Sponsored by Control Solutions LLC.
http://www.controls.com/product-cat/systems/
——————————————————————-
19 Jul 18. BAE Systems seeing increased need for precision strike kits. As militaries around the world prepare for urban conflicts and seek ways to reduce collateral damage, BAE Systems is poised to ramp up production of its Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) kit. The company has said if US military and foreign customer demand for APKWS increases, it could ramp up APKWS production to 20,000 units per year.
“This is a more appropriate weapons system for a lot of the targets that are engaged and it fills that gap between unguided rockets — which are unreliable from a precision perspective but still have a role — and higher-end, anti-armour systems,” said Dave Harrold, the senior director of BD for survivability, targeting and sensing solutions.
The APKWS is designed, in part, to limit collateral damage and is currently cleared to fire off a variety of fixed-wing and rotor-wing aircraft including the F-16 Fighting Falcon and AH-64 Apaches. The technology converts 2.75in rockets into precision munitions by installing the guidance kit between the warhead and engine of an unguided rocket. Earlier this year, the US Navy and BAE Systems inked a $175m contract for delivery of 7,000 APKWS laser-guided rockets. In addition to providing the APKWS kit to the US military, ten additional countries have foreign military sales (FMS) cases for ‘in excess’ of 4,000 kits. Harrold noted, though, that there are ‘some two dozen’ additional countries in the FMS pipeline, potentially boosting the requirement by 38,000 units.
“Our US demand continues to increase, our international demand is very active and continues to increase,” Harrold said. “We’re working very closely with our navy customer, our US government customer so that we can meet the demands both domestically and internationally.” (Source: Shephard)
18 Jul 18. BAE’s $1.3bn Contract for Howitzer Delayed by U.S. Army. The U.S. Army is delaying approval of full-scale production of BAE Systems Plc’s new self-propelled howitzer, citing the need to improve quality before proceeding with additional contracts options valued at about $1.3bn. The Army postponed triggering the most lucrative phase of the program for London-based BAE to “adequately address quality control issues,” service spokeswoman Ashley John said in an email Wednesday. “The Army will continue to work closely with BAE leadership to resolve the concerns.” The delay came after Bloomberg News reported last week that the howitzer’s manufacture was hobbled by poor welding, supply-chain problems and delivery delays. Among the setbacks have been a six-month halt in deliveries last year because of welding flaws and the return of 50 of 86 vehicles that had already been delivered to repair production deficiencies. Self-propelled 155mm howitzers are the centerpiece of the Army’s artillery. The weapon is mounted on a tracked vehicle and travels with another that hauls ammunition. The Army’s “long-range precision strike” program tops the service’s list of modernization priorities.
“We are working very closely” with the Army and the Defense Contract Management Agency, which oversees contractor performance, “and are confident the actions we have taken will support the effective transition to full production,” BAE spokeswoman Alicia Gray said in a statement.
The Army eventually wants to buy 576 howitzers and ammunition carriers in an $8.1bn program. An initial $413.7m contract laying the groundwork for full production was awarded in December. A full-production decision would have increased vehicle production to about 60 from 48 a year. The program has been in low-rate production for several years. Gray said last week that the company is investing about $125m to upgrade equipment to prepare “for an expanded production portfolio and accommodate the expected surge in customer requirements.”
‘Tough-Love’ Approach
The delay “is consistent with the increasing Army ‘tough-love’ approach to contractor program-execution challenges,” such as its continuing refusal to accept delivery of Boeing Co.’s AH-64 Apache attack helicopters because of corrosion of a critical rotor assembly part that needs to be fixed, according to James McAleese of McAleese & Associates, a McLean, Virginia-based defense consulting firm. Contractors should expect “quality assurance scrutiny to increase” as the Army “drives aggressive increases in multiple production programs” for missiles, ammunition and ground combat vehicles, he said. Sections of the howitzers are initially produced at BAE’s York, Pennsylvania, facility with final assembly in Elgin, Oklahoma. The program has a strong advocate in Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, the No. 2 Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee. In its version of the fiscal 2019 defense policy bill, the panel authorized spending $110m more than the $351.8m requested. In a new report, the Pentagon’s testing office said that testing of the howitzer at Fort Riley in Kansas found it was “operationally effective,” providing accurate fire as it traveled with other units of a brigade combat team while evading enemy counter-fire. That, however, is when the howitzers weren’t dogged by reliability problems, according to the report by testing office Director Robert Behler. It cited “the number of breech, cannon, and firing train sub-component failures” and “interruptions from stuck and ruptured primers” that “contributed to delays in mission completion.”
The Army’s leadership is on a campaign to assure the public it’s improving the oversight of its major acquisition programs, including getting its new Futures Command ready for initial operations. The Army last week chose Austin, Texas, as the location for the command that will consolidate brainpower to evaluate future threats facing the Army, decide on the technology needed to counter them and oversee development of that technology through existing commands. (Source: Defense News Early Bird/Bloomberg)
18 Jul 18. AI companies pledge to not develop deadly autonomous weapons. If killer robots are coming, many prominent artificial intelligence developers want no part in it. That’s the heart of a pledge, signed by over 160 AI-related companies and organizations, released to the public July 17 in Stockholm. The pledge is short, clocking in at under 300 words, and it has at its heart a simple, if somewhat unusual, promise: If violence is to be done, so be it, but life-ending decisions should be squarely the domain of humans, not machines.
“Thousands of AI researchers agree that by removing the risk, attributability, and difficulty of taking human lives, lethal autonomous weapons could become powerful instruments of violence and oppression, especially when linked to surveillance and data systems,” reads the Lethal Autonomous Weapons Pledge the pledge in part. The pledge continues, “Moreover, lethal autonomous weapons have characteristics quite different from nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and the unilateral actions of a single group could too easily spark an arms race that the international community lacks the technical tools and global governance systems to manage. Stigmatizing and preventing such an arms race should be a high priority for national and global security.”
In highlighting the threat posed by lethal autonomous systems, the authors group biological, chemical and nuclear weapons together as managed, solvable threats, a curious approach for buy-in based around the superiority of human control over algorithmic decisions. Chemical weapons are a hardly a relic of the past; their use by the Assad government in Syria has drawn international condemnation, singled out as a cruel and unconventional weapon in a war rife with cruelty from conventional weapons. Nuclear arsenals, too, are only stable to the extent that policy makers and those with nuclear launch authority (in the United States that means control rests entirely with a single human in an executive capacity; elsewhere it is vested instead in a select council). The signals that feed into the broader structure of a nuclear command-and-control system are a mix of machines filtered by humans. When Soviet lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov refused to pass along a warning of an American nuclear launch in 1983, it was because he did not trust the sensors that fed him that information and found no confirmation elsewhere. Petrov is perhaps a poster child for human control; he saw through a false positive and waited for more confirmation that never came, likely averting a thermonuclear exchange. But to treat the nuclear question as relatively solved and free from arms races is to assume a preponderance of Petrov’s throughout the nuclear establishment of several nations. The pledge goes further than simply highlighting the danger posed by AI left to make lethal decisions instead of humans. The signatories themselves pledge that “we will neither participate in nor support the development, manufacture, trade or use of lethal autonomous weapons.”
The “how” and the “what” of lethal autonomous weapons is left undefined. To some extent, autonomy is already present throughout existing weapons, in everything from guided missiles to land mines and more. This is no small issue — the definition of lethal autonomy in international law remains a hotly debated subject, and militaries often formally disavow lethal autonomy while committing to greater degrees of human-overseen autonomous systems. Would the pledge signers agree to design autonomous sensor systems, which are then incorporated into a weapon system by a third party after completion? Is there a provision for auto-targeting built into defensive systems, like those made to track and intercept rockets or drones? It is maybe too much to expect that the Lethal Autonomous Weapons Pledge define lethal autonomy before the term is grounded in international law. And for people concerned about private companies, university research teams and governments actively working on weapons that can think and decide who to kill, then the pledge is one effort to stop the harm before it’s committed. Yet the how and the what of the pledge are vital questions, ones that will likely need to be answered publicly as well as internally, if the signatories are truly to see a world where nations refuse to develop, field and use thinking machines for violence. Without a clarity of what lethal autonomy means, the result could risk being another Washington Naval Treaty, a well-intentioned scheme to prevent future arms races that was easily tossed aside by nations as soon as it became inconvenient, remembered as little more than trivia today.(Source: C4ISR & Networks)
19 Jul 18. NATO countries soon to be protected by the development of an advanced territorial Ballistic Missile Defence to protect The Alliance’s European populations and territories. Lockheed Martin and ThalesRaytheonSystems are joining forces to provide NATO with a territorial Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) command and control capability (C2).
“Lockheed Martin delivered the Defence Design System for NATO’s BMD planning capability. We will leverage that success, as well as our expertise in command and control, weapon system development and systems integration to achieve the Alliance goals,” said Dr. Rob Smith, VP of C4ISR for Lockheed Martin’s Rotary and Mission Systems. “Lockheed’s success in delivering the C2 capability for US Ballistic Missile Defence System is a result of our focus on end user needs. We delivered a very complex C2 capability that is intuitive and effective for mission execution. We accomplished this in partnership with Raytheon and other US companies and we look forward to delivering this capability with ThalesRaytheonSystems.”
According to Eric Marceau, CEO of ThalesRaytheonSystems, “This Teaming Agreement codifies the relationship established with Lockheed Martin since 2008 to deliver NATO’s Theater Missile Defence capability, in each operational decisive moment. It will further our collaboration to deliver the full spectrum capability the Alliance requires for territorial Ballistic Missile Defence.”
18 Jul 18. U.S. offers India armed version of Guardian drone: sources. The United States has offered India the armed version of Guardian drones that were originally authorized for sale as unarmed for surveillance purposes, a senior U.S. official and an industry source told Reuters. If the deal comes to fruition, it would be the first time Washington has sold a large armed drone to a country outside the NATO alliance. It would also be the first high-tech unmanned aircraft in the region, where tensions between India and Pakistan run high. In April, President Donald Trump’s administration rolled out a long-awaited overhaul of U.S. arms export policy aimed at expanding sales to allies, saying it would bolster the American defence industry and create jobs at home. The plan included a new drone export policy that allowed lethal drones that can fire missiles, and surveillance drones of all sizes, to be more widely available to allies.One administrative hurdle to the deal is that Washington is requiring India to sign up to a communications framework that some in New Delhi worry might be too intrusive, the U.S. official said. The drones were on the agenda at a cancelled meeting between Indian and the U.S. ministers of state and defence that was set for July, the sources said. The top level meeting is now expected to take place in September. Last June, General Atomics said the U.S. government had approved the sale of a naval variant of the drone. India has been in talks to buy 22 of the unarmed surveillance aircraft, MQ-9B Guardian, worth more than $2bn to keep watch over the Indian Ocean. Besides potentially including the armed version of the drone, the sources said the number of aircraft had also changed. An Indian defence source said the military wanted a drone not just for surveillance but also to be able to hunt down targets at land and sea. The military had argued the costs of acquisition did not justify buying an unarmed drone. The cost and integration of the weapons system are still issues, as well as Indian assent to the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) which Washington insists on as a condition for operating advanced defence systems. India, the defence source said, has shed its opposition to the agreement after an assurance from the United States it would apply largely to U.S-procured weapons systems such as fighter planes and drones and not to the large Russian-origin equipment with the Indian military.
U.S. drone manufacturers, facing growing competition overseas, especially from Chinese and Israeli rivals which often sell under lighter restrictions, have lobbied hard for the changes in U.S export rules. Among the changes will be a more lenient application by the U.S. government of an arms export principle known as “presumption of denial.” This has impeded many drone deals by automatically denying approval unless a compelling security reason is given together with strict buyer agreements to use the weapons in accordance with international law. A second U.S. official said the new policy would “change our calculus” by easing those restrictions on whether to allow any given sale.
The MTCR – a 1987 missile-control pact signed by the United States and 34 other countries – will still require strict export controls on Predator-type drones, which it classifies as Category 1, those with a payload of over 1,100 pounds (500 kg). However, the Trump administration is seeking to renegotiate the MTCR accord to eventually make it easier to export the larger armed drones. The head of Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) told Reuters at the Farnborough Airshow that he was unable to comment on any pending deals that had not been notified to Congress. (Source: Reuters)
18 Jul 18. SIG SAUER, Inc. introduced the commercial variant of the U.S. Army’s M17 official service pistol called the P320-M17. After one of the most rigorous and highly competitive review processes in the history of military firearms the SIG SAUER M17 was awarded the Modular Handgun System (MHS) contract for the U.S. Army. The M17 is a P320-based platform, and was selected for its uniquely innovative modularity, uncompromising performance, and unmatched capability. The P320-M17 closely follows the specifications of the U.S. Army’s M17.
“It was truly an honor for SIG SAUER to be chosen as the U.S. Army’s choice with the M17. When the selection was announced, civilian interest in the pistol was immediate,” said Tom Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President, SIG SAUER, Inc. “We are proud to bring this P320-M17 to the marketplace to meet the substantial civilian interest, and the high demand, to own the pistol the Army uses as well as the other branches of the U.S. Military.”
The P320-M17 is a 9mm, striker-fired pistol and comes with two 17-round magazines. The pistol features a coyote-tan PVD coated stainless steel slide with the same optic cut as specified by the MHS contract, and black controls just like the pistols currently being shipped to the U.S. Army; it comes equipped with a SIGLITE front night sight and removable Night Sight rear plate. The P320-M17 features a coyote-tan carry-length grip module, available in three sizes, and comes standard with a manual safety. Non-manual safety P320-M17 pistols will be shipped at a later date.
The P320-M17 Specs:
- Total length: 8”
- Barrel length: 4.7”
- Weight (incl. magazine): 29.6 oz.
- Height: 5.5”
- Width: 1.3”
- Sight radius: 6.6”
MSRP: $768.00
The P320-M17 is shipping to stores in August 2018. To complement the P320-M17, an exclusive M17 Collector’s Case is available for purchase separately at sigsauer.com/store. The case is a solid cherry box, with dark mahogany stain, a tempered glass top, a brushed nickel latch, and a keyhole back for optional wall-hanging. The M17 Collector’s Case features a slate-grey flocked foam insert with an affixed U.S. Army logo, and precision laser placement cuts for the P320-M17 pistol, and included P320-M17 certificate and P320-M17 Official Challenge Coin. M17 Collectors Case MSRP: $199.99 (sold separately at sigsauer.com/store)
17 Jul 18. Militaries eye second-generation Husky mine-detection vehicles. DCD Protected Mobility (PM) and its partners in July 2018 demonstrated to South Africa-based foreign military attachés its second-generation Husky 2G vehicle-mounted mine detection (VMMD) system, which continues to draw notable international interest. Africa and the Middle East bear the brunt of improvised explosive device (IED) attacks, often the weapon of choice for extremist groups, and countries are still seeking effective counter-IED technologies. Estimates put IED casualties at about 6,000 across Africa in the past year.
According to Cornelius Grundling, DCD PM general manager, more than 1,500 Husky VMMDs are operational on five continents, most in service with the US Army and NATO forces. Since being provided to the US Department of Defense in 2001 in partnership with US-based Critical Solutions International (CSI), and fielded internationally thereafter, the Husky has experienced more than 7,500 landmine and IED hits without any blast-related operator fatalities, according to Grundling.
The Husky 2G offers blast protection up to STANAG 4569 level 4a and 4b (10 kg), with the V-shaped hull protecting the crew and driveline. The frangible design allows for the vehicle to be field-repaired to full mobility in two hours. The US Army in April 2017 awarded CSI a long-term USD132 million contract for Husky 2G and its associated route clearance payloads, which has enabled states such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Latvia to acquire 21 vehicles. Another 20 vehicles were ordered through the US State Department’s Special Defence Acquisition Fund (SDAF). The Husky forms part of a route clearance package (RCP) operation, which involves a convoy of vehicles. A pair of Husky 2G VMMDs at the head of the convoy detect along overlapping lanes, using pulse induction (PI) and ground penetrating radar (GPR) for real-time 3D subsurface visualisation. They are followed by another Husky equipped for stand-off interrogation, which are in turn followed by command-and-control, explosive ordnance disposal, and casualty evacuation vehicles. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
17 Jul 18. Raytheon Close to Inking Deal for New Hypersonic Weapon. Raytheon is nearing an agreement with the Defense Department to build a new weapon that can travel at speeds greater than Mach 5, a company executive said July 18. The contractor was recently selected by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to create the next tactical boost glide system, said Tom Bussing, Raytheon’s vice president for advanced missile systems. “We’re in negotiations with them now … [and] we hope to be on contract here in the next several months,” he said during a meeting with reporters at the Farnborough International Airshow.
Alarmed by Chinese and Russian efforts to acquire their own capabilities, Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin has made developing these types of weapons his top technical priority. In addition to their high speeds, the platforms can be highly maneuverable and pose a major challenge to traditional missile defense systems, according to experts. Pentagon spending on the technology is ramping up. In April, the Air Force announced that Lockheed Martin had been awarded a contract with a potential value of nearly $1bn to develop a new air-launched weapon for the service. Raytheon could finish developing the new tactical boost glide system within several years, depending on funding and the schedule chosen by the Defense Department, Bussing said. In 2016, Raytheon was awarded a $175m contract by DARPA to develop a hypersonic air-breathing weapon. “All I can say is it’s moving along very, very well and … [it has] achieved significant milestones,” Bussing said.
An air-breathing weapon uses a “scramjet” engine to sustain a high velocity after being launched via solid rocket motors. However, a boost glide system operates differently. “A multi-stage rocket propels … a glide vehicle up into space or near space, and that glide vehicle then skips off the atmosphere and has tremendous range,” Bussing explained. They can reach speeds much greater than Mach 5, he noted. They can also fly faster, farther and at higher altitudes than scramjet-propelled systems, according to Bussing’s slide presentation. Developing hypersonic weapons presents a number of technical challenges, he noted, including complex aerodynamics and thermodynamics.
“It’s all about … building things that can survive those conditions,” he said. “A good analogy for the thermal systems [is] imagine putting your cell phone in a blast furnace. That’s how you have to design the electronics to survive in a vehicle that’s moving at very, very high speeds” exceeding Mach 5, he added.
Boost glide vehicles also need materials that can survive operating on the edge of the atmosphere. Raytheon has been working on carbon weaves to address the problem, he noted. The company has invested about $150m in hypersonics-related technology using internal research-and-development funding, Bussing said. It recently spent about $500m on a new building in Tuscon, Arizona, that can support development efforts, and it is also beefing up its workforce.
“We’re trying to train the next generation to make sure we have a talent pool to go forward,” he added. (Source: glstrade.com/National Defense)
17 Jul 18. India tests BrahMos cruise missile under ‘extreme weather conditions.’ India successfully test-fired the BrahMos (PJ-10) supersonic cruise missile on 16 July to validate its “life-extension” capabilities and confirm the operational efficacy of the weapon system under “extreme weather conditions”, according to a statement by the government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB). The precision-strike missile, which was launched from a mobile launcher at the Integrated Test Range at Balasore on India’s east coast, “followed the designated trajectory and the key components functioned perfectly”, said the PIB.
“BrahMos has proved again an all-weather capability flying in Sea State 7 with waves as high as 9m,” said the statement, adding that the test also validated the range capability of the weapon under “the most severe weather conditions”. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
17 Jul 18. Indian Army to resume test firings of M777 howitzer after 10-month gap. The Indian Army (IA) is to resume firing tests of the BAE Systems M777 155 mm/39-calibre lightweight howitzer after they were suspended in September 2017 when one of the guns malfunctioned. IA sources told Jane’s that four M777s are set to fire about 150 rounds of locally-made ammunition over a four-week period until late August at Pokhran – located in India’s north-western desert region – to complete compilation of the howitzer’s ‘firing tables’ under the supervision of US Army personnel. Once testing is completed, five of the 145 air-mobile M777s that India acquired in November 2016 for USD737m under the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme are expected to be formally inducted into the IA, possibly by the end of the year. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
16 Jul 18. Indonesia equips second KCR-60M attack craft with Chinese-made naval weapon. Key Points:
- Indonesia has removed missile launchers from its second KCR-60M fast attack craft, and replaced these with a Chinese-made naval gun
- The vessel has also been equipped with Chinese-made fire-control sensors and a combat management system
The Indonesian Navy (Tentara Nasional Indonesia – Angkatan Laut, or TNI-AL) has equipped its second KCR-60M fast attack craft, KRI Tombak (629), with a Chinese-made Type 630 30 mm close-in weapon system (CIWS) turret. Tombak is the second-known KCR-60M vessel that has been modified to carry the six-barrelled weapon system. First-of-class KRI Sampari (628) received the same CIWS type in late 2017. Jane’s has been made to understand that both ships underwent the modifications at state-owned shipbuilder PT PAL’s facilities in Surabaya in a process supervised by engineers from China. The Type 630 is essentially a Chinese version of the Russian-developed AK-630. It is being marketed by China Shipbuilding Trading Company (CSTC) as the “NG-18 30 mm six-barrelled naval gun”. It can engage low-flying aircraft at distances of up to 2,500m, sea-skimming projectiles at up to 1,300m, and can fire between 4,500 and 5,000rds/min. To accommodate the weapon system, missile launchers on both Tombak and Samparihave been removed, with the Type 630 turret installed on a pedestal at the stern position where a rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) used to be positioned. The RHIB has now been repositioned slightly forward to occupy the space that was previously installed with diagonally mounted missile launchers. These launchers were meant to have provided the vessel with anti-ship missile capabilities, and could deploy weapons such as the Chinese-made C-705. In line with the installation of the Type 630, both Tombak and Sampari have also been equipped with Chinese-made fire-control sensors and combat management systems (CMS). (Source: IHS Jane’s)
17 Jul 18. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and ThalesRaytheonSystems are joining forces to provide the NATO Alliance with a territorial Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) command and control capability. This Teaming Agreement, signed in the presence of Raytheon and Thales, the two shareholders of the joint venture, establishes a transatlantic team that combines the depth and breadth of decades of expertise from Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, with the European air command and control capabilities of Thales. The overall team will include industry representatives from across the Alliance to deliver a low risk capability for NATO’s Air Command and Control BMD program. At the 2010 Lisbon Summit, NATO leaders decided to develop a Missile Defence Capability to protect all NATO European populations and territories against ballistic missile attacks. The Alliance’s Heads of State and Government stated that they see this as a core element of NATO’s collective defence task in view of the growing threat of the proliferation of ballistic missile technology and weapons of mass destruction. The focus of the Programme is the upgrade, test and integration of NATO’s command and control (C2) systems and underlying communication network to enable effective information exchanges between various NATO and national missile defence systems. This integrated system-of-systems architecture will provide NATO forces, whether deployed within or beyond NATO’s area of responsibility, with the capability to defend NATO populations and territories.
Dave Gulla, vice president of Mission Systems and Solutions, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, stated, “Our companies are committed to providing the best technical and program talent available to provide a low risk and operationally relevant NATO BMD capability. We are confident that this teaming framework creates the best value for NATO and ensures delivery of a timely and effective territorial BMD capability.”
“Lockheed Martin delivered the Defence Design System for NATO’s BMD planning capability. We will leverage that success, as well as our expertise in command and control, weapon system development and systems integration to achieve the Alliance goals,” said Dr. Rob Smith, vice president of C4ISR for Lockheed Martin’s Rotary and Mission Systems. “Lockheed’s success in delivering the C2 capability for US Ballistic Missile Defense System is a result of our focus on end user needs. We delivered a very complex C2 capability that is intuitive and effective for mission execution. We accomplished this in partnership with Raytheon and other US companies and we look forward to delivering this capability with Thales and TRS.”
“This teaming agreement is perfectly aligned with our four companies orientations towards both system of systems innovative solutions and reinforcing existing partnerships, which proved its value through the previous joint successes such as Theater Missile Defense,” said Thomas Got, Head of the Air Operations and Weapons System line of business for Thales Group. “Our companies will join the best of each in meeting NATO’s command and control needs.”
According to Eric Marceau, CEO of the TRS Joint Venture, “This Teaming Agreement codifies the relationship established with Lockheed Martin in 2008 to deliver NATO’s Theater Missile Defence capability. It will further our collaboration to deliver the full spectrum capability the Alliance requires for territorial Ballistic Missile Defense. This team will provide the operational command and control capability for the protection for all NATO European populations, territory and forces against the threats posed by ballistic missiles.”
17 Jul 18. Terma’s trusted and combat-proven Advanced Countermeasures Dispenser System (ACMDS) is now available in a new re-engineered and upgraded version with advanced operational capabilities and increased reliability while still maintaining the highly competitive price level.
The following highlights the ACMDS key capabilities:
- Form-fit compatible with legacy Terma, and third party, dispenser systems (no Group-A changes)
- Fully in-country organic reprogrammable
- Smart Stores Communication Interface for support of new generation of expendables
- Improved mixed payload capability
- Intelligent inventory management
- Class-leading operational capabilities
- New platform-adaptable, hardware-controlled safety features
The ACMDS is designed to coordinate, integrate, and operate expendable countermeasures payloads on fixed-wing, fighter, transport and large-body aircraft as well as rotary-wing platforms. The ACMDS suite includes a full suite of ground support equipment as well as an application for field/in-country organic mission data generation and post-flight analysis. The dispenser suite is controlled via Terma’s AN/ALQ-213 EW Management Unit or Defensive Aids Controller, which provides a reprogramming interface, automatic decision support for the pilot in a threat environment, built-in training capability, and full EW/ASE suite control, as desired. The new ACMDS digital sequencer switch includes a new Smart Stores Communication Interface (SSCI), which enables in-flight pre-launch programming of smart stores, including multi-shot cartridges, expendable active decoys (EAD), and hard kill expendables. In addition to the standard dispenser assemblies, the ACMDS components have been integrated in airborne structures as both internal, scab-on, pylon-mounted, and podded solutions. The ACMDS is now operational on both fighter aircraft and helicopters in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark. The legacy ACMDS system has been combat proven through operational service for more than 25 years with a demonstrated mean time between failure value of >18,000 hours.
16 Jul 18. IAI Presents New Anti-Submarine Capabilities for RPAS. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is upgrading its capabilities for the maritime arena with anti-submarine capabilities in its marine Remotely Piloted Air Systems (RPAS). The new capabilities respond to the need arising from the discontinuation of the “Shahaf” manned Sea Scan maritime jet by the Israeli Navy and the growing use of IAI Heron RPAS for maritime patrol missions, which created a need in anti-submarine capabilities launched directly from the RPA. The maritime RPA, which carries a range of dedicated payloads, now has two new payloads for submarine detection: the Sonobuoy (acoustic detector) and the MAD (Magnetic Detector). The Sonobuoy is a small, lightweight innovative sonar float which is hurled out of the RPA with a parachute. Part of the Sonobuoy submerges in the water and part of it remains above water, emitting and receiving acoustics signals in high seas. The findings are transmitted in real-time to the RPA’s control post. The MAD is a RPA-mounted device that detects and alerts on submarines through identification of changes in the magnetic flow (metal objects detection). The two detectors complement one another: the Sonobuoy is used for searching a broad areas while the MAD is used to verify that the object is a submarine, including an up-to-date location. The RPA carries several Sonobuoys, which it hurls accurately into the sea whenever the presence of a submarine is suspected. The use of RPA-mounted anti-submarine means offers significant advantages, including longer stay time (dozens of hours on air), back-transmission of the sonar for many hours, operators who are located on land and can monitor the situation over multiple shift, and most importantly, the absence of risk to human life.
Shaul Shahar, IAI executive vice president general manager of the military aircraft group, commented, “The maritime Heron RPA has proved its efficacy for the Israeli Navy as well as for other clients. The addition of anti-submarine capabilities expands the RPA’s operational scope, while opening up new markets for IAI. As the home of the world’s advanced technologies, IAI is thrilled and proud to become one of the first to offer a solution of this type. In an age with growing submarine threats, the use of these systems will improve nations’ security across the seas, including in their economic water and seaports.” (Source: UAS VISION)
16 Jul 18. Textron to develop squad automatic rifle prototype for US Army BCTs. The US Army has awarded a new contract to aerospace and defence manufacturing firm Textron Systems to develop a functional prototype for the Next Generation Squad Automatic Rifle (NGSAR) programme. Textron’s prototype could be used to replace the army’s light machine gun, the M249 squad automatic weapon (SAW), in the Brigade Combat Teams (BCT). The scope of the contract involves the development and delivery of a new system demonstrator, which would be based on Textron Systems’ current portfolio of Cased-Telescoped (CT) weapons and ammunition. The company intends to produce a high-velocity, magazine-fed system of an intermediate calibre. Weighing less than 12lb, the prototype will be designed to meet the NGSAR programme’s requirements with ammunition weighing 20% less than an equal brass case. The current contract is built upon two related awards that the company recently secured from the US Army for the development of advanced weapons and fire control technologies for the Next Generation Squad Weapon Technologies (NGSW-T) and fire control capability development. The NGSAR is the first variant of the next-generation squad weapons that are designed to address operational needs identified in a wider range of capability-based assessments and several after-action reports. The weapon will combine the firepower and range of a machine gun with the precision and ergonomics of a rifle, providing enhanced soldier mobility, survivability and firing accuracy. The NGSAR will be employed against close and extended-range targets in all terrains and conditions. (Source: army-technology.com)
16 Jul 18. Norway’s Ministry of Defense successfully test fired a Joint Strike Missile from an F-16 Fighting Falcon, demonstrating the weapon’s ability to change course to avoid hitting a decoy target, and fly at low, radar-evading altitudes. Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) and Norway’s Kongsberg Gruppen are teaming to develop JSM for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, beginning with F-16 integration. JSM is a long-distance, anti-ship missile designed to take on high-value, heavily defended land targets. In the latest test conducted at the Utah Test and Training Range, an F-16 fired the missile that flew toward a pre-programmed target location, covering varied terrain and altitudes. JSM’s seeker scanned the target area and instead of homing in on a dummy target, the missile diverted to hit the actual target.
“JSM demonstrated its remarkable ability to recognize and destroy specific targets in challenging flight conditions,” said Mike Jarrett, Raytheon Air Warfare Systems vice president. “This test signaled the completion of an important phase of development, and showed promising progress for this missile to outpace some of today’s toughest defense systems.”
JSM is an evolution of the Naval Strike Missile that was originally developed for Norway’s navy, and offered by Raytheon and Kongsberg for the U.S. Navy’s over-the-horizon weapon system acquired by the Navy.
16 Jul 18. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., of Israel, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to evaluate potential markets and customer requirements for Rafael’s Smart, Precise Impact and Cost-Effective (SPICE™) missile guidance kits.
“SPICE is a leading air-to-surface weapon system offering U.S. and international air forces operating Lockheed Martin’s platforms, as well as strategic bomber aircraft, an important complement to their existing operational capabilities,” Yuval Miller, Executive Vice President, Head of Rafael’s Air & C4ISR Division. “SPICE’s unique features greatly enhance the U.S.’ ability to operate in contested environments. We are excited to engage in cooperation with Lockheed Martin to make SPICE available as a U.S.-made system, adapted to fully meet U.S. standards.”
SPICE is a family of stand-off, autonomous, air-to-surface weapon systems, capable of destroying targets with pinpoint accuracy and at high attack volumes in a GPS-denied environment. Combat-proven and in service with the Israeli Air Force and several international customers, SPICE employs a state-of-the-art electro-optical seeker with unique scene-matching algorithms, navigation guidance and homing techniques to achieve operational missions in adverse weather without GPS. The MOU covers the SPICE 1000 (453 kilogram/1,000 pound weight class) and SPICE 2000 (907 kilogram/2,000 pound weight class) precision guided missile kit variants.
“Lockheed Martin has a long history of successfully providing customers with missiles and missile systems that are affordable, proven and in production,” said Dan Norton, vice president of Strategy and Business Development at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “This partnership will allow us to share our precision guided system and aircraft integration expertise with allies that can benefit from the mission flexibility that the SPICE 1000 and SPICE 2000 offer.”
16 Jul 18. Spice 250 operational capability expected in 2019. Rafael Advanced Defence Systems’ Spice 250 precision-guided stand-off glide munition is expected to be declared operational in 2019, following the scheduled conclusion of the programme’s Full Scale Development (FSD) phase later this year. The company successfully completed a number of system trials against static targets in 2017; these were followed, earlier this year, by a more challenging series of shots against moving targets on land, naval targets, and time-critical targets, which were also completed successfully. In both trials programme, the release platform was an IAF F-16I multirole fighter aircraft. The launch customer for the Spice 250 is the Israel Air Force (IAF), which already operates – and has combat proven – the heavier Spice 1000 and Spice 2000 stand-off strike weapons. In parallel, the company is already under contract to supply “a significant quantity of units for several other undisclosed customers”, Yuval Miller, executive vice-president and head of Rafael’s air and C4I systems division told Jane’s . Miller said Rafael has already established the Spice 250 production line to provide for the contracts, including the initial contract with the IAF. Unlike the heavier Spice (Smart, Precise-Impact and Cost-Effective) family variants – Spice 1000 and Spice 2000, which are essentially electro-optic/infrared (EO/IR) guidance and target acquisition add-on kits for 1,000 lb and 2,000 lb general-purpose and penetration warheads – Spice 250 is an all-up weapon system. Weighing 250 lb (113 kg) and furnished with a 100 kg-class multipurpose (blast fragmentation/penetration) warhead, Spice 250 is a lightweight day/night all-weather precision weapon with a stand-off range of 100 km and a given circular error probable (CEP) of “better than 3m”. Equipped with a mid-body fold out wing assembly and rear cruciform tail control fin set, the Spice 250 munition features an improved EO/IR guidance package, midcourse INS/GPS navigation, a two-way datalink, and a pre-set or cockpit selectable fuze options. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
16 Jul 18. Raytheon Company’s (NYSE: RTN) StormBreaker™ bomb, formerly called the Small Diameter Bomb II, or SDB II™ bomb, has entered operational testing, a step closer to providing U.S. Air Force pilots the capability to strike maneuvering targets in adverse weather. Operational testing follows completion of a successful Operational Test Readiness Review in Spring 2018. The StormBreaker tri-mode seeker uses imaging infrared, millimeter wave and semi-active laser, giving pilots the ability to destroy moving targets on the battlefield in adverse weather from standoff ranges.
“StormBreaker has completed a rigorous set of testing,” said Mike Jarrett, Raytheon Air Warfare Systems vice president. “With its tri-mode seeker and datalink, StormBreaker will transform the battlespace by rendering adverse weather irrelevant.”
Operational test flights are slated to begin in Summer 2018. StormBreaker will be fielded first on the F-15E Strike Eagle, and is planned to be integrated onto the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter by 2022.
16 Jul 18. Saab Launches Next Generation Anti-ship Missile System RBS15 Gungnir. Today, Saab announces the RBS15 Gungnir next generation anti-ship missile system that is being shown at the Farnborough International Airshow 2018 for the first time. The littorals in the Baltic Sea has created the foundation and birth of the RBS15 missile family, designed for the most demanding environments and customers. The littoral environment already present countless threats but conflict scenarios can change. Armed forces therefore need to evolve their capabilities and the RBS15 Gungnir provides the solution. The new system continues the tradition of robust and autonomous all-weather capability of the RBS15 missile family but utilising a design that unlocks a new level of future growth potential.
“RBS15 Gungnir is offered in both air-launched and surface-launched configurations that offer greatly improved capabilities, compared to other missile systems on the market. With an improved range to more than 300km and highly advanced target seeker, it gives the capability to engage any target, in all conditions,” says Görgen Johansson, Senior Vice President and head of Saab business area Dynamics.
The option to engage targets from the air, as well as from land and sea gives the ability to perform coordinated attacks, with multiple missiles, against a wide range of naval and land-based targets thereby increasing mission flexibility and success. Whilst RBS15 Mk3 delivers the capabilities that forces require today, the RBS15 Gungnir also integrates with pre-existing RBS15 infrastructure to fulfil tomorrow’s defence requirements. The system is backwards compatible, so an investment in Mk3 today opens a smooth path to transition into Gungnir tomorrow. The next generation version of the RBS15 development and production programme was first contracted in March 2017 with the Swedish Defence Material Administration (FMV). This next generation of RBS15 systems is named Gungnir. That March 2017 contract amounted to SEK 3.2n with deliveries to take place during the period 2017-2026. Additional production of missiles was contracted with FMV in April 2017 for MSEK 500, with deliveries to begin in the mid-2020s. The RBS15 missile family is jointly produced by Saab and Diehl Defence GmbH & Co. KG and serves with various navies, coastal batteries and air forces from Sweden, Finland, Germany, Poland, Croatia, Thailand and an undisclosed country. The name Gungnir is from Scandinavian mythology and refers to the Norse god Odin’s spear which never missed its target. RBS15 Gungnir is the system level name whilst in the air-launched configuration the missile is called the RBS15 Mk4 Air.
15 Jul 18. The U.S. Navy completed the first successful guided flight test of Raytheon Company’s (NYSE: RTN) ESSM® Block 2 intermediate-range, surface-to-air missile. The Block 2 variant was fired from the Navy’s self-defense test ship and scored a direct hit on an aerial target off the coast of southern California. The ESSM Block 2 missile will feature a new guidance system with a dual mode active and semi-active radar. The latest flight evaluation follows two successful test firings last year.
“This guided test takes the ESSM into a new era,” said Todd Callahan, Raytheon Naval and Area Mission Defense vice president. “Block 2’s improved guidance increases the ESSM’s capabilities and allows navies to remain ahead of complex threats.”
The Block 2 variant is on track to enter production and achieve initial operating capability in 2020. With more than 2,500 missiles planned for production, this variant represents the future of the NATO SeaSparrow program. ESSM is the primary ship self-defense missile aboard U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and large deck amphibious assault ships and is an integral component of the Navy’s layered area and ship self-defense capability for cruisers and destroyers. It’s also the foundation of several allied navies’ anti-ship missile defense efforts. The ESSM program is a cooperative effort managed by a NATO-led consortium comprising 12 nations: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the United States. The NATO SeaSparrow program is marking its 50th anniversary this year and is the largest international cooperative weapon development, production, and in-service support program in NATO. ESSM is operational on almost 200 naval platforms worldwide.
13 Jul 18. US Army cancels plans to issue RFP for XM1160 HEGM programme. The US Army has cancelled plans to acquire the 120 mm XM1160 High Explosive Guided Mortar (HEGM) munition that was expected to replace the service’s current XM395 precision-guided HE mortar round, an official from the US Army Contracting Command confirmed to Jane’s on 11 July. The office of the Project Manager Combat Ammunition Systems (PM CAS), which is located at the Picatinny Arsenal facility in New Jersey, had intended to release a formal request for proposal (RFP) in the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 to support the engineering and manufacturing development phases of the programme as well as the low-rate and full-rate initial production options for the HEGM. (Source: IHS Jane’s)
————————————————————————-
Control Solutions LLC is a turnkey design and manufacturing corporation with over 20 years experience solving tough military motion control problems. We focus on improving the safety, survivability, and mission effectiveness for personnel in tactical vehicles. We will be showcasing our CS5100 Lightweight Motorized Turret System as well as new JLTV-ready gun turrets. We have fielded over 60,000 ITDS and BPMTU motorized turret systems for the HMMWV, MRAP, and other tactical vehicle programs. We will present a family of accessories including weapon-mounted actuators, turret power and spotlight kits, and novel soldier power solutions. Control Solutions is on a mission to help solve your toughest motion control challenges.
————————————————————————-