BATTLESPACE UPDATE Vol.20 ISSUE 25

And

EUROSATORY EXHIBITION NEWS ISSUE 02

18 June 2018

NEWS

NEWS IN BRIEF – EUROPE

Iraq and Syria: OP SHADER

Galileo: UK Frozen Out

G7 Summit: Hostile States Agreement

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Call-out

Fleet Manning: Vacancies

Type 45 Destroyers: Days in Port

12.7mm Ammo: New Production Line

Sky Sabre: Radar System

Rolls-Royce: Restructuring

Foreign Affairs Committee: Inquiry

MRV(P) Delay

Dutch F-35 work in Italy

German prospects for exports

Good Result for Eurosatory 2018

Estonia’s new law

European domestic market

F-35s to Turkey on June 21

European Army Update

German UAV deal strengthens ties

EU Security and Defence Provider

True defense loyalty?

Turkey and UK Jet Project?

Lithuanian fake news

Unhealthy trade with US

Turkey Invests in New Weaponry

UK Budgetary Pressures

MoU to form C-SOCC

NEWS IN BRIEF – USA

High-profile government contracts

Russia, China Outmaneuvering US

Army gears for irregular warfare

NEWS IN BRIEF – REST OF THE WORLD

Assistance Brigade Adds Depth

Hanwha a big player

BUSINESS NEWS

GKN Aerospace upbeat

Rolls sticks to guidance

Viasat acquires Horsebridge

Beyeonics Surgical funding

MILITARY VEHICLE NEWS

Nerva LG From Nexter Robotics

VT4 replaces P4 vehicles

Arquus to recruit 150 staff

New Franco/German Tank?

Protected Amphibian Launched

Modular Czech Perun

French Army Armour Refresh

Lynx KF41 for LAND 400

Battlefield missions covered

Concept unveils LTMPAV Dino 519

New DROPS for MAN

WCSP becomes Warrior 2?

Ajax, too hot to handle?

EU tank breaks cover

Puma enters Marder domain

Austrian All-terrain vehicle

GDELS unveils armoured vehicles

Serval, France’s armoured vehicle

Carmor Integrated Vehicle Solutions

New Rheinmetall combat vehicle

French Army UGV by 2025

France orders 300 jeeps

Triple boost for French Army

Fox success in Europe

Patria rolls out AMV XP

Rheinmetall unveils Lynx KF41

MBDA, Milrem anti-tank UGV

Humvee evolves to NXT 360

Czech response on CV90

Arquus for French 4×4

New Ajax AFV breaks cover

Light Tactical Vehicles for Jankel

ARQUUS? New Name, Long History

AxleTech unveiled eISAS

Arquus talks strategy

Barracuda Arctic Camouflage

Turkish Anti-Tank Vehicles

Adjustable Camouflage Announced

ARQUUS heir to Panhard

Iraqi Abrams for T-90S tanks

LOGISTICS AND THROUGH LIFE UPDATE

KAI launches new MRO company

AN/SYM-3 on USS Freedom

WEW teaming agreement with GDS

Smart glasses

WEW, contract from Belgium

Supashock launches ALHS 17

Thales French Army’s partner

Lockheed Support RCN contract

NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Stratobus Approaching

UAS Flight in Public Airspace

Navigation system by Safran

Better way to update software

Detect and Avoid avionics system

BAE Software Models Conflict

Most powerful supercomputer

SATELLITE SYSTEMS, SATCOM AND SPACE SYSTEMS UPDATE

Astranis selects ECAPS

Lockheed space tracking system

EVERYWHERE Communications formed

EU pushes ahead with Galileo

Australia’s M1 CubeSat nears launch

Australia in space

Japan launches intel sat

Smallsats for Canon Electronics

OceanTRx 4 systems for Asian Navy

RADAR, EO/IR, NIGHT VISION AND SURVEILLANCE UPDATE

FLIR Systems showed FLIR Ranger®

Countering Drone System

AgilePod Flies on USAF MQ-9

EuroFl’Eye on French NH90 fleet

Six Cameras for a Panoramic View

Allen-Vanguard ANCILE™

Anti-drone systems proliferation

US drone-disabling system

HENSOLDT LSAS for armoured vehicles

Raytheon snags F-35 system

Senso-Optics presents X-SEE

Aselpod Precision targeting

New 3D Multifunctional Radar

French Army Leases SkyStar

MKS launch Ophir SupIR

Thales Launches Sophie Ultima

UK Largest User of Saab Giraffe

Raytheon and Safran MoU

New version of DroneCatcher

Aimpoint launches Aimpoint® ACRO™

Raytheon for F-35 DAS

Six Cameras for a Panoramic View

OIP Sensor Systems launch SENTINEL

Indra and Elettronica DIRCM system

AIRFENCE Approved for Procurement

MISSILE, BALLISTICS AND SOLDIER SYSTEMS UPDATE – Part 1

IAI Presents Barak MX

Artillery version of TopAxyz

Leonardo partners Konstrukta

MHTK Interceptor marches on

Cockerill CPWS Gen 2

Germany’s Lockheed, MBDA deal

Turkish Mobile Laser Weapon

Rafael Unveils FireFly

Proliferation of APS

US Navy sub-killer torpedo

New USN sub-launched nuke

Robot rodeo mines

Smooth Bore for Challenger 2?

Paramount expanding FLASH

U.S. Army’s New Marksman System

Expal unveils upgrade to EIMOS

Dynetics Gets GBU-69B Contract

Hirtenberger and ST SRAMS deal

Building-block air defence

Orbital ATK upgrading AGM-88

Craig International contracts

Estonia to buy missiles

Iron Dome to play in US market

Lockheed MHTK contract

BAE 12.7mm production line

New missile to arm Tiger

Denel C-RAM missile

MMP missile fired over 5,000m

Weapons for Indian Apache

IMI and IAI unveil Rampage

Heckler & Koch Upgrades SA80

Iron Dome goes on the road

Arquus developing RCWS range

MISSILE, BALLISTICS AND SOLDIER SYSTEMS UPDATE – Part 2

Rafael to demo lighter Trophy

New Nammo rocket launcher

Silver Shadow Debuts SNAKE Rifle

Oerlikon Skyranger Gun

MUX drone with unlimited weapons?

First round accuracy by the GRAM

Patria NEMO Container testing

Army M4s Failed Safety Check

Lightweight loitering munition

UNMANNED SYSTEMS UPDATE

Airbus Signs Heron Contract

Hornet has venomous sting

IAI Demo of the ROTEM

Pentagon commercial UAV buys ends

SwarmDiver USN testing

Bulgaria UAV build with Israel

New Chinese Dark Sword

Ilyushin partners Kronstadt

Hybrid Ground and Air System

VSR700 shipborne UAV development

US administration’s drone policy

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

Cobham reaching for the sky

Harris wins $400m EW contract

The battlefield tablet

Honeywell HSD-400 transceiver

MacB wins cybersecurity contract

Aselsan to develop IFF systems

Thales and Microsoft Defence Cloud

Harris Narrowband Waveform

India’s Il-38 MPA COMINT system

Chinese hackers steal data

INTERNATIONAL PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITIES

UNITED KINGDOM AND NATO

Lincad orders from Thales

EUROPE

Belgium replacing the F-16

Poland Pushes Aside CSAR Tender

Poland to restart sub programme

REST OF THE WORLD

Australian call for stealth tech

Philippines seeks additional FA-50s

CONTRACT NEWS IN BRIEF

EUROPE

LAND

EXPAL Spanish contract

Italy Chooses Centauro II

Vectronix DMO contract

AIR

Airbus Heron TP contract

Thales Spanish ISR contracts

USA

LAND

BAE Systems Bradley contracts

Harris CBP contract

Harris AN/PRC-152A contract

Palomar display contracts

Oshkosh FMTV contract

Raytheon TOW® contract

SEA

Aerojet Rocketdyne ONR contract

AIR

Boeing F/A-18A/B contract

General Atomics SAR contract

Harris AN/ALQ-211(V) contract

Kongsberg F-35 contract

Lockheed F-35 contract

Northrop BAMS contract

Protonex US Navy contract

REST OF THE WORLD

LAND

DroneShield contract

Praesidium Global contract

SEA

Orbit receives SATCOM order

Thales Australia contract

AIR

FMS for India AH-64E

Forum Energy Asia contract

Rockwell Aus CH-47F contract

MANAGEMENT ON THE MOVE

AIR

Tucanos to Lebanese Air Force

300th production F-35 aircraft

PLANT CLOSURES, JOB LOSSES AND STRIKES

Rolls-Royce cuts 4,600 jobs

MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT

PERSONNEL

U.S. APPOINTMENTS

Joe Welch appointed

Rear Adm. P.A. Garvin assigned

Capt. B.R. McLane selected

Vice Adm. A. L. Lewis appointed

Rear Adm. M.J. Dumont appointed

Rear Adm. J.G. Hannink appointed

Rear Adm. J.J. Malloy appointed

USAF LG T.W. Bergeson appointed

USAF MG J.C. Slife appointed

USMC MG J.M. Jansen appointed

Capt. Lance G. Scott selected

Vice Adm. M.M. Gilday appointed

Captain W.P. Pennington appointed

for appointment to the rank of rear admiral (lower half). Pennington is

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS

Modernising Defence Programme

House of Commons and House of Lords Hansard Written Answers

NATO: Military Aircraft

AWACS

Challenger Tanks

Type 23 Frigates

FEATURES

Networking The Battlefield, Recon Centre Stage at Eurosatory

By Julian Nettlefold

JLTV Goes International

By Julian Nettlefold

Rolls-Royce – Driving Simplicity and Greater Efficiency

By Howard Wheeldon, FRAeS, Wheeldon Strategic Advisory Ltd.

Assessment of the Singapore Summit

BY Victor Cha and Sue Mi Terry

TAILPIECE

The FCO confirmed that reported sightings of Palmerston catching mice totalled 38 since 1 Jan 17. In 2018 there have been four reported sightings. (FoI Response published 12 Jun 18.) (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 18/22, 18 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

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NEWS IN BRIEF – EUROPE

Sponsored by Control Solutions LLC.

http://www.controls.com/product-cat/systems/

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14 Jun 18. IAI Presents Barak MX Air & Missile Defence System. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) have announced the Barak MX system, which they describe as a “fully flexible air and missile defence system for handling multiple missions and threats.” Superficially it might be expected that Barak MX is an incremental development of the existing Barak missile family, but this is not the case the objective is to offer customer a unified modular air defence system that can be tailored to meet customer requirements.

The Barak story started with the development of a missile to provide close-in defence for Israeli Navy surface combatants. The system was then acquired by the Republic of Singapore Navy for its Victory class corvettes and then Chile acquired the system. Meanwhile, the Indian Navy had been expecting an indigenously developed missile system to meet its air defence needs but this failed to be delivered. India turned to Israel and acquired the Barak 1 system for a number of its high value surface units.

The next stage in the evolution of the Barak was the development of the Barak 8 system. This was a larger weapon than the original BarakK 1 and offered a much wider operational envelope with greatly increased range. India then became interested in the programme and its Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) started to play an active part in developing the system. The Barak 8 was to be used in both naval and land-based applications. The Israeli Navy has selected the system, while the India Navy will deploy it on aircraft carriers, destroyers, frigates and corvettes. The Indian Army will acquire 5 regiments of the system under the MR-SAM designation and Azerbaijan has also purchased the system for ground-based air defence. Development work on an extended range variant of the Barak 8 missile also took place.

The new Barak MX is a system of systems, far more than just a new missile. At the heart of the system is a Battle Management Centre that can be networked with a complete range of sensors, for example a customer could opt to acquire new radar solutions from IAI or they could integrate their legacy sensors into the air defence system. The customer can then select the most appropriate missile to meet their operational needs, here IAI offers three solutions. The starting point is the Barak MRAD, vertically launched, this has a radar homing head and a single-pulse motor with a range of 35 km. For medium-range applications there is the Barak LRAD, again vertically launched, this has a radar homing head and a dual-pulse motor giving a range of 70 km. Then for extended range applications the Barak ER is used, this adds a booster to the Barak LRAD and this provides a range of up to 150 km.

IAI is quick to point out that a customer could start off with a simple short-range air defence variant of Barak MX, then as new requirements emerge the modular nature of the system allows it to evolve to support new sensors and to accommodate extended range engagements through the acquisition of new missiles. The Barak MX can be configured for either static or mobile land-based applications, as well as for naval applications. An extended air defence system could be created by Barak MX integrating both land-based and naval air defence systems.

The Barak MX system is designed to deal with a broad spectrum of threats such as aircraft and helicopters, UAVs, sea-skimming missiles and cruise missiles and stand-off weapons. It can even deal with ballistic missile threats in atmosphere. (Source: ESD Spotlight)

14 Jun 18. New electromagnetic pulse warhead proposed to defeat APS. Thales introduces artillery version of TopAxyz. Thales has launched an artillery version of its TopAxyz inertial navigation unit for mobile artillery systems, the company announced on 11 June.

The system has been designed to meet the requirements of land forces’ increasing need to digitalise the different types of artillery pieces that are compatible with new fire control and weapon management systems with architectures supporting modern deployment concepts.

TopAxyz helps to reduce mission execution time and is able to operate autonomously even if the GPS signal is lost. It uses Pixyz 22 tri-axis ring laser gyro technology for stability, and features advanced ITAR-free inertial sensors for accuracy of position, heading, attitude and airspeed data, even in the presence of electronic countermeasures.

The unit’s actual navigation performance function to indicate precise vehicle position in real time allows commanders to take C4I decisions with greater confidence to achieve the best operational scenarios while reducing the risk of friendly fire. (Source: Shephard)

14 Jun 18. European teamwork. Italy’s Leonardo announced the inking of a new commercial partnership with Konstrukta Defence of Slovakia. Supporting the objectives of the European PeSCo (Permanent Structured Cooperation) initiative on developing common defence capabilities, the agreement will see Leonardo’s precision-guided Vulcano ammunition (pictured) integrated onto Konstrukta’s Zuzana 2 155mm/52 calibre artillery system. Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will jointly market the products internationally, while exploring further collaboration towards developing common European defence capabilities. Italy and Slovakia are members of PeSCo. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

14 Jun 18. Interceptor marches on. Lockheed Martin’s Miniature Hit-to-Kill (MHTK) interceptor programme has moved from the Science & Technology (S&T) phase into development with a $2.6m contract award from the US Army’s Cruise Missile Defense Systems Project Office. Announced at Eurosatory, the contract allows Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control (Hall 5A, Stand G840) to continue maturing the project, evaluate its effectiveness and to demonstrate manufacturing readiness. MHTK is a small interceptor measuring 76cm in length and weighing 2.2kg. It is designed to defend against a range of threats, including rockets, artillery and mortars, as well as small UAVs and helicopters. It has no warhead, relying instead on accurate targeting and kinetic energy to destroy or disable its target. The small dimensions of the weapon allow large numbers to be packed into a small footprint, in turn providing the system with sufficient ready-to-fire interceptors to engage large-scale saturation attacks.

Two seeker types have been tested: a semi-active RF seeker that requires continuous radar illumination of the target, and an active RF seeker that allows the MHTK interceptor to take over the intercept autonomously. A series of test firings have been conducted throughout the S&T phase, the latest undertaken in January at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

14 Jun 18. Cocked and ready. Belgian company CMI Defence (Hall 5A, Stand B267) is displaying its latest Cockerill Protected Weapon Station Generation 2 (CPWS Gen 2). This has a shell of all-welded aluminium armour and can be armed with a variety of weapons, the first example being fitted with the widely deployed 25mm M242 dual-feed cannon and a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun mounted to the left, which can be reloaded under full armour protection.

Alternative weapons include the 30mm M230LF low-recoil cannon, and the potential for a pod of two missiles mounted externally on the right side.

It is typically fitted with two banks of electrically operated smoke grenade launchers and offers a number of sighting options, the example on display being fitted with a stabilised panoramic sight with day/ thermal channels and a laser rangefinder.

The gunner is seated under full armour protection and lays the weapons onto the target using his flat-panel display, which is coupled to a computerised fire control system.

An unusual feature is that there are four potential hatch positions – fully closed, elevated hatch, large open hatch and removed hatch – for all-round observation.

The CPWS Gen 2 is currently at Technology Readiness 4/5 and is a follow-on to the original CPWS developed by the company several years ago. It is expected that the first firings will take place within 12 months.

(Source: IHS Jane’s)

14 Jun 18. Big step forward imminent for Germany’s Lockheed, MBDA missile defense deal. The German government is imminently expected to take a major step forward to solidify its deal to buy a missile defense system from Lockheed Martin and MBDA Deutschland, according to Lockheed’s executive vice president in charge of the its missiles and fire control business.

The team of Lockheed, MBDA Deutschland and Italy’s Leonardo submitted a complete proposal to the German government to develop the Medium Extended Air Defense System, or MEADS, in late 2016 with the hope the team would be on contract in early 2017. This timeline has slipped by two years.

“We have been through some final reviews with the German customer, and then last week we were in a meeting with the German customer again and I think we are going to get a [request for proposals] at the end of this week or next week,” Frank St. John told Defense News in an interview.

Lockheed and its partners will have six months to respond to the RFP, but St. John said he doesn’t expect the team to take six months to submit a response. “We are ready to go. It’s not going to get held up on our end. We feel like we understand what’s in the RFP to where we could very confidently respond,” he said.

With forward movement looking more promising, St. John said he expects Lockheed and MBDA to be under contract to supply Germany with its missile defense system by the first quarter of calendar year 2019.

The program in Germany is called TLVS and will include integration of Germany’s IRIS-T interceptors and the country’s own battle management system.

In years past, factors like elections, defense reviews and the intricacies of the deal held up the process.

Just putting together the proposal was a complex effort with many moving parts; so many moving parts that while the team expected to deliver it by the summer in 2016, it did not submit a proposal until the end of September that year.

The MEADS program has remained in limbo since the end of the technology development program between Germany, Italy and the U.S. While MEADS was intended to replace the U.S. Army’s Patriot air and missile defense system, the U.S. ultimately decided it would not procure MEADS, but paid to close out the proof-of-concept phase that ended in successful intercept tests in 2012 and allowed the country to have access to the technical data package of the system. The total investment in the proof-of-concept phase was roughly $4bn. Bringing a version of MEADS to life in Germany has encountered speed bumps. The German government said a year ago that it would not conclude a contract for the procurement of the air defense system before its September elections. At the time, prime contractor MBDA’s proposal had yet to be finalized amid negotiations for MBDA and Lockheed to establish a joint venture for the implementation of TLVS/MEADS. St. John told Defense News this week that the joint venture is fully minted.

While Lockheed continues to push for a MEADS success story in Germany, Raytheon has been closely watching the process play out. Germany currently owns and operates Patriot systems, and Raytheon has proposed to the government an upgrade plan to its systems to provide the ability to detect and defeat threats from 360 degrees. The current Patriot system has blind spots.

Raytheon also partnered with Rheinmetall earlier this year to offer an integrated suite of air-defense capabilities that they think could meet the entire portfolio of German air-defense needs to include both short- and medium-range air and missile defense.

While Raytheon seems to have been getting a leg up in the air and missile defense market in recent years, announcing finalized agreements from Romania, Sweden and most famously Poland, a TLVS deal will allow Lockheed to offer European nations a new option and could ramp up competition between the two missile defense giants. (Source: Defense News)

15 Jun 18. Turkey Tests Mobile Laser Weapon System. The laser defense system (LSS), developed by Turkish defense giant ASELSAN, has been successfully tested, Undersecretary for Defense Industries Ismail Demir said recently.

The LSS was developed to effectively eliminate threats posed by unmanned aerial and underwater vehicles at the range of 500 meters as well as improvised explosive devices and suspicious roadside packages at the range of 200 meters.

In the successful tests, the system’s high power laser source, very low cost of shots, high-capacity magazine, continuous shooting, optical target detection and advanced target tracking system were highlighted.

Laser Defense System (LSS) is developed against mini and micro UAV threats up to 500 meters, camouflage systems at residential areas used by terrorists and IED and roadside suspected packages up to 200 meters.

Priority usage is for ship platforms, power plants, airbases, border patrol stations, headquarters and convoy routes.

* Applications

* Base Protection

* UAV Defense

* IED and Suspected Package Neutralization

(Source: UAS VISION/ Daily Sabah)

15 Jun 18. Rafael Unveils New Tactical Loitering Weapon System for Urban Warfare. Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. has unveiled a new variant in its Spike family of precision engagement weapons systems designed for light manoeuvring ground forces. The weapon, known as FireFly, was designed for dismounted soldiers fighting in urban areas where precision is critical, but the enemy is behind cover and the soldier’s situational awareness is limited.

“Firefly will essentially eliminate the value of cover and with it, the necessity of long-drawn-out firefights. It will also make obsolete the old infantry tactic of firing and manoeuvring to eliminate an enemy hiding behind cover,” read a statement by Rafael obtained by The Jerusalem Post.

Weighing only 3 kilograms and able to be deployed within seconds, “The impact of FireFly on the infantry is revolutionary, fundamentally changing small infantry tactics,” the statement said of the portable, agile system.

According to Rafael, the weapon system kit includes “three miniature loitering munitions and a control unit which is based on a rugged tablet with a military standard bidirectional data link. FireFly, which can be operated day or night, has a low visual and acoustic signature as well as an abort/wave-off capability and full, safe returnability to the operator up to attack command.”

Able to operate in winds of up to 23 mph, FireFly’s munitions are powered by twin electric motors that can loiter for a maximum of 15 minutes “at a maximum altitude of 500 meters in urban terrain and 1500 meters in open areas,” reported Jane’s Defence Weekly.

“The weapons system features a miniature electro-optical tactical loitering munition which features a dual seeker, target tracker, homing algorithms, computer vision, Safe & Arm fusing mechanisms, and HMI [human-machine-interface],” Rafael said.

According to Rafael, these features served as a basis for the development of FireFly and the tailoring of the weapon system to its unique mission profile of urban combat.

Rafael has three missiles in the Spike family: Spike NLOS, Spike ER, Spike MR/LR and Spike SR. The company has supplied more than 27,000 Spike missiles and systems to some 26 countries, including to the Philippines, Lithuania, Australia and India, where they are used by armies on various naval and land platforms.

On Friday, media in India reported that Delhi is once again considering placing an order for Rafael’s Spike missiles as a “stop-gap” measure before India’s Defense Research and Development Organization can produce an indigenous anti-tank missile for the Indian Army.

India, which is trying to boost its anti-tank capability against arch-rival Pakistan, canceled a $500m defense deal to purchase 8,000 Spike missiles and more than 300 launchers from Rafael in January.

In late May, Australia selected Rafael’s Spike L2R anti-tank guided missile to be fitted on its Rheinmetall Boxer tanks in a deal that could total millions of dollars.

The Spike LR II is an advanced multipurpose missile that weighs only 12.7 kg. and can be launched from any Spike launcher. It has a range of 5.5 km. when fired from a ground launcher and up to 10 km. from a helicopter.

Designed for use against modern targets with a low signature and time-sensitive characteristics, the missile includes networked-enabled, third-party target allocation enhancement with an embedded inertial measurement unit assembly that allows the missiles to be fired to grid target coordinates including advanced armour and protection systems, making it one of the only missiles in the world with this capability. (Source: UAS VISION/The Jerusalem Post)

14 Jun 18. The proliferation of active protection systems (APS) on armoured vehicles is one of the major challenges armies face on the battlefield today, with the technology effectively neutralising the threat of many legacy anti-tank missiles.

Now, industry is looking at how armies can once again gain an upper hand with anti-tank missile technology, including systems that utilise electromagnetic pulse (EMP) warheads, which can knock out a vehicle’s electronics and render an APS useless.

One company that is working on such a concept is German-based TDW, a subsidiary of European missile house MBDA, which is continuing development of an EMP warhead designed to jam and debilitate enemy tanks integrated with APS.

A potential weak spot for APS is their reliance on networked sensors to detect and defeat incoming missiles, which are susceptible to electronic attack and jamming. TDW’s solution is an all-in-one missile designed to first disable the sensors and electronics with an EM pulse, then follow this with a traditional tank-destroying warhead.

The EMP warhead can be integrated onto different sized missiles and uses a unique system featuring an antenna, an HF source and capacitors.

The main feature of the warhead is the flux compression generator which converts high explosive energy into a high-powered EM pulse.

According to a TDW spokesperson early prototypes of the system have been developed and test fired.

Despite receiving significant interest in the technology, the company is still looking for an initial customer which would enable the warhead to be fully developed and qualified.

‘We have some prototypes and we have done some tests… there are some more steps we need to take before we have a qualified EMP warhead system,’ the spokesperson told Shephard. ‘Further development of the warhead depends on the customer.’

‘At the moment it is a company funded development… which can push the development to a certain level and then the final development is made for customer specific requirements.’

While the warhead is being marketed by TDW worldwide there has been particular interest from European nations concerned by the apparent advance of APS technology integrated on Russia’s new MBT fleets.

‘When you look at Russia’s capabilities, there is a new threat from the development of MBTs and we have had a lot of interest here [Eurosatory 2018] from European delegations,’ the spokesperson said. (Source: Shephard)

14 Jun 18. US Navy pushes ahead with bid to extend the range of its sub-killer torpedo. The U.S. Navy, aiming to make its attack submarines even more stealthy and lethal at extended ranges, took a big step forward with a contract announcement Tuesday.

The Office of Naval Research awarded Aerojet Rocketdyne a contract that aims to increase the efficiency of the engine of its Mark 48 heavyweight torpedo, a weapon designed to kill deep-diving Soviet submarines and advanced surface ships, according to a release from the company

The award, worth $2.6m, will go toward developing a prototype engine that gets more bang for the buck out of the Navy’s standard Otto fuel propellant. If awarded, the second phase of the program would integrate the engine into a full-scale propulsion system, the announcement said.

The award is part of ONR’s Torpedo Advanced Propulsion System project, which has some lofty ambitions attached to it, said Bryan Clark, a former submarine officer and analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

The idea behind extending the range of the torpedo is to keep valuable submarines away from potential targets and allow a third party (a P-8 Poseidon overhead, for example) to relay the targeting data, Clark said.

“Through third-party targeting, you can use it as a standoff weapon,” he said. “If you can extend that range to 50 or more miles, you can attack submarines without your sub having to hold that target organically with its sensors.”

At those ranges, it’s unlikely the submarine would give away its position by firing a torpedo, he said. Using this method, he added, the service can get the most out of the weapons packed on the attack boat.

“If you have 30 torpedoes onboard, you may only have one or two targets within range of your sensors and weapons,” Clark said, arguing that with third-party targeting, one could conceivably use the submarine as a submerged arsenal.

The concept is similar to the cooperative engagement technology that the surface navy is developing, where an aircraft such as an F-35 or E-2D detects an incoming hostile track and relays kill-quality target data to the ship for engagement with a long-range missile, such as an SM-6.

The technology allows ships to remain stealthy by keeping off its big air-warfare radars, and instead relying on airborne sensors for targeting data.

Applying the same concept to the submarine world still has some issues, however, because torpedoes fired at long ranges take a good long while to reach their targets, Clark said. That means the Navy will have to puzzle out how to relay targeting updates to the Mark 48 as it travels toward the enemy ship from so far away. (Source: Defense News)

14 Jun 18. US senators grapple with new sub-launched nuke. Correction: An earlier version of this story erroneously reported the outcome of the Senate vote on tabling a measure to require Congress to authorize new or modified nuclear weapons. The measure was not tabled.

The U.S. Senate voted against scuttling legislation to force the Trump administration to seek congressional approval for a new low-yield, tactical nuclear weapon.

The narrow 47-51 vote not to table that legislation — a proposed amendment to the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act — was the latest move in a partisan chess game over development of a new, tactical submarine-launched nuclear missile.

The Pentagon and congressional Republicans advocate for the systems to deter Russia from using its own arsenal of low-yield nuclear weapons, but many Democrats and other opponents see it as lowering the threshold for a nuclear war.

The vote saw only Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; and Rand Paul, R-Ky., cross party lines to vote with Democrats, helping them win the vote.

The victory was short-lived however. Reed’s proposed amendment was made to another amendment, from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. On Thursday, Lee’s amendment was ruled non-germane and it failed, taking Reed’s proposed amendment with it.

The Senate on Wednesday was close to ending debate on its $716bn NDAA. That bill contains a provision that would remove statutory restrictions on the U.S. development or deployment of such a weapon without congressional authorization.

That language would have granted the energy secretary new authority to carry out the weapon’s energy development phase, or any subsequent phase, without Congress’ specific approval.

Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Jack Reed, D-R.I., offered the amendment to preserve congressional oversight.

“It simply maintains the status quo and says if we’re going to develop a new weapons system, come to us,” Reed said of his amendment before the vote.

“We get to debate it, we approve it or we don’t approve it. But the American people can rest assured that this is not something that has simply moved through the administrative channels of any executive ? this president or any other president.”

The panel’s No. 2 Republican, Sen. Jim Inhofe — who stewarded the bill while SASC Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., is battling cancer at home — opposed Reed’s amendment, citing the administration’s call for the new weapon in the new Nuclear Posture Review.

“I think we ought to have every capability that the Russians have,” said Inhofe, R-Okla. “Of course we won’t have that unless we have the low-yield capability. I’d hate to have our country in a position where the only choice we have is to do nothing or to use the high-yield weapons that we don’t want to use.”

Reed’s House counterpart, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., has voiced outright opposition to the weapons.

A vote to pass the Senate version of the NDAA is expected early next week. From there, the sweeping 1,140-page bill must be reconciled with its analogue in the House, where Republicans there parried other Democratic attempts to thwart the new nuclear weapon. (Source: Defense News)

14 Jun 18. Robot rodeo mines the past to help the bomb squads of the future. I couldn’t tell you where, exactly, the crashed F-4 Phantom came from. The desert is vast, the plane ancient, and the history stored somewhere in Air Force internal logs if at all. What I can say is this: on this Wednesday morning in Albuquerque, New Mexico, between the torn halves of the now-scrapped jet, I watched a robot hunt for a bomb.

Part of the 12th annual Western National Robot Rodeo, the competition was held at Sandia Labs. (The F-4 Phantom wreck had already been relocated to the site, which is shared by Kirtland Air Force Base, years ago for use by the robotics team). The rodeo as a whole is an invitation-only event, offering free training in unusual scenarios for the police bomb squads and military explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams that choose to participate. Teams competed in 11 challenges overall; the one with the downed jet was dubbed “Red Dawn,” complete with a wooden Soviet flag covered in ‘Wolverine!’ graffiti.

While inspired by the 1984 film, it’s unclear exactly what side the plane and the EOD team represented. Were they both used by the fictional invaders? Was the plane instead a stand-in for a MiG, and the EOD team represented instead a surprisingly diligent effort by high-school aged insurgents to clean up a crash site of potential hazards? Whatever the top-level explanation, the task was the same as bomb squads have tackled since the creation of bomb squads: find the things that can still go boom, get those things somewhere safe before they do.

The EOD team on the ground was from Kirtland’s own 377th Air Base Wing. To poke through the wreckage, the 377th piloted an F-6 Andros from Remotec, and a smaller MTGR from Roboteam. With just 90 minutes to locate the explosives, the machines moved as quickly as their bodies allowed, but not so quickly that they would break during the training. Robots like this run about $100,000 on the smaller side, and the bigger robots come close to half a million. When dealing with a real threat, that’s a price worth paying to keep a human out of danger, but it’s a lot to risk on a training exercise.

In the time I and other assembled media spent watching the 377th poke around the Phantom, the team had yet to locate any of the objective packages. Some of this was the scale of the task: objects were hidden out of sight and in strange places. Another part is the simple limitation of the machines. The F-6 has a single arm with a camera mounted on the limb. Hunting through scraps means staring down a pinhole mounted roughly around the elbow. The MTGR has more cameras; at one moment one of those cameras poked up on a stalk to peer around the wing, like R2-D2 inspecting an X-Wing. In another moment, the little robot appeared to do a handstand, with the cameras pointed squarely at the dirt. I’m not sure how much those cameras aided visibility.

On another part of the base, the bomb squad from the New Mexico State Police was learning how to use a water cutter. One feature of the Robot Rodeo is the presence of invited vendors. The vendors typically provide lunch for the people competing, and in addition offer possible new robot accessories for the teams to try out. In this case, the accessory was a high-powered pressure cutter, and the goal of the bomb squad was to try and cut specific patterns through a target aluminum sheet. After the challenge, the cut sheet would provide the team its report card, showing how ably a robot was maneuvered to slice through a rectangle, or a circle, or a star. As spelled out, the scenario here was creating a way into a vehicle where the obvious latch might be booby-trapped. Rather than open a rigged trunk switch, an alternative path in might save lives.

During the part of the demonstration I witnessed, the pressure cutter blasted water through aluminum well enough, though we didn’t stick around long enough to see if the officers controlling the robot were able to cut the shapes they needed.

While the other nine scenarios were off-limits for media, Jake Deuel, Sandia robotics manager and Robot Rodeo coordinator, described a few. “The Long Way” was an obstacle course. “Recon Rally” is an remote control car competition, done in conjunction with multiple teams of robotics students, to see if cheaper, simpler remote control cars can scout out possible threats for the more sophisticated robots to tackle later. In a bomb rich environment, using cheap machines for the initial scouting might make sense, since cheaper robots mean more tolerable failures, should the machine run into a tripwire.

“Kamikaze” was the most interesting scenario not on display. Deuel envisioned a commercial transport of explosives, suddenly attacks by some nefarious actor at a major highway interchange. Only this attack would feature commercial drones, cheap quadcopters modified to carry explosives, creating a tremendous mess. For the bomb squads competing in this challenge, the assumption was something like cleaning up the aftermath: a flatbed with some explosive cargo remaining, surrounded by a field of downed drones, potentially still rigged to blow up. When I visited the Robot Rodeo in 2013, commercial drones as both tools and threat was still an idea in its infancy. Since then, we’ve seen quadcopters modified to drop grenades and scratch-built drones with explosives inside kill an EOD tech attempting to demine it. The rodeo has adapted somewhat to the new threat environment, creating a challenging but safe way for the people tasked with dismantling explosives to learn how to do so in novel situations, far from the pressures and dangers of combat itself.

“This is training you can’t get anywhere else,” said Gabriel Luna, a sergeant with the New Mexico State Police bomb squad. It’s also a way to learn the robot’s deficiencies, he noted, pointing out the wear and tear on the squad’s F6A, which the state police have had since 2004.

Though it had been half a decade since I last witnessed the competition, the robots struck me as similar to the point of identical. When I asked about the pace of change in robot design, Deuel said it was slow.

“There’s more change in accessories,” said Deuel, “and in the software.”

(Source: C4ISR & Networks)

14 Jun 18. Smooth Bore for Challenger 2? There was a buzz around the halls at Eurosatory that the UK MoD had resurrected the Smooth Bore gun requirement for Challenger 2 (C2). The requirement for a smooth bore on C2 has been around for years and has been an on-off debate much of it surrounding costs and the ability to integrate the Rheinmetall 120mm canon into the C2 turret. The Challenger 2 LEP Programme is believed to have been delayed for 6 months with the Smooth Bore Requirement believed to be released in September. Rheinmetall told BATTLESPASCE that they had already undertaken a Smooth Bore study outside LEP and it is achievable within the current turret structure. Integrating the smooth bore 120mm will of course add additional costs as the extended range of the weapon will require a new Fire Control System, sensors and displays. Should Rheinmetall win the Smooth Bore contest against BAE then it is very likely that BAE will sell the Land Systems Division to Rheinmetall, excluding the ammunition business. This will give Rheinmetall the critical mass the Company needs to establish a credible UK Land Systems business to manage the Boxer Programme. Other sources suggest that the UK content of Boxer discussed at the Open Days two weeks ago will give Rheinmetall the export version it needs outside the stringent German Export laws.

15 Jun 18. Paramount expanding FLASH weapon/sensor suite to fixed wing aircraft. The Paramount Group is expanding its FLASH (Flexible Light Armaments System for Helicopters) weapons and sensor suite, which will soon be offered on fixed wing aircraft. FLASH is about to undergo flight trials aboard a Fennec helicopter and be displayed to potential customers at AAD in September.

FLASH was launched at the International Military Helicopter Conference in London in January this year as a collaborative and smart partnering approach that allows customers to select a wide variety of weapon, sensor and equipment options from different suppliers. To date, 27 companies (30% are South African) have signed up to be part of the FLASH demonstrator project, offering everything from weapons to helicopter ballistic protection panels, displays and avionics such as satellite communications. There are three companies offering sights with various capability and limited restrictions, for example.

Paramount Advanced Technologies (PAT) CEO Ralph Mills said “we see a future in arming light utility helicopters,” as it is more cost effective than buying new or upgrading existing attack helicopters.

Mills said that by collaborating, there are now 27 companies selling the concept rather than just Paramount. PAT can offer a very wide range of sensors and weapons to meet just about every customer requirement. “Hunting together as a pack, we can accomplish more,” he said.

Paramount Advanced Technologies hopes to have a fully equipped helicopter ready by the time of the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) exhibition in September. The company is promoting FLASH on a global scale and around July aims to conduct live fire testing. It says some of the key attributes of FLASH are that it is ITAR-free, scalable and expandable.

FLASH has been incorporated onto the Fennec helicopter and the FLASH system already has a launch customer in the Middle East, but PAT has acquired its own AS550 Fennec demonstrator/prototype that is being fitted with different FLASH weapons and equipment options.

The basic FLASH weapons kit will comprise 70 mm rockets and 12.7 mm cannon pods but this can be expanded to 20 mm cannon pods and guided weapons. The AS550 Fennec demonstrator is fitted with a helmet-mounted display, electro-optical turret, mission display, GPS receiver, air data, attitude and heading reference system (ADAHRS), mission computer, and weapons. Various armament options are available such as FN RMP gun pod; 12 tube rocket launchers; 20 mm cannon pods; Thales FZ unguided rockets; Thales FZ guided rockets; and Ingwe anti-tank missiles.

PAT envisions the FLASH System ranging from FLASH Scan to an equipped helicopter being able to carry out a wide array of roles, such as armed reconnaissance; fire support; observation and surveillance; airborne command and control; maritime patrol; counter insurgency; training; border surveillance and anti-poaching.

FLASH was preceded by the Stand Alone Weapon System (SAWS) weapons kit, which was jointly designed, developed, manufactured and supported by Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) and Advanced Technologies and Engineering (ATE – now Paramount Advanced Technologies). The package featured a Belgian FN Herstal HMP–400 12.7mm machine gun, a French Nexter NC-621 20mm cannon, FZ-233 70mm rockets and Denel’s Ingwe anti-tank missile.

SAWS was installed on 26 EC635 helicopters in partnership with Airbus Helicopters for a Middle East client, whose upgraded EC635s are able to fire machineguns, cannons, rockets and Ingwe missiles. (Source: Google/http://www.defenceweb.co.za)

14 Jun 18. U.S. Army’s New Marksman System. The U.S. Army will field its new Squad Designated Marksman Rifle (SDM-R) starting in September, the SDM-R is based on the Heckler & Koch G28E-110 Compact Semi-Automatic Sniper System (CSASS), also known as the M110A1 system in the US. According to the U.S. Army the objective of the SDM-R is to provide infantry, scout, and engineer squads the capability to engage with accurate rifle fire at longer range.

At present the standard U.S. Army M4 5.56×45 mm calibre rifle performs best out to 300 metres, where the 7.62×51 mm SDM-R fits in is to cover the 300 to 600 metre sector where the U.S. Army perceived that they lacked capability. The SDM-R will utilise M80A1 Enhanced Performance Rounds or XM1158 Advanced Armour Piercing Rounds, as well as standard ammunition natures. The SDM-R will be fitted with the SIG Tango 6 variable 1×6 power scope. The SDM-R differs from the CSASS in that it has a different buttstock and barrel twist.

As regards the CSASS rifle, this system is on course for production qualification testing, with limited user testing to take place early in 2019. This weapon will replace the M110 Semi Automatic Sniper System (SASS) manu-factured by the Knight’s Armament Company (KAC). The HK G28 was a version of their HK417 design developed to meet the needs of the German Army for a designated marksman rifle, a modified version of the G28 was offered to meet the CSASS requirement that emerged in 2014, with the German company being declared as winner of the competition in 2016. Key criteria for the CSASS competition were that the M110 replacement had to be more compact in format and lighter in weight. The new CSASS rifle will also feature a more effective suppressor system to reduce the chance of detection during an engagement and a new muzzle brake that will allow the operator to rapidly make follow-on shots. It is will also have higher power daytime optics to provide a long-range surveillance and identification capability.

In a related development the U.S. Army Program Executive Office (PEO) Ammunition announced that it working on replacement ideas for the conventional brass cases used in 7.62×51 mm rounds to offer reduced weight ammunition. Thus far three concepts are being worked on: a stainless steel metal injection moulded case, a brass case with a polymer body and a stainless steel case with a polymer body. Active testing of these concepts is to begin shortly, with the aim of qualifying a successful design by Financial Year (FY) 2021 and fielding the new round in FY 2022. Interest in these new round concepts goes beyond the U.S. Army, the U.S. Special Operations Command and the British military are partners in the programme. PEO Ammunition is also looking at cartridge case replacements for other calibres, including .50. (Source: ESD Spotlight)

14 Jun 18. Expal unveils upgrade to EIMOS mortar system. Spain’s Expal unveiled a new upgraded variant of its EIMOS truck-mounted mortar system at the Eurosatory trade show in Paris on 13 June.

Key upgrades include changes to the system’s inertial navigation system to help act as a redundancy to the platform’s GPS system, following on from feedback received from operators.

In addition, the travel bars and locking system have been refined, which has also improved barrel stability and accuracy in firing.

According to EIMOS System Product Manager Alberto Fernández Cuervo, other improvements have included upgrades to electrical wiring and materials used in the system as part of efforts to reduce the overall weight of the platform and improve maintainability and through-life support costs.

The company has also worked on reducing the turnaround time from halting to firing to less than 20 seconds. As the mortar is mounted on an open turntable in the existing URO VAMTAC ST5, the vehicle is able to depart as soon as the last mortar bomb is fired to allow for rapid redeployment from counter-fire threats.

The integrated hydro-pneumatic recoil support mechanism into the firing unit supporting the mortar means that no additional stabilisers need to be deployed from the vehicle before firing. With an overall system weight of 800 kg, the company claims that it is able to install the system into existing vehicle fleets without major modification of the vehicles themselves – allowing for continued commonality in spares pools for vehicle fleets.

Being mounted on the open rear cab of the vehicle, a 360° arc of fire can be achieved. Fire mission information is transmitted from the cab of the vehicle using Expal’s Techfire fire control system, which provides firing data and ballistic corrections, as well as ballistic calculations and weapon aiming and firing data. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

13 Jun 18. Dynetics Gets $470m Contract for Small Glide Bombs for US Special Operations. Dynetics has been awarded up to $470m to produce GBU-69B Small Glide Munitions for U.S. Special Operations Command, a U.S. Department of Defense release said. The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract has five ordering periods and allows for firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee task and delivery orders to be placed, the Friday, June 8 release said.

Work under the sole-source contract could continue through fiscal year 2030, depending when orders are placed, the release added.

In May, Breaking Defense reported that about 4,000 SGMs could be procured over the next four years – 700 in 2018 and 2019, 900 in 2020 rising to 1,000 per year in 2021 and 2022.

Last June, Dynetics was awarded a $10.9m contract by the U.S. Air Force for the supply of 13 months of GBU-69B all-up-rounds. According to Jane’s, the contract was for an initial delivery of 70 SGMs with an option for 30 more, along with 15 inert munitions/warheads for testing. This was followed in August with the award of a $93m U.S. Air Force contract for Small Glide Munitions, with work expected to be completed by August 2022.

GBU-69B Small Glide Munition

The GBU-69B Small Glide Munition is a 60 lb (27 kg) class precision-guided glide bomb that can be carried on AC-130 gunships or unmanned aircraft systems.

The munition is unpowered, making it much lighter than similar weapons, but also enabling it to carry a larger warhead than the similarly sized Hellfire missile. At 36 lb (16 kg), the blast-fragmentation warhead is more than half of the munition’s total mass, compared to the 20 lb (9kg) warhead carried by the Hellfire missile, which weighs in at 100 lbs (45 kg).

Further, the SGM can travel more than 20 miles (32 km) compared to the Hellfire’s 8 km (5 miles) range.

According to Breaking Defense, the SGM can hit targets moving up to 70 mph (113 km/h). It uses a BAE Systems Distributed Aperture Semi-Active Laser Seeker adapted from the WGU-59/B Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System for terminal guidance, and is guided to the target area by a Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module GPS receiver.

The munition uses a modular design, enabling different seekers, tail kits and wing assemblies to be fitted directly to the warhead. (Source: UAS VISION/The Defense Post)

13 Jun 18. Mortar Collaboration. Austrian mortar specialist Hirtenberger and Singapore’s ST Engineering Land Systems have signed a cooperation agreement covering the joint marketing of the Singaporean 120 mm Super Rapid Advanced Mortar System (SRAMS) in combination with the Hirtenberger Defence Systems (HDS) mortar fire control system and mortar ammunition. The cooperation agreement between the two companies will initially last for three years and covers business opportunities in Europe. The 120 mm SRAMS mortar system can be used from both wheeled and tracked platforms, system weight is some 1,200 kg, equally significant is the low recoil load of the system which is rated at less than 26 tonnes at full charge. The system has semi-automatic ammunition transfer system that allows for a continuous firing rate of 10 rounds per minute, in comparison a conventional 120 mm mortar like the US M120 can only deliver a sustained rate of fire of four round per minute. Another important SRAMS feature is the patented blast diffuser that reduces blast overpressure in the mortar area during firing, even when performing a continuous fire mission at top charge. The SRAMS is operated by a crew of three. HDS is integrating their ARC-FIRE mortar fire control system with SRAMS, this fire

control system is designed to be simple to use to allow rapid and accurate target engagement. The system allows for the development of a mortar fire plan and then the management of the actual fire mission. It offers digital mapping and integrated GPS, and uses standard radios for communication and data transfer. The other HDS contribution is their extensive range of 120 mm mortar ammunition. This includes the Mk2 HE-TNT nature and the Mk3 HE round using Hirtenberger’s Confrag system to offer increased lethality through the more effective mass, velocity and distribution of fragments. There is the Mk2 practice round and three different types of smoke rounds, with white phosphorus, red phosphorous or Titanium Tetrachloride (TTC) fillers. In addition there is a visible illumination round and an infrared illumination round. This ammunition family offers a maximum range of out to 9 km. It is significant that the cooperation agreement was signed between ST Engineering Land Systems and HDS in the form of Hirtenberger Defence International Ltd, which is incorporated in the United Kingdom. Alexander Muller, the Managing Director of HDS, said that the British arm of HDS had been established in March 2016 and was particularly complimentary about the assistance that they received from the UK Department of International Trade in establishing their new company in Britain.

The British company is more than a representative office, it is also a production site for mortar rounds and a significant high volume order has recently been received from an undisclosed country in the Middle East for 60 mm mortar rounds, they have also received a major order from an Asian country for a substantial quantity of 60 mm and 81 mm mortar rounds. By the time they submit their financial figures next year, the British company will be profitable, the fact that this will have been achieved in three years is a tremendous per- formance. The way that HDS envisage matters developing is that HDS in Austria will handle European customers, while the British company will cover the UK market, those areas where the UK has strong traditional links, like the US and Australia for example, and other international customers. With this increased production capability in Austria and the UK, added to the enhanced market access possible from opening the UK operation, the company believes that it can significantly increase its turnover. Another contributor to improved results will be the interest in further developing the Confrag technology of HDS. Potential customers are looking to use the technology in calibres from as low as 40 mm and as high as 155 mm. (Source: ESD Spotlight)

13 Jun 18. Building-block air defence. IAI has launched a modular air defence system that draws on its experience with the Barak missile family. Known as Barak-MX, the new system takes a modular and scalable approach, linking sensors, launchers and effectors into a system that can be tailored and sized to meet air defence needs. While IAI can provide all of the necessary elements from the company’s portfolio, the Barak-MX can work with radar and effector types from other sources, and which may already exist within a country’s inventory.

At the heart of Barak-MX is a central command and control battle management centre that has advanced systems that match shooter to threat. To this central core can be added a range of air defence sensors and effectors to scale up the system. This allows an air defence network to be built up in blocks, expanding as needs arise and budgets allow. The system is equally applicable to land- and sea-based systems, and can integrate the two into one network.

In terms of effectors, IAI offers three missiles based on the Barak 8: the Barak MRAD with a single-pulse engine giving a range of up to 35km, dual-pulse Barak LRAD for engagements of up to 70km, and Barak ER. Development of the dual-pulse 150km Barak ER weapon is currently under way. The weapon has an additional booster motor that increases its length, and also that of the required launcher. Further tests are planned for the remainder of the year, and IAI suggests it could be ready for production in about a year.

Although these vertical-launch interceptors – or their equivalents – cover the core of the Barak-MX requirement, functions at either end of the engagement scale could be integrated, such as very short range/C-RAM systems at the lower end, and a BMD (ballistic missile defence) capability at the upper end. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

13 Jun 18. Orbital ATK is upgrading legacy AGM-88 HARM systems into the AARGM. Orbital ATK is the US Navy prime contractor responsible for the conversion of AGM-88B/C High Speed Anti-Radiation Missiles into the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM). AARGM is a supersonic, air-launched tactical missile system, upgrading legacy AGM-88 HARM systems with advanced capability to perform destruction of enemy air defense (DEAD) missions. Orbital ATK replaces the Guidance Section and Control Section of the missile with new hardware. This new hardware includes an advanced digital anti-radiation homing (ARH) sensor, millimeter wave (MMW)-radar terminal seeker, precise Global Positioning System (GPS)/Inertial Navigation System (INS) guidance and net-centric connectivity. The existing AGM-88 B/C warhead, rocket motor and airframe are reused.

AARGM provides the most advanced system to counter today’s modern surface-to-air threats. AARGM provides pilots, with in-cockpit, real-time electronic order of battle situational awareness against. It is able to rapidly engage traditional and non-traditional advanced land- and sea-based air-defense threats, as well as striking, time-sensitive targets.

AARGM is a U.S. Navy and Italian Air Force international cooperative major acquisition program with the U.S. Navy as the executive agent. AARGM achieved Initial Operational Capability in July 2012, was approved by the Navy for Full Rate Production (FRP) in September 2012 and is currently in Lot 6 full rate production with an anticipated option for production Lot 7 later this year. Last year, Block 1, a software-only upgrade to fielded weapons, was rolled out to the fleet and implemented several refinements to the algorithms. Current deliveries incorporate the Block 1 configuration addressing the changing threat environment.

AARGM is currently deployed and supporting operational requirements for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps. The missile is integrated into the weapons system on the F/A-18C/D Hornet, FA-18E/F Super Hornet and E/A-18G Growler aircraft. Earlier this year, the Italian Air Force (ItAF) successfully finished the integration of AARGM on their Tornado-ECR aircraft. The completion of the operational test and evaluation program, at Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, resulted in Initial Operational Capability on the platform.

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) was the first foreign customer of AARGM. Additional potential partner countries continue to express interest in the missile including a recent Letter of Offer and Acceptance from Germany.

Orbital ATK and the USN’s next longer-term program effort is the ARRGM Extended Range (ER) variant. Orbital ATK is on contract with the U.S. Navy for the missile section integration that will lead to the preliminary design for the EMD phase of the program.

Utilizing a modular design, Orbital ATK will upgrade the legacy rocket motor with options for a new warhead while reusing the AARGM guidance section and control section electronics. The USN anticipates integrating AARGM-ER on the EA-G Growler and F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet, with form-fit compatibility for the F-35 A and C models. (Source: Armada)

13 Jun 18. Queensland manufacturer partners with UK company for defence projects. Queensland-based Craig International Ballistics is on the way to securing major export contracts having signed a joint venture agreement with the UK’s Cooneen Protection Limited. The joint venture, dubbed Cooneen Craig Limited, will combine Craig International Ballistics’ expertise in body armour with Coneen’s knowledge of protection systems for military and emergency services personnel.

The companies, under the joint venture, are already participating in tender opportunities in New Zealand, France, Singapore, Belgium and the UK.

Cooneen Craig Limited intend to manufacture and sell composite ballistic protection to the UK, Europe and Middle East. Craig International Ballistics has already supplied well over 100,000 soft armour inserts and hard ballistic plates to Defence and local Australian police forces.

(Source: Defence Connect)

12 Jun 18. Estonia to buy missiles, air defense system in $59m deal.5 Estonia says it has agreed to buy a short-range air defense system complete with Mistral surface-to-air missiles from MBDA Missile Systems, a major €50m (U.S. $59m) military deal for the small Baltic country.

Tuesday’s contract by Estonia’s state defense investment agency and the pan-European armaments and missile manufacturer also includes training missiles, simulators, testing and maintenance equipment for delivery starting in 2020.

The agreement includes an option for Estonia to acquire additional Mistral missiles worth up to €100m.

Like its Baltic neighbors Latvia and Lithuania, NATO-member Estonia has sought in the past few years to build up a credible air defense capability — something the country currently lacks and is seen by experts as the weakest link in its defense strategy. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)

12 Jun 18. Raytheon and Rafael seek ways for Iron Dome to play in US market. Rafael, as well as its U.S. partner Raytheon, have been on a campaign to find ways for Iron Dome, an air defense system which has been operational in Israel for many years, to play in the U.S. market and is particularly targeting some emerging and urgent U.S. Army requirements as possible avenues.

The U.S. has invested heavily in Israeli defense systems, including Iron Dome, for many years and Rafael and Raytheon share in the manufacturing of the system, where part of it is built in the U.S. and part in Israel.

Iron Dome was fielded in 2011 in Israel and has since intercepted 1,700 rocket, artillery and mortar threats with a greater than 90 percent success rate, according to Raytheon.

Interim SHORAD

The U.S. Army has been in the market for an interim short-range air defense system that can keep up with the maneuver force.

At Eursatory, June 11, Rafael pitched I-Dome, an all-in-one integrated Iron Dome system that fits the launcher, radar, and command and control capabilities onto one vehicle platform, enhancing its mobility.

While the model at its booth was on heavy tactical truck, I-Dome could be integrated onto a Stryker, the Army’s chosen platform for the interim M-SHORAD solution, just as easily, Pini Yungman, Rafael’s executive vice president and general manager of the company’s air superiority systems division, told Defense News in a June 11 interview at the French defense show.

The system is very flexible. The launcher can adjust in size and the system can incorporate other desired radars or anything else that might be preferred for a custom version of Iron Dome, Yungman said. Iron Dome has even been tested from an Israeli naval vessel.

Iron Dome was demonstrated at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, last September as a possible SHORAD solution.

In the test at White Sands, Iron Dome took on several types of simulated aircraft targets and unmanned aerial vehicles as well as two live UAV targets. The system successfully destroyed them both at the maximum range allowed, Mitch Stevinson, vice president of Raytheon’s air and missile defense systems, told Defense News.

And while details on what the Army wants for its interim SHORAD solution besides the platform haven’t been determined yet, Rafael would be able to more than meet the requirements to provide systems within a year or two from now, Yungman said.

Interim cruise missile defense

The rumor mill was rich with the possibility that Iron Dome was being pitched to serve as an interim capability for the U.S. Army’s Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2, but Army leaders in air and missile defense at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Symposium in March said they were sticking to their plan to field IFPC in roughly 2023 and were focused on that mission.

IFPC will be able to defend against rockets, artillery and mortars but has been prioritized to defeat unmanned aircraft systems and cruise missiles.

And while the pitch to use Iron Dome as an interim system for IFPC seemed to come from left field, the Senate Armed Services Committee included language in the draft of its defense authorization bill released last week that calls for an interim system to defend against cruise missiles.

Lawmakers would give the secretary of defense 30 days following the bill’s enactment to answer to the committee whether to deploy an interim cruise missile defense capability. But the language goes on to instruct the Army to deploy an interim, fixed cruise missile defense capability in anticipation of delivery of the Army’s IFPC.

Senators want two batteries no later than September, 30, 2020, and two additional batteries by Sept. 30, 2023. Deployment would be in “significant” fixed sites in Europe and Asia to protect bases and locations against cruise missile threats.

The House Armed Services Committee had similar language requesting the Army experiment with Iron Dome through demonstrations to assess the operational suitability for air and missile defense at fixed and semi-fixed sites and for M-SHORAD.

Both Rafael and Raytheon have confirmed that the system has been offered to fill in until IFPC Inc. 2’s cruise missile capability becomes operational.

Rafael’s Yungman said that there have been government to government discussions about the possibility. He said the first step would probably be to provide the original Iron Dome system and the next step would be to integrate the SkyHunter (Iron Dome’s name in the U.S.) into an American system using an American radar and command and control system.

Yungman said it would be easy to integrate.

Raytheon’s Stevinson noted in written responses to Defense News questions that the Iron Dome has a 360-degree capable radar that is operational but is also compatible with the Sentinel radar as well as other sensors such as 3DELRR.

One Iron Dome battery is already in the states after the SHORAD demo at White Sands that would be provided and the rest of the batteries, likely three more, would be sent over from Israel.

Stevinson said that Iron Dome could be available in 10 months and the U.S. version — SkyHunter — could be available in two years.

An added benefit would be the ability for Rafael and Raytheon to offset some of the government cost to qualify its Tamir interceptor used in Iron Dome as a second missile for IFPC Inc. 2 because of its use in an interim Iron Dome solution, according to Yungman. The Army has already launched a competition to qualify a second interceptor under the Expanded Mission Area Missile (EMAM) program. Tamir was submitted to that competition. It has already been fired from the U.S. Army’s internally developed Multi-Mission launcher — part of the IFPC program. (Source: Defense News)

13 Jun 18. The U.S. Army Cruise Missile Defense Systems Project Office awarded Lockheed Martin a $2.6m dollar contract to mature the Miniature Hit-to-Kill (MHTK) interceptor, evaluate its effectiveness and demonstrate manufacturing readiness as part of the Extended Mission Area Missile Program. Announced by the company at the Eurosatory exhibition, this award marks the MHTK’s transition from the Science and Technology (S&T) phase to the Development phase.

“This award brings us one step closer to addressing a top battlefield priority – having an effective and cost-efficient solution to defeat rockets, artillery, mortars and other airborne targets,” said Hal Stuart, Force Protection program manager at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

Previous S&T contracts with the U.S. Army, together with Lockheed Martin investment, helped mature the MHTK missile from basic research to a concept demonstration with two configurations – a semi-active radio frequency seeker and an active radio frequency seeker. MHTK has conducted a dozen flight tests with a combination of investment and contract funds. The most recent controlled flight test in January at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, demonstrated the interceptor’s increased agility and validated performance of the airframe and electronics, which are now common between MHTK’s two configurations to drive affordability.

The MHTK missile is designed to defeat rocket, artillery and mortar targets through body-to-body contact without a warhead at ranges projected to exceed those of current and interim systems. The missile is just under two and a half feet (76 cm) in length, an inch and a half (4 cm) in diameter and weighs about five pounds (2.2 kg) at launch. The compact size of MHTK allows multiple rounds to be packaged in a very small footprint to effectively combat complex threat situations like saturation attacks. The MHTK interceptor complements the Lockheed Martin family of Hit-to-Kill missile interceptors by delivering close range lethality with proven success for truly layered defense.

13 Jun 18. BAE Systems announces new 12.7mm ammunition production line. BAE Systems Land UK has announced it is investing £10m to build a new 12.7mm production line at its Radway Green facility in Crewe, UK. 12.7mm – also known as .50cal – has experienced a resurgence in recent years, particularly by the British Army who found it highly effective during campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Phil Simon, Light Munitions Director at BAE Systems’ Land UK business, said: “We’ve recently won several export orders for our 5.56mm and 7.62mm ammunition thanks to our advanced and highly efficient production methods. We intend to bring the same engineering expertise to producing 12.7mm ammunition, giving us the same cost advantage while maintaining a high level of quality. We are building a line capable of producing 10 million rounds of 12.7mm a year, which would fulfil current UK opportunities while allowing capacity for potential future exports. The new line will also enable us to further increase output, if required, with additional production shifts.”

BAE Systems is working with the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) to design the new line, using the latest manufacturing technology to maximise efficiency and quality. The Company already works with the ARMC in its Air business, where it has developed a number of innovations that have been adopted to support aircraft manufacture. This includes an automated production system which enables robotic countersinking technology to accurately machine holes in composite aircraft components. BAE Systems has recently invested £83m to enhance its Radway Green manufacturing facility, enabling over one million 5.56mm and 7.62mm rounds to be produced each day. These are tested by an automatic image capture and laser measuring machine, which takes thousands of accurate measurements of each round as it passes along the production line, helping to maintain a high quality output.

12 Jun 18. France wants Germany to join forces on a missile. France will seek to persuade Germany to go ahead with a cooperative project for a new missile to arm the Tiger attack helicopter, rather than see Berlin opt for the Israeli Spike weapon.

“A few weeks ago we were at the Berlin Air Show when we took a big step with the Future Air Combat System,” French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly said in response to a Defense News question at the Eurosatory trade show, which opened June 11.

“And tomorrow, with the Germans, we will launch the future main battle tank. So we are moving ahead swiftly in Franco-German cooperation,” she continued, adding that other programs are also being considered by European allies.

Germany is close to pulling out of a planned Franco-German program for a new air-to-ground missile for the Tiger Mk3 modernization program, opting instead for the Israeli alternative, La Tribune reported on its website. A meeting of French and German defense ministers is scheduled June 19, when Berlin’s decision may be announced. The Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) and MBDA declined comment.

Germany potentially opting out of the cooperative program reportedly stems from a preference for Diehl to adapt the Israeli Spike missile for the Tiger. (Source: glstrade.com/Defense News)

13 Jun 18. Denel Dynamics sheds light on new C-RAM missile. Denel Dynamics has released details of its Mongoose 3 counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar (C-RAM) missile, which underwent its first flight tests in March and will be shown at Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) show in South Africa in September. The transonic Mongoose 3 is being developed to protect bases by engaging incoming munitions at ranges from 300 m to 2,000 m, complementing the 10,000 m range supersonic Cheetah missile the company is also developing.

The two missiles share a 105 mm diameter basic airframe, active radar seeker, warhead, fuze, and servos, as well as other components and algorithms. They are designed for integration with a range of sensors and fire-control systems, including the Rheinmetall Skyshield, which is to be acquired by the South African Army for its upgraded twin 35 mm anti-aircraft guns.

The 13 kg, 1.2 m Mongoose 3 is a highly agile, vertical-launch missile that uses side-thrust motors to tip it over after launch. It then uses synchronised dorsal and tail fins to steer it towards its target, guided by its active radar seeker.

In addition to its primary C-RAM role, the Mongoose 3 will also be able to engage unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including small types that present difficult targets for other systems and helicopters that come within range. It is also intended as a self-protection weapon for helicopters. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

13 Jun 18. MMP missile fired over 5,000m. The French Army has fired Missile Moyenne Portée (MMP) medium-range missiles over a range of 5,000m as it prepares for operational deployment, MBDA, the system’s manufacturer, announced on 10 June, on the eve of Eurosatory 2018, which is being held in Paris on 11–15 June.

The anti-tank missiles were fired with their seekers locked on to their targets before launch, according to MBDA.

The French Army plans to deploy MMP to Mali in September.

Previewing Eurosatory in mid-May, MBDA military adviser Philippe Gouyon said MMP could be used against fast-moving targets like vehicles used for suicide bombings driving at speeds of up to 70 km/h, as the missile can be fired quickly with its seeker locked on to targets before launch. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

13 Jun 18. US approves equipment and weapons for Indian Apache procurement. The US government has approved the sale of systems, weapons, and support equipment for India’s Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopter procurement programme. The State Department’s approval of the USD930m sale for items in support of six additional Apache helicopters was announced by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) on 12 June. The six Apaches for the Indian Army are in addition to 22 such helicopters ordered in 2015 for the country’s air force. While the helicopters are being procured through a Direct Commercial Sale (DCS), the approved items are being sourced via a Foreign Military Sale (FMS).

As noted by the DSCA, the items comprise 14 T700-GE-701D engines; four AN/APG-78 fire control radars; four radar electronic units (REU) Block III; four AN/APR-48B modernised radar frequency interferometers (M-RFI’s); seven Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensors (MTADS-PNVS); 14 embedded GPS inertial navigation systems (EGI); transponders; simulators; communication equipment; spare and repair parts; tools and test equipment; and other support equipment.

Approved weapons comprise 30 mm cannons and ammunition; 180 AGM-114L-3 Hellfire Longbow missiles; 90 AGM-114R-3 Hellfire II missiles; 200 Stinger Block I-92H missiles; rockets; as well as training and dummy missiles. Repair and return support, personnel training and training equipment, publications and technical documentation, US Government and contractor engineering and logistics support services, and other related elements of logistic and programme support are also included. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

13 Jun 18. IMI Systems and IAI unveil latest Rampage assault rocket. Israeli Military Industries Systems (IMI Systems) has unveiled the new Rampage long-range assault rocket, which was co-developed with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

Rampage is a supersonic, long-range, accurate air-ground assault rocket, which can be deployed to attack and destroy high-profile targets.

Developed to address the requirements of the future battlefield, the advanced assault rocket features a warhead, rocket engine and upgraded navigation suite that facilitates the execution of high-profile, well-protected targets with precise accuracy. IMI Systems Firepower Division manager Eli Reiter said: “IMI Systems and IAI are proud to unveil a response to the challenges of modern battlefields.

“The Rampage joins a family of accurate rockets, which we have been providing to advanced militaries for years.

“Rampage complements the air response with a quantum leap in performance and extraordinary cost-effectiveness ratio, two factors which are important to many air forces around the world.”

The rocket is fitted with optimal penetration capability into protected areas. Its focal precision helps prevent collateral damage at a very low mission cost compared to existing weapons.

Targets that fit the capabilities of the rocket include communication and command centres, airforce bases, maintenance centres, infrastructures, and valuable field targets that are protected by air defence systems.

Capable of operating in any weather conditions during the day and at night, the new system provides easy operational capabilities and does not require any human intervention in the loop.

Weighing 570kg, the 4.7m-long Rampage rocket can be carried on a wide range of aircraft. (Source: airforce-technology.com)

12 Jun 18. Heckler & Koch Upgrades British Small Arms. Heckler & Koch (HK) has played a key role in resolving the difficulties that plagued the standard British assault rifle. In Britain the L85 assault rifle was developed as part of a programme known as Small Arms for the 1980s (SA80), this was a family of weapons originally consisting of the L85 rifle and the L86 Light Support Weapon (LSW), with the L22 carbine and the L98 Cadet General Purpose (GP) rifle being developed somewhat later. The SA80 family was originally produced at the Royal Small Arms Factory (RSAF) at Enfield, part of the state-owned Royal Ordnance. They received a production contract for 175,000 weapons in June 1985, with the first weapons entering service in October 1985. Right from the start the SA80 encountered problems in terms of performance and build quality, added to which the weapon turned out to be far more expensive to acquire that originally envisaged. Then Royal Ordnance was privatised in 1987, was acquired by British Aerospace (now BAE Systems), and they decided to close RSAF Enfield and establish a new production site known as the Nottingham Small Arms Facility at the Royal Ordnance Factory at Nottingham. The aim was to install modern equipment and bring into play modern working practices that would allow the unit cost of the weapon to be reduced and the quality to be increased. BAE were subsequently awarded the second tranche production order for the SA80. Production of the SA80 continued, but so did the problems and the SA80 began to get a reputation for unreliability. Then came the Gulf War in 1990/91, British troops deployed to the Middle East with the SA80 and inevitably encountered problems. Although numerous efforts had been made to correct SA80 deficiencies, the situation as regards reliability got worse rather than better. Then in 1995 the British turned to HK and asked them to evaluate the SA80 and determine what measures would be necessary to resolve the problems of the weapon. HK had been acquired by BAE in 1991 and would remain a BAE subsidiary until sold to private investors in 2002. The HK SA80 evaluation continued into 1997 and then in mid-1998 the company was awarded a contract to upgrade 200 weapons to the L85A2 and L86A2 configuration based on proposals made by HK. Consideration had been given to acquiring a new weapon, but it was decided to trust HK and they were given a contract to upgrade some 200,000 weapons to the A2 standard. The first A2 standard weapons were issued at the end of 2001.

Originally the British Army had intended to replace the SA80 by 2020, but there was no pressing reason to acquire a new assault rifle and little interest in investing in such a programme. After the arrival of the L85A2 it was decided that these weapons would remain in service until at least 2025. Then in 2016 the British Army Dismounted Close Combat Programme team announced that it would place a contract for the Equipped to Fight Improvement (EFI) programme for the modification of 5,000 SA80 weapons with HK for work to be completed by March 2017. This EFI programme set the scene for arrival of the latest upgrade to the SA80 in the form the L85A3, with A2 weapons being upgraded to the new configuration under a Mid-Life Improvement (MLI) programme. The first A3 weapons entered service in April 2018 and according to the MoD this will keep the SA80 in service until 2025 and beyond. (Source: ESD Spotlight)

12 Jun 18. Iron Dome goes on the road. Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has unveiled the latest member of its Dome family of defensive protection systems. Known as I-Dome, the new system takes the combat-proven Iron Dome V-SHORAD (very short-range air defence) and C-RAM (counter rockets, artillery, mortars) system and mounts it on a battlefield MAN 6×6 truck chassis. As well as retaining Iron Dome’s ability to provide point defence, the I-Dome is fully mobile and has been developed to support deployed forces in the field, where they may be operating outside of the fixed air defence umbrella. Rafael (Hall 6, Stand E687/688) has recognised this requirement from its discussions with potential customers. I-Dome is operated by a crew of three or four, depending on the operational requirement. The system comprises a 10-round launcher for the Iron Dome interceptors, reduced from 20 rounds in the fixed-position variant, which to date has undertaken more than 1,700 interceptions with a success rate of more than 90 per cent. The C4I system, previously accommodated in a separate vehicle, has been moved into the vehicle’s cabin. Behind the cabin is the radar, a new unit with a four-panel array providing 360° coverage. The antenna array is raised above the vehicle on a mast, and the system can be ready for action within a few minutes of coming to a halt. The radar has a shorter range than that of Iron Dome, but this is not an issue in the mobile defence role.

I-Dome can operate as a stand-alone system, or can be networked as a V-SHORAD/ C-RAM layer into a wider air defence system. In the C-RAM role, the radar and battle management and weapon control system rapidly detect and track rockets and artillery rounds, estimating their points of impact. If they offer no threat they are not engaged by the interceptors.

Discrimination between threatening and non-threatening targets greatly reduces unnecessary launches.(Source: IHS Jane’s)

11 Jun 18. Arquus is already a protected vehicle and integrated support market leader, and a major player in the Scorpion programme, and is now developing a range of Remote Controlled Weapon Stations (RCWS). Arquus delivers all the component parts: highprecision mechanics, secure electronics, optronics and image processing, dynamic control. The Hornet range RCWS are highly dependable and deliver optimum connectivity, with the tactical situation being displayed on screen. This new business area for Arquus is the basis for the development of a French remote-controlled small weapons station industry, which is creating employment via a large number of sub-contracting French SME. The Scorpion self-defence systems are therefore 100% designed and manufactured in France.

11 Jun 18. Rafael to demo lighter Trophy protection system on Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Rafael is rapidly driving toward a demonstration of a lighter version of its Trophy active protection system, or APS, on a Bradley Fighting Vehicle this summer as the U.S. Army continues to assess APS systems on its combat vehicles, according to Rafael’s head of its land maneuver systems directorate.

The Israeli company has already been chosen to field Trophy on four brigade sets of Abrams tanks, and the U.S. Army continues to analyze two other systems on Bradley and on the Stryker combat vehicle. The Army is qualifying Israeli company IMI System’s Iron Fist on Bradley and the Virginia-based Artis’ Iron Curtain for Stryker.

The characterization efforts for both Bradley and Stryker systems are delayed by roughly six to eight months depending on the system.

Should one or both of them have insufficient performance or maturity, the Army could choose to adapt another system under evaluation to that platform; or the service could assess another nondevelopmental APS system to fit that same role; or furthermore, it could make a decision to move the system from engineering development activity under a science and technology development effort as part of the Vehicle Protection Systems program of record, according to Army spokeswoman Ashley Givens.

There’s also fiscal 2018 funding that will be used to evaluate a fourth nondevelopmental APS system via an installation and characterization activity to be identified after a preliminary evaluation phase that will occur late this year, applying lessons learned from efforts to date, Givens added.

So Rafael sees a lighter version of Trophy as a promising candidate for other U.S. combat vehicles, which has advantages such as a large amount commonality with Trophy on Abrams, Rafael’s Michael L. told Defense News in a June 11 interview at the French defense conference Eurosatory. Michael’s last name has been withheld for security reasons.

And the timing seems right, according Michael, as the Army will move toward decisions on APS systems for its combat vehicles at some time this year.

Rafael has been conducting extensive testing of its lighter and smaller Trophy system, and the company is inviting the U.S. military to attend a major test event in August in Israel to witness the capability on a Bradley, which is the combat vehicle considered the most difficult on which to integrate a system because of the current variant’s power limitations.

The company would also be capable of integrating the system onto a Stryker, but it has decided — along with its U.S. partner DRS — to focus on Bradley for the time being, Michael said.

While the current Trophy system would be too heavy, coming in at 1.8 tons as a full system, the lighter version will weigh just shy of half that, while still retaining “the same method of operations, the same logic, the same interface,” Michael said.

Rafael sees the solution not as a simple one, but a high-end one, which it believes would be needed on a platform like Bradley.

Israel and other countries are also calling for a lighter APS system that would work on infantry fighting vehicles, and so Rafael sees “a large business opportunity,” according to Michael.

“In August we are going to surprise a lot of people who weren’t sure,” Michael said, “because when you say shrinking, it’s not just making it smaller. You need to make sure that nothing was lost in the process … we already know that nothing has been lost, but we are testing it to make sure that everything is in order, and I think we have a great solution.”

Rafael is also developing and testing a 30mm weapon station outfitted with Trophy as an all-in-one system, according to Michael.

The turret can be purchased with or without the Trophy system. One customer, not Israel or the U.S., is buying more than a hundred 30mm weapons stations. The company will complete development of the turret in September and will then begin production for the country in January 2019, Michael said.

While the country has yet to commit to adding Trophy as part of a single system, it wanted to prove the system with Trophy.

Rafael is eyeing what happens with the ongoing assessment by the U.S. Army to upgun its Strykers with a 30mm cannon. The assessment of the current configuration is expected to wrap up in the summer. (Source: Defense News)

11 Jun 18. New rocket launcher causes no damage when fired from inside a room. When a shoulder-fired rocket is shot from inside an enclosure, typically there’s not much of a chance the wall or anything behind it will go undamaged as the result of the backblast. But Norwegian ammunition company Nammo’s M72 launcher is now capable of being safely fired from inside an enclosure. The M72 is a weapon designed to go up against light-armored vehicles, and it has been around since the Vietnam War, but Nammo’s fire-from-enclosure capability is its newest improvement to the system.

And it’s anticipated soldiers in the field will see it as a game-changer for a number of reasons.

The launcher was put to the test inside of a small 12-by-15-by-7-foot shed in an exclusive first demonstration on June 5 in the Arizona desert. Aside from a spray of viscous liquid on the floor, back wall and ceiling, there was no other evidence the M72 was used in the room.

The system includes a chamber of liquid at the backend of the rocket that mitigates the effects of a blast. Nammo currently has a patent pending on the formula for the inert organic liquid.

The company has been developing the system in response to a U.S. Marine Corps requirement, using mostly internal research funds, over the last 12 years, according to Chad Parkhill, Nammo’s executive vice president for shoulder-fired systems.

Nammo was awarded a contract to qualify its system for Marines in June 2016 and delivered 500 rounds to the service in December 2017. The rounds will go through rigorous testing through the Joint Ordnance Test Procedure, an extremely aggressive test profile that no other shoulder-fired weapon system has gone through or would likely pass, according to Dominic Jezierski, the technical director for shoulder-fired systems at Nammo.

The fire-from-enclosure, or FFE, requirement originated within the Marine Corps because during urban operations in the Middle East, Marines were having to expose themselves to shoot rockets from shoulder-fired systems. Several died as a result of having to take a shot with an M72 because the shot couldn’t be taken from inside a structure or from behind cover, Ben Carpenter, a Nammo representative in charge of field marketing, told Defense News. Carpenter was one of two to first fire the M72 FFE during the June demonstration.

Nammo set to work to address the shortfall and came up with a 13-pound version of its M72, one of the game-changers, Carpenter said. With the weight of some existing shoulder-fired systems, troops must assess whether it’s possible to carry them into the field.

The system also exceeds U.S. Marine Corps and Army standards with its capability to fire seven to eight shots per day using single hearing protection inside an enclosure, Jezierski said. The M72 It can be shot without hearing protection in the open air, and the Marine Corps standard is the ability to fire five rounds from an enclosure.

But even more important is its low signature, which drastically increases the survivability of the shooter and nearby troops, according to Pat Woellhof, who does Marine Corps-focused field marketing for Nammo.

Woelhof was the first to fire the M72 FFE in the June 5 demonstration.

The system’s muzzle flash is equivalent to a 9mm pistol at night, according to Tim Clawitter, who is in business development for shoulder-fired systems at Nammo.

The backblast is also so minimal, it eliminates the need to have to move furniture from a room, according to Woellhof. Typically, training would include doing so because furniture can redirect the backblast toward the gunner.

The munitions used in the M72 FFE are designed to go up against light-armored vehicles. The energetics in the warhead of the munition are improved to provide better effects on target and is more accurate, Carpenter said.

While a bigger launcher might limit the number of weapon systems provided to a squad — typically just one — the M72 is small and light enough to potentially have three to six within a squad. “You could say it gives them overmatch,” Carpenter said.

Improvements to the launcher include a redesigned trigger as well as “shoot through” bumpers. In previous versions of the M72, the bumpers could fall of when the launcher was fired, according to Jezierski.

Nammo has also demonstrated at its launcher assembly in Mesa that it has the capability to reliably produce rounds. The company built roughly 40 rounds a day and only scrapped two out of the entire first 600 rounds produced, according to Clawitter.

The Marine Corps is expected to wrap up its own rigorous testing of the system by the end of the year followed by a production decision.

There is also potential for Army interest, particularly for subterranean operational needs, Carpenter said. (Source: Defense News)

12 Jun 18. Silver Shadow Debuts its SNAKE Rifle. Silver Shadow – a licensed firearms manufacturer, trader and authorized supplier to the Israel Ministry of Defense and Israel Police – debuts its next-gen Gilboa DBR-SNAKE 5.56x45mm rifle at Eurosatory 2018. It is the newest member of the successful Gilboa family of rifles, and the only double-barreled AR rifle in the world, operated by gas. In addition to its powerful impact, the total weight of the weapon has been significantly reduced.

According to Micky Shoham, VP Marketing and Sales, “We are pleased to unveil the Gilboa DBR-SNAKE 5.56x45mm gas-operated rifle. We have developed a double-barrelled weapon delivering double impact, with a weight close to a standard rifle. The lighter weight is due to the lack of a piston, as well as the fact that the weapon’s lower receiver and the integrated buttstock are made of composite materials instead of aluminum.”

The double-barrelled SNAKE allows faster traversing between multiple targets by enabling two rounds on the target with each shot, side-by-side trigger pull, thereby minimizing time per target. It has wider upper and lower receivers to incorporate the two independent firing systems. The two parallel barrels are 3 cm apart from the bore center.

The 5.56×45 mm caliber weapon weighs 4.5kg without the magazine. Its overall length is 790mm, with a barrel length of 2x292mm (11.5?), and a weapon width of 92mm. The firing mode is double semi-automatic, with the method of operation direct impingement gas systems.

Among its many benefits are the redundancy of having two mechanisms working at all times – giving a soldier double fire power, higher penetration due to tight grouping, and higher accuracy during penetration through hardened glass with the first round weakening the barrier.

The flat top platform with standard size Picatinny rails enables the mounting of various optics, lasers, and other tactical accessories. The Gilboa firearms are compatible with US and NATO standard for mounts and equipment and are built to MIL-STD and MIL-SPEC. (Source: Armada)

12 Jun 18. Rheinmetall unveils latest Oerlikon Skyranger Gun. Switzerland’s Rheinmetall Air Defence has completed its first example of a new-generation Oerlikon Skyranger Gun 35 mm mobile air-defence system integrated onto an ARTEC Boxer 8×8 Multi-Role Armoured Vehicle (MRAV) platform.

Rheinmetall Air Defence told Jane’s that there will be a live firing of the complete system at the company’s Air Defence User Group (ADUG) 2018 meeting later this year.

While the Oerlikon Skyranger’s primary role is to counter increasing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) threats, it also has a secondary ground-ground capability as its 35 mm Advanced Hit Efficiency and Destruction (AHEAD) ammunition can be effective against some ground targets.

The new system is fitted with an Oerlikon Revolver Gun Mk 3 remote controlled turret armed with a 35 mm/90 calibre gas-operated Oerlikon Revolver Cannon. It has 252 rounds of ready use ammunition, and the empty cartridge cases are ejected externally.

In the air-defence role its maximum range is 4,000 m and it has a nominal rate of fire of 1,000 rounds per minute or a single-shot mode at 200 rounds a minute.

For the counter-unmanned aerial vehicle (C-UAV) role, it would typically fire the latest-generation AHEAD 35×228 mm round that has a muzzle vehicle (m/v) of 1,050 m/s. The first example of the new Skyranger Gun is a single-feed system, but there is growth potential for a dual-feed system.

There are currently four types of 35 mm AHEAD ammunition: PMD062 with a payload of 152 sub-projectiles, PMD330 with 497 sub-projectiles, PMD375 with 860 sub-projectiles, and PMD428 with more than 600 sub-projectiles that are optimised against UAVs. Other types of 35×228 mm ammunition can be fired, including high-explosive incendiary (HEI), high-explosive incendiary – tracer (HEI-T), frangible armour piercing (FAP), and associated training rounds. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

11 Jun 18. USMC new MUX drone could have near unlimited weapons. Have you ever tried to punch cheat codes into a video game hoping to unlock unlimited weapons or firepower? Well, the Corps’ new futuristic sea drone may do just that.

Marine officials told industry leaders June 6 that the sea drone, called the MUX, will not need to carry as many weapon systems or missiles because the drone will have the ability to cue the weapon systems of other ships and aircraft in the area.

“MUX system is able to cue and designate a target,” Brig. Gen. James Adams, the director of Capabilities Development Directorate, Combat Development and Integration, told audience members at the industry day event. “In some respects it has an unlimited magazine, it is the cue’er of other weapons.”

That capability will make it one of the deadliest hunter-killer drones in the sky, able to locate a target at sea and cue a weapon system from another networked ship or aircraft to destroy it.

The MUX will not be able to fire the weapon system but “MUX will, however, be able to communicate with these systems through digital interoperability to ‘cue’ (or guide) the weapons onto their designated targets,” Marine spokesman Capt. Christopher Harrison clarified for Marine Corps Times.

Adams said, “The fight of the future is a network fight.”

The Corps is in the works to develop a long-range futuristic drone that can land on L class amphibious ships and is capable of airborne early warning, communications relay, electronic attack and strike.

The early June industry day event allowed the Marines to hash out its wish list with industry leaders and gauge the overall feasibility of some of the Corps’ grander aspirations for its futuristic sea hunting drone.

The Corps’ primary desire is that its drone come with airborne early warning capabilities, which will allow the Marines to distribute its forces across the Pacific.

Without that capability, the Corps will be tied to the E-2D Hawkeye and the aircraft carriers they are launched from. The E-2D provides an airborne early warning capability for the Navy and its carriers.

An E-2D Hawkeye assigned to the Tiger Tails of Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 125 flies over Naval Station Norfolk. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ernest R. Scott/Navy)

But aircraft carriers are not part of an amphibious ready group, which Marine Expeditionary Units generally deploy with.

The MUX as an airborne warning platform will allow the Marines to operate independent of an aircraft carrier.

What the Corps doesn’t want in its future sea drone: The same old Reapers and Predators that have filled the skies over Afghanistan and Iraq the past 17 years.

“We are talking about long range, wide area, persistent stare, looking at the maritime domain, looking for surface contacts,” Adams said.

But with all the bells and whistles the Corps wants in its new drone comes weight and fuel considerations.

One way to reduce weight is to limit the payload and missiles hanging off the aircraft.

“Having a bunch of weapons on the MUX can limit payload and airspeed,” Adams said. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)

12 Jun 18. Hirtenberger increases first round accuracy by the GRAM. Hirtenberger Defence Europe has produced an innovative new aiming system for its range of 60 mm mortars called Grid Aiming Mode (GRAM), it was announced during the Eurosatory show in Paris.

Target data can either be input as a grid reference, GPS co-ordinates, or via a co-located and Bluetooth-linked laser designator, allowing the firer to remain under cover. Once the target is input, the firer can make adjustments to orientation and elevation of the barrel using the attached sensor.

The system has significantly improved the accuracy of first rounds and has allowed a reduction in the training requirement. With an incorporated backlight, it also offers a significant capability for night firing over the existing traditional luminescent bubble sight.

Testing has been carried out with special forces from New Zealand, and the New Zealand Army has recently also bought 24 60 mm Commando mortars along with 20 of the bipod version.

Also being shown was the Short Range Inert Practice Projectile (SRIPP) MK1 that has a maximum height of trajectory of 85 m, thereby reducing or negating the need for airspace clearance. This reusable round can be easily recovered, checked, and reconditioned with a new primary cartridge and obturating ring, allowing it to be re-fired. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

12 Jun 18. Patria NEMO Container testing continues. Finland’s Patria is continuing the testing of its NEMO Container solution, with sea trials expected to take place in September.

A company official confirmed that the test firings of the NEMO Container system from a ship are expected to take place in Sweden in September, as part of a testing programme that began last year.

Previous tests have seen the 120 mm mortar fired at maximum charge from both the demounted and stationary truck-mounted positions. The company will also conduct an internal test for firing the system from the truck while on the move in August.

Patria is aiming for the ship-mounted tests to be the last for the NEMO Container system, which will then potentially lead on to a final contract and delivery in early 2019. The NEMO Container has been developed in association with the UAE Navy, with Patria also hoping that the system will be of interest to potential customers in Scandinavia.

The NEMO Container features a single-barrel 120 mm mortar in a turret that is then mounted on a standard-sized 20 ft ISO container, which allows for increased flexibility in the transportation and mounting of the system on maritime platforms.

The system weighs 10 tonnes when empty and has the capacity to carry 100 mortar bombs. It is crewed by three – two loaders and a gunner, with the latter doubling as the commander. The mortar elevates from –3° to +85° and can engage targets up to 10 km away. The system has a rate of fire of up to 10rds/min, and has the capability to undertake direct and indirect fire missions as well as to perform multiple-round simultaneous-impact fires. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

07 Jun 18. About 3,000 Army M4s Have Failed Safety Check for Dangerous Glitch. U.S. Army units have reported about 3,000 M4 carbines have failed a safety inspection because of a potential glitch in the selector switch that could lead to unintended discharges, Military.com has learned.

In March, the Army’s Tank-automotive and Armaments Command sent out a safety-of-use message to all branches of the U.S. military, advising units to perform an updated functions check on all variants of M16s and M4s after a soldier experienced an unexplained, unintended discharge.

The Fort Knox soldier’s M4A1 selector switch was stuck in-between the semi and auto detents. When the soldier pulled the trigger, the weapon failed to fire. The soldier then moved the selector switch and the weapon fired, the TACOM message states.

As of June 1, TACOM has received reports on about 50,000 weapons put through the updated functions check. Of that number, “about six percent,” or 3,000 weapons, failed, R. Slade Walters, a spokesman for TACOM, told Military.com.

Task and Purpose first reported the percentage of weapons that failed the check.

TACOM officials stress it is still early in the process and about 900,000 Army weapons still must be checked, Walters said.

Military.com reached out to the Marine Corps to see what its weapons inspections have found, but did not receive a response by press time.

TACOM officials emphasize that M16 and M4 variants “will perform as intended” if personnel follow the operator’s manual when using them.

“The additional functions check is to inform [TACOM] of the extent of this issue and determine the number of weapons affected,” the message states. The M4A1 is now the Army’s primary individual weapon. The service is converting M4 carbines to M4A1s through the M4 Product Improvement program. The M4A1 has been used by special operations forces for about two decades. It features a heavier barrel and a full-automatic setting instead of the three-round burst setting on standard M4s. (Source: Military.com)

07 Jun 18. Lightweight loitering munition promises to be as accurate as the human piloting it. Miniaturization is a subtle process. The decades of work that turned large electronics into smaller, more capable machines is mostly background noise in daily life, but sometimes it strikes all at once when staring at a new exploding drone that weighs just under 7 pounds Announced earlier this week, the HERO-30 Short-Range Loitering System, made by Israel’s UVision in partnership with Raytheon, is a loitering munition, a miniature explosion in a small flying body designed for use by infantry against human targets.

through a hand-held controller, feeding video back to the pilot as it moves through the sky.

UVision demonstrated two Hero-30 flights to an audience of military observers earlier this month. Afterwards, UVision CEO Noam Levitt noted in a release that the demonstrations had less than a one meter Circular Error Probable, suggesting a high degree of accuracy. (Given that CEP is a statistical measure, a little odd to use it to describe the accuracy of a set of two.) More important that statistical disagreement, the whole package of a lightweight munition (roughly 7 pounds) with a 1-pound warhead hitting a target within a meter of where it was aimed is designed to convey a tight accuracy.

The HERO-30 can fly at up to 115 mph, hit targets at a range of between 3 and 25 miles, and fly for a total of 30 minutes. It is launched from a canister, and built for “anti-personnel missions or against light vehicles,” perhaps insurgents in gun-carrying trucks or other lightly equipped forces. UVision notes, in a blanket description of the HERO family of loitering munitions, that the drone can abort a mission mid-flight and then be redirected to another target. (The language is less clear on the drone being aborted and then landed for future use).

What stands out the most here, though, is not any particular feature, but that the whole package seems designed as a high-end alternative to simple mortars. The drone is in the same ballpark weight as a smaller mortar round, with a greater range and the ability to call off the shot after it’s been fired. We’ve seen drones used to carry anti-tank weapons, and we’ve seen somewhat larger but still infantry portable single-use loitering munitions, but this is the first I’ve ever come across that seems, in function if not form, more a substitute for a piece of ammunition more than a replacement for a missile.

(Source: Defense News Early Bird/C4ISR & Networks)

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14 Jun 18. Airbus Signs Contract for HERON TP Drones with the German Armed Forces. Airbus and the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) have signed an operator agreement for Heron TP unmanned aerial systems (UAS) after parliamentary approval was granted on 13 June 2018.

The contract includes both the provision of Heron TP UAS as well as all operational services required for the system. In accordance with German budget law, the contract will become effective upon publication of the federal budget. Heron 1 drones, which are currently deployed by the German Armed Forces in Afghanistan and Mali, are to be replaced by the more powerful IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries)-made [Heron TP] which is already fully operational with the Israeli Air Force, although the contract between the Bundeswehr and Airbus is based on this previously successful model. Industry will ensure system performance, flight hours and availability and enable soldiers to focus fully on their respective missions. The project will have a two-year set-up phase, followed by an operational phase lasting a further seven years, thereby bridging the gap until a sovereign European drone will be developed.

“This project will provide the Bundeswehr with an even more efficient system that will better protect soldiers in a wide range of threat situations as well as the at-risk civilian population,” said Jana Rosenmann, Head of Unmanned Aerial Systems at Airbus. “The modular concept will allow us to provide the Bundeswehr with the capabilities it needs on time for the years to come.”

Shaul Shahar, IAI EVP and General Manager of the Military Aircraft Group, said, “We are thrilled and proud of this agreement with the Federal Ministry of Defence, a major strategic customer. The Heron TP is a first rate strategic RPAS. Its strong performance will provide Germany with unprecedented air superiority. We would like to thank the German government for this vote of confidence built over many years. We are committed to preserving the quality of our service and systems and look forward to continued collaboration.”

Under the terms of the basic contract, the Bundeswehr will receive five aircraft equipped for reconnaissance missions and capable of carrying weapons, four sets of ground segments, training environments and all system operational services. The basic contract also includes preparing the drones for their use in future countries of operation.

The systems are equipped with electro-optic and infrared sensors and imaging radar systems to perform far-reaching reconnaissance tasks. Satellite communication systems and German data and voice encryption systems are also part of the configuration.

The UAVs are kitted out with a weather radar system so that they can operate in bad weather conditions. The MALE HERON TP system will get military certification from the German Armed Forces aviation authority in accordance with STANAG 4671 allowing the system to be used around the world. This is supplemented by the integration of collision avoidance capabilities. As was the case with the previous model, the Heron 1, Airbus as prime contractor will closely collaborate with Israeli company Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd (IAI). Complementing its role as prime contractor, Airbus is already a Heron TP design organisation approved by the German Armed Forces aviation authority and will also become the approved Heron TP manufacturing and maintenance organisation for the project. (Source: defense-aerospace.com/Airbus Defence and Space)

15 Jun 18. Hornet has venomous sting. Yugoimport reports that its Strsljen (Hornet) X-01 rotary-wing unmanned air vehicle began flight trials last week. The air vehicle has been developed to undertake both reconnaissance and attack missions, and is equipped with outrigger pylons and an underbelly hardpoint for external stores.

On show at Eurosatory (Hall 6, Stand B571) is a full-scale mock-up of the Strsljen armed with 12 small-diameter bombs that are currently under development. The GPS-guided winged bombs have a glide range of 4km when launched from the Strsljen’s ceiling of 4,000m, attacking their targets in a near-vertical dive. Powered by a Serbia-built Phoenix-180 turboshaft engine, the Strsljen has a maximum takeoff weight of 750kg, of which 350kg can be payload. A typical combination would be 200 litres of fuel with 200kg of armament, giving an endurance of 3.5 hours.

This can be four hours when a full fuel load of 240 litres is carried.

Much of the structure – and the main and tail rotor blades – is constructed from composites. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

13 Jun 18. IAI Completes Successful Demo of the ROTEM. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) recently performed successful demo of its Rotem system. ROTEM is a lightweight, lethal assault Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), which can be carried and operated by a single combatant.

The demo covered end-to-end capabilities of the Rotem, including fast assault of miniature target with utmost precision. The demo was held under tough field and weather conditions, highlighting the System’s ability to respond quickly and effectively to low signature enemy in a threatened space.

The ROTEM is a state-of-the-art assault “suicide” drone with combat head and vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. As such, it is suitable for intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance missions, as well as for assault missions.

The ROTEM can be carried, deployed and operated by a single foot-mobile war fighter. The AV simply folds into 38x7x5 inches. ROTEM is designed to be launched in seconds during dismounted manoeuvre with no special aids. The AV is controlled by a single operator with automated modes e.g., Emergency Return Home, NAV-TO Coordinates, Route, Observation, Attack, Abort Safe Ditch and Auto Takeoff & Landing. The AV can be dynamically re-tasked during an active mission, including transition from forward flight to hover/crawl speed and vice-versa.

Boaz Levy, General Manager and Executive VP of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Systems, Missiles & Space Group, said,

“The pilot in which we have proved the complete capability range of the Rotem constitutes a quantum leap. I believe an UAS that combines reconnaissance and surveillance, terrain dominance, combination of various sensors and assault capabilities adds significant value to the forces, with an emphasis on complex warfare situations that require fast, accurate and available response to battlefield threats. The Rotem, with its multiple capabilities, constitutes a unique platform for enhancing land warfare.” (Source: UAS VISION)

12 Jun 18. Pentagon suspends commercial drone purchases and use. The commercial quadcopter is a small computer with rotors. Cheap, versatile, and adapted for everything from peacetime wedding photography to battlefield improvised explosive device, quadcopters open up the possibility of aerial scouting and attacks to any military, uniformed or otherwise, with a few hundred dollars and the ability to charge batteries. Behind that low cost is a price deemed unacceptable, at least at present, to the Pentagon: all those flying computers, the overwhelming majority of which are made in China, could be a vector for cybersecurity risk. On May 23rd, the Department of Defense sent a memo out immediately suspending the purchase and use of commercial drones, until cybersecurity concerns could be addressed.

That memo was spotted online last week, and on Friday Lt Col Mike Andrews, department spokesman, sent the following clarifying statement about the memo to C4ISRNET:

“The Department of Defense has suspended the purchase and use of commercial-off-the-shelf Unmanned Aerial Systems in order to develop a strategy that assesses and mitigates potential cybersecurity risks of their use. Military services and combatant commands continue to ensure U.S. personnel have all required resources to safely accomplish their missions. Due to operational security and the safety of U.S. personnel who selflessly serve around the world, nothing specific for ongoing operations or locations will be provided. Cyber security has, and will remain, one of the Department’s top priorities. A provision for exemptions is in place, and being used, for urgent needs on a case by case basis. Due to operational security, exemption requests will remain classified and non-releasable.

The undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, and the chief information officer, are the approval authorities.”

This is not the first time the Pentagon has halted use of commercial drones by the military. Last August, the U.S. Army ordered soldiers to stop using drones made by China’s DJI. Before that, the Army had worked with the Marine Corps to write guidelines for integrating the cheap unmanned flying machines into military use. In the August 2017 memo, the Army specifically cited “increased awareness of cyber vulnerabilities associated with DJI products,” as the reason for the halt, and by the wording of the latest memo, it appears the awareness of vulnerabilities extends to all off-the-shelf drones by all brands.

Of particular note is that this memo comes after the Pentagon requested funds for roughly 2,000 quadcopters, a number that most likely underestimates how many drones are purchased for use through the Department. All of that is on-hold until the Department can figure out how to safely and securely use the flying machines. In the meantime, there are plenty of vendors willing to sell quadcopters built to military specifications. These are often more capable models, but can cost up to 50-100 times more than a basic commercial drone. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)

13 Jun 18. SwarmDiver to begin testing at US Navy’s undersea warfare centre. Aquabotix has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the US Navy (USN) to test and demonstrate the company’s SwarmDiver micro unmanned surface vessel (USV).

The special-purpose CRADA will provide Aquabotix access to the USN’s Naval Undersea Warfare Center’s (NUWC’s) Narragansett Bay Test Facility, including its ranges and personnel. SwarmDiver does just what its name implies: it operates within a swarm and can dive below the surface to become an unmanned underwater vessel (UUV), collect data, surface, and return home. The small USV can typically dive to a depth of 50m, but has been successfully tested at depths of more than 100m. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

13 Jun 18. Bulgaria PM suggests joint drone manufacture with Israel. Bulgaria is interested in joint unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) production with Israel, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said on Wednesday.

“We will discuss whether we can make joint production in the area of defence, especially when it comes to that extremely modern and powerful weapon, drones,” Borissov told reporters before meeting his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Israel rivals the United States as a top UAV exporter and has cooperated with Russia and India on drone technologies.

UAVs accounted for 2 percent of Israel’s defence sales in 2017, according to government data released last month. Total defence sales in 2017 were valued at $9.2bn. 12 Jun 18.

11 Jun 18. Chinese ‘Dark Sword’ Is the First Sixth-Generation Warplane – Military Experts. The recently-unveiled Chinese unmanned combat air platform known as Dark Sword might be the first sixth-generation warcraft, according to Militarywatchmagazine.com. At this point, “4++”- and fifth-generation aircraft are mostly limited by the durability of the human pilot. Today, pilots survive thanks to pressurized inflatable suits, oxygen masks and extreme physical training. Increasing a plane’s maneuverability would certainly crush a human pilot, necessitating a call for unmanned warcraft. Both the United States and Russia have experimented with unmanned aircraft, with the US cancelling its program despite Northrop Grumman presentation of an X-47B demonstrator vehicle which looked like the infamous F-117 but squashed flat by a steamroller. Russia, on the other hand, seeks to implement unmanned capabilities into its existing machines, very much like it did with its ground armored vehicles.

At this point, it is unknown whether Dark Sword will also operate as manned or whether it will be strictly unmanned. Being unmanned embraces being susceptible to electronic attacks, particularly command channel jamming. Similar to a cyberattack, this becomes a constant race for more sophisticated swords and shields. The expenses are justified, however, by granting an unmanned jet maneuverability beyond anything that armies enjoy today.

“The Dark Sword is also likely to carry the most advanced Chinese-made air-to-air missiles and be able to operate at several times the speed of sound over extreme ranges, making it a lethal threat to hostile platforms across the South and East China Seas and a potentially invaluable asset,” cited by Militarywatchmagazine.com.

It should be noted that the definition of a ‘sixth-generation jet’ is not yet defined. According to some, the jet must include direct-energy (laser) weapons and missile defenses and/or cyber-attack capabilities — apparently this means the plane should be able to hack the adversary’s systems remotely — and travel at much longer range.

Taking the US Navy’s Triton heavy surveillance drone as a starting point — with a 15,186-mile maximum range, 30-hour endurance and a flight ceiling of 18,000 feet — reports claim that the Chinese machine would likely surpass those figures, allowing Dark Sword to operate in Japan, much of Southeast Asia and significantly increase China’s anti-access-area denial (A2/AD) capabilities in the East and South China Seas.

One proposed possibility would see a Dark Sword operating in conjunction with manned J-20 fifth-generation fighters. If AI systems are sophisticated enough, a J-20 pilot would only need to point at a target using a brief wireless communication burst for the autonomous Dark Sword to engage. What makes Dark Sword particularly unsettling, though, is that it does not need to be that sophisticated.

“At the very least [Dark Swords can] soak up missiles from US fighters,” Justin Bronk of British think tank Royal United Services told Business Insider. “If you can produce lots of them, quantity has a quality of its own.”

The definition of a sixth-generation aircraft would then simply entail: “cheap, expendable and swarm-capable unmanned drone.” (Source: defense-aerospace.com/Sputnik News)

11 Jun 18. Ilyushin partners with Russian company on large transport UAV. Ilyushin has teamed up with Russian unmanned air system developer Kronstadt Group to develop a large autonomous aircraft that could deliver cargo to remote areas. The two partners plan to start with developing a demonstrator based on the design of the twin-engine Ilyushin Il-112 military transport.

“Given the active development of the Arctic, it can be assumed that aircraft capable of transporting up to several tons of cargo from on point to another in an autonomous mode will be highly demanded,” states Alexey Rogozin, general director of the Ilyushin Aviation Complex.

Ilyushin is developing the Il-112V with a 5t payload and TB7-117CT turboprop engines to replace a fleet of aging Antonov An-26 aircraft.

St. Petersburg-based Kronstadt, meanwhile, is developing a medium-sized unmanned air system called the Orion. A demonstration testbed for the Orion aircraft was unveiled at the MAKS air show in July 2017. Kronstadt emerged after the bankruptcy of the Transas Group.

“We want to be technologically ready to open this market. Joint work with PJSC “IL” will allow us to optimize the time and resources, and therefore the first to create answers to market demands. “

The two companies are now partnering to apply Kronstadt’s autonomous technology to Ilyushin’s aircraft designs.

Although the project is beginning potentially with an Il-112V demonstrator, the new partners may have an ambition to develop a new aircraft. Despite issuing the press release, Ilyushin doesn’t confirm that possibility directly, but cites unnamed “industry experts” as saying the “outcome of the work of the two competence centres will be a project to create a specialised transport aircraft”. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Flightglobal)

12 Jun 18. IAI Develops Hybrid Ground and Air Robotic System. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has developed a hybrid ground and air robotic system for border patrol, reconnaissance and surveillance defense system, which combines land and aerial capabilities. As a complete system solution customized to operational needs, the systems allows continuous operation under complex and challenging areas and conditions without risking human life and supporting the coming battlefield changes and emerging threats.

The system’s design is based on the RoBattle UGV and the BirdEye 650D RPA, the collaboration between the systems provide an End to End solution, supporting continuous work at complex areas with Non Line of Sight (NLOS) conditions were each of the platforms can be used as a communication repeater to the other, and providing accurate target acquisition using the different domain payloads.

The system supports a variety of complex missions including ambushes, intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance, target detection and remote threat neutralization. The system main components: the RoBattle ground robotic platform, the BirdEye 650D RPA, an array of dedicated payloads and sensors embedded in the platforms and offering remotely controlled lethal capabilities and an advanced command and control center that can be located far from the arena, hence posing no threat to human life.

RoBattle

RoBattle is an operational all terrain Robotic vehicle with advanced maneuverability. The vehicle designed to handle difficult missions under tough conditions quickly and efficiently, it combines an advanced autonomous system that lets it orient itself accurately in the field with real-time 3D mapping and decision support systems. The RoBattle drives autonomously between the points of interest and in random order and triggers its various dedicated payloads (observation, detection and lethality). In addition, it sends Real-Time video on demand, targets and discoveries in real time to the command and control center as generates alerts on any irregularities.

Bird Eye 650D

The BirdEye 650D is an advanced, small tactical RPA, which belongs to the family of Small Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems (STUAS). Its versatile nature makes it suitable for a range of missions, including intelligence collection, surveillance and reconnaissance at a range of up to 150 km. The RPA enables continuous communication between the RoBattle and the command post as well as superior real-time intelligence during day and night. Being completely automatic and autonomous aerial vehicle with extremely low noise and visual signature, it is very difficult to detect.

Shaul Shahar, IAI EVP and General Manager of IAI’s Military Aircraft Group said,

“IAI is the home of many diversified systems, all of which offer the best of advanced technology. We combine these systems into innovative solutions customized to the customer needs and the arena challenges. The RoBattle and BirdEye 650D integration is another major step forward in unmanned solutions and centric network. The synergy between the different domain platforms allows us to use the advantages of each one of them, and provide respond adequately to the challenges of the future battlefield.”

(Source: UAS VISION)

08 Jun 18. Airbus Helicopters advances VSR700 shipborne UAV development. Airbus Helicopters is set to conduct the first fully unmanned flight demonstration of its Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) by the end of June, Jane’s has learned. The OPV is a modified Hélicoptères Guimbal Cabri G light helicopter being used to develop the control laws for the VSR700, a vertical take-off and landing unmanned aerial vehicle (VTOL UAV) aimed at meeting a future French Navy shipborne UAV requirement called the Système de Drone Aérien pour la Marine (SDAM). The air vehicle – which is equipped with a 155hp Continental CD-155 heavy fuel piston engine and low vibration three-blade main rotor – has logged 70 flying hours with a safety pilot on board since May 2017. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

07 Jun 18. Uncovering the new US administration’s drone war policy

Over three administrations and 16 years, there has been nothing as iconic in the United States’ forever war on terror as the matchstick-with-wings silhouette of the modern drone. Understanding the drone program has never been easy; the covert nature of some of the program, as well as a strong executive emphasis on the needs of national security, meant that even at its most transparent, the drone war was largely opaque. In its third report on drone policy, the Stimson Center finds that after a gradual movement towards more transparency by the end of President Obama’s second term, the Trump administration has fully reversed course.

“We have now seen in the last 18 months a Trump administration take the U.S. drone program and employ less transparency and less restraint at the same time that we’ve seen an increase in the frequency of strikes as well as geographic scope of those strikes,” says Rachel Stohl, managing director of the Stimson Study Group on U.S. Drone Policy. “We have more happening with less information and we’re seeing is an environment where we have not only far less transparency but less accountability and responsibility for the strikes that we are undertaking. My fear is that we have inadvertently set an international precedent which does not do the United States any service in both the short and the long term.”

Consider the strikes against people and targets in countries where the United States is not presently at war. President Trump is reported to have already authored at least 80 drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, which nearly twice as many as President Bush authored in his entire administration, and at a pace that would in seven years total more strikes than the Obama administration authored in eight years. And these are just the strikes happening in places outside of formal combat operations; as the report notes an agreement signed by the Trump administration to base drones in Niger could lead to drone strikes across the Sahel as well.

When historians attempt to tally the final totals of drone strikes for respective administrations, they may have access to hidden records, but for people trying to make or analyze policy in the present, a gradual shift towards transparency in the Obama administration was quickly reverse by the Trump administration, denying the public and everyone outside government of official documents on airstrikes conducted, casualty estimates, and the nature of the aircraft conducted the strikes.

“I do think the Obama administration did try at the end of his term to make a good-faith effort to address issues really (and in some cases they were taken to court to do so) but there was an increase in transparency, there were protections for civilians put into policy,” Stohl said. “The problem, and what I argued at the time, is that none of these were codified in law, they were all just sort of good ideas and practices that were undertaken by civil service and were in some cases directed by an executive order. What has happened now is that even that substandard or insufficient amount of information is no longer available. We’re having to rely on, before I could get some primary source data, now I’m relying on organizations like Airwars”

A failure to codify transparency and oversight into law is something that Congress could remedy, should it be so moved. After offering actions the Trump administration could adopt on its own in the name of transparency and accountability, the Stimson report ends with five policy recommendations for Congress. These range from public hearings on U.S. drone policy to annual reports on drone activity outside combat zones to investigations into civilian casualties. While these moves are worthy in their own right, Congress could frame them as matters of national security imperatives, as the negative consequences from a trigger happy drone war can actively undermine any chance at achieving a long-term resolution to a conflict.

“There is blowback in a traditional sense, are we creating an environment in which we are creating more enemies of the United States than existed before?,” Stohl said. “If we look at what drives terrorist recruitment, what foments discord, the environment, the poverty, the conflict, the lack of opportunities, all of that is exacerbated when you have drone strikes.”

There is also the danger that the United States is, apart from creating problems for itself in the wars it actively fights, giving tacit permission for other countries to use drones in the exact same ways as the United States, despite any attempts at prohibiting such action under international law. Drones are a fairly accessible technology for countries, and have a particular relevance in counter-insurgencies or irregular wars waged by regional powers on behalf of proxy forces.

“We could see blowback as countries using drones in ways that are counter to U.S. interests justified under the framework that we’ve established, using our words against us. The blowback could be an inability to set international norms and standards, because why would other countries sign up for a standard that we’re not willing to adhere to ourselves?”

And it is worth looking specifically at what present norms and practices for the United States have enabled. By the Stimson report’s count, it’s at least 679 drone strikes in 16 years, conducted outside countries where the U.S. was formally engaged in war. We know that for at least part of the Obama administration, those strikes were conducted under standards meant to mitigate civilian harm, including a “near certainty” that the strike would not result in civilian casualties, that the threat be imminent, and that the strikes be authored by senior officials. Reportedly, the first two of those standards have been relaxed somewhat, and the authority for strikes delegated downward, though without official statements on the matter it’s hard to conclusively say if this has taken place.

As a maddening coda to the change, it’s unclear if there is even a new objective that this is designed to meet. If we are looking for some guiding ethos, perhaps the closest we can find is candidate Trump’s suggestion in December 2015 that when fighting terrorists, “you have to take out their families,” a suggestion he followed with criticism of the United States for “fighting a very politically correct war.” Reports from the fight against ISIS in 2017 suggest this may have been intentional policy, but without any statement from the administration into its aims or possibly relaxed targeting rules, it’s impossible to safe if it is policy, neglect, or simply unintended consequences of war.

Similarly, the Stimson report notes that while the Trump administration left in place case-by-case review of drone exports, it may have loosened standards or consequences for countries that purchase U.S. drones and violate the agreed-upon principles of proper use. Again, the obscurity of the controls (which dates back to the Obama administration) makes it hard to say what has changed, and harder still to evaluate the potential consequences from the policy.

“What I have been struck with in the past five years of working on this issue is that often drones are seen as the ends, rather than the means to a particular strategic objective,” says Stohl. “The system is a tool, one of many tools we should be using to achieve our security objectives and our foreign policy objectives, and what we’re seeing is that in some cases they seem to be the objective themselves. That has never made sense to me.” (Source: C4ISR & Networks)

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BATTLESPACE UPDATE Vol.20 ISSUE 25

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