Polish F-16C,
air display

F-16C/D Block 52 aircraft serve as the backbone of Poland’s air force. In February 2012, the USA’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced [PDF] Poland’s official request for F-16 weapons, as well as a 5 year fleet support contract that includes associated equipment, parts, and training. They will be bought using the USA’s Foreign Military Sales process, and the requested items are expected to cost up to $447 million.

If a contract is negotiated after the 15-day FMS wait period for NATO members, the prime contractors are listed as Raytheon in Tucson, AZ and Waltham, MA; Boeing in St. Charles, MO; McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in McAlester, OK; and United Technologies Corporation in Hartford, CT. Poland’s specific request includes…

RAFO F-16Cs w. CFTs

Oman is location on the eastern Arabian peninsula next to the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and across from Persia. It remains a very strategic country, controlling the Strait of Hormuz’s western bank, and providing an overwatch position for both the entrance to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean near Africa. The Royal Air Force of Oman (al-Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Sultanat Oman) currently flies 12 F-16 Block 50 fighters: 8 F-16Cs and 4 F-16Ds, whose delivery began in 2005. They complement the RAFO’s 18 Jaguar strike aircraft, and 11 single-seat subsonic Hawk 203 light fighters. Sultan Qaboos’ air force is looking to replace its aging Jaguars, and has made inquiries about buying 4+ generation fighters like Eurofighters or even JAS-39 Gripens for this purpose.

A formal DSCA request for 18 more F-16s raised the possibility of a different approach, and that has now become a firm contract. But BAE just received an RFP for its Eurofighter…

• The Sultanate of Oman’s History, and its Fighter Fleet
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
  Continue Reading… »

Just 5 in 2013? (Feb 1/12)

Northrop Grumman’s E-2C Hawkeye is a carrier-capable “mini-AWACS” aircraft, designed to give long-range warning of incoming aerial threats. Secondary roles include strike command and control, land and maritime surveillance, search and rescue, communications relay, and even civil air traffic control during emergencies. E-2C Hawkeyes began replacing previous Hawkeye versions in 1973; they fly from USN and French carriers, from land bases in the militaries of Egypt, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, and Taiwan; and in a drug interdiction role for the US Naval Reserve. Over 200 Hawkeyes have been produced.

The $17.5 billion E-2D Advanced Hawkeye program aims to build 75 new aircraft with significant radar, engine, and electronics upgrades in order to deal with a world of stealthier cruise missiles, saturation attacks, and a growing need for ground surveillance as well as aerial scans. It looks a lot like the last generation E-2C Hawkeye 2000 upgrade on the outside – but inside, and even outside to some extent, it’s a whole new aircraft.

• From E-2A Hawkeye to the E-2D
• E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: Program
  • American Budgets
  • Industrial Partners
• E-2D Advanced Hawkeye: Contracts & Key Events, Full History [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

CH-148 Cyclone

Lateness snowballing – damages, too. (Jan 28/12)

Canada’s Maritime Helicopter Replacement Program has been a textbook military procurement program over its long history. Unfortunately, it has been a textbook example of what not to do. While Canada’s Sea King helicopter fleet aged and deteriorated to potentially dangerous levels, political pettiness and lack of concern turned a straightforward off-the-shelf buy into a 25+ year long odyssey of cancellations, lawsuits, rebids, and more. Eventually, the Canadian military settled on Sikorsky’s H-92 Superhawk as the basis of its new CH-148 Cyclone Maritime Helicopter, which will serve from the decks of Canada’s naval ships and bases.

The civilian S-92 has gone on to some commercial success. To date, however, Canada has been the H-92’s only military customer – with all of the associated systems integration and naval conversion burdens. There are also deeper questions being raised concerning both the machines’ fitness, and DND’s conduct of the program as a whole. This article covers the rationale for, history of, and developments within Canada’s Maritime Helicopter Program:

• CH-148 MHP: Systems & Program
  • The MH-92/ CH-148 Naval Helicopter [updated]
  • The CH-148 Program & Timeline [updated]
  • CH-148 Industrial Partnerships
• CH-148 MHP: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

• Defense Secretary Panetta removes the F-35B STOVL (Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing) from its 2-year probation, just 1 year in. Rolls Royce is very happy. James Hasik adds some thoughts about the timing.

• Panetta also stated the US will keep 11 aircraft carriers.

• The US Army responds to complaints that their policy of refusing to arm MEDEVAC helicopters, in a war against illegal combatants, has led to delayed response and extra casualties.

• Fresh from its UAV pact with Alenia, EADS signs an agreement with Rheinmetall for a joint venture in the UAV field. Rheinmetall makes the KZO tactical UAV, which has been fielded in Afghanistan alongside Germany’s longer-range, Rheinmetall-operated, leased Heron-1 UAVs.

• Looks like Colombia was the country that recently joined Israel and Chile as Hermes 900 MALE UAV customers. The Hermes 900 is a Predator-size UAV, from the firm that makes Britain’s new MK450B Watchkeeper system.

• Australia’s Army has temporarily suspended S-70A Black Hawk helicopter flights, due to fractured bolts. The RAN’s S-70B Seahawk naval helicopters are different enough that they remain unaffected.

• The Navy thinks a small heli-UAV is just the thing to keep tabs on agricultural data at its Maui (Hawaii) experimental biofuel farm.

• US House Armed Service Committee (HASC) Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ-8) is resigning from Congress.

• Forthcoming HASC hearings: Getting Innovative Solutions from Concept to the Hands of the Warfighter (this afternoon); episode XXXVIII of Perspectives on Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness Efforts (tomorrow morning).

• According to Reuters the “activist” hedge fund MMI Investments LP is liquidating, after having taken positions in several defense and aerospace companies in the past couple of years.

Into that good night

Oxygen sensor install, as USAF looks for answers; 2011 test reports. (Jan 20/12)

The 5th-generation F-22A Raptor fighter program has been the subject of fierce controversy, with advocates and detractors aplenty. On the one hand, the aircraft offers full stealth, revolutionary radar and sensor capabilities, dual air-air and air-ground SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) excellence, the ability to cruise above Mach 1 without afterburners, thrust-vectoring super-maneuverability… and a ridiculously lopsided kill record in exercises against the best American fighters.

On the other hand, critics charge that it’s too expensive, too limited, and cripples the USAF’s overall force structure. Meanwhile, close American allies like Australia, Japan and Israel, and other allies like Korea, were pressing the USA to abandon its “no export” policy. Most already fly F-15s, but several were interested in an export version of the F-22 in order to help them deal with advanced – and advancing – Russian-designed aircraft, air-to-air missiles, and surface-to-air missile systems. That would have broadened the F-22 fleet in several important ways, but the US political system would not or could not respond.

This DID FOCUS Article covers both sides of the F-22 controversies in the USA and abroad, and tracks ongoing contracts. It has been restored to full public access, as the F-22 program of record winds down to its end…

• The F-22 Raptor: Key Capabilities
  • Raptor, Redux: Upgrading the Fleet
• The F-22 Raptor: Criticisms & Controversies
• F-22 Raptor: Program
• F-22 Raptor: Key Events
  • Events: 2010-2012 [updated]
  • Events: 2006-2009
  • Events: Pre-2006
• F-22 Raptor: Contracts & Production
  • FY 2010-2012 [updated]
  • FY 2006-2009
  • Pre-FY 2006
• Additional Readings & Sources: Key Components, Program, Official Reports, Controversies & Events
  Continue Reading… »

• Is Indonesia buying used Dutch Leopard 2 tanks? Don’t ask Indonesia’s Parliament, they don’t know.

• Sikorsky announces 35 suppliers for its S-97 Raider compound helicopter, a scout and special forces design based on its X2 technology. It’s competing to be the US Army’s next armed scout helicopter, but an “OH-58F” upgrade remains the bettor’s pick.

• Greece’s budget problems don’t change the country’s military needs. Meeting those needs retains fairly broad support there, while making their creditors equally happy.

• The latest US GAO reports on the DOD: how to increase competition in procurements that use the national security exception; Arctic capabilities. Note that the GAO recently redesigned their website for the better, these report pages are significantly more legible than in the past.

• Consultancy ICF International studied the potential for solar energy generation on DOD bases in California and Nevada and found that there’s plenty of usable space suitable for solar development, to the tune of 25,000 acres (10,000 hectares). Edwards AFB and Fort Irwin are the 2 sites with the largest potential. PDF report.

• The US National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2) has launched a LinkedIn group for military mental health professionals.

• At an August 2011 DISA event, VMWare’s CEO discussed cloud computing and its implications for security, among other things.

• A French Mirage and a Saudi F-15 collided during a joint exercise in Saudi Arabia. The 3 pilots ejected safely.

• Australia’s Defence Department reviews undertaken in the last couple of years have tallied up to more than $20M, according to the Advertiser.

AH-60L
(click to view larger)

Contract to complete its UH-60M buys. (Dec 30/11)

The UH-60M Black Hawk is currently the most advanced UH-60/S-70 model, whose variants are in service with the US Army and over 20 other countries around the world. To date, UH-60M customers include the USA, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates, plus a request from Egypt. Unlike global competitors such as Russia’s Mi-8/17 series, however, the UH-60’s operational armament is generally limited to door guns. That may be about to change, thanks to a UAE initiative.

Colombia currently flies the armed S-70 “Arpia III”, and Sikorsky has worked on armed “AH-60” versions as an offering in some foreign competitions, but efforts to sell the concept in Australia and elsewhere were less successful. Nevertheless, Sikorsky executives see considerable potential for multi-role helicopters and conversion kits, in an era of global insurgencies, tight budgets, and limited helicopter numbers. Now, the UAE has become their launch customer. What is Sikorsky’s Battlehawk, and what are their plans?...

• Battlehawk, and Sikorsky’s Level 1-3 Kits [updated]
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  Continue Reading… »

Stinger missiles. (Jan 5/12)

Despite China’s military buildup across the strait, key weapons sales of P-3 maritime patrol aircraft, Patriot PAC-3 missiles, and diesel-electric submarines to Taiwan have been sabotaged by Taiwanese politics for years – in some cases, since 1997. The KMT party’s flip-flops and determined stalling tactics eventually created a crisis in US-Taiwan relations, which finally soured to the point that the USA refused a Taiwanese request for F-16C/D aircraft.

That seems to have brought things to a head. Most of the budget and political issues were eventually sorted out, and after a long delay, some major elements of Taiwan’s requested modernization program appear to be moving forward: P-3 maritime patrol aircraft, UH-60M helicopters, Patriot missile upgrades; and requests for AH-64D attack helicopters, E-2 Hawkeye AWACS planes, minehunting ships, and missiles for defense against aircraft, ships, and tanks. These are must-have capabilities when facing a Chinese government that has vowed to take the country by force, and which is building an extensive submarine fleet, a large array of ballistic missiles, an upgraded fighter fleet, and a number of amphibious-capable divisions. Chinese pressure continues to stall some of Taiwan’s most important upgrades, including diesel-electric submarines, and new American fighter jets. Meanwhile, other purchases from abroad continue…

• Stalled Sales
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

DHC-4’s final approach

Rumors of a decision: sole-source C-27J buy? (Jan 11/12)

Australia’s 2009 defense white paper made a wide range of commitments, one of which involved replacing the outstanding service provided by Australia’s gull-winged DHC-4 Caribou short takeoff light tactical transports. That particular project had been proposed and delayed repeatedly for over 20 years. In February 2009, the planes it was meant to replace finally had to be retired, after 45 years of service. Without a replacement.

There have been a range of competitions in this class on the international market. While some customers like US Special Forces have chosen Sikorsky subsidiary PZL Mielec’s M-28 Skytruck, most of these competitions are between Airbus Military’s C295, and Alenia’s C-27J Spartan. The Spartan is faster than the C295, and can carry larger and heavier loads, including light helicopters and patrol vehicles. The C-295M offers endurance advantages, and lower operating costs. Neither can match the Caribou’s short take-off performance, but they’re what’s available, and different countries have made different choices. What will Australia choose?