BATTLESPACE UPDATE Vol.20 ISSUE 24

BATTLESPACE UPDATE Vol.20 ISSUE 2

11 June 2018

NEWS

NEWS IN BRIEF – EUROPE

Baltic Air Policing: New Missions

OP ALTHEA: Deployment

F-35B Lightning II: First Arrivals

Asia-Pacific: Regional Security

Romania: CAS Visits

Iran: Sanctions

EW: Teaming Agreement

Autonomous Minesweeping: Trials

Defence Budget: Letter to PM

HMS DUNCAN: Rescue at Sea

Inmarsat rejects EchoStar Bid

Unity in Meeting Security Threats

Weapons for future French Tiger

Poland cancels 4×4 Mustang

US, Europe sync battlefield

Russian, Chinese firms at Eurosatory

ISIS Cannot Be Allowed To Exist

Belgium, Netherlands buy warships

Germany boosts defence spending?

Bulgaria to buy fighters and APCs

NATO Approves Joint Force Commands

New NATO Initiatives

U.S. pushes NATO to ready forces

UK secondments to EU to cease

Bulgarian defence exports

NEWS IN BRIEF – USA

FY19 defense budget

JSTARS recap showdown

Google bars AI in weapons

Watchdog warns Pentagon on F-35

The Army’s Big Six

Change to export process?

NEWS IN BRIEF – REST OF THE WORLD

Afghanistan Making Progress

First export sale for RoK helo

Indian MoD clears procurements

Temporary ceasefire with Taliban

G7 – joint defence of democracies

PLA and corporate China draw closer

Operation Roundup in Syria

Iran Still Seeks WMD Tech

US operations in S. China Sea

Vietnam, RoK to boost trade

Liaoning carrier group update

China’s AVIC ownership reform

Aus agencies support exports

Malaysia probes French sub deal?

Phase 2 of Operation Roundup

U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy

Indo-Pacific Summit

BUSINESS NEWS

Northrop/Orbital ATK Approved

Lockheed’s startup investments

Lockheed VC Fund now $200m

Airbus nears Alestis divestment

Boeing investment in Kittyhawk

Patria aircraft components ops

Thales Capital Markets Day

Webasto to Acquire AV Unit

BEML aims to double revenue

Gooch & Housego stacks shelves

TT Electronics buys Precision

NG cleared to buy Orbital ATK

Trident Completes Newsystem Buy

Aeronautics Chassis Plans acquisition

QinetiQ energised in foreign markets

Cyberbit raised $30m investment

Boeing eyes greater APAC sales

Cache Creek Acquires MSS

Bioquell Disposal of MDH

MILITARY VEHICLE NEWS

DVD2018 Focus on Innovation

Cameroon’s Fortress APCs

Austrian Bundesheer’s new AFVs

Germany’s Puma Panzer problem

Supacat Extenda Vehicle to Norway

Rheinmetall ships 200th Puma IFV

Allison at Eurosatory 2018

Bulgarian 8×8 competition

Kazakhstani firms unveil Karakurt

Dutch army receives Kodiak AEV

LOGISTICS AND THROUGH LIFE UPDATE

Royal Helos Upgraded by Northrop

Indonesian Army Apache support

Japan’s UH-1H parts to Philippines

USMC F-35s parts shortages

BAE Systems USS Cole contract

DynCorp Croatia contract

Northrop PAVE contract

Charcroft launches new website

Ravenswood support of JLTV MOT&E

NEW TECHNOLOGIES

FREQUENTIS situational awareness

Project Natick Launched

Rockwell delivers RCAF display

Leonardo DRS MFOCS Contract

SATELLITE SYSTEMS, SATCOM AND SPACE SYSTEMS UPDATE

Viasat Canadian service

Northrop EHF XDR Contract

Next Two Galileos Plus Ready

USAF getting next-gen GPS boost

Harris GPS III Navigation Payload

USMC communicate with MUOS

Comtech satellite services

ViaSat-2 SATCOM services ready

ESA proposes governance overhaul

RADAR, EO/IR, NIGHT VISION AND SURVEILLANCE UPDATE

Sofradir and ULIS reorganization

Reliable hard-kill protection

Parrot ANAFI Flying 4K HDR Camera

Hikvision/Eagle Eye partnership

Elbit introduces MAY

Team Dedrone Compete at ThunderDrone

New threat radars present challenges

Preparing for radar war modes

US Army tests detection devices

FLIR adopts growth strategy

ERA role for passive sensors

Geospectrum towed array market

Pentagon Counter-UAS Software

RoK signals AESA progression

In-House Work For J-STARS

TiCAM Target Location System

Echosounders for icebreakers

MISSILE, BALLISTICS AND SOLDIER SYSTEMS UPDATE

New US Lightweight Helmet

Indian S-400 Purchases progress

Finnish firing of Thales Crotale

Lockheed HCSW contract

MDA shooting blind on contracts?

India to further S-400 acquisition

Demos for HERO-30 Loitering System

Belarus rocket launcher drone

Baltic Republic cooperation

Russian air defence for Rwanda?

$2bn Into Israeli Missile Unit

Russian plans for nuclear subs

USN selects Raytheon/Kongsberg

PT Pindad co-operation with India

Indian flight tests of Agni 5

UNMANNED SYSTEMS UPDATE

China’s Dark Sword Stealth Drone

Shenzhen JTT Releases Drone

Kittyhawk Raises $5m Funding

USAF Reaper deploys to Greece

Rafael demos Protector USV

Airbus Zephyr Aus test centre

Knifefish acceptance testing

Chinese Payload Cargo Drone

Russia’s Katran UAV trials

C2, TACTICAL COMMUNICATIONS, AI, CYBER, EW, CLOUD COMPUTING AND HOMELAND SECURITY UPDATE

Cyber Command Recruiting Efforts

Saab to fly jamming pod by 2020

Raytheon and Australia DST EW JV

Thales Cloud offering

Leonardo DRS Vesper tuners

UK Type 45 at sea with Shaman

Leonardo BriteCloud variant

Thales, BAE and CGI Team

Frazer-Nash appointed to Morpheus

Russia’s EW capability

Avantix’s new COMINT pod.

Preparing for radar war modes

Google withdraws from AI contract

RFP for JEDI cloud contract slips

TRANSCOM cloud award cancelled?

INTERNATIONAL PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITIES

EUROPE

Saab-Damen submarine plan

Bulgarian 8×8 competition

Turkey Receives F-35 Invite

USA

TRU’s USAF simulation work?

Congress restrict F-35 Block 4?

GAO slams USN shipbuilding

RFP for JEDI cloud contract slips

REST OF THE WORLD

India approves hovercraft buy

US policy shift in military sales

Australia engages local industry

RoK strengthens import substitution

Indra Australia performance questioned

Russian air defence for Rwanda?

PTDI signs export finance deal

SME involvement in Aus projects

Indian fighters within 2 years?

Kamovs Boost India’s Defence Arsenal

RoK to reboot training helo buy

Armatec with Nortrax for CHER

Indian RFIs for USVs

CONTRACT NEWS IN BRIEF

UNITED KINGDOM

AIR

3XL Avation ISTAR contract

EUROPE

LAND

Saab NDMA Carl-Gustaf contract

SEA

Kongsberg Finnish sonar contract

TECHNOLOGY

Thales ELI-NP laser contract

USA

LAND

Northrop PAVE contract

Oshkosh FMTV contract

SEA

BAE DDG 67 contract

BAE Payload Tube contract

Insitu USCG contract

QinetiQ to support EMALS

AIR

Draken training contract

Harris DMC contract

Lockheed HCSW contract

Raytheon SM-6 contract

TECHNOLOGY

DLT Solutions Oracle contract

Raytheon FlexDAR contract

REST OF THE WORLD

LAND

Barrett Middle East contract

Kaman fuze contracts

Lincad Sojitz contract

Rheinmetall ammunition orders

SEA

CSTC Pakistan Navy contract

AIR

Northrop Japan E-2D contract

Raytheon Qatar ADOC contract

MANAGEMENT ON THE MOVE

LOCATIONS

AIR

F-35B flies into Marham

Nigerian refurbished Do 228s

Bolivia inducts light aircraft

Taiwan’s XAT-5 prototype

MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT

PERSONNEL

Carlucci Left Indelible Mark

North Korea reshuffles military

U.S. APPOINTMENTS

USMC MG John K. Love appointment

USAF LG G.K. Tuck appointment

USAF MG Brian T. Kelly appointment

USAF MG J.T. Guastella Jr. appointed

Capt. John D. Spencer selected

Rear Adm. M.A. Hitchcock appointment

REST OF THE WORLD APPOINTMENTS

Ian Irving appointed at Ai Group

INDUSTRY

INDUSTRY TEAMINGS

Boeing and Safran APU Team

PERSONNEL

EUROPE APPOINTMENTS

Raytheon UK appoints Lord Strathclyde

U.S. APPOINTMENTS

Northrop elected Blake Larson

REST OF THE WORLD APPOINTMENTS

CONTROP appoints Hagay Azani

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS

UK co-operation with EU

House of Commons and House of Lords Hansard Written Answers

Ukraine: Military Aid

Nigeria: Military Aid

Israel: Arms Trade

Guided Weapons

Defence Fire and Rescue Service

FEATURES

F-35B Lightning & 617 Squadron Come Home

By Howard Wheeldon, FRAeS, Wheeldon Strategic Advisory Ltd.

RAF Cosford Air Show – 2018 Will Be A Truly Spectacular Event

By Howard Wheeldon, FRAeS, Wheeldon Strategic Advisory Ltd.

TAILPIECE

World Bicycle Day was celebrated for the first time on 3 Jun 18. (UN Daily Press Briefing, 4 Jun 18.) (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 18/21, 11 Jun 18)

CONTACT DETAILS

Julian Nettlefold

BATTLESPACE Publications

8 Sinclair Gardens

London W14 0AT

Tel/Fax: +44 (0)207 6105520

Mobile: +44 077689 54766

e-mail j.nettlefold@battle-technology.com

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NEWS IN BRIEF – EUROPE

Sponsored by Harris Corporation

http://www.harrisforcemodernization.com

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08 Jun 18. Afghanistan Making Progress Toward Peace, Mission Commander Says. Afghanistan is making progress toward peace even as fighting continues, the commander of NATO’s Resolute Support mission, said today.

Afghan security forces are providing the power, NATO is providing support and training, and the Afghan people are providing the will in the fight against the Taliban and other extremist groups, Army Gen. John W. Nicholson said during a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

Nicholson also praised Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s announcement of a June 15 cease-fire in the country for Eid al-Fitr, the celebration that marks the end of the Muslim observance of Ramadan – a month of fasting. The move is a “bold step towards peace and stability,” the general said.

The cease-fire pertains only to operations against the Taliban. Operations will continue apace against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, al-Qaida and other violent extremist groups.

South Asia Strategy

Nicholson said the U.S. South Asia strategy has been a game-changer for Afghanistan and the region. “The objective of this strategy is reconciliation, and the strategy is working,” he added.

The level of violence between February and April in Afghanistan dropped 30 percent below the five-year average. “And in the month since the Taliban announced their offensive on April 25, violence has increased, but it is still below the five-year average,” Nicholson said.

Though violent acts still take place, the general said, the country is in a period of “fighting and talking,” as was the case in Northern Ireland and Colombia in the past. But the violent acts have not been effective, he noted. “The Taliban are no longer attempting to gain ground. They are trying to inflict casualties and gain media coverage,” Nicholson said.

For the first time, Nichoilson said, all six Afghan corps conducted offensive operations over the winter, successfully repelling 80 percent of Taliban attacks on district centers and retaking the remaining 20 percent within hours or days.

Finally, the general noted that a loya Jurga composed of 3,000 senior religious leaders issued a ruling rejecting the religious justification for suicide and terror attacks.

(Follow Jim Garamone on Twitter: @GaramoneDoDNews)

08 Jun 18. Botched deal with Bell may mean first export sale for South Korean helo. South Korea has high hopes for exporting its utility helicopter for the first time, as the Philippines look into buying the KUH-1 troop-carrying helicopter, dubbed Surion, in bids to modernize its armed forces.

Before flying back to the Philippines on June 5 after a three-day visit to South Korea, President Rodrigo Duterte attended a makeshift arms exhibition at Seoul’s Defense Ministry headquarters, where he boarded a Surion on the ground to examine the helicopter’s functions.

Right after going back to Manila, according to several Philippine media outlets, Duterte directed his Department of National Defense to look into buying Surion helicopters as an alternative to a botched deal to purchase 16 Bell 412EPI helicopters from Canada. The $233m deal was reportedly canceled earlier this year after the Canadian government raised the issue of human rights record in the Philippines.

“Surion helicopters can accommodate 16 passengers as against Bell (helicopters), which could only load up to six passengers,” Philippine National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. was quoted by The Philippine Star as saying. “And if you look at their after sales, the availability of spare parts, Bell is proven because we have Bell helicopters, but (Surion) is near to us.”

The adviser hinted his government would consider 10 to 12 Surion helicopters.

South Korean arms procurement officials are cautiously optimistic about the potential deal with the southeast Asian country.

“We’ve heard that the Philippine Air Force created a task force for looking into the viability of procuring Surion helicopters, but we have yet to receive any formal request for purchasing Surion helicopters,” said Kang Hwan-seok, spokesman for Seoul’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration, or DAPA.

Surion manufacturer Korea Aerospace Industries, or KAI, expressed high hopes for the utility helicopter’s first overseas sale. The twin-engine light utility helicopter was built with technical assistance of Airbus Helicopters, formerly known as Eurocopter, under a 2006 deal valued at about $1.2bn.

“Once Manila selects Surion, that will be the helicopter’s first overseas sales, a meaningful step toward developing an exporting market in Southeast Asia,” said Kim Ji-hyung, head of KAI’s public relations team. “As the Philippines successfully operates KAI-built FA-50 light-attack aircraft, we believe the Southeast Asian country has credibility about our products, including the Surion helicopter.”

KAI specifically focuses on promoting Surion in the T-50/FA-50 customer nations, Kim added. The Philippines bought 12 FA-50 light-attack aircraft, modified from the T-50 supersonic trainer aircraft, while Iraq placed an order of 24 FA-50 jets. Indonesia bought 15 TA-50 trainer jet with attack capabilities, while Thailand purchased 12 T-50 trainers.

Since 2010, about 200 Surions have been ordered by the South Korean Army and Marine Corps to replace the aging fleet of UH-1H and MD 500 helicopters, with deliveries of civilian variants for local police patrols and medical evacuation.

Modeled after the SA 330 Puma, the helicopter can be used in a variety of applications, including troop assault, search and rescue, tactical lift, and liaison.

The rotorcraft can accommodate two pilots, two gunners and nine fully armed troops. Without arms and equipment, it can handle 16 troops. With a maximum takeoff weight of 8,700 kilograms, the helicopter can fly at a cruise speed of 279 kph.

The helicopter recently passed de-icing tests aimed at evaluating whether it can fly in a minus 30 degrees Celsius environment for at least 30 minutes without ice forming on the inside. The test took place at Sawyer International Airport, Michigan, with staff from both KAI and the South Korean Army joining U.S. Army personnel for the work, according to KAI.

Surion failed previous tests between October 2015 and March 2016 at the same site, facing doubts about its flight safety. The supply of Surion helicopters to the South Korean Army were subsequently suspended for a year to November 2017. (Source: Defense News)

08 Jun 18. Indian MoD clears procurements worth USD81m. India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has approved procurements worth INR55bn (USD81m) for the Indian Air Force (IAF), the Indian Army (IA) and the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) under its ‘Make in India’ initiative. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), which is headed by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, cleared on 7 June the acquisition of 12 high-power radars for the IAF under the ‘Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured’ (IDDM) category of the MoD’s Defence Procurement Procedure-2016 to modernise the country’s ageing air defence network.

“The radars will provide long-range, [as well as] medium- and high-altitude cover with the capability to detect and track high-speed targets following parabolic trajectories,” the government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) said in a statement. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

07 Jun 18. Afghan government announces temporary ceasefire with the Taliban. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has announced a week-long ceasefire with the Taliban militant group that coincides with the holiday marking the end of the Islamic month of Ramadan. In a series of posts on Twitter on 7 June Ghani said that the ceasefire would begin on the 27th of Ramadan (12 June) and last until the fifth day of the Eid-al-Fitr holiday (19 June), but would not include military operations against Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) militants and “other foreign-backed terrorist organisations and their affiliates”. Ghani’s announcement came shortly after up to 3,000 Afghan religious scholars, the Ulema, issued an Islamic decree, or fatwa, calling for a cessation of hostilities between the Afghan government and the Taliban, according to the NATO-led ‘Resolute Support’ mission. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

05 Jun 18. G7 to pledge joint defence of democracies from foreign threats – EU official. G7 leaders will commit at their summit this week to cooperate in defending democracies from foreign threats and establish a response mechanism for that purpose, a senior EU official said on Tuesday. The G7 are the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, France, Germany and Italy. Their leaders are to meet in Charelvoix in Canada on June 8-9.

“We have been very supportive of a Charlevoix commitment on defending democracy from foreign threats,” a senior EU official said.

“That could be one of the documents adopted in Charlevoix. In this context, leaders will commit to strengthen their cooperation to prevent, thwart and respond to unacceptable interference by foreign actors aimed at undermining the democratic processes and the national interest of the G7 states,” the official said.

“The intention is to establish a G7 rapid response mechanism tot strengthen our coordination in this field,” the official said.

In March, the United States imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and entities for meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections, and research showed that Russian Twitter accounts pumped out messages in support of the opposition Labour party in an attempt to influence last year’s British election. Other Western democracies are also concerned about Russian meddling in their electoral processes. (Source: Reuters)

05 Jun 18. People’s Liberation Army and corporate China draw ever closer. Dual use technology makes it difficult to determine intentions behind tech spending. Early on, Silicon Valley was highly dependent on the US military. Even Siri, the voice of Apple’s iPhone, was developed with funding from the Department of Defence research arm, Darpa. But in recent years, Silicon Valley has tried to keep its distance from the Department of Defence, as the recent controversy at Google over a Pentagon contract linked to the use of artificial intelligence shows. By contrast, the template of co-operation between the Pentagon and tech companies, which did so much for technological innovation in the US in the 1980s and 1990s, is alive and well in China. No other country except Israel has made as much progress in developing cutting-edge tech that has both civilian and military applications in areas from artificial intelligence and robotics to virtual reality. The growing tension between the US and China is ostensibly about trade but it can equally be seen to be about geopolitics. Many Chinese believe the trade measures that the Trump administration has just adopted reflect the angst of a country that senses its status in the world is being challenged by an ascendant China. Indeed, China is one of the reasons that Jim Mattis, defence secretary, states in the latest National Defence Strategy that terrorism has been replaced by rival nations as the largest threat to the security of the US. The effect will be to drive China ever higher in the value chain, whether in civilian or military technologies, and push China’s military even closer with its companies, whether state-owned or private, recreating the template that has largely been discarded on the other side of the Pacific. For example Midea, which started life in the mainland as a white goods company (and now has replaced Panasonic as the largest white goods maker globally by revenues), recently bought Kuka, the German robotics company, (although the US forced Kuka to exclude a US unit from the transaction). Robotics is a priority for China. Indeed, one study cited in the People’s Daily last year suggested that by 2040, robots and other unmanned systems will outnumber people in China’s military. Recommended Special Report Tech start-ups Shenzhen’s tech innovation hothouse overheats That closer embrace between the Peoples’ Liberation Army and corporate China comes as Beijing is ramping up its military spending and upgrading the quality of both its personnel and its equipment. Twenty years ago the country spent $35bn on its defence; today it has budgeted $230bn per year, a 700 per cent increase. There are numerous beneficiaries of this largesse. Some of them are well known; companies such as Baidu, which is working closely with the government on technologies involving artificial intelligence. Or take Shenzhen-based Da Jiang Innovations (or DJI) which today is a worldwide pioneer in civilian drones — but these drones also have military applications. Moreover, the (on and off again) US sanctions against telecoms firm ZTE came as a stark demonstration of the dependence of China on high-end semiconductor chips from elsewhere. That could lead to an influx of government funds to local chipmakers such as Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation. Meanwhile, other companies that have one foot in the military sphere and the other in the civilian are far less well known. Take for example, Guangzhou Haige Communications, which is the beneficiary of orders for communications and navigation products from both the government and private sector. Haige, which is listed in Shenzhen, is expected to see both “civilian applications in new fields of driverless cars, drones, satellite phones and smart city systems and new military orders driven by the demand for new generation products,” according to research from Morgan Stanley. Dual use technology blurs the line, making it more difficult to determine intentions behind much technology spending: is it ultimately more about the income statement or national security? That can give rise to what one retired military officer refers to as the defence planners’ dilemma: every player assumes the worst about others’ decision making. For years, Asia has been the beneficiary of relative peace, which means that it has been able to dedicate its burgeoning reserves to the prosperity of its people. Now such distinctions have become far less black and white. (Source: FT.com)

05 Jun 18. Operation Roundup in Syria Continues to Target ISIS Terrorists. In Syria, Operation Roundup is in its 36th day of targeting and destroying remnants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Army Col. Thomas Veale, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman, told Pentagon reporters today via teleconference from Baghdad.

“The increased operational tempo under Operation Roundup includes 225 coalition partner strikes in May,” the spokesman said. “That’s a 304 percent increase over March and a 123 percent increase over April strikes. We and our partners have pounded ISIS remnants from the ground and air in relentless pursuit of their leaders and fighters.”

Sagging ISIS Morale

ISIS’ morale is low and its leaders are scurrying for their lives, he said, noting that thanks to increased coalition and partner pressure, quite a bit of ISIS traffic is now flowing west toward Syrian regime-held territory.

Veale also announced the removal of a key ISIS operative from the battlefield in Syria. Amed al-Hamdouni, a courier for ISIS senior leadership, was killed during a coalition operation May 17 near Dashisha, Syria, he said.

Al-Hamdouni carried messages among high-level ISIS leaders throughout Syria and Iraq. His death hurts ISIS leadership’s ability to communicate securely and increases their risk of public exposure or further isolation, Veale said.

Turning to Iraq, Iraqi security force partners continue to provide excellent internal security and border security to protect Iraq’s sovereign soil and citizens, Veale said.

Iraq’s citizens are increasingly coming home, and to date, more than 3.7 million Iraqis have returned, he said.

The spokesman emphasized Iraqi security forces’ key role in securing the Iraqi side of the border with Syria in Operation Roundup. “Iraqi border guard forces and the Iraqi army have covered the western border as our partners’ ground defenses attack ISIS remnants in Syria,” he said.

Operation Reliable Partnership

The coalition also continues support to Iraq through Operation Reliable Partnership, which will enhance Iraqi forces’ ability to train and equip themselves, Veale said, adding, “Reliable Partnership will build resilience and security and sustainment capabilities, as well as the growing air enterprise, security policy and operations, intelligence and counterterrorism.”

The United States views Operation Reliable Partnership as an investment in Iraq’s future security and, as the successful defeat-ISIS operations have shown, is also an investment in global security, Veale said.

“We look forward to continuing the successes of this partnership,” he added.

“Our mission remains unchanged: to defeat ISIS in designated parts of Iraq and Syria, and to help set conditions for follow-on operations to increase regional stability,” the spokesman said.

“We, the military arm of the global coalition, work by, with and through our partners to achieve and help sustain security that enables stabilization activities,” he said. “Military action will only take us so far by providing a safer environment in which to work. We now encourage the international community to take advantage of the space, time and opportunities military successes have bought.”

Veale said the coalition and its partners have dealt severe blows to ISIS. However, he added, the enemy is adaptable and determined to rise again.

“There is no doubt momentum is on our side, but we’re facing a determined enemy and there is much work to do,” the spokesman said. “We’re grateful for the support of the global coalition of 71 nations and four international organizations, and we are ever mindful of the sacrifices our predecessors and our partners have made.” (Follow Terri Moon Cronk on Twitter: @MoonCronkDoD)

05 Jun 18. For Fourth Year in a Row, German Intelligence Reports that Iran Still Seeks WMD Tech. The intelligence agency of the German state of Baden-Württemberg found that Iran is still trying to obtain technology for weapons of mass destruction and to advance its ballistic missile program, Benjamin Weinthal reported Saturday in The Jerusalem Post.

The report, which was reviewed by the Post, stated that “Iran continued to undertake, as did Pakistan and Syria, efforts to obtain goods and know-how to be used for the development of weapons of mass destruction and to optimize corresponding missile-delivery systems.”

More generally, the report confirmed that since the 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers, “Iran’s regime attempted to covertly secure advanced technology for its nuclear and ballistic-missile programs, according to German intelligence reports,” the Post reported.

The Post characterized Germany as Iran’s “most important” European trading partner, as well as the “European country most willing to resist US policy to wind down trade with Iran.”

In 2017, Germany exported 3.5bn Euro ($4.1bn) worth of goods to Iran; an increase from 2.6bn Euro ($3.0bn) in 2016.

The BfV, Germany’s federal intelligence agency, warned in 2015 that Iran was still trying to procure illicit technology for its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, despite then-ongoing nuclear negotiations with world powers. German intelligence also reported in 2016 that Iran sought to procure nuclear-related materials in at least half of Germany’s states. Last year, German intelligence reported that Iran made at least 32 attempts to acquire proliferation-related technologies, possibly in violation of the 2015 nuclear deal. (Source: theisraelproject.org)

04 Jun 18. US moves to justify sail-by operations in South China Sea. A senior U.S. Navy officer has pushed back against suggestions at a regional security summit that freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea have been ineffective, calling them a long-term strategy for demonstrating that China’s claims in the body of water are not internationally recognized.

Speaking in Singapore at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue organized by the International Institute of Strategic Studies, Rear Adm. Donald Gabrielson, commander of Logistics Group Western Pacific, added that the operations, known by the acronym FONOP, are not meant to be a military provocation or intended to shape policy in the short term.

Gabrielson said the operations are instead a statement on the lack of agreement to, and lack of recognition of, an excessive claim ― in this case China’s claim that the South China Sea islands it occupies and has constructed military facilities on are part of its territory. China has also deployed surface-to-air, anti-ship and jamming equipment to its reclaimed islands.

The islands in the Spratly and Paracel groups are also claimed by five other Asian countries, and several have reclaimed and constructed facilities on the islands, although they have been dwarfed by the pace and scale of China’s activities.

Gabrielson, who is due to be the next commander of Carrier Strike Group 11 out of Everett, Washington, added that the FONOPs were not a nation-on-nation interaction but rather a way to support the rights of all nations.

However, China, which claims large tracts of the South China Sea, its islands and features as part of its territory, has been angered by the FONOPs, which it sees as a violation of its territorial waters and sovereignty. It used this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue to express its displeasure at continuing American-led efforts to push back against Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea, despite not having a speaker at the dialogue’s plenary sessions due to it sending a relatively low-level delegation to the summit.

Senior Col. Zhao Xiaozhou, a research fellow at the Institute of War Studies of the People’s Liberation Army’s Academy of Military Sciences, said the FONOPs in the South China Sea were a “violation of the law of the People’s Republic of China.”

The officer accused the United States of “militarization in the South China Sea under the veil of the freedom of navigation,” following a speech by U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

Mattis had noted that the United States does not see the operations as militarization, as its ships were going through what has traditionally been an international water space, citing rulings by international tribunals based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

UNCLOS determined in 2016 that, among other things, China’s claims “exceed the geographic and substantive limits of China’s maritime entitlements.” China had rejected the ruling, with the ruling Communist Party’s newspaper, the People’s Daily, saying the country “will neither acknowledge it nor accept it.” (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)

05 Jun 18. Vietnam, South Korea look to boost defence trade. Vietnam and South Korea have pledged to explore opportunities for military trade and related industrial collaboration.

Following meetings in Hanoi on 4 June between Vietnam’s defence minister Ngo Xuan Lich and his counterpart from South Korea, Song Young-moo, the two countries’ highlighted a requirement to promote closer defence trade and technology ties.

During the meeting, the two countries also signed an agreement to facilitate deeper collaboration in military logistics.

Commenting on defence ties, South Korea’s defence ministry said Song highlighted a requirement for South Korea to “expand and develop” defence industrial links with Vietnam, while the defence ministry in Hanoi said the two countries would “implement measures to promote” closer co-operation in defence industries and technology transfers. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

04 Jun 18. Liaoning carrier group reaches initial operational capability. China’s first aircraft carrier group, formed around the carrier Liaoning, has reached initial operational capability (IOC), the Ministry of National Defense (MND) in Beijing announced on 31 May. The exercises conducted by the carrier group have become more demanding and “the carrier formation’s comprehensive system of offence and defence has been effectively tested”, MND spokesperson Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang told reporters during a press conference. Although training and developing a cadre of pilots capable of operating the carrier-borne J-15s at sea has been a dominant activity since the commissioning of Liaoning, the carrier has also completed several exercises with its escort group. According to the state-owned China Daily newspaper, Liaoning and its escorts headed into the South China Sea after taking part in the Fleet Review on 12 April, and “conducted a series of combat training operations, practising air defence, anti-ship and anti-submarine tactics, and strikes against land targets”.

Following these exercises, the carrier and its escort group sailed east of Taiwan and into the Western Pacific where they conducted further training, which “involved sophisticated situations in the air and on the water” and tested the commanders’ ability “to make decisions when faced with complicated circumstances”.

The group was monitored at the time by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), which identified the escorts as being a Type 052D (Luyang III)-class destroyer, three Type 052C (Luyang II)-class destroyers, and two Type 054A (Jiangkai II)-class frigates.

In 2011 an MND spokesperson had said that Liaoning, which was commissioned into the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) in September 2012, would be used for “scientific research, experiment, and training”.

However, by November 2016 the state-owned Global Times newspaper reported that the ship was “combat ready” and had “real combat capacity”. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

04 Jun 18. China’s AVIC to deepen mixed ownership reform. The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) has said it is “actively exploring” methods to expand its implementation of mixed ownership reform (MOR): a government strategy aimed at promoting capability advancement through private-sector investment and entrepreneurism.

In a recent statement published on its website, AVIC said the methods it is prioritising to pursue MOR include the “securitisation of high quality assets”, promoting civil-military integration (CMI), and “building high-quality listed companies”. These methods, it said, will help AVIC “deepen MOR” and support efforts to “transform and upgrade”.

AVIC said in terms of asset securitisation – a means of fundraising by transforming assets into securities – it currently ranks top among China’s state-owned defence enterprises. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

05 Jun 18. Australian agencies agree to support defence exports. The newly established Australian Defence Export Office has signed an agreement with the Australian Trade and Investment Commission, or Austrade, to provide support for domestic companies looking to expand in international markets.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU) – announced on 4 June – will leverage “whole-of-government expertise and knowledge of foreign markets to assist [the] Australian defence industry to access greater export opportunities”, said Australia’s Minister for Defence Industry, Christopher Pyne.

Australia’s Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Steven Ciobo, said that under the agreement local industry experts will work closely with the Australian Defence Export Office in providing advice and support for Australian defence companies using Austrade’s international networks to assist in navigating foreign markets. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

04 Jun 18. Malaysia mulling task force to probe French submarine deal. Malaysia’s cabinet is discussing setting up a special task force to investigate alleged corruption during the purchase of two French submarines in 2002 when the defence ministry was headed by ousted Prime Minister Najib Razak. Since his surprise defeat in an election last month, Najib has been barred from leaving the country, and anti-corruption agents have re-launched a probe into how billions of dollars went missing from a state fund that he founded.

Najib has denied any wrongdoing, but during nearly a decade in power he was dogged by scandal, mostly financial, including over suspected kickbacks paid in the submarine deal.

French financial prosecutors are probing the sale of the Scorpene-class submarines built by state-controlled warship builder DCN International (DCNI), and have placed Abdul Razak Baginda, a former aide to Najib, under formal investigation in connection with the deal.

Malaysia’s new defence minister said on Monday that a proposed task force looking into the deal will be discussed in cabinet, but did not elaborate further.

“It’s too early for me to comment because this task force will be discussed with Cabinet,” Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu was quoted as saying in an online report by Singapore-based broadcaster Channel News Asia.

Abdul Razak advised Najib on the 2002 submarine deal. He has denied wrongdoing, and the previous Malaysian government denied allegations of corruption. Telephone calls made by Reuters to Abdul Razak were unanswered. The French probe began after Malaysian human rights group Suaram alleged that the sale resulted in some $130m of commissions being paid to a company linked to Najib. There has been no evidence linking Najib directly to corruption in the deal, and he and his supporters have consistently denied any wrongdoing. Najib could not be reached on Monday for a comment on the task force. DCNI later became a new entity called DCNS, which in turn rebranded itself as Naval Group last year. French defence company Thales owns around a third of Naval Group. Suaram also linked the 2006 murder of a 28-year-old Mongolian model to the submarine sale. Altantuya Shaariibuu, an interpreter and associate of Abdul Razak, was killed and blown up with military grade explosives in a forest on the outskirts of Malaysia’s capital. Last month, Mongolia’s President Battulga Khaltmaa urged Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to reopen investigations into Altantuya’s murder. (Source: Reuters)

03 Jun 18. Coalition Forces, Partners Begin Phase 2 of Operation Roundup. Syrian Democratic Forces have initiated ground operations for phase two of Operation Roundup to defeat Islamic State of Iraq and Syria remnants in northeastern Syria, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials announced today.

The SDF ground offensive, aimed at clearing Dashisha, is bolstered by coordinated coalition cross-border air and artillery strikes, and strikes by the Iraqi air force and army artillery positioned near the border.

Iraqi security forces have also enhanced their border presence to prevent the escape of ISIS members from Syria into Iraq.

Operation Roundup began May 1, and the successful first phase ended with the clearance of Baghuz, Syria, May 15.

Powerful Offensive

“This is a well-coordinated, powerful offensive to annihilate ISIS remnants in northeastern Syria,” said Army Lt. Gen. Paul E. Funk II, commander of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve. “Our partners are aggressively taking the fight to what’s left of ISIS’s conventional force, which has been demoralized by military losses and its leadership’s abandonment of the terrorists they left on the front lines.”

Coalition strikes supporting Roundup in May exceeded April’s strike total by 123 percent, and March’s strike total by 304 percent. Ongoing strikes are targeting ISIS command-and-control centers, weapons production and storage facilities, safe houses and facilitation sites.

Coalition and Iraqi forces are also targeting ISIS tunnel complexes and underground storage sites, Funk said.

The multi-ethnic Syrian Democratic Forces remain committed to liberating the people of northeastern Syria from ISIS’s control and putting an end to the human suffering in the area, officials said.

CJTF-OIR remains committed to the destruction of ISIS and setting the conditions for follow-on operations to increase regional stability, officials said. (Source: US DoD)

02 Jun 18. Alliances, Partnerships Critical to U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy, Mattis Says. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with U.S. treaty allies and other partners, America seeks to build an Indo-Pacific region where sovereignty and territorial integrity are safeguarded and the promise of freedom is fulfilled and prosperity prevails for all, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis said today in Singapore.

Addressing the 2018 International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue, the secretary said the Indo-Pacific strategy stands in firm support of America’s recently released National Defense strategy.

“[The strategies] take a clear-eyed view of the strategic environment, and they recognize that competition among nations not only persists in the 21st century, in some regard it is intensifying,” Mattis said.

And both strategies affirm that the Indo-Pacific region is critical for America’s continued stability, security and prosperity, he added.

“In [America’s Indo-Pacific strategy], we see deepening alliances and partnerships as a priority. [The Association of Southeast Asian Nations’] centrality remains vital and cooperation with China is welcome wherever possible,” the secretary said.

“So, make no mistake — America is in the Indo-Pacific to stay,” he noted.

“This is our priority theater; our interests and the regions are inexplicably intertwined,”Mattis said. “Our Indo-Pacific strategy makes significant security, economic and development investments.”

The U.S. strategy recognizes no one nation can or should dominate the Indo-Pacific, he said. “For those who want peace and self-determination, we all have shared responsibility to work together to build our shared future.”

Elements of Strategy Outlined

The secretary highlighted several themes of the strategy:

— Expanding attention on the maritime space: “The maritime commons is a global good, and the sea lanes of communication are the arteries of economic vitality for all,” he said.

“Our vision is to preserve that vitality by helping our partners to build up naval and law enforcement capabilities and capacities to improve monitoring and protection of maritime borders and interests,” he added.

— Interoperability: The United States recognizes a network of allies and partners is a force multiplier for peace, the secretary said. “Through our security cooperation, we are building closer relationships between our militaries and our economies, all of which contribute to enduring trust,” he added.

— Strengthening the rule of law, civil society and transparent governance: “This is the sunlight that exposes the malign influence that threatens sustainable economic development,” Mattis said.

— Private sector-led development: The United States recognizes the region’s need for greater investment, including infrastructure, he noted, adding, “We are reinvigorating our development and finance institutions to enable us to be better, more responsive partners.

“U.S. agencies will work more closely with regional economic partners to provide end-to-end solutions that not only build tangible products, but also transfer experience and American know-how so growth is high value and high quality, not empty promises and surrender of economic sovereignty,” he said.

U.S. Stands Ready

The United States stands ready to cooperate with all nations to achieve this vision, Mattis said.

“While a free and open Indo-Pacific is in all our interests, it will only be possible if we all pull together to uphold it,” he said.

“A generation from now, we will be judged on whether we successfully integrated rising powers while increasing economic prosperity, maintaining international cooperation based on agreed-upon rules [and] protecting fundamental rights of our peoples and avoiding conflict,” the secretary said.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy informs its relationship with China, he noted. “We are aware China will face an array of challenges and opportunities in coming years. We are prepared to support China’s choices if they promote long-term peace and prosperity for all in this dynamic region.”

China’s Policy

Yet China’s policy in the South China Sea stands in stark contrast to the openness of the U.S. strategy, Mattis said, adding that it calls into question China’s broader goals.

“The United States will continue to pursue a constructive, results-oriented relationship with China, [and] cooperation whenever possible will be the name of the game, and competing vigorously where we must,” he said.

“Of course, we recognize any sustainable Indo-Pacific order as a role for China, and at China’s invitation, I will travel to Beijing soon in an open, transparent approach, broadening and deepening the national dialogue between our two Pacific nations,” the secretary said.

As a Pacific nation, the United States remains committed to building a shared destiny with the Indo-Pacific region, he said, adding the nation offers strategic partnerships and not strategic dependence.

“Alongside our allies and partners, America remains committed to maintaining the region’s security, its stability and its economic prosperity — a view that transcends America’s political transitions, and will continue to enjoy Washington’s strong bipartisan support,” Mattis said. (Follow Terri Moon Cronk onTwitter: @MoonCronkDoD)

03 Jun 18. Mattis, Indo-Pacific Partners Discuss Security Issues at Singapore Summit. Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and his Indo-Pacific regional counterparts discussed security issues during a series of meetings at the 2018 International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, according to officials.

Mattis, Japan Minister of Defense Itsunori Onodera and South Korea Minister of National Defense Song Young-moo today convened the 10th Trilateral Defense Ministerial Meeting in Singapore, where they held discussions on North Korea, the regional security situation and trilateral security cooperation, according to a statement.

The three ministers welcomed the results of the two recent inter-Korean Summits, to include the “Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula,” and noted the positive changes that have been brought about are setting favorable conditions for the U.S.-North Korea Summit. They expressed their hopes that the upcoming U.S.-North Korea Summit will contribute to comprehensively resolving matters of security and humanitarian concerns for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, and to this end, pledged to strengthen security cooperation among the three countries.

The three leaders welcomed North Korea’s recent announcement to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile tests, as well as steps to close the Punggye-ri nuclear test site. The ministers agreed to remain united in support of the ongoing diplomatic efforts in the pursuit of the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. They also agreed to continue enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The leaders welcomed sustained international cooperation to deter, disrupt, and ultimately eliminate illicit activities, such as illegal ship-to-ship transfers. They noted that should North Korea come into full compliance with its international obligations, it would dramatically improve the security and prosperity of the North Korean people. The three leaders noted that multilateral security cooperation led by the three countries plays an important role in maintaining peace and stability in the region.

The leaders also committed to continuing existing security cooperation, including information sharing, high-level policy consultation, combined exercises, and other exchanges, by using trilateral or multilateral mechanisms. They also discussed other regional security issues, including the importance of maritime security and the maintenance of a rules-based order, and reaffirmed that freedom of navigation and overflight must be ensured, and that all disputes should be resolved in a peaceful manner in accordance with the universally recognized principles of international law.

In addition, the three leaders shared the recognition that military-level confidence-building among countries in the region is important, and committed to strengthening cooperation to institutionalize such efforts. The United States reaffirmed its ironclad security commitments to South Korea and Japan, and pledged to continue to work closely together for peace and stability in the region and around the world.

Trilateral Defense Ministerial

Yesterday in Singapore, Mattis, Onodera and Australian Minister for Defense Marise Payne convened a trilateral defense ministerial meeting, according to a statement. They discussed the Indo-Pacific region, North Korea and trilateral defense cooperation. This was the seventh meeting among the three nations’ top defense officials. The ministers affirmed the importance of the Indo-Pacific region, and the key role Australia, Japan and the United States play in upholding a free, prosperous, inclusive, and open international order.

The leaders articulated the shared principles of respect for sovereignty, promotion of free and fair trade and investment, and adherence to international rules and norms. They reaffirmed their strong support for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its central role in the regional architecture.

The three leaders remain concerned regarding the ongoing situation in the South China Sea. The ministers underscored their shared respect for international law as well as their shared commitment to upholding freedom of navigation and overflight and other lawful uses of the sea, including in the South China Sea. They emphasized the importance of the peaceful resolution of conflict in accordance with international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and expressed strong opposition to the use of force or coercion as well as unilateral action to alter the status quo, and to the use of disputed features for military purposes in the South China Sea.

The ministers reiterated the importance of the conclusion of an effective and meaningful Code of Conduct between ASEAN and China. The ministers agreed to remain united to support the ongoing diplomatic efforts to achieve complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs. They also agreed to continue enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions. The ministers welcomed sustained international cooperation to deter, disrupt, and ultimately eliminate illicit activities, such as illegal ship-to-ship transfers.

The ministers recognized the importance of further increasing the three countries’ cooperation in the region, with a view to maximizing the opportunities for defense engagement. They affirmed their determination to draft a strategic action agenda that would provide a long term vision for trilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. The ministers acknowledged the close defense relationship of the three countries, and agreed to increase synergies of both bilateral and trilateral cooperation and coordination on regional efforts such as maritime capacity building, counterterrorism, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, and peacekeeping support.

Defense Ministerial Meeting

Also yesterday in Singapore, Mattis and his South Korean counterpart convened a defense ministerial meeting and held discussions on coordination measures relevant to the current security situation on the Korean Peninsula and key U.S.-South Korea alliance issues, according to a statement. The secretary and the minister welcomed the results of the two recent inter-Korean Summits, to include the “Panmunjeom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula,” and noted that positive changes that have been brought about are setting favorable conditions for the U.S.-North Korea Summit.

They agreed that in addition to strong international enforcement of United Nations Security Council Resolutions, the robust U.S.-South Korea alliance and the close bilateral coordination greatly contributed to bringing such changes. The two leaders resolved to strengthen the coordination and cooperation between their two countries. Song explained that defense-related agreements from the inter-Korean Summits will be faithfully implemented and that he will continue to provide defense-level support to ensure implementation of the other agreements. In particular he emphasized that it is important to continue to strongly maintain the U.S.-South Korea defense posture through every step of alleviating military tensions and building trust between the two Koreas, and noted that he will continue to closely communicate with the U.S. in this regard.

Mattis reaffirmed that the ironclad U.S. defense commitment to South Korea will continue to be maintained regardless of the changes in the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, and to this end, noted that U.S. Forces Korea will continue to maintain the current level of forces. Moreover, he stressed that the role of the military will continue to be to reinforce diplomatic measures, such as through cooperation to enforce implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolutions aimed at the objective of complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization.

The secretary and the South Korean minister recognized the progress towards preparation for the operational command transition. This includes acquiring the necessary alliance capabilities and developing strategic documents and operational plans, and the commitment to strengthen cooperation to expeditiously meet the necessary conditions for the transition.

The two sides shared the understanding that the upcoming U.S.-North Korea Summit will serve as a historic opportunity towards denuclearization and building lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, and resolved to further strengthen the bilateral ministerial communication and coordination to provide defense-level support for setting favorable conditions for the summit. (Source: US DoD)

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06 Jun 18. What’s next for Northrop Grumman and Orbital ATK? Northrop Grumman won U.S. antitrust approval to complete its $7.8bn acquisition of rocket maker Orbital ATK on June 5, and is expected to complete the transaction by market close today.

The Federal Trade Commission approved the deal on the condition the companies provide solid fuel rocket motors on a nondiscriminatory basis to competitors for missile contracts, resolving charges that the acquisition would be anticompetitive.

The FTC is requiring Northrop to create firewalls between its new business and the rest of the company to prevent it “from transferring or using any proprietary information that it receives from competing missile prime contractors or [solid rocket motor] suppliers in a manner that harms competition.” The firewall will be monitored by the Defense Department’s acquisition and sustainment branch.

Orbital ATK is one of two firms working on propulsion systems for two prime contractors, Boeing and Northrop, competing for the Air Force’s Ground Based Strategic Deterrent contract, which will replace the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. The FTC-mandated firewall was likely implemented with this competition in mind.

However there is precedent for a company to be involved in its competitors’ proposals. For instance, on the JSTARS recap program, all three prime contractors — Boeing, Northrop and Lockheed — submitted proposals featuring radar from Raytheon and Northrop.

Orbital ATK will operate as Northrop Grumman’s fourth business sector, named Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. The new sector joins Northrop’s aerospace systems, mission systems and technology services businesses.

The $9.2bn sale was announced on September 18, 2017. Northrop paid Orbital ATK $7.8bn in the all cash deal, and assumed $1.4bn in debt.

Northrop has updated its 2018 guidance, predicting sales to reach upwards of $30 bn.

What’s next?

In anticipation of the deal going through, Orbital has hired 1,000 more employees and invested a decent number of millions, tens of millions, in a number of our facilities to support readiness,” Mike Kahn, Orbital ATK’s defense group president, told Defense News in an April 10 interview at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference.

Orbital recently invested heavily in its Allegany Ballistics Laboratory in Rocket Center, West Virginia, where it builds rocket motors, warheads and fuses because it’s anticipating a “significant increase” stemming specifically from Army programs that are ramping up in the next few years, according to Kahn.

The deal will also allow Northrop to expand more into the space market, a key sales area of Orbital ATK where Northrop has historically lagged.

Northrop has decided not to pursue a number of contracts over the past year, like the GPS III, T-X trainer and MQ-25 drone competitions, but is on the lookout for more enticing opportunities.

Northrop secured a sole-source Air Force contract in May to develop next-generation missile warning satellites and Orbital announced in April a new intermediate and heavy lift rocket it hopes will compete for national security launches. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)

BATTLESPACE Comment: Another big question for Northrop to address is whether it wants to keep ATK and get into the medium calibre gun business? Sources suggest that Northrop may exit ATK and sell to another vendor such as Rheinmetall or Mauser if the DoD allows a foreign purchaser. Nexter and BAE are pushing CTAi into the US market and we await to see how successful this is. It may prove a game changer if CTAi gains a US foothold.

06 Jun 18. Lockheed Martin sees an appetite for startup investments. Lockheed Martin wants to invest in startups with big commercial potential, which are developing technologies that could give the firm a strategic edge in areas such as 3-D printing. (Scharfsinn86/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Google may be backing away from future Pentagon contracts, but defense companies are finding a receptive audience in Silicon Valley startups, the head of Lockheed Martin’s venture fund said Wednesday.

Chris Moran had spent about 30 years of his career in Silicon Valley before taking over Lockheed’s venture fund in June 2016. So naturally he felt “a little trepidation” about moving into the defense sector, he told a group of reporters at June 6 roundtable.

“Almost from the outset, I was pleasantly surprised by the embracement from the folks that I met both inside the company and in the startup space, finding those technologies, talking about the problems that we have to work on, and finding that they were very excited about working on those technologies and working with Lockheed Martin,” he said.

Google announced on June 1 that it plans to no longer bid for future contracts on the Pentagon’s Project Maven, which used the company’s machine learning technologies to analyze drone imagery.

When Google’s involvement in the program was disclosed earlier this year, it was met with internal criticism, including a petition signed by 4,000 employees imploring Google to vow never to work with the Defense Department, Wired magazine reported in May.

But despite the controversy, Moran said he hasn’t seen startup companies try to move away from working with defense companies — or accepting their seed money.

“I know there’s kind of an independent streak in the Valley, so maybe they want to keep some distance there,” he said. “But I haven’t seen it. When I go talk to companies — and again I’m working at the engineering level a lot of times — they are absolutely enthralled by the types of things that we work on and love the challenge.”

Major defense primes including Lockheed, Boeing and Airbus have recently started venture funds with the hope of deepening ties with fledgling commercial tech businesses, and Moran said the companies’ engagements in Silicon Valley have made defense firms more credible as a partner.

Now, Lockheed is doubling down on its investments. Moran announced during the roundtable that Lockheed will take $100m of the money saved from recent tax reform legislation and funnel it into the its venture capital fund — increasing that pool of money two times over.

Since 2016, the company has invested $40m in eight companies, some of which have not be publicly disclosed. While Lockheed’s venture capital arm gets about 500 leads on new technology a year, Moran wants to be able to double that.

“We’d love to go from — generically — about four investments per year, we’d love to get to six or even eight,” he said. “The $200m will help us to work with more companies, and our goal is to try to get those relationships teed up earlier than later.”

With its new infusion of funds, it might also look to emerging technologies like quantum computing and quantum sensors, where there has been a lot of recent activity.

“Many companies have been formed in the last two years in that, so we’re looking in those areas as well,” Moran said.

So what has Lockheed been getting out of its venture capital investments?

Unlike other investors, Lockheed isn’t funding companies in the hopes of getting a massive financial return. Instead, it wants to invest in startups with big commercial potential, which are developing technologies that could give Lockheed a strategic edge in areas like cyber, space, artificial intelligence, autonomy, 3-D printing and data analytics.

“The perfect investments for us are those that are scaling and growing through commercial activity but at the same time are maturing, hardening, becoming more reliable as a result of the volume and scale that the commercial space can bring,” Moran said.

For instance, Lockheed has made investments in commercial radar and lidar companies closely aligned with the automobile industry.

If those products end up being successful and are integrated into hundreds of thousands of cars, that drastically decreases down the price for customers like Lockheed who could use the system for defense applications and creates a bigger pool of money for the startup to reinvest in its own infrastructure.

While a lot of venture funds are used by companies to pave the way for a future acquisition, that isn’t the case for Lockheed, which would rather keep those firms as potential suppliers based in the commercial sector.

“A home run would look like an entire portfolio of companies we’re working with like Terran Orbital,” the nanosatellite company that Lockheed has partnered with on Defense Department and NASA contracts, said Moran.

Through Terran Orbital, “we found a really capable technology that had immediate or near term application to things that we’re running with our government customers,” he said. “We could both grow them, grow our ability to enter new markets or hone our abilities in existing markets.”

(Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)

07 Jun 18. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) announced the doubling of its venture capital fund to $200m and recent investments in early-stage companies focused in the areas of autonomy and advanced manufacturing.

“Our focus is on finding and investing in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that will grow our business and disrupt our industry,” said Chris Moran, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures. “We’re developing long-term strategic partnerships with companies and helping them navigate through the early stages of product development while leveraging our decades of experience working with government customers.”

Enabled by tax reform legislation, Lockheed Martin Ventures is focusing the additional $100 million on early-stage companies in the areas of sensor technologies, autonomy, artificial intelligence and cyber.

With the fund’s latest investment, Lockheed Martin expanded its relationship with nTopology, creator of ELEMENT, an emerging software technology in the high-growth additive and advanced manufacturing sectors.

“Our investment in nTopology will bring strategic advantages in Lockheed Martin’s computational design processes and help shorten the periods between the design and manufacturing phase,” said Moran.

The increase in the venture fund is part of $460 million that Lockheed Martin is investing as a direct result of tax reform savings. The tax reform legislation enables Lockheed Martin to make investments that improve its global competitiveness, including investing in transformative technologies that will bring lasting benefits to customers, employees and communities.

The company is making additional investments enabled by tax reform savings, including:

$200m additional investments in capital expenditures and research and development in 2018
$100m in employee training and educational opportunities over the next five years
$50m investment in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education enrichment, including the establishment of a new Lockheed Martin STEM Scholarship Fund
$10m for the launch of the Lockheed Martin Innovation Prize competition

06 Jun 18. Airbus close to Alestis divestment. Airbus is understood to be close to reaching an agreement on selling its majority stake in Spanish Tier-1 aircraft parts supplier Alestis Aerospace. The group told Jane’s on 5 June that it has “received various strategic proposals on Alestis which it is evaluating, without having taken a decision yet”.

Airbus stepped in to save the company in 2014, a move the company said was “not an investment, but to guarantee its stability, its work, and therefore its future”. The long-term frontrunner to take over is another Spanish Tier-1 supplier, Aciturri, although market analysts said there at least two other potential buyers. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

06 Jun 18. Boeing [NYSE: BA] today announced its investment in Kittyhawk, a San Francisco, Calif.-based company offering a unified approach to the safe operation of commercial unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Kittyhawk’s technology will support development of a UAS Traffic Management System (UTM) that enables piloted and autonomous air vehicles to safely coexist.

Kittyhawk pioneered enterprise software and mobile-based apps that integrate real-time UAS flight operations and management solutions all in one platform. Since its founding in 2015, Kittyhawk has grown its customer base to include industry leaders in media, insurance, energy, rail transportation and fire and emergency management agencies that rely on it for end-to-end drone operations.

“When paired with the broad portfolio of complementary data service offerings within Boeing, Kittyhawk is poised to help us shape the future of safe autonomous flight,” said Brian Schettler, managing director of Boeing HorizonX Ventures. “We are excited to explore new capabilities made possible through foresight, expertise and a focus on holistic solutions that support the safe integration of unmanned systems into the national airspace.”

Kittyhawk is partnering with Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen to expand unmanned operations by participating in the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC). LAANC is a collaborative effort to create UTM processes that integrate unmanned aircraft, cargo delivery and beyond visual line of sight operations safely into the airspace.

“Boeing’s world-renowned aviation expertise and resources will help Kittyhawk continue to mature our enterprise offerings,” said Joshua Ziering, founder and chief pilot of Kittyhawk. “Boeing’s long history of forging new industries within the aerospace sector will also help as Kittyhawk continues its mission to create robust, open and interoperable standards to empower the commercial drone industry. We have a unique opportunity to pioneer a new aviation industry and having the support of Boeing will give Kittyhawk the resources and expertise we need to be truly disruptive in this space.”

Boeing HorizonX Ventures participated in this seed funding round led by Bonfire Ventures, with participation by Freestyle Capital. The Boeing HorizonX Ventures investment portfolio is made up of companies specializing in technologies for aerospace and manufacturing innovations, including autonomous systems, energy storage, advanced materials, augmented reality systems and software, machine learning, hybrid-electric propulsion and Internet of Things connectivity.

06 Jun 18. Patria expands aircraft components operations. Finland’s Patria announced on 4 June that it has agreed to acquire Finnish firm Patricomp from Spain’s Aernnova. Details of the transaction were not disclosed. However, Patria noted that Patricomp’s net sales in 2017 were valued at EUR6.6m (USD7.7m). Aernnova has owned the company since 2015, when it had been acquired from KMM-Invest. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

06 Jun 18. 2018 Capital Markets Day: Thales presents its 2021 strategic priorities.

 Highly-differentiated business model: intelligent systems to address 5 demanding end markets

 Reinforcing technological leadership by accelerating R&D investments

 Group ideally positioned to lead the digital transformation of its markets

 Powerful operational performance levers implemented to deliver significant margin increase

 Further potential upside from projected Gemalto acquisition

 2018-21 financial targets:

o Average organic sales growth of 3 to 5%1, with each Thales operating segment2 expected to outperform its market

o EBIT3 margin to reach 11% to 11.5% by 2021

1 Compared to 2017 pro forma IFRS 15 sales. Does not take into account the potential impact of the projected Gemalto acquisition.

2 Aerospace, Transport, and Defence & Security.

3 Non-GAAP measure, see definition in appendix, page 5. Does not take into account the potential impact of the projected Gemalto acquisition.

Thales (Euronext Paris: HO) is today hosting its 2018 Capital Markets Day with investors and financial analysts. During this event, Patrice Caine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and members of the management team will present the Group’s strategic priorities for the period 2018 to 2021.

In addition to presentations on Group strategy, financials and a review of each of the Group’s main businesses, the meeting will include in-depth presentations focusing on its renewed drivers of operational performance and on the Group’s unique ability to capture opportunities resulting from the digital transformation of its markets.

“The first phase of Ambition 10, our strategic plan, has delivered on all of its key targets. During the next phase, we have a clear plan to drive all our businesses to industry leadership.

We will reinforce our customer-centric organization and culture, ramp up new operational performance initiatives, and accelerate our R&D investments, notably to further position ourselves as strategic partner for our customers’ digital transformations.

Combined with our unique position, associating world class technology leadership and deep domain knowledge of our 5 end markets, these actions will allow us to grow profitably and faster than the market, in a sustainable way.

In a few months, the Gemalto acquisition, which we expect to complete in the second half of this year, will further accelerate this strategy, and enable us to build a global leader in digital security.”

Patrice Caine, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer PRESS RELEASE 6 June 2018 Paris La Défense, France

The main topics to be addressed at the Capital Markets Day include:

A highly-differentiated business model: intelligent systems to address 5 very demanding end markets

Thales’s business model relies on its ability to combine deep domain knowledge of its 5 complex end markets with a unique portfolio of key common technologies focused on supporting the critical decision chain, from sensors to data transmission, data processing and decision-making.

This pure player focus enables the Group to develop and deliver breakthrough solutions that help its customers think smarter and act faster, mastering ever greater complexity at every decisive moment they face.

Relying on an asset light capital base and benefiting from significant negative working capital, this business model is creating high value, with a ROCE4 of 25% in 2017, in line with best in class global peers.

4 Non-GAAP measure, see definition and calculation on page 136 of the Capital Markets Day presentation.

5 Adjusted P&L research and development expenses line, €797m in 2017.

All Thales markets benefit from solid underlying trends, driven by the increasing need for mobility and connectivity, the confirmed trend-up of defence budgets, as well as the ability of intelligent systems to deliver operational and environmental efficiency, and to support more effective decision-making in critical environments.

Reinforcing technological leadership by accelerating R&D investments

To drive technological excellence and lead the digital transformation of its markets, Thales plans to further increase its self-funded R&D investments5, which are expected to reach approximately €1bn by 2021, up by 25 to 30% compared to 2017.

Leading the digital transformation of markets

The acceleration of digital innovation will transform and disrupt Thales customers’ businesses over the next 5 to 10 years.

With its focus on critical decision chains, digital by nature, its large integrated network of digital native talents, and its unique portfolio of digital capabilities, notably in the areas of connectivity, big data analytics, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, Thales is ideally positioned to lead the digital transformation of its markets.

To execute on this strategy and partner with its customers through their digital transformations, Thales will capitalize on its recent digital acquisitions and the launch of its “digital factory”, while focusing its R&D investments on digital-inside “dream” products, digital breakthroughs and new digital services.

Once completed, the Gemalto acquisition will further boost this strategy.

Powerful operational performance levers

Building on new marketing and sales initiatives, the Group will reinforce its customer-centric organization and culture, targeting deeper customer intimacy, sales pipeline optimization, and the development of exports from large countries.

In parallel, Thales will continue to concentrate its competitiveness initiatives on 4 high impact levers:

 Procurement performance, driven by a new worldwide integrated organization as well as the introduction of powerful new methods

 Engineering competitiveness, notably through the further deployment of agile methods, state-of-the-art digital engineering tools and the further reinforcement of skills and capabilities

 Support function efficiency, with the implementation of standard worldwide operating models across every support function, fostering process standardization, digitization and further platforming of resources

 Excellence in delivery, targeting continuous improvement in operational excellence, including bid and project execution, while delivering growth

Complemented by the positive impact on product competitiveness arising from increased R&D, the Ambition 10 competitiveness initiatives are expected to generate a 200 to 240 basis point improvement in EBIT margin6 over the 2018-21 period.

6 Compared to a reported EBIT margin of 9.8% in 2017.

7 Compared to 2017 pro forma IFRS 15 sales.

8 25.9% excluding one-off non cash tax items. Effective tax rates computed on adjusted P&L.

9 Free operating cash flow divided by adjusted net income. See definitions in appendix.

Persistent focus on shareholder value creation

As a result of these initiatives, Thales has set itself the following financial targets, not taking into account the potential impact of the projected Gemalto acquisition:

 Organic sales growth7 of +3% to +5% on average over the 2018-2021 period, with each operating segment expected to outperform its market

 An EBIT margin of 11% to 11.5% by 2021, resulting from the 200 to 240 basis point improvement related to competitiveness initiatives, partly offset by the reinvestment in self-funded R&D mentioned above, representing approximately 50 to 100 basis point of margin. All 3 operating segments are expected to further increase their EBIT margin

On top of the above-mentioned drivers, adjusted EPS will benefit from the expected progressive lowering of effective tax rates, from 31%8 in 2017 to 23-24% in 2021.

Thales will maintain its strong focus on cash flow generation, and targets a further improvement in its cash conversion ratio9, which is expected to reach approximately 90% before one-offs on average over the 2018-21 period, in spite of a less favourable cash/expense tax gap.

Further upside from transformative Gemalto acquisition

Once completed, the Gemalto acquisition is expected to deliver significant sales and cost synergies. It will also improve the efficiency of the capital structure, enabling Thales to deliver significant dividend growth whilst maintaining financial flexibility for bolt-on acquisitions.

04 Jun 18. Webasto to Acquire AeroVironment Electric Vehicle Charging and Test Systems Business. Webasto Group, one of the 100 leading suppliers to the automotive industry worldwide, and AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV), a leader in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for both defense and commercial applications and tactical missile systems (TMS), announced Webasto’s agreement to acquire AeroVironment’s Efficient Energy Systems (EES) business segment for $35m, subject to customary post-closing adjustments and indemnification agreements. Webasto will retain all existing EES employees, while strengthening its long-term E-mobility strategy.

“This strategic acquisition accelerates the global development of our charging business,” said Holger Engelmann, chairman of the management board, Webasto SE. “Combining EES’ fundamental know-how in electric vehicle technology with our position as a global systems partner to almost all OEMs emphasizes the long-term strategic development of the Webasto Group,” added Engelmann. E-mobility customers among others will profit from the automotive supplier’s global experience in system integration and understanding the requirements of the automotive industry.

Webasto’s acquisition of AeroVironment’s EES business segment contributes to the company’s dual strategy. With this strategy, Webasto strengthens its existing core business areas in Sunroofs, Convertibles and Thermo Systems and participates in new business areas, focusing on battery systems and plug-in electric vehicle charging solutions.

“We conducted a very robust process in which we identified a number of potential strategic acquirers for our EES business. We found Webasto’s E-mobility strategy to be highly aligned with that of EES, and our respective capabilities to be highly complementary serving our end markets,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment chief executive officer. “Our strategic divestiture of EES helps AeroVironment focus on our leading small UAS, Tactical Missile Systems, High-Altitude Pseudo-Satellite, and Commercial Information Solutions businesses, each of which represents significant investment and long-term growth potential,” Nawabi added.

(Source: BUSINESS WIRE)

05 Jun 18. BEML aims to double its defence vertical revenue in FY19.

BEML’s Defence segment accounted for around 17% of the company’s overall revenue of Rs 33bn in the financial year ended March 2018. Public sector engineering major, Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) is betting big on the defence vertical with a plan to double its revenues from this segment in the current financial year.

The defence segment accounted for around 17 per cent of the company’s overall revenue of Rs 33bn in the financial year ended March 2018.

“We see a lot of traction in our defence vertical. The order book looks healthy and we should be able to increase the pie of defence vertical to around 25 per cent of the overall revenues in the current financial year,” Chairman and Managing Director of BEML, DK Hota told Business Standard.

Such optimism stems from the fact that its aerospace vertical has shown signs of an upside in the current financial year. BEML supplies mortar and casing components to the Indian Army. “We are collaborating with other government agencies such as DRDO, ADA, BDL (Bharat Dynamics Ltd.) and HAL among others. We expect aerospace to drive our next phase of growth,” added Hota. BEML has been selected as the lead vendor for Akash missile system.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company is also working on recovery vehicle on main battle tank of Indian Army, mine protected vehicle for military and para-military forces, high-end missile programme and Akash missile system among others.

The company has already invested around Rs 300m to strengthen its capability to cater to aerospace segment, and plans to spend another Rs 1bn in next couple of years.

“Our spare business is also likely to take a leap from last fiscal’s Rs 1.5bn to Rs 4bn this financial year,” the CMD of BEML said.

The defence unit is also collaborating with Ordnance factory in joint development of various projects.

During last financial year, BEML has developed in-house design, development and supply of Arjun Repair and Recovery vehicle. It has also manufactured trawl assembly for T-72 tanks to R&DE (Engineers), Pune and developed aggregates for the quick reaction surface to air missile for DRDL (Defence Research & Development Laboratory).

As part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative, the company has built a supplier-base of more than 1,000 SMEs for procuring various articles for defence equipment.

The Mini Ratna public sector unit reported a 53 per cent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 1.29bn for FY18. Its income from operations rose to Rs 32.98bn, up 16.5 per cent over the same period of previous fiscal. While the company’s mining and construction business registered a growth of 11 per cent, its rail and metro business achieved a record sale of 244 metro cars, registering a growth of 114 per cent over the previous fiscal. Despite headwinds faced by defence business, it grew by 10 per cent during this period. (Source: Google/www.business-standard.com)

05 Jun 18. Gooch & Housego stacks the shelves. Gooch & Housego’s (GHH) half-year returns were in line with consensus, with profits boosted by revenue growth at the aerospace and defence (A&D) segment, up a third to £18.1m. That rise was partly aided by last year’s acquisition of StingRay Optics, although beyond deal-making the photonics (light sciences) specialist continued its climb up the value chain, a management objective that is being helped by optimising manufacturing processes. The drive to increase unit profitability was also reflected in a surge in the underlying margin at the A&D segment, from 7.3 to 11.4 per cent, although the outstanding products in this regard are components for microelectronics applications. That isn’t immediately obvious as they fall within the industrials segment, which saw a 2.5 percentage decline in the underlying margin. This was primarily due to timing issues on orders, specifically in relation to fibre couplers, held in check due to delayed work schedules on subsea cable programmes.

There was an appreciable step up in orders for these high-margin components in the corresponding period in 2017, but G&H closed out the period with a record order book, and a significant working capital outlay to build capacity ahead of a ramp up in forecast demand.

Broker finnCap forecasts adjusted pre-tax profit of £18.5m and EPS of 56.4p for the September 2018 year-end, against £16.1m and 48.5p in FY2017.

IC View

A net cash outflow, an increase in trade receivables and strong inventory build also underline management’s expectations of rising industrial demand. We anticipate a step up in operating cash flow as inventories unwind. The shares now trade at a discount to peers on a price/earnings basis in contrast to a 14 per cent historical premium. We upgrade to buy.

Last IC View: Hold, 1,460p, 29 Nov 2017. (Source: Investors Chronicle)

05 Jun 18. TT Electronics buys Precision. TT Electronics has bought Precision of Minneapolis, the designer and manufacturer of precision electromagnetic product solutions for critical applications.

Precision has around 160 employees that support customers in medical, industrial, and aerospace and defence markets.

Precision brings new design, simulation and manufacturing capabilities to TT in electromagnetics.

Precision’s products are primarily sold into medical applications including pace makers, neurological implants and other in-body equipment as well as external diagnostic equipment such as dialysis machines and MRI scanners.

Precision also serves industrial and aerospace and defence customers in applications including satellite power supplies and aerospace guidance systems.

Precision’s capabilities include high-reliability, ultra-fine wire winding, particularly suited to components that require exceptionally high levels of precision. Precision will be integrated into the Power Electronics division.

TT will provide Precision with customer and market access in Europe and Asia, supported by a global Field Application Engineering team and distribution network. TT’s operating footprint will provide significant manufacturing and supply chain capabilities in Asia to support customers in region.

Together with Precision, TT now has a global electromagnetic product solution offering with engineering capabilities in the US, UK and Asia supported bymanufacturing capabilities in each region.

Commenting on the acquisition, Richard Tyson, CEO says the acquisition “will extend our capability for power electronic solutions in the important medical, industrial and aerospace and defence markets in the US.” (Source: Google//www.electronicsweekly.com)

05 Jun 18. Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) announced today that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has cleared Northrop Grumman’s proposed acquisition of Orbital ATK Inc. The FTC’s Bureau of Competition has completed its review of the merger, and the Premerger Notification Office has informed the company that the waiting period under the HSR Act has terminated, allowing the companies to complete the merger. As part of that clearance, the FTC issued a decision and order providing for solid rocket motors to be available on a non-discriminatory basis under specified circumstances and under processes defined in the order. The company expects to complete the transaction after market close tomorrow and is issuing the following updated guidance. This updated guidance assumes the completion of the transaction tomorrow.

04 Jun 18. Trident Maritime Systems Completes the Acquisition of Newsystem srl. Trident Maritime Systems (“Trident”), a portfolio company of an investment affiliate of J.F. Lehman & Company, announced today the completion of the acquisition of Newsystem srl (“Newsystem”).

Trident is a leading provider of turnkey marine systems and solutions for government and commercial vessel new construction, retrofit and repair both in the U.S. and internationally.

Newsystem is a provider of outfitting systems and solutions for the cruise ship new construction market. The company is located near Bergamo, Italy and operates in shipyards throughout Italy.

“Since our acquisition of the company in 2011, Trident has demonstrated strong growth by diversifying and expanding its specialized systems and solutions offering and geographic footprint. Newsystem is Trident’s seventh add-on acquisition and represents another successful step in executing this element of Trident’s strategy,” said Alex Harman, Partner at J.F. Lehman & Company.

Tom Eccles, Chief Executive Officer of Trident, said, “We are very pleased to welcome Newsystem to the Trident family. The addition of Newsystem demonstrates our commitment to the Italian cruise ship new construction market and will allow us to better serve our customers.”

04 Jun 18. Aeronautics completes Chassis Plans acquisition. Aeronautics has completed the acquisition of rugged electronics provider Chassis Plans, according to Israeli media reports. The announcement was made via a filing to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) on 3 June, completing the purchase that was first announced in September 2017. Chassis Plans designs, develops, and manufactures a range of ruggedized computer systems for the military and industrial markets, with systems including servers, storage, LCD monitors, and tablet computers. It is reported that the Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles manufacturer acquired US-based Chassis Plans for USD2.3m in cash at the point of completion, and will pay further amounts subject to sales milestones. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

25 May 18. QinetiQ energised in foreign markets. The investment case for QinetiQ (QQ.) is partly predicated on its expertise in advanced testing and evaluation services – technologies that can generate cost savings for the military at a time when the domestic defence budget is coming under intense scrutiny; a point borne out by claims from the House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee that the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) spending plans for the next decade contain a £20bn black hole.

Even before the parliamentary watchdog took the MoD to task, sentiment towards the sector had soured when Ultra Electronics(ULE) warned of “mounting pressures in the funding of UK defence programmes”, at the tail-end of 2017. But against this backdrop, QinetiQ revealed its largest annual revenues in five years, together with a 7 per cent rise in underlying earnings (flattered by one-off items) and a double-digit hike in operating cash flows.

Order levels soared in the prior year, thanks to a long-term partnering agreement (LTPA) with the MoD, but if you exclude this from the equation, along with multi-year contracts awarded in the period, the order book was 15 per cent to the good. However, it’s clear the order mix isn’t quite so favourable – “lower value, shorter dated” – so only 69 per cent of current-year revenues were under contract at the start of April, against 74 per cent a year earlier. On a related issue, the adoption of the IFRS 15 (revenue recognition) accounting standard “is not expected to have a significant impact” on reported financial performance in the current year.

The group’s longstanding links with the MoD can be a mixed blessing when domestic defence budgets are under the pump, so QinetiQ has been diversifying geographically, ergo the recent acquisition of Germany-based air training company EIS Aircraft Group. Even before this deal, international revenues had risen to 27 per cent of the group total, up from 21 per cent two years ago. Bloomberg consensus forecasts give adjusted EPS of 16.9p for FY2019 and the following year.

IC View

The promise afforded by the group’s embrace of foreign markets is reflected in a marked increase in the book-to-bill ratio (implying improving order demand) for the global products division, although the opposite was true of the larger Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) services business. The LTPA provides a degree of predictability, but given increased uncertainties over MoD budgets, and with the shares trading in line with their historic enterprise/cash profits multiple, we move our original call (230p, 1 Sep 2016) down to neutral. Last IC View: Buy, 209p, 20 Nov 2017. (Source: Investors Chronicle)

04 Jun 18. Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESLT and TASE: ESLT) (“Elbit Systems”) announced today that it’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Cyberbit Ltd. (“Cyberbit”), raised a $30m investment from the private equity investor Claridge Israel L.P. (“Claridge Israel”). Engaged in the cyber security area Cyberbit provides the cyber training and simulation solution – Cyberbit Range and a consolidated detection and response platform that protects an organization’s entire attack surface across IT, OT and IoT networks. This investment will facilitate Cyberbit’s ability to take advantage of the rising demand for its product line, as well as expand sales and marketing operations, primarily in North America, enhance customer and partner support and boost development.

Oded Tal, Managing Partner of Claridge Israel, will join Cyberbit’s board of directors. Bezhalel (Butzi) Machlis, President and CEO of Elbit Systems, commented: “We see the cyber security field as a growth engine. We are encouraged by the technological and business achievements of Cyberbit in recent years, led by the rapid adoption of the market leading cyber training and simulation solution – the Cyber Range. I am confident that the partnership with Claridge Israel will lead Cyberbit to even greater achievements.”

04 Jun 18. Boeing eyes greater APAC defence sales to boost global services. “The next big market opportunity in the global services arena, is the doubling of [the Asia-Pacific] market in the next ten years, and becoming the largest market in the world,” says Jeff Shockey, vice president of global sales and marketing at Boeing Defense, Space & Security at a roundtable briefing in Singapore.

Vice-president of international sales, Gene Cunningham, says that the conversations that Boeing is having with governments are “no longer ‘I’ve got an Apache, would you like to buy an Apache’”, but are about understanding their specific needs, security concerns and the capabilities they are seeking.

Those conversations are opening up opportunities to create support programmes that address multiple products together, as opposed to the traditional support of an individual platform, he adds.

Sales prospects for military aircraft across the region remain strong. Boeing is in talks with multiple governments about its airborne refueling, maritime patrol and helicopter platforms.

Cunningham adds that Boeing is “engaged in the process to look at what their next fighter might look like”, as Japan looks to a future replacement of its F-2s. Reports in April suggested that rival Lockheed Martin plans to offer a hybrid of the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II to meet the forthcoming requirement. Meanwhile, the manufacturer is bidding to sell the P-8 Poseidon to South Korea, which is expected to decide on a maritime patrol aircraft by the end of 2018.

In India, Boeing is looking to pitch the KC-46 to meet a requirement there. Separately, on 1 June, it announced that its Tata Boeing Aerospace joint venture had delivered its first AH-64 Apache fuselage “five to six weeks” ahead of schedule.

The Hyderabad-based facility, which was operational a year ago, will be the sole global producer of fuselages for AH-64s delivered by Boeing to its global customers, including the United States. The facility will also produce secondary structures and vertical spar boxes for the multi-role combat helicopter.

Boeing is also looking to build on its delivery of eight AH-64s to Indonesia, and has had discussions with Jakarta on the potential sale of CH-47 Chinooks.

“Around the world, operators that have Apaches are also operators of Chinook. No doubt there is a fine pairing of those two aircraft in terms of defence capabilities and about us to provide unique solutions,” says Cunningham. (Source: Google/Flightglobal)

01 Jun 18. Cache Creek Industries Acquires Mountain Secure Systems

Creek Industries, LLC, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm, today announced that it has partnered with Rockmont Capital to acquire Mountain Secure Systems (“MSS”), a provider of proprietary, ruggedized and highly engineered electronic solutions to leading defense contractors in the United States. MSS was previously owned by Phillips Service Industries, Inc., a privately held global manufacturing and services holding company. Since 1985, MSS has been providing the most reliable ruggedized electronics for fragile, box-level electronics, particularly for the military where reliability for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) is critical. These products have a proven track record of withstanding the harshest elements of land, sea, air and space for high reliability and mission critical applications. In addition to defense, the company also serves the aerospace, industrial and energy markets.

“We have been impressed with MSS’s culture of accountability, transparency and excellence, which provides a strong foundation for the company to continue growing both organically and through strategic acquisitions,” commented Dean Douglas, a Partner at Cache Creek who will serve as the new MSS Chairman. Jake Blumenthal, the Cache Creek Partner who led the transaction added, “We believe MSS is well positioned to take advantage of the increasing demand by the military for these solutions and there is also a growing need for MSS’s services in harsh environments across the aerospace, oil and gas, industrial and mining markets. We look forward to working closely with the management team as they pursue these growth opportunities.”

“The entire MSS team looks forward to working with Cache Creek, which shares our culture, values and has a successful history investing in, and operating companies similar to ours,” said President Ken Dickson, who has led MSS for over a decade. “Cache Creek’s recruitment of industry executive Allen Ronk to our board is very exciting for me personally. Having served as the founder and CEO of Secure Communication Systems, a provider of mission critical computing solutions, Allen’s experience, network and insights will be invaluable to MSS.”

Guaranty Bank provided the senior debt and Medallion Capital co-invested in the equity and provided the mezzanine financing for the transaction. Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP acted as legal advisor to Cache Creek Industries. The seller was represented by KAL Capital Markets LLC and Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP.

About Cache Creek Industries

Cache Creek Industries, LLC is a Los Angeles-based private equity firm focused on making control investments in companies with up to $10m of EBITDA. The firm invests in companies in the Industrial Growth and Aerospace & Defense sectors. Cache Creek actively partners with talented management teams to drive value creation by enhancing culture, people, creativity, performance, and execution. www.cachecreekllc.com

About Rockmont Capital

Rockmont Capital Partners, Ltd. is a private investment company based in Denver, Colorado. Its mission is to build wealth by investing in and acquiring companies and to work with their management to build highly profitable and successful businesses. The firm is opportunistic in its investments, creative in solving financial and business problems and it focuses on working with people it trusts, respects and enjoys. www.rockmontcapital.com

About Mountain Secure Systems

Since 1985, Mountain Secure Systems (MSS) has been providing the most reliable rugged electronic solutions in the world for the aerospace and defense industries, particularly in the area of rugged data storage systems. From submarine-based data-collection systems to mission-critical data logging on the space shuttle, the company engineers its rugged storage systems for superior performance and durability that will outlast the harshest environments. www.mountainsecuresystems.com (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)

25 May 18. Disposal of MDH Defence. Bioquell PLC (“Bioquell”) (LSE symbol: BQE) – a leading provider of products and services for the Life Sciences, Pharmaceutical and Healthcare markets today announces the disposal of its MDH Defence business (“MDH”).

Under the terms of the disposal, MDH is being sold for an initial consideration of £0.4m, with a further contingent payment of up to £0.6m due if MDH is successful in winning a specific contract for which it is presently bidding within the next 12 months. Bioquell will complete a partly fulfilled defence contract which will generate revenue and margin of approximately £0.7m and £0.2m respectively during the second half of 2018.

In the year ended 31 December 2017, MDH had revenue of £0.7m and made an operating loss of £35,000. The value of MDH’s net assets being disposed of at completion is £0.4m and any gain or loss on disposal will not be material, save to the extent that contingent consideration is received. MDH has no shared products or shared customers with Bioquell’s core business.

Commenting on the strategic disposal, Ian Johnson, Executive Chairman of Bioquell PLC, said: “I am pleased to have been able to reach agreement to exit this non-core business. The disposal represents a further step in simplifying and reducing the complexity of the business and transitioning Bioquell’s focus to its core products and services, namely; bio-decontamination, aseptic workstations and infection control enclosures.”

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Odyssey is an independent corporate finance firm which advises on acquisitions, business sales, management buy-outs and raising finance, typically in the £5m to £100m range. We have extensive experience in the niche manufacturing sector with our most recent completed deal being the sale of MacNeillie to Babcock Plc. Details can be seen at: http://www.odysseycf.com/case-study-macneillie/

As a result of this and related projects we have developed relationships with buyers and funders looking to acquire or invest in the sector. We would be happy to share further insights into the sector and to carry out reviews of businesses whose shareholders are considering an exit, acquisition or fundraise.

The review will include:

* Valuation

* Market review

* Comparative deals and structures

* Initial thoughts on buyers/ investors/ targets

* MBO viability

* Feasibility review and identification of any issues to be addressed pre-deal

There is no charge for this review.

If this is of interest we would be happy to meet at your convenience.

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MILITARY VEHICLE NEWS

Web Page sponsored by MILLBROOK

Tel: +44 (0) 1525 408408

www.millbrook.co.uk/military

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04 Jun 18. DVD2018 to Focus on Innovation and Army Transformation. DVD2018 will bring together industry and defence in the land equipment sector on 19 and 20 September at Millbrook. It will showcase the equipment and technology that can support a British Army that is fit to meet future challenges and embrace the need for continuous evolution.

The event, jointly sponsored by Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) and the Army Headquarters, will focus on 21st Century Manoeuvre and the importance of Army innovation to its future delivery and transformation.

The theme for DVD2018 is Innovation today and tomorrow: exploiting current capabilities more creatively and identifying novel solutions to enable Conceptual Force Land 2035.

Innovation can be achieved through technological innovation of equipment and systems – which will be exhibited at DVD2018. However, change could also be realised through innovating how equipment is procured, stored, held at readiness, deployed, operated and supported on operations, and could include a holistic review of the workforce required to conduct these activities – be they military or contractor solutions – as part of the Whole Force Approach.

Colin McClean, Director Land Equipment, explains: “DVD2018 is an opportunity to demonstrate the vital contribution capability innovation and industry collaboration can make to enable an affordable and sustainable Army ready for the challenges of the future.

“Those attending will be able to see a wide range of equipment on display from industry and the military, with more than 250 companies expected to exhibit at DVD2018. Displays will include mobile vehicle demonstrations, equipment suppliers, spares provisioners and service providers.”

Visitors will experience a full agenda over the two days. They will have the opportunity to interact with Defence industry exhibitors, showcasing the equipment, innovative technology and support solutions that might meet the future Land equipment requirements.

For those involved in Land Equipment for Army Headquarters, DE&S and Front Line Commands DVD2018 provides an ideal opportunity to identify innovation, develop ideas and generate a greater understanding of technologies, capabilities and requirements. To register as a visitor please visit www.theevent.co.uk/Visitor/Register.

Providers of equipment and support for the UK’s Land Forces who would like to exhibit at DVD2018, are encouraged to register their interest at www.theevent.co.uk/Exhibitor.

06 Jun 18. Cameroon’s Fortress APCs now in action. The Cameroonian Rapid Intervention Battalions (BIR) are now fielding Mack Fortress armoured personnel carriers (APCs), Jane’s confirmed during a visit to the BIR base at Salak, the headquarters of Operation Alpha, the elite force’s deployment in the Far North Region. The vehicles were built by the French company ACMAT – which, like Mack, is a subsidiary of Arquus (formerly Renault Trucks Defense) – as part of an order announced in 2015 by the US Department of Defense (DoD) for 62 vehicles for Cameroon, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tunisia, and Uganda. The BIR received 15 Fortresses in late 2017 and deployed them to the Far North for operations against the militant group known as Boko Haram, a BIR officer told Jane’s. The vehicles are known as Cyclones in BIR service. The Fortress was formerly branded as the Bastion HM and is a development of the ACMAT Bastion APC. At 14.5 tonnes it is heavier than the 12-tonne Bastion and has a more powerful 340 hp engine and independent suspension. The Cameroonian vehicles have add-on armour mounted on both sides of the hull and heavier bullet-resistant windows. Few details were provided about the vehicle’s performance, but the BIR officer noted that the Fortress has good mobility, especially when compared with the heavier General Dynamics Peace Keeping Security Vehicle (PKSV) that the BIR also uses. BIR personnel praised the exceptional robustness and very high resistance to mines and improvised explosive devices of the PKSVs that were donated by the United States in 2015 and 2016. The BIR also received two Oshkosh FMTV A1P2 6×6 trucks from the United States in April, the BIR officer said. The FMTVs are equipped with an LTAS B-Kit armoured cab and are being used for logistics. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

06 Jun 18. Austrian Bundesheer receives new AFVs. Austrian Defence Minister Mario Kunasek presented new armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) for the Bundesheer, the armed forces, in the courtyard of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in Vienna on 4 June 2018. Presenting three families of AFVs destined for mountain troops, engineers, and foreign deployments, Kunasek, a member of the ruling Freedom Party (FPÖ), said, “The protection of soldiers will continue to be an essential part of our investments in the future. Especially in missions abroad, our soldiers are exposed to many dangers, so it is important to me to continue investing in protected mobility.”

The Pandur Evolution (EVO) 6×6 armoured personnel carrier (APC) was shown publicly for the first time. These will be the first AFVs to be manufactured in Austria in 17 years, with 34 to be delivered to the Bundesheer. This new version of the Pandur has a more powerful 455hp engine; increased mine protection; more interior space; an anti-lock braking system for greater driver safety; a nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) protection system; and more capable electronics. The programme cost is around EUR105 million (USD123 million).

The Pandur EVO will complement Austria’s older fleet of 68 Pandur Is that were delivered to the Bundesheer 22 years ago and received a EUR23-29 million upgrade in 2017. The upgrade included installation of the same Elbit laser warning system that is installed in Austrian Iveco Light Multipurpose Vehicles (LMVs).

Also on show were two Dingo 2 reconnaissance vehicles, of which a total of 40 examples will be delivered to the Bundesheer starting in September at a rate of four vehicles a month for EUR64 million. The Dingo 2 has an Elbit remote weapon station with an MG74 machine gun, laser rangefinder, thermal imaging device, and digital met station. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

06 Jun 18. Germany’s impending Puma Panzer problem. Federal auditors have flagged a coming chokepoint in the German military’s armored formations, warning that fully equipping the Puma infantry fighting vehicle will take years longer than previously thought. Given the program’s bumpy progress and low availability rates, German ground forces should be prepared to use the predecessor tank, the 40-some-year-old Marder, beyond the envisioned replacement in 2024, they wrote. The warning is included in a recent report to lawmakers by the Bundesrechnungshof, an agency comparable to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The document is part of a series of short papers meant to support ongoing budget deliberations in the Bundestag. The findings eventually will be made public, the agency said, but only once budget negotiations are complete.

Integrating all required features into the Puma, made by a consortium of Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, will take until 2029 if similar efforts of the past are any guide, according to the report.

Preparations for sustaining the Marder beyond its envisioned end of life in 2025 should include ensuring that enough spare parts are available. That has been a notorious problem for the German armed forces, wreaking havoc on readiness rates across the board in recent years.

Analysts report deployment-readiness rates of 48 percent in 2016 and 43 percent in 2017 for Puma vehicles, though they acknowledge that the weapon is brand new and only now in the initial delivery phase.

At the same time, the Defence Ministry set the bar low when vehicles as usable for deployment. Simply being useful in certain training tasks means vehicles are included in the lowest availability category of “conditionally deployable.”

Additionally, the Army has reported a lack of “system stability” of the Pumas, according to auditors. The weapon is known to often malfunction during training, and the failure source remains elusive.

Meanwhile, auditors note with “grave concern” that the Marder fleet’s availability rate also is trending downward.

Rheinmetall announced this week the delivery of the 200th Puma to the Bundeswehr. In a statement, the company praised the weapon’s “massive fire power and excellent network-enabled operations capabilities.”

The Defence Ministry already has several programs underway to improve the Puma and retrofit vehicles already delivered. But critical gaps remain, including a system offering improved situational awareness for vehicle operators and a camouflage feature that would reduce the vehicle’s radar signature, the ministry told lawmakers in a confidential report in April.

The price tag for the outstanding capabilities is expected to lie in the hundreds of millions of euros.

Defense officials announced in April that 35 Marder tanks are in line to get the anti-tank weapon MELLS, though a fleetwide program for all of the 1970s-era tanks also is under consideration. A portion of the legacy vehicles are slated to be part of Germany’s contribution to a NATO Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, the ministry said. The entire Puma fleet will also get the MELLS tank-killing weapon, eventually. In their confidential report, however, officials predicted a yearlong delay, from March 2019 to the second quarter of 2020. Following integration testing in early summer, the government expects to request money for the retrofitting from the Bundestag later this year. (Source: Defense News)

06 Jun 18. Supacat delivers the first production HMT Extenda Vehicle to Norway. UK Special Forces vehicle designer and manufacturer, Supacat, has today announced the recent delivery of the first production HMT Extenda vehicle to the Norwegian Armed Forces. The handover took place at Supacat’s Devon facility on 30 May 2018.

Supacat signed a £23m contract with The Norwegian Defence Material Agency (NDMA) to supply a new fleet of High Mobility Vehicles in May 2015. The award includes the provision of a comprehensive through-life support package. The first `pre-series` vehicle was delivered in early 2017 followed by full fleet delivery taking place during 2018 and 2019.

The HMT Extenda is unique as it is convertible to a 4×4 or a 6×6 configuration by inserting or removing a self-contained third axle unit to meet different operational requirements. Like other HMT series platforms, such as the UK’s `Jackal`, the HMT Extenda can be supplied with optional mine blast and ballistic protection kits and with a variety of mission hampers, weapons, communications, ISTAR and force protection equipment to suit a wide range of operational roles.

Major Arild Stangenes, NDMA Programme Manager said: “the delivery of our first production vehicle is a major milestone in a long-term programme that has been ongoing since 2011. We are very pleased with the quality of our first production vehicle and with a product that fully meets the needs of our user”.

Nick Ames, Chief Executive of SC Group, of which Supacat is a part, said “this project milestone is a great achievement for Supacat and for our Norwegian customer. I am proud of what the team has achieved in delivering a fantastic product and we are looking forward to following this first production delivery with the rest of the order.” He added, “yet again, the Supacat HMT has proven itself to be the vehicle of choice for specialist users across the globe.”

05 Jun 18. Rheinmetall ships 200th Puma IFV to the Bundeswehr – the 100th system produced in Unterlüß. The 200th Puma infantry fighting vehicle earmarked for the Bundeswehr has just rolled off the assembly line at the Rheinmetall plant in Unterlüß in Lower Saxony. It is also the 100th Puma manufactured by the Düsseldorf-based tech enterprise, part-owner of the joint venture tasked with producing the vehicle. The jubilee vehicle will soon be arriving at the Bundeswehr’s force integration organization in Munster a.d. Örtze, likewise located in Lower Saxony.

The Puma IFV is the raison d’être of Projekt System & Management (PSM) GmbH, the fifty-fifty joint venture of Rheinmetall and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann in charge of developing and producing the vehicle as well as providing subsequent in-service support. (Each of the two partners is responsible for manufacturing half of the vehicles on order.) Just attained, this milestone shows that production of the Puma is in full swing and proceeding according to plan. The state-of-the-art infantry fighting vehicle is currently be integrated into the force structure of the German Army. Delivery of all 342 combat vehicles, which commenced in 2015, is scheduled for completion in 2020. In addition to the IFVs, the Bundeswehr has also taken delivery of eight driver training vehicles.

With the introduction of the Puma IFV by the Bundeswehr, the German mechanized infantry corps now has a new mainstay, one that represents a major departure in armoured vehicle design. The most advanced system in its class, the versatile Puma is perfect for operational scenarios in every climate zone. It sets new standards with regard to battlefield lethality, mobility, command and control, and situational awareness. Besides an array of modular, highly effective force protection features, the Puma boasts massive fire power and excellent network-enabled operations capabilities. This new infantry fighting vehicle is roomy enough to carry nine soldiers, yet compact enough to be airlifted into the theatre of operations in an A400M military transport plane.

Nor is Rheinmetall’s role restricted to manufacturing half of all Puma IFVs: via PSM GmbH, the Bundeswehr has now contracted with the Group to expand the system’s capabilities. These should keep the vehicle on the cutting edge for decades to come, while simultaneously improving possibilities for training. Among other things, this includes development of the new “turret-independent secondary weapon system”, or TSWA, for the Puma, which will enable the use of non-lethal munitions, as well as installation of advanced visualization technology and displays.

A further order encompasses new resources for training Puma turret operators. Separate turret training systems, each consisting of a standard turret and the upper section of the Puma hull, will in future enable the commander and gunner to sharpen their skills without having to use the original equipment. And maintenance personnel can practise repairing and servicing turrets in an effective, highly realistic way. This saves resources and leads to lower costs by reducing wear and tear on the actual vehicles, which moreover are never tied up due to routine training commitments. This make it possible to structure training operations much more flexibly. Other orders include the manufacture and supply of airburst-capable 30mm x 173 cal. ammunition as well as a firing apparatus, special tools and spare parts. NATO and NATO-associated nations are currently showing a keen interest in the Puma. The vehicle has demonstrated its outstanding capabilities in multiple comparative trials.

04 Jun 18. Allison fully automatic transmissions have reliably moved troops and cargo in both tracked and wheeled defense vehicles for more than 65 years. Known for superior performance and exceptional reliability, Allison automatics continue to evolve to meet the stringent demands of military fleets worldwide. Allison representatives will be at Eurosatory 2018, the international defense and security exhibition in Paris, June 11-15, to discuss the company’s current and upcoming innovative and adaptive propulsion solutions for military applications.

“Today’s global defense forces face a variety of new missions in addition to traditional armed conflict,” said Dana Pittard, vice president for defense programs at Allison Transmission. “These ever-evolving responsibilities demand vehicle transmissions that have demonstrated they are reliable and ready for action.”

Overall, Allison transmissions provide higher torque ranges and higher gross vehicle weight capacity. Combined with advanced electronic controls, this optimizes the performance of higher-horsepower engines, delivering better overall vehicle performance and control, regardless of grade or terrain. Additional performance enhancements include improved fuel economy, built-in power take-off (PTO) provisions that provide power to vehicle-mounted mission equipment, and superior braking and steering of tracked vehicles for precise mission execution.

Allison works with OEMs around the world to design, develop, manufacture and support transmissions that deliver in the toughest conditions. For fleets that are developing new wheeled or tracked vehicles, Allison can tailor a transmission specifically for that application.

Allison engineers also have a track record of retrofitting existing models. A recent example is the ongoing testing of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle now outfitted with the 3040 MX, a variant of the X300™, found in the British Warrior, British Terrier and Swedish CV90 vehicles.

Additionally, in an effort to anticipate and meet market demand, Allison is currently developing cross-drive architectures for medium tracked vehicles ranging from 23 to 36 metric tons, and for heavy tracked vehicles ranging from 50 to 63 metric tons.

Allison transmissions use a torque converter that absorbs shock loads and spikes, reducing wear and tear on everything from the vehicle’s crew to the engine to the wheels or tracks. With Continuous Power Technology™, smooth engine acceleration at launch and during shifts protects the entire drivetrain. In addition, because an Allison transmission uses a torque converter for launch, there are no mechanical clutches to wear out.

“From the command perspective, reliability is crucial,” said Pittard. “More uptime means crews have more time to spend on training, and this translates to increased mission readiness. Plus, when the vehicles are called into action, commanders can remain confident that the exceptional reliability of their Allison transmission will assist them in completing their mission.” (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)

04 Jun 18. Bulgarian 8×8 competition to be launched soon. With the Bulgarian government busily preparing to launch a competitive procurement for new armoured vehicles, aspiring manufacturers showcased their products at the recent HEMUS defence and security exhibition held in Plovdiv. Plans to purchase 150 armoured vehicles – including 90 wheeled IFVs and 60 support vehicles – was approved by the Sofia government on 16 May, which allocated a budget of Bulgarian Lev 1.020bn ($609m).

The new armoured vehicles are to be used for equipping three battalion battle groups, which are component units of a mechanised brigade.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of HEMUS, Bulgaria’s minister of defence Krasimir Karakachanov emphasised the political commitment of the ruling coalition to make it happen and expressed his hope to have a contract in place by year-end.

A new Piranha V variant was shown by General Dynamics European Land Systems, sporting the Elbit UT30MK2 unmanned turret.

In turn, Finland’s Patria showcased its AMV equipped with a Rafael Samson Mk II turret with a 30mm gun. It was the only armoured vehicle at the exhibition to take part in live-fire demonstration at Zmeevo shooting range northeast of Plovdiv.

Nexter displayed its VBCI armoured vehicle, equipped with the T40 turret boasting the 40mm CTA gun. In addition, the company showed its Titus IMV.

Turkey’s Otokar also joined the list of contenders showing their hardware with its Arma 8×8 equipped with the Mizrak S turret.

Textron Systems was also present in Plovdiv, showcasing its 4×4 Commando family already in service with the Bulgarian Land Forces, which have an inventory of 17 such vehicles.

The only contender not present at HEMUS was German manufacturer ARTEC with its Boxer model, but it has made two presentations in front of the Bulgarian MoD since the beginning of the year, including a live presentation of the vehicle at the end of April and also agreeing to an in-country demonstration tour in the future.

The next step in the process will be to receive approval from the country’s parliament, which Bulgarian legislation requires for large military procurement projects.

According to Konstantin Popov, chairman of the parliament’s defence committee, a green light for procurement is expected by the end of June, allowing the MoD to begin sending RFPs to interested bidders.

The Bulgarian Land Forces’ requirements for a new wheeled IFV includes an 8×8 configuration, transport of a minimum of seven troops and an armament consisting of at least one 30mm gun and ATGMs.

For the support vehicles, requirements are still under consideration and could be less-expensive 6×6 or 4×6 vehicles.

It is now expected the winning offer will include not only the best pricing conditions but also a large share of production and know-how transfer to Bulgarian industry, as well as in-country final assembly.

General Dynamics European Land Systems and Patria are seen as the front-runners, with Turkey’s proposal seen as politically unacceptable. Both Boxer and VBCI proposals could be prohibitively expensive considering Sofia’s limited procurement budget allocated for this otherwise ambitious programme. (Source: Shephard)

01 Jun 18. Kazakhstani firms unveil new Karakurt robotic combat vehicle. Kazakhstani public and private industry joined to create an armed robotic vehicle, the Karakurt, and unveiled it during the KADEX 2018 defence exhibition in Astana. The tracked unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) was designed by Kazakhstani companies Robotron Aspandau and New Tech Distribution, with support from the Kazakhstan Engineering Research and Development Centre. The companies started developing the Karakurt UGV in mid-2016, finalised the basic design at beginning of 2018, and started design trials before mid-year. According to Robotron Aspandau representatives, the designers plan to attend military user trials from August 2018 through the year’s end. The prototype displayed during KADEX 2018 was fitted with a weapon station armed with an NSVT 12.7 mm heavy machine gun and 250 rounds, and two RPG-26I ‘Aglen’ rocket-propelled grenade launchers. The weapon station is fitted with a camera and four others are mounted on the hull for a 360°view.

The platform is 2.42 m long, 1.89 m wide, and 1.357 m high up to the machine gun’s top elevation. It has 35.23 cm ground clearance. The vehicle is fitted with an 8.5 kW electrical generator powered by air-cooled 459 cm one-cylinder, two-stroke petrol engine. The fuel tank carries 27 litres. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

01 Jun 18. Dutch army receives Kodiak AEV. The Dutch Defence Materiel Organisation has handed over the Kodiak armoured engineer vehicle (AEV) to the Royal Netherlands Army, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 31 May. The Netherlands is co-operating with Sweden on the procurement of 10 Dutch and six Swedish Kodiaks. The AEV was developed by Rheinmetall Landsysteme and RUAG. The Kodiak will be available for the NATO Response Force Very High Readiness Joint Task Force in 2019, the Dutch MoD said.

(Source: IHS Jane’s)

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Millbrook, based in Bedfordshire, UK, makes a significant contribution to the quality and performance of military vehicles worldwide. Its specialist expertise is focussed in two distinct areas: test programmes to help armed services and their suppliers ensure that their vehicles and systems work as the specification requires; and design and build work to upgrade new or existing vehicles, evaluate vehicle capability and investigate in-service failures. Complementing these is driver and service training and a hospitality business that allows customers to use selected areas of Millbrook’s remarkable facilities for demonstrations and exhibitions.

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LOGISTICS AND THROUGH LIFE UPDATE

Web Page sponsored by Oshkosh

www.oshkoshdefense.com

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07 Jun 18. Royal Jordanian Air Force Helicopters Upgraded by Science and Engineering Services, LLC and Northrop Grumman Begin Flight Testing.

Northrop Grumman’s avionics upgrade extends the aircraft’s life and mission capabilities. As the average age of aircraft inventories rises, military services worldwide are increasingly embracing the cost-effective solution of modernizing existing platforms as an alternative to purchasing brand new aircraft. A recent example of this trend is the upgrade of AH-1F/S Cobra attack helicopters used by the Royal Jordanian Air Force. The upgraded helicopter has entered flight testing in Huntsville, Alabama.

Northrop Grumman and Science and Engineering Services (SES) LLC have significantly modified the helicopter to extend its life by at least 20 years. The aircraft was rewired and reconditioned by SES to ensure its quality and integrity. Meanwhile, as the avionics systems integrator for the helicopters, Northrop Grumman is overseeing the design and incorporation of the avionics solution.

The aircraft avionics received a digital conversion via Northrop Grumman’s Integrated Mission Equipment package (iMEP), which includes a commercially available FlightPro™ Gen III mission computer, a full suite of LCD multifunction displays, an embedded software digital map and navigation controls. Scalable and fully integrated, the iMEP is based upon a modular, open architecture that supports rapid integration of third-party hardware and software. This flexible approach counters obsolescence and simplifies mission growth now and far into the future. The iMEP is also adding new and improved weapons capabilities to the helicopter, including advanced missiles, rockets and a rotary cannon.

“By providing a highly adaptable mission equipment package and critical integration support, we are reinvigorating older platforms with the capabilities of modern-day attack helicopters,” said Robert Fleming, vice president of programs, land & avionics C4ISR division, Northrop Grumman. “Because of our open-architecture approach to avionics solutions, the increases in capability that we are providing on this contract can be delivered to other customers around the world.”

The first modified AH-1F aircraft have been shipped to Jordan for Weapons Testing and Final Acceptance by the Royal Jordanian Air Force.

This program marks the first global customer to modernize the avionics equipment on the AH-1F/S helicopters since their production during the early 1980s. Northrop Grumman’s baseline configuration can be easily customized for other global customers and platforms through rapid software only updates, as an alternative to the lengthy traditional model of upgrading hardware. The mission equipment package cockpit features a flexible software package designed to be implemented across multiple platforms.

The mission equipment package’s integrated design and lightweight components offer a significant weight savings of nearly 300 pounds when compared with the current systems installed on the Jordanian AH-1F/S. (Photo courtesy of Science and Engineering Services)

Additionally, the mission equipment package’s integrated design and lightweight components offer a significant weight savings of nearly 300 pounds when compared with the current systems installed on the Jordanian AH-1F/S. Northrop Grumman has a long history spanning more than 30 years of successful military integrated avionics program capabilities for aircraft, including the UH-60V, AH‑1Z, UH-1Y, SH-2G, SH-60, and E-2D.

06 Jun 18. Boeing engages with Indonesian Army on Apache support. Boeing has outlined the scope of its industrial collaboration engagement with Indonesia as part of its Foreign Military Sale (FMS) contract to supply the Southeast Asian country with eight AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters.

A spokesperson for Boeing told Jane’s on 5 June that the US corporation is collaborating with the Apache operator, the Indonesian Army (Tentara Nasional Indonesia-Angkatan Darat: TNI-AD), but that partnerships with local industry are still the subject of discussions.

The spokesperson added that the principal focus of collaboration is through a related contract with the TNI-AD that enables its engineers and technicians to support the helicopters, with assistance provided by Boeing.

“Boeing is currently supporting the TNI-AD with a Post-Production Support Services contract, which allows the TNI-AD to maintain their AH-64E Apache aircraft with technical reach-back support, spares, and repairs provided by Boeing. The helicopter purchase included training for TNI-AD maintenance personnel provided by the US Army and Boeing,” said the spokesperson.

Officials from Indonesia’s aerospace firm, PT Dirgantara (PTDI), have recently told Jane’s that the company was looking to play a role in supporting the Apaches in operation with the TNI-AD by providing spare parts and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services.

However, the Boeing spokesperson said its engagement with Indonesian industry on the provision of Apache MRO services was still under negotiation. “Boeing is in regular discussions on ways to work together with Indonesian industry to enhance local capabilities, introduce new technologies, create aerospace jobs, and meet Indonesia’s industrial growth objectives,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that any Boeing requirement to transfer technologies to Indonesia as part of the deal would be determined by the US government. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

03 Jun 18. Japan agrees to supply UH-1H parts to Philippines. Japan has agreed to supply the Philippines with a wide range of spare parts to support the Philippine Air Force’s (PAF’s) Bell UH-1H helicopters. The decision is in line with Tokyo’s efforts to promote its viability as a defence exporter. The Japanese Ministry of Defense’s (MoD’s) Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Agency (ATLA) said that the decision was communicated to the Philippines on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue on 2 June. ATLA said it will supply the components free of charge. ATLA did not elaborate on the development but Jane’s understands that the Philippines submitted a request to procure the spare parts in August 2017. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

01 Jun 18. USMC F-35s dogged by parts shortages. The Marine Corps’ premier F-35 training squadron is churning out new pilots, but low availability of spare parts and the jet’s logistics system continue to cause a headache for the maintainers at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort. MCAS Beaufort in South Carolina is home to Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron (VMFAT) 501, the service’s hub for pilots learning to fly the short takeoff, vertical landing F-35B variant.

But when Defense News visited the base on May 17, maintainers at the base echoed concerns heard around the F-35 enterprise: As home to some of the military’s oldest F-35s, aircraft availability is suffering as planes sit waiting for spare parts and for key hardware and software modifications.

When maintainers enter in orders for components needed to repair the jet, the F-35’s Autonomic Logistics Information System — which walks users through maintenance and helps manage the supply chain — will sometimes project an expected arrival of “a couple years out,” said Sgt. Pedro, a maintenance controller from VMFAT-501. Defense News agreed not to publish last names of Marines associated with VMFAT-501 due to security concerns.

“That’s [just] a forecasting,” Pedro quickly added. “Then we make a call and find out where it’s actually at, and so we get the parts sooner than what the forecast date is.”

One of the features of ALIS allows it to see the number and types of parts available across the entire supply chain, which is shared by the U.S. services and international F-35 operators. The system can reprioritize parts, so sometimes maintainers can actually receive a part as quickly as three to five days even if a longer date is projected.

However, it’s not uncommon for certain parts to take around a month, Pedro said.

In some scenarios, maintainers will “cannibalize” other F-35s — harvesting parts from one unavailable jet to repair another. That practice isn’t uncommon across fighter fleets and has been used to service F-15s and F/A-18s, but Pedro said that cannibalizing aircraft is a last resort.

“Before we start looking at cannibalizing that part, if it says a year out, we’ll monitor it,” he said. “Because the next report might say, ‘We have that part. It was going to be prioritized to that unit, but you need it more.’ So it will reprioritize that part.”

Beaufort isn’t the only base impacted by the spare parts shortage; the problem reaches all the way across the F-35 enterprise.

Due to a lack of parts available, F-35s worldwide were unable to fly about 22 percent of the time from January 2017 through Aug. 7, 2017, the Government Accountability Office reported in 2017.

GAO offered one explanation for the problem: the Defense Department simply didn’t take into account the time necessary to put parts under contract and produce them when it was doing its budget planning.

“Nineteen percent of F-35 parts have a lead time of more than 2 years,” the GAO noted. “However, program office and military service officials told us that the timing of prior service funding authorizations and contract awards did not account for this long lead time to procure parts, resulting in parts that were late to meet the military services’ operational needs.”

A Lockheed Martin team recently visited MCAS Beaufort and spoke with pilots, maintainers and base leadership on how it could help Marines get spare parts quicker and discuss other sustainment problems, Lockheed spokesman Mike Friedman told Defense News in a statement.

Some of the actions the company is taking to address concerns about long waits for spares include: pre-funding spares before a contract is awarded; working with suppliers to improve the reliability and availability of key parts; and ramping up both industry and government’s ability to repair parts.

The company also wants to explore options for using 3D printed parts, which can be made rapidly when old parts break, Friedman said.

Modifications for older F-35s contributing to low availability

Thirty F-35Bs are based at Beaufort: 11 jets belonging to the U.K. Royal Air Force and 19 U.S. Marine Corps planes.

Those aircraft run the gamut from those equipped with the 2B software — an early version with a restricted flight envelope and weapons carrying capability, ones with improved 3I software that the Air Force used when it declared its jets operational in 2016, and the final 3F software that allows for full warfighting capability.

All of the F-35s at Beaufort will eventually be brought up to the 3F standard, but doing the software and hardware modifications necessary to turn an early version of the jet into a fully-capable version takes time and a toll on the squadron’s aircraft availability.

On any given day, there are several aircraft undergoing modifications either at Beaufort or the Fleet Readiness Center at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina, said Maj. Andrew, VMFAT-501’s assistant operations officer.

“There’s always constant [modification activity],” he said. “As parts become available [and] that aircraft can afford to go down for however it takes to get that done to it, the program will schedule in those modifications to those aircraft.”

Headquarters Marine Corps in the Pentagon and leaders at Beaufort refused to comment on the average number of planes ready to fly at Beaufort, citing 2017 memos by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis urging Defense Department personnel to be cautious about divulging information related to readiness.

“We are unable to provide readiness rates or the number of available aircraft for any platform and especially for a specific squadron due to operational security concerns and per the guidance of Secretary Mattis,” Marine Corps spokeswoman Capt. Sarah Mobilio stated.

However, the base has had one of the lowest availability rates across the F-35 enterprise. In fiscal year 2017, Beaufort’s 28 F-35B aircraft accumulated a dismal 38 percent average availability rate, meaning that only one third of the base’s B models were ready to go at a given time, according to data published in a 2018 report by the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation.

Only the F-35Bs undergoing tests at Edwards Air Force Base posted a lower rate, at 35 percent.

While having older F-35s may cause some issues on the maintenance side, it doesn’t affect pilot training at all, said Lt. Col. Adam Levine, who commands VMFAT-501.

“All software versions that we have on the ramp here can accomplish 100 percent of the administrative and training tasks that we have,” he said. “And we’re delivering these pilots — brand new lieutenants — to front line operational units, and there is no complaint from the customer.”

As of May 24, the squadron has completed training of 16 F-35B pilots over the course of fiscal year 2018, Mobilio said.

ALIS improving…but slowly

ALIS, the F-35’s logistics system, has been slammed by F-35 critics for being overly burdensomeand requiring its users to often work around the system’s limitations. As the software improves, maintainers are noting better performance, but say it still needs improvement.

“It’s slow,” Pedro said, and that may be a problem specific to Beaufort, as Marines at MCAS Yuma in Arizona are reportedly experiencing faster ALIS response times.

“We have a bunch of aircraft out there. And we have only so many servers,” he said. “They have less aircraft, and their servers aren’t booting up as much information.”

Another maintainer told Defense News that ALIS’ 2.0.2 software update, a version of which is used at Beaufort, is helping speed up engine maintenance. ALIS 2.0.2 marked the first time the F-35’s Pratt & Whitney F135 engine was fully integrated with the system, allowing it to pull data from the F135 and run diagnostics.

However, a number of workarounds are still needed, for instance, when that data does not import correctly, the maintainer said.

Friedman, a spokesman for Lockheed, said the company is “making improvements to ALIS to enhance the user experience, improve work flow and lower maintenance labor and material cost.” (Source: Defense News)

01 Jun 18. BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair, Norfolk, Virginia, is awarded a $36,610,149 firm-fixed-price contract for the execution of USS Cole (DDG 67) fiscal 2018 extended dry-docking selected restricted availability. This availability will include a combination of maintenance, modernization and repair of USS Cole. This is a long-term availability and was competed on a coast-wide (East and Gulf coast) basis without limiting the place of performance to the vessel’s homeport. BAE will provide the facilities and human resources capable of completing, coordinating and integrating multiple areas of ship maintenance, repair and modernization for USS Cole. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $96,700,001. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by July 2019. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy); and fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $36,610,149 will be obligated at time of award, and funding in the amount of $18,638,686 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured using full and open competition via the Federal Business Opportunities website. Only one offer was received in response to solicitation number N00024-17-R-4438. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-18-C-4438).

01 Jun 18. DynCorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $62,441,808 modification (P00187) to domestic and foreign military sales (Croatia) contract W58RGZ-13-C-0040 for aviation field maintenance services. Work will be performed in Afghanistan and Iraq, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2018. Fiscal 2010 and 2018 foreign military sales; and operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the combined amount of $62,441,808 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal Alabama, is the contracting activity.

01 Jun 18. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Chantilly, Virginia, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $866,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple contract line item contract for the sustainment and modification of radar sensors, providing depot-level sustainment services and modification projects for the Ballistic Missile Early Warning systems and PAVE Phased Array Warning system radars, and the Parameter Acquisition Radar Attack Characterization system. Work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and other locations, and is expected to be complete by May 31, 2023. This award is the 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 Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, is the contracting activity (FA8723-18-D-0001).

01 Jun 18. Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services, Dulles, Virginia, is awarded a $64,476,915 fixed price modification P00024 under a previously awarded firm-fixed price contract (M67004-16-C-0005) in support of the Marine Corps Logistics Integration Support (LIS) program. Work will be performed in Albany, Georgia (50 percent); Camp Pendleton, California (21 percent); Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (12 percent); Barstow, California (11 percent); Okinawa, Japan (5 percent); and Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii (1 percent). Work is expected to be completed May 31, 2019. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $14,000,000 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $25,023,000 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Marine Corps Logistics Command, Albany, Georgia, is the contracting activity.

01 Jun 18. Charcroft launches new website for harsh and high-end applications.

Website simplifies the selection of high-reliability parts for specific applications
Includes parts from franchised distribution linecard and manufacturing division
Online purchasing of parts from UK-based VPG-approved manufacturing facility
Virtual assistant offers online technical and procurement support
New website is mobile and tablet compatible

Charcroft Electronics Ltd., – a specialist distributor and manufacturer of electronic components for harsh and high-end applications – has launched a new website at www.charcroft.com which enables buyers and engineers to simplify the selection of rugged and high-reliability components for use in specific applications: military & defence, Space, oil & gas, rail & transportation, industrial, specialist automotive, audio and instrumentation.

“The new website makes it easier for buyers and engineers to identify specialist parts which are designed to meet the reliability levels demanded by specific systems and applications,” explains Debbie Rowland, Director, Charcroft Electronics. “Rather than trying to find high-reliability versions among thousands of consumer-grade devices, engineers can quickly find parts across a range of reliability levels. These include Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS), AEC-Q, CECC and Space-approved devices with the option of additional high-level testing to support fail-free operation.”

The site offers easy access via PC, mobile and tablet. Online procurement tools include current leadtimes, an inventory list and stock search in addition to Parts Change Notices (PCNs), online quotations, subscriptions to Charcroft Intelligence emails and account applications. A Live Chat service provides online support for commercial or technical questions. Online purchasing of passive components manufactured in Charcroft’s UK-based CECC-approved manufacturing facility and Vishay Precision Group (VPG) Approved Precision Centre is offered via eBuy.

In addition to the UK-manufactured components, the site includes products from Charcroft’s franchised distribution linecard which covers passive, optoelectronic, electromechanical and magnetic components, in addition to power supplies, solid-state fuses, sensors and high-reliability semiconductors. All of these product ranges offer products which withstand extreme operating conditions such as high levels of temperatures, shock, vibration and contaminants as well as high ratings for voltage, power, current or precision. www.charcroft.com

01 Jun 18. Ravenswood completes instrumentation support of JLTV MOT&E. SRI International subsidiary Ravenswood Solutions has completed its instrumentation support of the joint light tactical vehicle’s (JLTV) multi-service operational test and evaluation (MOT&E) at the US Marine Corps (USMC) Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California.

The company integrated its Mobile Ground Truth System (MGTS) with the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) and the live-virtual-constructive environment during the test.

The integration works enabled Ravenswood to provide a live common operating picture (COP), real-time casualty assessment (RTCA), a tactical analysis centre and an instrumented after-action review (AAR).

Ravenswood Solutions chief executive officer Dan Donoghue said: “This event demonstrated the value of Testing-as-a-Service (TaaS) to the US military.

“Ravenswood Solutions is extremely proud to offer a sustainable, cost-effective and user-friendly solution to the test and evaluation community.”

The company was required to set up, operate, maintain and terminate all instrumentation and network assets as part of the TaaS business model.

The MGTS solution, known as FlexTrain to the US Department of Defense (DoD) clients, was customised to collect information from personnel and assets on the ground and afloat in the Pacific under the MOT&E, thereby demonstrating the system’s durability and seaworthiness.

Ravenswood’s MGTS is a time-synchronised, global positioning system (GPS) based solution that can be rapidly deployed and used to track vehicles and personnel to the individual level, enabling operators to view the entire battlefield on a single COP.

The system facilitates RTCA availability and generates reports of all instances such as shots fired, misses and hits.

(Source: naval-technology.com)

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About Oshkosh Defense

Oshkosh Defense is a leading provider of tactical wheeled vehicles and life cycle sustainment services. For decades Oshkosh has been mobilizing military and security forces around the globe by offering a full portfolio of heavy, medium, light and highly protected military vehicles to support our customers’ missions. In addition, Oshkosh offers advanced technologies and vehicle components such as TAK-4® independent suspension systems, TerraMax™ unmanned ground vehicle solutions, Command Zone™ integrated control and diagnostics system, and ProPulse® diesel electric and on-board vehicle power solutions, to provide our customers with a technical edge as they fulfill their missions. Every Oshkosh vehicle is backed by a team of defense industry experts and complete range of sustainment and training services to optimize fleet readiness and performance. Oshkosh Defense, LLC is an Oshkosh Corporation company [NYSE: OSK].

To learn more about Oshkosh Defense, please visit us at

www.oshkoshdefense.com

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NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Web Page sponsor Oxley Developments

www.oxleygroup.com

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06 Jun 18. FREQUENTIS puts its shared situational awareness framework into the spotlight ahead of the Eurosatory Defence Exhibition in Paris.

Frequentis, the leading international supplier of communication and information systems for businesses with safety-critical tasks, has been providing the defence market with mission-critical communication, information and surveillance systems for over seven decades.

The Frequentis shared situational awareness framework, designed specifically for the defence sector, allows customers to address inter-agency collaboration, improving response times and the coordination of resources in the event of a national crisis. The group of solutions can be tailored to meet customer needs in a scalable and evolving system. When integrated with the Frequentis state-of-the-art communication systems, it provides a unique cross-domain command and control tool.

This solution is in use today for the German Armed Forces. The National Air Policing Centre (NAPC) combines numerous data sources from widely disparate military and civilian systems into a single, easy to use HMI that is coupled with a fully integrated red/black communication system. This gives unheralded access to red/black landline and radio communications together with ‘click-to-dial’ functionality. Real-time situational awareness is a core element to NAPC and this is a first step toward wider capabilities that will enable this functionality across military forces. By leveraging the technology used across rail, maritime and aeronautical industries, Frequentis is able to provide a solution that enables actionable intelligence, including the collection as well as analysis and distribution of information, to aid faster more informed decision-making when seconds count to save lives.

“Frequentis is a well-established and growing brand in the defence sector with an expanding portfolio of products and services including our innovative Remote Virtual Tower that allows Air Traffic Control to be conducted from a remote and secure location. Eurosatory is an important show in the global defence market for me and my team who will be in attendance and we will be happy to arrange meetings either in advance or during the event.”, says Peter Skiczuk, Vice President, Defence at Frequentis.

Frequentis’ fully redundant, highly-available communications framework is used by joint and combined forces in today’s command centre operations – be it in the air, at sea, or on land for a number of defence projects around the globe, including voice communications for the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). The most recent achievements include a contract to provide end-to-end Internet Protocol (IP) Voice Communications System (VCS) and Airfield Management systems (AFM) for the OneSKY program for Airservices Australia and the Department of Defence. In addition, in 2016, the Royal Saudi Airforce (RSAF) awarded the company a contract for a network upgrade and solution expansion to safety and security technology solution provider, TAJ Systems. This new solution for Aeronautical Information Management has allowed the RSAF to be globally interoperable and fully digital.

06 Jun 18. Project Natick: Naval Group collaborates with Microsoft to deploy underwater datacenter. Microsoft chose Naval Group to implement Phase 2 of its immersed Datacenter project, also called Project Natick. The Datacenter successfully deployed in early June 2018 off the Orkney Archipelago, and will be operated “lights-out1*” for a period of one year.

1 A lights out data center is a server or computer room that is physically or geographically isolated, thereby limiting environmental fluctuations and human access. Unnecessary energy used for lighting and for maintaining a proper climate around frequently used doors can be saved by going lights out. Phase 2 Natick is an extreme example, with no human presence for the entire deployment of one year.

2 The pressure vessel is the cylinder hull containing the datacenter equipment.

Eric Papin, Naval Group’s Director of Innovation and Technological Expertise, highlights the boldness of the project and Naval Group’s participation. “We are proud to bring Naval Group’s expertise on design, implementation, deployment and maintenance of innovative projects in maritime environments to the service of Microsoft. Naval Group has always invested in research and development, most recently in Marine Renewable Energies. We are pleased to participate in Microsoft’s vision for a clean energy future.”

Naval Group and its subsidiary Naval Energies have adapted their technologies to the design of the Natick Phase 2 Datacenter structure.

Today, Naval Group is supporting Microsoft towards its objective to build, deploy and operate an underwater datacenter which is as powerful as several thousand high end consumer PCs with enough storage for about five million movies. The datacenter is contained in a submersible cylindrical system inspired by the underwater constructions of Naval Group. A triangular base (also called Subsea Docking Structure), ensures the positioning of the datacenter at the bottom of the ocean. A dual air-water system enables cooling of the datacenter, thus taking advantage of the temperature of the underwater environment.

Naval Group, with the support of its subsidiary Naval Energies, carried out this project relying on its strong industrial capabilities, involving the sites of Nantes-Indret (design), Cherbourg (model tests), Lorient (subsea base manufacturing) and Brest (design and manufacturing of the pressure vessel2).

The EMEC3 test base provided a favorable environment for the deployment of Phase 2 of the Natick Project, which is powered by marine renewable energy sources.

The underwater datacenter is designed to remain immersed for 5 years without direct intervention and will be operated “lights-out” for a year to evaluate its performance in real use conditions.

Installed near the coast, this type of installation is less resource intensive, offers rapid provisioning and could be located closer to customers: half of the world’s population lives and works within 200 kilometers of the coast.

Ben Cutler, Project Natick Manager at Microsoft Research:

“Microsoft is pleased to collaborate with Naval Group on Phase 2 of Project Natick. Project Natick reflects Microsoft’s ongoing quest for cloud datacenter solutions that offer less resource intensive options, rapid provisioning, lower costs, and high agility in meeting customer needs. A key advantage is getting closer to our customers: half the world’s population lives within 200 km of the sea, so placing datacenters offshore increases the proximity of the cloud to the population, reducing latency and providing better responsiveness. And by deploying in the water we benefit from ready access to cooling – reducing the requirement for energy for cooling by up to 95%.

Naval Group’s deep expertise in innovative marine technologies, including renewables, makes it an ideal choice for collaboration on Phase 2’s design, fabrication, and deployment of a standard, manufacturable, rapidly deployable datacenter.”

04 Jun 18. Rockwell Collins to deliver Panorama display for RCAF FWSAR. CAE has selected Rockwell Collins to deliver the Panorama collimated display to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).

Under the deal, Rockwell will provide its Panorama display for the CC-295 full-flight simulator (FFS), which will be delivered by CAE to support the RCAF’s Fixed-Wing Search and Rescue (FWSAR) programme.

The display will be installed on the CAE-developed CC-295 FFS, which is part of the comprehensive training programme to prepare RCAF aircrews for their missions in the new CC-295 aircraft built by Airbus Defence and Space.

Rockwell Collins Canada managing director Lee Obst said: “This is a programme that helps save the lives of thousands of Canadians each year, and working with CAE and Airbus on training will be a critical component for the RCAF’s success.

“The configuration flexibility and enhanced realism of the Panorama display will help better prepare pilots for the new platform.”

The display has been designed for simulators that require a wide field of view, cross-cockpit views and side-by-side training.

The system helps provide unobstructed fields of view up to and including 225° horizontal by 60° vertical, which makes it best suited for critical aircrew training on platforms such as the P-8 Poseidon, NH90, C-130 and CH-47 Chinook aircraft.

Available in a range of sizes from 9ft to 11ft radius options, Rockwell Collins’ Panorama collimated display offers the largest field of view available using film mirrors. (Source: airforce-technology.com)

30 May 18. US Army awards $841m contract extension for computing system support. Leonardo DRS has received a potential 10-year, $841.5m contract to continue its hardware supply and engineering services for an Army computing platform used to manage networked-battle command information in a common environment.

Leonardo DRS was the lone bidder for the Mounted Family of Computer Systems 2 contract and will continue its work as an incumbent from the predecessor MFOCS contract awarded in 2013. The Defense Information Systems Agency ran the MFOCS 2 procurement.

The Defense Department said in its Friday awards digest the new contract has an initial five-year base period followed by five one-year option periods.

MFOCS is intended to support situational awareness, command-and-control and maneuvering capabilities through computing and display hardware at multiple configurable levels.

Devices that fall under the MFOCS umbrella include dismountable tablets, processor units, keyboard units, removable solid-state disk storage, display units, and cabling designed for various platforms, and other ruggedized tools for continuous operation in a variety of military and combat environments. (Source: Defense Systems)

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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

Sponsor Viasat

www.viasat.com/gov-uk

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31 May 18. Viasat’s SATCOM Just Got Better and Safer for Canada’s Armed Forces and Government with ViaSat-2. Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT) is keeping Canada’s government and Canadian Armed Forces safer by providing improved satellite communications (SATCOM) service over ViaSat-2, an advanced communications satellite. The ViaSat-2 SATCOM system is the first in Viasat’s series of ultra-high-capacity global satellite networks, which will enable superior reach, readiness, and resiliency for military forces around the globe.

At CANSEC 2018, Viasat conducted its first international defense-focused ViaSat-2 system demonstration—attended by representatives from the Canadian Armed Forces—showing cloud-based applications and services delivered over Viasat’s secure, resilient, high-capacity SATCOM network in Canada.

ViaSat-2 system innovations available to Canadian Armed Forces and government users include:

Transmit bandwidth-intensive, media-rich cloud applications: Fast data rates and more satellite capacity enable 4Kand HD video streaming to thousands of electronic devices simultaneously for greater operational capabilities.
Information assurance: Security advancements available on ViaSat-2 will provide secure Internet Protocol (IP) networking and data storage for sensitive and top secret communications as well as accredited encryption systems including Viasat’s KG-250X, which is approved for use for Canadian Department of National Defense (DND).
Defense against electromagnetic, terrestrial or cyber-attacks: The resilient nature of the Viasat network will enable mission-critical communication packets to be protected and distributed safely, even in highly contested environments.
Assured communications: Viasat’s Hybrid Adaptive Network (HAN) concept will provide a global, redundant system for the Canadian government and military to access Viasat’s global Ku-band networks, its more advanced Ka-band networks, as well as the Mercury Global Project/Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) system. Viasat’s HAN will allow terminals to roam across multiple networks to maximize resilience and collaboration for ground fixed, transportable, mobile, maritime and airborne platforms.

Ken Peterman, president, Government Systems, Viasat said that they are proudly demonstrating emerging military and government concepts of operations requiring bandwidth-intensive, cloud-connected applications with their latest high-throughput commercial satellite, ViaSat-2. Viasat is committed to delivering the latest advancements in SATCOM technologies for U.S. and international coalition partners. The innovations in the new ViaSat-2 satellite and network further demonstrate that they can provide their allies and coalition partners with superior SATCOM and communications services that will enable access to a number of bandwidth-intensive applications required for missions of today and tomorrow.

The ViaSat-2 satellite system verifies 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 bandwidth and resilience, redundancy and active cyber protection required to maximize operational performance in the contested environments military operations face during combat. (Source: Satnews)

07 Jun 18. Northrop Grumman Awarded $429m Contract for Payload that will Provide Continuous Coverage of Polar Regions. A Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) payload will provide highly protected communications for warfighters under a new $429m contract with the U.S. Air Force. Northrop Grumman was awarded a $429m contract to provide two Extremely High Frequency eXtended Data Rate (EHF XDR) payloads for the Enhanced Polar System-Recapitalization (EPS-R). The contract was awarded by Space and Missile Systems Center, Military Satellite Communications Directorate, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California.

The EPS-R EHF system provides secure, anti-jam, low probability of detection/intercept communications for warfighters. The EPS-R payloads will maintain continuity of protected military satellite communications in the North Polar Region, and are designed to enable hosting on a separately procured satellite with other payloads.

“EPS-R provides communications services to critical national security users,” said Cyrus Dhalla, vice president, communications systems, Northrop Grumman. “We are pleased to support the Air Force as a system prime in the timely recapitalization of the protected, anti-jam communications capabilities in the strategically important polar region.”

In 2013, Northrop Grumman delivered two payloads that were hosted on government-owned satellites to bring next-generation protected, EHF communications to military users in the north polar region (above 65◦ North).

Northrop Grumman also successfully deployed the EPS Control and Planning Segment (CAPS) hardware in December 2015 to operational sites at Clear Air Force Station, Alaska and Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado – paving the way for System Acceptance Testing in the spring of 2017. CAPS is a next-generation ground system that receives telemetry and supplies configuration commands, mission planning and cryptographic planning for the two EPS polar-orbiting payloads.

05 Jun 18. Next Two Galileos Plus Launcher at Europe’s Spaceport for July Launch. Galileo satellites 25 and 26 have landed at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, joining their two predecessors ahead of their 25 July launch by Ariane 5.

The pair left Luxembourg Airport on a Boeing 747 cargo jet on the morning of 1 June, arriving at Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport in French Guiana that evening.

They were unloaded, still in their protective air-conditioned containers, to be driven by truck to the cleanroom environment of the S1A payload preparation facility at Europe’s Spaceport. Here they joined Galileo satellites 23 and 24, which arrived last month.

The quartet will be launched together on a customised Ariane 5 on 25 July – designated Flight VA244 by Arianespace. The vehicle will deploy its satellite passengers at a targeted orbital altitude of 23 222 km.

The cryogenic main stage of this Ariane 5, known as the EPC – from its French title Etage Principal Cryogénique – arrived by sea at French Guiana’s Port Pariacabo on 30 May.

The Galileo System began Initial Services on 15 December 2016, and a growing number of commercial devices are using Galileo today. Completion of the constellation should improve Galileo’s positioning accuracy further still.

But Galileo satellites will continue to be launched into the future: a further 12 Galileo ‘Batch 3’ satellites were ordered last year, supplementing the 26 built so far to provide further in-orbit spares, and replacements for the oldest Galileo satellites, first launched in 2011.

A steady stream of orbital spares, ready to replace satellites reaching the end of their operational lives, is essential to ensure Galileo continues operating seamlessly. Looking further ahead, with the aim of keeping Galileo services as a permanent part of the European and global landscape, new satellites will be required by the middle of the next decade, offering improved performance and added features. (Source: ASD Network)

05 Jun 18. USAF is getting a next-gen GPS boost. Harris Corp. delivered the fifth of 10 advanced navigation payloads to Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS program, the company announced June 5. Lockheed Martin successfully integrated four previous navigation systems to GPS III space vehicles. The first satellite is expected to launch later in 2018.

The second space vehicle passed thermal vacuum testing in December 2017, and is expected to be declared available for launch this summer, but likely will not launch until 2019. The next two space vehicles are scheduled to undergo environmental testing before the end of 2018.

The navigation payload includes “a Mission Data Unit (MDU) with a unique 70 percent digital design that links atomic clocks, radiation-hardened computers and powerful transmitters,” the Harris release said. This allows for signals three times more accurate than those on current GPS satellites, the company said.

Harris has also unveiled an upgraded payload in November 2017 to be used for the Air Force’s GPS III Follow On (GPS IIIF) program, which will begin with the 11th GPS III satellite. Lockheed Martin is expected to be the prime contractor. The new model contains a three times reduction in range error, an eight times increase in anti-jamming power, added signals including compatibility with Global Navigation Satellite Systems and stronger signal integrity. The next-gen navigation payload will also grant the clock signal for a new GPS III Search and Rescue (SAR) payload.

(Source: C4ISR & Networks)

05 Jun 18. Harris Corporation Delivers Fifth GPS III Satellite Navigation Payload.

Highlights:

Continues delivery momentum with fifth of ten advanced GPS III navigation payloads
Boosts satellite’s power, accuracy, flexibility and lifespan
Leverages 40-plus year legacy for a more powerful, fully digital MDU on future satellites

Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) has provided Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) with its fifth of ten advanced navigation payloads contracted for the U.S. Air Force GPS III satellite program.

The GPS III navigation payload features a Mission Data Unit (MDU) with a unique 70-percent digital design that links atomic clocks, radiation-hardened computers and powerful transmitters – enabling signals three times more accurate than those on current GPS satellites. The payload also boosts satellite signal power, increases jamming resistance by eight times and helps extend the satellite’s lifespan.

Lockheed Martin successfully integrated the navigation payload into the fifth GPS III space vehicle (GPS III SV05). Harris is committed to delivering three more payloads by the first quarter of calendar year 2019 for GPS III SVs 06-08.

Four navigation payloads have already been fully integrated on GPS III SV01-SV04. In September 2017, the Air Force declared the first GPS III satellite Available for Launch, or “AFL,” with launch expected later in 2018. In December 2017, GPS III SV02 completed rigorous thermal vacuum testing and is expected to be declared AFL this summer. GPS III SV03 and SV04 are expected to undergo environmental testing this year.

In November 2017, Harris announced that it completed development of an even more-powerful, fully digital MDU for the Air Force’s GPS III Follow On (GPS IIIF) program. The new GPS IIIF payload design will further enhance the satellite’s capabilities and performance for the Air Force.

Harris’ expertise in creating and sending GPS signals extends back to the mid-1970s – providing navigation technology for every U.S. GPS satellite ever launched. While the Air Force originally developed GPS for warfighters, millions of people around the world and billions of dollars of commerce now depend on the accurate, reliable signal created and sent by Harris navigation technology. (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)

05 Jun 18. Marine Corps Systems Command is improving the way Marines communicate with a reliable and convenient on-the-move system. The Mobile User Objective System, or MUOS, is a narrowband satellite communication system that uses commercial cell phone technology to increase access to voice and data communication while on the battlefield. The Marine Corps will be the first service to widely deploy the system as it has already fielded thousands of MUOS-capable AN/PRC-117G radios over the previous six years. Ultimately, the firmware within the radios will be updated to support the MUOS waveform and three new antenna kits will be added to support multiple operational configurations.

“MUOS provides several advantages over legacy SATCOM,” said Capt. Shawn Avery, MUOS project officer in Command Element Systems at MCSC. “The most obvious to the operating forces will be the increased accessibility. This will allow us to explore new operating concepts by pushing on-the-move voice and data connectivity to the squad level.”

MUOS is designed to support users who require mobility, higher data rates and improved operational availability. The updated technology in the system offers a more secure and reliable beyond line-of-sight communication capability. The MUOS waveform will be added to the AN/PRC-117G and future multi-channel radios within the Marine Corps inventory.

“Previously, infantry companies had limited access to SATCOM, but now company commanders can employ their Marines beyond line of sight with a higher degree of confidence in maintaining those critical [command and control] links,” said Avery.

The three antenna kits that will be fielded within MUOS include: a traditional directional antenna for better data performance at-the-halt; a dismounted on-the-move antenna which enables voice and data access when mobile; and a vehicular kit that modifies the AN/VRC-114’s to accept MUOS. MUOS is comprised of a space-based segment, a ground-based segment connected over fiber optic cables between multiple continents, and a software-defined radio terminal capable of running the MUOS waveform.

The new satellites are more robust and have more individual carriers, which allows the signal to be focused on a smaller geographic footprint, Avery said. This improvement enables on-the-move access while improving overall reliability in vegetation, urban environments and other extreme conditions where legacy SATCOM was challenged. Additional improvements include the ability to roam, similar to a cell phone. Marines can begin in the continental United States, and then deploy and have immediate access to another satellite on the ground providing unmatched operational flexibility.

“The system takes some stress off of the operators, allowing them to walk around on patrol without the range constraints of terrestrial networks,” said Avery. “And in the past, users didn’t have access to the Defense Information System Network over SATCOM. We either had to hold terrain to extend terrestrial links to provide DISN access, which incurs significant operational risk, or lease commercial capabilities which have proven costly. With MUOS, we’re meeting the data exchange requirements of today’s force with equipment that is organic to the Marine Air-Ground Task Force.”

Initial fielding for the MUOS is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2018, with initial operational capability planned for the first quarter of 2019.

05 Jun 18. Comtech to provide sustainment services for US Army’s satellite terminals. Comtech Telecommunications has secured $13.8m in additional funding from the US Army for the delivery of ongoing sustainment services for personnel in the field.

The additional funding has been received by Comtech’s Command & Control Technologies group, which is part of the company’s Government Solutions segment, during its third quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2018.

Under the terms of the deal, the company will provide ongoing sustainment services for the on-field army personnel who require quick and mobile satellite communication terminals.

Comtech Telecommunications president and chief executive officer Fred Kornberg said: “We are pleased to provide sustainment services for our US Army customer.

“Our commitment to support our warfighters remains a top priority, and we are pleased that the US Army continues to put their trust in Comtech to perform this important work.”

Comtech Telecommunications’ Command & Control Technologies group focuses on delivering mission-critical, highly-mobile Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) solutions to its customers.

Recently, the Command & Control Technologies group received orders, with a total value of $14.2m, during its third quarter of FY 2018 to deliver satellite terminals and networking equipment to the US Army.

Comtech Telecommunications focuses on designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing latest products, systems and services for advanced communications solutions, and sells its products to a varied customer base in the global commercial and government communications markets. (Source: army-technology.com)

04 Jun 18. ViaSat-2 SATCOM services now available. ViaSat’s newly-launched ViaSat-2 SATCOM service is now available for government and military applications, Viasat announced on 30 May.

The ultra-high-capacity ViaSat-2 offers improved reach, readiness and resiliency for military operators. The company recently conducted its first defence-focused ViaSat-2 system demonstration showing cloud-based applications and services delivered over Viasat’s secure, resilient SATCOM network in Canada.

ViaSat-2 enables bandwidth-intensive, media-rich cloud applications; information assurance; and defence against electromagnetic, terrestrial or cyber attacks. Fast data rates and more satellite capacity enable 4K and HD video streaming to thousands of electronic devices simultaneously for greater operational capabilities.

ViaSat’s hybrid adaptive network (HAN) concept provides a global, redundant system for operators to access ViaSat’s global Ku-band and Ka-band networks, as well as the Mercury Global Project/Wideband Global SATCOM system. ViaSat’s HAN allows terminals to roam across multiple networks to maximise resilience and collaboration for ground fixed, transportable, mobile, maritime and airborne platforms. (Source: Shephard)

05 Jun 18. European Space Agency proposes governance overhaul. Move to prevent UK blocking EU projects and stop Brussels creating rival body Galileo satellites are prepared for launch. The UK has threatened to slow progress on the project. The European Space Agency is proposing a radical overhaul that would prevent the UK and non-EU member states from blocking progress on EU projects, as it fights to stop Brussels creating a rival body. Jan Wörner, the ESA’s director-general, last week proposed to the European Commission that the EU and the agency should, in the longer term, pool management and exploitation of space programmes to ensure greater coherence of Europe’s space investment. As a first step he suggests the use of the space council, a regular joint meeting of the ESA and EU at ministerial level, to co-ordinate ESA’s intergovernmental programmes, EU-funded projects and the downstream exploitation of these investments. ESA, with non-EU members such as Norway and Switzerland, is independent of the EU but acts as its procurement body for space projects such as the Galileo satellite navigation system. Under Mr Wörner’s plan, decisions on EU-funded programmes would be ringfenced and non-EU members would not be allowed to vote without a special agreement. Mr Wörner’s proposals are aimed at resolving a long-simmering debate over ESA’s independence from the EU. That debate has intensified amid a row between Brussels and the UK over the EU-funded €10bn Galileo programme. The UK has threatened to slow progress on Galileo by using its seat on the ESA’s council to delay procurement for the programme, after Brussels said it would ban British involvement in the programme’s highly encrypted military-grade signal as a security measure post-Brexit. Listen: Britain and EU fall out over Galileo The ESA chief’s proposals were put forward just days ahead of the announcement of the EU’s new space policy, which will beef up and rebadge its supervisory body for Galileo as the Agency of the Space Programs of the European Union. EU officials said the rebadging — to be set out this week in a space policy document — merely reflected the need to bring together oversight of the EU’s growing space activities into one body with a common set of regulations. It would not threaten ESA’s current responsibilities, they said. However, European and UK officials believe the rebadging could open the door to an eventual migration of EU space funding from ESA to the new body if discontent rises. “It will be seen as a creep in power of the commission,” said one. Another European official said that, while the “intention is not to create a rival space agency”, there had been “all sorts of indications from all sides that this was the original idea”. EU officials acknowledge concerns over ESA’s governance regarding EU-funded space projects. Recommended Space industry Industry pushes for UK space programme ahead of Brexit A draft of the space policy document seen by the FT notes that a new framework agreement with ESA needs to “take into account the decision-making procedures within the European Space Agency, which cannot lead to a call into question of the decisions of the Commission or the European Space Agency within the framework of the actions and space programmes of the Union.” Last month, the EU proposed a significant rise in space investment to €16bn for 2021 to 2027, compared with €12bn over the previous seven years. The EU is ESA’s largest contributor, accounting for €1.3bn of ESA’s 2018 budget of €5.6bn. Senior ESA officials have had several meetings in Brussels to present their case that a separate EU agency would create unnecessary cost and duplication, jeopardising the expertise built up in ESA over 50 years. Mr Wörner argued in his own ESA blog last week that a common agency for implementation and oversight of space activities would make the bloc more efficient at a time when international competition is intensifying. “There is no need to develop a new Space Agency in parallel in Europe, the ramp-up of which would take decades and cost billions and would therefore in itself be a major risk to the programmes it manages,” Mr Wörner wrote in his ESA blog. “We need to streamline, not double administrative layers.” (Source: FT.com)

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At Viasat, we’re driven to connect every warfighter, platform, and node on the battlefield. As a global communications company, we power millions of fast, resilient connections for military forces around the world – connections that have the capacity to revolutionize the mission – in the air, on the ground, and at sea. Our customers depend on us for connectivity that brings greater operational capabilities, whether we’re securing the U.S. Government’s networks, delivering satellite and wireless communications to the remote edges of the battlefield, or providing senior leaders with the ability to perform mission-critical communications while in flight. We’re a team of fearless innovators, driven to redefine what’s possible. And we’re not done – we’re just beginning.

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RADAR, EO/IR, NIGHT VISION AND SURVEILLANCE UPDATE

Sponsored by Blighter Surveillance Systems

www.blighter.com

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07 Jun 18. Sofradir and its subsidiary ULIS today announce a structural reorganization to improve overall efficiency, quality of service and time-to-market of its infrared technologies for commercial, aerospace and defense markets, as well as emerging automotive and smart buildings sectors. The new organization is designed around a set of company values with people, innovation and product quality at its center. It involves activating operational synergies between Sofradir and ULIS. This includes creating two new departments; one dedicated to innovation and strategic projects and the other to product development and maturity.

“Faced with growing competition, we need to be smarter and more efficient about how we manage our assets going forward; we are setting the stage to continue our long-standing success in infrared imaging,” said Jean-François Delepau, chairman of Sofradir, ULIS and Sofradir-EC. “Fundamentally, we are reinvigorating our strengths: extensive scientific knowledge and industrial expertise, technological vision, a strong performance record, team excellence and close relationships with customers and suppliers. These assets will enable us to take product quality beyond current market standards and raise the bar in speeding up innovation to market. We believe this will bring substantial competitive benefits to our customers.”

The reorganization will take place over the next few months.

About Sofradir and ULIS

Sofradir and its subsidiaries ULIS and Sofradir-EC are global leaders in designing and manufacturing high-performance imaging technologies for aerospace, defense and commercial markets. Their vast portfolio of infrared and thermal imaging detectors and sensors cover the entire electromagnetic spectrum from visible to very far infrared. The organization’s detectors are at the center of multiple military programs and applications. Its sensors are the key component of many top brands in commercial thermal imaging equipment sold across Europe, Asia and North America. The organization is the leading European manufacturer for IR detectors deployed in space. It employs 900 staff. Safran and Thales are equal (50/50) shareholders.

07 Jun 18. Reliable hard-kill protection with a minimal radar signature. ADS Gesellschaft für aktive Schutzsysteme mbH, a global pioneer in reliable, high-precision hard-kill active protection systems, announced today that it has integrated the world’s lowest-power radar for APS missile detection into its ADS-Gen3 APS, giving users a critical edge on the modern battlefield. In symmetric conflicts the opposing forces have a sophisticated electronic warfare (EW) capability. Advanced APS defensive measures that utilize radar must respond by lowering their detection profile to the greatest extent possible. This can be done by making the missile detection distance requirement of the APS radar as small as possible, directly facilitating integration of the lowest-power radar.

In developing the radar sensor, ADS GmbH focused on high-precision detection of incoming threats, resulting in turn in extremely fast reaction times and thus assuring the shortest-possible engagement distance. The shortest possible distance in which an incoming projectile can be detected and successfully neutralized is known as the “minimal defeat distance”, or MDD. The ADS-Gen3 has an MDD of less than ten metres. That’s five to fifteen times less than with launcher-based systems. Thanks to this lower detection range, friendly forces have a significant tactical advantage in that it takes longer to detect them and potentially much longer to jam them.

To put this into context, this means EW receivers have to be within 350 metres. Even with SIGINT airborne detection systems, ADS-Gen3 won’t be detected unless it is within 6 kilometres. For opposing forces systems, these distances are at least two orders of magnitude greater.

In addition to being very difficult to detect, ADS sensors provide valuable threat data to the vehicle’s battle management system or to other integrated systems. This not only increases overall situation awareness, but also lets the crew mount an immediate, well-targeted response.

ADS-Gen3 radiates even less power than standard vehicle-to-vehicle radio communications systems. “By designing the fastest next generation autonomous protection system, we provide armoured vehicles and tanks with reliable defence against missiles, while simultaneously giving them an EW advantage in potential symmetric warfare scenarios such as in northeast Europe”, explains Dr Ronald Meixner, pre-sales manager at ADS, adding that “the ADS-Gen3 system has the lowest radar signature on the market, minimizing the potential for APS EW detection and jamming.”

“Our investment in the world’s fastest active protection system offers innovation potential as well as tactical advantages,” declares Stefan Haase, chief executive of ADS: “We have succeeded in integrating an incredibly low-power radar into our APS, giving friendly forces a critical advantage on the battlefield.” (Source: Armada)

07 Jun 18. Parrot ANAFI – a Flying 4K HDR Camera. For more than 2 years in Paris, a team of passionate engineers have been designing ANAFI: a drone with new capabilities. For the development of this new-generation drone, Parrot has gone into a start-up mode by mobilizing the entire company and taking a new step for the drone industry.

Parrot took into account the users’ feedback to meet four essential needs: Image quality, flight performance, foldability and ease of use of the software and the piloting.

Of these four key imperatives ANAFI was created, an extraordinary drone that intends to mark a turning point in the world of drones:

An ultra-portable, compact, rugged, lightweight and foldable UAV with a USB-C charging system.
A 4K HDR camera with a zoom, a 21MP sensor, a 3-axis stabilization system with, for the first time, a 180 ° vertically rotating camera and a lossless zoom up to x2, 8.
An impressive flight time of 25 minutes made possible by a ‘bio-inspired’ design combined with a smart battery.
A new intuitive app with automated movements of the drone and the camera

An ultra-portable design

ANAFI is the drone you will always have at your fingertips and with you. At the beach, hiking, skiing, at a party with friends … Every moment of life, as simple as it is, becomes with ANAFI a unique moment, that you can capture a professional image from any point of single view.

The observation of insects is at the origin of the ANAFI concept. Parrot followed the anatomical structure of an insect. ANAFI is divided into 3: the head (the camera and the gimbal), the thorax (the electronics and the mechanics is gathered in the centre) and the abdomen (it is the big battery on the scale of the drone).

This design principle has proven to be very functional. It is sturdy, lightweight, well balanced and folds very easily. The field of vision is very clear, the gimbal is protected. The electrical connections are short. Despite an exhausting development The Parrot engineers have surpassed themselves. They have identified the main challenges that the company has imposed to realize this new generation drone, half robot, half insect.

Ultra-compact

ANAFI is a 320 g (0.70 lb) ultra-compact, robust and foldable drone. Its four arms fold and unfold in less than three seconds

It is the same for its remote control, Parrot Skycontroller 3, which unfolds in 1 second and then, it automatically connects to ANAFI.

Ultra-lightweight and robust

Thanks to a unique assembly of carbon fibre filled with hollow glass microbeads, ANAFI weighs only 320 g (0.70 lb) without compromising its robustness and performance. ANAFI is the lightest drone in its category!

Ultra-portable

Equipped with a USB Type-C connector, ANAFI can charge with phone and PC chargers. It connects by car, a computer, the cable of a smartphone or a ‘powerbank’

Ready to fly

Complete with a carrying case, like a cocoon, ANAFI is protected and at hand, ready to fly

Breathtaking images

Taking videos and aerial photos is the main use of drones.

ANAFI is a flying camera that embeds the best software and hardware solutions of the moment.

The optics specially developed for ANAFI, withstands temperatures from -10 ° C to + 40 ° C.

ANAFI uses a latest-generation Sony IMX230 sensor and an Ambarella video processor to produce spectacular 4K HDR (30fps) and 21MP photos.

4K camera and 21MP sensor

ANAFI films in 4K HDR and 4K Cinema (4096 x 2160). The implementation of HDR videos in 4K is a real technological feat, ANAFI is the only drone on the market to do this.

HDR enhances the rendering of backdrop scenes for incredibly detailed video and balance between light and shadow. Ideal for filming a sunset or a very bright sky for example. The 4K Cinema format offers more pixels on a 17: 9 ratio for professional quality videos.

ANAFI, through its dedicated mobile application FreeFlight 6, allows you to choose between three video modes:

4K Cinema: 24 fps
4K UHD: 24, 25, 30 fps
1080p: 24, 25, 30, 48, 50 or 60 fps

A revolutionary gimbal

ANAFI’s camera is mounted on a “gimbal” stabilized on 3 axes that combines the best of mechanical and digital stabilizations.

Lightweight and hyper-powerful, the stabilized gimbal on 2 axes makes it possible to take photos and videos hitherto impossible to achieve with a drone of this category thanks to a vertical tilt of -90 ° to + 90 °!

It can also tilt horizontally from -40 ° to + 40 ° to ensure stabilization of the horizon, whatever the flight conditions.

In addition, the digital stabilization provides + 5 ° to -5 ° EIS in the direction of flight allowing impeccably well-kept traveling’s when the drone is driving at high speed.

This unique system limits the angular vibration to 0.004 ° for super stable photos and videos.

The camera is equipped with a wide-angle lens (110 °) with 2 aspherical lenses designed to limit stray light and chromatic aberrations, regardless of the light conditions.

A lossless zoom

ANAFI is equipped with a lossless zoom of x1.4 in 4K and x2.8 in full HD (1080p) It is also possible to zoom in x3 in digital zoom.

The oversampling technique was used to create a lossless digital zoom. This involves capturing more pixels than necessary, then resizing the image to create a zoom effect while maintaining the same pixel size.

This is possible thanks to the ANAFI 21MP sensor (5344×4016) which offers 1.4x resolution higher than 4K (3840×2160) and 2.8x higher than 1080p (1920×1080). You discover, from a distance, unsuspected details of a building, take a close-up of your children or observe wild animals without disturbing them.

ANAFI also has a unique effect: the Dolly Zoom. Automatic, this feature allows you to zoom in on a fixed subject while moving the background away. A bluffing and fully automated effect used by great movie directors, such as Alfred Hitchcock or Stanley Kubrick who made it a cinematographic reference.

Professional settings

Experts and professionals of the photo / video can access and modify the settings:

The resolution of the photo:

o WIDE: 21 MP – 4:3 (5344×4016)

o RECTILINEAR: 12MP – 4:3 (4000×3000)

Photo format: JPEG and DNG-RAW
The shutter speed: 1 to 1/10000s
White balance: Tungsten, Warm fluo, Cool fluo, Sunny, Cloudy, Green, Blue Sky
Exposure value (EV): -3.0 to 3.0
The rendering: Natural, P-LOG (Parrot-LOG)

Power and Intelligence

While ANAFI has exceptional photo and video capabilities, it also displays outstanding performance for such a compact and lightweight drone.

A smart battery

ANAFI’s battery is much more than just a battery!

It is a smart polymer lithium battery optimized to obtain the best power density in a small volume and a high rate of discharge, which allows ANAFI to achieve an exceptional flight time of 25 minutes for a drone of its size.

In addition, the ANAFI battery continuously monitors its charge level (regardless of the temperature and ageing of the cell). During a flight, ANAFI evaluates the load level and returns to its take-off position.

The ANAFI battery has an integrated charger, compatible with the latest USB standard (USB-C) and can thus be charged via a phone charger, powerbank or laptop. It adapts to the power source, the charge is faster when it identifies a powerful charger.

Last but not least, the ANAFI battery has a hibernation mode to protect its internal chemistry. To activate it, the user must fully charge it before the first flight.

An ultra-silent flight

ANAFI’s its shape, the materials used and, the design of its propellers … have been optimized to make it the quietest drone in its class.

Omnidirectional Wi-Fi

Each foot of ANAFI is equipped with a dual-band antenna (2.4GHz & 5GHz) to ensure an optimal connection with the remote control Parrot Skycontroller 3 regardless of the orientation of the drone.

This omnidirectional transmission system uses Wi-Fi compliant protocols developed by Parrot.

ANAFI constantly monitors its Wi-Fi environment in order to switch to another channel when the one it uses is too crowded. This guarantees optimal spectrum utilization performance and allows ANAFI to fly up to 4 kms, for example in the mountains without obstacles or interference, keeping video transmission.

Impressive flight performances

The FreeFlight 6 application offers two manual control modes: Film and Sport. In sport mode, ANAFI achieves speed peaks up to 55km/h (33 mph) and withstands winds of 50km/h (31 mph)!

Users can customize settings such as the inclination of the drone, its rotation speed, the speed of the camera tilt, etc.

Ease of use

A new dedicated application: FreeFlight 6

The FreeFlight 6 application has been developed for ANAFI and offers a modern and intuitive interface.

The main features are accessible directly from the home page. The flight interface adapts to all users: Beginners have access to automatic control modes, such as SmartDronies or CineShots; professional photographers can select or customize camera settings.

The FreeFlight 6 application and the Skycontroller 3 long-range remote control have been jointly developed. The interaction between the two allows users to control the movement of the gimbal and the zoom with two dedicated keys very convenient. And change the settings directly on the smartphone screen.

Automatic movements

ANAFI offers automatic control modes: the SmartDronies, the cameraman mode and the Follow Me, which use a neural network to revaluate the target track for each image, with a focus on the shape recognition tracking system. A learning process was carried out by the Parrot engineers with a database of images of people and vehicles. (Source: UAS VISION)

07 Jun 18. Hikvision UK & Ireland, the world’s largest manufacturer of video surveillance products and solutions, and Eagle Eye Networks, the leading global provider of cloud-based video surveillance solutions, today announced a technology partnership to deliver customers a seamless and cyber secure cloud video surveillance solution.

Dean Drako, CEO and founder of Eagle Eye Networks stated, “we are pleased to expand our global relationship with Hikvision by partnering with Hikvision UK to serve customers in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland seeking a more cyber-secure surveillance solution.”

Eagle Eye’s Camera Cyber Lockdown blocks cameras from communicating with the Internet, blocks attacks from reaching cameras, and will not allow any Trojans ex-filtration. The Camera Cyber Lockdown feature greatly increases the security of video surveillance systems, reduces risk, and minimizes camera maintenance.

While the Eagle Eye Cloud Security Camera VMS works with hundreds of manufacturer’s cameras, the Hikvision UK partnership is a valuable benefit to customers who don’t have the IT resources to constantly monitor and address cyber threats entering their network through devices attached to their surveillance system.

“We are also excited about the partnership with Eagle Eye Networks”, stated Jens Berthelsen, Global Partner Alliance Manager for Hikvision Europe. “Eagle Eye Networks is the leader in secure, cloud-based video surveillance solutions and the combination of our cameras with their cloud provides great scalability and price/performance.”

Eagle Eye Networks’ investments to build a global footprint of Data Centres has enabled its customers to easily deploy surveillance video systems at their sites around the world while maintaining consistency and cyber security.

The United Kingdom Preferred Technology Partnership announcement follows the recent news of Hikvision USA and Eagle Eye Networks working together to integrate HD-TVI camera technology in to the Eagle Eye Security Cloud VMS, enabling customers and channel partners to reduce operating costs by utilising existing coaxial cabling while upgrading to high-definition video surveillance systems.

Rishi Lodhia, Eagle Eye Networks’ Managing Director for EMEA, is leading the Eagle Eye Networks growth program in the region and noted the extraordinary alignment between Hikvision UK’s and Eagle Eye Networks’ reseller programs. “The Hikvision dealers in the UK are an extremely capable group of industry professionals and they’re very attentive to cyber security and GDPR compliance. The use of Hikvision cameras and Turbo recorders with Eagle Eye Networks’ cloud bridges and subscriptions is a future-proof marriage.”

06 Jun 18. US Army testing new MFAL. The US Army is testing a new Multi-Function Aiming Light (MFAL) to help soldiers acquire and hit targets quickly and effectively, the army announced on 31 May.

The MFAL uses both infrared and visible aiming lasers to enable soldiers to engage targets during night and day.

The new MFAL is smaller, lighter and more powerful than previous versions. Its lithium batteries enable MFAL to run for about six-to-eight hours. The maximum range for the visible and IR beams on the modular handgun MFAL is 25m. The daytime range for the M4 MFAL is up to 200m in sunlight with the IR beam reaching 600m at night.

As the user doesn’t need to look through a night vision scope with the MFAL, firing from the hip or any other position becomes possible because the beam aligns with the bore and points to the target.

The army is planning to purchase a number of MFALs for its M16 rifles and M4 carbines, which are considered a higher priority over the MFAL variant for the handgun. (Source: Shephard)

06 Jun 18. Elbit Systems Ltd. (NASDAQ:ESLT and TASE: ESLT) (“Elbit Systems”) introduces MAY, an innovative sensing and analysis system that provides real-time, autonomous, wide-area acoustic based intelligence that significantly enhances situational awareness and response time of security forces operating in urban and border areas. Developed by Elbit Systems EW and SIGINT Elisra, MAY is based on high-end acoustic sensors which operate interactively within an area of interest. Compact and durable, these fixed-installation sensors sustain long-term, outdoor 24/7 operation using either wired or wireless communications. MAY continuously senses its surroundings, detects acoustic abnormalities and provides a real-time analysis of emanating sounds based on advanced algorithms and deep-learning. Once it detects an acoustic anomaly such as gun-fire, the system identifies the event, classifies the sound type, pinpoints the geo-location of the signals and automatically provides actionable information to operating forces. MAY can also detect and process a variety of other public safety related sound signals including screaming, alarms and vandalism sounds. Deploying MAY dramatically reduces response-time of first responders, increases efficiency by avoiding irrelevant event interactions and introduces a strong deterrence factor to urban environments. These make it an effective solution for Homeland security and law enforcement agencies tasked with maintaining order and providing public safety.

05 Jun 18. Team Dedrone Selected to Compete at ThunderDrone ‘Game of Drones’ Competition. Best-In-Class Detection, Radar, Acoustic and Defeat Technologies to Join Forces and Showcase Solutions at C-UAS Event. Dedrone, the market and technology leader in airspace security, announced today that its team of Echodyne Corporation, Squarehead Technologies, and Battelle, has been selected by SOFWERX for the ThunderDrone outdoor demonstration to take place at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada and AFWERX Enclave on June 18-20, 2018. Team Dedrone will demonstrate the capabilities of a layered detection, tracking, and classification solution that defends protected airspace against all drone threats.

The Dedrone platform is a fully automatic counterdrone solution, designed to detect, classify, and mitigate drone-based threats. Dedrone’s software, DroneTracker, gathers intelligence from Dedrone’s RF sensors RF-100 and RF-300, Echodyne’s MESA™ radar and Squarehead acoustic sensor. Once DroneTracker makes a positive identification of a drone, Battelle’s non-kinetic defense system, DroneDefender™, is automatically triggered to defeat the drone and eliminate the threat.

Team Dedrone is comprised of the following technology providers:

Dedrone: The Dedrone platform is a fully automatic counterdrone solution, and uniquely designed to detect, classify, and mitigate drone-based threats. Dedrone’s drone detection platform utilizes multiple sensors, including RF, radar, video and acoustic, to detect drones, the flightpath and location of the pilot, and automatically deploy a passive security measure or defeat technology.
Battelle DroneDefender™: DroneDefender is the first man-portable, accurate, and easy-to-use system to provide critical security protection. It uses radio control frequency disruption to safely stop drones in the air before they can pose a threat to military or civilian safety. It is an inexpensive, lightweight point-and-shoot system with a demonstrated range of 400 meters. When the DroneDefender takes aim at the drone, most drones revert to one of three pre-programmed protocols: Hover in place, slowly descend and land, or return to its flight origin point.
Echodyne MESA Radar: Echodyne’s radar platform offers revolutionary sensor imaging technology made possible by its patented Metamaterial Electronically Scanning Array (MESA™). MESA radars operate the same as phased array radar systems, providing high-resolution ground-truth data at any time and in any weather. Unlike expensive and bulky phased arrays, however, Echodyne’s MESA can be produced in high volumes, at commercial price points, and with excellent size, weight, and power.
Squarehead Technologies: The Discovair system is a fully automated passive, acoustic drone detection system for close proximity air marshalling. The system utilizes our acoustic array sensors, allowing for both detection and tracking of drones. The system detects audio anomalies within field of view and runs a discrimination algorithm on the anomaly. Discrimination is immediate, and tracking is provided in real time.

SOFWERX is leading collaboration between SOF Warfighters, Interagency Partners, and select contributors from Industry and Academia on technology and innovation efforts to bring drones (sea, land, and air), tactical swarms, payloads (kinetic/non-kinetic/sensors), and their associated data science applications to the Special Operations Community. The ThunderDrone project is a series of Rapid Prototyping Events (RPE) that focus on different aspects of current drone technology. Team Dedrone will participate in the final ThunderDrone event, ThunderDrone RPE III. During this event, select companies will compete for cash awards up to $600,000 in the area of C-UAS capabilities.

Team Dedrone Quotes:

Dedrone: “Modern security requires a layered approach that keeps up with the evolution of drone technology,” shares Joerg Lamprecht, CEO and co-founder of Dedrone. “At ThunderDrone, Team Dedrone will demonstrate how our technologies converge and create an instant diagnosis and mitigation of drone threats.”
Battelle: “Our DroneDefender never fails to please when people see it in action. And, combined with the team’s technology, we’re very pleased with performance and are looking forward to competing in this event,” said Alex Morrow, Battelle technical director of counter UAS programs.
Echodyne: “We are excited to have progressed to this next stage of testing, and to be working with such a great group of companies,” said Eben Frankenberg, CEO of Echodyne. “Our participation underscores the importance of high performance radars as the primary long-range detection and tracking sensor for securing against airborne threats.”
Squarehead Technologies: “We are very pleased to work with a Team that has successfully proven technology. In a short period of time, we have integrated and are providing a near operational solution,” says Stig Nyvold, CEO of Squarehead Technology. “The Discovair’s ability to monitor acoustics and provide a C2 system with a high level of accuracy of detection to continue the chain has proven to be effective.” (Source: BUSINESS WIRE)

05 Jun 18. New threat radars present intel challenges. Digital radar systems that use new frequency bands and have multifunction capabilities are making it increasingly difficult for electronic intelligence (ELINT) analysts to identify emitters and could soon make current jamming techniques obsolete.

The secretive ELINT world is often a game of cat and mouse between those that want to identify and disrupt emitters through anti-radiation weapons or electronic countermeasures, and the radar operators that want to detect enemy aircraft and neutralise them with anti-aircraft weapons.

As countries such as Russia and China build up their electronic warfare capabilities they are developing highly-complex radar systems that can not only detect stealthier aircraft from longer ranges, but also evade detection from equipment designed to map an enemy’s electronic capability and order of battle.

For some experts, this duel in the electromagnetic spectrum is currently favouring the radar, especially as many ELINT/ESM systems are not optimised for operating in the frequency bands occupied by emerging radars. That means some radars could go undetected, or a countermeasure is unavailable, which is a risk to personnel.

Challenges include the renewed development of digitised VHF radars, operating in the lower 150MHz spectrum, which were once considered obsolete until it was realised they could track stealth aircraft.

‘This is a major issue for [electronic support measures] receivers, they tend to start at 2Ghz, so these are pretty much invisible,’ said Nigel Lawton, a former Royal Navy ELINT specialist and now ELINT and radar-ESM systems product manager at German EW specialist Rohde and Schwarz.

Digital VHF radars continue to be developed with China showcasing an AESA VHF/UHF radar at the 2016 Zhuhai Air Show known as the JY-26 Skywatcher-U. Developed by the 14th Institute (Nanjing Research Institute of Electronics Technology, or NRIET), the radar reportedly has a 500km detection range and has been able to track F-22 stealth fighters operating over South Korea.

Radars are also being developed that emit in the high-frequency K-Band or higher, generally between 33-36Ghz. ‘You’re finding that more radars are moving up the band, so that’s very difficult for us as collectors to intercept these radars and radar designers know this,’ Lawton said.

To intercept a K-Band radar often needs an ELINT collector to actually see the radar, which is dangerous for operators if the sensor is connected to a gun or missile as part of a defensive weapon system.

Unlike previous generation radars, today’s sensors also emit just enough power to detect the target and do not radiate more energy than required. Multifunction radars operating in the 2Ghz range, for instance, are increasingly difficult to intercept and analyse as they employ more sophisticated low probability of intercept (LPI) features.

Ultimately, according to Lawton, the proliferation of these complex radars means it can now take ELINT operators months to put a profile together for a database.

Lawton singled out Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radars as particularly troublesome. ‘The problem is the power is spread through the spectrum, it’s just noise, so unless I can see this radar as early as possible in processing chain I will not intercept and I certainly cannot process it with conventional ESM processes.’

Legacy mechanically scanned radars were relatively easy to collect and analyse, with ELINT operators able to look at the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) to identify the radar and ultimately jam it. These systems would use magnetrons or travelling wave tubes that could be ‘fingerprinted’ by ELINT systems.

That has fundamentally changed with today’s digital active or passive electronically-scanned technologies, which can adapt radar pulses to the environment. These systems can cycle through different modes – including acquisition, target tracking and target illumination – in one time period, allowing multi-mode operations simultaneously.

‘That’s a major problem if you have a wide open receiver…if that waveform doesn’t change I don’t know what he is doing’ said Lawton. ‘And how do you jam [a multi-mode radar]? I have no idea. I think jamming may be obsolete in the next few years.’

Many modern ELINT/ESM systems are no longer sensitive enough, and wideband receivers are often ‘blocked’ by radar emitters that can push out two simultaneous high-power pulses. Narrow band receivers also present challenges, mainly a lower probability of intercept and not addressing the growing bandwidth of radars.

Rohde & Schwarz has developed a two-stage detection process for its systems such as the WPU 500 wideband processing unit, which includes a pre-processing phase. This means that it is optimised to detect complex, low-power threats such as solid-state and FMCW radars.

‘We are looking into the spectrum before we are processing the radar,’ said Lawton. ‘If you were to process the radar and you want to analyse it, you need to get 12-13dBs above noise. So a low-power radar that does not give me that signal-to-noise ratio will not produce good pulses that I can analyse.’

‘What we do, we match the processing bandwidth to the bandwidth of the transmitting radar…we see the radar before we process, we see the bandwidth of the radar on the frequency, once you know the bandwidth I can put my processing channel exactly around the bandwidth of the transmitted radar.’

This, along with other advances in the ELINT world, could give operators their edge back over the new-generation of advanced radars, but for how long? (Source: Shephard)

04 Jun 18. Preparing for radar ‘war modes.’ For pilots and crew, survival in the air is increasingly reliant on the ability to use electronic warfare tactics and technology to avoid and counter the threat posed by today’s complex enemy radars and radar-guided missiles.

Being able to monitor, identify, locate and defeat enemy signals is vital when it comes to operating effectively in complex and congested environments. This is growing in importance as peer threats, including Russia and China, deploy advanced radar-guided missiles that far exceed the range and capabilities of ‘heat-seeking’ missiles.

However, according to Fiona Clark, EW operational capability lead at Leonardo, the enemy threat signals we know and have recorded today are likely to be absent from the battlefield in the event of actual hostilities.

This is due to the use of ‘war modes’, which will change the characteristics of radar systems to mask their origin.

‘It is well accepted that most of the threats we know really well today will have a war-mode so the day you actually go to war… the parameters will be changed,’ Clark told Shephard.

To mitigate the threat of facing enemy anti-aircraft systems and surveillance radar without knowing their identity Leonardo has developed the SAGE and SEER electronic support measure (ESM) systems, which are capable of identifying and locating friendly, enemy and unknown signals.

‘Our SAGE and SEER systems already have the capability to identify signals against a pre-programmed library, or to declare as an unknown [signal] but we have mechanisms to allow the systems to declare that the signal looks like an airborne intercept, for instance,’ she said.

‘It is hugely important in the world of EW because things change all the time and particularly if we get into real engagements during actual conflicts, radars will change mode.’

Leonardo has been at the forefront of developing electronic countermeasure (ECM), ESM systems and defensive aid systems (DAS) for new and legacy platforms, and are generally the favoured solutions for the UK armed forces.

According to Clark there is a clear trend towards acquiring advanced EW suites across a wide range of military platforms.

The RAF’s new fleet of Apache helicopters, for example, will feature Leonardo’s DAS countermeasures and sensors, which will help the platform detect, defend or defeat threats from enemy air defence systems. The RAF will also be deploying the company’s active decoy system, known as BriteCloud, on its Tornado GR4 aircraft.

The decoy is part of Leonardo’s efforts to counter the threat posed by the proliferation of programmable digital radar, capable of automatically changing their characteristics to avoid EW countermeasures.

BriteCloud ‘contains a mission library, programmable with a number of threat systems. When deployed, it searches through to find the library entry that matches the current threat signal and then it will produce the correct countermeasure for that,’ Clark explained.

‘If, while BriteCloud is still active, that threat is defeated, BriteCloud will actually go back and search its library for another threat. If it finds another one then it will start jamming that… Similarly, if the threat it’s jamming changes mode, BriteCloud can adapt to the new mode’. (Source: Shephard)

05 Jun 18. US Army conducts operational tests on radiological detection devices. The US Army has carried out operational tests on a radiological detection system (RDS) and a joint personal detector (JPD) to improve the service’s battlefield effectiveness and accuracy of current chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives (CBRNE) detection capabilities. The RDS is a portable sensor deployed to identify and classify threats. The JPD is a wrist-mounted device that can be used to monitor amounts of exposure to radiation. The test was conducted by soldiers from the 20th CBRNE’s Nuclear Disablement Team (NDT) in order to enable the US Army Operational Test Command (USAOTC), based at West Fort Hood, Texas, to collect data on both units. Upon collection, the USAOTC informed senior leaders of the army of the effectiveness, suitability and reliability of the RDS and JPD systems during real-world operations. The new equipment is expected to help increase soldiers’ understanding of the radiological and nuclear (RN) environment through detection of RN threats. The new RDS has been designed to replace the US Department of Defense’s (DoD) existing radiation detection and computation (RADIAC) survey meters, and will help provide the warfighter with the capability to detect the entire range of radiological hazards.

USAOTC test officer Edward Jagodzinski said: “A unique opportunity presented itself to operationally test two separate radiological systems, on separate acquisition paths, in a combined test venue with a single test unit.

“Since operational testing is about soldiers and unit missions, this combined test event was about making sure that the systems developed are effective in a soldier’s hands and suitable for the environments in which soldiers and units train and fight.”

Subject matter experts from several agencies observed and assessed the new equipment while it was employed by the test unit. (Source: army-technology.com)

04 Jun 18. FLIR adopts ambitious growth strategy. Soldier modernisation programmes pursued by militaries around the world offer lucrative opportunities for producers of advanced sensing solutions. Providing essential technology for both modern soldier systems and platforms, companies such as US-based FLIR are positioning themselves to offer sensors that are fully networked and utilise the latest tools in AI and machine learning. Announced on May 16, FLIR’s new corporate strategy is a blueprint for how the company intends to expand into new markets, including unmanned and radar systems and increase its global footprint, with its eye on opportunities in Europe and North America.

‘Our continued partnership in the European community is going to continue to give dividends,’ David Ray, FLIR’s president of government and defence, told Shephard.

‘With some of our key partners, large defence companies in places like Germany and London, we are leveraging those partnerships and helping the primes deliver game change capabilities as part of their total solutions’.

FLIR has put securing contracts for these long-term modernisation programmes at the centre of its new strategy to ensure continued expansion in an increasingly competitive industry.

‘There is a lot of focus on readiness and modernisation… the modernisation of current assets on the field today,’ Ray said.

‘The whole notion of readiness, not only from upgrading systems and platforms but also really driving this notion of digital interconnectivity, the whole notion of the soldier as a networked node or a platform as a networked node.’

According to Ray, FLIR is keen to stay at the cutting edge of technology advances, investing in its LiDAR capabilities, unmanned technologies, AI and machine learning tools.

‘I think you are going to see major investments from FLIR in the software arena,’ Ray said.

‘We have traditionally been a hardware company but our competencies are in things like analytics, machine learning, AI… counter-UAS and we are expanding our footprint in the unmanned space’.

FLIR recently received a $2.6m order from the US Army for the company’s Black Hornet personal reconnaissance system, already in use with UK, German and Danish Special Forces. The micro-UAS will support squad-level surveillance for the force’s Soldier Borne Sensor programme.

Meanwhile, the company is also hoping to grow its radar division, offering a range of surveillance radar, with ambitions to expand its LiDAR capabilities.

‘We are looking to expand that, to do more with our radar capability. When we think about LiDAR and sonar and other types of sensing capabilities they present opportunities for us to expand our market in the sensor realm,’ he explained.

However, offering networked solutions comes with new threats which FLIR intends to mitigate by continuing to invest in cyber technology, with the possibility of new mergers and acquisitions or minority investments in the coming years.

‘We are looking at other companies that are doing great things in the world of analytics or machine learning,’ Ray said.

‘And looking at really being able to take minority positions in those companies… as with what we are doing around cyber in partnering with companies and making conscious investments in how we are cyber hardening or protecting the systems we are delivering.’

In the domestic US market FLIR is focused on a number of specific areas, including aircraft modernisation deals over the next year that offer the chance to gain a foothold in what Ray describes as ‘franchise programmes’.

‘Franchise programmes are programmes that we believe that once captured will be 10-40 year programmes that allow us to really engage and drive value across platforms we believe customers need for the long term,’ Ray explained.

‘There’s a huge focus on modernising our rotary aircraft. I think when you think about what the marine corps and the army are doing in terms of modernisation plans for their rotary aircraft… I think that presents sweet spot opportunities for us.’ (Source: Shephard)

01 Jun 18. ERA sees expanding role for passive sensors. Czech sensor specialists ERA is seeing expanded uses for its VERA-NG passive radar technology beyond traditional EW functions, evolving to surveillance missions and utilisation in ground-based air defence (GBAD) networks.

In the current security environment where radars are seen as potentially vulnerable to sophisticated electronic or kinetic attack, militaries are seeking ways to bolster their detection capabilities and augment active sensor technology.

Traditionally, the VERA-NG has been used for electronic intelligence gathering; soaking up the RF emissions from various platforms to build an electronic order of battle as well as sovereign threat libraries.

‘From the 1990s our main use case was electronic warfare, building emitter databases,’ said Vojtech Stejskal, who is responsible for strategy development at the Czech company. ‘But from this time it has evolved to something else, now there is another use case which is surveillance.’

Owing to the fact they do not emit any energy, passive systems remain hidden from electronic intelligence systems or anti-radiation missiles and can still function against, and even locate, jamming signals.

A key example of the technology’s growing use is the company’s €16m contract in 2014 to deliver two VERA-NG systems to the NATO Communications and Information Agency, which will be fielded initially in northern Italy to support alliance air operations alongside active sensor systems.

NATO plans to utilise the VERA-NG as a Deployable Passive ESM Tracker, meaning the alliance can transport the passive sensors to operational theatres as part of a deployable Air Command and Control System.

The system can track 200 real time targets up to a range of 400km, according to ERA. The frequency range for the receivers is anywhere from 50MHz to 18GHz, allowing the technology to detect a range of emissions from land, sea or air targets.

The VERA-NG is being optimised for NATO requirements, which focus on surveillance and automatic target identification. The inclusion of passive sensors into NATO’s air operations architecture is uncommon and has presented challenges, said Stejskal.

‘It’s quite a challenging project because such a technology was never standardised [to determine how] you could integrate such a system,’ he explained. ‘So at this moment it’s not only about delivering this type of technology but also changing STANAGs, CONOPS and all parts that are necessary to make the system operational.’

Shephard reported in April that Swedish Defence Materiel Administration had also trialled the VERA-NG in an air defence role. The Nordic country is investing in its air defence assets, including new Patriot batteries, and is examining ways it can reduce its reliance on vulnerable active sensors.

Indonesia has also reportedly selected VERA-NG as part of efforts to strengthen defences around its air bases.

Stejskal also explained to Shephard that he saw an expanding role in GBAD.

‘GBAD is a very hot topic right now,’ he explained. ‘The key [for GBAD] is to be silent and only be active in the moment you need to be. So they have found this type of sensor to be very valuable and we are having discussions with multiple GBAD units that this sensor could be part of their [organisation], so you have missile system, radar and a passive component.’

VERA-NG consists of four receiving stations, where one of them is central. The system is also capable of detecting continuous wave emitters, especially datalinks from UAVs.

The VERA-NG has lineage dating back to the 1960s when the first generation of passive sensors were developed by Czechoslovakian company Tesla (not to be confused with Tesla Motors). That government entity was sold off in the 1990s and ERA was born, carrying on the tradition of passive sensor development for both military and civil applications.

(Source: Shephard)

04 Jun 18. Geospectrum eyes international market for towed array. Fresh from having delivered the first Towed Reelable Active Passive Sonar (TRAPS) low frequency variable depth sonar to the Royal Canadian Navy in March 2018, GeoSpectrum is sounding confident of the system’s appeal on the international market. Speaking to Jane’s at Cansec 2018, the company noted that the compact towed sonar system, which can be housed in 10- and 20-ft containers depending on inclusion of an operator cabin, provides a number of benefits over competing offerings. Cost is one of those, with the system expected to cost about 40% less to acquire.

TRAPS makes use of a vertical projector array active sound source, which is stored on the Curtiss-Wright supplied winch drum with the tow cable and passive receive array. The source is initially deployed as a sled, with an actuator subsequently bringing the array in the vertical position. Speeds of more than 18kt have been achieved in testing with the vertical array in position. When retracted, the sled can be towed at higher speeds. Maximum range using the lowest frequency (2 kHz) and highest power is noted to be in excess of 20n miles off Nova Scotia in summer. GeoSpectrum said that the active source is available in a number of frequencies and bandwidths to meet customer requirements. For example, it would be possible to carry more than one active source sled module to address different operating environments, such as blue water, brackish coastal and inshore waters, and fjords.

“We can switch them around in about 30 minutes,” a company representative told Jane’s.

GeoSpectrum also offers flexibility in other areas. The compact sonar system provides space for an operator cabin at one end of the 20 ft container variant. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

01 Jun 18. Pentagon Exploring Counter-UAS Software. Dedrone, an airspace security company, is working on technology that can detect adversarial drones on military installations. Dedrone’s software, called DroneTracker, can be integrated with radio frequency sensors, cameras and microphones, according to the company. The software can then gather information and determine the flight path of the drone.

“Especially in the DoD environment, the federal environment, where you have super expensive equipment … you don’t want any drones flying around there or crashing into it, or spying on it, or dropping grenades into it,” said Jörg Lamprecht, Dedrone co-founder and CEO.

Dedrone has already installed this type of protection on over 200 facilities in the last 20 months for customers such as gas companies and other enterprises, Lamprecht said.

Requirements for government installations “are not so different,” he said. It is “a drone that you don’t want in your airspace. You want a warning of what it is, you want to know where it is, you want to know where’s the pilot and you want to do something against it.”

Because the company already has an off-the-shelf system with this capability, the only experimental part is how the software will be employed, Lamprecht said. For instance, it could be used by the Navy or the Army to detect drones near helicopters and ships.

“The demand is high and it’s … [an emerging] threat and issue,” he said. The drone problem will not go away anytime soon, he added.

The company is working with the Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental, or DIUx, on ways this technology can be used to help the military, according to a company news release.

The United States may decide to use this technology in a variety of areas that are threatened by swarms of drones and vary in weather and temperature, Lamprecht noted. The company has already tested the system to ensure that it is rugged enough to withstand multiple environments, he said.

Dedrone also completed a two-month airspace activity survey with DIUx that focused on detecting unauthorized drones at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia, the news release said. (Source: glstrade.com/NDIA)

01 Jun 18. South Korea signals AESA progression. South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has signalled progression in its programme to develop an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar system in collaboration with local industry.

DAPA said in a statement on 31 May that its radar programme – intended to support the Korean Fighter Experimental (KFX) aircraft – has completed a two-year preliminary design phase and will now move to the critical design stage before a design review in May 2019.

Following the design review, DAPA hopes to produce a pilot prototype in 2020, which will be installed on early prototypes of the KFX from 2022. After several years of trials, DAPA aims to start initial production of both the aircraft and its AESA radar from the mid-2020s.

Under a KRW360bn (USD334m) contract awarded in mid-2016, the AESA development programme is led by Hanwha Systems, which is collaborating with the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), a DAPA subsidiary. Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), as lead developer of the KFX, is also involved in the programme.

KAI has previously outlined a target to produce about 250 twin-engine KFX fighter aircraft to replace the Republic of Korea Air Force’s (RoKAF’s) F-4E Phantom and F-5E Tiger II aircraft and, ultimately, its F-16 Fighting Falcon platforms. KAI also expects to export several hundred KFX fighters. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/IHS Jane’s)

31 May 18. Northrop’s Slow Repairs Prompt Air Force to Try In-House Work. The Air Force, impatient with Northrop Grumman Corp.’s delays repairing the U.S.’s top ground surveillance aircraft, is testing whether to move more work in-house, starting with refurbishing a single jet this year.

Northrop is taking an average of 400 days per aircraft to repair or refurbish the inventory of 16 “Jstars” surveillance jets first deployed in 1991, and “we would like to bring that number down” to make more aircraft available, Air Force spokesman Derek Kaufman said in an email.

“We’ve been focusing intensely for a couple of years on improving contractor-led depot performance, but aircraft are still remaining in depot too long,” Steven Wert, the Air Force’s program executive officer for battle management, said in this month in announcing the new push. “We believe this option is well worth exploring.”

Jstars or Joint Stars — short for the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System — is a Boeing Co. 707-300 airframe that Northrop equipped with radar, sensors and moving-target indicators. The 16 planes have been used since the 1991 Gulf War to monitor enemy ground movements and pass along locations for airstrikes and intelligence. The aircraft more recently flew over Iraq monitoring Islamic State terrorist positions.

In July, the Air Force will deliver a Jstars plane to the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia for in-house depot maintenance in what it calls a “proof of concept.”

Seeking Replacement

The maintenance issues are separate from the service’s effort — over congressional resistance — to retire the planes after 2023 and replace them with an alternate system of aerial sensors networked together that’s still to be defined. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson reiterated the case for replacement in remarks Tuesday at the Atlantic Council in Washington.

“Northrop Grumman remains steadfast in its commitment to quality and safety to ensure the high demand Joint Stars fleet is mission-ready for America’s warfighters,” Vic Beck, a company spokesman, said in an email when asked to comment on the Air Force’s new initiative.

Northrop is performing maintenance on the aircraft at its Lake Charles, Louisiana, facility under a $7 n “total system support contract” awarded in September 2000 that had a six-year base with 16 annual options running through 2022. The contractor was paid about $1.1bn from May 2011 to October 2015 for work on the surveillance planes, according to the Pentagon’s inspector general, who issued a critical report in November 2016 on the Air Force’s management of the contract.

‘Real Progress’

“The contractor is in compliance with terms of the contract, but despite incentives, we’re not seeing the depot throughput we’d like,” Kaufman said. Still, the proposed depot work at Robins “would supplement, not supplant, the work being done at Lake Charles,” the service said in a news release. “In fact, the Air Force will need Northrop’s help to successfully execute this proof of concept.”

Kaufman said the service has worked closely with Northrop to improve quality after earlier lapses and has seen “real progress.”

Poor quality was found on six of seven of the contractor’s aircraft that were inspected after an Air Force review in 2016 raised questions about Northrop procedures. The service initiated the review after $7.3m in water damage to an aircraft radar was discovered in July 2016 on a plane that had just been returned from Lake Charles.

The Air Force concluded Northrop personnel were responsible. Almost two years later “the government is still working with the legal office and Northrop Grumman to determine an equitable solution,” Kaufman said. Beck of Northrop declined to comment on the status of that dispute. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Bloomberg)

01 Jun 18. New TiCAM 1000C Target Location System Integrated with PES C1 Dismounted Soldier Software Package. New TiCAM 1000C target location system from Thermoteknix is a versatile target acquisition and observation system for day and night time operation. It combines an uncooled thermal imager and daylight CCD channel with GPS, eye safe laser range finder, Digital Magnetic Compass, Target marker and video recording.

Lightweight and compact, TiCAM 1000C is suitable for forward target location and surveillance operations. TiCAM 1000C operates from AA batteries or external power. It can be connected to various C4I platforms systems, using USB connectivity.

Personal Eye System (PES) from MIL Sistemika is a Blue force tracking, navigation and data sharing application designed to communicate a Common Operational Picture (COP). PES was designed by active soldiers as a substitute for a traditional GPS receiver, paper map and a mobile phone.

In house development by MIL Sistemika has enabled Personal Eye compatibility with TiCAM 1000C.

It works on an Android platform and uses GPS and other device sensors for acquiring its location position which is then displayed on

a raster map PES can use online public maps (Yahoo, Google, Open

Street Maps etc.), online WMS maps (usually provided by internal GIS departments), off-line maps stored on the device in TMS (tiled format), or off-line cached maps stored while browsing online maps.

The ability to use off-line or cached off-line maps is invaluable in areas with no 3G coverage or when cost of data transfer is a limiting factor. Snipers can now use TiCAM 1000C with PES or Sniper Calculator

(a PES software module), to transfer target data and images directly to the map of PES, or use measurements for ballistic calculations.

Uses include: Target data sharing among units, JTACs (Joint Tactical Attack Controllers), use of target images for target recognition, or damage assessment. Use of target grids for sniper, mortar or artillery control is also possible. TiCAM 1000C requires a non-magnetic carbon fibre tripod with custom goniometer which is supplied separately).

PES is now fully compatible with Android devices (V6 – Marshmallow)

which support USB OTG and will be demonstrated live at Eurosatory

2018 both on the Thermoteknix and MIL Sistemika stands.

Thermoteknix Systems Ltd: British company Thermoteknix Systems Ltd is one of the world’s leading innovators and manufacturers of night vision, thermal imaging and fused night vision systems.

01 Jun 18. Kongsberg pioneers echosounder retrofits for icebreakers. Kongsberg expects the first newly installed deep-water echosounders using an innovative new layout to enter service with within weeks, the company told Jane’s at CANSEC 2018. Under an August 2017 contract, Kongsberg is supplying its high-resolution EM 712 multibeam echosounders to the Canadian Coast Guard for retrofit on the medium icebreakers CCGS Pierre Radisson and CCGS De Groseilliers. The new systems provide the coastguard with an ability to expand mapping of the ocean floor in up to 3,600m of water in the Canadian Arctic, supporting hydrographic research. Compared to most previous installations, including one under way at St John’s Dockyard on CCGS Henry Larssen that involved keel-mounted systems, the new installation aims to reduce cost. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

————————————————————————-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

BATTLESPACE UPDATE Vol.20 ISSUE 24

DSEI set to be called off over travel curbs?

EXHIBITIONS AND CONFERENCES

MANAGEMENT ON THE MOVE