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31 May 19. Enhancing Australian and allied strategic sealift in the Indo-Pacific. The geographic realities of the Indo-Pacific require a robust sealift capability. While nations like the US and UK implement such capabilities, Australia’s major naval recapitalisation and modernisation programs have fallen short – limiting the nation’s capacity to project force or respond to other contingencies.
The East Timor intervention highlighted a number of significant limitations on Australia’s capacity to intervene in regional affairs – the introduction of the ‘Defence of Australia’ (DOA) in the aftermath of the Vietnam conflict saw a sharp reduction in the nation’s strategic sea lift capabilities resulting in the acquisition of the Canberra Class landing helicopter dock (LHD) ships and the eventual acquisition of the HMAS Choules from the Royal Navy’s Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA).
Sealift capabilities are a core component of contemporary power projection doctrines, supporting the expeditionary capabilities of deployed naval task groups, amphibious combat elements, while also supporting the large-scale deployment of large ground force organisations ranging from brigade to division and corps sized elements.
Both the US and UK identified the strategic and tactical importance of developing dedicated sealift capabilities separate to the amphibious warfare capabilities provided by respective navy units, including large-deck amphibious warfare ships like the Wasp and America Class vessels, and the Royal Navy’s Albion Class amphibious transport docks.
Filling these unique roles are the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) and the Royal Navy’s RFA – both of which are responsible for providing long-range and forward deployed at-sea replenishment, logistics support and sealift for Army and Marine personnel. Following feedback to recent thought leadership pieces regarding the expansion of Australia’s defence capabilities, particularly the Army and Navy, Defence Connect is taking a closer look at capabilities utilised by allies to inform decision makers.
Overwhelming firepower – US Navy Military Sealift Command
Established in the aftermath of the Second World War, the preceding Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) combines US Navy-owned and chartered vessels employing both military and civilian crews across a range of logistics and strategic sealift capabilities, including:
- Combat Logistics Force (Fleet Oilers) – A central component of the Combat Logistics Force (CLF) and are responsible for supporting the at-sea-replenishment for major US Navy assets through the use of Henry J. Kaiser and John Lewis Class oilers.
- Strategic Sealift and Maritime Prepositioning Ships – The prepositioning program is a central element of the US Navy’s triad of power projection – sea shield, sea strike and sea basing. Afloat preposition provides military equipment and supplies for a contingency forward deployed in key ocean areas before need. Enabling each of the various branches of the US Armed Forces to rapidly deploy at short-notice with assurance that vital follow-on equipment, fuel and supplies to initially support military forces – these capabilities are supported by a range of specialised ships including Air Force container ships, Army container ships, large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships, Marine Corps container and roll-on/roll-off ships and new expeditionary transfer docks.
- Combat Logistics Force (Dry Cargo/Ammunition Ships) – Complementing the liquid fuel supply capabilities of the fleet oilers, this component of MSC supports the delivery of food, fuel, spare parts, ammunition and potable water to the US Navy and allies’ ships.
The successful implementation of these capabilities also requires a series of basing options at tactically and strategically significant locations throughout the world, which enable US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine forces to rapidly project power and American presence rapidly in response to long-standing or emerging contingencies across a spectrum of operational requirements – ranging from humanitarian intervention to high-intensity, peer-competitor combat operations.
The particular focus on large, roll-on/roll-off vessels comes as a result of the US’ responsibility to intervene in the event of Soviet aggression during the Cold War which would ultimately overwhelm pre-positioned US forces and allied-NATO forces in theatre and was a capability echoed by the Royal Navy’s RFA.
Britannia rules the waves – Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Established in the early-1900s during the height of the era of coal-fired steam engines, the RFA is a critical force multiplier and key enabler for the Royal Navy and its now resurgent focus on power projection capabilities. In a similar manner to the US Navy’s Military Sea Lift Command – the RFA serves a number of critical role supporting the power projection capabilities of the Royal Navy, including:
- Replenishment and Fleet Tankers – The Tide and Wave Class tankers provide at-sea-replenishment for Royal Navy and allied surface vessels – providing liquid fuels to deployed battle groups and individual surface combatants.
- Multi-role and solid replenishment ships – Serving a similar role to the split-role of the MSC Combat Logistics Force vessels the Fort Victoria and Fort Rosalie Class vessels serve a complementary role to the fleet oilers, delivering of food, fuel, spare parts, ammunition and potable water for Royal Navy and allied vessels.
- Auxiliary Landing Ships – The Bay Class of landing ship dock (LSD) serves a similar role to the US Navy’s San Antonio Class vessels providing amphibious warfare support and power-projection support for the Royal Marines and British Army.
- Roll-on/Roll-off Sealift Ships – Operated and maintained by a civilian crew under the Ministry of Defence oversight, the Point Class of roll-on/roll-off vessels serve in a similar capacity to the US Navy’s fleet of Startegic Sealift and Prepositioning ships – enabling the British Armed Forces to project sizeable, self-sustaining ground forces anywhere in the world.
Like Australia, the UK has recognised that it will play an increasingly important role in maintaining the post-Second World War order, which has resulted in the development of additional sealift capabilities – announced recently in the form of Littoral Strike Ships – to support the amphibious deployment of the Royal Marines.
Former UK defence secretary Gavin Williamson explained the vision for the vessels, saying, “Our vision is for these ships to form part of two Littoral Strike Groups complete with escorts, support vessels and helicopters. One would be based east of Suez in the Indo-Pacific and one based west of Suez in the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Baltic.
“If we ever need them to, our two littoral strike ships, our two aircraft carriers, our two amphibious assault ships Albion and Bulwark, and our three Bay Class landing ships can come together in one amphibious task force. This will give us sovereign, lethal, amphibious force. This will be one of the largest and best such forces anywhere in the world.”
Australia’s response
The logistics support ship, HMAS Choules, and the two Canberra Class amphibious ships will provide scalable and flexible options for greater capacity sea lift and amphibious operations. The government will extend the life of HMAS Choules and update the capabilities onboard, including modern self defence and aviation support systems until it is replaced around 2030.
In addition, the government will acquire a new large hulled multi‐purpose patrol vessel, the Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Protector, for the Navy to support border protection and maritime resource security related tasks with the Australian Border Force. Sustainment of maritime capabilities will be improved by two new replenishment vessels that will begin service by 2026. The vessels will provide naval combat units with fuel, water and stores while underway at sea. A third replenishment vessel or additional logistics support ship will be acquired the late 2020s.
Together, HMAS Choules, the amphibious ships and replenishment vessels will enable the ADF to conduct a greater number of challenging maritime operations at the same time, and to sustain those operations for longer periods than it can today.
Despite these capabilities, Australia’s evolving role in the Indo-Pacific, combined with the retirement of the Kanimbla Class vessels without replacement in the early-2010s, has limited the overall sealift capabilities of the Royal Australian Navy, particularly given the broader modernisation and recapitalisation of key Army platforms – namely the acquisition of the Boxer combat reconnaissance vehicles, the follow-on LAND 400 Phase 3 Armoured Fighting Vehicles, self-propelled howitzers and the M1 Abrams fleet. (Source: Defence Connect)
31 May 19. Boeing Defence Australia triples Indigenous supplier spend. Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) has continued to expand its Indigenous supply chain partners, with a 380 per cent growth in Indigenous-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in just over 12 months.
Globally, the Boeing Company spends approximately $1bn annually with minority suppliers. BDA vice president and managing director Darren Edwards said the growth was due to a deliberate focus from the company to strengthen Indigenous partnerships in line with the signed memorandum of understanding with the Indigenous Defence & Infrastructure Consortium (iDiC).
“Our partnership with iDiC has seen Boeing’s investment in Indigenous suppliers more than triple to over $1m in 2018. Diversity in our supply chain is an enormous strength of the Boeing Company and is a key driver behind our ability to provide innovative solutions to our customers,” Edwards said.
IDiC, which acts as a single point of contact for over 90 Indigenous businesses nationally, has worked hand-in-hand with Boeing since 2017 to strengthen the Indigenous supply chain as well as Boeing’s local supplier base.
Adam Goodes, CEO of iDiC, welcomed the efforts of Boeing, saying, “Boeing has worked extremely hard with iDiC in the last two years to create opportunities for Indigenous businesses to infiltrate Boeing supply chain.”
Boeing’s commitment to investing in Indigenous suppliers continues to grow, with the company’s commercial representation, Boeing Aerostructures Australia in Victoria, recently engaging with iDiC with the view to develop an ongoing partnership.
IDiC is a single point deployment project and account manager, providing a diverse range of services via its consortium partners, all of whom are Indigenous-owned businesses.
“We worked with Boeing for over 18 months to be awarded the contract for several BDA sites. This is the true nature of our partnership to find solutions that benefit everyone,” Goodes added.
With a national footprint, iDiC has proven capability in a range of direct and indirect procurement services to support large defence and infrastructure projects. These services include:
- Facility services and construction;
- Professional services and administration;
- Engineering services;
- Consumables;
- PPE, workwear and apparel;
- Gifts;
- Logistics and warehousing;
- Graphics, photography; and
- IT and telephony.
IDiC was established because of Indigenous-owned and controlled businesses seeking to participate in the delivery of long-term nation building projects. Projects that build sovereign capability and infrastructure, offering longer-term contracts and relationships with clients and meaningful participation of the Indigenous business sector.
Energised and enthused by the National Innovation and Science Agenda, Indigenous entrepreneurs have rallied together to become a key cog in the supply chain of prime contractors in the defence industry.
As a supply chain aggregator, iDiC focuses on identifying business opportunities for its Indigenous business consortium partners. It then presents turnkey solutions providing a de-risked integrated offering to its clients.
IDiC is able to navigate the supply chain requirements of large companies, which are somewhat daunting for small to medium enterprises, and prequalify as an approved supplier. By taking this approach, Indigenous businesses are getting access to contracts that they normally would not have been able to as a stand-alone business. (Source: Defence Connect)
29 May 19. Honeywell (NYSE: HON) has signed a new maintenance agreement with the UAE’s Advanced Military Maintenance Repair Overhaul Center – AMMROC. The contract will see the firms work together to enhance the repair and maintenance options available to AMMROC’s key customer the UAE Air Force and its fleet of more than 100 aircraft.
“Providing a high standard and reliable repair and maintenance service is critical to our business and to the UAE Air Force,” said Ahmed Odeh, chief financial officer and acting head of supply chain management, AMMROC. “By enhancing our working relationship with Honeywell, a known market leader for avionics and mechanical systems on military aircraft, we can provide an unmatched maintenance service that improves aircraft performance and achieves even faster turnaround times.”
This new, long term agreement is designed to ensure AMMROC and Honeywell provide a high standard of maintenance, overhaul and repair services to the UAE Air Force. It covers the upkeep of Honeywell components used on board the various aircraft types within the UAE Air Force’s extensive fleet.
“This agreement starts a long-term collaboration between Honeywell and AMMROC that will see us work closely to ensure we provide the highest standard of maintenance and repair to the UAE’s key aircraft fleets,” said Mosab Alkubaisy, director – Middle East & Africa, Honeywell Aerospace. “Honeywell has a renowned expertise in maintaining hardware and components, combining this with a word-class regional service provider will greatly enhance the overall maintenance provision.”
Abu Dhabi based AMMROC was launched in 2010 and is a joint venture of Emirates Defence Industries Company (EDIC), Lockheed Martin Corporation and Sikorsky Aerospace Services. The new collaboration with Honeywell will extend the working relationship between the companies for many years to come.
25 May 19. How secure is the US intelligence community’s IT supply chain? The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is taking aim at risks to the supply chain in its most recent draft of the Intelligence Authorization Act. A provision in the legislation, which was approved by the panel May 14, would create a task force to address vulnerabilities in the supply chain from foreign actors.
The intelligence community has long known that foreign adversaries are interested in exploiting technology and information used by both industry and government. One key vulnerability is the acquisition supply chain.
The number of commercial and nonprofit organizations involved in any technology can be vast, and ensuring each supplier is protected from external threats is a daunting task. As a result, information shared with contractors who aren’t following strong security or cybersecurity practices can be vulnerable. In addition, determining what information should be shared with industry is a major challenge for the intelligence community.
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has proposed a supply chain risk management task force that would be charged with standardizing information sharing between the intelligence community and contractors.
The legislation would direct the Director of National Intelligence to establish a Supply Chain and Counterintelligence Risk Management Task Force composed of representatives from several federal agencies, including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and Office of Federal Procurement Policy of the Office of Management and Budget, among others. It would also include the Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center.
The task force would be required to report annually to Congress on the supply chain and counterintelligence risks facing the intelligence community and the acquisitions community.
Another provision in the bill would require the Director of National Intelligence to report annually on how the intelligence community is working with commercial and academic communities to keep their technology, intellectual property and research safe from foreign adversaries.
The language in the bill follows similar efforts from Congress in 2018. In December, the Senate passed a bill to create the the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Council, although that legislation has been held up in the House since.
More recently, a bill was introduced to the Senate that would require training to understand supply-chain risk management. The Supply Chain Counterintelligence Training Act would develop a training program for acquisition officials to teach them how to identify and counter threats to the supply chain. The Intelligence Authorization Act now goes to the full Senate for approval. (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
24 May 19. Tech Mahindra to supply RFID access cards to Indian Navy. Tech Mahindra has secured a contract with the Indian Navy to implement a radio frequency identification (RFID) based access control system across all naval bases and ships. The Rs3bn ($42.99m) contract was awarded as part of the Indian Ministry of Defence’s ‘Armed Forces Secure Access Card’ (AFSAC) project. Tech Mahindra will help the Indian Navy with its digital transformation. The new AFSAC Card being developed by the tech company will be used to replace the existing paper-based identity card. The project will cover all navy personnel, including dependents and ex-servicemen.
Tech Mahindra India business and corporate affairs president Sujit Baksi said: “It is an incredible feat for us to work with the Indian Navy on this project to enhance our national defence security systems.
“This order further cements our role as one of the leading system integrators globally. With our proven expertise in tech enablement and digital transformation, we look forward to collaborating with the Indian Navy in ramping up the national security infrastructure.”
Furthermore, the firm will create an application to manage the access control devices, network devices and the AFSAC through a data centre.
The application will be built using the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) level 5 processes. Tech Mahindra will implement the project over the next two years.
The project is intended to provide issuance, handling, administration, management and lifecycle support of AFSAC Cards on turnkey basis.
Indian Navy project director commodore Atul Kumar said: “The security of Indian Naval establishments against unauthorised access, is a thrust area and the AFSAC project will be an important step towards achieving this aim; with a combination of cutting-edge technology and professional execution.
“We look forward to collaborating with Tech Mahindra in this path-breaking endeavour.”
Last year, Tech Mahindra formed two partnerships with foreign firms in the defence sector, reported The Hindu.
The first deal was with Israeli company Aeronautics to supply naval shipborne unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that can be launched from Indian warships. The second was with Japan’s ShinMaywa Industries for naval seaplanes. (Source: naval-technology.com)
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Oshkosh Defense is a leading provider of tactical wheeled vehicles and life cycle sustainment services. For decades Oshkosh has been mobilizing military and security forces around the globe by offering a full portfolio of heavy, medium, light and highly protected military vehicles to support our customers’ missions. In addition, Oshkosh offers advanced technologies and vehicle components such as TAK-4® independent suspension systems, TerraMax™ unmanned ground vehicle solutions, Command Zone™ integrated control and diagnostics system, and ProPulse® diesel electric and on-board vehicle power solutions, to provide our customers with a technical edge as they fulfill their missions. Every Oshkosh vehicle is backed by a team of defense industry experts and complete range of sustainment and training services to optimize fleet readiness and performance. Oshkosh Defense, LLC is an Oshkosh Corporation company [NYSE: OSK].
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