• Congressional lawmakers from Texas urge the Homeland Security Secretary to provide more unmanned aircraft systems for the border with Mexico.

• The investigation that has grounded all Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptors has widened beyond the onboard oxygen generating system (OBOGS).

• Defence Watch reports that General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada remains tight-lipped on the products it intends to submit for the country’s Close Combat Vehicle program.

• The European Defence Agency (EDA) and European Space Agency (ESA) are set to sign a cooperative agreement at the Paris Air Show. The agreement will look at opportunities for the pooling and sharing of resources and the exploration of an EU space situational awareness capability.

• Germany opens its Cyber Defense Center in Bonn. The Center forms part of the German government’s strategy for dealing with cyber threats and will be integral to safeguarding its administrative networks from attack.

• The final day of Europe’s UAS Conference 2011 covered pilot training for medium-altitude-long-endurance (MALE) UAVs and provided an overview of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ portfolio beyond the Predator.

• Danger Room reports on Microsoft’s collaboration with the U.S. Army to overcome one of the soldier’s greatest fears – death by PowerPoint. See also How to Prepare More Powerful Presentations.

• The global armored vehicle and counter IED vehicle market is predicted to reach $25.1 billion this year, but decline to $24.1 billion by 2021, according to ASDReports.com

• Russian prosecutors are pursuing criminal charges against space officials over 4.3 billion ruble loss of 3 Glonass navigation satellites as the result of a failed launch attempt aboard a Proton-M rocket in December 2010.

• Pressure is building for land assaults on Somali pirate havens. Step 1 in the inevitable renaissance of the traditional “punitive expedition” concept?

• General Atomics delivers the 1st set of EMALS electro-magnetic catapult production components, to equip the new Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier class.

• Alenia Aeronautica delivers a stealth-maintaining weapons bay for the prototype nEUROn Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle to France’s Dassault Aviation.

• USAF demonstrates new C2 forward concept design to improve mobility of the JFACC [PDF] command post using existing technology.

• Lockheed Martin chief Bob Stevens tells media that his company is cutting $500 million in cost, most of that coming from a 26% reduction in senior executive personnel through early retirement.

• Royal Navy leases retrofitted ice breaker MV Polarbjorn from Norway’s GC Rieber Shipping to replace damaged ice breaker HMS Endurance in Antarctica.

• Israel Aerospace Industries’ Bedek division is taking its K-767 multi-mission tanker transport (MMTT) to the global market. They’ll be converted from used Boeing 767-200s to keep the price low. IAI Bedek has already provided 1 to Colombia, and Israel is actively considering one as a combination VVIP plane/ tanker, alongside its KC-135s.

• Raytheon gets $84.7 million US Navy contact for continued production of the ALR-67v3 digital radar warning receivers for American F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, and Swiss F/A-18C/D Hornets. See the linked articles for full details; the Pentagon announced the contract in April 2011.

• The US Army may have to spend at least $441 million to replenish prepositioned equipment to meet combatant command planning requirements, part of the $4.5 billion needed to fully reconstitute the Army’s prepositioned stocks, the GAO says.

• Russian President Dmitry Medvedev fires weapons plant officials and defense ministry officials over delays in deliveries of new weapon systems, after musing about the good old days when they would have enjoyed “hard physical labor in the fresh air.” Getting Russia’s defense industry back on its feet won’t be easy – but the money is there. It will happen. Eventually.

• White House unveils [PDF] an international cyberspace strategy that includes a call for tightening global defenses against cyber attack and using “all necessary means” to defend networks. Until the US can go on offense, it doesn’t matter much since there’s no cost to attacks.
  Continue Reading… »

BAMS Operation Concept

The world’s P-3 Orion fleets have served for a long time, and many are reaching the end of their lifespans. In the USA, and possibly beyond, the new P-8 Poseidon Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft will take up the P-3’s role. While the P-8’s base 737-based airframe offers strong service & maintenance arguments in its favor, the airframe is expensive enough that the P-3s cannot be replaced on a 1:1 basis.

In order to extend the P-8 fleet’s reach, and provide additional capabilities, the Poseidon was expected to work with at least one companion UAV platform. This DID FOCUS Article explains the winning BAMS (Broad Area Maritime Surveillance) concept, the program’s key requirements, and its international angle. We’ll also cover ongoing contracts and key events related to the program, which chose Northrop Grumman’s navalized RQ-4N (now MQ-4C) Global Hawk:

• Next-Gen Maritime Patrol Systems: Issues and Options
• BAMS: Requirements and Missions
• BAMS: The MQ-4C Maritime Hawk
• BAMS: The International Angle
• BAMS: The Program [updated]
• BAMS: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  Continue Reading… »

• UK Public Accounts Committee report cites GBP 3.5 billion in cost overruns for RAF Typhoon fighter program; MoD says program is “under control and back on track.”

• Republican US senators send letter to President Obama, opposing reported proposal giving Russia “red-button” sway over European missile defense shield, and sharing sensitive information about the program.

• Boeing Military Aircraft president Christopher M. Chadwick discusses India’s potential orders for 4 more P-8i sea control jets, and 10 C-17 heavy aerial transports.

• DARPA wants to explore the science of storytelling. Otherwise known as “Neurobiology of Narratives.”

• David Axe offers front-line descriptions of recent combat in Afghanistan.

• Recent NASA R&D funding involves new “magic skin” outer layers for composite airframe structures – incl. conductive film and energy-absorbing foams.

• L-3’s Platform Integration division gets approval to begin low-rate initial production of the ISR mission avionics suite for the US Navy’s EP-3E Spiral 3-configured electronic eavesdropping aircraft.

• Russian Navy floats out 3rd Steregushchy-class corvette (Boyky) from the St. Peterburg Severnaya Verf shipyard.

• UK completes Route Trident extension linking Lashkar Gah and Gereshk in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.

• General Atomics opens a UK division to support its British customer, who has received 6 MQ-9 Reapers and awaits the arrival of the other 4.

• GD NASSCO launches USNS William McLean (T-AKE 12) dry cargo/ammunition supply ship at its San Diego shipyard.

• US falls short on efforts to develop and acquire medical countermeasures for CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiation, and Nuclear) agents, says GAO [PDF]. As the Japanese are learning, those countermeasures can have civilian applications, too.

Italian Predator

Additional details re: Predator XP characteristics. (March 4/11)

With MQ-1 Predator UAVs fading from the marketplace as advanced customers turn to the MQ-9 Reaper, General Atomics is moving to broaden the type’s appeal. At IDEX 2011, they announced a Memorandum of Understanding with the UAE’s International Golden Group to offer an RQ-1 “Predator XP” variant to the Emirates, with US government permission to broaden that customer base to “other countries in the Middle East and North Africa.”

General Atomics’ MQ-1 Predator UAV has achieved iconic status around the world, but export success has been limited. The Predator XP is designed to break the logjam that has stymied wider sales…

RAF MQ-9, armed

Updates from 2008, as orders rise to all 10. (Dec 7/10)

On Jan 3/08, the US DSCA announced [PDF] the United Kingdom’s official request for:

“10 MQ-9 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) aircraft, 5 Ground Control Stations, 9 Multi-Spectral Targeting Systems (MTS-B/AAS-52), 9 AN/APY-8 Lynx Synthetic Aperture Radar/Ground Moving Target Indicator (SAR/GMTI) systems, 3 Satellite Earth Terminal Sub Stations (SETSS), 30 H764 Embedded Global Positioning System Inertial Navigation Systems, Lynx SAR and MTS-B spares, engineering support, test equipment, ground support, operational flight test support, communications equipment, technical assistance, personnel training/equipment, spare and repair parts, and other related elements of logistics support. The estimated cost is $1.071 billion.”

So, what’s happening? Britain is now using its Reapers in armed mode, and is buying more UAVs within its requested order…

• The MQ-9 in RAF Service [updated]
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings [NEW]
  Continue Reading… »

• 2 months after its 1st request, the Pentagon asks for another 5 month extension, in order to negotiate a 3rd multi-year procurement deal for Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet family fighters. Tough sledding, or just bureaucrats stalling?

• BAE providing 16 RG-32M vehicles to Finland, upgrading 25 Norwegian M113 tracked APCs to M113E3 standard.

• Adapted ISR trend: Lockheed Martin showing its Gulfstream G3 “Dragon Star” ISR aircraft in the Middle East, will take it to Farnborough 2010.

• General Atomics submits navalized “Sea Avenger” to US Navy as carrier reconnaissance & strike UAV candidate. The jet-powered “Predator C” would implicitly compete against options like Northrop Grumman’s X-47B N-UCAS.

• Saudi Arabia upgrading its Black Hawk helicopters to UH-60L standard.

• US deploys 850 trainers to Afghanistan to fill gap in European effort.

• US nuclear weapon stockpile down to 5,113 warheads as of Sept 30/10, an 84% reduction since 1967, the Pentagon discloses [pdf].

• Strategy Analytics: Aegis Combat System to drive 5% annual growth in advanced electronics market demand.

• ATK gets $52 million order to supply 120mm training tank ammunition for the US Army’s M1A1/A2 Abrams main battle tank, including M865 kinetic energy and the M1002 multi-purpose anti-tank training rounds.

• CAE snags C$50 million in orders for helicopter and transport aircraft training and simulation support for the Germany, Dutch and Canadian defense ministries.

• US Navy to upgrade its Distributed Common Ground System with $72 million contract to BAE Systems.

• UK parliamentary panel says defense budget gap could reach GBP 36 billion, 6 times the MoD’s estimate. Defense programs could be slashed. Panel report | Reuters | Bloomberg | Telegraph | Daily Mail

• World Trade Organization hands down ruling on Airbus subsidies from 2004 case. Airbus plans to continue launch subsidy practices for the post-case A350, however, lengthening EADS’ odds in any KC-X tanker bid.

• US House of Representatives approves Rep. Skelton’s [D-MO] TRICARE Affirmation Act (H.R. 4887) 403 – 0. The bill explicitly deems that TRICARE and nonappropriated fund (NAF) health plans meet all of the minimum requirements under Obama’s new health care laws, and will not force military families to buy extra coverage or face fines.

• US Missile Defense Agency chief takes contractors to task over quality control, even as review confirms the growing need for ABM/BMD capabilities.

• Israelis finally lift the lid on their G550 Eitam AWE&C/ Shavit ELINT fleet, may have an eye on potential orders from India.

• Lockheed employee says General Atomics has a customer for its “Predator C/ Avenger” jet-powered, high-altitude UAV.

• Israelis going slower on the AirMule ducted-fan vertical take-off and landing cargo and medical evacuation UAV.

• Pakistan tells US it wants more military aid for war on terror. Christian Science Monitor | Reuters | Wall Street Journal | New York Times | AFP | See also “US GAO Criticizes Aid to Pakistan”

• The human element: USAF, Chilean medics learning from each other in EMEDS facility post-quake. US DSCA director is also in town.

• Red Hot Chili Peppers: India’s chili grenade delivers deep kick if dosed. Future versions may offer one hot minute to one big mob.

• General Dynamics gets $37 million contract to beef up M-1 Abrams tank design.

DDG-51 Destroyer
(click to view larger)

General Atomics in San Diego, CA won a $32.7 million not-to-exceed, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for development of a prototype hybrid electric drive (HED) system on DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class destroyers. Under the contract, General Atomics intends to demonstrate the capability for significant fuel savings by incorporating advanced electric machine technology.

General Atomics will perform the work in San Diego, CA (50%); Milwaukee, WI (24%), and Hudson, MA (26%), and expects to complete it by June 2014. This contract was competitively procured under a Broad Agency Announcement, with 23 offers received by the Naval Sea Systems Command at the Washington Navy Yard, DC (N00024-09-C-4222).

DID has more on DDG-51 improvements and the troubles with the DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class destroyer program that are prompting the U.S. Navy to look at beefing up the DDG-51…