Harpoon in flight

The sub-sonic, wave-skimming *GM-84 Harpoon is the US Navy’s sole anti-shipping missile, with the minor exception of small AGM-119B Penguin missiles and anti-tank Hellfires carried on some H-60 helicopters. The Harpoon has been adapted into several variants, and exported to many navies around the world. At present, the Harpoon family includes air, sea/land, and submarine-launched versions of the GM-84. Variants such as the land attack SLAM variant and the modern AGM-84K Joint Standoff Land Attack Missiles-Expanded Response (SLAM-ER) will also be covered in this DID FOCUS Article, which describes the missiles themselves, and covers global contracts involving this family.

The Harpoon family’s best known competitor is the French/MBDA *M38/39/40 Exocet, but recent years have witnessed a growing competitive roster at both the subsonic (Israel’s Gabriel family, Russia’s SS-N-27 Klub family, Saab’s RBS15, Kongsberg’s stealthy NSM, China’s YJ-82/C-802 used by Hezbollah in Lebanon), and supersonic (Russia’s SS-N-22 Sunburn/Moskit, SS-N-26 Yakhont, and some SS-N-27 Klub variants, India’s SS-N-26 derived PJ-10 BrahMos) tiers.

• GM-84 Harpoon Family: The Missiles [updated]
• GM-84 Harpoon Family: Contracts & Key Events, FY 2007 – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  Continue Reading… »

Karwar, India: The Site

Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee opened the first phase of India’s giant western naval base INS Kadamba in Karwar, Karnataka state, on May 31/05, saying it would protect the country’s Arabian Sea maritime routes. Kadamba has become India’s 3rd operational naval base, after Mumbai and Visakhapatnam. It is valuable for its location, and also for its ability to transcend the fundamental capacity and security limitations of India’s other 2 naval bases.

INS Kadamba is being built near Karwar in the southern state of Karnataka. That Phase I construction was just part of India’s ambitious “Project Seabird,” a potential INR 50+ billion project that will include the naval base, and much more besides. India finished a scaled-back Phase I a full decade after the originally-envisaged 1995 completion date. As might be expected, Phase II is now likely to be approved at last, long after it was supposed to have been finished:

• INS Kadamba, at Karwar [updated]
  • Rationale & Role
  • INS Kadamba: Expansion
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

Not a “heart” emoticon

The US Department of Defense released its annual report [PDF] to Congress on Chinese military developments. Analysis of spending is pretty bare-bones: “Using 2011 prices and exchange rates, DoD estimates China’s total military-related spending for 2011 ranges between $120 billion and $180 billion.” The report is thankfully more detailed on capabilities. For context, earlier reports in this series from 2010 and 2011 [PDFs] estimated military spending at $150B and $160B respectively. Last month the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission stated that many observers are drawing false conclusions from fixating their rear view mirror.

This comes as a good backdrop for recent news:

Map by Gene Thorp
The Washington Post

Pakistan will reopen its roads to NATO convoys, but at a price. They want to charge $5,000 per container, according to the Washington Post.

Other recent international defense developments include:

Patriot system
(click for explanation)

The USA’s MIM-104 Phased Array Tracking Radar Intercept On Target (PATRIOT) anti-air missile system offers an advanced backbone for medium-range air defense, and short-range ballistic missile defense, to America and its allies. This article covers domestic and foreign purchase requests and contracts for Patriot systems. It also compiles information about the engineering service contracts that upgrade these systems, ensure that they continue to work, and integrate them with wider command and defense systems.

The Patriot missile franchise’s future appears assured. At present, 12 nations have chosen it as a key component of their air and missile defense systems: the USA, Germany, Greece, Japan, Israel, Kuwait, The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan and the UAE. Poland, Qatar, and Turkey have all indicated varying levels of interest, and some existing customers are looking to upgrade their systems.

• The Patriot Missile Family
• Patriot Engineering Services Contracts, FY 2004 – Present
• The USA’s Patriot Programs
• Other Patriot-Related Contracts & Events, FY 2006 – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

SM-2 Launch, DDG-77
(click to view larger)

Variants of the SM-2 Standard missile are the USA’s primary fleet defense anti-air weapon, and serve with 13 navies worldwide. The most common variant is the RIM-66K-L/ SM-2 Standard Block IIIB, which entered service in 1998. The Standard family extends far beyond the SM-2 missile, however; several nations still use the SM-1, the SM-3 is rising to international prominence as a missile defense weapon, and the SM-6 program is on track to supplement the SM-2. These missiles are designed to be paired with the AEGIS radar and combat system, but can be employed independently by ships with older or newer radar systems.

DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. This article covers each variant in the Standard missile family, plus several years worth of American and Foreign Military Sales requests and contracts and key events; and offers the budgetary, technical, and geopolitical background that can help put all that in context.

• The Standard Missile Naval Defense Family: Missiles and Plans (SM-1 to SM-6)
• The Standard Missile Naval Defense Family: Budgets
• The Standard Missile Naval Defense Family: US Contracts & Events, FY 2006 – Present [updated]
• The Standard Missile Naval Defense Family: Exports & Related Key Events, CY 2005 – Present
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

No climbing Mt. Fuji

Back in February 2006, Inside The Air Force (ITAF) reported that momentum was building within the Air Force to sell the ultra-advanced F-22A Raptor abroad to trusted U.S. allies, as a way of increasing numbers and production. One of the most likely export prospects was Japan. The Raptor was discussed at a 2007 summit meeting, and in a number of other venues.

In the end, US politics denied export permission for downgraded export variants of the F-22, even as its production line was terminated. That has left Japan looking at other foreign fighter options in the short term, while considering a domestic fighter option as a long-term project. BAE patiently kept promoting the Eurofighter Typhoon, Boeing introduced a stealth F-15 variant before taking a different tack with its F/A-18 Super Hornet, and Lockheed Martin offered its F-35 models. The F-35A was eventually picked, but will its price cost it in Japan? This article looks at Japan’s current force, future options, and ongoing developments.

• The JASDF: Structure & Choices
  • What They Really Wanted: F-22s
• Japan’s F-X: Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

Link 16 Display
(click to see situation)

Jam-resistant Link-16 radios automatically exchange battlefield information – particularly locations of friendly and enemy aircraft, ships and ground forces – among themselves in a long-range, line-of-sight network. For example, air surveillance tracking data from an Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft can be instantly shared with fighter aircraft and air defense units. More than a dozen countries have installed Link 16 terminals on over 19 different land, sea, and air platforms, making it an interoperability success story.

While recent advancements may make AESA radars the future transmitters of choice, Link 16 is the current standard. The Multifunctional Information Distribution System-Low Volume Terminals (MIDS LVTs) were developed by a multinational consortium to provide Link 16 capability at a lower weight, volume, and cost than the Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS). This free-to-view DID Spotlight article throws a spotlight on the program, explaining Link 16, and covering associated contracts around the world.

• The MIDS-LVT Program
  • Into the Future: FAST & MIDS JTRS/ MIDS-J [updated]
• MIDS/ Link 16 Contracts & Key Events, 2004-2012 [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

JS Kongou

The JMSDF (Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force) is working closely with the USA on missile defense activities. Air Force cooperation has also improved by leaps and bounds, allowing for much closer coordination with the USA in all aspects including missile tracking.

Japanese involvement includes modification and improvements to the SM-3 long-range anti-air/ABM missile. This weapon will form the outer layer of Japan’s ABM system, deployed from its current fleet of 4 Kongo Class AEGIS destroyers. The inner layer will consist of land-based Japan Self Defense Forces PAC-3 Patriot missiles, and together they will form the initial ballistic missile defense for mainland Japan.

• The Equipment
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

• Britain’s Type 45 air defense destroyers Dragon & Defender are finishing up 2nd trials. They share the PAAMS combat system and Aster-30 long-range air defense missiles with France’s Horizon Class, which just shot down a Coyote maneuvering supersonic target.

• The UK is restarting military sales to Indonesia.

• Japan Security Watch opines on how to resolve the Okinawa conundrum between the US and Japan.
  Continue Reading… »