UH-72As: MEDEVAC
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In 2006, while the rest of EADS was targeted for divestment and beginning to face bottom line issues, Eurocopter continued to fly. Fresh off of major wins with Korea’s KHP development program ($1.3 billion) and Australia’s NH90 order ($1.5 bilion), in June 2006 Eurocopter racked up the biggest win of all: its EC145 will serve as the USA’s future Light Utility Helicopter, replacing existing UH-1s and OH-58s in a 345 helicopter, $3+ billion program between 2006-2015. Losing entries included Team MD Helicopters’ 902 Explorer NOTAR design, Bell-Textron’s 412EP Twin Huey, and Team AugustaWestland’s AB139. See DID coverage of the 4 competing teams.

Eurocopter’s LUH first carried the designation UH-145, before being renamed UH-72A Lakota at a December 2006 naming ceremony. This marks the first major US military program awarded to an EADS company; as such, it represents a breakthrough for both Eurocopter and its EADS parent. It would be followed by a much bigger breakthrough in the KC-X competition, a win whose path was paved in many ways by the UH-72’s success.

DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. This is DID’s FOCUS Article regarding the LUH program, covering the program and its objectives, the winning bid team and industrial arrangements, and contracts. The latest additions include a visit to the Lakota tribe, a step toward full assembly in America, and the year 4 LUH order from the Army…

• The LUH Program: Objectives & Background
• The LUH Winner: Eurocopter’s EC145/ UH-72A
• The LUH Program: Industrial Arrangements
• The LUH Program: Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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“Anti-radiation missiles” are designed to find, home in on, and destroy enemy air defense radars; they are often carried by specialist aircraft that accompany air strikes to perform the SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) mission. In December 2008, Brazil’s government approved a $108 million April 2008 contract with Pakistan for 100 of Mectron’s MAR-1 anti-radiation missiles. DID sources add that the deal needed the Brazilian government’s loan guarantee to become effective.

In contrast with other Mectron Engenharia missiles, such as the MAA-1 SRAAM or the forthcoming A-Darter partnership, Mectron appears to be working hard to avoid publicity for the MAR-1. The firm would not even acknowledge the missile’s existence for many years, and details remain sketchy. Pictures like this one show a MAR-1 that appears to be similar in size to counterparts like Raytheon’s AGM-88 HARM, and has a reported range of 25 km when launched from an altitude of about 33,000 feet/ 10 km. Testing appears to have ended, and it will equip Brazil’s upgraded AMX and F-5BR aircraft once it is accepted into service.

The recent massacre perpetrated in Mumbai, India has complicated Brazil’s approval announcement. As attention is drawn to the role Pakistan’s intelligence agency has played in this and other attacks, Brazil’s Defense Minister Nelson Jobim has been forced to respond: “Brazil negotiates with Pakistan, not with Pakistani terrorists… To cancel this deal would be to attribute terrorist activities to the Pakistani government.”

Brazil’s friends in India are already doing that, of course. On the other hand, Brazil needs export customers in order to achieve its national goal of re-building its defense industries. Jobim has been quoted as saying that the deal will allow Mectron to increase its production from 1 missile per month to 5 missiles. A sale to Pakistan, followed by integration into a platform like the Pakistani-Chinese JF-17 lightweight fighter, could also open up a number of new markets for Mectron. Defesa Brazil [Portuguese] | AFP via The Straits Times | Jane’s re: MAR-1 | Seguranca & Defesa article, incl. details re: MAR-1 [English].

CH-146 w. (old)
AN/AAQ-501
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In December 2005, “Canada Purchases $200M in Equipment for Operation ARCHER in Afghanistan” noted the issues created by Canada’s complete lack of integrated in-theater battlefield helicopter support. Events since that date have been instructive.

That complete lack of helicopters eventually became a large political problem. When the January 2008 Manley Report [PDF] was delivered to Parliament, it effectively made Canada’s continued military presence in Afghanistan contingent on fielding an adequate solution by February 2009. Canada’s delayed CH-47F Chinook buy wouldn’t arrive quickly enough, so the government wound up buying 6 used CH-47Ds from the US Army in August 2008 – more than 2 years after calls for exactly that course of action had begun.

Those helicopters will still need escorts, however, and so will some convoys. Meanwhile, allied AH-64 Apaches or Mi-24 Hinds are in high demand, andare not always available. A September 2006 article from the CASR think tank had suggested turning Canada’s CH-146 Griffon/ Bell 412 helicopters into light armed reconnaissance helicopters, making a virtue of necessity given the type’s limited carrying capacity in hot and high altitude conditions.

In fall 2007, however, the (appointed) Liberal Party Senator Colin Kenny was ridiculed by Canada’s defense minister for suggesting the very same thing…

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LAV-III, FOB Robinson
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The Government of Canada recently awarded “EODC Engineering, Developing and Licencing Inc.” of Ottawa, Canada C$ 81.5 million (about $65.5 million ) worth of contracts to provide for add-on-armour kits, modules and spares for its LAV III wheeled armored personnel carriers. LAV-III vehicles are known as Piranha-III in Europe, and are the base platform for the USA’s Stryker family of vehicles. Canadian LAV-IIIs have seen extensive use on the front lines of Afghanistan, where they have both achieved important successes and demonstrated key limitations.

The first, C$ 68 million contract, includes kits, modules, and spares for LAV III supplemental armor, as well as the repair and overhaul of their current modules and kits. An additional contract estimated at C$ 13.5 million was also awarded to EODC to provide “an Improvised Explosive Device Protection Kit.” The government release adds that EODC is the sole-source supplier because it owns the intellectual property rights. As the CASR think tank points out, Engineering Office Deisenroth Canada (EODC) is a subsidiary of Germany’s IBD Deisenroth; and IBD Deisenroth’s site makes it clear that Canadian LAVs have already started to use AMAP-IED armor.

AMAP-IED armor
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Deisenroth makes the MEXAS armoring that has outfitted Canadian LAVs and Leopard 1A5 tanks. Its more advanced AMAP line offers greater protection against medium-caliber small arms fire, fragmentation, and rockets. There’s also a dedicated AMAP-IED product, whose combination of materials and spacings provides good side protection against a range of threats that include land mine blasts and even EFP side-attacks. Under-belly armor is also part of the kit and offers additional land mine protection, though the LAV-III’s base design is not optimized against this threat in the same way as the v-hulled MRAPs. Government of Canada release | CASR.

Note that even perfect armor may not solve the problem completely. AMAP-IED may be an important step forward in general protection, and offers insurance against a casualty spike if EFP mines become more prevalent in theater. Past casualty reports, however, indicate that many of the LAV-III’s mine-related casualties were blast pressure injuries to soldiers who are riding with part of body outside a vehicle hatch. This is the result of a tradeoff between the need for all-around awareness, and the benefits of having locals see your faces and presence; versus the need for protection.

FMTV Family
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Just before Canada Day 2006, Canada’s minority Conservative Party government outlined a C$ 1.2 billion (USD $1 billion) RFP for new medium-sized logistics trucks and associated equipment. These trucks will become the new backbone of the Canadian Forces’ land transport capabilities, replacing the 1950s-era designs of its MLVW trucks (really, US M-35/M-36 designs with some modifications) built in the 1980s.

The Bombarider-built MLVWs are reaching the end of their service lives, and have limited up-armoring capacity which is crucial for survival in places like Afghanistan. This may explain why the Canadian forces in Afghanistan are relying on their HLVW heavy trucks instead, 10-ton capacity Steyr vehicles related to the smaller US FMTV medium truck family.

Under the new plan, the Canadian Forces will purchase up to 2,300 new medium trucks. What are the requirements? The configurations and numbers? Is this a welcome arrival that fills a critical gap? A mistake that will leave Canada out of step with shifting trends? Or a politically-driven move that falls into the “something, and hence better than nothing” category? Or all 3? DID has answers – and a recent update from Ottawa, which explains the lack of progress on this contract…

• If You Could Read My Mind: Medium Truck Requirements
• Go-Go Round: Contracts and Updates [NEW]
• Appendix A: It’s Too Late, He Wins – Issues and Analysis (July 1/06)
  
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CC-130 over BC
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DID has covered the growing realization in the US military that its aging aircraft fleet will begin posing serious challenges in the coming years. In a related vein, consider the problems that Canada is currently experiencing. In 2005, Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier said that “Our [CC-130 E/H] Hercules fleet right now is rapidly going downhill. We know that three years and a little bit more than that, the fleet starts to become almost completely inoperational and we will have to stop supporting operations – or else, not be able to start them.”

The CC-130s are used in a wide variety of roles, from tactical transport to aerial refueling and even search and rescue. The Canadian Forces do not own any other aircraft in a similar class, which makes replacement essential. EADS tried to remain in the running with its Airbus A400M, and other alternatives were proposed, but the specific requirements set by Canada’s Department of National Defense (DND) tended to exclude alternatives. In December 2008, a program worth almost C$ 5 billion got underway to buy 17 of Lockheed’s privately-developed C-130J “Super Hercules” planes.

In this revised Spotlight article, DID can offer additional details regarding the Canadian procurement program, and the thinking behind it; some background that points up the parallels between the issues faced by the Canadians, and the experiences of other air services; and some insight into why the buy took so long, after the C-130J was declared Canada’s preferred choice in an “expedited” process. Which ended up placing an order long after the suposed deadline. Despite these delays, and the supposed urgency of the situation, Canada’s DND appeared to be ignoring a USAF offer of early delivery… but that may have changed.

• The Transports and the Damage Done: Issues With the Fleet
• Live Rust: What To Do Until the New Planes Arrive?
• Bite the Bullet: Canada’s Procurement Approach and Process
• Comes a Time: Key Developments and Contracts [updated]
• Someday: Facing the Future, At Last?
• Appendix A: Are You Ready for the Country – Possible Competitors C-130J, C-130M, A400M… IL-76?
• Appendix B: Walk On – Additional Readings & Sources
  
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Austrian Alouette-III
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In 2003, India issued an RFP for 197 light helicopters to replace its Army’s aging fleet of Chetaks (Aerospatiale SA316 Alouette III) and Cheetahs (SE316B Alouette II). These helicopters are old designs, but they have consistently proven themselves in high altitude operations, and remain useful as long as their airframe’s remain safe. The problem is, at their age that isn’t a very long time. India’s Army Aviation Corps needs replacements, and wants new helicopters with better performance and support characteristics. These new machines will perform a variety of armed light utility tasks, including ferrying loads of up to 75 kg to troops based at heights of 23,000 feet around Kashmir, the Siachen Glacier, et. al. Operation at these altitudes has traditionally been very challenging for helicopters, owing to reduced rotor lift in the thinning air.

Indian officials were discussing a deal worth between $500-$600 million to buy 60 helicopters outright, with the remaining 137 being built under license by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). Eurocopter’s AS550 C3 Fennec and Bell Textron’s 407 competed in the second and final round of summer trials, and as 2007 ticked toward a close, it looked like we had a winner. As often happens in India, however, the process ended up completely derailed. Now, there’s a new RFP – but inside lobbying from HAL has backed India off of its initial goal of 312 foreign helicopters.

Now reports of Bell Helicopter’s withdrawal look set to make this a smaller competition. Meanwhile HAL, who faces the new situation of penalties for late delivery, has decided to look for a foreign partner to help with its separate portion of India’s LUH buy…

• The Contenders
• Milestones & Developments [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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Snatch 2 Land Rover
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“UK SAS Commander Quits, Citing Inadequate Equipment” placed the UK’s Snatch Land Rovers at the center of a series of controversies and senior resignations over the vehicle’s lack of protection. To date, 34 British troops have been killed in Land Rover Snatch vehicles while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan – 1/8 of all British casualties in those theaters.

DID’s article detailed Britain’s purchases of up-armored and all-terrain vehicles to supplement the Snatch, including a recent GBP 700 million order for various supply and specialty vehicles like the Buffalo and Wolfhound mine-protected vehicles, Navistar’s Husky TSV, and the Coyote TSV to accompany Supacat’s off-road Jackal wheeled vehicles. The MoD has also been forced to publicly address the Snatch furor on its blog, where it said that:

“An article in the Daily Telegraph claims that the deaths of hundreds of soldiers are linked to Snatch Land Rover vehicles in Afghanistan and Iraq. We take the protection of our troops very seriously, but operations are inherently risky. We take the steps we can to minimise the risks whilst remembering that we must achieve the tasks required…. If there was a better vehicle, a smaller vehicle, out there that we could get our hands on quickly, or could have got our hands on quickly, we would do so or would have done so. We have been going round the international market trying to see if there is another smaller vehicle – it doesn’t exist. We are spending over [GBP] 30million to upgrade all our Snatch vehicles on operations to Snatch Vixen, which provides the same level of manoeuvrability with increased protection. These modifications will give the Snatch Vixen the highest levels of protection for its size and weight class, compared to other vehicles out there on the market.”

RAAF C-130J-30, flares
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Most American planes rely on the US market as their base, then seek exports. The privately-developed C-130J “Super Hercules” was different. Australia, Britain, Denmark, and Italy were all ahead of the curve, and have been operating this heavily redesigned upgrade of the popular C-130 Hercules transport aircraft for several years. By the time the C-130J finally reached “initial operating capability” for the US military late in 2006, these faster-moving foreign customers were already banding together to create a common upgrade set for their serving fleets. A number of variants are currently flying in transport (C-130J), stretched transport (C-130J-30), aerial broadcaster (EC-130J), coast guard patrol (HC-130J), aerial tanker (KC-130J), and even hurricane hunter weather aircraft (WC-130J).

Canada, India, Norway and Qatar recently moved to join the global C-130J customer base. In America, meanwhile, some momentum is building. C-130J purchases are taking place under both annual budgets and supplemental wartime funding, in order to replace a US tactical transport fleet that’s flying old aircraft and in dire need of major repairs.

The C-130J program has been the focus of a great deal of controversy in America – and even of a full program restructuring in 2006. Some early concerns from critics were put to rest when the C-130J demonstrated in-theater performance on the front lines that represented a major improvement over its C-130E/H predecessors. A valid follow-on question might be: does it break the bottleneck limitations that have hobbled a number of multi-billion dollar US Army vehicle development programs?

This DID FOCUS Article describes the C-130J, examines the bottleneck issue, covers global developments for the C-130J program, and looks at present and emerging competitors. The latest news is an American contract to finance a number of special forces modiciations…

• The (Private) Labors of Hercules: the C-130J
• The C-130J and the 20-ton Bottleneck
• Turbulent Flight: The C-130J Program
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources, incl. emerging competitors & Special Operations requirements
  
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ROKS King Sejong the Great
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KDX (Korean Destroyer eXperimental) is the Republic of Korea’s big surface combatant shipbuilding program. This 3-phased program involves 3 individual classes of ships. The 3 KDX-I Gwanggaeto the Great Class ships are called destroyers, but a 3,800 tons their size and armament more properly rank them as small frigates. The last ship of class was commissioned in 2000. The next 6 KDX-II Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin Class ships are indeed destroyers at 6,085 tons full load, with a hull design licensed from Germany’s IABG and more advanced systems that include SM-2 air defense missiles. They were commissioned between 2003-2008.

With that experience under their belts, Korea has now launched into the 3rd phase of the program. The KDX-III King Sejong the Great destroyers are by far the largest at 8,500 tons standard displacement and 11,000 tons full load. They carry the AEGIS combat system, along with a wide array of American, European, and Korean weapons and missiles.

DID’s article offers details regarding the class, as well as some of the relevant contracts…

• The KDX III Sejongdaewang-Ham Class
• Contracts and Key Events
• Additional Readings
  
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