16 Mar 22. Poland announces plans to order more Kormoran II MCMVs this year. The Polish Ministry of National Defense (MND) has confirmed plans to order three additional Kormoran II (Project 258)-class mine countermeasures vessels (MCMVs) this year.
In a twitter post on 15 March, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said an agreement for the new vessels would be concluded by June at the latest. “This will allow us to maintain competence and maintain continuity of production in Polish shipyards,” he added.
The new vessels will supplement the three Kormoran II MCMVs on order for the Polish Navy under contracts awarded to a consortium comprising Remontowa Shipbuilding (acting as the prime contractor), Gdynia naval shipyard, OBR CTM, and the CTO ship design and research centre.
The first MCMV, ORP Kormoran (601), entered service in November 2017, and is based with the 8th Coastal Defence Flotilla’s 13th Minesweeper Squadron. The second and third ships, ORP Albatros (602) and ORP Mewa. (Source: Janes)
17 Mar 22. US Army deploys THAAD system’s remote launch capability in CNMI. The THAAD system can intercept hostile incoming threats such as ballistic missiles. The US Army has announced that it has deployed the newly developed Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) remote launch capability, in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). The move was to demonstrate the capability of the THAAD system in defending the islands, located in the north-western Pacific Ocean. This comes after a THAAD launcher was moved from Guam to Rota, CNMI. E-3 Air Defense Battery, as well as the Joint Region Marianas, Pacific Air Forces, and several Air Force wings, supported the deployment. Task Force Talon Officer in Charge Major Kyle Hermanson said: “The things that all had to come together to make this a successful mission exemplified the idea of joint operations.
“Joint Region Marianas, 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, Pacific Air Forces, E-3 THAAD, Guam National Guard Security Forces, all came together to make this one of the most successful air defence missions in the [area of responsibility].”
THAAD is an air defence system that can intercept hostile incoming threats such as ballistic missiles.
According to a US Army statement, the deployment marks the first use of the THAAD remote launch capability outside of testing.
E3 executive officer 1st lieutenant Peter Gonsalves said: “The exercise was to demonstrate a new capability we received January, the remote launch kit. We worked with the leadership of Guam and CNMI to find a suitable location on Rota, brought a launcher, and wanted to send a message that we can defend the entirety of CNMI.” (Source: army-technology.com)
16 Mar 22. WDS 2022: Pakistani BW-20 rifles make debut. Pakistan Ordnance Factories unveiled its new family of BW-20 assault rifles at the World Defense Show (WDS) in Riyadh.
The BW-20 family of rifles comes in three variants – a 12-inch barrelled assault version for urban and close-in fighting roles, 16-inch barrelled version for standard infantry use, and a 20-inch marksman version, which features a modified stock. Chambered for a 7.62×51 mm round, the rifle has a 20-round polymer magazine and utilises a roller-delayed blowback mechanism.
The rifle was developed following the requirement for new weapons by the Pakistani military in 2015 to replace the Heckler & Koch G3 utilised by the military that had last been upgraded in 1983. During the trials using a variety of weapons, a G3 rifle was used as a benchmark to test against the competing weapons. The trials showed that the G3 outperformed against its competition in range, accuracy, and penetration.
“What we decided to do was retain the roller-delayed mechanism. (Source: Janes)
11 Mar 22. RUAG International to sell ammo business to Beretta. Switzerland’s RUAG International plans to sell its ammunition-making Ammotec business unit to Italian gun manufacturer Beretta Holding as part of its portfolio reshaping effort, RUAG International announced on 9 March. Beretta will gain all of Ammotec’s production and sales sites and 2,700 employees, boosting its workforce to more than 6,000. Beretta has committed to maintaining Ammotec’s site in Thun, Switzerland, which has about 400 employees, for at least five years. The transaction is expected to close in “several months” after receiving regulatory approval, a RUAG spokesperson said. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to the announcement, Ammotec and Beretta have complementary portfolios. Ammotec makes small-calibre ammunition for defence, law enforcement, hunting, and sporting, while Beretta makes light firearms, such as pistols and rifles, for those same markets. “There is almost no overlap” between the two companies’ product lines, Beretta president and CEO Pietro Gussalli Beretta said. (Source: Janes)
16 Mar 22. Steadicopter and Smart Shooter unveil the Golden Eagle – a groundbreaking RUAS with precision hit capabilities utilizing the SMASH technology.
This unmanned helicopter provides tactical maneuvering forces with remote terrain dominance and pin-point accurate lethal capability.
ISDEF 2022, 21-23 March, Expo Tel Aviv Pavilion 2
16 March, 2022. Steadicopter, a leader in the Rotary Unmanned Aerial Systems (RUAS) industry, and Smart Shooter, a world-class designer, developer, and manufacturer of innovative fire control systems that significantly increase the accuracy and lethality of small arms, have unveiled the Golden Eagle – the first-ever unmanned helicopter with precise hit capabilities. The two companies will present the solution at the ISDEF exhibition in Tel Aviv.
Based on the combat-proven Black Eagle 50E platform, the Golden Eagle incorporates AI-based technology and Smart Shooter’s SMASH Dragon system. The AI-based technology enables superior situational awareness and autonomous multi-target classification and tracking. The SMASH Dragon, a remotely-operated robotic weaponry payload, locks on the target, tracks it and ensures precise target hit.
SMASH Dragon integrates a unique stabilization concept with proprietary target acquisition, tracking algorithms and sophisticated computer vision capabilities that allow accurate hitting of static and moving targets while mounted onto the Golden Eagle. The system can employ various types of assault rifles, sniper rifles, 40mm and other munitions with great precision.
Through advanced data processing, the AI system autonomously identifies and distinguishes between different types of targets, such as person or vehicle, whether they are in motion or stationery, and whether they have previously been present in the field.
Lightweight and thereby enabling long mission endurance, extremely cost-effective, simple to operate, and easy to maintain, the Golden Eagle has vertical take-off and landing capability for successful mission completion.
“Today’s complex combat environment requires advanced solutions that enable forces to perform missions and neutralize targets remotely, even before entering the area itself,” says Noam Lidor, VP Sales, Marketing & Business Development at Steadicopter. “Using artificial intelligence, the new system provides a field combat solution for the modern battlefield. Forces on the ground can now send a helicopter for autonomous intelligence gathering into the relevant area and, having identified and classified the targets, send in another helicopter with precise attack capabilities.”
Dr. Abraham Mazor, VP Marketing & Business Development at Smart Shooter: “Using AI, computer vision and advanced algorithms, Smart Shooter’s SMASH technology enhances every mission effectiveness through the ability to accurately engage and hit ground, aerial, and naval, either static or moving targets during both day and night operations. Our SMASH Dragon lightweight robotic weaponry payload can be deployed on different unmanned aerial platforms, and we are honored to collaborate with Steadicopter and jointly offer the Golden Eagle RUAS.”
14 Mar 22. What next for US hypersonics? In early February, executives from more than a dozen defense firms gathered virtually with top Pentagon leaders, including the department’s secretary.
At stake: the future of hypersonic weapons, one of the most hyped, debated and costly weapons initiatives in years. The government is expected to spend $15bn on the effort between 2015 and 2024.
But while they chewed over the obstacles of supply chains, acquisition and testing facilities, hovering in the background were high-profile Chinese advancements in the cutting-edge weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s boasts of his nation’s progress on hypersonic technology and questions at home about whether the United States is on the right track.
The Defense Department is at a critical moment on hypersonic technology. Now, a growing chorus of experts — including a service secretary — are urging the government to add resources for building an array of sensors, satellites and other technologies to improve America’s ability to defend against hypersonic attacks, and to better hone its strategy for how it might use them.
In other words: Is the United States approaching hypersonic technology from the right angle?
In recent months, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has repeatedly asked pointed questions about the purpose they should play in the U.S. arsenal and whether they’re worth the considerable price tag.
“The question is: Can you do the job with conventional missiles at less cost, just as effectively?” Kendall said in a Feb. 15 panel with the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. “Hypersonics are a way to penetrate defenses, but they’re not the only way.”
Hypersonic weapons can travel multiple times faster than the speed of sound — greater than Mach 5 — and can maneuver midflight. This makes them capable of penetrating defenses and much harder to track and shoot down than conventional ballistic missiles, which follow a predictable parabolic track. Both China and Russia have invested heavily into hypersonic research; look no further than Russia’s Avangard, a long-range boost glide vehicle.
In the U.S., the Army, Navy, Air Force and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency are working on hypersonic programs, some in cooperation with one another. These include the All Up Round, a joint Army and Navy program; the Air Force’s AGM-183 Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW; and DARPA’s Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept, which is under development in partnership with the Air Force.
Top defense firms see growth opportunities in the hypersonic market, and are jockeying for position.
The hypersonic market was one of the drivers of Lockheed Martin’s attempted $4.4bn acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne, a maker of vital parts for scramjet engines that go into hypersonic missiles. Lockheed hoped acquiring Aerojet and its propulsion capabilities would allow it to integrate the tech into its broader engineering department and operate faster and more cheaply.
The Federal Trade Commission responded with a lawsuit in January, expressing concern the deal would lead to higher prices for hypersonic cruise missiles. The FTC’s challenge ultimately scuttled the deal in February, but Lockheed and the commission’s disagreement illustrates the importance of the market to both industry and government regulators.
At a February conference, Lockheed CEO Jim Taiclet noted the company’s work on six hypersonic programs, including the ARRW, and called hypersonics a “national priority.”
Lockheed Chief Financial Officer Jay Malave said there’s “just a lot of growth there.”
“It’s there, it’s real, and we’re a big player in that,” he added.
Northrop Grumman last year began construction on a 60,000-foot facility in Maryland to better design and produce hypersonic weapons.
But particularly in recent months, Kendall has been a persistent voice of caution about how the U.S. should think about these weapons, and how the nation should respond to China’s headline-grabbing advancements.
Matching China?
One factor giving Kendall pause: What China might do with hypersonic technology isn’t necessarily what the United States would want to do. As a result, he said, the U.S. doesn’t need to match China’s every move in the hypersonic realm — particularly given the weapons’ high price tag.
“It isn’t obvious that just because China is doing hypersonics, so we should do, immediately, similar hypersonics,” Kendall said Feb. 15.
One problem, Kendall explained, is current hypersonic technology tends to be best suited for striking fixed targets. “Our job, fundamentally, is to deter and defeat aggression,” he said. “Somebody commits aggression when they move somewhere else, whether it’s by ships across the straits of Taiwan or vehicles rolling into Ukraine. So we want weapons that can deal with moving targets.”
Kendall recommends the U.S. examine potential targets and find the most cost-effective way to hit them; and in some cases, that might not involve a hypersonic weapon.
The military also needs to consider cost, he added. The Government Accountability Office said in a report last year the government is likely to spend nearly $15bn between 2015 and 2024 to develop hypersonic weapons across 70 different efforts.
Kendall is asking the right questions, said John Venable, a senior defense fellow at the Heritage Foundation. The weapons could cost anywhere from $50m to $100m apiece, he explained — though the hope is to get them down to $10m a shot — and the military needs to consider what targets would justify using such an expensive munition.
How China answers that question is likely to differ from the U.S., Venable said.
“If I was the Chinese, if I could sink the flattops while they’re in harbor in Norfolk, [Virginia], or off the coast of California [as a surprise attack], then that would be a great munition to use,” Venable said. “Anything else, you’ve got to sit back and wonder what’s going to be the strategic impact of one of these rounds.”
The U.S. wouldn’t carry out that kind of a surprise attack, Venable said. And it wouldn’t necessarily need hypersonic missiles to destroy one of China’s capital ships, he added — stealth bombers, for example, could do that job.
In a Feb. 15 email, the Air Force said it is using the results of war games, exercises and analyses, with the help of the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and the Air Force Futures office, to answer Kendall’s questions. The Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, combatant commands and other organizations have provided their own observations and studies.
In recent months, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has repeatedly asked pointed questions about the purpose hypersonic weapons should play in the U.S. arsenal and whether they’re worth the considerable price tag. (Andy Morataya/U.S. Air Force)
Since Kendall started raising these concerns at the Air Force Association’s convention in September, “Air Force Futures has been coordinating with these stakeholders to understand and communicate the warfighting value proposition of this technology,” the service said. “At this stage, there is a very close alignment between the Department [of the Air Force] and broader DoD strategies pertaining to hypersonics.”
Kendall said hypersonic weapons such as boost glide vehicles and hypersonic cruise missiles can have a role in the military’s inventory. And he said they could come from multiple sources, whether air-delivered or via surface launches from either the Army or Navy.
Todd Harrison, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Aerospace Security Project, said Kendall’s remarks are trying to steer the conversation back to a “more rational place” and away from a “knee-jerk” impulse to try to match China.
Hypersonic weapons could be more useful to the U.S. in the early stages of a conflict, before an enemy’s air defenses are neutralized, to strike time-sensitive targets such as command-and-control nodes or the air defenses themselves, Harrison said.
The weapons could also be used as a penetrator to deliver munitions through concrete infrastructure or underground, hardened, stationary targets such as an Iranian nuclear facility, he added.
A defensive stance
But the U.S. should do more to build its defenses, Harrison said.
“You don’t fight hypersonic weapons with hypersonic weapons; you fight it with missile defense systems that are actually capable of tracking and targeting hypersonic weapons,” he explained.
In a Feb. 7 report, the CSIS think tank called for the U.S. to do more to strengthen its defensive abilities to detect, track and intercept hypersonic weapons. The report, “Complex Air Defense: Countering the Hypersonic Missile Threat,” argued fielding a defense will involve a multilayered approach, including new sensing and interceptor capabilities.
Most importantly, CSIS said, the nation will need a layer of space sensors that can spot, classify and track missiles of any kind and along any path.
“We can hit these things … if we have the tracking data,” Harrison said. “But if we can’t see the missile, or if we lose it for part of its flight, we’re not going to be able to intercept it.”
On this front, the Space Force, Space Development Agency and Missile Defense Agency are working together to build a new missile warning and tracking architecture. This could include a mix of wide-field-of-view and medium-field-of-view satellites in low Earth orbit — under development by MDA — and the Space Force’s work to modernize its missile warning and tracking satellites.
The nation also needs a glide-phase interceptor, CSIS said. So far, the government has only invested modestly in developing hypersonic defenses, compared to the funding for a hypersonic strike capability. As it stands, the U.S. wouldn’t have a glide-phase interceptor ready until the 2030s, CSIS said, but the process could be accelerated.
Hypersonics are a way to penetrate defenses, but they’re not the only way.
— Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall
The think tank also said hypersonic weapons’ revolutionary capabilities to travel fast and turn in flight could be potential weaknesses. There are many ways the U.S. could throw a wrench in their gears, including using high-powered microwave systems, launching hit-to-kill interceptors, or throwing up a wall of debris or other particulate matter to disrupt or destroy hypersonic attacks.
Still, Harrison believes it’s worthwhile for the military to continue developing these weapons. Research on propulsion and guidance systems will be applicable in other areas, he said, plus having a small inventory of these weapons would be useful.
But thinking carefully about how the military intends to use them, and under what circumstances, will help as the technology moves from a “science fair project” to an operational weapon, Harrison said.
“It’ll make them more relevant if they’re actually designed for the way we envision using them,” he added. “And not design the weapons to be the holy grail, which they’re not going to be.”
Testing failures
The Air Force’s ARRW program — the boost glide air-to-ground hypersonic missile under development — hit snags last year, with tests in April, July and December all failing due to problems during the launch process.
According to the latest report from the Pentagon’s weapons tester, the first test failed when a problem with the missile’s fin actuator was detected before it was released from the B-52 bomber carrying it. The second test failed when a problem happened after the missile was released from the B-52, preventing the booster motor from igniting, which led to a loss of the missile.
The service is now trying to sort out what happened in the most recent incident in December. That review is expected to be completed this summer.
“So far, we haven’t had one that fired effectively … that’s left the rail and actually where the engine is fired,” Venable said. “We don’t know how far or how well this program is going because it’s literally still hanging on the rail. So we need to do more tests, and we need to do those tests much more rapidly than what we’re doing.”
Kendall said such troubles are expected for a program under development, and he wants the Air Force to learn from them.
Asked if it’s still possible to begin producing the ARRW this fiscal year, as the Air Force had hoped, the service said a decision on production “remains event driven and will occur after operational utility is demonstrated and [the] production readiness review is completed.”
The Air Force in 2020 canceled its other major hypersonic program, the Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon, due to budget pressures. DARPA’s Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept conducted a successful free-flight test in September 2021.
Raytheon and Northrop Grumman teamed up to accelerate air-breathing hypersonic vehicle development. (Raytheon Technologies)
At the meeting with top Pentagon officials in February, industry executives listed concerns about advancing hypersonic technology, including supply chain constraints, acquisition barriers, budget instability and inaccessible test facilities. The executives said that without suitable testing facilities, the department will struggle to adopt a “test often, fail fast and learn” approach.
Kendall said testing failures haven’t convinced him to step away from hypersonic work.
“I rethink all of our programs all the time,” he said when asked whether he’s considering altering the Air Force’s approach. But hypersonic projects would likely continue “in one form or another,” he added
“I don’t think there’s any question we’re going to want to keep moving the technology forward,” Kendall said. “But the specific applications are going to be based on cost-effectiveness. … Hypersonics are not going to be cheap anytime soon, so I think we’re more likely to have relatively small inventories of hypersonics than large ones.”
A leading DoD hypersonics official, however, said at CSIS’ Feb. 7 discussion that numbers will matter — and the U.S. must increase production rates, particularly on thermal protection systems for glide vehicles and on additive manufacturing for cruise missile engines, which take the longest to produce.
“Everything we’re doing in terms of interceptors, the strike weapons, isn’t going to make a difference unless we have sufficient quantities,” said Gillian Bussey, director of the Joint Hypersonics Transition Office in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “Having a dozen hypersonic missiles … that isn’t going to scare anyone.”
“If we can reduce the production time and increase the capacity and double, triple, quadruple those production numbers, I think that’s how we really make a difference,” Bussey added. “Those investments, I think, need to start now in order for them to be there when we’re ready with a program of record or to start cranking out real numbers.” (Source: Defense News)
11 Mar 22. Turkish Navy installs new CIWS on Rhein-class ship. The Turkish Navy’s Rhein-class auxiliary ship TCG Sokullu Mehmet Paşa has been spotted with a new gun system installed in the place of its usual aft gun turret. The whole gun turret and associated radar and other sensor systems were under wraps as Sokullu Mehmet Paşa was spotted sailing from its home port in Tuzla, Istanbul, in late February. However, Janes assesses the outlines to be compatible with the Gökdeniz naval close-in weapon system (CIWS). While the Rhein-class warships are normally equipped with two 100 mm gun turrets in A and X positions, the aft gun of Sokullu Mehmet Paşa. (Source: Janes)
11 Mar 22. GA-EMS Test Firings Advance Projectile Interceptor Design. General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced today that it has completed a major test series in collaboration with the Army and Navy to advance the state-of-the-art in gun-launched defensive projectile interceptor designs. Identical projectile designs were test fired from a railgun at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and a powder gun at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. The projectiles reached record hypersonic velocities from the railgun launch and tested the projectiles’ guided flight capabilities from both gun systems. GA-EMS delivered projectiles with integrated gun-hardened guidance electronics to test their capability to sustain data links and control trajectory while the projectiles undergo intense G-forces at hypersonic speeds.
“Close communication among the team members was critical to the outcome of this effort,” stated Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. “We tested significant advancements in our projectile design, demonstrating survivability and good aerodynamic performance at these velocities, while testing guidance capabilities that promise greater precision and accuracy to effectively meet and defeat airborne threats.”
GA-EMS fabricated and delivered completed projectile assemblies which contain guidance electronics and control actuation systems. GA-EMS worked closely with the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center (DEVCOM-AC) and the Naval Surface Warfare Center – Dahlgren Division (NSWC-DD) to perform several test firings. During the first test series, projectiles were launched using the Navy’s 32 megajoule railgun system at the White Sands Missile Range. The second test series fired the same projectile designs from a 120 mm powder gun at Dugway Proving Ground
“We have completed our contract to fabricate, deliver, and test prototype projectiles in railgun and powder gun environments,” continued Forney. “GA-EMS continues to develop technologies to bring the most affordable, gun-launched hypersonic and supersonic weapon system capabilities to the future battlespace.” (Source: ASD Network)
10 Mar 22. WDS 2022: MBDA, SAMI sign agreement on missile maintenance. Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI) and European missile systems conglomerate MBDA signed a memorandum of understanding to further their relationship at the World Defense Show (WDS) in Riyadh on 8 March. SAMI CEO Walid Abukhaled told Janes that under the agreement a centre for missile maintenance, repair, and overhaul would be established in the Kingdom, with SAMI staff also going to France to study at the company’s Missile Systems University. A SAMI spokesperson further told Janes that MBDA’s Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM) and CAMM-ER (extended range) missiles were planned to be produced by the joint venture with SAMI, as well as the SPEAR (Selective Precision Effects At Range) air-launched stand-off weapon. Further capacity building to help Saudi nationals design, develop, and produce complex missiles and missile systems would also be transferred. However, production would be subject to a contract award by the Saudi Ministry of Defence. (Source: Janes)