24 Jan 22. The Moog RIwP (Reconfigurable Integrated-weapons Platform) has made its European début at the IAV 2022 conference and expo in London.
Moog’s RIwP (Reconfigurable Integrated-weapons Platform) is a proven, modular, and scalable remote turret providing unmatched capacity to host multi-domain payloads for current and future ground-combat platforms. RIwP offers anti-aircraft, anti-tank, or multi-mission capabilities via world-class precision medium-calibre and indirect fires.
Designed to be weapon, sight, and platform agnostic, RIwP accommodates firepower growth to support future mission requirements. With survivability in mind the turret allows the warfighter to reload while under armour Popular configurations meet the full spectrum of turret-related missions with the standard cupola being the centrepiece to build tailorable and reconfigurable ‘plug-and-play’ weapons solutions.
Moog RIwP array [© Moog]
RIwP is payload agnostic and can accommodate the following:
- 30mm guns/cannons
- .50cal gun
- Coax machine guns
- Anti-aircraft, anti-tank, multi-mission missiles
- Future state-of-the art missiles
- Target acquisition sensor and sight options
- Non-lethal, electronic warfare, and directed energy options
RIwP is Platform agnostic and can be fitted to:
- Wheeled armoured fighting vehicles
- Tracked armoured fighting vehicles
- Robotic combat vehicles
- Containerised platforms
COMMONALITY: The RIwP family of turrets shares 85% commonality of subcomponents with all configurations thereby minimising logistical footprint size and sustainment costs, maximising training efficiency, and reducing total cost of ownership.
SURVIVABILITY: RIwP’s design allows the warfighter to reload the direct fire weapons from inside the vehicle under full armour protection. Options for add-on armour are available.
FIELD RECONFIGURABLE: RIwP allows for pre-planned mechanical, electrical, and software interfaces to support the swapping of payloads. Payloads can be changed in minutes with organic maintenance personnel and minimal lift capability.
PROVEN CAPABILITY: RIwP is the centrepiece for the [US] Army’s Maneuver Short Range Air Defense Increment 1 (M-SHORAD, Inc 1) programme and is supporting numerous other government operational needs. (Source: www.joint-forcescom)
BATTLESPACE Comment: Scuttlebutt during IAV suggested that one of the fixes for Ajax could be the removal of the turret and thus the CT40 canon. Few people realise that the Ajax Turret Ring was configured to fit a 120mm gun in line with the CV90 120mm version. It is not the turret that is the problem it is the fact that the ASCOD chassis is not man enough to accommodate the weight of the current turret and C4IRTAR system which in itself weighs up to 3 tonnes. Such weight weighing on the chassis would cause vibrations which the servos on the electric turret system would fight to rrertain stability. Once the first round is fired that 20,000lb recoil would increase the vibrations and hence the inability to place a second round on taret as the fire control computer is shutting down as it cannot cope with the increased vibrations. Shooting on the move is thus a fuerter problem. 40mm is not a Recce requirement, so one consideration could be fitment of the Moog RIwP turret to lighten the load and provide a better weapons configuration.
27 Jan 22. Sky Sabre enters UK service, replacing Rapier. 16 Regiment Royal Artillery has welcomed the Sky Sabre air defence system to replace Rapier as their new Regimental Colours.
16 Regiment, Royal Artillery received their new colours at a special parade full of pomp and ceremony at Baker Barracks on Thorney Island, befitting any regiment accepting new colours into their charge.
However, this colours parade was in stark contrast to any other conducted by the infantry and cavalry regiments that form the British Army. They hold their allegiances to richly embroidered silk standards (flags) and guidons (pennants). This being a Royal Artillery regiment means their weapons are their colours.
Regimental colours were once used to identify regiments amidst the smoke and chaos of the battlefield. They were in effect a rallying point for the troops of that regiment and as such, the colours instilled a deep sense of pride, loyalty and an esprit-de-corps among the troops. Once the colours were struck (taken or withdrawn) it symbolised defeat for that regiment, consequently the colours would be fiercely defended at all costs. However, in the case of the Royal Artillery, their guns were their most cherished asset, similarly never to fall into the hands of the enemy just like the colours of the infantry regiments and so the guns assumed the mantle of the regimental colours. Fast forward to 2022 and 16 Regiment Royal Artillery, being an anti-aircraft unit, has missiles instead of cannons and so it is their missile systems that are their colours.
For nearly 50 years it has been the venerable Rapier Missile system that has stoically protected British soldiers and assets from aerial attack. It has served in Kuwait, the South Atlantic and probably most visibly when it deployed to numerous London parks to combat any security threat during the 2012 Olympic Games. Yet as the Army continues to modernise its capability, so Rapier has reached its out-of-service date to be replaced by the all new state-of-the art Sky Sabre air defence system.
So the parade assumed a strange juxtaposition between the traditional pomp and ceremony one expects of such a formal military occasion coupled to the cutting edge technology of a world-beating integrated missile defence system. In front of Lieutenant General Sir Chris Tickell KBE, the inspecting officer, and hundreds of invited guests, many of whom were veterans of Rapier’s passed years along with engineers and technicians from the developers of Sky Sabre, Rapier was ceremonially driven off the parade square. Having paid a fond farewell to Rapier, it was time for Sky Sabre to enter the occasion. To a specially written piece of music aptly titled ‘Sky Sabre Fanfare’ composed and performed by the British Army Band Tidworth, the troops on parade conducted a march past with a salute and eyes right to the all-new Sky Sabre proudly overlooking the ceremony, now their new regimental colours.
Sky Sabre marks a massive leap forward in the UK’s armed forces’ capability to defend itself from fast attack jet fighters, missiles and even air dropped bombs. Its accuracy and agility means it is capable of intercepting an inbound object the size of a tennis ball travelling at Mach 1. If that wasn’t impressive enough it could do this to 24 tennis balls all travelling at the speed of sound simultaneously!
In his address to the parade and assembled guests, Lieutenant General Chris Tickell KBE said, “This moment is nested in the most ambitious period of transformation that we have embarked upon in a generation, under the banner of Future Soldier over the next ten years we will invest between 35 and 40 billion pounds in new equipment. It will deliver a modernised and digital army fit to compete and win in the 21st century.”
The whole system comprises of three components: The eyes and ears of the system is its AMB 3D surveillance radar which as previously mentioned is fondly referred to as the Giraffe on account of it extending mast that supports the rotating radar. It looks out over a full 360° to a range of 120Kms.
At the heart of the weapon system lies its battle management and intelligence suit. It is the link between the radar and the missile launcher and provides the vital targeting data. It also provides a Link 16 capability; a tactical datalink that allows Sky Sabre to converse with Royal Navy vessels, the Royal Air Force along with our allies. It means it can be integrated wholly with joint, combine or NATO operations.
Dismounted MBDA CAMM launcher, known as Sky Sabre / Land Ceptor in British Army service and part of EMADS or Enhanced Modular Air Defence Solutions, on display at MSPO 2021 in Kielce [© Bob Morrison]
Then there’s the punch – the missile itself! weighing in at 99Kg each, they are double the weight of a Rapier with three times the range. It is the Land Ceptor Missile, reaching speeds up to 2300mph and able to take out fighter aircraft, drones and even smart laser-guided bombs.
Speaking proudly of his regiment’s new colours, its Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Lane MBE said, “Today we recognise we move from Rapier where we have had that ground based air defence weapons system for 50 years into a new era with Sky Sabre a modern anti-air warfare system that will take not just the Royal Artillery and this regiment, but also the British Army into the 21st century.”
Sky Sabre marks a new dawn in the UK’s air defence capability, not only is the system itself such an improvement in its accuracy and capability, but it combines this with the ability to integrate with both the UK’s other armed forces and our allies. (Source: www.joint-forcescom)
28 Jan 22. Maske 81mm – Rheinmetall unveils new version of its tried-and-tested, fast-acting smoke/obscurant grenade. Rheinmetall has developed a new version of its tried-and-tested, highly effective Maske smoke/obscurant grenade. Like other smoke/obscurant grenades of the Maske family, the Maske 81mm is based on a bimodular, bi-spectral ammunition concept. It consists of a fast-acting decoy module that generates intense blooming thanks to proven decoy technologies. It is paired with a long-lasting concealment module whose visible and infrared smoke/obscurant interrupts the enemy’s line of sight in both the visual and infrared spectrum. As a result, the Maske smoke/obscurant grenade provides armoured vehicles with effective protection from visual and infrared optical aiming devices as well as target sensor heads, laser target illuminators and laser rangefinders. The Maske 81mm can be launched from any 81mm cal. smoke grenade dispenser, including legacy launchers. This makes the Maske 81mm particularly interesting for customers who use heavy fighting vehicles equipped with smoke grenade launchers of former Warsaw Pact make. Furthermore, Maske fast-acting smoke/obscurant grenades also come in a wide variety of other calibres.
27 Jan 22. SIG SAUER Electro-Optics Introduces ROMEOZero ELITE Premium Micro Reflex Sight. SIG SAUER Electro Optics is pleased to announce the first expansion of the ROMEOZero line of micro reflex sights for 2022 with the introduction of the ROMEOZero ELITE – bringing a new level of performance and durability to ultra-compact reflex sights.
“The ROMEOZero ELITE takes the innovation of the award-winning ROMEOZero to the next level with premium features, beginning with a glass lens for unmatched clarity, scratch-resistance and a distortion-free picture. Additionally, a new proprietary carbon-infused and ruggedized polymer housing provides category-leading drop protection,” said Andy York, President, SIG SAUER Electro-Optics. “With the continued proliferation of optics-ready sub-compact pistols from a wide variety of manufacturers, and red dot optics becoming the standard for everyday carry, the ROMEOZero ELITE combines fast target acquisition with exceptional ruggedness and optical performance, at an affordable price.”
The SIG SAUER Electro-Optics ROMEOZero ELITE is a premium micro-open reflex sight that’s optimized for concealed carry pistols, slim slide profiles such as single stack 1911s and sub-compact firearms and features an aspherical glass lens with zero distortion. The ROMEOZero Elite has an RMSc footprint and is constructed with a carbon-infused weapons grade ultralight polymer housing for increased drop and shock protection and comes with a structurally enhanced steel shroud for added protection. The ROMEOZero ELITE is available with a circle dot reticle that has a 2MOA dot in combination with a 32 MOA circle, or a standard 3 MOA dot only, has eight daytime illumination settings, and uses a CR1632 battery for up to 20,000 hours of run time. The new ELITE models also include T.A.P.™ (Touch Activated Programming) for an additional method of changing brightness and reticles, and a SuperLuminova™ glow-in-the-dark backup rear sight. The ROMEOZero ELITE is fully assembled in the U.S.A. at the SIG SAUER Electro-Optics facility in Wilsonville, Oregon.
ROMEOZero ELITE Specifications:
Objective Lens Diameter: 24mm
Reticle: Circle dot with 2 MOA Red Dot / 32 MOA Circle, or 3 MOA dot only
Illumination Settings: 8 Daylight
Overall Length: 1.6 inches
Overall Width: .98 inches
Overall Height: 1 inch
Weight (w/o battery): 0.5 ounces
The SIG SAUER Electro-Optics ROMEOZero Elite is now shipping and available for purchase at sigsauer.com. To learn more about the complete SIG SAUER Electro-Optics line of products visit sigsauer.com.
26 Jan 22. German joint fire support teams to be equipped with Boxers with Kongsberg Protector RWS. The Bundeswehr has ordered two prototype Boxers fitted with Kongsberg’s Protector RS4 remote weapon system (RWS) mounting a 50-cal machine gun, Janes learned at the International Armoured Vehicles (IAV) 2022 conference being held in London on 24–27 January. Krauss-Maffei Wegmann signed the contract with Kongsberg in December for the Protector RS4 RWS for the German Joint Fire Support Team, schwer (heavy), programme, the Norwegian company announced in a press release on 22 January. The contract includes the development and delivery of prototypes for trials and testing, to be followed by a serial production contract, with the installation of the RS4 RWS into a new mission module for the Boxer 8×8 armoured vehicle. The Bundeswehr plans to procure 21 Boxers with the RS4 RWS. (Source: Janes)
26 Jan 22. Hypersonic Weapons Meet Speed-of-light Defenses.
- Raytheon Missiles & Defense is developing high-power microwaves as part of layered air defenses
They’re two of the biggest threats to U.S. and allied military power, and they could hardly be more different.
One is the hypersonic missile, which travels at more than five times the speed of sound and can strike targets at great distances. The other is the UAV, or unmanned aerial vehicle – particularly off-the-shelf drones modified into cheap weapons that are prohibitively expensive to defeat.
Different as those threats are, there’s one single emerging technology – the high-power microwave – that could play a huge role in defending against both. High-power microwave systems, which use highly concentrated radio energy to damage their targets’ electronics, are among the options that Raytheon Missiles & Defense, a Raytheon Technologies business, is partnering with the U.S. Department of Defense to explore as part of a layered approach to air defense.
“Our adversaries are coming up with increasingly sophisticated and innovative ways to attack us,” said Colin Whelan, vice president of Advanced Technology for Raytheon Missiles & Defense. “We need lower cost solutions to counter them.”
The business is building a set of technologies that fall into three categories:
- Small-scale systems for short-range air defense.
- Larger systems for longer-range air defense.
- Small airborne high-power microwave payloads for maneuverable platforms like UAVs.
Harnessing the power of energy
The advantage of high-power microwaves and other directed energy weapons is that, once they’re built, they’re inexpensive to fire – and their ammunition is limited only by the availability of power. That makes them well-suited to take on drones that attack by the dozen.
“This technology makes it possible to knock out a whole swarm of electronic threats in a single shot,” Whelan said.
Raytheon Missiles & Defense’s Advanced Technology group, an elite team of innovators, is helping the U.S. military explore how they may integrate high-power microwave technology into aircraft, cruise missiles, surface ships and ground vehicles. Paired with high-energy lasers, microwaves would give military commanders a powerful directed energy one-two punch.
Just as high-power microwaves use concentrated radio energy, lasers project beams of light particles on to their targets. But while lasers burn into their targets, high-power microwaves attack their electronics.
“We crank up the power to create enough energy to electronically disrupt a target,” said Paul Head, who leads high-power microwave programs at Raytheon Missiles & Defense. “It causes the drone to fall out of the sky.”
Speed of light versus sound
High-power microwaves have an important edge over hypersonic weapons – they’re much faster. While hypersonic weapons travel more than five times the speed of sound – 343 meters per second or higher – high-power microwaves travel at the speed of light – 300 m meters per second.
“When it comes to defeating a threat that pushes the limits of a physical object’s speed, you naturally look to a defense that moves at the speed of light,” Whelan said.
Hypersonic weapons are also maneuverable; they can swerve to avoid detection and even loop around adversary-facing missile defense batteries. But defenses that move at the speed of light still have the edge, Whelan said.
“It doesn’t matter how maneuverable an adversary is,” he said. “They are going down if you have speed-of-light defenses.”
A virtual proving ground
The innovation doesn’t stop there. Advanced Technology is using digital engineering methods such as modeling and simulation to prove to the greatest degree possible that high-power microwave technologies work before costly prototyping.
“We call it pushing the ‘I believe’ button,” Head said. “With our powerful modeling platforms, in conjunction with live test data, we can show that the system works and adds significant benefit to a modern layered defense in terms of cost and magazine depth.”
The modeling platforms allow the business to demonstrate the directed energy’s effect on target is both predictable and measurable, offering the best defense for a mission.
“We have a strong understanding of the effects these weapons have and the platforms they are designed to counter,” Head said. “We are maturing the technology and look to demonstrate high-power microwaves in the field.” (Source: ASD Network)
26 Jan 22. SecDef Austin Summons Hypersonics CEOs. Pentagon meeting set for next week in race to outpace China and Russia.
Amid several high-profile test failures that have slowed hypersonic weapon development, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has summoned the CEOs of nearly a dozen of America’s largest defense companies for a high-profile meeting next week, Defense One has learned.
The purpose of the Feb. 3 meeting is to stress the urgency in fielding the fast-flying weapons as the U.S. plays catch-up to recent Chinese and Russian advances, according to five people with knowledge of the meeting. All spoke on the condition of anonymity because the Pentagon has not publicly announced it.
Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks will chair the virtual meeting; Heidi Shyu, a defense undersecretary who oversees all hypersonic weapons development, is also expected to attend.
“This meeting is part of [Hicks’] regular, drumbeat engagements with industry in key areas of innovation and modernization to strengthen relationships and discuss ways to accelerate the development of cutting-edge capabilities and new operational concepts,” Eric Pahon, a Defense Department spokesman, said in an emailed statement. “The topics will range from systems engineering concepts to the manufacturing workforce.”
Three people familiar with the meeting described it as a chance for Austin to stress the need for companies to step up their work and move faster. Pahon said Austin is scheduled to deliver “brief framing remarks.”
Defense secretaries rarely meet with groups of CEOs, especially about niche topics.
Fielding hypersonic weapons—difficult-to-intercept missiles that can maneuver at ICBM-like speeds—has been a top priority for Pentagon officials in recent years. China and Russia “have a number of hypersonic weapons programs and have likely fielded operational hypersonic glide vehicles—potentially armed with nuclear warheads,” Congressional Research Service analyst Kelley Sayler wrote in an October report.
“Most U.S. hypersonic weapons, in contrast to those in Russia and China, are not being designed for use with a nuclear warhead,” Sayler wrote. “As a result, U.S. hypersonic weapons will likely require greater accuracy and will be more technically challenging to develop than nuclear-armed Chinese and Russian systems.”
North Korea earlier this month tested what it claimed were hypersonic missiles.
The Pentagon wants to spend $3.8 bn on hypersonic weapons in 2022; however, Congress has still not passed a federal budget, nearly four months into the new fiscal year.
TheTrump and Biden administrations both fast-tracked hypersonic weapon development.
“I think that hypersonics is maybe the leading example of how traditional DOD procurement is speeding up,” Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet said Wednesday during a Council on Foreign Relations event.
But with that speed has come a number of test failures.
The Pentagon has at least a half dozen publicly disclosed hypersonic weapon programs. Some are expected to begin serial production as soon as this year. Defense companies have spent ms of dollars on new factories and technologies to build these types of weapons.
Some obstacles have been legal, not technical. Lockheed Martin’s two-year-old plan to acquire rocket maker Aerojet Rocketdyne has been targeted by the Federal Trade Commission, which said on Tuesday that the proposed deal would give Lockheed a corner on the hypersonic market.
DOD Playing Catch-Up
Still, industry is not the main reason the Defense Department’s hypersonic programs aren’t progressing as quickly as hoped, experts say.
The Pentagon “made some, well, frankly, some poor decisions. We’re playing catch-up to try to make up for those decisions,” said Mark Lewis, who served in 2020 as the acting undersecretary of defense for research and engineering and is now the executive director of the National Defense Industrial Association’s Emerging Technologies Institute.
Lewis cited the development of an air-launched hypersonic cruise missile with a scramjet engine. In 2013, the Air Force had turned the 60-year-old idea into a working demonstration, launching the Boeing X-51A Waverider from a B-52 bomber for 240 seconds of flight, demonstrating the only limitation in operating a scramjet engine was the amount of fuel you had.
“The logical thing would have been to continue to expand the fight envelope, do more flights, expand the Mach number, do studies of…stability, control, maneuvering all that stuff,” Lewis said.
Instead the Air Force Research Lab handed the project to DARPA, which basically started over from scratch, Lewis said.
“DARPA doesn’t pick up other people’s programs. DARPA is on the cutting edge. So the result is that the next scramjet flights that we had in the United States were part of the DARPA HAWC [hypersonic air-breathing weapon concept] program they just had a couple months ago. So that was an 11-year gap.”
Now industry and the Defense Department are running into avoidable problems with some of its tests, problems that don’t come from new science but are born of poor attention to detail and other errors.
“When boosters fail, when things fall off of rockets, that’s not a good reason to fail,” Lewis said. “We’ve had a fair amount of that.”
Those simple errors become big delays because there is too little infrastructure—ranges, wind tunnels—to test high-speed missiles. Miss your appointed timeslot and it can be weeks or months before another opens up.“You’re competing with time on the range against other programs under development— you know, things like F-35 [joint strike fighter] and other programs of record. So there has been this tendency that hypersonic tests are not being prioritized,” he said.
One industry source said the U.S. hasn’t tested weapons at this pace in decades, and there’s been some atrophy in government testing apparatus.
By contrast, China in recent years has developed new wind tunnels. Chinese and Russian weapons developers are also less constrained by safety rules and environmental regulations.
Still, new digital technologies like digital twinning and advanced modeling and simulation are allowing the Defense Department to accelerate the creation of new prototypes for things like fighter jets. They are making a big difference in the development of hypersonics as well. But advanced modeling for design only works when you already have lots of data from flight tests and other real-world experience. So while advanced modeling can cut down on the time it takes to create new prototypes or concepts, it doesn’t remove the need for testing, especially in areas where there isn’t much data to inform models.
“How do we solve this? We need to invest in our infrastructure needs to do more investment in ground test. We need to be investing in flight tests. One thing that we desperately need…flight test capabilities that let us test things, fly them, and then bring them back. Look what we did in the 1960s,” Lewis said. (Source: Defense One)
24 Jan 22. US Army preparing for 2024 ERCA operational assessment. The US Army will begin testing Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) prototypes at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona over the coming weeks in anticipation of a year-long operational test set for fiscal year (FY) 2024. Brigadier General John Rafferty, the head of the Long-Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team, provided Janes with an update of ERCA development and deliveries in an 18 January interview. He said that over the next four to six weeks four prototypes will be delivered to programme officials at Yuma where they will go into their “swim lane” for testing. An additional lot of four prototypes are scheduled to arrive at the site by the end of September. (Source: Janes)
24 Jan 22. Dstl trials autonomous maritime asset protection system (AMAPS). The system could be used to defend high value assets whilst alongside in harbour, and to protect critical infrastructure.
Working with the Royal Navy, industry partners and the US Naval Undersea Warfare Centre, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) conducted research to improve detection, tracking, classification and defeat capabilities against surface and subsurface threats to high value assets and critical infrastructure, using autonomous systems alongside traditional systems.
Dstl worked collaboratively with an industry consortium comprising QinetiQ, SeeByte, L3 Harris ASV and Thales, to develop a concept demonstrator based on open architectures and autonomous systems. This demonstrator was tested in a synthetic environment to ensure the viability of the concept before experimentation during a 2 week trial in Portland Harbour in October 2021 using Dstl’s containerised system and the Maritime Autonomy Surface Testbed vessel MAST-13.
Different levels of autonomy were evaluated, enabling a better assessment of the role that maritime autonomous systems can play in protecting vulnerable assets while also furthering understanding of the current maturity of the technology.
The trial successfully demonstrated end-to-end autonomy with the remote operation of a long range acoustic device and firing of a vessel arrestor system with the aim to stop a suspect craft.
Future trials will look to stress the system with the aim to assess robustness while completing interoperability tests with the US that were impacted by COVID-19.
Dstl Programme Manager, Alasdair Gilchrist MBE, commented: “The research showed the benefit of integrating multiple sensors, fixed and on uncrewed vessels (UXVs), into a common tactical picture to aid command decisions. We have progressed maritime Artificial Intelligence/machine learning by developing apps that enable multiple UXVs to be command and controlled from a single operator to protect assets. We have also developed algorithms to autonomously control and launch non-lethal effectors from uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) to deter aggressors and protect our valuable maritime assets.” (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)
25 Jan 22. Australia opens hypersonics research precinct. A new purpose-built facility has been unveiled in Brisbane, designed to house research into the development of sovereign long-range strike capability.
The Commonwealth government has announced the official opening of Defence’s $14m Australian Hypersonics Research Precinct at Eagle Farm in Brisbane.
The facility, built to support over 60 staff, will house collaboration between Defence, industry, universities and international partners.
The projects are expected to focus on high-speed and hypersonic flight research and technologies, tipped to advance understanding and use of the technology through flight test vehicles.
“It’s a complex technological challenge to build vehicles capable of flying at five times the speed of sound, that skim the stratosphere, to target any location on the planet,” Minister for Defence Peter Dutton said.
“The technology that is developed here will help us to better defend against the malign use of this technology and give us the ability to strike any potential adversaries from a distance and deter aggression against Australia’s national interests.
“It enables Defence researchers to develop and characterise sovereign hypersonic technologies and generate ‘true’ hypersonic flight conditions at large scale in a classified laboratory.”
The opening of the precinct forms part of the government’s $3 bn investment in Defence innovation, science and technology over the next decade.
Chris Jenkins, CEO of Thales Australia, has welcomed the launch, noting the company would support the initiative via the Collaborative Research and Development Program, delivering Advanced Rocket Motor Technology.
“Thales is proud to work with are range of SMEs including Southern Launch, Airspeed, Mincham and Mackay Defence, who will deliver specialised technology for the complex program including tooling and precision engineering, specialised polymeric insulation products, composite cases, as well as design and launch services,” he said.
“Thales Australia already works with more than 600 Australian small and medium enterprises and a large range of weapons systems primes to ensure the ADF receives the locally manufactured munitions they need.
“We look forward to the expansion of the defence ecosystem at Eagle Farm, where Thales currently has around 150 highly skilled and experienced staff supporting ADF programs.”
21 Jan 22. Belgium Naval & Robotics tests LARS as part of rMCM programme. The BNR solution will be used to operate USVs safely in difficult conditions at sea. Belgium Naval & Robotics (BNR), a Naval Group and ECA Group consortium, has tested and demonstrated the capability of its launch and recovery system (LARS).
The industrial tests were carried out in Toulon, France and the solution proved its applicability for lateral deployment and recovery of drones in real conditions.
Four BNR-designed subsystems were brought together and tested on specially chartered vessel, VN Rebel.
The four subsystems are LARS, the floating dock to host uncrewed surface drones (USV), the security system, and ECA’s USV INSPECTOR 125 surface drone.
The test results were presented to the Royal Belgian and Dutch navies as part of the replacement mine counter measure (rMCM) programme.
Naval Group rMCM programme director Eric Perrot said: “We are delighted with the success of these tests of the new surface drone deployment and recovery systems. This performance is the result of the collaboration between multiple partners in this project, first and foremost ECA Group. We have great faith in this technology, and we thank the Belgian and Dutch navies for their confidence in us.”
Around 30 consortium employees took part in the tests, which were conducted up to sea state 4/5, with 40 knots of wind.
The drones will allow the naval forces to perform mine clearance operations safely, away from harm’s way.
Once the solution is finalised, based on the analysis of the test results and information collection, the system will enter production in the second semester of this year.
ECA Group CEO Dominique Giannoni said: “Today’s demonstration shows the relevance of ECA Group’s drone deployment and recovery solution. It is a constant dialogue between the Naval Group and ECA Group teams that has allowed this great result of integration of our systems. We are fully committed to the success of this highly innovative programme.”
Under the Belgian-Dutch rMCM programme, 12 MCM vessels are planned to be built. Kership, a Naval Group-Piriou joint venture, will manufacture the ships in Concarneau, France. The keel for the first of vessel was laid by Naval Group on 30 November last year. (Source: naval-technology.com)
21 Jan 22. THAAD, in first operational use, destroys midrange ballistic missile in Houthi attack. A multibillion-dollar missile defense system owned by the United Arab Emirates and developed by the U.S. military intercepted a ballistic missile on Monday during a deadly attack by Houthi militants in Abu Dhabi, marking the system’s first known use in a military operation, Defense News has learned.
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, made by Lockheed Martin, took out the midrange ballistic missile used to attack an Emirati oil facility near Al-Dhafra Air Base, according to two sources granted anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about the UAE’s activities. The Emirati base hosts U.S. and French forces.
The attack, which used cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones, killed three civilians and wounded six others, UAE’s ambassador to the United States, Yousef Al Otaiba, said earlier in the week.
“Several attacks, a combination of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones, targeted civilian sites in the UAE. Several were intercepted, a few of them [weren’t], and three innocent civilians unfortunately lost their lives,” Al Otaiba said at a virtual event sponsored by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.
The Emirati Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The UAE was a key member of the Saudi-led coalition that entered Yemen’s civil war in 2015, after the Houthis had overrun Yemen’s capital of Sanaa the previous year and ousted the country’s president from power. Although the UAE has largely withdrawn forces from the conflict, it remains heavily involved in the war and supports local militias on the ground in Yemen.
U.S. Central Command on Friday confirmed “a potential inbound threat” had forced U.S. service members at Al-Dhafra into their bunkers, in a “heightened alert posture” for about 30 minutes Sunday night. Airmen were directed to keep their protective gear close for 24 hours afterwards.
“Everything was professional and disciplined. The ‘all clear’ was called at 9:27 p.m. local time,” said Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for the command. “There was no mission impact.”
Lockheed Martin declined to comment.
THAAD, which is designed to counter short-, medium- and long-range ballistic missiles, was initially developed in the 1990s. It struggled in early testing, but has had a consistent reliability track record in flight tests since Lockheed Martin in 2000 won the development contract to turn THAAD into a mobile tactical army fire unit.
By 2019, the Missile Defense Agency had demonstrated the capability for the THAAD system to remotely fire an interceptor following 16 consecutive successful intercept tests.
The U.S. has deployed THAAD throughout the world, including to Guam, Israel, South Korea and Japan. In 2017, Saudi Arabia agreed to buy THAAD in a deal thought to be worth up to $15bn. The UAE was the first foreign customer for the system and trained its first units in 2015 and 2016.
The Army operates seven THAAD batteries, but has long had a requirement to field nine total. The MDA has lacked the funding to build the final two, but U.S. lawmakers added funding in the fiscal 2021 budget to build an eighth THAAD battery.
The Houthis have used drones and missiles to attack Saudi Arabia and oil targets in the Persian Gulf over the course of Yemen’s war, now in its eighth year. Monday’s attack was the UAE’s first acknowledgement of being hit by the Houthis. Several civilians have died in Saudi Arabia from cross-border Houthi attacks.
This week, Abu Dhabi asked the U.S. for help bolstering its defenses against missiles and drones and halting weapons from being transported to the Houthis, according to a statement the UAE’s Embassy in Washington posted to Twitter.
In a call Wednesday between Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Austin “underscored his unwavering support for the security and defense of UAE territory against all threats.” The Pentagon has since declined to provide specifics about the UAE’s request.
Abu Dhabi was also consulting with congressional gatekeepers on U.S. arms sales this week. The embassy said Al Otaiba met Wednesday with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y.
Ahead of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez’s meeting with Al Otaiba, Menendez said, “We’ll see what their request is. I certainly recognize some of the challenges they’re having.”
Congressional aides said lawmakers have generally been open to Abu Dhabi’s requests for weapons to defend against Houthi attacks, but Emirati officials are likely to face questions over the country’s growing ties to China and accusations its forces have intervened in Libya’s ongoing war.
U.S. officials would also have to consider the suitability and production schedules for the equipment Abu Dhabi is requesting, according to a Senate aide granted anonymity to talk about diplomatically sensitive arms sale talks. If the UAE is seeking Patriot missiles, there’s reportedly an interceptor shortage fueled by Houthi drone and rocket attacks against Saudi Arabia.
“The Saudis are using up their Patriots at a good clip, and these things, you don’t just pick them up at Walmart,” the aide said. “The Emiratis could be asking for things very appropriately, but before anything comes from it and arrives in country, it could be years.”
Gulf Arab states, as well as the U.S., U.N. experts and others, have previously accused Iran of supplying arms to the Houthis, a charge Tehran denies.
Bilal Saab, a former Pentagon official now at the Middle East Institute, said the Houthis’ use of missiles suggests Iranian involvement, even after diplomatic talks in December between Iranian and Emirati officials in Tehran.
”Clearly those talks were ineffective,” Saab said. “The very use of ballistic missiles signals to me that the Iranians knew about it, were on board or at least had a role.”
President Joe Biden said Wednesday his administration, following the strikes, is considering restoring the Houthis to the U.S. list of international terrorist organizations.
Al Otaiba had urged the move, and the Emirati Embassy welcomed it in a statement that said, “Case is clear — launching ballistic and cruise missiles against civilian targets, sustaining aggression, diverting aid from Yemeni people.” (Source: Defense News)