line to the objective, adjusting around and over obstacles and re-shooting the azimuth to stay on course.
“This allows me to plan out my routes in my patrol base and upload the route,” Nelson said. “Then (navigation) points move me to the route in the real world. I can easily walk around, go completely off my azimuth. I’m no longer looking down at a phone or a map.”
He explained how these devices can help a soldier process massive amounts of data, especially in an urban operation.
“In major urban centers, there are a lot of buildings, a lot of uncertainty,” Nelson said. “This can also do tracking and reporting. Anyone on the system can populate the enemy, send it to me and it comes up on my screen.”
That helps a soldier in a confusing environment make sense of what he or she is seeing and what they’re fellow soldiers are seeing. Identifying threats, friendly forces and enemy targets.
Donahue said both the Marines and representatives of the special operations community are monitoring the device’s advancement.
(Source: Defense News Early Bird/Army Times)
22 Mar 18. Lasers & Microwaves Defeat Multiple Drones in MFIX Event.
Forty-five unmanned aerial vehicles and drones fell out of the sky during a U.S. Army exercise after Raytheon’s advanced high-power microwave and laser dune buggy engaged and destroyed them. These common threats were knocked down during a Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiment at the U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence.
The event, known as MFIX, brought military and industry leaders together to demonstrate ways to bridge the Army’s capability gaps in long-range fires and maneuver short-range air defense.
- Raytheon’s high-power microwave system engaged multiple UAV swarms, downing 33 drones, two and three at a time.
- Raytheon’s high energy laser, or HEL, system identified, tracked, engaged and killed 12 airborne, maneuvering Class I and II UAVs, and destroyed six stationary mortar projectiles.
“The speed and low cost per engagement of directed energy is revolutionary in protecting our troops against drones,” said Dr. Thomas Bussing, Raytheon Advanced Missile Systems vice president. “We have spent decades perfecting the high-power microwave system, which may soon give our military a significant advantage against this proliferating threat.”
The directed energy system emits an adjustable energy beam that, when aimed at airborne targets such as drones, renders them unable to fly
Raytheon and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory worked together under a $2m contract to test and demonstrate high-power microwave, counter-UAV capabilities.
“Our customer needed a solution, and they needed it fast,” said Dr. Ben Allison, director of Raytheon’s HEL product line. “So, we took what we’ve learned and combined it with combat-proven components to rapidly deliver a small, self-contained and easily deployed counter-UAV system.”
“This can identify a quadcopter out to five clicks,” or 5,000 meters, and then fry it with a laser, said Evan Hunt, business development lead for high-energy lasers at Raytheon.
Top Photo: The vehicle-mounted laser combined a solid state laser with an advanced variant of the company’s Multi-Spectral Targeting System™ and installed them on a small, all-terrain Polaris militarized vehicle. The system delivers 300 seconds of invisible, precise and instantaneous energy and five hours of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance from a single charge. Coupled with a generator, the HEL weapon system provides military members with counter-UAV capabilities and a virtually unlimited magazine. (Source: UAS VISION)
21 Mar 18. USMC to upgrade Hornets with new AESA radar. The US Marine Corps (USMC) is to replace the radars of its Boeing F/A-18 legacy Hornets with a new active electronically scanned array (AESA) system.
A request for information (RFI) issued by the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) on 20 March calls for a new AESA system to replace the incumbent Raytheon AN/APG-73 radar on the USMC’s fleet of F/A-18C/D aircraft.
“The AN/APG-73 has been subject to ongoing maintainability, supportability, and readiness issues,” the RFI noted, adding, “AESA solutions are required due to the increased reliability and sustainability requirements, as well as the associated capability improvements.”
According to NAVAIR, the contract will begin on 1 October of this year with retrofits commencing in the fourth quarter of 2020 and running through to the fourth quarter of 2022. A total of 98 AESAs are to be procured to cover seven fleet squadrons of 12 aircraft each plus 14 spare systems. In its list of requirements, NAVAIR states that the new AESA should require no changes to the current radar-aircraft interfaces.
As the incumbent radar provider, Raytheon is likely to pitch its Raytheon Advanced Capability Radar (RACR) that has been adapted from the AN/APG-79 as fitted to the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler, and is scaled to be compatible with the legacy Hornet and the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon.
As the other prime radar provider to the US military, Northrop Grumman is expected to compete with its Scalable Agile Beam Radar (SABR) that is also compatible with the legacy Hornet and F-16.
Interested parties have until 1500 h Eastern Standard Time on 6 April to respond to the RFI. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
21 Mar 18. Saab Claims Its New Sub-Hunter Plane Cheaper But Superior. Saab, a Swedish defense firm, argued Wednesday that its Swordfish maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) is an optimum model for use by South Korea’s Navy, which is seeking to bolster its ability to counter North Korea’s submarines, some of which are equipped with ballistic missiles. The Navy is eager to introduce advanced MPAs to add to the fleet of 16 P-3C and P-3CKs currently in service covering the waters around the peninsula. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the state arms agency, will soon launch a long-delayed acquisition process with an announcement that it will buy MPAs from a foreign contractor. The program is reportedly worth 1.94trn won (US$1.81bn). The DAPA is reviewing basic information on candidate planes before issuing a formal request for proposals to potential bidders. Initially, Boeing’s P-8 Poseidon was considered the favorite to win the contract. But Saab made public its interest in the bid amid reports that Airbus and some other foreign companies may join the race as well. Saab is making a pitch for Swordfish, which is still in the making, an apparent disadvantage, versus Poseidon, which is known as the world’s best existing MPA. Saab officials described Swordfish as a “real,” not “imaginary,” plane since it’s based on Saab’s GlobalEye airborne early warning and control aircraft, recently developed on the airframe of the Bombardier Global 6000 business jet.
It has “70 percent of commonality” of systems with various other Saab products, with decades-long and far-reaching expertise. The remaining 30 percent is about integrating weapons and other systems, they said.
“It’s going to take roughly 36 months from order to delivery,” Vice President Robert Hewson, head of the company’s communications for Asia Pacific, said at a press conference in Seoul, although the exact schedule will depend on the customer’s specific requirements.
He claimed Swordfish is cheaper to get and own alike.
Compared to Poseidon, it is “approximately two thirds the acquisition cost and 50 percent the operating cost over the lifetime,” he said. “You will be able to buy more aircraft for a fixed amount of money. And the cost to own is much more important than the cost to buy.”
The price of a P-8 plane is known to be 250-280bn won. It means South Korea will be able to purchase five to six P-8s if it chooses the aircraft. In case of Swordfish, the number increases to around 10.
Saab is also willing to transfer some technologies to South Korea. Hewson, however, avoided a clear answer when asked if the active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar technology would be included. Swordfish will be equipped with the AESA radar that has 360-degree detection capability.
Boeing said the Swedish plane, which is still untested, is no match for Poseidon in operation in many parts of the world.
“The P-8 is proven and reliable. It has the best performance to support the Republic of Korea Navy’s anti-submarine warfare,” a Boeing official said. “Price is a matter of negotiation after the program gets underway in earnest.”
Poseidon’s maximum takeoff weight is almost double that of Swordfish, capable of carrying more sonobuoys, weapon systems and crew members. South Korea’s Navy officials openly said they hope for MPAs with the class at least of P-8. They also point out the interoperability with other U.S.-made assets in use by South Korea’s military. The Saab official said Swordfish is smaller but not that small.
“It’s big enough to do what you need to do to carry weapons, carry systems, huge payloads. It outperforms larger aircraft,” said Hewson. Saab’s products have no problem in the interoperability with NATO’s weapon systems,” he added. (Source: defense-aerospace.com/Yonhap)
20 Mar 18. GeoSpectrum delivers TRAPS to Canadian Navy. GeoSpectrum Technologies has delivered the containerised version of its Towed Reelable Active Passive Sonar (TRAPS) to the Royal Canadian Navy, the company announced 15 March. TRAPS is a low frequency variable-depth sonar for the detection, tracking and classification of submarines, midget submarines, surface vessels and torpedoes. Its ‘wet-end’ towed arrays’ acoustic elements are a vertical projector and a receive array. TRAPS’ projector array is reelable and stows on the winch drum with the receive array and tow cable.
Various system variants are available to suit different performance requirements and vessel sizes from destroyers and frigates, through corvettes, OPVs, patrol vessels as well as USVs.
The containeried configuration is implemented in a standard 20ft ISO container, requiring only deck space and electric power from the vessel.
The sonar can be delivered stand-alone or as part an integrated sonar-suite, including hull-mounted sonar and sonobuoy processor, and featuring bi-static and muilti-static operation, all leveraging GeoSpectrum’s RECVIEW sonar processing and display system. (Source: Shephard)
20 Mar 18. Latvia takes delivery of first TPS-77 MMR. The Latvian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has taken delivery of the first of three Lockheed Martin TPS-77 Multi-Role Radar (MRR) air systems, following the completion of a successful site acceptance test (SAT) in Ventspils on Latvia’s Baltic Sea coast on 1 March.
The SAT – which is designed to validate the radar system’s performance – was conducted with assistance from the US Army’s 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, and marks the first deployment of a TPS-77 MRR in Europe. The test in Ventspils – which validated various radar altitude verifications – will be the only SAT conducted for the new radars; the two remaining radars will undergo an operation checkout following their future delivery to Latvia, a Lockheed Martin spokesperson told Jane’s . The spokesperson declined to comment on the delivery timeline for the two remaining TPS-77 MMRs, noting, “We are not able to disclose specific dates but we are on schedule to deliver the remaining two radars on time.”
Latvia signed a contract of undisclosed value for the three TPS-77 MRRs in October 2015 under the auspices of an ongoing co-operative radar development and training umbrella agreement between Latvia and Lockheed Martin. This began with the delivery and installation of the first of three AN/TPS-77 static long-range air surveillance radars in the early 2000’s; the remaining two AN/TPS-77 were delivered/installed in 2011 and 2013 respectively. As part of the delivery TPS-77 MRR programme, Lockheed Martin has engaged with local Latvian industry for component procurement and production. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
20 Mar 18. Australia declares IOC for P-8A ahead of schedule. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has declared initial operating capability (IOC) for the Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime multimission aircraft (MMA), five months ahead of schedule. The milestone, which was announced by the service on 20 March, comes with six of the 12 aircraft currently under contract now at the type’s homebase of RAAF Edinburgh in South Australia. A further three aircraft are currently going through the approval process for a final fleet of 15. Australia acquired the P-8A to replace the 19 Lockheed AP-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft that have been in service since the 1960s. The 15 P-8As will be operated in tandem with seven Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), which will be acquired once development has been completed by the manufacturer and the US Navy (USN). Deliveries to the Australia began in November 2016, since which time 10 and 11 Squadron have been building up the P-8A’s capabilities. As part of this standing-up process, the RAAF has sent its crews to train alongside USN and UK Royal Air Force (RAF) personnel at the Integrated Test Center (ITC) at Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville in Florida. Australia’s P-8A programme dates back to June 2007 when the government committed AUD150m (USD116m in today’s money) to jointly develop the platform with the USN. A further AUD100m was committed in December 2011, with another AUD73.9m following in October 2012. In February 2014 the Australian government announced its approval for the acquisition of eight P-8As for AUD4bn, with a further four being announced in July 2016. The final three were committed to in the 2016 Defence White Paper but are yet to be contracted. A total of AUD5bn has been invested in the P-8A and MQ-4C programmes to date by Australia. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
20 Mar 18. Tested & Recommended: Pulsar Helion XP50. Elite reviewers from the National Tactical Officers Association membership evaluation program have announced their findings on the Pulsar Helion XP50 thermal monocular. “This is a high performance device. It’s strong, reliable and easy to use. I find it well suited for professional or heavy duty recreational use. The Helion is amazing at applications such as tracking or rescue/ fugitive location operations. I highly recommend this product,” said one officer from Michigan. The Helion took home an overall score of 4.5 with perfect scores in 8 categories including design, performance and ease of use. Learn more about the NTOA’s testing program on their website. A South Carolinian officer noted “I can truly say that this monocular did not disappoint… The imaging on this device is SUPER clear; I used it for several applications at work and night hunting for hogs and coyote. The sharpness and definition are great, I was seeing clear detail on deer and hogs out to about 200 yards.”
20 Mar 18. Paramotors a promising alternative to conventional surveillance aircraft. Powered paragliders, or paramotors, are becoming an increasingly popular alternative to more expensive fixed and rotary wing aircraft for defence and security missions, and have even been trialled in the Kruger National Park to combat wildlife poaching.
The sport of powered paragliding has taken off across the world, including South Africa, and although originally intended purely as a recreational activity, is gaining traction as an alternative to more expensive aircraft in roles as diverse as game counting and pipeline inspection.
Riaan Struwig of flight school Epic Aviation in Centurion sees a growing number of pilots using their machines for security, protection and surveillance. For instance, a number of pilots in Memel have been trained to fly paramotors for their community watch programme, and training has been done for mining security. Epic Aviation also trained a pilot who patrols the Lesotho/South Africa border by paramotor.
A big focus is on the farming community – paramotors are being used for game counting, tracking, fence inspection, anti-poaching and combating cattle rustling. Although it is illegal to fire a weapon or drop dangerous objects from paramotors, it is possible to fly with a weapon and when necessary, pilots can land and assist those on the ground.
Police forces around the world are adopting powered paragliders in ever-growing numbers. For instance, in June 2017, police in Marbella, Spain, acquired a couple of paramotors to patrol the beaches during the holiday season, conduct search and rescue and oversee traffic problems.
The Palm Bay Police Department in Florida is a well-known user of powered paragliders, and has been flying them since 2010. After their first few months of flying they had found several stolen cars, and used the aircraft to search for wanted persons and marijuana fields. Paramotors were chosen due to their low cost and the fact that there was not enough activity to justify supporting a helicopter.
Over half a dozen police forces fly powered paragliders in the United States alone, with many other countries flying them for police or military purposes – for instance China used paramotors as a policing tool when they hosted the Olympics, with armed officers conducting airborne patrols, and several countries use them in their militaries, such as Qatar. In Africa, this includes the Egyptian military.
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has also trialled powered paragliders. Around 2009 Struwig and record-breaking paramotor pilot Tony Gibson became involved with the SANDF, which at the time wanted to explore the utility of the aircraft. Three military personnel were trained to fly and various trials were carried out. This included flying in the Kruger National Park, with about two weeks’ worth of flying taking place in September 2013. This included successfully flying after dark with night vision goggles and thermal cameras. Flying was done on SANParks’ behalf and, according to Struwig, was a 100% success, with the low and slow paramotors being able to follow tracks in riverbeds and discover poachers’ hides/camps.
The SANDF also used paramotors during flooding in Mozambique to help find survivors and bodies and in one case a pilot flew in battery packs to stranded emergency personnel whose radios had run out of charge.
Part of the SANDF evaluation was intended to see how easily it was to deploy a paramotor, and involved a parachutist jumping out of an aircraft with a paramotor and wing in a cardboard container. This was attached to the parachutist via a bungee cord – the box would land first, followed by the parachutist. He would then unbox the paramotor and fly away, allowing for silent infiltration.
While the trials were largely successful, the project petered out as key people left the SANDF. Nevertheless, the SANDF’s requirements in part led to the creation of the first Spider paramotor frame. Subsequently this evolved into the Spider II, with input from the paramotor community, and now the Spider III, currently being manufactured by Epic Aviation. Almost 100 Spiders have been sold to date, with many going overseas. Epic Aviation is currently developing the Spider IV, which is designed to be a more affordable and compact unit – it is already cheaper than most imported frames on the market.
This is not the first locally manufactured paramotor – Cape Town-based xPlorer Ultraflight began to manufacture its own models in the mid-2000s – but it is helping meet the demand from new pilots. Over the last ten years the sport has grown rapidly, with the number of instructors and schools doubling over the last five years – there are a dozen paramotor schools in South Africa and 160-180 trained paramotor pilots. Epic Aviation, for example, currently has two dozen pilots in training.
Although most pilots fly for leisure – paramotors are the cheapest form of powered flight – they are discovering almost unlimited uses for the aircraft, from towing banners (or flying branded wings) to counting crocodiles in St Lucia. One South African company uses powered parachutes for geological surveying, and flies with laser radar and other sensors. Paramotors can also used for search and rescue – pilots carry lifebuoys which are thrown to people in distress in the water. Pilots often spot sharks while flying along the coast – Struwig once counted 21 sharks in a single flight near Hartenbos, including swimmers that got very close to the sharks. He says paramotors would be a great tool for shark spotting at popular beaches.
The ability to fly low and slow (20-60 km/h typically, but advanced wings can easily do 80 km/h) makes the paramotor an ideal tool for surveillance, game counting, pipeline and cable monitoring, search and rescue, photography, damage assessment and other duties. The engine can be shut down in flight and the aircraft glided for complete silence, but paramotors are almost inaudible when flying at over 600 metres.
Powered paragliders have significant benefits compared to conventional aircraft. They are extremely compact and mobile, and can be stored on the back of a bakkie or the boot of a large car, and are also light – an average backpack unit weighs around 20-30 kg. They are considerably cheaper to operate than even light sport aircraft or microlights, with a fuel burn of several litres per hour – in comparison, a four/six seat light aircraft can cost around R1 000 an hour to operate, and even the smallest helicopter, such as a Robinson R22, costs around R2-3 000 an hour. They are also drastically cheaper to buy, with a complete unit comprising paraglider (wing), motor and cage coming in at R100-200 000.
Another advantage of paramotors is their flexibility and versatility. Whereas most fixed and rotary wing aircraft pilots are required to file flight plans before takeoff, and must remain at certain altitudes, paramotors are not as heavily regulated, and can fly without a flight plan, and at extremely low altitudes.
Although they do require a license to be flown in South Africa, powered paragliding is relatively cheap to get into, with a license requiring 35 flights and 8-12 hours in the air, two open book exams and a radio license course. At R15 000, all of this comes to less than a third of what a private pilot license (PPL) would cost.
Especially in South Africa, paramotors are an attractive alternative to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, as flying a UAV commercially is a cumbersome process as the UAV pilot and aircraft need to be licensed and a certificate is needed to fly certain jobs. Although smaller UAVs are cheaper than powered paragliders, high-end professional units can cost almost as much as a paramotor. Struwig believes it is more accessible to fly a paramotor in South Africa than a UAV, as it is cheaper to train on a paramotor and legally much easier to fly than a commercial UAV. It is also presently extremely time-consuming to obtain a commercial UAV license from the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA), with many operators waiting up to 18 months. The SACAA is trying to reduce the waiting time, but without adequate staff and hundreds of applicants, the situation is unlikely to improve anytime soon.
A powered paraglider typically comprises the paraglider wing attached to a frame and harness that accommodates the pilot, engine, propeller and fuel tank. Foot-launched or ‘backpack’ units typically carry one person (with a payload capacity of 100-200 kg) while larger wheeled trikes or quads generally fit bigger engines and can carry up to two people. Two stroke engines dominate powered paraglider propulsion due to their low weight and high power output, but quieter, smoother and more environmentally friendly four stroke engines and electric motors are also available. Endurance is typically around three hours, but it is possible to increase this with extra fuel. As the wing is easily detachable, different wings can be used depending on the desired speed, manoeuvrability and payload.
Powered paragliders do not require a runway to take off or land, and, depending on the wind, can be airborne in fewer than 50 metres. Landing is even shorter – a skilled foot launch pilot can land in less than five metres. It is for this reason that paramotors are a common sight over beaches and farms.
Although powered paragliders are versatile, cost effective and practical, they do have one big limitation: the weather. They fly best in calm air, and as a result most flying usually takes place in the early morning and late afternoon when there are few thermals around and the air is still. If the wind is stronger than 20 km/h, this can result in a bumpy flight, and winds stronger than this can be dangerous to fly in. Powered paragliders are also not designed to fly in the rain, as the water can weigh down the paraglider with potentially catastrophic results.
Paramotors are also restricted to VMC (visual meteorological conditions) flying, meaning they cannot fly when the pilot cannot see around him, such as when flying through cloud or fog. Flying is also limited to 15 minutes before sunrise and after sunset. Although paragliders are limited by payload and weather, their advantages of cost, portability, flexibility and ability to take off and land almost anywhere are making them increasingly popular aircraft for both leisure and practical use, including defence and security. (Source: Google/Defence Web)
19 Mar 18. US Army tests precision targeting system. The US Army is testing the Joint Effects Targeting System Target Laser Designation System (JETS-TLDS) at the Cold Regions Test Center in Alaska, the US Army announced on 15 March.
The JETS-TLDS is a modular advanced sensor suite of three components including a hand-held target location module, precision azimuth and vertical angle module, and laser marker module (LMM).
The system is being tested in a range of operations including using the infrared imager and colour day imager to detect, recognise and identify vehicles and personnel at various distances to determine whether they are friend or foe. The system was also used in a simulated urban environment, where soldiers cleared multiple buildings and occupied rooftops and rooms to observe opposing forces in the city.
The LMM was also used to mark targets for a live-fire with an AH-64 Apache from 1st Battalion, 25th Infantry Division Attack Reconnaissance Battalion.
The system’s ability to determine target location has also been tested. Following the acqusition and location of targets using the JETS-TLD, soldiers used the Precision Fires-Dismounted, which is an application used on NET Warrior by fire supporters to digitally transmit fire missions, to develop a fire mission and send it to a simulated company fire support team.
Pfc. Anthony Greenwood of Battery D, 2-8 FA, said: ‘With the push that the army is making for all Fire Support Specialists to become Joint Fires Observers, the LMM provides a tool at the platoon level that allows us to designate and mark targets for aircraft. Its light weight makes it easy to take it out on a mission and utilise it to its fullest capability.’
(Source: Shephard)
19 Mar 18. Leonardo DRS Highlights and Media Interview Opportunities for the 2018 AUSA Global Expo. This year Leonardo DRS will be highlighting a number of key products and services at the 2018 AUSA Global Force Exposition. Below is a compiled list for you to consider for story ideas or during the show. You can see these and more in our booth, #607.
If you are interested in a product(s) please reach out to the phone numbers or email addresses below to set up interviews before or after the show.
All Leonardo DRS Products at Global Force – http://www.leonardodrs.com/news-and-events/ausa-global-force/
HIGHLIGHTED PRODUCTS
Trophy Active Protection System (APS)
By proactively detecting, locating, and neutralizing anti-armor threats, TROPHY APS dramatically increases platform survivability, and creates a new paradigm of networked threat awareness for maneuver forces.
Overview:
- Defeats all known anti-armor, shaped charge weapons (missiles, rockets, tank-fired HEAT) before they strike the platform
- Enables networked threat awareness by pinpointing and Reporting shooter location across the battle management system
- Greatly improves platform protection, with very low risk of collateral injury, without increasing armor or sacrificing vehicle performance
- Networked Threat Awareness ensures freedom of movement and maneuver, retaining the initiative and maintaining offensive momentum.
More Information: www.leonardodrs.com/products-and-services/trophy-active-protection-system-aps/
Counter UAS
Leonardo DRS has developed a vehicle-mounted counter-UAS that includes Moog’s Reconfigurable Integrated-weapons Platform (RIwP) turret, Leonardo DRS’ mast-mounted Surveillance and Battlefield Reconnaissance Equipment – known as SABRE, and other government-provided technologies. The technologies will be fully integrated on two MRAP All-Terrain Vehicles for a mobile C-UAS capability designed to detect, identify, track and defeat unmanned aerial threats.
See it mounted on a U.S. Army MRAP at the Global Force Expo at the Army Vehicle booth.
More Information: www.leonardodrs.com/news-and-events/press-releases/leonardo-drs-wins-contract-to-develop-counter-drone-capability-for-us-army/
Mounted Family of Computing Systems (MFoCS)
MFoCS provides modular computing capabilities for ground vehicles and weapons platforms across the joint services. The family of common computer and display technology adds capability while reducing the overall size, weight, power and cost of the systems currently installed worldwide on U.S. military ground vehicles and platforms.
MFoCS integrates existing FBCB2 future Joint Battle Command-Platform (JBC-P) and Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) capability into a powerful, modular and flexible hardware architecture.
The system supports situational awareness, command and control and maneuver capability using next-generation computing and display hardware and can improve the command and control, maneuverability, logistics and situational awareness of a range of platforms and weapon systems, from ground vehicles to armored vehicles to rotary wing aircraft and more.
More information: www.leonardodrs.com/products-and-services/mounted-family-of-computer-systems-mfocs/
ENVG III – Enhanced Night Vision Goggles III and Weapon Sights – Individual (FWS-I)
The Enhanced Night Vision Goggle III and the Family of Weapon Sights – Individual (FWS-I) are designed to work together to create an enhanced capability for infantry soldiers called Rapid Target Acquisition. The devices are connected wirelessly enabling soldiers see their weapon sight image and crosshairs aligned with what they are seeing in their night vision goggles.
This capability allows soldiers to quickly acquire a target and accurately fire the weapon well before an adversary can gain the advantage on the battlefield.
Soldiers look around corners, above walls or through narrow positions with just their weapon, quickly acquire targets and fire. The advantages over the enemy as well as the added safety of troops are significant as the system can be used in the same manner to look for set traps with minimal to no exposure of their location.
17 Mar 18. USAF ISR leaders ‘underestimated the pace of change and the threats.’ The Air Force is facing criticism for cancelling a major recapitalization due, in part, to not foreseeing the escalating threat posed by near-peer adversaries and high-end capabilities.
Officials in the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance enterprise within the Air Force and Joint Staff faced a barrage of questions from lawmakers March 15 regarding the Air Force’s decision to cancel the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) recapitalization program.
Lawmakers on the House Armed Services Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee asked point blank why the Air Force requested $417m for JSTARS less than 12 months ago if it didn’t need it. In response, Lt. Gen. Jerry Harris Jr., Air Force deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements, said it was because the service was still undergoing an evaluation and didn’t have a National Defense Strategy that was directing the force to focus elsewhere and prioritize great power competition over terrorism.
“I wouldn’t say in 2011 we got the analysis of alternatives studies wrong, we just looked at and underestimated the pace of change and the threats,” Harris said. “We talked through that AoA multiple threats that exist today that were forecast to be here in 2024 and 2028. So that threat has accelerated quickly.”
In a similar theme that has played out across the joint force, the Air Force appeared to be caught flatfooted against near-peer threats that have studied U.S. tactics and techniques over the last 30 years of operations. The military is now in the process of transitioning from almost two decades of war in permissive environments to preparing for potential conflicts against high-end, technologically advanced competitors that edge out the U.S. in certain capability areas.
“In 2011 we weren’t talking about peer threats, we didn’t have a strategy that said you have to focus on the high end … we were focused on winning today’s fight in a [counterinsurgency] type of environment where this airplane was well developed and deserved,” Harris said.
Moreover, three witnesses on the panel indicated the existing mix of ISR capabilities might not be able to operate in contested environments.
“From a requirements standpoint, the answer is ‘No,’” Lt. Gen. John Dolan, director of operations for the Joint Staff, said. “That’s a priority that the department’s looking at.”
“That is one of the main reasons why with JSTARS we feel like we’ve got to review the recap program to ensure that we’re able to operate in those high-intensity environments,” Lt. Gen. Anthony Ierardi, director of force structure, resources and assessments for the Joint Staff, said.
Harris explained that the Air Force is working through hardening cyber and physical defenses, which is why they believe they need to expand beyond the air domain for ISR and increase capability and capacity in all domains.
A forthcoming review by the Air Force may address these concerns in more depth.
“The Air Force recognizes the need for ISR capabilities across the spectrum of warfare to align with the National Defense Strategy. The Air Force Next Generation ISR Dominance Flight Plan will detail how we will prepare for the high-end fight. It will be published in spring 2018,” an Air Force spokesman told C4ISRNET in response to questions concerning recently released budget materials.
How is the Air Force getting after this?
Harris told visibly frustrated lawmakers that the service intends to move its acquisition process and requirements faster than it has in the past. This “will allow us to be able to get ahead of the technology piece so that the money that we invested in the JSTARS recap effort, those radars, the technologies we’re pulling out of that, we think will still benefit us in increment two and increment three … so it was not money wasted,” he said.
He also pointed to William Roper, the Air Force’s new assistant secretary for acquisition, as a catalyst to lead this change. Roper most recently headed the once secretive Strategic Capabilities Office at the Pentagon that sought to repurpose existing technologies to get at near-term problems.
“I think you’ll see those changes coming up and it’s a change in the way we’ve done business in the past,” Harris said. “We certainly don’t intend to start down in one direction and have abrupt changes but we have a National Defense Strategy that’s changed.”
He continued: “I would say that while we may not be keeping with the pace of change, we’re trying to change that rather than continue to invest money in the old way of doing things that 15 years from now we’ll have the same capability in a JSTARS recap aircraft that we have today, but it will only work in a small portion of the globe rather than our increment three that we’re trying to get at to span the globe.”
The Air Force isn’t alone in feeling the ire of Congress for failing to forecast threats. The JSTARS recap cancellation follows the high-profile Army review in which that branch halted major portions of its tactical network. Similarly, while the Army’s tactical network was built for and worked in a permissive environment, officials noted it would not stack up against high-end adversaries in a future fight. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
16 Mar 18. Boeing announces investment in UAV radar supplier. Boeing revealed a new investment in Fortem Technologies – a Utah company which develops radar systems for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – on 15 March.
The investment, won by the company as part of a funding round which generated a total of USD15m from companies including Mubadala Investment Company as well as Boeing, will allow Fortem to expand its business, which focuses on beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operation of small UAVs. Timothy Bean, CEO of Fortem Technologies said, “By cracking the difficult BVLOS challenge, we unlock emerging forms of flight, including everything from autonomous air taxis to lifesaving deliveries. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
16 Mar 18. Kongsberg launches Flexview multibeam sonar. Kongsberg Mesotech has launched its new Flexview multibeam sonar designed for small observation class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), the company announced on 13 March. The Flexview is a compact and light weight system that provides distortion-free images at a range of up to 200m over a 140° sector, reducing the time it takes to search for and locate targets. The Flexview’s removable transducer allows damaged transducers to be replaced in the field, in the unlikely event of a catastrophic impact. It also allows for potential new transducer configurations to be exchanged in the future, depending on the task being performed.
Konrad Mech, director, subsea channel management, Kongsberg Maritime, said: ‘Kongsberg Mesotech is excited to make target acquisition at long range a reality for observation-class ROV users with our new sonar. During our customer focus groups, we heard that users wanted the maximum range possible with good resolution. We are confident that Flexview is the solution to this request and will bring significant benefits.
‘We are also aware that a sonar can be damaged during deployment and removal, impacting field operations and requiring factory repair with very long cycle times. Flexview offers customers rapid field replacement of the transducer simply by removing four cap screws, without compromising integrity of the electronics housing.’ (Source: Shephard)
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Blighter® Surveillance Systems (BSS) is a UK-based electronic-scanning radar and sensor solution provider delivering an integrated multi-sensor package to systems integrators comprising the Blighter electronic-scanning radars, cameras, thermal imagers, trackers and software solutions. Blighter radars combine patented solid-state Passive Electronic Scanning Array (PESA) technology with advanced Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) and Doppler processing to provide a robust and persistent surveillance capability. Blighter Surveillance Systems is a Plextek Group company, a leading British design house and technology innovator, and is based at Great Chesterford on the outskirts of Cambridge, England.
The Blighter electronic-scanning (e-scan) FMCW Doppler ground surveillance radar (GSR) is a unique patented product that provides robust intruder detection capabilities under the most difficult terrain and weather conditions. With no mechanical moving parts and 100% solid-state design, the Blighter radar family of products are extremely reliable and robust and require no routine maintenance for five years. The Blighter radar can operate over land and water rapidly searching for intruders as small a crawling person, kayaks and even low-flying objects. In its long-range modes the Blighter radar can rapidly scan an area in excess of 3,000 km² to ensure that intruders are detected, identified and intercepted before they reach critical areas.
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MISSILE, BALLISTICS AND SOLDIER SYSTEMS UPDATE
Sponsored by Control Solutions LLC.
http://www.controls.com/product-cat/systems/
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23 Mar 18. Rheinmetall presents its future oriented concept for ground-based air defence – in close cooperation with Raytheon. Successful air defence demands a holistic approach. This is why Rheinmetall – Europe’s foremost maker of military systems and equipment – wants to supply the German armed forces with a path-breaking solution encompassing the whole complexity of ground-based air defence. Here the Düsseldorf-based high-tech group is cooperating closely with America’s Raytheon.
Rheinmetall’s plan calls for networking all relevant sensors, effectors, platforms and C4I assets into a single, scalable, system of systems. This will create a highly effective, modularly scalable and flexible air defence system covering the Bundeswehr’s full mission spectrum.
Short- and very short-range air defence
The phasing out of the Roland and Gepard mobile air defence systems leaves the Bundeswehr with very limited capabilities in the area of short- and very-short range air defence, or SHORAD. Rheinmetall’s lightweight air defence system ensures that this capability is maintained through to 2025.
Effective SHORAD – NNbS in German military parlance – requires a total system concept, one which is capable of neutralizing incoming rockets, artillery and mortar rounds – the so-called RAM threat – as well as bringing down unmanned aerial systems, especially in the low, slow, small (LSS) subset, e.g. quadrocopter drones. Finally, the system has to be able to deal effectively with conventional aircraft flying at close range. As an experienced SHORAD supplier, Rheinmetall’s proposal calls for a mix of automatic cannon and guided missiles, and in the nearby future augmented with high-energy laser weapons.
Tactical air defence systems
Over the next few years, the Bundeswehr will be utilizing the Patriot integrated air and missile defense for defence e.g. against tactical ballistic missiles. Rheinmetall is Raytheon’s national partner for evolving Patriot in Germany.
A phased upgrade from the current Patriot Config 3+ system to next-generation (NextGen) status will meet the future requirements for a long range ground-based air defence system.
Even in the concept phase, the systemic approach embodied by Rheinmetall SHORAD and the Patriot NextGen meets the requirements for comprehensive, adaptable, modular air defence, enabling a single-source approach covering all aspects of air and missile defence.
Patriot is in the backbone of integrated air and missile defense for six NATO nations and eight other partner countries, making it globally interoperable. A multinational solution, it significantly lowers lifecycle costs thanks to a common threat database and modernization costs shared across the 14-nation partnership.
Scalable tactical C2 design
Rheinmetall envisages a flexible, role-based command and control architecture for its ground-based air defence system. The scalable tactical operation centre concept with flexible C2 architecture enables optimized force composition in line with the given specific operational task.
“VSHORAD” army programme
Complementing the German Air Force capabilities of ground-based air defence, the German Army has articulated the demand for an organic air defence capability against microdrones, to be available for NATO-VJTF 2023. The operational demand envisages a wheelmounted air defence vehicle protecting units in the very short range from aerial threats during deployed operations. Here, Rheinmetall can offer a market-ready system. Future utilization and integration of those VJTF 2023 components into the SHORAD system is assured, thus representing sustained investment.
Rheinmetall – a powerful systems supplier for the modern military
Headquartered in Düsseldorf, Rheinmetall AG is a publicly traded, globally operating high-tech enterprise. Founded in 1889, the Group today consists of two operational components: Rheinmetall Defence and Rheinmetall Automotive. Last year Rheinmetall AG’s 21,600 employees generated sales of around €5.9 billion.
Today Rheinmetall numbers among the world’s top makers of cannon-based air defence systems and is pioneering the use of high-energy laser effectors. Besides the Patriot missile air defence system, all other ground-based air defence systems in the Bundeswehr inventory come from Rheinmetall: the Wiesel-mounted LeFlaSys lightweight air defence system and the C-RAM protection system Mantis for very close-range engagements. LeFlaSys is currently deployed in the Baltic States, and Mantis in Mali.
21 Mar 18. Senior DoD technologist favours kinetic boost-phase intercepts in the near term. Using missiles to intercept other missiles during their boost phase is a more promising near-term solution than directed-energy weapons, according to Michael Griffin, the US Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) first undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.
Intercepting boosting missiles from an airborne platform with directed-energy weapons is possible, but Griffin thinks “we have a little bit of a ways to go” before the technology is viable, he said during 21 March remarks at a Booz Allen Hamilton/CSBA Directed Energy Summit.
“I’m more concerned about exactly how high you have to be in the atmosphere to propagate a laser beam with sufficient intensity to score a kill at a reasonable range,” Griffin said. “I’ve found that I can get an informed opinion that says you can do it and other opinions that say you can’t, so I think that jury is still out.”
Griffin suggested kinetic weapons for boost-phase intercepts is a more likely near-term solution.
“With regard to airborne boost-phase defence, though, I think the most practical near-term approach is by kinetic means, especially for adversary countries where we can conduct airborne operations not too far off their shores,” Griffin said. He declined to comment further after his speech, and it was not immediately clear what airborne kinetic approach he was referring to, or if he was speaking generally. A physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Dr Greg Canavan has argued that the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) could be modified to shoot down ballistic missiles in the boost phase over North Korea. The AMRAAMs would be launched from F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft circling off the peninsula’s coast. The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has chaffed at that specific concept, and has prioritised directed energy weapons. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
21 Mar 18. USMC consider forward-firing rockets for MV-22 Osprey fleet. The Marine Corps is considering a new plan to arm the MV-22 Osprey fleet and is now thinking of putting rockets, missiles or other forward-firing weapons on the tilt-rotor aircraft.
A more capable and heavily armed Osprey will be able to provide its own escort protection, a development the Corps has been pursuing for several years now from lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan, Marine officials say.
The Corps’ latest plans to put forward-firing weapons on the Osprey comes at a time when the Marines are rethinking their long-standing hopes for a reliable all-quadrant weapon system that can shoot in many directions.
Efforts to build and deploy an all-quadrant weapon have faltered in recent years.
In the long run, the additional guns on the Osprey would be a somewhat temporary stopgap measure while the Corps continues to develop a massive futuristic sea drone. The future expeditionary sea drone program is known as the MUX.
Over the next decade, the Corps wants to develop a serious-heatpacking expeditionary armed sea drone that can complement the long-range capabilities of newer aircraft like the F-35B/C, CH-53K and MV-22.
But it’s going to be years before the Corps can field that, so new modifications for the MV-22 could fill the void in the meantime.
“We may find that initially, forward-firing weapons could bridge the escort gap until we get a new rotary wing or tilt-rotor attack platform, with comparable range and speed to the Osprey,” said Col. Romin Dasmalchi, Headquarters Marine Corps Aviation.
For now, the Marine Corps official requirement remains an all-quadrant weapons system, but Marine Corps officials are rethinking that, Dasmalchi said.
Several years ago, the Ospreys were armed with the Defense Weapon System made by BAE Systems ― in essence an underbelly-mounted 7.62 mm chain gun.
BAE describes the Defense Weapon System as an all-quadrant weapon, but officials at Naval Air Systems Command claim the chain gun does “not provide adequate all-quadrant capability due to restricted zones of fire to protect the aircraft.”
The Defense Weapon System has gone through a slew of testing and has been operational with the Osprey. But past reports have been critical of the system’s overall quality and capability. After testing of the Defense Weapon System in 2015, the Corps found damage to the fuselage on several test aircraft.
BAE officials did not respond for comment.
The MV-22 is also armed with the GAU-21 .50-caliber machine gun or an on ramp GAU-18 7.62mm machine gun.
The Corps has looked at several options for forward-firing rockets and missiles to bridge the escort gap, including the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, or APKWS, which turns 2.75-inch rockets into precision-guided munitions, and Hellfires.
But the Navy and Marine Corps have slowly been trying to phase out its Hellfires with the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile.
The fiscal year 2019 budget does invest heavily into the APKWS system, with a request of nearly $153m for all types of rockets and $91m of that slated for the APKWS guidance kits. But the Corps is also looking at other forward-firing weapons beyond rockets and missiles, Marine officials tell Marine Corps Times.
The Marines are in the early stages of developing a helmet-mounted display with enhanced night vision to aid pilots in landing in degraded visual environments, according Dasmalchi at Headquarters Marine Corps Aviation. That new helmet will complement whatever armaments the Corps chooses for the Osprey.
FUTURE SEA DRONE
The new drone concept has been in the works for a couple years, but on March 9, the Corps finally released some specifications in a request for information, first reported by Military.com.
The drone should be able to fly roughly 700 nautical miles, carry a payload of nearly 9,500 lbs., take off and land from L class amphibious ships, and have the ability to maintain a minimum time on station of 8-12 hours.
And the MUX will be packing some serious heat. According the request for information, the MUX may be armed with Hellfires, APKWS rockets, AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, anti-radiation missiles for taking out enemy air defense sites, and a small expendable drone equipped with electronic attack and early warning sensors.
The Corps also wants its new long-range drone to provide strike capabilities, command and control functions, communications relay for ground forces, surveillance and electronic warfare, and early warning to detect enemy aircraft or incoming cruise missiles.
One of the companies competing to fill the Corps’ desire for the MUX is Bell with its V-247 Vigilant tiltrotor.
The Corps wants an initial land-based vertical takeoff and landing MUX by 2025, an initial sea-based vertical takeoff and landing drone by 2028, and a fully operational MUX by 2034.
“Recognizing our current recapitalization toward a more diverse, lethal, amphibious and middleweight expeditionary force, the Marine Corps requires a UAS (unmanned aircraft system) that is network-enabled, digitally interoperable and built to execute responsive, persistent, lethal and adaptive full-spectrum operations,” Marine spokeswoman Capt. Sarah Burns told Marine Corps Times. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Marine Times)
21 Mar 18. US Army successfully demos laser weapon on Stryker in Europe. The U.S. Army successfully demonstrated a laser weapon integrated onto a Stryker combat vehicle in Europe over the weekend, but the service acknowledges range limitations there are holding back exercising its full capability and training.
Col. Dennis Wille, the Army G-3 strategic program chief for U.S. Army Europe, told an audience March 21 at the Booz Allen Hamilton Directed Energy Summit in Washington, that over the weekend the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment supported by the 7th Army Training Command and the Fires Center of Excellence at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, conducted a live-fire engagement of the 5-kilowatt Mobile Expeditionary High Energy Laser (MEHEL) demonstrator at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany.
[Army Looks at Laser Weapons for 2025 Battlefield Use]
“The 2nd Cavalry troops successfully engaged a dozen commercial-off-the-shelf drones during this live event and all members of the team, from operators to acquisition, learned many valuable insights into how to conduct this training,” Wille said.
But while the demonstration was successful, in order to ensure proper range safety, all engagements had to be below-the-horizon, “which limits the realism embedded in the training,” Wille said.
“Above-the-horizon would have impacted aviation corridors for a few hundred kilometers around Grafenwoehr,” he added.
And due to the risk to eye safety, Wille said, the scenario was limited. “We recognize the need for a viable scenario where we can combine a live-fire engagement with other maneuver forces in the field,” he said.
The 2nd Cavalry and the 7th Army Training Command’s initial recommendations following the demonstration is to focus on developing high-fidelity simulation devices and software that allow for combined maneuver training while maintaining eye safe practices, according to Wille.
“Developing better simulation techniques will apply to all electronic warfare technologies and not just directed energy,” he noted.
And while the demonstration is still fresh, Wille said he anticipated there would be a quick push among NATO and other partner nations to work with the United States to develop better training range complexes in Europe that can accommodate directed energy weapon systems.
“This is extremely new and so I know that there will be many efforts to try and find locations where above-the-horizon becomes a standard place to do that,” Wille said. “Today there are not very many places on the planet where we can put this in a field environment where it is a standard capability instead of a new experimental capability so we have a lot to learn on that.”
It was just under two years ago that U.S. Army Europe identified gaps in electronic warfare capability in Europe and acknowledged the need to rapidly advance directed energy capability.
[Lasers in combat: New Space and Missile Defense commander on what’s to come]
Not even a year after sending operational needs statements back to the Pentagon, the acquisition community began to deliver a small number of capabilities into the hands of assigned Brigade Combat Teams which immediately implemented them in field environments, according to Wille.
U.S. Army Europe has since learned many lessons on how to operate electronic warfare capabilities, to include directed energy, in Europe — primarily involving getting permission from host nations and figuring out how to operate in an electromagnetic spectrum used not just for military applications but for ordinary, every day civilian purposes, Wille said.
The MEHEL system will participate in the Joint Warfighting Assessment later this spring in Europe. It was first put to the test at Fort Sill where it knocked down 12 drone targets during the Manuever Fires Integrated Experiment in the spring of 2017.
Lasers on Stryker have a promising future. The Army is eyeing directed energy for a Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense capability for Stryker and is determining whether it can field a laser weapon on a SHORAD system within five years.
Also in Europe is a counter-unmanned aircraft system capability — the C-UAS Mobile Integrated Capability or CMIC — that is a companion system to MEHEL, which defeats small, slow UAS through radio frequency directed energy rather than through lasers, according to Wille. It is also installed on a Stryker vehicle. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)
22 Mar 18. Congress provides $3.3bn boost for missile defense in FY18 spending bill. Congress is providing for $3.3bn more for missile defense programs in its fiscal 2018 spending bill above the Missile Defense Agency’s original request of $9.5bn, according to the FY18 appropriations bill. The $3.3bn in funding includes the $2bn Congress appropriated in December 2017 as a special supplemental to the FY18 budget to accelerate missile defense and “defeat enhancements” to counter the growing threat from North Korea, according to a summary of the spending bill.
The total appropriated in FY18 is $11.5bn.
Congressional leaders unveiled the $1.3trn spending bill the evening of March 21, which includes $654.6bn for the Pentagon.
Republican leaders in the House and Senate say the legislation will come to a vote in both chambers before the end of the week. To avoid a government shutdown, lawmakers have to pass the bill before the latest stopgap funding measure runs out at at 11:59 p.m. March 23.
Congress is, once again, dramatically increasing the budget — $558m above the request for a total of $706 m — for Israeli Cooperative Programs to include Iron Dome and Arrow 3 development. The funding is requested by the Israeli government, the bill summary notes.
Appropriators are adding $165m for additional Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors above the request, bringing the total for THAAD interceptor procurement to $617m.
Already included in the December supplemental was $960 m for additional THAAD and AEGIS interceptors.
Congress wants $178 m above the FY18 DoD request to buy additional SM-3 Block 1B interceptors for a total of $632m.
And lawmakers are adding $137m to the agency’s budget to conduct an additional intercept flight test of the SM-3 Block IIA missile.
The SM-3 Block IIA has failed two major tests in the past year, with the most recent one in January. The failed tests were seen as a setback of U.S. missile defense efforts as North Korea continues to inch forward, test by test, to reach its goal of striking the U.S. homeland with nuclear-armed missiles.
The first test failure was attributed to sailor error, while the second was related to a technological malfunction.
Congress also doesn’t want to wait to see 20 Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System interceptors — or GBIs — get modernized kill vehicles in a new missile field in Fort Greely, Alaska, and is beefing up the budget with $393m to accomplish the task.
The GMD system consists of 44 interceptors in the ground at Fort Greely and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, designed to protect the homeland from possible intercontinental ballistic missile attacks from North Korea and Iran.
Appropriators had already approved in the supplemental $568m to initiate the expansion of Missile Field #4 at Fort Greely with 20 additional GBIs equipped with the newest kill vehicle.
An additional $218 m will accelerate the response to a Joint Emerging Operational Need (JEONS) from U.S. Forces Korea.
Congress had already provided for $123m in the December supplemental to support a JEONS from USFK “for integration and more efficient use of missile defense systems to improve defensive capability on an urgent timeline,” the summary states.
Appropriators are also adding $90m to “increase sensor discrimination capability against advanced threats,” according to the bill’s summary.
While the MDA had only budgeted $8m to begin replacing its aging fleet of aircraft and sensors used to collect data during flight tests, Congress added $81 m to that account to expedite that process.
To compare the spending bill with the FY18 National Defense Authorization Act that passed late last year, click here. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)
21 Mar 18. Sarcos Teams with Leading Industrial Innovators to Form Exoskeleton Technical Advisory Group. Sarcos® Robotics, a global leader in the production of robots that combine human intelligence and dexterity with the strength, endurance and precision of machines to improve efficiency and reduce occupational injuries for complex or non-repetitive tasks, today announced the formation of an industry focused Exoskeleton Technical Advisory Group (“X-TAG”). Comprised of executives from leading companies across a variety of industries including industrial manufacturing, automotive, aviation and aerospace, construction, oil & gas, and utilities, the X-TAG is working with Sarcos and industry groups to identify key performance and safety requirements necessary to bring powered and quasi-passive, full-body industrial exoskeleton systems to the work force.
Dedicated to driving the development of powered, full-body exoskeletons that address the growing need for a safer, more efficient workforce across a myriad of industries, the X-TAG members include senior executives from Bechtel, BMW, Caterpillar, Delta Air Lines, GE, Schlumberger, Würth Industrie Service GmbH & Co. KG and other leading companies representing aviation, construction, heavy machinery and utilities.
“GE is investing in emerging technologies such as exoskeletons and human-assisted wearables to prevent injuries and unplanned downtime,” said Sam Murley, GE EHS Digital Acceleration Leader. “We look forward to the outcomes of the X-TAG and the use of the Guardian XO to increase safety and simplify environment, health and safety programs across the company.”
“There is no greater responsibility we have than to keep our people and our customers safe,” said Gil West, COO – Delta Air Lines. “This X-TAG is an innovative opportunity to think about how fitting our employees with wearable robotics can build on our strong personal safety culture and further protect our people from injury by giving them an additional layer of strength and protection.”
“The opportunity to deploy powered, full-body industrial exoskeletons that reduce injury and dramatically enhance human strength, endurance and precision is more proximate than most people realize,” said Ben Wolff, chairman and CEO of Sarcos Robotics. “Top innovators, thought leaders and industry experts across key industries have joined with us to create the safest, most productive and cost-effective workforce in the world and provide us with industry and safety requirements guidance to ensure we meet industry needs in advance of commercial deployment.”
Leveraging more than 25 years of robotics research and development, Sarcos’ Guardian exoskeletons combine the strength and precision of machines with human intelligence, instincts and reflexes to enable robots to perform complex or non-repetitive tasks. These exoskeleton systems are energetically autonomous and highly dexterous, capable of extended work sessions in a variety of different work environments. Intuitive to operate and easy to put on and take off, the exoskeleton operator bears none of the weight of the robot or the payload carried by the robot.
Sarcos Guardian™ GT system, the largest in its line of exoskeletons systems, can be custom ordered to meet customer’s specific requirements and needs. The Guardian XO® and XO® MAX robots are in development and are expected to be commercially available in late 2019. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
22 Mar 18. BrahMos achieves big ‘Make in India’ feat! Missile test-fired with indigenous seeker; it’s a breakthrough.
BrahMos, said to be the world’s fastest and most formidable anti-ship cruise missile, was today successfully test fired with an indigenous seeker at a Pokhran test range in Rajasthan. This marks a big achievement and breakthrough for the supersonic missile. BrahMos, said to be the world’s fastest and most formidable anti-ship cruise missile, was today successfully test fired with an indigenous seeker at a Pokhran test range in Rajasthan. This marks a big achievement and breakthrough for the supersonic missile. Giving a big boost to PM Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign, for the first time the country developed a seeker for a missile of this calibre and class. The BrahMos weapon system has been jointly developed by India and Russia and is said to be one of the most formidable and precision-strike weapons in the world. The BrahMos missile that was test fired today “flew in its designated trajectory and hit the target with pin-point accuracy”, say government sources.
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman congratulated BrahMos, DRDO and Indian scientists stating that today’s successfully test firing will bolster national security. The indigenous seeker has been developed with the joint effort of BrahMos Aerospace MD and CEO Sudhir Mishra and DRDO Secretary Dr S Christopher. Talking about the big acheivement for India’s defence, Sudhir Mishra the CEO & MD of BrahMos Aerospace says, “With today’s successful test flight we taken yet another important step towards building indigenous defence equipment manufacturing capability.” “We have demonstrated that Indian scientists can develop the world’s most advanced technology and equipment,” Mishra tells FE Online.
Indigenous seeker or BrahMos – why it’s a big breakthrough
Seeker is one of the most critical elements of any missile, honing in on the target and improving the precision strike capability of the weapon system, says Avinash Chander, former DRDO chief and the man behind the Agni missile series. “This is a very very big breakthrough and I would like to congratulate Indian scientists because the country will no longer have to depend on help for such an important component of the missile. Also, once the indigenous seeker is tested extensively and proves its capability, the knowledge can be used for other missile systems as well,” Chander tells FE Online.
BrahMos missile’s successful test comes within months of the weapon system being test-fired for the first time from a Sukhoi-30 MKI. The successful test fire from a Sukhoi-30 MKI was a first for the world since no missile as heavy as BrahMos has ever been fitted on a frontline fighter jet of a nation. Meanwhile, with India becoming a part of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), it has now been able to extend the range of the BrahMos missile from 300 km to around 450 km. BrahMos Aerospace, the joint venture between India and Russia, is already working to extend the missile range from 450 km to 800 km – something that will give India unprecedented fire power against both China and Pakistan.
BrahMos missile – a universal weapons system
BrahMos missile is a universal weapons system that has already been inducted by the Indian Army and Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force is in the process of doing so. The missile derives its name from two rivers – Brahmaputra in India and Moskva in Russia. The BrahMos missile can be fired from land, ships, submarines and fighter jets – a fact that gives it unparalleled capability. Not only that, the BrahMos missile is said to have one of the best test success rates in the world. BrahMos is a two-stage missile which can attain a cruise speed of 2.8 Mach. The missile can carry a conventional warhead of almost 300 kg. On sea, it can be launched both in the vertical and the inclined configuration. The BrahMos missle has also generated a lot of export interest from various countries including Vietnam, Chile.
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21 Mar 18. Artillery, Drones, Missiles Will Help FVL Penetrate Air Defenses: FVL CFT. “We’re not yielding the air domain to anybody, so we’re going to build those capabilities that we need to dominate,” the head of the Army’s aviation Cross Functional Team told reporters yesterday. While Brig. Gen. Wally Rugen heads what’s officially called the Future Vertical Lift CFT, his portfolio extends well beyond the FVL aircraft program itself. Rugen wants:
- New “modular” missiles with plug-and-play warhead options and longer range;
- New drone designs “purpose built” to penetrate advanced anti-aircraft defenses;
- New manned aircraft — the FVL itself — 60 percent faster than current helicopters, with Artificial Intelligence to assist the human crew.
All this technology serves a new concept of operations for defeating dense advanced air defenses of the kind Russiaand China are both building for themselves and selling abroad. (The term of art is “Anti-Access/Area Denial” or A2/AD, though it’s under assault in some elements of the Pentagon).
Gone are the days of counterinsurgency warfare when the US effortlessly owned the skies and could send slow remote-controlled aircraft like the Predator on long reconnaissance missions or “stack” attack aircraft above a unit they were protecting on the ground. In “contested” airspace, the Army argues, Air Force, Marine, and Navy strike planes may need ground forces to open the way, a concept called Multi Domain Battle. Conversely, the Army needs to revive its artillery to provide Long Range Precision Firepower — the Army’s top modernization priority — even if airstrikes aren’t available.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Rugen outlined a symbiotic relationship between Army aviation and artillery. Drones jam the enemy radars and locate the anti-aircraft batteries; artillery destroys them with long-range missiles, rockets, and cannon shells; and manned aircraft penetrate the enemy defenses at the resulting weak point. Instead of stacks, where multiple aircraft fly orbits over a single enemy being attacked or a friendly unit being supported, the manned aircraft and drones will stay spread out, coordinating over a network that’s resilient against jamming and hacking — another modernization priority — and using long-range weapons to hit the target from so far away it can’t hit back.
Timelines
How soon can we actually do this? The FVL manned aircraft is still on track to enter service as scheduled in the early 2030s, Rugen said, denying reports of delays. The Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Mark Milley, make a similar denial when he told the Congress last week that “the (Army) Secretary (Mark Esper) and I are not going to stand for delays. It’s an urgent need.”
But, noted our Defense News colleague Jen Judson, who broke the delay story, while the Bell V-280 Valor demonstrator aircraft is already flying, the Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 Defiant is not and probably won’t until the fall. (The biggest known issue with the Sikorsky-Boeing aircraft, incidentally, is manufacturing its rotor blades, which are much larger and more rigid than Bell’s). Doesn’t that force a delay to do adequate testing?
“What I’ve been told is that they will fly this year, and we’re not at that decision point yet (i.e. to delay or not),” Rugen replied. “We’re not going to make the decision until we have to…. I don’t want to presuppose that they’re not going to make it.” There is a backup plan being “strongly” considered, he said, but he wouldn’t divulge what that is.
In the near term, Rugen’s Cross Functional Team is refining FVL requirements, with Army leadership making key decisions later this year. In the longer term, he said, about two years, the Army needs to decide whether to extend the current Multi-Year Procurement contracts to build existing helicopters — which will expire — or leap ahead to FVL. The decision between the Bell and Sikorsky-Boeing designs will come later, Rugen emphasized.
Ultimately, Rugen noted,, FVL is a joint mega-program where the Army must coordinate every decision with the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The service potentially has a lot more freedom with the other programs in Rugen’s portfolio, the unmanned ones — although he promised to coordinate closely with the other services to avoid duplication on drones.
Missiles & Drones
The US military has spent years buying all sorts of drones, slapping cameras on them and maybe Hellfire missiles before flying them in slow orbits in uncontested airspace. That’s got to change, Rugen told reporters. He wants fewer but better drones that are “purpose built” for specific missions in defended airspace.
One size won’t fit all, Rugen emphasized. He envisions four types of unmanned system: a family of modular missiles, two drones in the traditional senses, and one hybrid between missile and drone:
- Modular missiles would have greater range than the current Hellfire and JAGM — about eight kilometers — and plug-and-play warheads “from flares to flechettes,” from anti-aircraft to anti-tank, so the missile can be tailored to the mission, avoiding costly overkill. Blowing up terrorists in a pickup truck doesn’t require the same sophisticated, powerful, costly warhead as killing a tank, Rugen reasons, so if you know you’re hunting pickups, why not have a missile where you can swap in a simpler, cheaper warhead? “The S&T guys have really got a pretty compelling product there,” he said.
- The Future Tactical UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) will be assigned directly to Army combat brigades, the way 60-pound RQ-7B Shadows are today. Rugen disdains the term “intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance” (ISR) for these drones: The Army talks in terms of Reconnaissance, Surveillance, & Target Acquisition (RSTA), and the new symbiosis between aviation and artillery puts a premium on that “target acquisition” aspect. “We need more than full-motion video,” Rugen said.
- The Advanced UAS will belong to reconnaissance squadrons in Army aviation brigades. Besides RSTA, they would conduct electronic warfare: jamming, spoofing, and decoying enemy sensors. Tactical UAS may do EW too, Rugen said, but that’s not decided. (There’s a long-running battle within the Army over how to revive the EW branch gutted in the 1990s).
- Air-Launched UAS would be mini-drones carried by and launched from larger aircraft, as if they were missiles. Rugen didn’t detail their functions, but given their small size, short range, and low cost relative to ground-launched UAVs, the air-launched UAS seem a natural fit for expendable electronic warfare roles such as decoys.
The Army is conducting an in-depth study of its mix of unmanned aircraft, looking at every branch’s desiderata for drones, Rugen said, but the Cross Functional Team is already moving ahead on unmanned initiatives. “We’re not waiting,” he said. “The magic of the CFTs (is) there’s a lot of stuff done in parallel now,” he said, dramatically accelerating Army modernization.
In addition to thoroughbred unmanned systems, the Future Vertical Lift aircraft would be “optionally manned,” with enough artificial intelligence to either assist the human crew or take over entirely. Future pilots might put their aircraft into automated mode over friendly territory as they studied the latest intelligence, then take the controls as they penetrated enemy air defenses. The AI might handle routine tasks so the crew could concentrate on tactics — but take over in an instant if the humans are wounded or knocked out. The Army wants a similar optionally-manned capability for its future ground combat vehicles as well.
For the foreseeable future, though, there will always be a role for the human.
“We need our UAS to do the dangerous and dirty work, but we’re also mindful that an aviator, a soldier, brings a sensor that’s got a 295 degree field of view versus 60, has all the senses versus just one,” Rugen said. “Aviators still have a vital role at the tactical edge.” (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
21 Mar 18. Laser weapon for KC-135 ‘still in the infancy stage.’
The U.S. Air Force is on a path to adopt high-powered lasers on fighter jetsand special operations gunships, but it’s still on the fence about how to mount such weaponry on its tanker fleet, service officials said Monday.
Putting a laser weapon on a KC-135 tanker is an effort that’s “still in the infancy stage,” said Tom Lockhart, director of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Strategic Development Planning and Experimentation Office.
The lab recently conducted an assessment with Air Mobility Command to locate an area on the KC-135 on which it could attach a laser pod, he told reporters during a roundtable at the Pentagon.
“The next phase [is]: Does that make sense, does it make sense to put a pod on there, or do you want to go complete and do a system integration of a laser itself?” Lockhart said. “You can do it a little bit different from just hanging a pod on there. You could integrate it with the rest of the systems.”
Increasing the survivability of tankers has been a pet project of Air Mobility Command head Gen. Carlton Everhart. Most refueling aircraft were designed without defensive systems, but Everhart has said future conflicts could require tankers to move closer to the fight, necessitating the adoption of situational awareness upgrades or even more intricate systems like laser weapons.
Potential applications include countering unmanned aircraft or cruise missiles.
“The expectation is to have this capability available to our war fighters within two years,” Everhart told Defense News sister publication Air Force Times in November. “It’s time to move out and show we’re serious about this to our airmen.”
Lockhart described the KC-135 integration as a parallel effort with the Air Force’s best-known laser program, the Self-protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator, or SHiELD, which aims to test a laser pod on an F-15 fighter by 2021.
Lockheed Martin is developing SHiELD under a $26.3m contract. That high-powered fiber laser will be integrated with a pod, which will power and cool the laser, and a beam-control system, which will direct the laser onto the target.
Tests of a 50-kilowatt SHiELD laser will start this summer, followed by the first flight tests next year, said Jeff Stanley, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for science, technology and engineering.
Whether the Air Force opts to attach a podded laser to the KC-135 or integrate it within the airframe itself, the development of a podded system of for the SHiELD program will offer valuable insight about how to stabilize laser weapons and drive down their size, weight and power use.
“With SHiELD, you’re learning a lot about targeting and tracking beyond just the pod itself,” Lockhart said. “What do you need to actually keep the laser on the target? And so that’s some of the stuff we have to learn as part of SHIELD, whether it goes on a KC-135 or on an F-15, you still have to understand those kind of control mechanisms.”
Beyond SHiELD and the KC-135 demonstration, the service is continuing to develop a roll-on laser capability for Air Force Special Operations Command’s AC-130J gunship. A test plan is still in the works, but will likely be concurrent with the SHiELD program, Lockhart said. (Source: Defense News)
21 Mar 18. Senior DoD Official Discusses Future of Directed Energy Weapons. As stated in the National Defense Strategy, the United States needs to invest and accelerate the modernization of key capabilities to build a more lethal force.
Michael D. Griffin, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, today spoke to more than 500 senior leaders from the U.S. government and defense industry to explore the impact of integrating directed energy capabilities into the national security enterprise at the 2018 Directed Energy Summit at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center here.
Directed energy weapon systems employ lasers, microwaves and particle beams against enemy targets.
Griffin has been in this arena since the 1980s and worked for the first three directors of the original missile defense agency.
“Directed energy was then in our view an important part of our future portfolio because only directed energy could offer the kind of extended magazine, if you will, the extended range, speed of light delivery of the kill,” Griffin said. “It was the only way that in the long run you could see yourself competing with the threat and coming out on top.”
Directed energy has gone through a lot of evolutions over the years, Griffin added.
For many years, he said, the Congress and national policy fundamentally did not support the development of directed energy as a warfighting tool.
“So I think that has changed,” he said. “When I have discussions on the Hill, there is very much — a lean-forward posture now.”
China is flexing its muscles in the Indo-Pacific region and Russia is resurgent, Griffin told the audience.
“You don’t build islands in the South China Sea and militarized them with benign intentions,” he said. “You don’t get on TV and brag about your 4,000-mile intercontinental hypersonic nuclear delivery system with benign intentions.”
Superpower Competition
Griffin said there’s a recognition that superpower competition is again on the rise, and the United States must modernize its military if it wants to maintain its position of global preeminence.
“We will not win in a man-to-man fight,” Griffin said. “We have to have the technological leverage. That realization was responsible for the creation of my office, to elevate the role of technology maturation and deployment and I believe it is responsible for the renewed interest in directed energy weapons.”
And, directed energy is more than big lasers, the undersecretary said.
The undersecretary asked his audience to consider directed energy systems such as high-power microwaves, different laser designs and particle beam weapons.
“Each of these systems has its own advantages and each has its own disadvantages,” he said. “We should not lose our way as we come out of the slough of despondence in directed energy into an environment that is more welcoming of our contributions. We should not lose our way with some of the other technologies that were pioneered in the ’80s and early-’90s and now stand available for renewed effort.”
In his capacity as undersecretary for research and engineering, Griffin said he is going to be very welcoming of other approaches that may not have had a lot of focus in recent years or decades.
Directed Energy Venues
There are four venues, he said, in which directed energy can serve: land, air, sea and space.
He urged the audience to not forget that because the technologies are fundamental and can be applied across those domains, all of which are important to them.
The basing strategies, the warfighting tactics, techniques, procedures, the logistics support requirements, the manpower that is needed for support, all of these things are different and are required to be different because of the different venues in which they will have to operate, he added.
“I would urge us not to think that one size fits all,” Griffin said. “I would urge us not to think that there can be a lead service for directed energy. I would urge us to not willow the competition down too quickly. I would urge us to keep a lot of arrows in our quiver as we go forward figuring out how we’re going to translate directed energy technologies into warfighting systems that are going to defend this country and our allies.”
America should also take advantage of the brain power that traditional U.S. allies and partners can offer in the development of these technologies so they can be developed together, the undersecretary said.
“The United States will always be stronger for its alliances, he said.
Griffin told a story about when he worked for NASA during the Reagan administration. He had the opportunity as the administrator of NASA to become familiar in great detail with the 14-nation partnership that put the international space station together. At first he was suspicious of the partnership but later understood how misguided he was.
“I came to believe that we got much more out of the international collaboration on the space station than we ever gave up in terms of revealing of our own capabilities and technologies,” the undersecretary said.
“The way to technical superiority is to run faster and work harder and not to try to wall off our own capabilities,” Griffin said. “So, as we explore directed energy technologies, where there are opportunities, I will be looking for careful and measured but still very real cooperation with our allies and partners. I think in the long run that will benefit us.” (Source: US DoD)
20 Mar 18. Kratos and Orbital ATK Missile Products Division Reaffirm Kratos’ Oriole Rocket Motor Exclusive Rights Agreement.
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq:KTOS), a leading National Security Solutions provider, announced today that its Space and Missile Defense Systems Business Unit in Glen Burnie, Maryland has reaffirmed its longstanding agreement with Orbital ATK (OATK) Missile Products Division related to Kratos’ exclusive rights to sell Oriole Solid Propellant Rocket Motors (SPRMs) for specific market areas, including Missile Defense related Threat Representative Targets, Suborbital Research and Sounding Rockets. Kratos leverages its exclusive rights covered by this agreement to deliver Rocket Systems and Products for Missile Defense, Hypersonics, Weapon System Research and other mission critical National Security related areas. Kratos is currently executing its approximate $11m contract with a U.S. Government Agency for the production and delivery of missile defense related target hardware which includes the Oriole SPRMs. Kratos’ Space and Missile Defense Systems Business Unit is a leading provider of threat representative missile defense targets, hypersonic research vehicles and other systems, products and solutions to U.S. Government and Allies National Security agencies.
The Oriole SPRM agreement acknowledges Kratos’ investment in the design of the Oriole SPRM and reaffirms Kratos’ exclusive, world-wide, perpetual, irrevocable, fully paid-up, royalty-free, non-transferable right and license to use the Oriole SPRM Design, Oriole SPRM Data and Oriole SPRM Tooling within the sounding rocket, suborbital research, and target marketplaces. OATK will not sell Oriole SPRMs to any individual or entity in competition with Kratos in the sounding rocket, suborbital research, or target marketplaces as long as OATK is the sole manufacturer for Kratos of the Oriole SPRM. On a case-by-case basis, Kratos may allow OATK to sell Oriole SPRMs in the restricted market areas, subject to mutually agreeable terms and conditions. Additionally, OATK agrees not to internally fund the development of a New SPRM, to compete within the sounding rocket, suborbital research, and target marketplaces leveraging the Oriole design data and /or Oriole SPRM performance parameters.
Dave Carter, President of Kratos Defense & Rocket Support Services, said, “Kratos and OATK have agreed to revised contract language that reaffirms Kratos’ exclusive agreement with OATK to sell Oriole SPRMs in the sounding rocket, suborbital research, and target marketplaces. The execution of this agreement solidifies Kratos’ ability and commitment to continue to provide U.S. Government Agencies and other customers with rapidly developed and affordable technology leading systems to address their missions and requirements.”
Eric DeMarco, President and CEO of Kratos, said, “Kratos’ most valuable assets, in which we have made significant investments in over the past several years, include our intellectual property ownership and related license agreements, which provide Kratos sole source, single source or differentiating competitive positions. The execution of this latest exclusive rights agreement for the Oriole SPRM reinforces Kratos’ position as an industry leader in the threat representative targets area where we see a significant growth opportunity as a result of the increasing global proliferation of ballistic missile, hypersonic and other systems by potential adversaries, and the related increased U.S. DoD and MDA budgets to address this threat.” (Source: ASD Network)
20 Mar 18. US National Hypersonics Initiative Gets Green Light. A much talked about initiative to help the U.S. catch up in hypersonics technology with its rivals is moving ahead, a senior Defense Department official said March 20.
“There will be an effort to focus on hypersonics, whether it is an initiative or whatever. It is going to be a deliberate investment. And you will see that in the ’19 budget with DARPA and the Air Force,” Mary Miller, who is performing the duties of the assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering, told National Defense.
“We have a plan — a strategy for a national hypersonics initiative — that includes NASA as a key component,” Miller told the audience at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Science and Engineering Technology conference in Austin, Texas.
Miller’s boss, the new undersecretary of defense for research and engineering Michael Griffin, said hypersonics is his No. 1 technical priority, and he is quickly moving ahead to put together an initiative. Griffin was the former NASA administrator. The possibility of a national hypersonics initiative was first mentioned publicly earlier this month by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Director Steven Walker on the same day Russia announced that it had developed new hypersonic weapons,
About a year ago, DARPA leaders met with then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work and “laid out where we thought the U.S. was in hypersonics and where we thought some of our peer competitors were in hypersonics, and really tried to convince the department that we need a national initiative in this area,” Walker told reporters March 1 during a meeting in Washington, D.C.
Walker’s office carried this thinking forward as the Pentagon built its fiscal year 2019 budget request, he noted.
“We did push for a very comprehensive initiative in the budget process this fall,” he said. “We did receive a budget increase at DARPA and in the services to do more hypersonics. I don’t think we got everything we wanted but it was a good first step.”
The fiscal blueprint calls for DARPA to receive $257m for its hypersonics efforts in 2019, a 136 percent increase over the 2018 request, according to an agency spokesman. Meanwhile, Moscow plans to deploy a new Avangard strategic missile system equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle no later than 2019, Russian news agency TASS reported last week.
Griffin “is very determined to get not only offensive hypersonics in play, but defensive hypersonics in play,” Miller said.
She acknowledged that rivals have surpassed U.S. capabilities in the still developing technology, and they may have borrowed some U.S. ideas.
“This is an area where we have seen our adversaries exceed our ability where we were leading the charge for a while. We slowed down. We thought we had it made. We had time to do this and then we got a little distracted by a war for a good number of years. And they moved ahead,” she said. “They moved ahead by leveraging everything they could get that we had done and proceeding from there,” she said without mentioning the name of the country.
“They were essentially a fast follower, and then they have taken it well beyond where we are currently. We are catching up and are at par in some areas. We just need to do more of this,” she added. “We need to certainly get it out faster.” (Source: glstrade.com/NDIA)
20 Mar 18. U.S. Says Russia Increasing Deployment of ‘Banned’ Cruise Missile. The commander of U.S. nuclear forces says that Russia has increased its deployment of cruise missiles that Washington asserts are in violation of a key Cold War arms-control treaty, a signal that Moscow continues to be undeterred by U.S. warnings. The comments on March 20 by General John Hyten come with U.S. officials moving more aggressively to confront Moscow and the suspect ground-launched cruise missile, which Washington first publicly identified four years ago as being in violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty.
Since being accused in 2014 of developing the missile, Russia has repeatedly denied the U.S. assertions and claimed that Washington had essentially quit the Soviet-era arms-control pact already. Last year, a top U.S. military official said Moscow had begun deploying the missile.
U.S. officials say that in recent months, however, Moscow has begun quietly shifting its approach away from abject denials of the U.S. accusations to more of a dialogue with U.S. negotiators.
During a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican Deb Fischer asked if Russia was increasing its production and deployment of the cruise-missile system. Hyten, the chief of U.S. Strategic Command, responded, “Yes.”
Known as the INF, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty essentially banned all ground-launched, medium-range cruise and ballistic missiles from Europe. It’s long been considered a keystone arms control agreement between Moscow and Washington that lifted a destabilizing threat from the continent.
U.S. intelligence first detected that Russia was testing a new missile system in the late 2000s, but it wasn’t until 2014 when the administration of then-President Barack Obama formally leveled its accusation.
U.S. officials sought to persuade Russia to come clean about its efforts and eventually pushed for a meeting of the Special Verification Commission, a group of technical experts from both sides.
But there was little progress in resolving the dispute, and Republicans in Congress called for a stronger response. The latest legislation funding U.S. military programs calls for spending up $60m to develop a new ground-launched cruise missile to counter the Russian effort.
In November, Christopher Ford, a top National Security Council official who was tapped to lead the State Department’s nonproliferation division, strongly criticized the earlier approach to the problem and signaled a more aggressive policy. He also publicly identified the missile in question.
“The Russians now need to choose whether they share our steadfast desire to preserve the treaty or whether they will continue on their current path, which leads to the treaty’s collapse. They no longer have the option of having their cake and eating it, too,” Ford said.
Adding further to the mistrust is the U.S. conclusion that the Russian engineers deliberately designed the new missile system to blend in with other permitted missile systems, such as the Iskander. According to a U.S. State Department official with knowledge of the systems, that has made it exceedingly difficult for U.S. intelligence to distinguish missiles from one another.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration released its first Nuclear Posture Review, a policy document laying out the circumstances under which the United States will use its nuclear arsenal. The review included the possibility of low-yield tactical nuclear weapons, as well as new submarine-launched missiles.
Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin trumpeted a series of new weapons under development and specifically cited the Trump administration’s Nuclear Posture Review as the reason for building the new systems. (Source: defense-aerospace.com/Radio Free Europe
20 Mar 18. US Army to demo precision strike, hypersonics, ramjet capabilities in just a few years. The U.S. Army will demonstrate Long-Range Precision Fires technology from a precision-strike missile to hypersonics and ramjet capabilities within the next couple of years, according to the service’s LRPF modernization team lead.
The LRPF cross-functional team — or CFT — was recently tasked to come up with ways to bring LRPF capability online as fast as possible. LRPF has been identified as the Army’s top modernization priority among six. Each priority was assigned a CFT to tackle modernization plans going forward and will be housed within the Army’s new Futures Command expected to open its doors this summer.
[Modernization reborn: Army pushes for total overmatch]
“There is a real need to modernize our surface-to-surface fires at echelon to be able to guarantee a clear overmatch against any potential adversary both on the modern and future battlefield,” Brig. Gen. Stephen Maranian, the LRPF team lead, told Defense News in a March 19 interview. “To that effort, we are looking at how do we increase our range, how do we increase our lethality and how do we increase our volume of fires, not just in the missile area, but at echelon.”
The CFT has three specifically outlined efforts to address the modernization needs for LRPF:
Long-range in the close fight
The Army is looking at how it will evolve its current M109A7 self-propelled howitzer — or the Paladin Integrated Management — into extended-range cannon artillery, Maranian said.
The CFT is looking at “how do we take that chassis that is hopefully going to be at full-rate production in the next couple of months and get ourselves to a better propellant, a better projectile and a longer barrel — extending from a 39-caliber to a 58-caliber — to be able to not only get on the current battlefield to the 70 kilometer range, but also provide the basis from which either a hypervelocity or a ramjet technology round could get us to very long ranges with cannon artillery,” he said.
The plan is to spiral in capabilities: “We are not going to wait and try to create the next Crusader Howitzer,” Maranian said.
Instead, the Army will build capability for extended-range cannon artillery in a “very methodical manner that accelerates those things that are ready for acceleration,” he added.
“First out of the barrel, pun intended,” Maranian said, “is going to be the … XM1113. 1113 is the new rocket-assisted projectile.”
That projectile could end up in soldiers’ hands in approximately two to two-and-half years, according to Maranian. It is being demonstrated right now through experiments at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, which took place last month and is continuing into March.
The Army expects the projectile to reach out to 40 kilometers when fired from the current cannon tube, delivering a 33 percent increase in range capability from previous rockets, according to Maranian.
Then the service will extend the cannon tube from a 39-caliber to a 58-caliber, which will provide a number of benefits, Maranian said, including a new breach and new mounts within the turret of the cannon, and will provide “the ability to have a much greater explosive chain to be able to achieve the velocity out of the tube that hypersonics would require.”
Lastly, the Army will work on an autoloader, which will increase the cannon’s volume of fire. “If we can get six to 10 rounds out of a tube for a minute, sustained, as opposed to four rounds in the first minute and one sustained after that with a human crew loading all the ammunition, we are going to dramatically increase our effects on target to be able to have more impact at the same time,” he said.
The program formerly known as LRPF
The Army’s CFT will also assist the program of record already underway to replace the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, with a longer-range missile.
And to avoid confusion with the large amount of additional advanced technology efforts going on in the realm of LRPF, the Army has renamed the LRPF program to replace ATACMS to the Precision Strike Missile program, according to Maranian.
When the Army chief of staff is talking about LRPF, for instance, he’s referring to “really strategic ranges,” not the ATACMS replacement, he explained.
The ATACMS program germinated in 2007, and the Army has been doing service life extension to keep the weapon in the fight.
The service awarded contracts in the spring of 2017 to Raytheon and Lockheed Martin for a three-year period of performance to design and build missile prototypes in the technology-maturation and risk-reduction phase.
And while industry was hoping to find ways to speed up the program from a fielding timeline of 2027, a year ago, the Army had even pushed back its plans to enter the technology-maturation and risk-reduction phase of the program by a year, according to fiscal 2018 budget documents.
But the Army has found a way to dramatically accelerate the program.
“There has been, within the program manager, a plan to accelerate from 2027 to an initial capability in the force by late 2022, early 2023 time frame,” Maranian said.
The Army plans to demonstrate Raytheon’s and Lockheed’s prototypes in 2019, he said.
The CFT is looking at how the Army might spiral in future capability, currently being developed within science and technology portfolios, once the initial Precision Strike Missile is built, Maranian added.
“The types of technologies we are looking at are those that can hone in on signals to be able to attack [the enemy’s] integrated air defense assets, the ability to hit moved or moving targets across multiple domains, so both land and maritime targets that are moving, and the ability to deliver loitering [intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance] to very deep ranges on the battlefield out to 500 kilometers,” Maranian detailed.
The Army also plans to use its science and technology efforts — developed to move the Precision Strike Missile forward — for other efforts.
“I’m also interested in how are we cutting technology into our future rockets that are currently in the 85-kilometer range and getting that almost doubled,” Maranian said.
Getting to strategic ranges
The third and final line of effort for the LRPF CFT is one that will bring capability of long-range strike to hit targets at “strategic ranges,” according to Maranian.
The one-star defined that as giving either cannons or trajectory missiles that are compliant with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty the ability to have both offensive and defensive impact in any number of different areas of the world “where we could find ourselves facing an adversary who has very sophisticated integrated air defense, where we need to be able to break windows of opportunity into that IAD system by delivering long-range fires and enabling joint fires to exploit that window,” he said.
On the defensive side, that could give the Army the ability to position a capability on an island in the Pacific, for instance, creating “an anti-access, area-denial capability all of our own to make potential adversaries think twice and be deterred before making a decision of whether cost is worth the benefit of being provocative,” Maranian said.
Among the technologies being examined to achieve such capability are hypersonics.
“Hypersonic technology is absolutely something that we need to look at,” he said. But he added that there are a number things that can be done to give certain projectiles hypersonic-like capabilities.
“Hypersonics is really a speed band of how fast we are getting that projectile moving,” Maranian said.
Another way to get after fast speeds and longer ranges is through ramjet technology. When a projectile leaves the cannon and is flying through the air, the air is fed into the projectile itself and ignites an internal propellant, which causes further acceleration, according to Maranian.
The Pentagon’s Strategic Capabilities Office, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and Space and Missile Defense Command, outside of the Army, are looking at a number of classified programs, he said.
The SCO is particularly looking at the 58-caliber cannon tube because it is a base requirement for hypersonics.
The CFT is also taking a look at rail gun technology as well as directed energy, Maranian noted.
The Army sees the possibility of hypersonics and ramjet projectiles being demonstrated in the next couple of years “for certain,” he said, adding that demonstrations for both could potentially happen in 2019.
(Source: Defense News)
20 Mar 18. Rheinmetall integrates MELLS antitank guided missile into Marder infantry fighting vehicle. Rheinmetall has integrated the state-of-the-art MELLS antitank guided missile into the Marder 1A5 infantry fighting vehicle. Following successful conclusion of the study phase, the Bundeswehr subsequently ordered 44 MELLS retrofit kits, which were delivered in December 2017. In the meantime, a total of 35 vehicles have been equipped with the new missile system integration kit. The modernized Marder 1A5 is now able to utilize the MELLS, a German acronym standing for “multirole-capable light antitank missile system”. This retrofit contributes to the combat effectiveness of the Bundeswehr’s mechanized infantry units and thus to the credibility of the Federal Republic of Germany in international security contexts.
At the end of 2016, Germany’s Federal Office for Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (www.BAAINBw.de) awarded Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH a contract to study ways of integrating the MELLS into the Bundeswehr’s tried-and-tested IFV, which will be reaching the end of its service life in the foreseeable future. Thanks to the MELLS, the Marder IFV now has a new, highly effective antitank capability.
Under a development contract – with the help of two sample vehicles –Rheinmetall examined among other things the extent to which oscillation due to movement of the vehicle and the resulting vibration behaviour would have to be taken into account when integrating the MELLS. The results formed the basis for a modified storage concept, enabling transport of the launcher and missiles in the infantry fighting vehicle. The project was conducted during the first half of 2017. The high point came when the vibration-stressed missiles were successfully fired from the IFV.
Rheinmetall has accumulated massive expertise in all aspects of the Marder. The weapons system first rolled off the assembly lines of Rheinmetall’s forerunner in Kassel. Extremely reliable and battle-tested, the Marder is destined to remain an important workhorse of Germany’s mechanized infantry for several years to come. Rheinmetall is currently looking at ways of integrating the MELLS into the 1A3 and 1A5A1 versions of the Marder as well.
20 Mar 18. Russian Aerospace Forces take delivery of ‘new’ Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile. The Russian Aerospace Forces have taken delivery of the Kinzhal (Dagger) – an air-launched, precision-guided ballistic missile designed to engage ground-based and seaborne targets. Also referred to by its air-to-ground missile code of Kh-47M2, the Kinzhal has been shown being carried by, and launched from, a modified MiG-31BM supersonic interceptor aircraft.
According to Russian industry sources, the Kinzhal is based on the 9M723-1F variant of the 9M723-1 missile – as used by the 9K720 Iskander-M short-range road-mobile ballistic missile system – and modified for air-launch without major changes in its architecture.
The Kinzhal, like its 9M723-1F parent, is a solid propellant motor propelled ballistic missile with a non-separating warhead. The most obvious physical change is the addition of a finned truncated tailcone to the missile’s rear. This has been added to decrease the aerodynamic effects of the missile when carried at high-speed on the aircraft and protects both its control components and motor nozzle from damage when in transit.
To minimise the missile’s radar cross-section (RCS), no extraneous external components are located on its surface other than its two cable ducts, which run from the control/motor nozzle section, over the motor and into to the guidance section. The ducts – seen in a video presentation – are quite prominent in comparison to some seen on the parent missile, the latter far flatter and wider, with smoother transition from the motor body to the maximum height of the duct. The missile’s aerodynamic control surfaces have been revised, their planform slightly different and their aerodynamic surfaces are cleaner. It is reported that the skin of the missile has been covered with a special heat-resistant and radar adsorbing coating to minimise heat effects on it and further lower its RCS, but this cannot be confirmed. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
20 Mar 18. The system of systems that enables the disparate elements of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) to function as a complete global defense network has been revolutionized. The modernized Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) system significantly improves collaborative Ballistic Missile Defense planning and provides global and regional combatant commands with rapid operational response capabilities. Operationally fielded in 2004, the C2BMC network is extremely complex. This system links traditionally autonomous space, sea and terrestrial sensors and their associated systems, gleaning the best target data from each to provide the highest probability of intercepting ballistic missile threats directed against the United States, its deployed forces, allies and friends.
“Truly integrated ballistic missile defense can never be static,” said Dr. Rob Smith, vice president of C4ISR Systems for Lockheed Martin. “C2BMC must maintain pace and be flexible to changes in technology, capability improvements and adversarial conditions.”
A Lockheed Martin-led team that includes Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Boeing, and General Dynamics modernized the entire C2BMC global network, which is deployed at numerous locations throughout the world. The team developed, tested and deployed sophisticated track processing, sensor and battle management algorithms to optimize how C2BMC processes data from all the BMDS elements, providing increased capacity to handle larger and more complicated threats. C2BMC’s modernization is predicated on a new open, flexible architecture that eases the integration of new capabilities, increases system reliability, substantially reduces the overall hardware footprint and lowers total system life cycle costs. From an information assurance perspective, the new architecture has been cyber hardened to mitigate threats to the network and systems.
19 Mar 18. Artem tests large calibre artillery ammunition. Artem has successfully tested its 152mm artillery ammunition developed for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is a state-owned joint-stock holding company of Ukranian defence industry firm Ukroboronprom (UOP).
Following the successful completion of the test, UOP State Concern director general Pavlo Bukin said in a statement that Ukraine received the production of the large calibre artillery ammunition.
Bukin further said that a new high explosive (HE) projectile has been designed and developed to target enemy personnel, artillery, and firepower, in addition to structures and objects.
The artillery ammunition has been produced for one of the most far-ranging artillery systems, Hiatsynt.
Carried out at the military training ground in Chernihiv, Ukraine, the 152mm ammunition tests demonstrated the specified characteristics of the projectiles.
Production of the ammunition takes place within the framework of the target programme, approved by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Other UOP subsidiaries are also involved in the production of ammunition and are responsible for initiating agents, explosives, and blasting powder.
Bukin said: “The cooperation of UOP enterprises allowed us to master artillery ammunition production in the shortest time possible, to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This is an important step, increasing the combat capability of the Ukrainian Army.”
Bukin further said that artillery projectiles produced at the Artem facility are set to undergo a series of tests.
Serial production of the 152mm artillery ammunition will be launched based on the results of the upcoming tests.
In November last year, Artem started the implementation of the artillery ammunition production project. (Source: army-technology.com)
19 Mar 18. South Korea to deploy ‘artillery killer’ to destroy North Korean bunkers. The South Korean Army plans to deploy surface-to-surface missiles in a newly created counter-artillery brigade by October, with the aim of destroying North Korea’s hardened long-range artillery sites near the Demilitarized Zone, should conflict erupt on the Korean Peninsula. The plan is part of South Korea‘s defense reform for developing an offensive operations scheme, a defense source said. The tactical missiles are developed locally.
“The Ministry of National Defense has approved a plan to create an artillery brigade under a ground forces operations command to be inaugurated in October. The plan is to be reported to President Moon Jae-in next month as part of the ‘Defense Reform 2.0’ policy,” the source said. “The brigade’s mission is fairly focused on destroying North Korea’s long-range guns more rapidly and effectively, should conflict arise”
The three-year development of the GPS-guided Korea Tactical Surface-to-Surface Missile was completed last year. Hanwha Corporation, a precision-guided missile maker, led the development in partnership with the state-funded Agency for Defense Development, or ADD.
The missile, dubbed “artillery killer,” has a range of more than 120 kilometers and can hit targets with a 2-meter accuracy, according to ADD and Hanwha officials.
Four missiles can be launched almost simultaneously from a fixed launch pad. The missiles can penetrate bunkers and hardened, dug-in targets several meters underground.
“North Korea’s long-range artillery systems deployed along the border pose significant threats to the security of the capital area of South Korea,” said retired Lt. Gen. Shin Won-sik, a former operational director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “The counter-artillery brigade is expected to play a key role in neutralizing the North’s long-range artillery fire power, as the new surface-to-surface missile is capable of destroy the hideout of artillery forces.”
The artillery brigade is also to operate the Chunmoo Multiple Launch Rocket System, which can fire three types of ammunition: 130mm nonguided rockets; 227mm nonguided rockets; and 239mm guided rockets. The hitting range of the rockets are 36 kilometers, 80 kilometers and 160 kilometers, respectively.
According to the 2016 Defense White Paper, North Korea has some 8,600 towed and self-propelled artillery, as well as 5,500 multiple-launch rockets. Seventy percent of them were deployed near the border.
North Korea has forward-deployed 340 long-range guns that can fire 15,000 rounds per hour at Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area. (Source: Defense News)
19 Mar 18. US Army to get THAAD and Patriot systems to communicate within two years. The Army is planning to tie its two most critical air and missile defense systems together within two years, which is key to establishing a more effective, layered approach to AMD, according to the one-star general in charge of modernizing the service’s AMD capabilities.
The approach could enhance the development of the Army’s future AMD command-and-control system, the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System — or IBCS.
The Terminal High Altitude System, or THAAD, and the Patriot medium-range air and missile defense system are the “bread and butter” of Army air and missile defense, Brig. Gen. Randy McIntire, the cross-functional team lead for AMD, told Defense News in a March 14 interview.
The Army has formed seven cross-functional teams, or CFT, to address its six modernization priorities, which will be nested within the service’s new Futures Command expected to stand up in the summer.
McIntire is addressing AMD modernization from a variety of avenues including bringing Short Range Air Defense back into the force, but the CFT identified the importance of ensuring the service is getting everything it can out of its current systems, he said.
Getting THAAD and Patriot to talk to each other is extremely important in building better operational capability and a better picture of incoming threats.
Driving the effort are the forces in South Korea where both THAAD and Patriot are deployed. THAAD is also deployed in Guam, while Patriot units are spread wider around the world. Patriot deployments are considered to be among the most taxing and lengthy ones in the Army
“We’ve got THAAD and Patriot on the peninsula of Korea working side by side,” McIntire said, so “how do we leverage those two systems so we can have better use of each one of those systems, missiles, and taking advantage of the great [AN/TPY-2] radar that is part of THAAD to increase the battlespace of Patriot?”
The CFT held an industry day bringing together key stakeholders including the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to work on the challenge of integrating the systems, McIntire said.
Before the CFT had a chance to take a fresh look at the possibility of integration, MDA didn’t think it would be able to tie together the systems until the “out-years,” he said, referring to years beyond the currently planned budget years.
But “we were able to reprioritize, and some of the things that we were doing to integrate THAAD and Patriot were four and five years away, but we kind of magnified the problem and were able to reprioritize three significant capabilities that we thought would be game-changers with those and actually bring them in about two years to 18 months sooner,” he added.
The CFT did not want a niche system to solve the problem, and it determined the capability should inform the brains of the Army’s future Integrated Air-and-Missile Defense — that is, IBCS, which is still in development.
The initial fielding of IBCS has been pushed back by several years because the Army wants it to tie together more systems on the battlefield than originally required. These systems include THAAD and its Indirect Fire Protection Capability that defends against rockets, artillery and mortars as well as unmanned aircraft systems and cruise missiles. Integrated Air-and-Missile Defense will ultimately replace Patriot.
By coming up with an interim solution that helps develop IBCS, the Army won’t pay to tie together THAAD and Patriot — as well as other systems — twice, according to McIntire.
“We will be able to take that and, at the appropriate time, slide it into an increment of the future with IBCS,” McIntire said.
“It’s going to be a capability that we will use in the interim until IBCS comes online, but it’s going to be with the IBCS style guide, for lack of a better term, and IBCS-informed,” he added.
For example, the Army was trying to bring the second increment of IBCS online in fiscal 2022, but with some of the activities being conducted now over the next 18 to 24 months, it’s possible the service could readjust the IBCS program so it is fielding Increment 3 by FY22 instead, McIntire said.
The Army would “be able to integrate it a lot faster because we are going to do a lot of the testing that needs to be able to make that work, so I think the idea is that we will be able to maybe go faster on the backside,” he said. (Source: Defense News)
19 Mar 18. Interim solution for US Army’s Short Range Air Defense to be chosen by end of year. The U.S. Army plans to choose an interim solution to meet a much-needed Short Range Air Defense, or SHORAD, capability in Europe by the end of the year, according to Brig. Gen. Randy McIntire, who is leading the service’s modernization efforts in air and missile defense.
The directed requirement for a SHORAD solution has been signed by the Army vice chief of staff, and now the Army’s cross-functional team — assigned to work on air and missile defense, or AMD, modernization — is working with the Army acquisition community to come up with a procurement plan, McIntire told Defense News in a March 14 interview.
There are seven cross-functional teams — or CFTs — set up under the Army’s new Futures Command to address the service’s top six priorities. AMD is the fifth.
“But the plan is right now, we think we’ve got enough knowledge points,” McIntire said, “that by the fourth quarter of the year, we should be able to downselect to one [vendor]. There are really two very viable candidates today.”
The Army has moved at lightning speed to reintroduce SHORAD into the maneuver force since then-U.S. Army Europe commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges about a year and a half ago recognized a capability gap in short-range air defense for conflicts against near-peer threats such as Russia.
The Army had pushed its SHORAD capability into the reserves and stopped investing in it during the wars in the Middle East where SHORAD was not needed to counter insurgency forces that had very little capability to attack from the air.
The service has already moved an Avenger unit from the National Guard into Europe and plans to continue rotations, but it acknowledges the need to go beyond that. The Army envisions needing to use air defense protection for the maneuver force as it penetrates highly contested enemy territory. SHORAD will also hold off enemy air capability in order to provide avenues for the U.S. Air Force to fly into enemy air space and take out critical targets.
Other capabilities like the Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2 that is designed to go up against rockets, artillery and mortars as well as unmanned aircraft systems and cruise missiles is more designed for fixed sites, McIntire said, it’s not ideal for trying to keep up with Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles and the Abrams tanks in the fight.
And just keeping Avenger is not an option due to its survivability and range limitations, McIntire added.
The directed requirements call for 144 SHORAD systems which is about four battalions worth of equipment, McIntire said.
The CFT figures it will be able to field 12 systems — a battery — by fiscal 2020, with the remainder of the first battalion by FY21. The second battalion would be complete by FY22, according to McIntire.
The Army has also identified the first active-force battalion to be equipped with a SHORAD capability that will go to Europe — 4th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment — and is working the overseas stationing packet, McIntire said.
The first unit will stand up in FY19 with refurbished Avengers, but as the SHORAD vehicles come online, those systems from the 1980s will be replaced.
“We weren’t even talking about SHORAD just a little over a year ago, so by FY21 we will have that capability in Europe,” McIntire said.
The plan is to build four battalions, but it’s possible the service could take it further at a future decision point to provide every division, both active-duty and National Guard with a battalion of SHORAD, he added.
What the Army will be choosing by the end of the year is not the platform. The service has already decided the interim SHORAD solution will be Stryker-based. “The Stryker gave us the survivability that we needed compared to the Avenger” and was better in terms of size, weight and power considerations in order to potentially integrate directed energy onto the system.
In the service’s FY19 budget documents, it says the Army will assess the possibility of integrating a laser weapon onto the Stryker for SHORAD within five years.
“So we’ve got the bottom figured out and we are trying to figure out what that top of the turret looks like,” McIntire said.
The Army is looking most seriously at using existing systems, guns and missiles, particularly stuff already in the inventory so it can move out fast.
“As long as we got the potential to grow it, spiral develop things on it, we will do that,” McIntire said.
For instance, Lockheed Martin is expecting the Army to choose its Longbow Hellfire missile as part of the solution.
“Our plan was to take existing systems today, just get something out there, and so we do like the Longbow Hellfire, the [Joint Air-to-Ground Missile] capability, we’ve got Stingers in the inventory, so let’s use some Stinger missiles as well and get some quick wins,” McIntire said.
JAGM is the replacement for the Hellfire missile and is currently under development by Lockheed Martin.
And there is a variety of other options and configurations that have cropped up over the past year. The Army held a SHORAD demonstration for vendors with solutions in September and is using that as well as “paper submissions” to help it make a decision on the way forward by the end of the year, according to McIntire.
Looking beyond the interim solution, the Army believes SHORAD could potentially be integrated right onto the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle, another modernization priority for the service, he added.
“We will work with NGCV as they develop that platform with our directed-energy efforts. We will take the lead for that and we will help them inform that, but ultimately in the end we will be on the Stryker for the next 15 years,” McIntire said. “But we would ultimately maybe get on the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle with some of our capabilities down the road.” (Source: Defense News)
20 Mar 18. Adelaide-based Plasteel SA is among a number of specialist Australian companies partnering with Rheinmetall Defence Australia, which was last week named as the successful tenderer for the LAND 400 Phase 2. The $5.2bn LAND 400 Phase 2 will deliver 211 armoured reconnaissance vehicles to the Australian Army from 2020. Rheinmetall’s Boxer 8×8 CRV was chosen as the preferred tender ahead of BAE Systems’ Patria AMV35. Plasteel is expecting to work on the turrets, as it has done on previous defence projects. The company specialises in precision sheet metal product manufacturing and has previously worked in a number of defence projects including the M113 armoured personnel carrier and Air Warfare Destroyer. However, when the last of Plasteel’s AWD work ended about 18 months ago it was plunged into the Valley of Death, reducing its workforce to a little over 20 from a peak of 45. A series of commercial jobs has helped it build back up to 35 but Plasteel Managing Director Daryl O’Shaughnessy expects staff numbers to soon be well over 50.
20 Mar 18. Thales Goalkeeper scores again and again in Sea Acceptance Trials. The first Goalkeeper Close-In Weapon System of the Royal Netherlands Navy equipped with the Upkeep modifications contracted in 2012, was subjected to the Sea Acceptance Trials (SAT) and passed all tests with flying colours. The tests with air targets included: detection, tracking and elimination of Kinetiq Banshee propeller and jet drones with traditional and modern inbound attack flight paths. For surface targets, the same procedure was carried out with Kinetiq Sprite II drones. The Upkeep Modification will once again bring performance of the Goalkeeper system to the highest operational status, in correspondence with the Royal Netherlands Navy’s ambition to optimally protect its crew and ships during overseas deployments. The Upkeep consists of new algorithms and state-of-the-art electro-optic tracking capabilities, making Goalkeeper capable of dealing with any threat, including modern, evasive maneuvering air threats with a complex trajectory. The system was developed in the 1980s; the update will enable its deployment for many years to come. The Goalkeeper SAT was performed on HNLMS Johan de Witt. Other Goalkeeper Customers expressed their interest in this Upkeep modification. Over the years, Goalkeeper’s excellent performance has been clearly demonstrated in various live firing trials. A total of 63 Goalkeepers have been sold to Navies across Europe, the Middle East and the Far East.
19 Mar 18. USSOCOM boosts GBU-69/B SGM stocks. The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) intends to award Dynetics Inc. a sole-source contract for the supply of additional GBU-69B Small Glide Munitions (SGMs) and related engineering support between calendar year (CY) 2018 and CY 2022, according to a USSOCOM pre-solicitation notice issued on 9 March.
The solicitation envisages an anticipated contract award in July, covering no more than five ordering periods. USSOCOM is expected to procure approximately 700 additional SGMs per CY during the first two periods (covering CY 2018 and CY 2019), approximately 900 additional SGMs in CY 2020 (due to ceiling limitations on the US Air Force Life Cycle Management Center [AFLCMC] Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity [IDIQ] contract), and then approximately 1,000 SGMs per CY for the final two periods (covering CY 2021 and CY 2022). “However, actual munition quantities will be determined on a delivery order basis,” the pre-solicitation document noted.
In June 2017 the AFLCMC Rapid Acquisition Cell awarded Dynetics a USD10.9m sole-source contract for the supply of 70 GBU-69B SGM all-up rounds (AURs) over a 13-month period, with an option for up to 30 more munitions. Work on this contract is expected to be finalised in June 2018. In August 2017 the AFLMC Rapid Acquisition Cell, in support of USSOCOM, awarded an IDIQ contract to Dynetics enabling the AFLCMC to order approximately 900 SGM AURs through the end of CY 2020. However, following the award of the IDIQ contract, the United States Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) directed the Department of Defense (DoD) ‘to maximise munitions production, which is not within the scope of the AFLCMC IDIQ contract’. Therefore, USSOCOM has a requirement for a delta (difference or change in quantity) IDIQ contract to procure the additional SGMs necessary to maximise munitions production in accordance with the SECDEF’s directive. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
19 Mar 18. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) successfully tested a production-configuration Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) from a U.S. Air Force B-1B bomber. During the test, a B-1B from the 337th Test Squadron at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, launched a LRASM over the Sea Range at Point Mugu, Calif., successfully impacting the maritime target and meeting test objectives.
“LRASM has now proven itself in six consecutive flight missions,” said David Helsel, LRASM program director at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “The reliability and outstanding capability of LRASM will provide an unmatched weapon to our warfighters in their quest for sea control in contested environments.”
LRASM is designed to detect and destroy specific targets within groups of ships by employing advanced technologies that reduce dependence on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, network links and GPS navigation in electronic warfare environments. LRASM will play a significant role in ensuring military access to operate in open ocean/blue waters, owing to its enhanced ability to discriminate and conduct tactical engagements from extended ranges.
LRASM is a precision-guided, anti-ship standoff missile based on the successful Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile – Extended Range (JASSM-ER). It is designed to meet the needs of U.S. Navy and Air Force warfighters in contested environments. The air-launched variant provides an early operational capability for the U.S. Navy’s offensive anti-surface warfare Increment I requirement to be integrated onboard the U.S. Air Force’s B-1B in 2018 and on the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18E/F in 2019.
16 Mar 18. LCS Coastal Mine Reconnaissance module completes developmental testing. The Coastal Mine Reconnaissance (CMR) mission module for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Mission Modules (MM) programme successfully completed developmental testing (DT) recently off the coast of southern California aboard USS Coronado (LCS 4), an Independence-class version of the LCS.
“This DT marks the last critical step in demonstrating the CMR mission module capability on the LCS Independence variant prior to fleet introduction,” Captain Theodore Zobel, LCS Mission Modules programme manager, said in a statement on 15 March.
More complex mine-warfare missions and initial operational test and evaluation were scheduled to begin later in March, Capt Zobel said.
The CMR mission module includes the MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle with its mission control system (MCS), the AN/DVS-1 Coastal Battlespace Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA) system with the airborne payload subsystem, and the post-mission analysis subsystem, supporting software and support containers. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
16 Mar 18. Guns, Drones, & Augmented Reality: Army Seeks Infantry Revolution. The catch, of course, is that the Army’s tried to field all these things before — and failed. Why would things go any better this time around? Brig. Gen. Christopher Donahue has an answer for that. There’s a revolution afoot in America’s infantry. New guns to replace the M4 carbine, M16 rifle, and M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. A new mini-drone to scout ahead. A new tactical network to link scattered units. A new night vision sight that displays targeting data like a fighter pilot’s Heads-Up Display. New tactics to use all of the above and new VR simulators to train on. All these innovations could be in the hands of US Army infantry within “a few years,” Brig. Gen. Christopher Donahue told reporters Friday.
The catch, of course, is that the Army’s tried to field all these things before — and failed. Why would things go any better this time around?
First, the technology’s gotten better. This stuff is real, Donahue said. “We’ve already seen and touched a number” of potential Squad Automatic Weapons (basically a heavy assault rifle or light machinegun), Donahue said. “We’ll be getting our first prototypes here in about a year.”
Army troops have field-tested palm-top mini-drones, notably in the PACMAN exercises in Hawaii, and the Defense Secretary’s Close Combat Lethality Task Force is funding procurement for the Army. Special Operations Forces are already using an early version of network devices. And the new night vision sight can be issued to combat units “in six to seven months.”
That brings us to the second big difference: speed. Last fall, Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley created eight Cross Functional Teams to accelerate modernization by bringing together experts from across the bureaucracy, led by one- and two-star combat veterans with the clout to push things through. This spring, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis created his own high-level, high-speed team, the Close Combat Lethality Task Force, specifically to improve the infantry.
Brig. Gen. Donahue has three jobs: He sits on the Secretary’s inter-service task force, he leads the Army’s Soldier Lethality Cross Functional Team, and he commands the Infantry School at Fort Benning. Each CFT is different, he said. “Ours is definitely the most broad as far as what we have a mandate to do,” he explained: not just new equipment — his focus in today’s interview — but also training and human performance.
In another sense, however, the Soldier Lethality team is tightly focused. Unlike past programs, they are not trying to come up with General Issue gear for a million GIs. Instead, “we’re focused on the 100,000 active, National Guard, and…Reserve that actually close with the enemy,” he said: infantry, scouts, armored vehicle crews, plus some frontline specialists such as forward observers (who call in artillery and airstrikes) and medics. “We call that the close combat 100,000.”
By focusing on 100,000 soldiers out of a million-strong Army (active, reserve, and Guard), the Soldier Lethality task force cuts both the time and cost to field its innovations by about 90 percent.
Going Fast
The Cross Functional Teams just stood up in November but they’ve crammed years of work into the last five months. Donahue’s CFT quickly identified new night vision devices as low-hanging fruit and put together a formal requirement for them — a process that normally takes years — “in about five weeks,” he said. They’ve also done three “test points” with soldiers using the equipment. “Once the budget’s passed and we have the money,” he said, they can get the sights to Army troops — and potentially Marines and special operators, who are also very interested — in “six to seven months.”
While the device is called Enhanced Night Vision Goggles – Binocular (ENVG-B), it’s much more than a night sight. Yes, it combines light amplification with infrared in a dual-camera setup (hence “binocular”) that provides depth perception, a major improvement to aiming at night. But it also has an augmented reality display that Donahue considers the first step towards giving foot troops the kind of computerized Heads-Up Display (HUD) used by fighter pilots.
For example, soldiers can link the goggles to their weapon, then turn on a targeting reticle (i.e. cross-hairs), superimposed over their field of view to show exactly where their shot will land. “What we’re seeing in the initial testing is they’re shooting significantly better,” he said.
Soldiers can also link the goggles to their wireless networking device, which automatically shares tactical data across the force. Instead of looking down at a compass, map, or a handheld GPS — which takes their eyes off the target — they can see their heading superimposed on their view of the real world. The goggles can even display tactical data from the network, for example a red dot to indicate an enemy’s been spotted in a specific direction.
Donahue’s Cross Functional Team is working closely with the network CFT, led by Maj. Gen. Pete Gallagher, to get all this to work in combat. Donahue’s CFT is also working with Maj. Gen. Maria Gervais’s Synthetic Training Environment CFT on how to load training scenarios into the goggles so they allow troops to train with virtual obstacles and enemies. (It’d be a bit like a militarized version of Pokémon Go).
Overall, said Donahue, everything the squad carries will have to be compatible with an Adaptive Soldier Architecture. The goal is set of common standards that will allow the Army to field new updates quickly, rather than laboriously kludging together pieces of kit that were never designed to be compatible.
Donahue also has a Lethality Analysis Team conducting a rigorous study of every piece of equipment issued to the infantry. “If you put something onto an F-35 or an M1 tank, you know exactly what that does,” he said. “We don’t have that same data of what happens if you put something into a squad.” Donahue wants every piece of kit examined to reduce weight, reduce power demands — batteries are a major burden in the field — and to increase combat power.
That includes new weapons. The Marine Corps already replaced some of their M249 Squad Automatic Weapons (SAW) with the much lighter M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle (IAR), going from 23 pounds to nine and improving accuracy, albeit at the price of halving the rate of fire. Currently, the Marines are replacing all their M16 rifles and M4 carbines with M27. The Army is set to follow suit, albeit not necessarily with the same weapon. The service’s Next Generation Squad Weapon, originally meant to replace the M249 alone, will now also evolve into a replacement for the M4 and M16.
That second-stage weapon, the carbine replacement, will have to be significantly lighter than the M249 SAW replacement, Donahue said. (He consistently said “carbine” today, not “rifle,” which probably rules out the Marines’ M27 as too heavy). The technology to get all the desired capabilities in a lighter package is “not right there yet,” he said.
But the Army’s not looking at a long development program. Army Secretary Mark Esper recently promised the Squad Automatic Weapon replacement by 2023. As for the carbine, Donahue said, “you’ll see it a couple years after the replacement of the SAW.” (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
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21 Mar 18. South Korean KUS-FS MALE UAV continues flight trials as development draws to a conclusion. South Korea has performed further flight trials of its indigenously developed Korean Unmanned System (KUS)-FS medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), ahead of the planned conclusion of development later this year.
Images posted online on 17 March showed the UAV, serial number 001, performing unspecified trials, the details of which were not disclosed. Built by Korean Air Aerospace Division (KAL-ASD) on behalf of the Korean Agency for Defense Development (ADD), the KUS-FS made its maiden flight in 2012.
Previously known as the Medium-Altitude UAV, the KUS-FS MALE UAV is being developed for the Republic of Korea Air Force (RoKAF) and is in the same class as the US-built General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) MQ-9 Reaper UAV. Speaking to Jane’s at the recent Seoul International Aerospace and Defence Exhibition (ADEX), ADD officials noted that there has been no foreign involvement in the development of the KUS-FS, and that the physical resemblance to the GA-ASI Predator/Reaper is down to that being the optimum design for this class of UAV.
The KUS-FS is approximately 11m in length, has a 25m wingspan and is powered by a single 1,200hp engine. Jane’s has previously been told that the aircraft has a cruise speed of 169kt, a range of 1,852km, an endurance of 32 hours, and a service ceiling of 50,000 ft. The latest images showed it to be equipped with four underwing hardpoints, a chin-mounted electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor turret, satellite communications (SATCOM), and other sensors that could include a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and/or a ground-target moving indicator (GMTI). Roles earmarked for the KUS-FS include strike, communications relay, electronic warfare (EW), signals intelligence (SIGINT), as well as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). A single system will comprise three to five air vehicles, a ground control station (GCS) – capable of controlling multiple platforms – and ground support elements. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
21 Mar 18. Israeli Start-Up Unveils Transitioning UAS. Israeli startup APG has unveiled the Peres, an innovative family of UAVs, with breakthrough technology, operations, and logistics. The Peres UAV can fly horizontally and vertically, transitioning from vertical take-off to horizontal flight and from horizontal flight to vertical landing – thanks to APG’s patented feat of engineering.
The Peres can take off and land in a five-meter (16-foot) square area and is among the first systems of its kind with four engines enabling it to transition from horizontal to vertical flight. This design surpasses competing UAVs under development that are shackled by dedicated engines for each flight direction – engines that must be powered on and off – and which greatly limits payload due to their burdensome design.
APG has successfully conducted final flight tests of the Peres 2 in preparation for aviation licensing and regulatory approval. The UAS has a wingspan of more than two meters (seven feet) and a maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 93 lb. (42 kg). It has endurance of up to eight hours with a payload of 7¼ lb. (3.3 kg), a 93-mile (150 km) mission radius, and a cruising speed of 55 knots at an altitude of 8,000 feet with a service ceiling of 15,000 feet.
To date, Peres 1 and Peres 2 version UASs have been developed, ground-tested and flight-tested. The near-term plan is to design and build Peres models 3 and 4, which will weigh more than 440 lb. (200 kg) and boast flight endurance of 12 hours.
APG CEO Yair Dubester, a former CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. UAV division, said,
“We have succeeded in a field where large companies working in this sector have had difficulties. The family of UAVs that we are unveiling will ‘break the market’ because the aircraft in it allow regular flights combined with the option of moving between vertical and horizontal flights while using the same engines.” (Source: UAS VISION)
20 Mar 18. Trump to boost exports of lethal drones to more U.S. allies. President Donald Trump will soon make it easier to export some types of lethal U.S.-made drones to potentially dozens more allies and partners, according to people familiar with the plan.
Trump is expected to ease rules for such foreign sales under a long-delayed new policy on unmanned military aircraft due to be rolled out as early as this month, the first phase of a broader overhaul of arms export regulations.
U.S. drone manufacturers, facing growing competition overseas especially from Chinese and Israeli rivals who often sell under lighter restrictions, have lobbied hard for the rule changes.
The White House is expected to tout the move as part of Trump’s “Buy American” initiative to create jobs and reduce the U.S. trade deficit.
Human rights and arms control advocates, however, warn it risks fueling violence and instability in regions such as the Middle East and South Asia. An announcement of the new policy has been held up for months amid deliberations on how far to go in unleashing drones exports. That delay prompted Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to write to Trump’s national security adviser H.R. McMaster to press him to expedite the policy shift to avoid losing out on sales to certain countries, an industry source and two U.S officials said.
A key thrust of the policy will be to lower barriers to sales of smaller hunter-killer drones that carry fewer missiles and travel shorter distances than larger models such as the iconic Predator drone, the sources said. Export regulations will also be eased for surveillance drones of all sizes, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Even though Trump will stop short of completely opening up sales of top-of-the-line lethal drones, it will mark a major step toward overcoming a long-standing U.S. taboo against selling armed drones to countries other than a handful of Washington’s most trusted allies. Military drones have changed the face of modern warfare, with U.S. models in greatest demand.
Trump’s aides had initially focused mostly on devising ways to boost sales of “eye in the sky” drones used for tracking and targeting. But after a more than year-long review, they have crafted a plan that will reinterpret some rules to allow for more armed drone sales overseas.
A list of potential buyers being given fast-track treatment is expected to expand to include more NATO members, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf partners as well as treaty allies such as Japan and South Korea, the people familiar with the plan said.
Also likely to be in the favored group would be key partners such as India, Singapore and Australia as well as many of the 35 signatories to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), an international agreement that sets rules for export of missiles and related weaponry. The only sales of armed U.S. drones in recent years have been to Britain and Italy.
“We’re getting outplayed all over the world,” a U.S. official told Reuters. “Why can our competitors sell to our own allies the equipment they are clamoring to buy from us? This policy is meant to turn that around.”
A Trump administration official, responding to a request for comment on the story, said the U.S. government is seeking to “minimize the self-inflicted bureaucratic and administrative hurdles to U.S. competitiveness in the global aerospace markets.”
The official insisted, however, that any sales of armed drones would be in accordance with U.S. law and require that buyers adhere to international standards.
There was no immediate comment from the White House or Pentagon on the Mattis message to McMaster.
CHEAPER BUT STILL DEADLY
Two potential beneficiaries of the rule changes, Textron and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc, currently market smaller armed drones internationally, though U.S. regulations have apparently restrained them from securing sales so far.
Industry sources say other manufacturers are considering expanding their product lines.
The overall loosening of drone export rules would also help producers such as Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Atomics and Lockheed Martin, two industry sources said.
Company officials declined to comment ahead of the policy unveiling.
The smaller drones that meet the new export guidelines are expected to be much cheaper than high-end models such as the Predator and Reaper, both made by General Atomics, which cost up to $17m apiece according to reports.
While they are less destructive than the larger drones, their firepower can destroy vehicles, small structures and armed positions.
U.S. officials contend that a more export-friendly approach will not only help meet Trump’s 2016 campaign promise to bolster America’s “defense industrial base” but also get foreign partners to take on more of their own defense costs.
An increase in drones sales “could put these weapons in the hands of governments that act irresponsibly with their neighbors and against their own populations,” warned Jeff Abramson, a senior fellow with the Arms Control Association, a non-partisan Washington-based organization focused on global weapons proliferation threats.
Trump’s predecessor, President Barack Obama, introduced revised rules in 2015 aimed at increasing military drone exports. But U.S. manufacturers complained they were still too restrictive. U.S. drone makers are vying for a larger share of the global military drone market, which the Teal Group, a market research firm, has forecast will rise from $2.8bn in sales in 2016 to $9.4bn in 2025.
The new policy is expected to be unveiled in coming weeks, people close to the matter said, though they also cautioned that the exact timing remains in flux.
Among the changes will be a more lenient application by the U.S. government of an arms export principle known as “presumption of denial.” This has impeded many drone deals by automatically denying approval unless a compelling security reason is given together with strict buyer agreements to use the weapons in accordance with international law.
One U.S. official said the new policy would “change our calculus” by easing those restrictions on whether to allow any given sale.
The MTCR – a 1987 missile-control pact signed by the United States and 34 other countries – will still require strict export controls on Predator-type drones, which it classifies as Category 1, those with a payload of over 1,100 pounds (500 kg).
However, the Trump administration is seeking to renegotiate the MTCR accord to eventually make it easier to export the larger armed drones.
(Source: Reuters)
20 Mar 18. Russia is Testing a Powerful New Unmanned Helicopter. Russia has started tests of a new unmanned helicopter that can perform both reconnaissance and combat functions for use by the Russian army in Syria and other hot zones, according to Rostec, one of Russia’s largest state and defense corporations (and the designer of the new model).
Representatives of the Russian Defense Ministry have confirmed those plans for the new helicopter as well.
Production of the new helicopter will be carried out at the capacities of Russian Helicopters. The new machine is built on a co-axial scheme and has a take-off weight of up to 500 kg (1,102 pounds). It is equipped with a diesel engine.
So far, production of two prototypes of the helicopter have been completed. Both models are currently undergoing testing, which is conducted in the training area of Russia’s Design Bureau of Industrial Automation in the Saratov region.
Anatoly Serdyukov, a former Russian defense minister and head of Rostec’s aviation cluster, believes the new unmanned helicopter is unrivaled in capability.
“Such a helicopter can carry heavy monitoring systems and certain weapons on its board, which could not be lifted by the majority of similar models of unmanned helicopters, including those built by our Western competitors. The scope of the new machine is very wide. It has good prospects both in the military and civilian markets,” said Serdyukov.
The new helicopter was designed by the experts of the Kumertau Aircraft Production Enterprise, a Russian Helicopters design and engineering subsidiary. Engineers from Almaz-Antey Corp., a leading developer of anti-aircraft defense systems in Russia, also contributed to the design.
According to designers, the new helicopter has a fundamentally new transmission design compared to its predecessors and is capable of reaching speeds up to 200 kph on flights lasting up to five hours.
Operation of the helicopter is carried out by an autonomous ground station, which is installed on a Russian Kamaz truck.
The new helicopter has the ability to perform tasks in accordance with a predetermined program. That involves preliminary assignment of coordinates and details of a planned route that takes place through the entering of a starting point, intermediate points of a planned flight and a landing site. After that, it is able to operate independently, making a route to the determined destination.
The new helicopter is able to track moving and fixed targets. It can provide assistance to artillery tactical units for the detection of missile systems, ammunition depots, tanks, mechanized enemy groups and other similar targets that could be an object of attack.
It is able to track at least 50 ground targets simultaneously, transferring data to control points. Maximum operating altitude is 11,500 feet.
According to its designers, the new unmanned helicopter can be operated at temperatures ranging from below 30 to 50 deg C. It mostly comprises Russian-made components and was designed using open-architecture principles.
The helicopter also has the ability to adjust fire and target designation for weapons and to map hard-to-reach areas in an effort to search for missing ships or people in a natural disaster, for example.
As for its technical equipment, the monitoring complex of the new helicopter is equipped with an automatic piloting system, which was specially designed by Russian engineers for unmanned aerial vehicles. A distinctive feature of this system, according to designers, is its built-in micromechanical inertial navigation system, which has thermal compensation and vibration isolation. This system conducts pre-flight and continuous in-flight self-diagnostics of the main sensors. The armament of the new helicopter includes unguided aircraft missiles and high-explosive fragmentation and cumulative mini-bombs.
Andrey Boginsky, head of Russian Helicopters, also believes the new helicopter can be used for civilian purposes.
“There is a test program, and we see a great interest for the new model from some oil and gas companies, as well as ocean lines, including those that plan to use the Northern Sea Route, for the delivery of their cargo from Asia Pacific to Europe,” said Boginsky. “The new helicopter can be useful for ice exploration of the Northern Sea Route and other similar routes that pass through the Arctic region. We see a great demand for it already, so we hope that a [civilian] series production of the new model will be started during the next 1 to 1.5 years.”
In the meantime, leading Russian and foreign experts in the field of helicopter engineering and manufacturing believe Russia has chosen a right time for the design and production of such a helicopter.
Vladimir Stepanichev, a retired colonel of the Soviet army and a Russian expert in the field of military aviation, believes the design of unmanned helicopters is a new direction in the field of unmanned aviation both in Russia and the West, where OEMs have been actively developing them over the past decade.
He said the unmanned vertical-take-off-and-landing systems lagged behind the development of fixed-wing unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) because of their greater technical complexity. Stepanichev added this complexity is especially obvious in the design of automatic control systems.
“Experimental design works during the development of an unmanned aircraft costs about $10m to $15m, depending on its mass as well as its tactical and technical characteristics. At the same time, the development of a helicopter-type UAS is at least 30% more costly than that,” said Stepanichev.
According to some leading Russian experts in the field of helicopter engineering, the biggest problem during the design of an unmanned helicopter is mainly related to the design of its reliable automatic control system, as well as algorithms for its functioning.
A spokesman for Sergey Shoigu, Russia’s Minister of Defense, said Shoigu believes the new unmanned helicopter can be considered one of the best in its class.
Shoigu’s spokesman noted how the Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout and the VSR700 has probably become among the most high-profile unmanned helicopters produced.
He added that most unmanned helicopters, which have been shown at various events and expos, significantly lagged behind Fire Scout in terms of mass dimensions and other technical characteristics. (Source: UAS VISION/Rotor & Wing Intermational)
15 Mar 18. DOD tests drone ‘hive’ for rapid resupply. Marine Reserves Maj. Christopher Thobaben came up with the idea for an automated system for delivering supplies to troops. He sent a basic sketch to a friend who told him to make it official.
“I was very critical of Marine Corps logistics and our innovation since World War II,” Thobaben said. For more than a half-century, he argued, “we basically just made the horse faster.”
Thobaben’s idea for moving supply delivery to drones was demonstrated March 14 at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Va. The Hive Final Mile project consists of a mobile application for placing orders to drones, an automated drone launcher (the Hive), software for determining what drone to fly and managing flight paths, and a cloud storage component for keeping track of all the flights and orders.
Everything starts with an Android tablet.
Kyle Aron, an engineer with Soar Technology, helped build a plugin for the Android Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK), a mapping application originally developed by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Air Force Research Laboratory. Users place orders via the app for ammunition, a tourniquet, water or any other available item that can be delivered by drone. They then specify the drop-off location and other variables.
ATAK sends the request to Sentien Robotics’ Shepherd software, which automates parts of the process. First, it automatically decides what kind of drone it needs to send — do the troops need an eye in the sky? It’ll send one outfitted with a camera. Do medics need an order of insulin? Shepherd send a drone that delivers medical supplies. For the Hive Final Mile demonstration, the transmissions were sent over Wi-Fi using repeaters to help the signal make it across the field, but Sentien Robotics CEO Brandon Borko said the communications method can be adapted to whatever connectivity is available.
Shepherd also automates the process for deconflicting flights, ensuring drones don’t run into one another in the air.
“We developed a piece of software [Shepherd] that does deconfliction for all the vehicles and allows us to take mission-level requests and do all the automation required to make that mission happen,” said Christopher Vo, Sentien Robotics’ chief scientist.
Shepherd can be uploaded onto a wide range of hardware, but for the Quantico demonstration it was running on the Hive, which is a small white trailer that looks like a small generator parked at a construction site. The Hive can store 18 hobbyist-sized drones on shelves inside, launch them automatically and charge them upon their return. A robotic process brings the selected drone to a launching platform where it will eventually take flight.
Shepherd then sends all of the flight information to a Salesforce government cloud environment through an application programming interface. The Salesforce dashboard shows information on every flight that has been queued, every flight that has been completed and specific details for each one. Users can see flight times, what was ordered, locations, order numbers and other information, according to Mark Bailey, a senior test engineer with Scientific Research Corporation.
Salesforce does not currently transmit data to Shepherd, but Bailey said that capability, which would allow users to see what inventory is available within ATAK, will be added in the future.
Salesforce’s dashboarding capabilities allow users to create simple bar graphs or pie charts for different metrics, and SRC and Salesforce have been experimenting with different reporting processing for this project, Bailey said.
The eventual goal is to scale the technology to be able to work with thousands of drones, Thobaben said. Right now it’s working with dozens, but he said he expects to reach a larger scale in a little over a year.
“As we scale up, there’s going to be bottlenecks along the way,” Borko warned.
Currently, one of those pain points is loading the payload. Right now if a drone is to deliver ammunition, that ordnance must be attached to the drone by hand. But Borko and Thobaben envision an environment where no human is involved in the process, except for ordering.
Additionally, as hundreds and then thousands of drones are added to a network, bandwidth will become an issue, Borko said. Network capacity will be addressed by offloading navigational processing from Shepherd and doing more of it onboard the drone with collision avoidance systems.
Cybersecurity is also a concern for projects that involve autonomous systems and large amounts of data stored in a cloud environment — not to mention the delivery of both valuable and potentially deadly supplies.
“Anything that operates on the ‘interwebs’ of the world is going to be vulnerable,” Thobaben said.
The Salesforce environment is compliant with the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program up to Level 4, and none of the data is stored outside the United States, Bailey said.
The security of the drone management system is something industry is currently focused on and that Sentien Robotics, specifically, plans to keep an eye on, Borko told GCN.
“Cybersecurity is a big concern for these platforms because you don’t want to have [drones] in the air and who controls them get changed to someone else,” he said. “We’re going to incorporate the technologies as they come out.”
The Hive Final Mile project is a joint logistics initiative that involves both the Marine Corps Next Generation Logistics branch and the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Rapid Reaction Technology Office. (Source: Defense Systems)
16 Mar 18. USN awards contract for unmanned tech prototype. Alion Science and Technology has received a potential five-year, $73m contract to help the Navy develop, integrate and test prototype technologies for use on unmanned platforms and weapons. McLean, Virginia-based Alion was the lone bidder for the contract with an initial base year worth $13m, the Defense Department said in its Thursday contracts digest. The Navy sought Alion’s help to build prototype tools for current and future unmanned vehicles, weapons and weapons control systems. Missions within the scope of the contract include:
- Mine warfare
- Amphibious warfare
- Surface warfare
- Diving and life support
- Coastal and underwater intelligence
- Surveillance and reconnaissance
- Littoral and riverine environments
(Source: Defense Systems)
17 Mar 18. Updated US drone export policy could come within weeks. The U.S. State Department’s updated drone export policy could be out as quickly as the next month, a top department official said Friday.
Asked about the timetable for the new guidance on how unmanned systems are sold abroad, Michael Miller, acting deputy assistant secretary with the bureau of political military affairs, said: “Could be a week, could be a month.”
Miller acknowledged he had expected the new drone policy “was going to be sooner,” but pledged it would likely be “soon” that the unclassified version of the guidance would be released.
“I’m not being cagey for the sake of it — I honestly don’t know. But we have been working on something to amend the current policy,” he told Defense News after an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “I don’t have a date.”
Defense News first reported in August that the Trump administration was taking a look at rules governing unmanned system exports, put in place in 2015, with an eye on making it easier to sell the systems to partners abroad. At the time, sources believed changes could come as early as September.
Producers of unmanned systems in the U.S. have argued for years that they are handicapped on the global marketplace by restrictions that other drone exporters, most notably China and Israel, are not, and the Trump administration has made increased weapon sales abroad part of its plan for economic growth.
Shifting that 2015 guidance to make it easier for industry to sell abroad is a relatively easy change, but another, larger change is also being sought by the Trump administration. In December, Defense News broke that the administration was also seeking a change for the Missile Technology Control Regime, an agreement among 35 nations that governs the export of missiles and unmanned systems.
Under the terms of the MTCR, any “category-1” system capable of carrying 500-kilogram payloads for more than 300 kilometers is subject to a “strong presumption of denial.” The administration is seeking to change rules so that an air vehicle that flies at a speed of less than 650 kph would drop to “category-2” and thus be subject to approval on a case-by-case basis. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
19 Mar 18. US Transfers New Scan Eagle to Philippine Air Force. U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim turned over a Scan Eagle Unmanned Aerial System to Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana during a transfer ceremony at Villamor Air Base, Pasay City on March 13.
Ambassador Kim and officials from the Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group delivered this PhP 687m ($13.2m) system (which includes six unmanned aerial vehicles) to the Philippine Air Force through the Foreign Military Financing grant program in order to increase the Philippine military’s maritime domain awareness, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) and counterterrorism capabilities.
The Scan Eagle UAS will provide unmanned intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities to the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) 300 Air Intelligence and Security Wing (AISW), who will operate the aircraft out of Antonio Bautista Air Base, Palawan. 300 AISW is the AFP’s leading unit for air ISR operations.
“The transfer of the Scan Eagle to the ‘unmanned’ ISR group and the transfer of the two Cessna- 208Bs in July 2017 to the ‘manned’ ISR group represent our strong commitment to enhance the capabilities of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” Kim said during the ceremony.
The United States, as a longstanding ally of the Philippines, continues to provide support to the AFP through both grant assistance and expedited sales of arms and munitions to assist both long-term AFP modernization goals and urgent counter-terrorism and HADR requirements. (Source: UAS VISION)
20 Mar 18. Kratos High Performance Tactical UASs Approved for International Marketing by US State Department. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq:KTOS), a leading National Security Solutions provider, announced today that it has received U.S. State Department approval to market its Mako High Performance Jet Tactical Unmanned Aerial System to certain European and Asia Pacific region countries. Kratos Mako provides fighter-like performance and is designed to function as a wingman to manned aircraft as a force multiplier in contested airspace, or be deployed independently or in groups of UAS. The Mako is a highly maneuverable unmanned aircraft, capable of carrying and operating weapons and advanced sensor systems, which has flown in multiple large-scale military exercises and could soon be put into production for combat use.
Kratos works with most of these recently State Department approved nations on other programs, contracts, systems and products across the corporation, including certain existing Kratos High Performance Unmanned Aerial Target Drone customers. Kratos is recognized as being the industry leader in high-performance, low-cost jet aerial target systems that support the U.S. military and foreign ally military customers/users, with its primary customers including the United States Air Force, Navy, and Army. Kratos is also currently under contract on multiple high performance jet powered tactical unmanned aerial drone systems. Kratos is an industry leader in the rapid development, demonstration, and fielding of technology leading systems and products for National Security at an affordable cost. Due to competitive and other considerations, no additional information will be provided.
Steve Fendley, Unmanned Systems Division President of Kratos, said, “This approval represents another important step in our roadmap of being the global leader of high performance jet unmanned aerial drone systems. These U.S. ally and partner nations represent a key part of our existing, new, and evolving customer base and are a critical element in enabling Kratos to maintain its economy of scale related cost advantage for the Tactical UAS that we routinely achieve with our unmanned aerial target systems. Kratos has experienced significant growth over the past few years, we are forecasting this growth to continue in 2018, and this approval for Kratos to market Kratos tactical UAS internationally positions us for continued and potentially even stronger growth in future years.” (Source: ASD Network)
16 Mar 18. Is Boeing working on a second MQ-25 drone prototype. Boeing is confident it can win the Navy’s MQ-25 carrier-based tanker drone competition. In fact, it’s so bullish that it may already be on a path to building a second prototype.
During a March 6 visit to St. Louis, Defense News got to be the first media outlet to see the company’s MQ-25 offering up close and personal.
Asked if Boeing Phantom Works was working on a second MQ-25 prototype after having revealed the first one in December, its program director Don “BD” Gaddis and capture lead Dave Thieman laughed and pointedly steered the conversation in a different direction.
But another source indicated that another MQ-25 prototype could be revealed in short order.
It wouldn’t be the first time that Boeing has poured its investment dollars into creating not only one, but two test versions of an aircraft while a competition still rages on. In 2016, the company rolled out its T-X trainer jet in a glitzy ceremony, and then 15 minutes later took reporters to a nearby hanger to reveal a second aircraft going through tests.
If a second Boeing MQ-25 exists, it’s evidence of how badly the company wants to win the competition, which has been narrowed down to three vendors — Boeing, General Atomics and Lockheed Martin — after Northrop Grumman dropped out last year.
“This is a high-priority program,” said Phil Finnegan, a unmanned system analyst at the Teal Group. “They’re really intent on strengthening their position in unmanned systems.”
Boeing has poured its own money into maturing its carrier-based drone concept and is the first of the three vendors to make its MQ-25 air vehicle public.
Its Phantom Works division conducted the initial design review for what became its MQ-25 prototype in October 2012, back when the U.S. Navy was still pursuing an unmanned aircraft that could fly on and off the carrier to conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance as well as strike missions, under a program called Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike, or UCLASS, Gaddis said.
The company quietly rolled out the prototype within the company in November 2014, just a month before the Navy announced it was pausing the UCLASS program.
“You can imagine how upset we were,” laughed Thieman.
Then, in 2016, the Navy killed UCLASS and began a new carrier drone program called Carrier-Based Aerial-Refueling System, or CBARS, which later became the MQ-25. Instead of an ISR and strike mission, the MQ-25 would act as an autonomous, unmanned tanker and relieve F/A-18E/F Super Hornets from refueling duties that take away from the fighters’ core mission set.
But Boeing found that its UCLASS design was already a good fit for the tanking mission. Unlike Northrop, which invested heavily in a stealthy, flying-wing design aimed at a precision-strike mission, Boeing opted for a wing-body-tail air vehicle with limited low-observable features and a large payload bay.
“One of the things that people should be reminded of is that in UCLASS, tanking was one of the missions for UCLASS, and the company designed the airplane around that mission area as well as all of the other UCLASS mission areas,” Gaddis said. “So the other UCLASS missions are gone, but the tanking still remains, and we feel that this aircraft is right in the wheelhouse of that tanking requirement.”
Externally, Boeing’s MQ-25 prototype, also known as T1, is still the same as its UCLASS design. However, the company had to do significant rework on the mission systems side as the requirement shifted from surveillance to refueling.
“There will be some touches in the airplanes between T1 and [the first engineering and manufacturing development, or EMD, aircraft], but not many. The biggest change are in the mission systems,” Gaddis said. “The UCLASS requirements are quite different than the MQ-25 requirements for mission systems. And so when you go from big ISR to little ISR, that’s really the biggest change for MQ-25.”
Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy captain and defense analyst at the Center for a New American Security, said Boeing’s prototype shows its UCLASS origins, with a large, robust fuselage “boat” that could carry fuel or — as originally developed — advanced sensor systems and ordnance.
“One area of concern, however, is the thin wing design, which is clearly influenced by the previous high-altitude ISR mission,” he said.
“I would expect, as the MQ-25 mission tanker program goes forward, that this prototype would evolve the wings to make them wider from their front leading edge to back and also thicker. This would make the platform more robust for sustained tanking missions as well as add additional fuel capacity to the design.”
As The Drive has noted, Boeing’s design features a flush dorsal jet intake that supplies air to the engine, which as of yet has not been specified by the company. According to Gaddis, the company’s MQ-25 stores its fuel in tanks surrounding the engine, and the inner section of its fold-up wings are “wet,” meaning the fuel moves freely within that part of the wing.
According to the Navy’s requirements, the MQ-25 must be able to deliver 14,000 pounds of fuel at distances of 500 nautical miles from an aircraft carrier.
Gaddis said Boeing’s design meets that requirement with margin to spare, telling Defense News that it “carries a ton of gas.” But with a competition still ongoing, he declined to detail exactly how much the air vehicle can carry.
The Navy will decide the MQ-25 competition in August, choosing a single vendor and awarding a contract for the four EMD aircraft, with an option for three more test assets.
In its fiscal 2019 budget request, the Navy announced that it would begin production in FY23 with a procurement of four drones, ahead of an initial operational capability in FY26. It plans to buy 72 aircraft over the course of the program.
Boeing should be ready for the first flight of its MQ-25 shortly after the Navy makes its downselect decision in August, but it still has a lot of work to do before then, Gaddis said.
Besides moving its prototype through the standard testing process that all aircraft go through before first flight, it also needs to finish its statement of work. Boeing — like the other competitors — was awarded a contract to refine its MQ-25 concept, which includes activities such as software integration and improving its open-systems architecture.
It also includes providing data about how to handle the drone aboard the deck of an aircraft carrier, which Boeing is demonstrating through a series of drills in St. Louis, Missouri. The company mapped out the deck of an aircraft carrier on the tarmac at Lambert Field, and Boeing employees have practiced how to safely and efficiently move its MQ-25 around the ship by taxiing it around, tested the arresting gear and hooking it into a catapult. (Source: Defense News)
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22 Mar 18. Congress has some questions about DoD’s multibillion cloud program. Lawmakers used a new spending bill introduced March 21 to raise concerns about the Department of Defense’s current approach to buying new cloud computing services through a single multibillion dollar contract.
Congress wants the secretary of Defense to provide two reports on the DoD’s cloud acquisition program, known as Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI), to justify the program’s contract format, duration, and cost.
The JEDI program has been controversial almost since it was announced because it aims to transform the Pentagon’s IT system through a single, multibillion-dollar 10-year award rather than awarding several companies work on the program. Many industry leaders argue that the broad scope of the single contract leaves only a handful of companies capable of meeting the requirements. Lawmakers shared those worries.
“There are concerns about the proposed duration of a single contract, questions about the best value for the taxpayer, and how to ensure the highest security is maintained,” reads the draft of Congress’ omnibus appropriations bill.
Pentagon officials have stressed that a single-award contract is the most effective and secure way to transition Defense Department data to the cloud.
“We believe that a multiple-award cloud would exponentially increase the overall complexity,” Tim Van Name, deputy director of the Defense Digital Service, said at a March 7 JEDI cloud industry day. “The systems in different clouds, even when designed to work together, require complex integration, which raises the bar for the development, testing and ongoing maintenance.”
The first of the two reports Congress requested would require Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to submit a justification of the recent solicitation for cloud services issued under the JEDI program. Specifically, lawmakers are asking for confirmation that all of the relevant defense experts and agencies were consulted in the drafting of the formal document.
The second report would explain the Pentagon’s decision to execute a single cloud-servicing contract “rather than creating an infrastructure capable of storing and sharing data across multiple cloud computing service providers concurrently.”
Defense Department officials have said they hope to have the final solicitation for the contract posted in May with a contract award date expected in September. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
22 Mar 18. DARPA to demonstrate CFAR for legacy software in 2019. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA’s) effort to enable rapid detection of and recovery from cyber attacks against legacy software will begin demonstrations in 2019. DARPA will demonstrate an integrated Cyber Fault-tolerant Attack Recovery (CFAR) system that protects against a wide range of threats in an operational environment early next year. The programme has been developing novel architectures to achieve cyber fault-tolerance with commodity computing technologies. There is a lot of concern about the resilience of legacy systems against cyber attacks, Jacob Torrey, programme manager for DARPA’s CFAR, told Jane’s.
“What the CFAR programme really tries to do is provide very broad spectrum defensive capabilities to already-fielded legacy software packages, either from source or binary [code],” Torrey said. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
20 Mar 18. Visualization tools could be the future of electronic warfare. The electromagnetic spectrum environment has become increasingly complex in recent years. Electronic warfare and the jamming of radio signals was a large concern reaching back to the Cold War, and a proliferation of emitters, jammers and overall devices in the past few decades has made understanding and planning effects an even more difficult task for operators and commanders.
For that reason, some believe the future of electronic warfare will require the development of visualization tools that conceptualize the non-physical effects in the electromagnetic spectrum.
“We’re seeing and hearing about cases where some folks are turning back and turning away prematurely because they just don’t have confidence in the systems on their jet, for instance,” Travis Slocumb, vice president, electronic warfare systems at Raytheon, told C4ISRNET in an interview. “They don’t understand them adequately and the world of EW is not kinetic. You can’t see what’s happening.”
These complications have led some to pursue depicting the electromagnetic spectrum as a maneuver space akin to the physical domain. However, given the variety of frequencies being used by systems and emitters, the fight to dominate the electromagnetic spectrum and enable operations in the physical world is no longer platform versus platform, solution versus solution, or a situation where a one-size-fits-all tool that can be used.
“There’s no single platform capability that can go create the effect we need and the kind of threat laydown environments that we anticipate seeing,” Slocumb said. “The only way you’re going to be able to get the effects we want is to have some level of collaboration between all the assets in theater, not just a couple of [EA-18G] Growlers.”
For example, the Navy is modernizing its legacy jammer, the ALQ/99, to what is being termed the Next-Gen Jammer (to be mounted on EA-18G Growlers), but the final product will result in not one but three jamming pods covering low, mid and high frequencies.
Rick Diamond, senior manager of electronic warfare business development at Lockheed Martin, told reporters in November that while Growlers could fly with all three pods, typically what will happen is there will be several aircraft flying with different configurations addressing different missions, so as not to load down the aircraft too much.
However, in order to figure out and understand how to execute the maneuver and concepts, command-and-control and real-time decision aides of these different platforms, a visualization tool that can plan and manage will be foundational, Slocumb said.
Raytheon is currently on contract with the Army for a ground-based solution called the Electronic Warfare Planning and Management Tool (EWPMT) that provides spectrum management and can even plot courses of action for commanders.
“You have to start with being able to at least set up a plan for the day, you ingest data overnight, you know where the threat assets are, you know the effect you want to make happen, you lay it out, you plan it, then you manage it,” Slocumb said.
“The management part is where it gets interesting … by definition in any operation things are going to change. EW is all about counter-countermeasures and call and response. There are things that are going to happen you didn’t anticipate, how do you manage through that?”
He noted that the real challenge, after the initial planning and resourcing of assets for certain threats, is adapting to an environment that is capable of rapid change minute to minute.
“That’s where the EW community needs to go … everybody I talk to who’s thinking about this problem will tell you the exact same thing,” Slocumb said of a planning and management solution.
(Source: C4ISR & Networks)
20 Mar 18. Here’s how Army soldiers in Europe are doing mobile electronic warfare. The Russian electronic warfare threat in Europe has caused the U.S. military and its foreign partners to scramble to reevaluate their capabilities and force postures. Some leaders have even asserted the U.S. is “outgunned” when it comes to electronic warfare.
Army soldiers in Europe, as a result, require additional capabilities. For the first time, details regarding soldiers needs — such as the ability to be mobile and operate disconnected from a network, which the current capability and program does not include — are coming to light.
The foundational capability found in the current Electronic Warfare Planning and Management Tool (EWPMT) — a command-and-control planning suite with incremental capabilities added over time in software drops — enabled planning and visualization of the electromagnetic spectrum environment.
This was important as forces struggled in Afghanistan to defeat remotely controlled roadside improvised explosive devices. The offensive jammers used to disable the IED threat were so powerful they also jammed friendly communications. EWPMT’s foundational capability sought to mitigate these types of challenges soldiers encountered in Afghanistan. However, the tools required an expansion to address the different set of challenges faced by soldiers in Europe.
Enter Raven Claw 1, added to EWPMT ahead of the next capability phase (due in 2020). Raven Claw 1 enables soldiers to conduct electronic warfare planning and management on the move and without network connection, getting at a critical need for troops in Europe, who are rarely tethered to a static command post.
“The primary thing was making it portable and able to operate in a mobile environment.” Karen Steinfeld, director of capture management excellence tactical electronic warfare at Raytheon (the contractor for EWPMT), told C4ISRNET in an interview.
This way, if soldiers lose connectivity, they’ll have the last known good bit of data about what is going on and the ability to plan and manage around that, Travis Slocumb, vice president, electronic warfare systems at Raytheon, told C4ISRNET.
“Let’s say five minutes later you have connectivity for 30 seconds. Boom — you ingest the latest update and at least it’s better than not having an ability to see and plan and manage what you know,” he said. “It’s a laptop-based capability so it’s on the move, it’s mobile. You’re not sitting in a [tactical operational center] having to communicate out to the outer edge of operations … it’s on the edge.”
Feeding back into the program
Steinfeld made sure to stress that Raven Claw 1 is part of EWPMT. She said it infuses capability on top of the current program trajectory that can be evaluated in action by the program office and eventually incorporated writ large for all units. However, larger, more universal upgrades based on feedback from the European deployment must be made first.
“To think of them as separate is really not accurate. Raven Claw 1 was a rapid response capability that we were able to do because of our investment in certain EW technologies and the fact that we have this open architecture,” she said. “An important thing to understand is that really Raven Claw builds upon the success in [capability drop] 2.”
EWPMT has four capability drops planned, with Raytheon having completed CD1 and CD2. The Army isn’t projected to make a fielding decision on EWPMT drop 3 until 2020.
In the meantime, Army officials have highlighted the Army’s response to the Europe operational need by fielding Raven Claw as an example of how new capabilities can be infused into existing programs outside of program schedules to adapt to evolving threats.
Steinfeld noted that Raytheon was able to develop Raven Claw 1 in six months, deliver it to the customer for initial testing and see it go to the field in just 13 months.
Slocumb noted that the lessons from Raven Claw 1 can inform future EWPMT iterations, explaining, “CD3 will not be a pure requirements-driven engineering exercise. It’s going to also take into account what we’re learning with this deployment. That’s where the value is in doing this.”
He said Raytheon will continue to work with the Army tweaking the solution and will have more concrete insights on Raven Claw 1’s success in a few months. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
19 Mar 18. DARPA wants to connect human brains and machines. As unmanned platforms, cyber systems and human-machine partnering become more prevalent in 21st century war fighting, the effectiveness of combat units will be determined by how quickly information can be processed and transmitted between air-breathers and machines. To achieve the high levels of brain-system communication that will be required on future battlefields, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has launched a new program to develop a noninvasive neural interface that will connect soldiers with technology.
The goal of the Next-Generation Nonsurgical Neurotechnology (N³) program is to “pursue a path to a safe, portable neural interface system capable of reading from and writing to multiple points in the brain at once,” according to Dr. Al Emondi, a program manager in DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office.
“We’re asking multidisciplinary teams of researchers to construct approaches that enable precise interaction with very small areas of the brain, without sacrificing signal resolution or introducing unacceptable latency into the N3 system.”
Although technologies that allow for high-quality brain system communications exist today, these invasive techniques are not a practical solution for ubiquitous man-machine communication.
Before soldiers can communicate with their R2-D2 units, DARPA scientists must overcome several significant scientific and engineering challenges.
The most significant challenge, according to a DARPA press release, will be overcoming the physics of scattering and weakening of signals as they pass through skin, skull and brain tissue. If this initial challenge is surmounted, the focus of the program will shift to developing algorithms for encoding and decoding neural signals, evaluating system safety through animal testing and ultimately asking human volunteers to test the technology.
While communication neurotechnology has a stronger foothold in science fiction than reality, Emondi believes devoting resources to the enterprise will spur breakthroughs. “Smart systems will significantly impact how our troops operate in the future, and now is the time to be thinking about what human-machine teaming will actually look like and how it might be accomplished,” he said.
“If we put the best scientists on this problem, we will disrupt current neural interface approaches and open the door to practical, high-performance interfaces.”
DARPA wants the four-year project to conclude with a demonstration of a bidirectional system being used to interface human-machine interactions with unmanned platforms, active cyber defense systems or other Department of Defense equipment.
Recognizing the potentially wide ethical, legal and social implications of such neurotechnology, DARPA is also asking independent legal and ethical experts to advise the program as N³ technologies mature. (Source: Defense News)
19 Mar 18. DARPA kicks off CASE cyber resiliency programme. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently kicked off its Cyber Assured Systems Engineering (CASE) programme, with the aim of building cyber resiliency into defence programmes at a systems level.
CASE was announced by DARPA last year. It will investigate how cyber-security techniques can be applied in a broad, scalable fashion, making cyber resiliency a ‘non-functional property’ at the system level. Cyber would be an essential component of any defence system’s design right from the outset, no matter what role is intended for the system. The idea is to design new engineering workflows and tools to assist in the design of systems, ensuring cyber resiliency plays a key role in each stage of the process. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
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UNITED KINGDOM AND NATO
19 Mar 18. Submarine Main Controls & Equipments – Spares & Repairs
B2B Quote Ref no: B2B609398
Location: East England
Register Interest Deadline: Monday, April 16, 2018
Submit Documents Deadline: Monday, April 16, 2018
Carry out the supply of spares and repairs to submarine control systems.
(Source: B2B.com)
19 Mar 18. Spares & Repairs for Submarine Equipment
B2B Quote Ref no: B2B609399
Location: East England
Register Interest Deadline: Monday, April 16, 2018
Submit Documents Deadline: Monday, April 16, 2018
Provision of spares and repairs of submarine equipment.
(Source: B2B.com)
EUROPE
21 Mar 18. Calls to Suspend Belgian Fighter Tender After Upgrade Option Is Revealed. The future of Belgium’s competition to select a new fighter aircraft is uncertain today, after the government was accused yesterday of hiding from Parliament that a cheaper upgrade option was available, and of misleading Parliament by wrongly claiming an urgent purchase was required. The Belgian government has always maintained that a service life extension was not feasible, and that the F-16s would have to be retired beginning in 2023, to explain its decision to launch a €3.6bn competition to replace the F-16s.
However, several Belgian newspapers — La Libre, la Dernière Heure et De Standaard — on Tuesday morning reported that Lockheed Martin on April 26, 2016 had submitted a study to the Belgian air force stating that “the average aircraft can fly for over 8,000 hours. (….) On average, the aircraft can remain in service for six additional years.”
The air force kept this option under wraps and did not tell the government it existed, Defense Minister Steven Vandeput said Tuesday. He said “the managers of the F-16 fleet made a serious error of judgement,” and denied any knowledge of the upgrade option. According to La Libre, a second Lockheed report, dated Feb. 12, 2018, updates the previous one, but “adds to the confusion by saying that, theoretically, the extension could be of up to 27 years.”
No urgency for F-16 replacement
Any talk of an extension program is however ruled out by the minister, who according to La Libre told the lower house’s defense committee on Tuesday afternoon that, before deciding to buy a new fighter, the government had studied all possible scenarios allowing it to maintain the required operational capabilities.
But the two Lockheed studies reveal that there is no urgency to replace the F-16s, and that Belgium can wait until 2029 — and not 2023, as claimed by the government — to begin to retire them. According to the newspapers, extending their service life would cost about €1bn, or about one-quarter of the cost of buying new fighters.
Having examined both documents, Defense-Aerospace.com can add that, with a simple “Soft SLEP” upgrade, 20 of Belgium’s F-16s could remain in service until 2035, although one of the studies mentions a possible life extension of 27 years.
In fact, the first report states unequivocally that “When evaluating the force structure projection based on a goal of 8,000 Equivalent Flight Hours, on average, the Belgian Air Force Block 15 fleet can remain in service for an additional 27 years, with the first aircraft projected to attain 8,000 EFH in 2037” providing each aircraft is “equipped with a flight recorder and the IAT system must be compliant with AN-SB-09-001.”
Political parties call for stopping the competition
In an Opinion piece published this morning by Le Vif, former Belgian defense minister André Flahaut said that “since last July, I have been wondering whether our country should replace part or all of its F-16 fighters. In addition to the financial cost, which could durably unbalance defense spending, this replacement begs the question: Do we really need it?”
The newspapers added that Lockheed’s study had been seen by two political parties, the French-speaking Socialist Party and the “sp.a,” the Flemish Socialist party. John Crombez, sp.a’s president, said in an interview that the competition “was manipulated.”
“I don’t know if the minister has read the report……but he should have known about it. Vandeput told Parliament two things that are not true”, Crombez continued: that the F-16s need to be replaced urgently, and that no study existed about a life extension program.
The Walloon Socialist party says the SLEP would cost about €1bn, and its leader in the House, Ahmed Laaouej, said that given Belgium’s “problematic” financial circumstances, “the colossal cost of the F-16 replacement” is a tricky issue. Nominally, the replacement budget is €3.6bn, but when all the other program costs are added the bill “increases to €15bn over 40 years.”
Lockheed hired minister’s deputy chief of staff
As the issue unfolds, more information is surfacing. La Libre, for example, reported Tuesday night that last year Lockheed had approached Vandeput’s deputy chief of staff, Simon Put, to offer him a job. When he found this out, Vandeput fired Put, as he was afraid of that public perceptions of such talks. Put, according to La Libre, is now employed by Lockheed, and apparently the company’s conduct in this respect has not raised any eyebrows.
In a round of interviews later Tuesday morning, and in urgent testimony before Parliament’s defense committee in the early afternoon, Vandeput repeatedly stated that he knew nothing of the Lockheed study until it was reported on Tuesday morning, and that the Chief of the Defense Staff had likewise not been informed.
However, he maintained that he saw no reason to cancel the competition, although the government should take this development into account if it was confirmed.
Vandeput tweets his position
Vandeput’s spokeswoman, Laurence Mortier, stated the minister’s position in four tweets posted during his appearance before the defense committee. (The tweets were posted in Dutch, and translated by Bing)
— I had no knowledge of the report quoted by the CAO until I got it in my mailbox this morning. I have never deliberately withheld information, neither for the Government nor for Parliament, says minister @svandeput in the Defence Committee
— Minister @svandeput: Study Lockheed-Martin teaches us that apparently not every flight hour F-16 counts for an hour. The effective use of each individual aircraft determines how quickly it wears out. Some aircraft thus wear out faster or slower than other
— Minister @svandeput: The fact that the information has not come up is a serious error of judgement which I [will] have thoroughly investigated. After the examination I will take the appropriate actions
— Minister @svandeput: F-16s to fly longer to 2034 can cost up to 2.2bn euros extra. Is that the choice we want to make? Knowing that we are then operational no longer relevant? (Source: Defense-Aerospace.com)
20 Mar 18. Naval Group announces equipment suppliers for French warship. Naval Group has picked the first batch of equipment suppliers for the FTI intermediate frigate program for the French Navy, the shipbuilder said Tuesday.
Selecting the most effective suppliers and subcontractors was key, as the equipment accounted for a significant part of the budget of a warship, the company said in a statement. Naval Group is the prime contractor and systems integrator on the FTI program.
Generally, about half the budget for a warship is earmarked for equipment, while a third of the total budget is spent on the combat management system, an industry executive said. Building the hull accounts for the rest.
Naval Group has picked the following suppliers and subcontractors:
- Axima for heating system, ventilation and air conditioning.
- CNIM for doors, sonars and torpedoes.
- iXblue for navigation systems.
- Leonardo for the medium-caliber 76mm cannon.
- MBDA for the integration of missile launchers.
- MTU for diesel engines.
- Safran Electronics & Defense for its Paseo XLR extra long-range surveillance electro-optical system.
- Thales for sonars, electronic warfare, identification friend or foe, and communications.
The program’s success depends on the suppliers delivering equipment on time and meeting the quality standard, said Frédéric Massa, Naval Group’s director of purchasing.
“We expect a lot from our suppliers,” he said. “Their innovative and competitive solutions will contribute to delivering technological superiority on the operational theater.”
Thales will also supply the Sea Fire multifunction naval radar, which will be delivered under a separate contract with France’s Direction Générale de l’Armement procurement office.
Naval Group is due to deliver the first of five 4,200-ton warships in 2023 under the €3.8bn (U.S. $4.7bn) FTI program. The warship will equip the French Navy, while Naval Group will pitch its export version under the brand name Belh@rra. (Source: Defense News)
16 Mar 18. Shipbuilders split on German-ness of new combat ship. Germany’s planned acquisition of a new frigate-like warship has triggered an industry debate that goes something like this: Will the vessels be German enough?
That is the question being raised by a consortium of the German companies ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems and Lürssen, whose executives were told by the government this month that their joint offering had been eliminated from the race to the build the Mehrzweckkampfschiff 180.
Competing bidders include a Dutch-German team consisting of Damen and Blohm+Voss, and German Naval Yards, which belongs to a Lebanese investor. Bremen-based Lürssen, which bought Blohm+Voss in 2016, could keep its chance at the deal in case the Dutch-German offering wins.
With TKMS out, critics fear Germany would cede ground to foreign players in a critical field, despite a pledge in the coalition government pact, finalized this week, to treat surface shipbuilding as a “key technology.”
The Ministry of Defence is not buying that argument. A spokesman described such thinking as “protectionism” that would violate source-selection rules.
In today’s global market, the government would be hard-pressed to keep constant tabs on the international dealings of all of its suppliers, the spokesman argued.
While the ministry has not said why TMKS was kicked out of the program, local media reports said cost played a role. The consortium’s offer was for more than the €3.5bn (U.S. $4.3bn) set aside in the budget, according to the Hamburger Abendblatt. The money would buy four ships.
Additionally, perceived deficiencies in the proposed risk-management plan for the complex program led to the TKMS-Lürssen exclusion, sources told Defense News.
The company stands by its offer, which entailed “decades of experience and expertise in naval shipbuilding and as a partner of the German navy,” a TKMS spokesman wrote in an email.
Meanwhile, Hamburg-based Blohm+Voss this week lobbied lawmakers in favor of the Damen-led consortium. While the Dutch firm would lead the design work, the ships would be built in Hamburg and secure jobs there, executives from both yards said in a letter to lawmakers, the Hamburger Abendblatt reported.
As for the government’s pledge to strengthen “key technologies,” surface ships are indeed mentioned in the coalition agreement, but the term appears in a section devoted to the civilian economy, analysts note.
Defence Ministry officials declared submarine capabilities to be a key field in a 2015 study on the German defense industrial base, leaving the option of buying surface ships from European or global producers.
(Source: glstrade.com/Defense News)
USA
20 Mar 18. USN releases RFP for two-carrier buy. The US Navy (USN) released a two-carrier Request for Proposal (RFP) to shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries – Newport News Shipbuilding (HII-NNS) on 19 March to determine how much money the USN could save through such a deal.
The ships covered in the RFP are carrier Enterprise (CVN 80) and its yet-to-be-named successor (CVN 81), the third and fourth Ford-class ships. Both are already included in the fiscal year 2019 (FY 2019) budget request and accompanying Future Year’s Defense Program (FYDP), James Geurts, assistant secretary of the navy for research, development, and acquisition, told reporters during a briefing on the RFP. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
19 Mar 18. Interim solution for US Army’s Short Range Air Defense to be chosen by end of year. The U.S. Army plans to choose an interim solution to meet a much-needed Short Range Air Defense, or SHORAD, capability in Europe by the end of the year, according to Brig. Gen. Randy McIntire, who is leading the service’s modernization efforts in air and missile defense.
The directed requirement for a SHORAD solution has been signed by the Army vice chief of staff, and now the Army’s cross-functional team — assigned to work on air and missile defense, or AMD, modernization — is working with the Army acquisition community to come up with a procurement plan, McIntire told Defense News in a March 14 interview.
There are seven cross-functional teams — or CFTs — set up under the Army’s new Futures Command to address the service’s top six priorities. AMD is the fifth.
“But the plan is right now, we think we’ve got enough knowledge points,” McIntire said, “that by the fourth quarter of the year, we should be able to downselect to one [vendor]. There are really two very viable candidates today.”
The Army has moved at lightning speed to reintroduce SHORAD into the maneuver force since then-U.S. Army Europe commander Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges about a year and a half ago recognized a capability gap in short-range air defense for conflicts against near-peer threats such as Russia.
The Army had pushed its SHORAD capability into the reserves and stopped investing in it during the wars in the Middle East where SHORAD was not needed to counter insurgency forces that had very little capability to attack from the air.
The service has already moved an Avenger unit from the National Guard into Europe and plans to continue rotations, but it acknowledges the need to go beyond that. The Army envisions needing to use air defense protection for the maneuver force as it penetrates highly contested enemy territory. SHORAD will also hold off enemy air capability in order to provide avenues for the U.S. Air Force to fly into enemy air space and take out critical targets.
Other capabilities like the Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2 that is designed to go up against rockets, artillery and mortars as well as unmanned aircraft systems and cruise missiles is more designed for fixed sites, McIntire said, it’s not ideal for trying to keep up with Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles and the Abrams tanks in the fight.
And just keeping Avenger is not an option due to its survivability and range limitations, McIntire added.
The directed requirements call for 144 SHORAD systems which is about four battalions worth of equipment, McIntire said.
The CFT figures it will be able to field 12 systems — a battery — by fiscal 2020, with the remainder of the first battalion by FY21. The second battalion would be complete by FY22, according to McIntire.
The Army has also identified the first active-force battalion to be equipped with a SHORAD capability that will go to Europe — 4th Battalion, 5th Air Defense Artillery Regiment — and is working the overseas stationing packet, McIntire said.
The first unit will stand up in FY19 with refurbished Avengers, but as the SHORAD vehicles come online, those systems from the 1980s will be replaced.
“We weren’t even talking about SHORAD just a little over a year ago, so by FY21 we will have that capability in Europe,” McIntire said.
The plan is to build four battalions, but it’s possible the service could take it further at a future decision point to provide every division, both active-duty and National Guard with a battalion of SHORAD, he added.
What the Army will be choosing by the end of the year is not the platform. The service has already decided the interim SHORAD solution will be Stryker-based. “The Stryker gave us the survivability that we needed compared to the Avenger” and was better in terms of size, weight and power considerations in order to potentially integrate directed energy onto the system.
In the service’s FY19 budget documents, it says the Army will assess the possibility of integrating a laser weapon onto the Stryker for SHORAD within five years.
“So we’ve got the bottom figured out and we are trying to figure out what that top of the turret looks like,” McIntire said.
The Army is looking most seriously at using existing systems, guns and missiles, particularly stuff already in the inventory so it can move out fast.
“As long as we got the potential to grow it, spiral develop things on it, we will do that,” McIntire said.
For instance, Lockheed Martin is expecting the Army to choose its Longbow Hellfire missile as part of the solution.
“Our plan was to take existing systems today, just get something out there, and so we do like the Longbow Hellfire, the [Joint Air-to-Ground Missile] capability, we’ve got Stingers in the inventory, so let’s use some Stinger missiles as well and get some quick wins,” McIntire said.
JAGM is the replacement for the Hellfire missile and is currently under development by Lockheed Martin.
And there is a variety of other options and configurations that have cropped up over the past year. The Army held a SHORAD demonstration for vendors with solutions in September and is using that as well as “paper submissions” to help it make a decision on the way forward by the end of the year, according to McIntire.
Looking beyond the interim solution, the Army believes SHORAD could potentially be integrated right onto the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle, another modernization priority for the service, he added.
“We will work with NGCV as they develop that platform with our directed-energy efforts. We will take the lead for that and we will help them inform that, but ultimately in the end we will be on the Stryker for the next 15 years,” McIntire said. “But we would ultimately maybe get on the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle with some of our capabilities down the road.” (Source: Defense News)
15 Mar 18. Why DOD needs more than OTAs to fix acquisition. Acquisition reform will take more than creative regulatory workarounds if the Defense Department is going to truly modernize and advance, said Air Force Materiel Commander Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski.
Speaking at a March 14 Air Force Association event, Pawlikowski called other transaction authorities (OTAs), a legal workaround to traditional acquisition processes endorsed in the 2016 defense spending bill, “the latest buzzword” that requires both a major culture change and better industry-government collaboration to work well.
“First of all we need to both understand what an other transaction authority means” and “not to expect more than what we can get out of them,” she said.
Pawlikowski said she’s seen four waves of acquisition reform over her career. But to keep up with software advances, she said, the Defense Department is going to need more than other transaction authorities.
“We have to truly embrace this idea of experimentation in prototyping,” she said. “Recognizing that we will spend money to build things that we will never buy because we will find out early it doesn’t do what we really want. … Money spent on things that we try and don’t adopt — that will be more than recouped.”
Pawlikowski also said government’s insistence on owning the technical baseline, namely data or intellectual property, is ultimately suffocating for innovation limits the effectiveness of OTAs.
“If we think that in order for us to own the technical baseline, we have to have that data then we will shut out that opportunity to have innovation,” she said, noting that for many small businesses, intellectual property is often their entire business. Such firms can’t survive if they’re locked into giving up those rights to the government.
“We have to close that requirements loop decision process as much as we do the acquisition process,” Pawlikowski said.
During a House Armed Services Committee hearing on emerging threats March 14, the Acting Assistant Defense Secretary for Research and Engineering Mary Miller made a similar point. Overly rigid or poorly crafted acquisition requirements can be antithetical to warfighter needs, Miller said.
“Sometimes we get requirements that were given to acquisition that aren’t really what the warfighter wants,” Miller told the committee. “And the experimentation venues that the undersecretariat was given, the ability to do prototyping experimentation, are helping to refine that before we get launched.”
While tweaks and added functionality can take time, for Pawlikowski, the issue of acquisition reform ultimately comes down to practices, rather than the technology itself.
“Requirements change,” she said. “We’ll get over it.” (Source: Defense Systems)
REST OF THE WORLD
21 Mar 18. Saudi Arms Buyers Won a $3.5bn Discount From the Pentagon.
President Donald Trump says the Saudis are a “big purchaser” of American arms. A $3.5bn discount they won from the Pentagon last year in buying an anti-missile system for $15bn shows they’re also adept at tapping into the Pentagon’s generosity.
Welcoming Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to the White House on Tuesday, Trump said the kingdom has completed $12.5bn in purchases of planes, missiles and frigates from U.S. companies since his visit to Saudi Arabia last year.
He didn’t mention the discount granted last April on the Thaad system from Lockheed Martin Corp. The price break, which hasn’t previously been reported, was approved after the Saudis claimed the sale could be lost without it. It came in the form of two waivers from a U.S. law requiring foreign purchasers of American weapons to pay part of the Defense Department’s costs in developing them.
The sale, announced in October, was only the second time the U.S. has allowed the Army’s Thaad anti-missile system to be sold for export, after a sale to the United Arab Emirates. The Thaad batteries deployed in South Korea are owned by the U.S.
A month after the sale was announced, Russia disclosed that it was selling Saudi Arabia its S-400 air defense system, which it asserts is equal in capabilities to Thaad.
Largest Yet
The Saudi waivers were the largest yet approved for any nation, based on a Government Accountability Office review published in January of the discounts from 2012 through 2017. Over those years, the Pentagon approved $9.2bn in waivers to allies, mostly from the Middle East, on the rationale of preventing lost sales. That includes about $4.5bn last year, including the Saudi waivers, the first year of the Trump administration, up from about $500m in 2016.
The GAO highlighted the $3.5bn in waivers without naming Saudi Arabia. A U.S. official familiar with the data, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed the Saudis were the beneficiaries.
Not all of the waivers approved necessarily ended up at the initial amounts cited in the review, according to the GAO.
While the discounted arms sale reflects Trump’s priority on building alliances with Saudi Arabia — and in countering the regional influence of its arch rival Iran — it raises questions about the policy of giving wealthy nations a break from contributions toward weapons development costs that otherwise would go to the U.S. Treasury.
Taxpayers’ Burden
“American taxpayers are footing the bill for bns of dollars for researching and developing the weapons we sell to foreign governments.” Representative Jackie Speier of California, a Democrat who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.
“The Gulf Arab nations are among the richest in the world” so “they can certainly afford it,” said Speier, who joined a colleague in requesting the GAO report. Yet the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency, or DSCA, “repeatedly and without examination bought the absurd claim that paying those reimbursements would cause Gulf nations to call off” deals, said Speier, who added that she’s exploring options to tighten oversight of the DSCA.
‘Carefully Evaluate’
Senator Robert Menendez, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement to Bloomberg News that he’ll pursue an explanation for the Saudi waivers.
“We need to carefully evaluate all our military assistance and arms sales to Saudi Arabia, as we do with any country,” the New Jersey senator said. “I plan to ask the Administration why it granted Saudi Arabia a waiver exempting it from reimbursing the United States” for “an expensive missile system, and how this contributes to our national security. I would seriously question this waiver for such a wealthy country,” even though “Saudi Arabia remains an important security ally.”
A law requires foreign buyers of American military systems to reimburse a share of the one-time or “nonrecurring” research and development costs borne by taxpayers. In addition to the risk of lost sales, a waiver can be granted if a potential customer makes a case that the sale will improve “commonality” with the U.S. military through the use of standard weapons. These types of waivers are available for sales to NATO allies, Australia, South Korea and Jordan, the GAO found.
99% Approval Rate
The defense agency approved $16bn, or 99 percent of waiver claims, for various reasons from 2012 through 2017. A waiver is issued almost routinely when a customer claims the sale will be lost without it, according to the GAO.
A congressional aide official familiar with the data the defense agency gave to the GAO said it showed Saudi Arabia had won 57 waivers totaling $4.82bn, including the Thaad sale. Other waivers totaled $2.6bn to Qatar, $767m to the United Arab Emirates and $328m to Kuwait.
DSCA spokesman Tom Crosson said in an email that “we’ll be able provide you with additional details” about the report “after we provide our inputs to Congress.” Foreign military sales support “various foreign, national security, and economic policies,” he said.
“Losing sales can significantly impact these key objectives, and nonrecurring cost waivers are one way we ensure we are a competitive option for our allies and partners,” he said.
Vice Admiral Joseph Rixey, who was director of the DSCA at the time, told Speier at a June 2016 hearing that he waives costs “in accordance with the Arms Export Control Act. That authority has been delegated from the president down to the secretary of defense and down to me.”
Rixey was still agency director last year, when the Saudi waivers were approved. He joined Lockheed in November as vice president of international program support. Lockheed spokesman Maureen Schumann said the company declined to comment on the report of Thaad waivers. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Bloomberg)
20 Mar 18. Italian firm strikes electronic warfare deal in Australia ahead of frigate pick. Italy’s Elettronica will team with Australian companies to supply electronic warfare systems should Australia buy Italy’s FREMM frigates, the company said Tuesday.
Officials from Thales Australia and Daronmont Technologies visited the Italian firm to sign a cooperation deal, which would see them teaming on Elettronica’s Minerva package of EW and communications capabilities, the firm said.
Italian shipyard Fincantieri is currently competing with BAE Systems and Spain’s Navantia to supply nine frigates for the Australian Navy, with a decision expected this year.
The Elettronica deal would take effect if Australia selects Fincantieri’s FREMM, which it co-designed with France’s Naval Group and has been acquired by Italy, France, Morocco and Egypt.
The type has also been shortlisted as a candidate for the U.S. Navy’s FFG(X) program.
Australia’s Daronmont Technologies specializes in high-speed digital processing and software engineering.
Elettronica has historically been Italy’s main supplier of EW systems on aerial and naval platforms.
The team of Australian officials also visited offices of Italy’s Leonardo, which is heavily involved in providing radar, cannons and combat management systems for Italy’s FREMM frigates. (Source: Defense News)
20 Mar 18. Pyne promotes slew of Australian defence firms in major export push. Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne has launched the second instalment of the Australian Military Sales Catalogue, as part of a concerted effort to promote the products and services produced by Australia’s defence industry internationally. Minister Pyne said the first catalogue, which was released in 2017, had proved to be a success.
“The Australian Military Sales is an important initiative for us to showcase the vast range of products and services the Australian defence industry can export to our friends and allies to boost their capability,” Minister Pyne said.
“The catalogue lists selected Australian Defence Force equipment available with a demonstrated viable capability that other countries might seek to purchase,” he added, noting that the catalogue underpins the Department’s ‘Smart Buyer’ approach around the acquisition, sustainment and disposal of ADF capability by working more in tune with industry.
“This catalogue is another way for the government to help Australia’s defence industry reach the markets of our friends and allies,” Minister Pyne said.
“Today’s launch is another milestone that celebrates our successful Australian defence industry as a fundamental input to capability.”
The Australian Military Sales Office (AMSO) is a Directorate within Defence’s Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group whose remit includes supporting Australian sovereign capability and military sales programs through developing several key sales avenues.
These include international government-to-government sale, gifting or other transfer of surplus and obsolete Defence articles; international government-to-government purchase of Australian origin, sensitive technology, Defence articles; and supporting Australian defence industry to export to foreign government customers.
The purpose of the Australian Military Sales Catalogue (AMSC), formally known as the Australian Military Sales Equipment Catalogue (AMSE), is to inform potential foreign government customers of Australian defence equipment and of Australian defence industry products and services available under international government-to-government arrangements.
Submissions for the 2018 AMSC were launched by the Minister Pyne on 26 October 2017.
This is the second year AMSO has produced the AMSC, and new to this edition is the inclusion of an Australian Defence industry section, featuring a range of Australian defence industry companies that have been selected to showcase their products and services.
“This year’s catalogue has been expanded to include products and services from 69 Australian defence companies – including small and medium enterprises, and companies located across the country including from regional Australia,” said Minister Pyne at the launch event.
“As Minister for Defence Industry, I am constantly reminded of the enormous ability, skill and determination of our Australian defence industry. The Turnbull government is supporting them in a number of ways including through the Defence Export Strategy I announced with the Prime Minister on 29 January 2018.”
The transfer of ex-ADF equipment to foreign governments is subject to a rigorous approval process independent from AMSO. (Source: Defence Connect)
19 Mar 18. Israeli arms exports to Africa growing. Israeli arms sales to African countries are growing steadily, with defence exports increasing 70% between 2015 and 2016 to reach $275m. 2017 numbers are not yet available, but Israeli ministry of defence sources say that last year the numbers were even higher.
The Israeli ministry of defence and defence companies seldom release detailed information on sales to African countries but it is known that African armed forces are interested in different types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), loitering weapons, communications systems and radars.
Supplying weapons to African countries will likely be on the agenda of Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, who is due to begin a four-day visit to Africa on Wednesday. This is the first official visit by an Israeli defence minister to the continent in decades.
Liberman is scheduled to visit Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia. He is expected to hold a series of diplomatic meetings with heads of state and their defence ministers in all three nations.
According to the Israeli press, an Israeli security mission made a secret visit to Rwanda last month in an effort to sell weapons and military technology to the country. According to the reports, the move apparently comes after Tel Aviv signed a deal which would see Rwanda receive asylum seekers which are being forcibly expelled from Israel.
It was previously reported that the Rwandan Army is equipped with Israeli made Tavor assault rifles, and in 2016 it emerged that Rwanda had received ATMOS 2000 155mm self-propelled howitzers from Israel’s Soltam.
Nigeria is a big potential customer for Israel systems. There are no details on specific deals but sources say that the army of this country has evaluated different Israeli made UAVs. In 2006 the Nigerian Air Force received a number of Aerostar UAVs from Israel’s Aeronautics Defence Systems. The company in December 2017 announced it had signed a contract for the sale of its Aerostar UAVs to an African country. The contract is valued at $13m, with deliveries to take 18 months. In February it was revealed that the Amisom mission in Somalia is receiving Aerostar UAVs.
The Aerostar is 4.5 meters long, has a wingspan of 8.7 meters and a maximum takeoff weight of 230 kg. The UAV has a 12 hour endurance and a maximum speed of 200 km/h.
Israeli UAV manufacturer Innocon has supplied its systems to at least one African country but refuses to elaborate on the deal while Meteor Aerospace is offering its systems to at least two African countries. The company is developing a new 1 300 kg Medium Altitude Long Endurance unmanned aircraft, named Impact-1300, after developing the Impact 700, with a total takeoff weight of 730 kg. The Impact-700 UAV system is currently in series production.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI’s) Arms Transfers database, over the last several years Israel has supplied armoured vehicles and other equipment to Africa. This includes five Musketeer armoured vehicles and 16 Thunder armoured personnel carriers (APCs) to Cameroon; 11 RAM armoured vehicles to Chad; 75 Thunder APCs to Ethiopia; and 55 RAMs to Senegal.
Deals not yet reported on by SIPRI include Angolan Cessna Citations configured for maritime surveillance by Israel’s BIRD Aerosystems; and an order from an undisclosed African nation for $240m worth of defensive aids, communications and avionics equipment from Elbit Systems.
SIPRI notes that “Israel is one of a range of smaller suppliers of major weapons and other military equipment to sub-Saharan Africa. It has long sold or given weapons to a host of developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and the deals are often accompanied by serving or retired Israeli military personnel and Israeli civilian contractors as instructors. Although Israeli arms exports, especially of major weapons, to sub-Saharan Africa are limited, Israeli weapons, brokers and instructors are likely to sometimes have a more significant impact than mere numbers of supplied weapons imply.”
Over the last decade, Israeli exports to Africa have included targeting pods, self-propelled guns and mortars, UAVs, multiple rocket launchers, armoured vehicles, patrol craft and radars, amongst others. Aircraft and vehicle upgrades are also a service Israel has provided to African militaries.
Israel reports exports of major weapons systems to Africa, but is not so transparent regarding small arms. It is known to have supplied Galil assault rifles to half a dozen African nations, including South Sudan, Chad, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Rwanda and Swaziland. Negev light machineguns and Uzi submachineguns have also appeared in countries such as the DRC and Equatorial Guinea. (Source: Google/Defence Web)
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American Panel Corporation
American Panel Corporation (APC) since 1998, specializes in display products installed in defence land systems, as well as military and commercial aerospace platforms, having delivered well over 100,000 displays worldwide. Military aviators worldwide operate their aircraft and perform their missions using APC displays, including F-22, F-18, F-16, F-15, Euro-fighter Typhoon, Mirage 2000, C-130, C-17, P-3, S-3, U-2, AH-64 Apache Helicopter, V-22 tilt-rotor, as well as numerous other military and commercial aviation aircraft including Boeing 717 – 787 aircraft and several Airbus aircraft. APC panels are found in nearly every tactical aircraft in the US and around the world.
APC manufactures the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Large Area Display (LAD) display (20 inch by 8 inch) with dual pixel fields, power and video interfaces to provide complete display redundancy. At DSEI 2017 we are exhibiting the LAD with a more advanced design, dual display on single substrate with redundant characteristics and a bespoke purpose 8 inch by 6 inch armoured vehicle display.
In order to fully meet the demanding environmental and optical requirements without sacrificing critical tradeoffs in performance, APC designs, develops and manufactures these highly specialized displays in multiple sizes and configurations, controlling all AMLCD optical panel, mechanical and electrical design aspects. APC provides both ITAR and non-ITAR displays across the globe to OEM Prime and tiered vetronics and avionics integrators.
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UNITED KINGDOM
LAND
16 Mar 18. KBR receives CWSS contract from UK MoD. KBR has received a contract from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to design, manufacture, supply and store a Combat Water Supply System (CWSS), the company announced on 14 March. The $42m contract also includes reimbursable maintenance, repairs, and operations services. KBR will bring in to service a water purification, storage and distribution system, designed to deliver potable and palatable water to deployed UK forces. Once operational, KBR will provide fully integrated contractor logistics support through to 2025 with responsibility for the design, manufacture, testing and supply of each of the CWSS variants. The CWSS programme aims to deliver an end-to-end solution covering the provision of water from its source to the point of use. Specifically, CWSS will be required to purify water from various sources, test and assure water quality, store, distribute and issue water to doctrinally mandated volumes. KBR will be responsible for the maintenance of the CWSS capability to agreed readiness and availability levels during the contractor logistics support phase. (Source: Shephard)
16 Mar 18. Defence Secretary Announces Innovative Threat Detection System for the Army’s Newest Armoured Vehicle. The Defence Secretary has today announced a £3.7m deal to equip the Army’s next generation armoured vehicle with the latest in automated threat warning systems. Thales UK has signed a contract with General Dynamics Land Systems–UK for the installation of its Acusonic sensor, a vehicle-mounted acoustic shot detection system, on the £4.5bn Ajax family of armoured fighting vehicles. The Ajax Shot Detection System will be manufactured at Thales in Templecombe in Somerset, which employs more than 700 people in highly-skilled manufacturing and technical roles. (Source: ASD Network)
AIR
20 Mar 18. Provision of A Watchkeeper Support, Maintenance & Training Service – VEAT Contract Award
B2B Quote Contract Award Ref no: B2B609812
Location: South West
Provision of A Watchkeeper Support, Maintenance & Training Service – VEAT Contract Award
(Source: B2B.com)
USA
LAND
21 Mar 18. The U.S. Army has placed two orders totaling $97m for BAE Systems to provide new night vision goggles and thermal weapon sights, which together will enable soldiers to rapidly and covertly acquire targets in all weather and lighting conditions. The orders are part of a previously announced five-year contract for the Army’s Enhanced Night Vision Goggle III and Family of Weapon Sight-Individual (ENVG III/FWS-I) program. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
21 Mar 18. Endeavor receives follow-on SUGV order. Endeavor Robotics has received a $9.2m order from the US Marine Corps (USMC) to deliver additional Small UGVs (SUGVs), the company announced on 15 March. The latest model SUGV will be equipped with Endeavor’s advanced uPoint multi-UGV control system. uPoint helps in reducing operator training time by leveraging interoperable technology and tablet-based user-interfaces. Through the integration of mesh networking radios and uPoint controllers, users can control and observe multiple SUGV assets simultaneously at greater ranges. The SUGV is rugged, back-packable, easily deployable and weighs less than 30lbs. It can operate in all environments, climb and descend stairs and can be fitted with multiple sensors and accessories for added capabilities. (Source: Shephard)
16 Mar 18. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) was awarded a seven-year, $3.53bn contract to globally sustain more than 300,000 fielded Training Aids, Devices, Simulators and Simulations (TADSS), including live-fire ranges and instrumentation systems. The Army Contracting Command – Orlando, in support of the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) awarded the Army TADSS Maintenance Program (ATMP) contract. ATMP allows maintainers to use mobile devices with advanced management information technology to efficiently and effectively track and maintain a wide range of training systems. This allows the Army to have maximum operational awareness and make informed decisions using on-demand access to accurate, complete and timely data.
22 Mar 18. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Herndon, Virginia, is being awarded a $9,736,689 cost and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-17-C-6327) for Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare (CREW) Increment One Block One Systems full rate production in support of the Expeditionary Warfare Program Office. CREW systems provide combat troops protection against radio-controlled improvised explosive devices and are designed to provide protection for foot soldiers, vehicles, and permanent structures. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (97 percent); and Sierra Vista, Arizona (3 percent), and is expected to be completed by August 2022. Fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $3,213,108 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.
16 Mar 18. Raytheon Co., Intelligence, Information and Services, Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a $511,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the Cobra Dane radar. This contract provides the tasks required to operate, maintain, and sustain the Cobra Dane radar. Work will primarily be performed at Eareckson Air Station, Shemya, Alaska, and is expected to be complete by March 2025. This award is a result of a competitive acquisition and three offers were received. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, is the contracting activity (FA8723-18-D-0003).
21 Mar 18. SIG SAUER, Inc. announced that the El Monte Police Department has selected a full package of SIG SAUER products to create a solution for the department’s mission. The package includes pistols, rifles, suppressors and electro-optics. Founded in 1912, the El Monte Police Department’s 123 sworn officers serve an area 12 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Initiated through the department’s SWAT division, SWAT Team Leader Sgt. Mark Snook began the acquisition process with handguns in both 9mm and 45 auto from SIG SAUER, HK®, Glock® and FN®, as well as a rifle and suppressor package in 5.56 NATO. SIG SAUER submitted the latest version of the SIG MCX® rifle equipped with an SRD556 suppressor.
SEA
20 Mar 18. DRS Systems Inc., Melbourne, Florida, is being awarded a $7,035,505 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the CA2SPER: Compact Al-AgO Submersible Propulsion for Extended Range effort. This contract contains options, which if exercised, will bring the total contract value to $9,100,586. Work will be performed in Roma, Italy (40 percent); Fitchburg, Massachusetts (30 percent); Joplin, Missouri (15 percent); and Danbury, Connecticut (15 percent), and is expected to be completed Sept. 20, 2019. If options are exercised, work will continue through March 2020. Fiscal 2017 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $130,000 will be obligated at the time of award. No funds will expire at end of current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under solicitation N00014-17-S-B009 (Torpedo Advanced Propulsion System), with six proposals received in response to the solicitation. The Office of Naval Research, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00014-18-C-2005).
21 Mar 18. The US Navy has selected GE Marine Solutions to deliver its LM2500 marine gas turbines that would power the new Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, the future USS Louis H. Wilson Jr. (DDG 126) and the future USS Gallagher (DDG 127). The two US Navy vessels are being constructed by General Dynamics Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine. The engineering team from GE are collaborating with Bath Iron Works on the LM2500 module upgrade programme. (Source: naval-technology.com)
19 Mar 18. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, California, is being awarded $522,324,985 for fixed-price-incentive, cost-plus-incentive-fee, and cost-plus-fixed-fee modification P00008 under a previously awarded contract (N00030-17-C-0100) to exercise options for Trident II (D5) missile production and deployed system support. Work will be performed in Magna, Utah (29.60 percent); Sunnyvale, California (26.54 percent); Cape Canaveral, Florida (5.92 percent); Pittsfield, Massachusetts (5.77 percent); Kingsport, Tennessee (4.35 percent); Kings Bay, Georgia (3.93 percent); Camden, Arkansas (3.89 percent); Denver, Colorado (3.70 percent); El Segundo, California (2.58 percent); Titusville, Florida (2.26 percent); Lancaster, Pennsylvania (2.16 percent); Clearwater, Florida (1.34 percent); Oakridge, Tennessee (1.00 percent); and other various locations (less than 1.00 percent each; 6.96 percent total), and is expected to be completed Sept. 30, 2022. Fiscal 2018 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $513,353,956; fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,663,021; and fiscal 2018 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $308,008 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Subject to availability, fiscal 2018 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,740,264, will be obligated for the effort awarded and incrementally funded; none of which will expire at the end of the 2018 fiscal year. Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.
AIR
22 Mar 18. Airbus Helicopters Inc., Grand Prairie, Texas, was awarded an $116,903,994 modification (P00001) to contract W58RGZ-18-C-0007 for the procurement of 16 UH-72A aircraft. Work will be performed in Columbus, Mississippi, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 20, 2023. Fiscal 2016 aircraft procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $58,451,967 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
16 Mar 18. Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $9,852,575 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the procurement of up to three Bell 407 variant commercial airframes, associated Bell 407 unique components, and preservation and storage in the support of the MQ-8 Fire Scout. Work will be performed in Ozark, Alabama, and is expected to be completed in December 2020. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR.302-1. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-18-D-0119).
22 Mar 18. Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) has been awarded a $161m contract modification to supply the next production lot of electronic jammers to protect U.S. Navy and Australian F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet aircraft against electronic threats. Harris will manufacture and deliver Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) jammers for the F/A-18C/D/E/F variants, with deliveries under the new contract expected to be completed by May 2021. The Harris ALQ-214(V)4/5 is the key onboard electronic warfare (EW) jamming system for the IDECM program, protecting the aircraft from electronic threats, including sophisticated integrated air defense systems. This award is in addition to the $133m production lot award received in the first quarter of fiscal 2018. The company has received more than $1bn in awards to date from the Naval Air Systems Command for AN/ALQ-214 development and production and was recently recognized by the Navy for maintaining a perfect on-time delivery record over the entire 20-year life of the IDECM program. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)
TECHNOLOGY
19 Mar 18. KBR, Inc. (NYSE: KBR) announced today that its global Government Services business, KBRwyle, has been awarded a $34.1m task order to provide analytical and engineering weapons systems support to assist the U.S. Air Force (USAF) with air traffic safety and cyber threats. Specifically, KBRwyle’s work will support the USAF’s Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) Engineering Directorate’s Engineering and Communication Network Branch. This branch provides engineering, integration, technical advice, and direction to all AFLCMC weapon system program offices and other organizations.
16 Mar 18. NGC Awarded 10-Year IT Contract from Social Security Administration. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has won a 10-year re-compete of Information Technology Support Services (ITSS) for the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) lifecycle activities for software improvement, database and data administration, software engineering and management support and systems administration and security. Northrop Grumman was one of three awardees on an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. (Source: ASD Network)
20 Mar 18. Technica Corporation, a leader in high-end systems engineering and operations and maintenance for mission-critical networks and applications, announced that the Army’s Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems (PEO-EIS) has selected the company as a provider for the $250m Army Cloud Computing Enterprise Transformation (ACCENT) Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA). Under ACCENT, Technica will support the US Army in transitioning its systems and applications to FedRAMP-certified commercial cloud hosting services or an Army Enterprise Hosting Facility (AEHF). This contract is in direct alignment with the Army’s data center consolidation strategy, with goals of a 75 percent reduction by 2025.
REST OF THE WORLD
LAND
22 Mar 18. Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS) has been selected as the prime systems integrator to modernize and upgrade an Asian nation’s military communications network, extending the company’s role as the country’s incumbent radio provider. Harris will replace existing disparate systems and integrate both military and commercial products and software into an easy-to-operate turnkey solution. This integrated network will include a multi-service common operating picture, strategic satellite communications, IT modernization and Harris Falcon III® tactical radios. The Falcon III® radios will provide secure voice and data communications and friendly force tracking at the tactical level. Harris’ hC2 Software Suite battle management system will improve command and control and create a common operating picture shared across services and echelons – providing enhanced situational awareness across the land, sea and air domains. (Source: ASD Network)
18 Mar 18. L-3 Micreo, a Brisbane-based subsidiary of L-3 Technologies, has received a contract from the Australian Department of Defence (DoD) to produce counter-improvised explosive devices (C-IEDs) for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). The DoD said on 17 March that the deal is valued at AUD26.9m (USD20.7m) and features the production of 13,000 ‘Silvershield’ C-IED systems. The DoD said the vehicle-mounted Silvershield was designed through the DoD’s Defence Science and Technology (DST) Group’s programme with L-3 Micreo to jointly develop low-cost and lightweight counter radio-controlled IEDs in support of the ANDSF. The DoD said the development programme – known as Redwing – has now generated Australian exports worth more than AUD84m. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
16 Mar 18. Oshkosh Defense LLC, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, has been awarded a $15,394,185 firm-fixed-price foreign military sales (Qatar and Kuwait) contract to procure M985A4 guided missile transporters with cranes, M985A4 Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT), Multiple-Launch Rocket System resupply trucks, M984A4 HEMTT wreckers, M983A4 HEMTT tractors and associated outside the continental U.S. training. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with an estimated completion date of May 31, 2019. Fiscal 2010 foreign military sales funds in the amount of $15,394,185 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-18-C-0033).
21 Mar 18. Rheinmetall to supply artillery ammunition. Australia is procuring artillery ammunition from Rheinmetall. Under its “Land 17 Phase 1C.2 Future Artillery Ammunition” project, the Australian Defence Force will soon be taking delivery of various projectile types from the Rheinmetall Assegai family as well as fuses and propelling charges, supplied by a team consisting of NIOA, Rheinmetall Waffe Munition, Rheinmetall Denel Munition, Nitrochemie and Junghans Defence. The first qualification lots will already be shipped this year. A second partial delivery will take place in 2019. Following successful qualification, Australia will also procure war reserve stocks of the new ammunition. Encompassing supply of the qualification lot and war reserve stocks, the order – awarded at the end of last year – is worth around AU$ 100m, roughly €65m. The contract also includes several options for further five-year periods, with a total value in the triple-digit million AU$ range. The order represents a significant success for Rheinmetall in several respects. It will enable the Group to establish itself in coming years as Australia’s sole supplier of artillery ammunition. In addition, it is the first time a M777A2 field howitzer user nation has opted for the Assegai family. The armed forces of Canada and the United States, among other nations, also deploy the M777A2. The ammunition will be supplied via Rheinmetall’s partner NIOA. Headquartered in Brisbane, NIOA is the largest supplier of ammunition and weapons systems to Australia’s military and law enforcement agencies. NIOA has also been cooperating closely with Rheinmetall for decades on other projects. The company joined the Rheinmetall Land400 team in May 2017.
SEA
21 Mar 18. Naval Group Engages KBR for Australia’s Future Submarine Facility Design Services Subcontract. Naval Group has formally signed a Design Services Subcontract (DSSC) with local engineering company, KBR, to assist with the concept design of the proposed Future Submarine (SEA1000) construction yard at the Osborne Naval Shipbuilding precinct in South Australia. The submarine construction yard concept design will include the facilities and infrastructure required to construct a fleet of twelve regionally superior Future Submarines for the Royal Australian Navy. Through the DSSC, KBR will support Naval Group to deliver the concept design for the Future Submarine yard to the Commonwealth of Australia in July 2018.
AIR
16 Mar 18. AeroVironment Inc., Simi Valley, California, has been awarded a $9,098,295 firm-fixed-price foreign military sales (Egypt) contract for RQ-20B Puma AE II M3/M4 systems and support. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Monrovia, California, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 16, 2020. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $9,098,295 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W911QY-18-C-0102).
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Job – Software Engineer in Cowes
Location
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Salary
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Job type: Contract
Category Defence: Engineering
Job Reference: EMP410101
Posted on: 19 Mar 2018
About the Role:
The purpose of the role is to perform Software Design, Development, Documentation, Integration and Test activities within Radar group within Product and Training Services (P&TS).
Responsibilities
Major Tasks and Activities:
* Requirements Analysis and Definition
* Enhancement of one or more real-time software and hardware subsystems within the P&Ts Radar Products.
* Designing, reviewing, developing, testing, documenting, configuring and delivering real-time software products to the agreed standards and procedures using the specified tools.
* Testing software products sufficiently to ensure software product quality is maintained and minimal or no re-work is required.
* Investigating and resolving obsolescence issues and problems raised during any stage of the development lifecycle, including software and system integration, qualification, and in-service trials.
* Study work including report writing, presentation and estimation
Your skills and qualifications as an Engineer:
* BEng/BSc in Computer Science or similar software qualification.
* Full Software Lifecycle on large complex real-time systems.
* Experience of UML or similar high level design methodology
* Software Implementation using a variety of languages including C/C++, C#, Ada 83/95.
* Excellent software coding, integration and testing skills, ideally with a real time, multi-processor focus.
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You will have a clear and concise communicative skillset, an honest hardworking approach to everyday tasks and an approachable manner. You will be organised and have the ability to deliver designs to defined timescales.
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LOCATIONS
LAND
20 Mar 18. Seychelles opposition to block India military deal. Seychelles’ opposition coalition, which holds a majority in parliament, said on 20 March it would not ratify a deal signed with India to build a military base on one of the archipelago’s outlying islands. The deal would see India invest $550m in building the base on Assumption island to help it ensure the safety of its vessels in the southern Indian Ocean. Indian soldiers would be deployed on the island which lies 1,135kms southwest from the capital Victoria, and help train Seychelles’ troops. However the deal has faced some resistance from locals, and Wavel Ramkalawan, head of the opposition Seychelles Democratic Union (LDS) said the coalition ‘will not ratify the Assumption deal. This deal is dead.’ The LDS had held a majority in parliament since its victory in 2016 legislative elections.
On 19 March, Seychelles President Danny Faure said he would meet with Ramkalawan on 26 March to discuss the deal, which was agreed in principle in 2015 and then finalised in January 2018.
The government says the base will help coastguards to patrol its 1.3 million km² exclusive economic zone for illegal fishing, drug trafficking and piracy. Currently, the remote coral island has a tin shack post office, an air strip and almost no people. Less than seven kilometres long the island has a high point just 30m above sea level and is covered in bird excrement. But its location lends it strategic importance for monitoring shipping in the Mozambique Channel. However Indian presence in the Seychelles is a sensitive matter. Some fear an influx of Indian workers who, they say, might come to dominate the economy, while others consider a foreign power building a military base an affront to sovereignty and national pride.
Opponents of the plan also cite Assumption’s relative proximity to Aldabra atoll, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is home to the world’s largest population of giant tortoises. (Source: Shephard)
21 Mar 18. Boeing prepares new research centre in South Korea. Boeing is to open an advanced technologies research centre in South Korea by mid-2018, the US corporation announced on 21 March.
Boeing said it is currently in discussion with the South Korean government about the opening of the new facility, which will focus on technologies including autonomy, artificial intelligence, avionics, analytics, smart factory and “other technologies for future aerospace products”.
The new research centre, the location of which is not yet finalised, will be used by Boeing to collaborate with local companies and agencies in developing future technologies, it said. Boeing said it also plans to staff the centre with locally hired technology experts. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
19 Mar 18. KBR to design Australian submarine construction yard. Naval Group Australia is to partner with US engineering services group KBR to support the design of the construction yard for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN’s) next-generation submarines, the Australian Department of Defence (DoD) announced on 19 March. The DoD said the design of the construction yard will continue throughout 2018 under a AUD7m (USD5.3m) contract awarded to KBR. The new facility will be located in the Osborne Naval Shipbuilding Precinct in South Australia and adjacent to the surface shipyard that will build the RAN’s next-generation frigates, said the DoD. France’s Naval Group – then known as DCNS – was named in April 2016 as Australia’s preferred international partner for the 12-submarine, AUD50bn Sea 1000 programme, proposing a 4,700-tonne conventionally powered Shortfin Barracuda derivative of the company’s Barracuda nuclear attack submarine. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
MARITIME
22 Mar 18. US Navy Commissioned New Guided-Missile Destroyer Ralph Johnson. The US Navy commissioned its newest guided-missile destroyer, the future USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114), during a 10:00 a.m. EDT ceremony Saturday, March 24, at Columbus Street Pier in Charleston, South Carolina. The future USS Ralph Johnson honors Marine Corps Pfc. Ralph Henry Johnson, who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity” during the Vietnam War. On March 5, 1968, in an observation post overlooking the Quan Duc Valley, Johnson used his body to shield fellow Marines from a grenade, absorbing the blast and dying instantly. The Charleston native had only been in Vietnam for two months when he was killed at the age of 19. Gen. Robert Neller, commandant of the Marine Corps, delivered the ceremony’s principal address. Mrs. Georgeann McRaven, wife of retired Adm. Bill McRaven, serves as the ship’s sponsor. In a time-honored Navy tradition, she will give the order to “man our ship and bring her to life!”
“The future USS Ralph Johnson will become one of the most capable weapons in our nation’s arsenal,” said Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer. “It will serve for decades to come as a fitting tribute to the heroic actions of Pfc. Ralph Johnson who, in the face of certain death, sacrificed his own life to save the life of a fellow Marine.”
Ralph Johnson, the 65th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to be commissioned, will be able to conduct a variety of operations, from peacetime presence and crisis management to sea control and power projection. Ralph Johnson will be capable of engaging in air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously and will contain a myriad of offensive and defensive weapons designed to support maritime warfare, including Integrated Air and Missile Defense capabilities. (Source: US DoD)
21 Mar 18. China launches another acoustic surveillance ship. Another large acoustic surveillance ship has been launched for China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), photographs posted on 20 March in online forums show. Built at the Wuchang Shuangliu shipyard in Wuhan, the 90 m long ship is the second of a class that has been referred to as Type 927, although no official confirmation of the designation has emerged. The first ship of the class was built at China’s Huangpu shipyard in Guangzhou and launched around June 2017. The vessels, which have a beam of 30 m, have a small waterplane area, twin hull (SWATH) design that is similar in appearance and size to that of US Navy ocean surveillance ship USNS Impeccable (T-AGOS 23). Impeccable displaces around 5,500 tonnes, suggesting that the new PLAN ships will have a similar displacement.
Wuchang Shuangliu is the same shipyard that in 2016 built Rui Li 10 : a SWATH vessel of similar size that appears to be operated as an acoustic research vessel by the Hangzhou Applied Acoustics Research Institute, which is closely associated with the National Defence Key Laboratory for sonar technology. Photographs of this ship prior to launch show apertures in the structure between the catamaran hulls that would permit acoustic hydrosounders and hydrophones to be lowered beneath the ship. No photographs showing such detail of the Type 927 have appeared but similar arrangements are likely. Rui Li 10 is also reported to be equipped with an integrated electric propulsion system, with power generated using diesel engines driving electrical generators that feed electric propulsion motors. Such a design would help to minimise the ship’s self-noise, which, if unsuppressed, would not only inhibit the detection of very quiet submarines but also provide an acoustic signature indicating the surveillance ship’s presence to any submarines being hunted. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
20 Mar 18. JMSDF commissions new submarine rescue ship. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) commissioned the replacement submarine rescue ship JS Chiyoda in a ceremony held on 20 March in Okayama Prefecture in western Japan.
The 128m (420ft)-long ship (with pennant number ASR 404) was inducted into the JMSDF’s Submarine Flotilla 2, based in Yokosuka, shortly after being handed over by shipbuilder Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding (MES) at its facility in Tamano, the service said in a statement.
The move marks the first time a submarine rescue ship has been inducted into the JMSDF since March 2000 when JS Chihaya (ASR 403) entered service with the force.
The recently inducted ship, which was launched in October 2016, replaces the former JS Chiyoda (AS 405), which was decommissioned on the same day.
According to specifications provided by MES, the new vessel has a speed of 20kt, a standard displacement of 5,600 tonnes (6,173 tons), a beam of 20m and a draught of 5.2m. The ship, which cost JPY53.4bn (USD504m) to build, is powered by two diesel engines, each of which generates19,500hp, according to MES. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
19 Mar 18. US Navy’s USS Wasp completes flight operations with F-35B. The US Navy’s Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) has completed a series of flight operations with the F-35B Lightning II multirole fighter jet.
The aircraft from Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 (VMFA-121) initially landed on the deck of the navy ship on 5 March and has since conducted a series of landing and take-off activities, both during the day and at night.
LHD 1 and the aircraft carried out the trial programme in order to enhance the proficiency of both the pilots and the flight deck crew to operate the fighter jet at sea.
USS Wasp commanding officer captain Colby Howard said: “We have taken a giant step forward in the full operational deployment of the F-35B, and we’re looking forward to continuing our integration with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU).”
USS Wasp has arrived in the White Beach Naval Facility in Okinawa, Japan, following the completion of the flight operations.
The vessel is now set to embark more than 1,500 marines from the Okinawa-based 31st MEU to serve simultaneously as part of a regularly scheduled Indo-Pacific patrol mission.
US Marine Corps (USMC) 31st MEU commanding officer colonel Tye R Wallace said: “The 31st MEU is excited to train on this historic deployment.
“The new F-35B Lightning II is a great addition to the team. It’s a flexible aircraft, which is what the 31st MEU is all about.
“We’re always prepared and can adapt to any situation.”
The F-35 Lightning II is a fifth-generation fighter jet, which is capable of carrying out several operations such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and electronic attack missions. (Source: naval-technology.com)
19 Mar 18. Peru to construct second landing platform vessel. The Peruvian Navy and the state-run shipyard Servicios Industriales de la Marina (SIMA) signed a contract with Posco Daewoo Corporation on 15 March to build a second Makassar-class landing platform dock (LPD), BAP Paita.
SIMA is finishing construction of the first vessel of this class, BAP Pisco. In January Jane’s reported that Spanish company Escribano Mechanical and Engineering will supply a defensive weapons system for the vessel. Pisco measures 122m, displaces 11,000 tonnes, and has a top speed of 16kt; it was launched in 2017 and is scheduled to be operational this year. The Peruvian Navy laid the keel for Paita in December 2017. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
19 Mar 18. JMSDF commissions second Awaji-class minesweeper. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) commissioned its second of three Awaji-class mine countermeasures vessels (MCMVs) in a ceremony held on 16 March in Kanagawa Prefecture.
Named JS Hirado (with pennant number 305), the 67 m-long vessel was inducted into the service’s 1st Mine Warfare Force – based in Yokosuka – shortly after being handed over by shipbuilder Japan Marine United Corporation (JMU) at the company’s facility in Yokohama, according to a JMSDF statement.
Hirado was launched in February 2017 and began sea trials in September 2017. The first vessel of the class, JS Awaji , was commissioned in March 2017, while the third one is expected to enter service in 2021.
According to Jane’s Fighting Ships, the Awaji class has a crew complement of 60, a standard displacement of 690 tonnes, a beam of 11 m, and a draught of 5.2m. Each of the vessels in service is powered by two diesel engines of 2,200 hp each and has a stated top speed of 14 kt.
The hull of these platforms has been constructed from a composite fibre-reinforced plastic material to reduce weight as well as the magnetic signature of the platforms during minesweeping operations. The material is also highly corrosion-resistant, according to the JMSDF. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
16 Mar 18. Plans for new Qatari naval vessels unveiled. Key Points:
- Qatar’s corvettes will have an anti-ballistic missile capability supported by the LPD’s Kronos Power Shield radar
- Exocets and NH90 helicopters with Marte ER missiles will be their primary anti-surface weapons
The designs and capabilities of the new naval vessels that Fincantieri will build for the Qatari Emiri Naval Forces (QENF) were unveiled during the DIMDEX show held in Doha on 12–14 March.
The contract awarded to Fincantieri in 2016 covers the design and supply of four multirole corvettes, a landing platform dock (LPD), and two offshore patrol vessels (OPV).
The corvettes will be large, with a length of 107m, a full load displacement of 3,250 tonnes, and crews of 112. Although the design of the superstructure has yet to be finalised, the ships will have enclosed bows as well as hangars and flight decks for the NH90 helicopters Qatar has ordered.
While Fincantieri would not comment on the propulsion system, Jane’s understands it will be a combined diesel and diesel (CODAD) package with four 8,000kW MAN 22/38D engines driving two shafts with featherable controllable pitch propellers (FCPPs), providing a maximum speed of 28kt.
The corvette class will have a new version of Leonardo’s Athena command management system and the MBDA SAAM ESD air defence system, which is based on the Leonardo Kronos Grand Naval radar and MBDA Aster 30 Block 1 surface-to-air missiles. The missiles will be fired from two eight-cell Naval Group Syler A-50 vertical launch systems (VLS) on the bow and will be able to intercept ballistic missiles as well as air-breathing threats. Close-in air defence will be provided by a Raytheon RIM-116 RAM launcher mounted above the hangar. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/IHS Jane’s)
AIR
22 Mar 18. Chilean Air Force receives more Embraer Super Tucanos. Brazil’s Embraer delivered two new A-29B Super Tucano light strike aircraft to the Chilean Air Force in mid-March, senior military sources in Santiago told Jane’s. These are part of an order for six Super Tucanos, which Embraer first announced in October 2017 without unveiling the customer’s identity. That order is in addition to 12 A-29Bs, worth USD120m, that Chile ordered in August 2008 and received between 2009 and 2010. Chile’s Air Group 1, based at Los Condores Air Force Base in Iquique, in the north, uses the aircraft as tactical trainers and as close air support for the army’s armoured brigades deployed in northern territories. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
21 Mar 18. Russia gives Serbia two An-26 transport aircraft. Russia will donate two An-26 twin-engine turboprop transport aircraft to Serbia, Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin revealed on 19 March while visiting Batajnica air base.
Vulin visited the base to present six Utva V-54 (Lasta 95) piston-engine aircraft of the 252nd Training Squadron, which will receive an additional eight aircraft of this type by the end of 2018.
Want to read more? For analysis on this article and access to all our insight content, please enquire about our subscription options at ihs.com/contact. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
21 Mar 18. Philippine Navy commissions second donated TC-90 aircraft. Key Points:
- The Philippine Navy has inducted a second TC-90 aircraft it received from Japan
- Airframe will improve the service’s aerial maritime surveillance capabilities
The Philippine Navy has commissioned another Beechcraft TC-90 King Air aircraft from Japan.
The aircraft, which was formerly in service with the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) as a training platform, was commissioned on 19 March in an ‘activation and blessing’ ceremony at the services Naval Air Group headquarters at Sangley Point, Cavite City, and given the tail number 392. The aircraft is part of an assistance package of five TC-90s donated by the Japanese government to improve the Philippine Navy’s maritime surveillance capabilities. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
21 Mar 18. Red Arrows crash, one killed. A BAE Systems Hawk jet trainer from the UK Royal Air Force (RAF) Red Arrows aerobatic team crashed on 20 March, killing one of the two crew members.
The aircraft came down over RAF Valley on the island of Anglesey in North Wales. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed that, while the pilot ejected safely, an engineer travelling in the rear seat did not and was killed. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
20 Mar 18. Japan pays a premium for locally built F-35s. Key Points:
- F-35s assembled in Japan cost about USD33m more than imported types
- Japan could look to improve costs efficiencies through expanded local involvement
The cost of locally building Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) is about USD33m more than importing the same aircraft from the United States, Jane’s has learnt. The price difference is due to factors including the foreign exchange rate and the smaller scale of Japanese production runs. Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) operates a final assembly and check out (FACO) facility in Nagoya from where it started working on F-35s in 2015.
The JASDF has ordered 42 F-35As, with the initial four aircraft to be imported from the United States – the first of which was handed over to the force in late 2016. The remaining 38 F-35As are to be assembled and delivered from the FACO facility. The first of these aircraft was rolled out in June 2017.
Confirming the price difference to Jane’s , a spokesperson from the Japanese Ministry of Defence’s (MoD’s) Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) said the unit price of the F-35s “depends greatly on the foreign exchange rate of each fiscal year [and] the difference in procurement methods between importing completed F-35s from the US and assembling F-35s in the Japanese FACO facility”.
The spokesperson explained that in fiscal year 2012 when Japan first ordered the F-35 through the import of completed aircraft the exchange rate was JPY81 per USD1, and that this resulted in the unit cost of imported F-35s reaching JPY9.6bn (or USD90.1m at constant 2018). (Source: IHS Jane’s)
16 Mar 18. Brazil boosts Seahawk operations. The Brazilian Navy has expanded the capabilities of its six Sikorsky S-70B Seahawk multirole helicopters. Known by its local designation of SH-16, six of these helicopters are operated by Squadron HS-1 from São Pedro Naval Air Base (BAeNSPA). Four SH-16s were received in August 2012 and another two in August 2015 through the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme for USD396m including technical services and provisions for new equipment. Six removable door-mounted weapon mounts armed with 7.62×51 mm FN Herstal MAG58M machine guns were inducted by the end of 2017 to increase ability of the SH-16s to counter asymmetric threats. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
PLANT CLOSURES, JOB LOSSES AND STRIKES
15 Mar 18. Luftwaffe chief dismissed over F-35 support. The Chief of the Luftwaffe is to leave his position in large part due to his support for a German procurement of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), Jane’s has learned.
Lieutenant General Karl Müllner will leave his position by the end of May, with the news of his retirement breaking just two days after Germany’s defence secretary, Ursula von der Leyen, was sworn in for another term.
Jane’s understands that Gen Müllner’s outspoken public support for the JSF as a successor to the German Tornado fleet was pivotal in the decision for his early retirement. “The Luftwaffe considers the F-35’s capability as the benchmark for the selection process for the Tornado replacement, and I think I have expressed myself clearly enough as to what the favourite of the air force is,” Gen Müllner told Jane’s and other media in November 2017.
The Chief of the Luftwaffe’s active support of the JSF clashes with current Ministry of Defence planning, which prefers a successor solution involving the Eurofighter Typhoon. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/IHS Jane’s)
MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT
PERSONNEL
23 Mar 18. Peruvian Army establishes multipurpose brigade. The Peruvian Army on 20 March formally established its new 1st Multipurpose Brigade ‘Mariscal Eloy Gaspar Ureta Montehermoso’, assigned to II Division.
The unit, based in Lima, has 1,500 troops and comprises four rapid intervention companies, a medical battalion, a fumigation unit, and others. The objective is to progressively expand the brigade until it has 4,000 personnel. In a statement the Peruvian Ministry of Defence said the brigade will have an unspecified number of MAN trucks, one MTU-20 bridge-laying truck with an 18m platform, and will be supported by helicopters carrying Bambi Buckets assigned to the army’s air wing. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
20 Mar 18. Germany chooses Ulm for new proposed NATO logistics command. A proposed new NATO logistics command aimed at deterring Russia would be based in the southern German city of Ulm, the German Defence Ministry told lawmakers on Tuesday.
It said a broad plan for the new Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC) would be completed by mid-April, with a formal decision by NATO expected at a meeting of alliance defence ministers from June 7-8.
“As a framework nation for the JSEC, we can make a significant contribution to burden-sharing in the alliance,” state secretary in the Defence Ministry Peter Tauber told lawmakers in a letter.
As part of its response to Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region, NATO is considering the new logistics command to move troops more quickly across Europe in any possible conflict. A second command, a North Atlantic planning and strategy command, would also be set up to keep shipping lanes safe from enemy submarines.
Tauber said locating the command in Ulm would create synergies since the city in southern Germany is already home to Germany’s Multinational Joint Headquarters, which plans and exercises command and control of global crisis management operations for the United Nations, NATO or the European Union.
Germany had also considered sites near Bonn and Cologne.
Diplomats told Reuters last month that the two new commands would have up to 1,500 personnel in total.
Germany’s offer to host the command comes amid growing pressure from the United States and eastern European allies for Berlin to increase its military spending, which still falls short of the NATO target of 2 percent of gross domestic product.
The strategy will add to NATO’s deterrent against Russia, which involves rotating forces in the Baltics, Poland and in the Black Sea region.
(Source: Reuters)
20 Mar 18. Canada to deploy aviation task force to Mali. The Canadian government will deploy an aviation task force and support personnel to Mali, Minister for National Defence Harjit Sajjan and Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland announced on 19 March. The task force will provide tactical airlift and logistics for the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) by supplying two Boeing CH-147F (CH-47) Chinook and four Bell CH-146 (412EP) Griffon helicopters for armed escort duty. An unstated number of support personnel will also be deployed to the country. The deployment is expected to begin in August and last for 12 months. MINUSMA began in 2013 after a rebellion in the north of the country and a subsequent coup d’etat. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
19 Mar 18. 10th Mountain Division Takes Command of OIR Ground Troops. The Army’s 10th Mountain Division today assumed authority today of Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command Operation Inherent Resolve from the Army’s 1st Armored Division during a transfer of authority ceremony at Forward Operating Base Union III here.
The transfer of authority between commanders was symbolized by Army Maj. Gen. Robert P. White’s casing of the 1st Armored Division’s colors as Army Maj. Gen. Walter E. Piatt, commander of the 10th Mountain Division and CJFLCC-OIR, uncased the his division’s colors at the coalition’s military headquarters here.
CJFLCC-OIR is the land component of the coalition force representing 75 nations and international organizations that have joined to enable partnered Iraqi forces to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Iraq and restore stability and security.
The Fight Continues
“The Iron Soldiers saw the end of the tough fight to seize the crown jewel of [the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s] so-called caliphate in Mosul,” said Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve commander Army Lt. Gen. Paul E. Funk II. “Life is beginning to stabilize in liberated areas, but the battle against this barbaric enemy is not over.”
The ceremony was widely attended by troops from all coalition nations stationed in Iraq, as well as Iraqi officials. Funk acknowledged the strength of the partnership and the importance of Iraq’s leadership in the fight to defeat ISIS. “I appreciate your confidence, courage and commitment,” he said to the coalition’s Iraqi partners.
White also acknowledged Iraq’s leadership and sacrifice in the mission to defeat ISIS here. “Thousands of Iraqi martyrs made this possible,” he said.
The ceremony marks the end of a nine-month deployment for the 1st Armored Division soldiers from Fort Bliss, Texas, and marks the beginning of a new journey for the “Mountain Soldiers” from Fort Drum, New York. “We have come to serve this coalition and the Iraqi security forces,” Piatt said.
The transfer of authority between 1st Armored Division and 10th Mountain Division is part of a headquarters consolidation within Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, representing another step forward in reducing U.S. troop levels in accordance with the request of Iraq’s government.
CJFLCC’s mission continues to support training, advising and equipping Iraq’s security forces to achieve the lasting defeat of ISIS and help provide security to the people of Iraq.
“We are deeply honored to take our place in this coalition,” Piatt said.
(Source: US DoD)
EUROPE APPOINTMENTS
16 Mar 18. The German general named on Friday to lead defence procurement reforms vowed to continue the course set by his predecessor, Katrin Suder, a former McKinsey consultant who won praise for boosting transparency and being frank with industry.
Lieutenant General Benedikt Zimmer, now Suder’s deputy, will take over as state secretary after Suder decided to step down, the ministry said in a statement.
“We will decisively continue the course we have charted,” Zimmer said. “It is our responsibility to push for the best possible equipment for our troops and the urgently needed digitalization of the Bundeswehr (German military).”
The announcement should calm concerns voiced by German weapons makers who had worried that they might face another shift in procurement policy, depending on who replaced Suder.
Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said Zimmer had been Suder’s deputy since she arrived at the ministry in 2014, helping to shape reforms aimed at bringing order to military buying after repeated cost overruns and technical setbacks.
“The reforms we have begun to modernize procurement need a steady course over many years,” she said. “With (Zimmer) we will be able to continue the plans we have begun.”
Suder was the chief architect of reforms aimed at making the convoluted German procurement process more transparent and insulating the government from further massive cost overruns such as those seen on the troubled multi-nation A400M military transport program run by Airbus.
Industry executives have generally welcomed Suder’s changes, although more stringent contractual needs have delayed some big programs, including a missile defence project to be run by Europe’s MBDA and Lockheed Martin of the United States. In a raft of other staffing changes, Lieutenant General Eberhard Zorn, now head of military personnel, was named to succeed General Volker Wieker, who will retire next month after eight years as the top uniformed officer in the Bundeswehr. Lieutenant General Karl Muellner, the head of the Air Force, will retire in May, will be replaced by Major General Ingo Gerhartz, the ministry said. (Source: glstrade.com/Reuters)
U.S. APPOINTMENTS
23 Mar 18. Donald Trump announced in a tweet he was replacing national security adviser H.R. McMaster with John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who has advocated the use of military force against North Korea and Iran and has previously been rejected as a negotiating partner by Pyongyang.
(Source: Reuters)
19 Mar 18. USAF Col. Daniel T. Lasica has been nominated for appointment to the rank of brigadier general. Lasica is currently serving as the commander, 20th Fighter Wing, Air Combat Command, Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina.
REST OF THE WORLD APPOINTMENTS
19 Mar 18. China promotes foreign minister, names new defence chief. China on 19 March elevated the status of its current foreign minister and selected a new defence minister as the country deals with rocky relations with the US and expands its military.
The rubber-stamp National People’s Congress endorsed the appointment of Foreign Minister Wang Yi, 64, as state councillor, making him a ranking member of the country’s ‘cabinet’.
He replaces Yang Jiechi, China’s former top diplomat, who was tipped for a leading role in managing Beijing’s increasingly uncertain relations with the US under President Donald Trump.
While Yang was known for his good relationships with former US officials, it is unclear what advantages Wang, who was once ambassador to Japan, would have for handling the sensitive relationship at a time of growing trade tensions.
China’s chief diplomat also faces ongoing regional maritime disputes in the South China Sea, with Beijing facing criticism over its construction of artificial islands capable of hosting military equipment.
The government reshuffle on 19 March included the naming of General Wei Fenghe, 64, as minister of defence.
He was formerly the head of China’s strategic missile force and is seen as having played a key role in President Xi Jinping’s effort to reform the military.
Earlier in March 2018, Beijing announced an 8.1% increase in military spending in 2018 as it seeks to modernise its forces and expand its capabilities. China opened its first overseas base in the Horn of African country of Djibouti in 2017.
Wang and Wei were among a raft of appointments approved by the parliament, including US-educated economic reformer Yi Gang as the new governor of the central bank and Fu Zhenghua as the new minister of justice.
Fu, who was once Beijing’s top cop, is thought to have led the investigation into Zhou Yongkang, the former security czar who was jailed in 2015 as part of Xi’s anti-corruption campaign.
Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan was kept at his post and faces the tough task of dealing with a potential trade war with the US. (Source: Shephard)
INDUSTRY
INDUSTRY TEAMINGS
21 Mar 18. The UK Ministry of Defence has appointed an alliance team led by BAE Systems to deliver its Type 45 Power Improvement Project (PIP). BAE Systems joined with shipbuilding and conversion specialist Cammell Laird and naval design and technical support expert BMT to win the contract, and today signed a charter on board HMS Diamond along with representatives from the Royal Navy and MoD to celebrate the alliance. The project will improve resilience in the Royal Navy’s Type 45 Destroyer power and propulsion system by replacing the existing two diesel generators, fitting an additional diesel generator and modifying the high voltage system on each ship. The alliance has drawn on each member’s expertise across the defence and commercial sectors, and draws on proven power and propulsion capability and over 30 years of unique Type 45 design, build and support experience.
David Mitchard, Managing Director, BAE Systems Maritime Services, said: “We are immensely proud to support the Royal Navy’s Type 45 fleet whether at home or on deployment around the world. By combining the collective knowledge, experience and skills of BAE Systems, Cammell Laird and BMT we are demonstrating our commitment to present a robust technical solution with an innovative commercial alliance. Our aim is to rapidly restore command confidence in the power and propulsion system of the Type 45 fleet, demonstrate value for money and safeguard vital skills for future generations of warship support.”
Jeremy Berwick, Managing Director, BMT Defence and Security, said: “We firmly believe in the power of teamwork and this agreement sets the seal on the coming together of three highly complementary partners to form the very best team. We look forward to working with our partners to deliver a fresh, lean and rapid solution for the Royal Navy.”
Linton Roberts, Managing Director, Cammell Laird, said: “Cammell Laird is delighted and proud to have been selected to undertake the Type 45 Power Improvement Programme in partnership with BAE Systems and BMT. This highly collaborative approach is very much in line with the Government’s National Shipbuilding Strategy by maximising the effectiveness of the complementary expertise and experience of each partner. The Ministry of Defence has driven a challenging competition for this contract, and we are confident that our Alliance will deliver a very innovative technical solution to the Royal Navy.”
The scope of the PIP competition was split into two lots, comprising major procurement, design and integration of the solution, and the physical installation and replacement of equipment onboard the Type 45 vessels. The BAE Systems-led team competed in and won both lots, with work set to begin immediately.
The installation and replacement of equipment is planned to take place at Cammell Laird’s shipyard in Birkenhead, Merseyside, before a series of harbour and sea trials will enable the ships to return to their home at Portsmouth Naval Base, where they will return to Royal Navy operations supported by BAE Systems.
The Type 45 fleet is supported by BAE Systems at home and overseas. The Type 45 destroyers are the United Kingdom’s most advanced air defence warship and resolving the power and propulsion issues will allow the Royal Navy to carry out its full range of operations to protect UK and NATO interests anywhere around the world, with confidence in the power and propulsion system.
18 Mar 18. Australian, French firms set up naval engineering joint venture. Australian firm Memko, a supplier of defence sustainment and support services, has signed an agreement with French engineering company Ingeliance Technologies to form a joint venture (JV) in Australia.
Memko said on 15 March that the memorandum of understanding (MOU) will see the establishment of a new company – called Ingeliance Australia – to promote and provide naval engineering services in the country. Details about the investment in the JV were not disclosed. Memko, based in Melbourne, said the JV will focus on jointly developing opportunities related to naval engineering services and will look to build capability and capacity through staff exchanges and collaborating with Australian universities in developing graduate engineering skills. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
PERSONNEL
20 Mar 18. Airbus to name new CEO at the end of the year. The board of Airbus (AIR.PA) will nominate a new CEO at the end of the year, the European aerospace company said on Tuesday as it pledged to implement an independent selection process.
The announcement follows media speculation and political comments about the succession to German-born Tom Enders, with Airbus saying the choice of his replacement would be led by an independent committee backed by external headhunters.
The new CEO’s name will be submitted to shareholders at the annual meeting in spring 2019 and Enders will help to secure a smooth transition, the company said in a statement.
Former Airbus No.2 Fabrice Bregier was until recently seen as heir apparent to long-time rival Enders, but in December the board agreed the staggered departure of both executives.
Their feud had reached boiling point when Enders removed the commercial sales arm from Bregier’s control last summer. Bregier left in February and Enders announced he would not seek a new term when his mandate expires in 2019, contradicting earlier signals indicating he would stay.
The main internal candidate is Guillaume Faury, the former head of the group’s helicopter unit, who stepped into Bregier’s shoes as planemaking boss last month.
Le Figaro reported this month that Faury could combine the CEO role with day-to-day control of the planemaking arm.
Industry observers say the Airbus board is keen to assert control of the appointments process after the company changed its rules in 2013 to reduce the influence of the French and German governments, which each own 11 percent.
During the first 12 years after a pan-European merger in 2000, top jobs had been divided up between France and Germany to protect national interests. Now there are fewer restrictions.
GERMAN SUPPORT
However, alarm bells rang at the company when German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said this month that Berlin would not oppose a suitable French candidate to replace Enders.
Under Airbus’s previous system of indirect state control, such a concession might have eased traditional Franco-German rivalries over who should run the politically sensitive group.
But since 2013, the board has been at pains to emphasize its independence, meaning even supportive political statements have occasionally triggered a frosty response.
Even now, Airbus watchers say few outside the company believe the French and German governments are blind to who runs Airbus, especially in the light of recent corruption investigations over commercial jetliner and fighter sales.
They add that the nationality of the CEO could influence the position of chairman, since the roles have been divided between French and German candidates, even since the 2013 reforms. Chairman Denis Ranque’s mandate expires in 2020.
Alexandre de Juniac, head of the International Air Transport Association, had been tipped in several media reports as a potential CEO but said this month that the job was not on his agenda.
Enders told staff in January that he would remain fully focused on strategic initiatives, but some analysts have said that the company faces months of uncertainty until a successor is named. (Source: Reuters)
EUROPE APPOINTMENTS
20 Mar 18. New CEO at ATLAS ELEKTRONIK: Michael Ozegowski takes over with effect of May 1st, 2018. Michael Ozegowski (52) has been appointed the new Speaker of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of ATLAS ELEKTRONIK GmbH with effect of May 1st, 2018. He succeeds Dr. Jens Bodo Koch who is to become CEO of Heckler & Koch Group. As before, Alexander Kocherscheidt as CFO completes the management board of ATLAS ELEKTRONIK, which is an operating unit of Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems since 2017.
22 Mar 18. Ultra announced the appointment of Simon Pryce as its Chief Executive Officer. He will join the Group and its Board on 18 June 2018. Simon was Group Chief Executive Officer of BBA Aviation plc (“BBA”) from 2007 to 2017. Despite challenging market conditions, Simon led BBA’s transformation from an aggregation of loosely-related aviation and defence businesses to the world’s leading business and general aviation service provider, through effective strategic and portfolio management and a focus on operational performance, financial discipline and cash generation. Simon is a non-executive director of Electrocomponents plc, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and a member of the Council of the University of Reading. Prior to joining BBA Aviation, he held a number of international finance and management roles at GKN plc, and previously worked at JP Morgan and Lazards in London and New York. He is a chartered accountant and a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment. Douglas Caster, who assumed the role of Executive Chairman in November 2017 at the request of the Board, will revert to being non-executive Chairman on 18 June 2018.
U.S. APPOINTMENTS
22 Mar 18. Alliance Memory, a manufacturer of hard-to-find SRAM, DRAM, and SDRAM ICs, today announced the appointment of Tom Gargan as director of sales. In his new role, Mr. Gargan is expanding Alliance Memory’s sales coverage in key areas of North America, including Canada, New England, and upstate New York. Prior to joining Alliance Memory, Mr. Gargan served in management roles at Future Electronics over the course of 18 years. Most recently, as global commodity manager, he was responsible for managing inventory worldwide, working closely with a Future Electronics purchasing team and manufacturers in Europe and Asia.
16 Mar 18. The Boeing [NYSE: BA] board of directors has elected David L. Calhoun to the role of Lead Director, effective upon his re-election to the board at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders on April 30, 2018. Kenneth M. Duberstein, Boeing’s long standing and longest serving Lead Director, is to be nominated for re-election at the meeting as a Director to serve an additional year from 2018 to 2019 to aid in the transition. Calhoun has served on the Boeing board since 2009 and is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Private Equity Portfolio Operations of the Blackstone Group, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nielsen, and former Vice Chairman of General Electric and executive leader of its infrastructure, aircraft engines, and transportation businesses.
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PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS
23 Mar 18. Defence Committee. Oral Evidence Session, Armed Forces And Veterans Mental Health.
Tuesday 27 March 2018 Committee Room 16, Palace of Westminster
At 11.30am
- Sir Simon Wessely, Director, King’s Centre for Military Health Research, King’s College London
- Professor Nicola Fear, Director, King’s Centre for Military Health Research, King’s College London
- Matt Fossey, Director, Veterans and Families Institute, Anglia Ruskin University
- Professor Susan Klein, Professor of Health and Social Care, Veterans and Families Institute, Anglia Ruskin University
This is the first session of the Committee’s inquiry into the extent of mental health issues in both serving Armed Forces personnel and veterans across the UK. In this session, the Committee will take evidence from leading academics on the current research in the field and on how the data relating to the Armed Forces community compares to results from the wider population. The Committee will also be able to explore the extent to which mental health issues may be attributable to or be mitigated by military service.
22 Mar 18. MoD Needs Coherent Approach To Increasing Competition In Procurement. Ministry must also do all it can to ensure UK suppliers are not disadvantaged by Brexit, urges Committee. The Report noted above. It examines three aspects of the MoD’s acquisition and support arrangements: non-competitive procurement, ‘cannibalisation’ in the Royal Navy, and contingent liabilities. The Committee also has an open inquiry on the Defence Equipment Plan for which it took evidence on 14 March. Transcript here.
Report Summary
Non-competitive procurement
Around 50% of the Department’s procurement of equipment is not subject to competition. We recognise that there are sometimes valid reasons why procurement cannot be done competitively and the Department must use a single supplier. Nevertheless, while the Department should not introduce competition for the sake of it, there is scope to do more to reduce levels of non-competitive procurement in line with stated government policy.
The Single Source Contract Regulations, introduced in 2014, have led to some improvements in transparency around contract costs. However, there are still too many contracts which the Department has not brought within the scope of the regulations, with some suppliers still refusing to be subject to the regulations or provide all the required information.
So far, the financial savings arising from application of the Regulations are very limited, and the Department will need to ramp up progress and have a clear strategy on increasing competition if it is to achieve its 10-year savings target of £1.7bn.
We would also like to see stronger powers for the Single Source Regulations Office.
Cannibalisation
The Department invests heavily in supporting its vessels, but experienced problems when bringing into service the Type 45 destroyers and Astute-class submarines. In the Navy, the levels of ‘cannibalisation’ (taking parts from one vessel to keep another going) have increased 49% in five years overall, and there has been a particular issue with the Type 45s and the Astutes.
The Department does not have the data, controls and processes to routinely monitor cannibalisation and its costs across the Navy. The reasons behind the increase need to be better understood and managed so as not to adversely affect operations and increase costs.
Contingent liabilities
The Department has repeatedly failed to comply with long established procedures when identifying a contingent liability in a contract, denying both Parliament and the Treasury the means to scrutinise the extent to which the taxpayer might be exposed to potentially huge liabilities in the future.
Four cases were identified in 2016 and 2017 before a review was undertaken, which identified 12 more cases within Defence Equipment and Support.
The Committee’s full Conclusions and Recommendations are set out in the attached Report.
Comment From PAC Chair Meg Hillier MP, “This wide-ranging report highlights a need for the MoD to toughen up oversight and scrutiny of the way it conducts aspects of its business. In particular it is concerning that the Ministry still lacks a clear strategy to drive competition in its procurement of equipment – something that will be vital if it is to make planned savings of £1.7bn. Some suppliers are refusing to fall into line with contracting regulations that have been in place since 2014. This is unacceptable and Government must ensure the Single Source Regulations Office has the teeth to do its job properly. We are also concerned about the potential impact of Brexit on British defence contractors seeking to export their products or form the international alliances that are essential to their work. The Ministry must give serious thought to what it can do to support UK suppliers while ensuring there is sufficient diversity in the market to promote competitive procurement.”
22 Mar 18. National Security Capability Review: A Changing Security Environment. Interviews possible with Chair, Margaret Beckett MP (Thurs/Fri am); Lord Harris is available on Friday morning.
Media bids for interviews to Estelle Currie on curriee@parliament.uk or 020 7219 8211 or 07834171965
‘Halfway house’ Security Capability Review gives Committee on National Security Strategy cause for concern
The importance of a robust and coherent process in setting national security strategy has been underlined by the JCNSS, with today’s publication of its first Report on the National Security Capability Review (NSCR).
In 2017, the Government launched the NSCR as a ‘quick refresh’ of national security capabilities in the light of changing security challenges. The NSCR is still underway, but the Committee’s Report offers preliminary comments on the process and key issues that the Review should address.
The election of the Trump administration in the United States, the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, intensifying threats to the UK’s security and a significant structural hole in the defence budget all presented real reasons to revisit the 2015 the 2015 National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review before the next expected review in 2020.
But the decision to focus on capabilities, and not the underlying strategy, does not do justice to the changes to the wider security environment, says the Joint Committee.
The announcement in January of the Modernising Defence Programme (MDP) puts work on defence on a different basis and timeline from the rest of the Review. It appears that the NSCR has inadvertently become an uncomfortable ‘halfway house’ between a ‘quick refresh’ of national security capabilities and a full review.
An honest conversation on defence spending is required if the Government is to match ambitions for national security with the realities of the UK’s capabilities and funding.
Nonetheless, the Review offers an opportunity to improve cross-government security policy and the Joint Committee welcomes the Government’s apparent focus on deterrence and resilience as a way of achieving this. It particularly calls on the Government to focus on deterring threats that fall short of an act of war.
The Joint Committee also calls on the Government to confirm the future of the NSS and SDSR process, including when the next full review will be held and whether it will be run by the Cabinet Office alongside a Spending Review.
Chair of the Committee, Margaret Beckett MP, said, “There were good reasons for the Government to revisit the 2015 National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review just two years after it was published, in the light of changes to the security environment. Some of these were unpredictable but others, such as the structural hole in the defence budget, have revealed flaws in the Government’s original document. However, the Joint Committee has cause for concern about the format of this Capability Review. It has unexpectedly grown from being a quick and contained refresh of all national security capabilities into a lengthier process, and one that now will consider defence and security separately. Although justified in this case, we are concerned that this could represent a backwards step at a time when the changing threats to the UK’s security require much greater co-ordination between Government Departments in response. The nation’s security capabilities are too important to be allowed to evolve without proper thought or direction by ministers.”
21 Mar 18. The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy published its Report ‘National Security Capability Review: A changing security environment’ on Friday 23 March 2018 at 00.01am GMT. This will be the Committee’s First Report of Session 2017–19 (HL Paper 104, HC 756).
Embargoed electronic copies of the Report are available from 9.00am on Thursday 22 March: media copies will be available from Estelle Currie, the Committee’s media officer (see contact details below). Embargoed copies will be supplied automatically to those who gave oral evidence to the inquiry.
The Report was made available on the Committee’s website, www.parliament.uk/jcnss, on Friday 23 March, 2018.
Further information: Committee membership: Margaret Beckett (Chair) (Labour); Lord Brennan (Labour); Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat); Yvette Cooper (Labour); James Gray (Conservative); Mr Dominic Grieve (Conservative); Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Conservative); Lord Harris of Haringey (Labour); Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill (Labour); Baroness Henig (Labour); Dan Jarvis (Labour); Lord King of Bridgwater (Conservative); Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho (Crossbench); Dr Julian Lewis (Conservative); Angus Brendan MacNeil (Scottish National Party); Robert Neill (Conservative); Lord Powell of Bayswater (Crossbench); Rachel Reeves (Labour); Lord Trimble (Conservative); Tom Tugendhat (Conservative); Stephen Twigg (Labour) (Co-op); Theresa Villiers (Conservative).
19 Mar 18. Regulatory divergence ‘self-defeating’ for aerospace sector post-Brexit. The best way for the aerospace sector to take advantage of global growth opportunities post-Brexit is to maintain harmonisation and not diverge from international standards, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee concludes.
Impact of Brexit on aerospace sector
A report on the impact of Brexit on the aerospace sector, says any departure and divergence from global standards would be ‘utterly self-defeating’ with no trade-off between close harmonisation with the EU and access to markets beyond.
The industry stands to benefit from substantial growth opportunities beyond the EU in the coming years, with 34,000 deliveries of new aircraft worldwide forecast between 2017 and 2036.
The Committee concludes that the best way to take advantage of increasing global demand is continued membership of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and that a departure could be protracted and costly and give no practical benefit. It calls on the Government to bring certainty and clarity by ruling out the UK’s departure without a deal.
The report states that non-tariff barriers remain a significant concern to the industry, with delays at the border of even just a few hours a risk to the competitiveness of the sector.
Evidence suggests that increased checks at the future UK-EU border could add £1.5bn a year to costs for an industry which relies on just-in-time supply chains.
Aerospace accounts for 7 per cent of manufacturing output in the UK and directly employs 114,000 people. One of the key players is Airbus UK, while other major firms in the civil aerospace sector include Rolls-Royce, Bombardier, GKN and Leonardo Helicopters.
Success dependent on participation in European and global supply chains
Rachel Reeves MP, Chair of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, said:
“The aerospace sector is one of the most productive and fastest growing in the UK but this success is highly dependent on participation in European and global supply chains. The health of the industry relies on components moving quickly across borders with delays of even a few hours having a significant impact on costs.
Given this, the Government must ensure custom procedures are kept to an absolute minimum after we leave the EU.
In a truly global industry, membership of EASA gives the UK access to markets across the world through internationally recognised safety standards. Leaving would be completely counter-productive and leave the aerospace industry facing total chaos.
The Government should now rule out leaving EASA to ensure the UK aerospace industry has the best possible chance of success post-Brexit.
The Committee has now examined the impact of Brexit on three key sectors of the UK economy, the automotive and civil nuclear sector and now aerospace, and the lessons are similar each time: the best way forward for jobs and businesses lies in alignment, harmonisation and participation in EU supply chains and regulatory bodies.”
With the aerospace sector a significant beneficiary of EU funding, the Committee also says the UK should maintain its membership of Horizon 2020, the Clean Sky Joint Understanding and other collaborative R&D programmes.
House of Commons and House of Lords Hansard Written Answers
Q
Asked by Nia Griffith
(Llanelli)
[N]
Asked on: 16 March 2018
Cabinet Office
National Security Capability Review: Risk Assessment
133045
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2018 to Question 131358, on Defence: Modernisation, whether the National Security Capability Review will include new risk assessments separate to the National Security Risk Assessment.
A
Answered by: Mr David Lidington
Answered on: 22 March 2018
The National Security Capability Review was conducted in support of the implementation of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Security and Defence Review, to help ensure that the underlying policies and plans were as joined-up, efficient, and effective as possible. The review drew upon the existing National Security Risk Assessment and refreshed our understanding of the challenges based upon the current national security context.
The National Security Council has agreed the high-level findings of the National Security Capability Review. Ministers have agreed that we should finalise the National Security Capability Review with a view to publishing the conclusions in late spring.
Q
Asked by Lloyd Russell-Moyle
(Brighton, Kemptown)
[N]
Asked on: 29 January 2018
Ministry of Defence
Yemen: Military Intervention
125356
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many allegations of violations of International Human Law in Yemen by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia his Department has received in each of the last 12 months; and what steps his Department has taken to investigate those allegations.
A
Answered by: Mark Lancaster
Answered on: 21 March 2018
As at 21 March 2018, the number of alleged instances of breaches or violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in Yemen listed on the “Tracker” database maintained by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) is 350. Of these, 14 are duplicate entries, which means that some incidents will have been recorded on more than one occasion, likely because of the incomplete nature of Non-Governmental Organisation and media reporting upon which the MOD relies to update the “Tracker”. Aggregating this information would be misleading without the addition of sensitive contextual information, which I am withholding as its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice relations between the United Kingdom and other States.
The MOD does not investigate allegations of Saudi-led coalition IHL violations. The Saudi-led Coalition is best placed to do this, and does so through its Joint Incident Assessment Team. MOD analysis of alleged IHL violations is used to form an overall view on Saudi Arabia’s approach and attitude to IHL.
Q
Asked by The Marquess of Lothian
Asked on: 13 March 2018
Ministry of Defence
Defence: Finance
HL6305
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the comments by Rear Admiral Alex Burton, former Commander UK Maritime Forces, that without higher spending on defence as a percentage of GDP, the UK’s military credibility and ability to fight and win on the front line will be affected.
A
Answered by: Earl Howe
Answered on: 21 March 2018
The commitment to spend at least two per cent of GDP on defence came following a thorough examination of threats and risks, after which the Government decided on an appropriate level of funding. This budget will rise by at least 0.5% above inflation every year of this Parliament. Defence is committed to ensuring the British Armed Forces can continue to make their crucial contribution to Britain’s status as a global power and to British security and prosperity. The Modernising Defence Programme aims to modernise Defence, to deliver better military capability and value for money. This will involve reviewing the capabilities that we require to address the threats that we are facing, both now and in the future.
Q
Asked by Nia Griffith
(Llanelli)
[N]
Asked on: 16 March 2018
Ministry of Defence
Porton Down: Chemical Weapons
133015
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Hard as well as soft power: the case for modern defence, published by his Department on 15 March 2018, whether the £48 million funding that he announced for a new chemical weapons defence centre is in addition to the £115 million allocated to project Helios.
A
Answered by: Guto Bebb
Answered on: 21 March 2018
The £48 million funding is in addition to the funding of Project Helios. The Chemical Weapons Defence Centre (CWDC) has been designed to be built as an adjacent linked building as part of the final construction of Helios. This was done to gain maximum efficiency of construction costs and reduce overall running costs. The final phase of Project Helios has already been approved by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The CWDC and the final build under Project Helios have been subject to review within the MOD, the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury prior to their approval.