On April 2/07, BB&T Capital Markets upgraded EDO Corporation to “buy,” in part because they thought EDO was well positioned to win a part of the $200-$500 million Counter- Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Device (RCIED) Electronic Warfare (CREW) contracts going forward. Those contracts came through, with awards for the system EDO now calls the CVRJ (CREW Vehicle Receiver/Jammer). The Pentagon refers to Spiral 2.1 Vehicle Mounted CREW systems, which are one element of the DoD’s Joint Counter RCIED Electronic Warfare program.

CREW systems are vehicle mounted electronic jammers designed to prevent the remote detonation of land mines. These are often triggered by off-the-shelf technology like cell phones, in order to avoid visible wires. EDO makes the Warlock jammer, a derivative of its earlier “Shortstop” product. If only these devices were as widespread in movie theaters and performance halls.

US “Chair” Force?

$65M to General Atomics. (September 30/11)

UAVs have played a crucial role in gathering intelligence in the US military’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are thousands of UAVs gathering and distributing valuable data on the enemy, but each system uses its own proprietary subsystem to control the air vehicle as well as receive and process the data. Yet commanders need access to information gathered by all types of UAVs that are flying missions in their area of operation.

Recognizing this shortcoming, the Pentagon began an effort in 2008 to break down the proprietary barriers between UAV systems and create a single GCS that will fly all types of drones.

This free-to-view DID Spotlight article examines the problem of proprietary UAV systems and efforts to break down barriers to sharing vital UAV-generated information.

• Ground Control to Major Tom: The Role of GCS
• Come Together: The Pentagon’s UCS-WG
• Are You Going STANAG?: NATO’s Standard
• One is the Loneliest Number: AAI’s OneSystem
• Red ROVER, Red ROVER: The ROVER Datalink
• Masters of the Universe: Raytheon’s CGCS
• Too Close to the Sun: ICARUS and Autonomy
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
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• The US Army released the complete draft RFP for the HMMWV Modernized Expanded Capacity Vehicle (HMMWV MECV) Research Development Test and Evaluation (RDTE) phase. This recap program intends to modernize M1151 and M1152 Humvees. The Industry Daily for source selection is scheduled on October 7 at Selfridge Air National Guard Base (SANG), MI. Up to 3 RDTE contracts will be rewarded out of that 1st phase with a finalized RFP due on Nov. 10. The Production Phase RFP is tentatively scheduled to be released 1QFY13 (i.e. less that 15 months from now) and source from a single producer, with an aim of capping unit manufacturing cost at $180K. According to Defense News, so far the 4 following teams have lined up: Granite Tactical Vehicles/Textron Systems, AM General, BAE Systems and Oshkosh.

• The San Diego Union-Tribune says the US Marines’ aviation is facing a period of turbulence.

• Lockheed Martin is still pushing for the sale of new F-16 C/Ds to Taiwan, according to Reuters, based on a memo they have seen that the manufacturer sent to US lawmakers. The firm doesn’t seem to believe F-35s to be a credible option.
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• At the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on President Obama’s unilateral decision to engage US forces in Libya, State Department Advisor Harold Koh stated that Congressional approval was not required due to the ‘limited’ nature of military operations. Ranking Member Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) responded that the United States’ roles in Libya are significant as it provides the majority of intelligence and air refueling.

• The Senate Armed Services Committee holds a confirmation hearing for the commander chosen to replace General David Petraeus in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General John Allen.

• The US Army issues a Request for Information (RFI) to support the development of the Medium Range Multi-Purpose (MRMP) Vertical Take Off and Landing UAS acquisition strategy. The RFI also covers the Army and Navy Medium Range Maritime UAS (MRMUAS) Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) program.

• The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) orders 12,500 rugged encrypted tablet personal computers from Software Box Ltd. The £30 million ($48 million) five-year contract also includes maintenance support and forms part of the Joint Asset Management and Engineering Solutions (JAMES) project.

• Speculation mounts that Textron may follow L-3 and become a target for activist investors.

• Northrop Grumman signs a Global Supply Chain (GSC) Deed with the Australian Ministry of Defence. The deed forms part of a program designed to increase the presence of Australia’s defense industry within global supply chains.

• Russia announces the successful test-firing of its Bulava (SS-NX-30) submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM). Prior to today only seven of the fourteen previous test launches of the Bulava were deemed a success.

• Italy takes delivery of its first NH90 NFH naval helicopter, making it the 2nd delivery customer after the Netherlands. But when will the type be fully operational?

• The US DoD announces that recruitment and retention levels for all four active services and five of six reserve components met or exceeded their year-to-end accession goals.

LEMV concept

The rise of modern terrorism, sharply increasing costs to recruit and equip professional soldiers, and issues of energy security, are forcing 2 imperatives on modern armies. Modern militaries need to be able to watch wide areas for very long periods of time. Not just minutes, or even hours any more, but days if necessary. The second imperative, beyond the need for that persistent, unblinking stare up high in the air, is the need to field aerial platforms whose operating costs won’t bankrupt the budget.

These pressures are forcing an eventual convergence toward very long endurance, low operating cost platforms. Many are lighter-than-air vehicles or hybrid airships, whose technologies have advanced to make them safe and militarily useful again. On the ground near military bases, Raytheon’s RAID program fielded aerostats, and then surveillance towers. Lockheed Martin has also fielded tethered aerostats: TARS along the USA’s southern border, and PTDS aerostats on the front lines. The same trend can be observed in places like Thailand and in Israel; and Israeli experience has led to export orders in Mexico and India. At a higher technical level, Raytheon’s large JLENS aerostats are set to play a major role in American aerial awareness and cruise missile defense, and its ground and air scanning ISIS radar was developed under a DARPA project, to pair with Lockheed Martin’s fully mobile High Altitude Airship.

The Army’s LEMV project fits in between RAID and HAA/ISIS, in order to give that service mobile, affordable, very long term surveillance in uncontested airspace. Its technologies may also wind up playing a role in other projects:

• The Army’s LEMV
• Surveillance Options, and the Rise of the LTAs
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
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• The Chief Executive of Boeing’s defense, space and security unit says that the company is counting on growing demand in Asia and the Middle East for military aircraft to help offset possible spending cuts in Europe and the U.S.

• A Lockheed Martin Executive tells Reuters that the company is willing to outsource some production of its F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Japan if the country’s government decides to buy them as its next mainstay fighter aircraft.

• Saab receives orders from the Royal Thai Navy to upgrade two frigates with the latest generation of 9LV Mk4 and CEROS 200 combat management and fire control systems. The contracts will also supply data-link equipment which will allow communication between the frigates and Thailand’s existing Gripen aircraft and Saab 340s.
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• Russia to invest $2.6 billion in ballistic missile systems with the goal of doubling production from 2013, says Prime Minister Putin.

• Aviation Week offers an overview of Russia’s planned military helicopter buys over the next few years, and notes an issue with Brazil’s November 2008 attack helicopter buy of Mi-35Ms.

• With the DDG-1000 Zumwalt destroyers ended at just 3 ships, BAE is proposing a 155mm “AGS-Lite” turret swap for their 5”/62 caliber Mk.45 MOD4 gun that now equips DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyers. It has no stealth, half the weight of the AGS turret, and less rocket-boosted, GPS-guided 155mm LRLAP ammunition in the magazine. It is offered as an option if the US Navy wants to begin reversing their huge decline in naval fire support capabilities. Meanwhile, Finmeccanica’s Oto Melara offers “Vulcano” [PDF] ultra-long range 127mm/54 caliber rounds with IIR or GPS guidance, compatibility with older 5”/54 caliber Mk.45 MOD2s on ships under DDG 80, and a parent firm subsidiary in the USA’s DRS.

• UK MoD shakes up management at its Defense Equipment and Support organization.

• Ukraine to field Stugna-P laser-guided anti-tank missile systems capable of destroying low-altitude aerial targets as well.

• Pentagon posts documents detailing security measures for a new annex building online.

• Northrop Grumman snags $99 million USAF contract to perform base security operations at overseas US air bases, and a $77.9 million US Army contract to development software for air and missile defense workstations.

• Up to $189.4 million to Booz Allen Hamilton to provide cyberspace technology integration for the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific.

• Virtual Corp. gets $49 million contract from DoD to provide disaster recovery software and services.

• Bell Helicopter flies its privately-developed “OH-58 Block II”, a testbed for technologies that could go into their Armed Aerial Scout competition entry – or circumvent AAS entirely via the Army’s proposed “OH-58F” reset & upgrade program.

• DCNS mates the fore and aft halves of its 1st Gowind Offshore Patrol Vessel, finishing the hull. The OPV is being built under a private development contract, followed by a service agreement with the French Navy for 3 years of operations. The goal? Endorsement and operational success, to boost export sales for the scalable OPV/ Corvette family.

• Booz & Co.’s strategy + business magazine on “Crafting Best-in-Class Business Intelligence.”

• Lockheed Martin agrees to pay $2 million to settle a DoJ lawsuit accusing the company, as well as partners SAIC and AES, of conspiring with former government employees Stephen Adamec and Robert Knesel to ensure the 3 companies were awarded a $115M contract in 2004 to support the Naval Oceanographic MSRC (now the Navy DSRC).

• Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle author DJ Elliott offers thoughts on Iraq’s military development, ability to defend itself, and 5 most pressing weaknesses against conventional invasion.

• The Philippines is eying a used US Coast Guard Hamilton Class high endurance cutter. The 378 foot Hamilton Class is being replaced by the Bertholf Class National Security Cutters, but the USCG remains overstretched with its current fleet.

• France’s DCNS is capitalizing on its nuclear submarine knowledge to offer a “FlexBlue” self-contained mini-reactor in the 50-250 MW range, to be installed underwater off the coast. It would be shipped out for maintenance, and use seawater for cooling. Areva, EDF and the CEA R&D organization are also involved.

• Another fire on Britain’s S120 HMS Ambush, the second-of-class Astute fast attack submarine. HMS Astute has certainly had its own share of problems as well. The fitting out and testing periods are when you’re supposed to find them, and this fire was as minor as a submarine fire can be… but at some point, the number and types of faults become worrying.

• The RAF’s 7th C-17 arrives at Brize Norton.

• Up to $102 million to SAIC for logistics support to the Army’s 1st Theater Sustainment Command.

• API Technologies completes acquisition of SenDec, a Fairport, NY-based defense electronics manufacturer, in a stock swap deal worth around $97 million.

• ManTech gets $57 million contract to supply engineering, technical and administrative support to the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division for US navy aircraft and systems.

• Textron to deliver the final 47-foot motor lifeboat (MLBs) to the Mexican Navy under a contract to build 6 craft based on 117 MLBs currently in use by the USCG.

CH-146, Northwest Territories

During a January 2011 visit to Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Ltd’s assembly line in Mirabel, QB, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a 10-year, C$ 640 million (about $646 million, get used to this) contract to maintain Canada’s fleet of about 90 CH-146 Griffons (Bell 412EP) utility helicopters, until their expected withdrawal from service in 2021. It also includes the option to extend the contract for up to 4 more 1-year periods, stretching it to 2025 if necessary.

• Tensions rise as South Korea conducts live-fire drills near Yeonpyeong Island, the site of the North’s earlier attack.

• USA’s Ground Based Midcourse Defense system against long-range ballistic missiles misses its target in a recent test.

• Chinese documents seen by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun seem to confirm the more-or-less open secret that China aims to deploy an aircraft carrier. China is also working on a “J-15” naval fighter variant based on a Ukranian SU-33 prototype, while rumored SU-33 sales from Russia have made no progress.
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