INTERNATIONAL PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITIES

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EUROPE

30 Oct 18. FTI: A Weapon System of the Future at the Forefront of Technology. In 2013, the Defense White Paper stipulated that, by 2030, 15 frigates would have to equip the Navy. This directly implies the arrival of a new frigate in the forces, the intermediate size frigate (FTI). The lead ship of this class has now been ordered, and should be delivered before 2023. This ambitious project is the result of the collaboration of the Directorate General of Armament, Naval Group, Thales and MBDA. The Intermediate Frigate (FTI) will be stealthy with a smaller and lighter size than other frigates. It will still be 120 meters long and will displace 4,500 tonnes. The FTI will have a permanent crew of 120 people and be able to accommodate up to 150 passengers. Among them, she will probably embark commandos because the FTI has the capability to operate two ECUME Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boats (RHIB).  The vessel was also designed to operate an NH-90 NFH helicopter and well as a drone. According to Chief Engineer Grégory, who has worked extensively on this program, the Marine Aerial UAV System (SDAM) is a serious candidate, but may not be the only one.

An armed frigate to intervene on all fronts

According to the Armed Force Minister’s description, this vessel is “a jewel of technology.” This frigate of the future is, in any case, an example of operational versatility because it will intervene against all kinds of threats, whether they are air, surface or underwater. The great innovation of this of the FTI is in the equipment it aligns for the air defense mission. This will be the first French frigate to be equipped with a single mast in the middle of the hull, which will carry a SEA FIRE digital multi-function radar with fixed panels (other vessels are equipped with two masts with rotating radars). This new technology will provide the radar, and the other embarked sensors, with an unobstructed, 360° field of view.

To complete her anti-aircraft equipment, the FTI frigate will carry 16 Aster air-intersept missiles is vertical launchers on the forward beck. The peculiarity is that the SEA FIRE radar will combine the detection of the threat with the real-time update of the trajectory of the missiles after launch. To engage surface threats, the FTI will be armed with 8 Exocet MM40 Block 3C missiles and 76mm guns. A small novelty compared to its bigger sisters is that the FTI frigate will be equipped with so-called “non-lethal” weapons. This is a new passive electronic warfare solution that, using light or sound stimuli, can deter attackers.  Finally, underwater operations will be conducted using two high-tech sonars: the CAPTAS-4-COMPACT towed sonar and KINGKLIP Mk2 hull-mounted sonar. They will detect the threat and unleash anti-torpedo decoys to deflect enemy attacks. The frigate will also be able to respond to submarine assaults with MU90 torpedoes. (Unofficial English translation by Defense-Aerospace.com) (Source: defense-aerospace.com/French Armed Forces Ministry)

31 Oct 18. Revised A400M Contract May Slide Into 2019. Ongoing talks between Airbus and the A400M customer nations on a new contract may not be completed by Nov. 30 as currently planned, and may slide into 2019.  Announcing the company’s third-quarter result this morning, Airbus Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders said “On the A400M, …. contract amendment discussions are advancing, but a bit slower than planned.”  This confirms comments made by Joel Barre, France’s director-general of armaments, during an Oct. 10 hearing by Parliament’s defense committee, in which he confirmed that “We have run into some difficulties in the negotiations between OCCAr and Airbus, and between OCCAr and the six participating nations.” OCCAr, the European defense procurement agency, is the executive agency for the A400M program.  Barre added that, “to be quite open, Airbus thinks we are withholding too many of its payments, and pushing them too far into the future, but are doing that to ensure it will fix the program as soon as possible.”  Airbus, OCCAr and participating nations were supposed to renegotiate the production contract, and especially the delivery and payment schedules, in January, but when that proved impossible a Declaration of Intent (DoI) was signed in February as an interim solution. It is valid until Nov. 30, and should be replaced by a new contract by then. The original production contract, already amended once, was due to be renegotiated after Airbus threatened to stop the program unless it obtained more financial flexibility from the governments.

“Airbus says it has lost €8bn so far on the program, and we have also lost money, if only because we had to buy C-130 replacements,” Joel Barre told lawmakers during the hearing. Governments are taking a hard line because this is the second time the company has asked to renegotiate the contract, while Airbus is unwilling to continue losing money on each aircraft it delivers because governments withhold payments.

“On the A400M programme, Airbus is progressing on the military capabilities and with the delivery and retrofit plan,” the company said in today’s press release on its 3rd Quarter financial results.  Airbus is delivering against the objectives set in February 2018 as part of the Declaration of Intent (DoI) framework which was agreed with OCCAR and the Nations, but progress to convert the DoI into a contract amendment is a bit slower than planned.  Risks remain, in particular on the development of technical capabilities, securing sufficient exports on time, on aircraft operational reliability in particular with regard to engines, and on cost reductions as per the revised baseline.” (Source: defense-aerospace.com)

29 Oct 18. Spain looking for new mounted mortar. The Spanish Army is to announce a requirement for a new mounted mortar system in 2020, Jane’s has learnt. Speaking at the IQPC Future Mortars Conference in London on 24 October, Lieutenant Colonel Fernando Cano Artero of the Spanish Army told Jane’s the service will be looking for a 120mm mounted system to replace its Elbit Cardom systems. Current modernisation plans will see a decision being taken in 2020, with both the Alakran system from Everis Aerospace/NTGS and the EIMOS system produced by Expal expected to be in contention (although the EIMOS is currently only configured for 81mm mortars). (Source: IHS Jane’s)

29 Oct 18. Norwegian auditor criticises NH90 procurement process. The Auditor-General of Norway has heavily criticised the country’s procurement of the NHIndustries NH90 helicopter, saying that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) did not take the risks associated with the multinational programme seriously. In its report published on 25 October, the Office of the Auditor General attributes ongoing problems with the helicopter procurement programme to both the original equipment manufacturer, NHIndustries (NHI), and to the Norwegian MoD.

“NHI obviously has a lot of responsibility for delays. At the same time, important prerequisites for the acquisition have not been followed up well enough on the Norwegian side. The Ministry of Defense and the armed forces did not go into the basis for choosing [the] NH90 more seriously, and did not take the risk seriously,” Auditor General Per-Kristian Foss said.

The Scandinavian neighbours of Finland, Norway, and Sweden selected the NH90 in 2001 to satisfy the requirements of their Nordic Standard Helicopter Project (NH90 Tactical Troop Transport [TTT]). Norway ordered 14 NH90 NATO Frigate Helicopters (NFHs), which were supposed to have all been received by 2008 but have still not all been delivered. To date only six interim ‘Step A’-configured (without weaponry and sensors for the anti-submarine warfare or anti-surface warfare roles) and two final ‘Step B’-configured helicopters have been handed over. Retrofits of the ‘Step A’ platforms to ‘Step B’ standard will run alongside continued deliveries of new helicopters through to the declaration of full-operating capability (FOC) in 2022.

While Royal Norwegian Air Force (RoNAF) NH90 operations from coastguard ships started in mid-2015, the helicopter has yet to achieve an operational capability from Royal Norwegian Navy (RNoN) frigates. It is likely the NH90s will start operating from the frigates around 2020, and until the new helicopters reach FOC shortly after the RNoN’s, maritime patrol and ASW capabilities will remain limited. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

USA

30 Oct 18. US Army’s modernization efforts foster boom in US-foreign partnerships. History has informed international defense companies that it’s difficult to play ball in the United States, but as the U.S. Army looks to rapidly modernize, both American and international companies are finding that partnering to bring readily available advanced technology and weapon systems into the U.S. is a win-win for both sides.

The formation of these partnerships appear to be in the midst of a boom in recent months following the advent of the Army Futures Command which is taking on the service’s most pressing modernization priorities: Long-Range Precision Fires, Next-Generation Combat Vehicle, Future Vertical Lift, the network, air and missile defense, and soldier lethality. The service wants to wrap up a dramatic round of modernization efforts by 2028 and has developed aggressive prototyping schedules for critical weapon systems that would have normally taken 10 to 20 years to develop and field. While there are certain areas the Army will likely close off to international companies, such as sites, radars and gun systems, there are plenty of areas where the international defense industry can quickly boost the service’s capability. U.S. companies are seeing this potential from competitors and counterparts abroad.

New overseas bonds

American company Raytheon and German firm Rheinmetall recently announced a partnership to introduce the latter’s new next-generation fighting vehicle — its Lynx 41 — as an offering in the Army’s NGCV Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) program, intended to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. It is anticipated that the Army will release a request for proposals by the end of the year, with proposals due in May 2019. Then the Army will downselect to two competitors, who will build 14 prototypes in an engineering and manufacturing development phase in the first quarter of fiscal 2020. Previously the Army aimed for a few prototypes by FY22.

Rheinmetall built its system with a high level of modularity, leaving room for Raytheon to integrate systems it knows the Army wants in a future vehicle such as its Third Generation FLIR, that is also going on Abrams tanks.

And the turret is capable of accommodating a wide variety of gun systems that the Army might prefer.

At the same time, American firm SAIC is partnering with Singapore’s ST Engineering and Belgium’s CMI Defence to competitively prototype a mobile protected firepower capability — a light tank for the U.S. Army’s infantry force — and the companies foresee continued development of that work as the service develops its requirements for an OMFV prototype.

The Army is expected to choose two companies among British company BAE Systems, American manufacturer General Dynamics Land Systems and the SAIC team; those two choices will go on to competitively build 12 prototypes by the end of November. At the end of the competitive prototyping phase, a winner will be selected to move forward into production.

Moreover, big players in the combat vehicle industry such as General Dynamics and BAE Systems pitched European systems as possible jumping off points for an OMFV at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference earlier this month.

General Dynamics turned heads at the show with a Griffin III technology demonstrator from its European Land Systems business equipped with a punishing 50mm cannon.

BAE Systems brought its Combat Vehicle 90 — built for the Swedish army — to the show and did not display an American system such as a Bradley or an Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle.

According to Jim Miller, a BAE business development director, bringing the CV90 from Europe for the first time to an American trade show was a way of showing the Army that what it has developed for other countries could serve as a starting point to build an OMFV vehicle. Its modularity would also allow for the integration of whatever the Army would like to include in a new fighting vehicle, he said.

Likely unintentionally throwing AUSA attendees off its scent by bringing a howitzer instead of a vehicle, South Korean defense firm Hanwha Corporation expressed interest in partnering with a U.S. company to offer a more advanced and more heavily armored version of its K21 vehicle, which is entering service with the Korean Army, as a possible candidate for the U.S. Army’s OMFV prototyping effort, according to Jim Tinsley, an analyst at Avascent, who spoke to Defense News in an interview. There are rumors that Hanwha’s U.S. partner could be Textron. (Source: Defense News)

28 Oct 18. DoD advances effort to replace airborne command platforms with single aircraft type. The US Department of Defense (DoD) has updated its requirements for “a more effective and efficient” aircraft to accomplish the missions currently performed by the Boeing E-4B, E-6B, and C-32A airborne command platforms. Following an initial request for information (RFI) released in July, a second RFI released on 26 October calls for more detailed information that could aid the US Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC) in its effort to acquire a single new aircraft type to undertake the National Airborne Operations Center (NAOC), Executive Airlift (EA), Airborne Command Post (ABNCP), and Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) missions assigned to these platforms. The new aircraft would be identified as NEAT, which takes the first letter of each of these acronyms.

“The DoD is conducting an analysis of alternatives that will examine potential synergies in acquiring common platforms that do not sacrifice operational effectiveness or increase the overall cost to the department … The DoD is conducting market research as part of its planning for development efforts to identify potential aircraft manufacturing sources that may possess the expertise, capabilities, and experience to produce a solution at the best mix of cost, schedule, and performance for these missions,” the amended RFI said.

The new RFI does not set out performance specifications required of the airframe, but asks for industry to supply facts and figures for their proposed solution under a number of different operating regimes as well as the scope for airframe modifications for the specialist military missions (including aerial refuelling and chemical, biological, radiation, and nuclear [CBRN] protection), and whether or not conversion would be needed for one mission to another. No procurement timeline is proposed, although the solicitation does state that the selected airframe should expect to be in service for 25 to 30 years. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

26 Oct 18. Business ops plan stresses Navy’s modernization focus. The Navy is focused on modernizing aging legacy enterprise systems with an emphasis on cloud and better cybersecurity, according to the service’s new business operations plan released Oct. 24. The Navy expects to publish a Marines Corps cloud strategy and develop a framework for migrations in the first quarter of fiscal 2019. The Navy will also update its “cloud first” policy at the same time.

“Ultimately, [the Navy is] looking to drive as many solutions as we can to a DOD cloud level but still allowing the individual services to proceed with their existing cloud strategies,” Navy Undersecretary Thomas Modly told reporters on an Oct. 24 conference call. “We’re just sort of opening that up now, so there’s still a lot of questions of where the ultimate strategy is going to lead us.”

According to the document, the Navy plans to use cloud infrastructure to consolidate data centers and will build integrated training and personnel development systems. Modly added that the service’s cloud strategies would feed into that of the Defense Department’s and wouldn’t change that much as a result but “become more defined and more specific and how we integrate with the DOD cloud layer.”

The Navy also plans to finish a revised technical refresh plan to replace aged enterprise networks ashore and permit high-speed connections in the first quarter of fiscal 2019. Documenting end-to-end business processes and conduct, as well as defining target system architecture in enterprise business systems are expected to be done by the end of the fiscal year, according to the document. The Navy’s plan is the first that is closely tied to the National Defense Strategy. Modly said the plan looks at milestones in six month increments and quantifies metrics along the way to ensure accountability. The Navy’s progress against its milestones will be assessed every three months, adjusted as needed and updated every six months with a formal reconfiguration every year. As it stands now, the business transformation plan’s activities are already budgeted, and Modly said he is hopeful its execution will “free up funds to do other things and invest in the warfighting mission of the department” particularly when it comes to modernizing the networks.

“As we sort of narrow down our business systems for example, driving costs out of the maintenance of those business systems, by migrating them to more modern and consolidated systems, by emphasizing the use of data more for analytical capability — we think that we can actually save the department money,” he said.

Modly said the amount of savings isn’t yet known but will be determined in the next phase of the plan where efficiencies quantified. (Source: Defense Systems)

25 Oct 18. DOD shifts DEOS cloud acquisition to GSA’s Schedule 70. The Pentagon announced big changes to its 10-year, $8bn back-office cloud buy today. The Defense Enterprise Office Solution solicitation, which was going to be handled internally by the Defense Information Systems Agency, is shifting to the General Services Administration’s IT Schedule 70. The Pentagon is dividing DEOS up into three capability sets. The first set covers business software, email, calendar, content management and collaboration tools. The second covers voice and video. The third capability set is devoted to secure voice and video. In a market research notice posted Oct. 25, GSA informed firms on Schedule 70 that DOD is seeking vendors for the first of these capability sets. Responses are due Nov. 9.

At an event with reporters, Essye Miller, the DOD’s principal deputy CIO said that they’re looking to move quickly on the solicitation process, with a formal solicitation in early 2019 and awards coming in the third quarter. Miller said that multiple industry days will be conducted throughout the process, to get a sense of whether each capability set will involve single or multiple awards.

Miller also touted the prospect of long-term cost savings through commercial cloud.

“Moving to a commercial vendor gives us an opportunity, not to only measure use and capabilities but the amount of investment that it drives,” Miller said, along with real-time upgrades, refreshes and access to new commercial tools as they become available.

DISA was initially flying solo on the procurement. But Miller said that the DEOS program office will “focus on the more critical integration piece and start planning migration services.” GSA Administrator Emily Murphy said that GSA welcomed the opportunity to participate because it gives “GSA a baseline to scale up this type of solution across the federal government in the future.”

DOD CIO Dana Deasy noted that vendors, trade groups and media have been “fixated” on the $10bn warfighter cloud procurement dubbed JEDI for Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, which is the subject of multiple pre-award protests. JEDI and DEOS were both part of a bigger picture.

“After we kind of laid out this strategy, even though people have been fixated on one part of it, this fit-for-purpose cloud strategy is going to be very important, and it’s going to be a big part going forward,” he said.

Deasy added that once in place, DEOS can be adopted across the Defense Department and throughout the services, some of which have their own contracts underway, and for all departments and agencies to migrate. When asked if there was concern of services buying in, Deasy said, “We don’t have to mandate it, everybody wants this,” adding that the only feedback he’s gotten is how to speed up the process.

“We clearly believe that, as we look across our estate — and we know our estate is quite large, it’s 4 million plus end points — that we need to refresh it on the more timely basis, we need to have better collaboration,” Deasy said. “So the cloud, we believe, is the optimum way to manage our productivity suite going forward.” (Source: Defense Systems)

26 Oct 18. Move over, 355-ship Navy: New report calls for an even larger fleet. The U.S. is woefully short of ships and even the Navy’s target goal of 355 ships is well short of what the country needs to prepare for two simultaneous major conflicts and maintain its rotational presence requirements with excess capacity for surge operations and combat casualties. That is the major finding of a new study from the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, an organization prominent in the Trump era because of its knack for influencing administration policy. The study calls for a force of 400 ships, 40 percent larger than today’s force, and an increase of about 12 percent over the Navy’s current 30-year shipbuilding plan. The plan would require another $4 to $6bn annually in the shipbuilding budget to get to 400 ships by 2039, the study estimates. The study, conducted and written by Thomas Callender, a retired submarine officer and analyst at Heritage, acknowledges the difficulty of achieving a 400-ship fleet under budget constraints and with a limited industrial capacity in the U.S. But, Callender said, the study was based solely on current demands on the fleet, as well as the National Security Strategy and what Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has laid out in the National Defense Strategy.

“My analysis was strictly based on requirements to fight and win two major regional conflicts as well as some additional stated requirements for certain ship classes,” Callender said. “I acknowledge that this will mean a significant increase in the Navy’s shipbuilding budget – about $4-6bn above the Navy’s long-range shipbuilding plan.”

All ships great and small

The study calls for several big increases over the Navy’s current 30-year shipbuilding plan, including a 13th aircraft carrier, 19 new small surface combatants, seven new amphibious ships and a full 22 more combat logistics ships.

The plan calls for only minor adjustments to the large surface combatant and attack submarine numbers. The big jump in small surface combatants is aimed at having enough ships to support a 13-carrier Navy, support 12 littoral combat ships configured as mine hunters, and have excess capacity to escort logistics ships. The increase of 22 combat logistics ships is driven by Navy concepts of operations that are moving to an increasingly distributed force that will require support for smaller elements of Navy ships such as far-flung surface action groups, for example.

“While a 400-ship Navy is expensive to build, the nation needs a larger and more capable Navy to deter our adversaries and prevent war,” Callender said. “If our Navy is too small to deter great power adversaries such as China or Russia in the future, the cost for fight and hopefully win that war will greater exceed the monetary cost to build a 400-ship navy.

“Additionally, the nation will see the loss of ships and sailors in numbers we have not seen since World War II. It is my hope that we find the national will to fund the 400-ship navy the nation needs and deter a great power conflict.” (Source: Defense News)

REST OF THE WORLD

30 Oct 18. Hundreds of security firms vie for contracts at Qatar convention. Milipol Qatar hosts hundreds of companies hoping to sign defence and intelligence contracts for World Cup 2022. More than 200 defence and intelligence companies from 24 countries displayed advanced technological solutions to security threats, aiming to sign contracts with this Gulf state leading up to the 2022 World Cup. With Qatar making logistical and security preparations for the football tournament, a delegation from Russia – the host nation of this year’s World Cup – had the most recent logistical and security lessons to share during the three-day Milipol Qatar 2018 event, which started on Monday.  Advice included hiring and training tens of thousands of guards who are not military or security forces, but another layer of security specialised in managing large crowds.

Major General Nasser bin Fahad Al Thani, president of Milipol Qatar, said his country has signed several contracts with international contractors worth tens of millions of dollars to enhance technological infrastructure and computer systems.

Lieutenant Colonel Hamad al-Kubaisi, spokesman for Qatar’s Internal Security Forces, told Al Jazeera Qatar’s well-trained security apparatus will make the World Cup 2022 a successful and safe tournament for the Gulf nation’s guests.  “Despite the regional issues facing Qatar today, we will be able to pull off a very successful World Cup with the help of our partners from around the world,” Kubaisi said.

OpenWorks, a British company, introduced an integrated security system that captures and disables small drones as they fly.

The system, called SkyWall, operates much like a small shoulder-held rocket launcher – or a rocket-propelled grenade – but instead of firing an explosive charge, uses compressed air to launch a projectile that fires a specifically designed “drone entangling” net made from Kevlar material up to the drone.

The SkyWall system is designed to deal with threats coming from small drones that weigh less than 20kg, which are typically classified by the military as Class 1 drones.

One of its applications is to work as a security component of wider security apparatus tasked with protecting heads of states and other VIPs.

James Cross, an OpenWorks official, told Al Jazeera the proliferation of small drones around the world will redefine the nature of security organisations, and different aspects of security must work in tandem to counter threats from the sky.

“Our system operates as an integrated element of the security and intelligence apparatus to counter threats from drones and provides an added layer of protection,” said Cross.

Another British company, Basis Technology, offered security and intelligence multi-language information extraction solutions with deeper applications in the civilian and military-intelligence applications.

On Monday, the first day of the convention, Al Thani announced the signing of several contracts with European companies to develop and update the interior ministry’s e-passport and Tetra communication systems. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/www.aljazeera.com/)

01 Nov 18. Global wrap-up: India signs deal for new frigates, Canada seeks new fighters. This global wrap-up provides key updates of industry developments across the globe, including new procurement deals, capability introductions and key announcements.

Asia-Pacific:

• India has signed a US$950m contract with Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation to supply two upgraded Krivak III Class stealth frigates. The 4,000-tonne Krivak III vessels will also accommodate two multi-role helicopters and will be used for anti-submarine and airborne early warning missions. This deal follows the recent US$5.43bn deal to purchase five S-400 Triumf missile systems, despite objections from the US.
• Japan launched the 11th Soryu Class submarine, the first Japanese submarine to be powered by lithium-ion batteries. The latest of Japan’s Soryu Class, JS Seiryu was commissioned in March 2018.
• A Chinese J-10 fighter jet crashed near the site of war games being held near Zhanjiang, Guangdong province.
• South Korea has selected the Rolls Royce MT-30 marine gas turbine to power a new class of six FFX-III frigates to be deployed in the mid-2020s.
• The Malaysian Navy has hit 10,000 flight hours with the Super Lynx helicopter.
• ASEAN and China conducted the first major joint naval exercises, which saw major naval assets including frigates, destroyers, amphibious landing ships from China, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam and the Philippines participate.
• Airbus officially delivered two new H225M multi-role utility helicopters, the first of 12 11-tonne helicopters currently on order with the Royal Thai Air Force.
• Pakistan is officially moving ahead with a US$183.4m deal for the sale of three JF-17 fighter jets to Nigeria.

Middle East:

• The Iraqi Air Force has taken delivery of six new KAI T-50 Golden Eagle light combat aircraft designed and built by South Korea. The US$2+bn deal will provide the Iraqi Air Force with 24 aircraft.
• Israel Aerospace Industries announced two deals worth a total US$1.3 bn with India to supply the Indian Army with the Sky Capture air defence system and US$777 m worth of Barak 8 missile defence systems.

Europe:

• The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence has received a funding boost of US$1.28bn to focus on delivering key cyber and anti-submarine warfare capabilities and to fund the Dreadnought Ballistic Missile Submarine program.
• The United Kingdom will purchase 16 CH-47 Chinook (Extended Range) from Boeing for an estimate cost of US$3.5bn. The sale also includes communications equipment; navigation equipment; aircraft survivability equipment; initial training equipment and services; synthetic training equipment; support package including spares and repair parts; special tools and test equipment; aviation ground support equipment; safety and air worthiness certification and US government and contractor engineering and logistics support services; and other related elements of logistic and program support.
• Belgium announced that it had selected the F-35 as its replacement fighter for ageing F-16 fighter aircraft, making it the 13th nation to select the fifth-generation aircraft.
• France has accepted delivery of it’s first A330 MRTT aircraft to replace KC-135, A340 and A310 aircraft currently in service with the French Air Force, making it the sixth nation to operate the platform.
• The Russian Navy’s Project 22160 ‘Vasily Bykov’ started sea trials in the Black Sea. The corvettes (patrol boats) were designed to guard and protect the maritime economic zone and in case of hostilities to ensure sustainability of fleet forces and facilities in deployment areas.
• The Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia’s only aircraft carrier, which was currently in floating dry dock as part of a modernisation program that would extend the vessel life by 25 years has been part of a serious incident, which saw the floating dry dock sink and a heavy crane collapse onto the flight deck causing significant damage to the vessel.
• The Spanish Army is currently seeking a replacement for a new mounted mortar system to be fielded from 2020. The army will be looking for a 120mm mounted system to replace its Elbit Cardom systems.
• The Italian Air Force has finalised testing for the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM)designed by Northrop Grumman for its Tornado fighter bombers.

North America:

• Canada has officially kicked off its race for a replacement for the ageing CF-18 fighter jets currently operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force as part of a US$12bn project with bids required by May 2019. It is currently expected that Lockheed Martin’s F-35, the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Dassault Rafale, Saab’s Gripen and the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet will be presented.
• Canada also announced Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems with the Type 26 Global Combat Ship were the successful bidders for the Canadian Future Surface Combatant program, which would see 15 vessels replace Halifax Class destroyers currently in service.
• German company Rheinmetall secured a contract with the US Marine Corps to supply 40mm grenade practice munitions.
• The head of the US Army’s Rapid Capabilities Office, Tanya Skeen, is leaving to join the F-35 Joint Program Office as its top civilian.
• The US Navy is pushing to deploy its new over-the-horizon anti-ship missile, the Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile, for the surface fleet.
• Raytheon’s SM-3 Block IIA missile and Aegis Ballistic Missile Defence System have successfully intercepted a test missile launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai.

Australia:

• The Royal Australian Navy has officially taken delivery of the HMAS Brisbane, the second of three Hobart class Air Warfare Destroyers.
• Rheinmetall has announced that Supacat would be the first Australian supplier to support the A$5.2bn LAND 400 Phase 2 program to deliver 211 Boxer CRV.
• Adelaide-based ASC has come away from Euronaval 2018 with a host of deals, including key contracts with Naval Group supplier Endel Engie and FIVA to support the Collins class submarines.
• Australia officially took delivery of its tenth F-35 at Luke AFB, Arizona as the global F-35 production project continues to pick up steam.
• The South Australian Government launched its Defence Landing Pad as part of the effort to attract more defence companies, innovation and capabilities to Adelaide’s Lot 14 innovation hub. (Source: Defence Connect)

31 Oct 18. Israeli company to outfit Indian Navy, Army after $1.3bn in defense deals. Israel Aerospace Industries announced two deals worth a total of $1.3 bn with India between Oct. 24 and 29. One deal will see IAI outfit the Indian Army with the Sky Capture air defense system, a contract worth $550 m. In addition, IAI will provide $777m worth of Barak 8 missile defense systems, known as LRSAM in India, for seven ships.

Boaz Levy, IAI’s executive vice president and general manager of the Systems Missiles and Space Group, said the deals represent important sales of two different systems that show IAI and India are learning to closely work together. “We are speaking the same language,” he said.

The contract to outfit the ships with missile defense systems is with Bharat Electronics Limited. The contract builds on $2.5 bn in deals signed last year, including for the delivery of the first Barak 8 missile manufactured in India as part of an IAI collaboration. It will take up to several years to install the latest system.

The other deal for Sky Capture involves a command-and-control system for anti-aircraft systems, radar and electro-optical systems, which can be used to confront short-range targets. Currently this envisions a $550m deal that will be provided to the Army for 40mm guns. It’s a “family of air defense,” Levy stressed, meaning that it could also use its Elta radar and Tamam electro-optical capability to aim an effector for man-portable air-defense systems or a missile.

The deals are part of a growing relationship between Israel and India based on defense systems. This includes deals to produce medium-range surface-to-air missiles signed in 2017 and other missile-related agreements for India’s Navy, such as a $630m contract with Bharat Electronics in May 2017.

IAI had been on a restricted blacklist in India until April this year, but Israel is still one of India’s largest arms suppliers. In January, India canceled a deal with Rafael to develop Spike anti-tank missiles, but Levy is confident in the current contracts and said he hasn’t experienced any problems in India. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Defense News)

30 Oct 18. Canada to accept bids for new fighter jet in May — here are the potential competitors. Canada expects to accept formal bids for a new fighter jet in May, with the first aircraft delivered by 2025, according to Canadian government procurement officials. A draft bid package for 88 fighters was issued to companies for their feedback by the end of this year, said Pat Finn, assistant deputy minister for materiel at the Department of National Defence. From there, the final bidding instructions for the CA$16bn (U.S. $12bn) procurement will be issued and bids required by May 2019, he added. The aircraft will replace Canada’s current fleet of CF-18 fighter jets. The aircraft expected to be considered include Lockheed Martin’s F-35, the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Dassault Rafale, Saab’s Gripen and the Boeing Super Hornet.

The Canadian government will require a robust package of guaranteed industrial benefits or offsets from the winning bidder, government officials said. But that could be a problem for the F-35, as Canada is still a partner in that program, which does not guarantee participating-nations contracts. Work on the F-35 program is based on best value and price.

Canadian industrial participation in the F-35 program has reached $1bn, as more than 110 Canadian firms have landed contracts related to the aircraft program.

Jeff Waring, director general for industrial benefits policy at the federal Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, said the country sees the fighter jet program as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity for the Canadian economy.”

But he noted the industrial benefits policy is flexible. “It is a market-driven approach,” he said. “It encourages suppliers to make investments that make sense to them.”

The issue of industrial benefits has already been discussed with companies interested in bidding on the project, and those talks will continue as feedback is received on the draft bid package, government officials said. (Source: Defense News)

31 Oct 18. Regional flat top race continues to heat up. With continuing American, Chinese and now Japanese and Korean interest in aircraft carriers and big deck amphibious ships, the regional race to introduce increasingly powerful platforms is gathering pace.  For many around the world the sight of a supercarrier is a potent symbol of American power, presence and prestige. Equally important are the growing number of large deck, amphibious warfare ships, typically Landing Helicopter Docks (LHDs), like the Australian Canberra Class LHDs, which provide unique, power projection capabilities in smaller, arguably more cost-effective packages.  In recent years, Indo-Pacific Asia has seen a growing number of traditional aircraft carriers and large deck, amphibious warfare ships being used to secure sea-lines-of-communication, maritime borders, while acting as potent power projection platforms through the use of amphibious operations and potent marine units.

So what do these regional capabilities currently look like and who is introducing them?

United States Navy: Since the Second World War, the United States Navy has been dominated by the use of aircraft carriers of all sizes and their supporting battlegroups.

Ranging from large fleet carriers like the USS John F Kennedy and USS Kittyhawk and the large nuclear powered supercarriers of the Nimitz and new Gerald R Ford Class supercarriers, to the large deck, amphibious warfare ships of the Wasp and America Class, the US Navy in the Indo-Pacific is the regional carrier heavyweight.

In the Indo-Pacific, the United States Navy, currently has the following supercarriers either home port based, forward deployed or on operational deployment:

• USS Nimitz (CVN-68) – Bremerton, Washington – currently in dry dock;
• USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) – San Deigo, California – currently on operations off the coast of southern California;
• USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) – Bremerton, Washington – currently on operations in the eastern Pacific; and
• USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) – Yokosuka, Japan – currently on operations in the Philippine Sea.

Both the Nimitz and Gerald R Ford Class supercarriers are exceptionally potent power projection platforms, weighing in at 100,000 tonnes, supporting 85-90 fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, including F/A-18 E/F and G series Super Hornets and Growlers, MH-60S/R Seahawk helicopters, E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft and growing numbers of the fifth generation, F-35 ‘C’ carrier-based variant of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

In the Indo-Pacific, the US Navy currently has the following large deck, amphibious warfare ships either home port based, forward deployed or on operational deployment:

• USS Wasp (LHD-1) – Sasebo, Japan – currently on operations in the East China Sea;
• USS Essex (LHD-2) – San Diego, California – currently at home port;
• USS Boxer (LHD-4) – San Diego, California – currently on operations off the coast of southern California;
• USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) – San Diego, California – currently at home port;
• USS Makin Island (LHD-8) – San Diego, California – currently at home port; and
• USS America (LHA-6) – San Diego, California – currently at home port.

America’s Wasp and America Class vessels provide a complementary force projection unit to the large US supercarriers. Additionally, these 40-45,000 tonne vessels provide amphibious support for US Marine Expeditionary Units (MEU) and Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) through the operation of Marine fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft, including MV-22B Osprey, CH-53 series Super Stallions, UH-1Y Venom, AH-1Z Viper and the short-take off, vertical landing (STOVL) ‘B’ variant of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

People’s Liberation Army – Navy: China is the relative newcomer to the regional flat top race but is rapidly establishing itself as a regional carrier super power, with the recent introduction of the Type 001 and Type 001A class carriers, based heavily upon the Russian Kuznetsov Class aircraft carriers.

Liaoning (CV-16), the first Chinese carrier (Type 001), was commissioned in 2012 and provides a potent, 58,600 tonne, 304.5-metre platform capable of supporting an airwing of 40 fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, including the Shenyang J-15, a Chinese variant of the Russian designed Su-33 Flanker D and a fleet of domestic support helicopters.

CV-17, the second Chinese carrier commissioned earlier this year and an enlarged variant of the Liaoning, is a 70,000-tonne, 315-metre vessel with a similar airwing capacity of 40 fixed and rotary-wing aircraft.

China’s carrier ambitions are not limited to these two platforms, with increasingly capable aircraft carrier designs currently in varying stages of design or construction. The Type 002 carrier, expected to be commissioned in 2023, will be a traditional, catapult assisted take-off, barrier arrested recovery (CATOBAR) based vessel, weighing in at 85,000 tonnes.

These vessels will support a similar airwing capacity to the Type 001 and Type 001A of 40 fixed and rotary-wing aircraft.

The current pinnacle of Chinese aircraft carrier design is encapsulated in the Type 003 aircraft carrier. These vessels are directly comparable to the US Navy’s Nimitiz and Gerald R Ford Class supercarriers and are expected to weigh in at 110,000 tonnes and be capable of supporting an airwing of between 70 and 100 fixed and rotary-wing aircraft.

Additionally, serving a similar role to America’s large deck, amphibious warfare ships, China is responding with the construction of three Type 075 landing helicopter docks, weighing in at 40,000 tonnes, placing them in the same category as the US Wasp Class vessels. It is anticipated that these vessels will accommodate up to 30 helicopters and be capable of supporting amphibious landings through the use of advanced command and control facilities.

Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force: Japan’s history of offensive operations during World War II has prevented the JMSDF from operating aircraft carriers or large deck, amphibious warfare ships as both are considered to be offensive weapons systems.

However, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has embarked on an unprecedented period of JMSDF expansion in response to the growing carrier and amphibious capabilities and ambitions of the PLA-N. In response, the JMSDF has introduced a series of steadily larger, more capable ‘helicopter-destroyers’ of both the Izumo and Hyuga Class.

When first launched, both the Izumo and Hyuga Class vessels drew extensive criticism from the Chinese in particular for being an “aircraft carrier in disguise”. Izumo and her sister ship Kaga are capable of supporting airwings of 28 rotary-wing aircraft, with capacity for approximately 10 ‘B’ variant of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, with both 27,000-tonne vessels capable of supporting 400 marines.

The smaller Hyuga Class vessels, weighing in at 19,000 tonnes, are capable of supporting an airwing of 18 rotary-wing aircraft, with space for amphibious units and supporting equipment. Additionally, it is speculated that like their larger Izumo Class cousins, the Hyuga and sister Ise can be modified to accommodate the F-35B.

The Abe government has also responded to growing territorial disputes with the Chinese, particularly around the Senkaku Islands, by expanding Japanese efforts to retrofit the Izumo Class ships to accommodate F-35Bs to operate in similar manners to American LHDs. Additionally, the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party has made calls for the government to introduce a ‘multipurpose aircraft carrier’.

Republic of Korean – Navy: Korea has in recent years focused on establishing itself as a regional, blue-water navy capable of projecting force away from the country’s littoral zone through the development of the ‘Strategic Mobile Fleet’ centralised on the new Dokdo Class amphibious assault ships.

As the core of the ROK-N expeditionary capability, Dokdo and her two sister ships are designated Landing Platform Helicopter (LPH) vessels, and are capable of supporting 720 marines and up to 200 vehicles, including tanks. Additionally, these ships can support an airwing of 10 rotary-wing aircraft when no vehicles are in the hangar deck.

Given the comparable size of Dokdo and existing light aircraft carriers like the Spanish Navy’s Principe de Asturias,  the Korean government, like its Japanese counterpart, has also begun the process of investigating the feasibility of purchasing F-35B fighters to operate from the vessels to provide indigenous fleet air defence for the vessels and support group.

Royal Australian Navy: Australia’s Canberra Class LHDs are designed to serve as the core of the nation’s future amphibious force. Canberra and her sister Adelaide provide significant amphibious, maritime force projection and humanitarian support capabilities to the RAN.

At 27,000 tonnes, both vessels are capable of supporting a fully equipped amphibious force of over 1,000 troops, supporting vehicles, logistical support and airlift assets. Based on the Spanish Juan Carlos Class LHDs, the ships are designed to replace the Spanish Navy’s ageing Principe de Asturias light aircraft carrier through the operation of AV-88 Harrier STOVL aircraft and support helicopters.

While capable of supporting the F-35B variant of the Lightning II JSF, Australia, unlike regional allies and competitors, has no intention or plans to purchase and/or operate fixed-wing aircraft from the vessels. Despite this, both vessels are capable of supporting eight helicopters in a standard load-out, with a maximum load-out of 18 helicopters, including MRH-90 Taipan, CH-47F Chinook and ARH-Tiger helicopters.

Both fixed-wing naval aviation and amphibious capabilities are one of the key force multipliers reshaping the region. The growing prevalence of fixed-wing naval aviation forces, particularly, serves to alter the strategic calculus and balance of power.  (Source: Defence Connect)

25 Oct 18. Boeing India executive calls for defence offset overhaul. Key Points:

• The president of Boeing India says the country’s defence offset policy should be ‘reformed, rethought, and reset’
• An overhaul of offset is required to enable domestic industry to fulfil its ‘tremendous potential’, he says

The President of Boeing India, Pratyush Kumar, has called for an overhaul of the country’s defence offset policy to help Indian industry achieve the higher levels of capability targeted by New Delhi. In comments to Jane’s, he said the offset policy needs to be “reformed, rethought, and reset”.

“The defence offset policy has the potential to accelerate ‘Make in India’ for aerospace and defence (A&D) if a few relatively simple adjustments can be implemented,” he said. “However, there is a greater opportunity to make the offset policy more potent for manufacturing world-class A&D products in India at globally competitive costs and quality.”

Kumar added, “To achieve the objectives of Make in India, we need to reform, rethink, and reset the offset policy and the practical implementation of it to lower barriers and release the full potential of India’s capacity and capability to become a global player in A&D.”

Summing up his three-step recommendations for changes, Kumar added, “India has tremendous growth potential in the A&D industry. Offsets can become the catalyst it was intended to be, only if they are reformed, rethought, and reset.”

29 Oct 18. Bangladesh Navy seeks new patrol craft, anti-aircraft missiles for corvettes. Bangladesh’s Defence Ministry is seeking responses to a tender for five patrol craft for the country’s navy. According to the tender, the patrol craft should have a proven design with a length of approximately 50–52m, a beam of 7–8m, a maximum draught of 2m, and a displacement of between 270 and 320 tonnes. It should be steel-hulled with an aluminium superstructure. The vessel should be powered by two diesel engines driving two shafts, and an electrical power generation equipment that would need to be of ‘western origin’. Weapons to be mounted on the craft include a Type 61 twin 37mm gun, and two 20mm Oerlikon cannons. (Source: IHS Jane’s)

29 Oct 18. With Russia in its crosshairs, Canada moves to buy a sub hunter. The Royal Canadian Navy is moving toward Britain’s Type 26 frigate design, a multimission ship designed to cut through the water quietly, hunt submarines, and defend against hostile missiles and aircraft. The Canadian government announced mid-October that a team led by Lockheed Martin Canada had been selected as the “preferred designer.” That team was offering up British defense firm BAE Systems’ Type 26 design. To some, the selection of the Type 26 design was a surprise given that Britain only just began cutting steel for the first one last summer, and as with any new ship and design, there is a high potential for cost overruns and delays.

But the Arctic nation’s selection of a ship that is a purpose-built sub hunter could be a sign that it is willing to accept those risks because of the strategic threat Russia poses to Canada’s interests at the rapidly thawing top of the world.

“For the Canadians, anti-submarine warfare is a big deal,” said Bryan Clark, a retired U.S. submarine officer and analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “If you are worried about the Russian sub threat and the air threat, then, yeah, the Type 26 makes sense.”

Indeed, BAE executives here said a big part of Type 26 is its anti-submarine warfare-friendly design elements.

“That was a huge discriminator for us,” Anne Healey, a vice president with BAE Systems, told a roundtable of reporters at the Euronaval conference. “We are extremely quiet and we are probably the world’s most advanced frigate … and that’s a key element of what sets us apart and what’s valued by the Canadian Navy.”

The ASW features were also a big factor for Australia, which is locked in a standoff with China over its actions in the South and East China seas, vital sea lanes for the Pacific nation. The shift toward ASW is part of an industry trend, said Gary Fudge, a vice president with Lockheed Martin Canada.

“For the last 15 years, most allied navies have put their efforts into anti-air warfare, whereas the threat that has emerged in the last 15 years is largely in submarine technologies,” Fudge said. “So we wake up 15 years later finding that the focus has gone into anti-air, but the real threat is in submarines. The number of submarines produced in the 15 years is phenomenal, and now the world has woken up and it doesn’t have the same ASW capability anymore and it hasn’t kept pace with the anti-air warfare technology. So Canada is very interested in getting back on track.”

All told, Canada wants to buy up to 15 frigates with a notional total program cost of $60bn all in. And while the selection of Lockheed and BAE is a big win for the companies, the project could still fall through as the program enters an evaluation phase where Lockheed’s bid will be examined, and Canada’s requirements will be reviewed to ensure that Type 26 is the best bet. The final decision should come some time over the winter, according to a report by the Canadian Broadcast Corporation. But assuming the contract moves forward, it would mean three of the “Five Eyes” countries — the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada — will operate Type 26 frigates. (The United States — which passed on the Type 26 design during its frigate competition — and New Zealand are the other two counties in the intelligence sharing pact.) (Source: News Now/Defense News)

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American Panel Corporation (APC) since 1998, specializes in display products installed in defence land systems, as well as military and commercial aerospace platforms, having delivered well over 100,000 displays worldwide. Military aviators worldwide operate their aircraft and perform their missions using APC displays, including F-22, F-18, F-16, F-15, Euro-fighter Typhoon, Mirage 2000, C-130, C-17, P-3, S-3, U-2, AH-64 Apache Helicopter, V-22 tilt-rotor, as well as numerous other military and commercial aviation aircraft including Boeing 717 – 787 aircraft and several Airbus aircraft. APC panels are found in nearly every tactical aircraft in the US and around the world.

APC manufactures the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Large Area Display (LAD) display (20 inch by 8 inch) with dual pixel fields, power and video interfaces to provide complete display redundancy. At DSEI 2017 we are exhibiting the LAD with a more advanced design, dual display on single substrate with redundant characteristics and a bespoke purpose 8 inch by 6 inch armoured vehicle display.

In order to fully meet the demanding environmental and optical requirements without sacrificing critical tradeoffs in performance, APC designs, develops and manufactures these highly specialized displays in multiple sizes and configurations, controlling all AMLCD optical panel, mechanical and electrical design aspects. APC provides both ITAR and non-ITAR displays across the globe to OEM Prime and tiered vetronics and avionics integrators.

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