Hermes 450 -
note civil reg. #
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“Will UAV Proliferation Create Unfriendly Skies for Other Aircraft?” addressed the critical issue of ‘deconfliction,’ as well as ‘swarming’ algorithms currently under development. Meanwhile, flying restrictions aimed at avoiding aerial collisions have put a serious crimp in the tactical usefulness of UAVs at the battalion level and below, as detailed in “Field Report on Raven, Shadow UAVs From the 101st.”

Deconfliction issues have also prevented civil UAV markets from reaching anything close to their full potential for border patrol, land surveying, etc. The task is not impossible – for instance, the Hermes 450, which is the basis of Britain’s Watchkeeper Mk450 system, is now civil certified in Israel. Which is why a May 2007 EUR 500,000 (then about $672,000) European Defence Agency initiative could be significant… and now, a EUR 50 million MIDCAS contract involving an array of European firms has been signed at the 2009 Paris Air Show.

• The EDA’s Goals
• Air for All
• Contracts and Events [updated]
  
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Bell 412EP
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Bell’s 412 series helicopters represent the latest evolution of its famed “Huey” design. These twin-engine utility helicopters are easily identifiable by their 4-bladed composite rotors, and serve with a wide array of military, government, and civilian operators around the world. Over 700 have been produced.

Bell 412EP (“enhanced performance”) helicopters are being sold to the Mexican Air Force (FAM). Mexico will use them to fight drug traffickers, gangs, and other criminal activities in its ongoing “Cartel War,” which has already claimed thousands of lives. The helicopters can also provide support to Mexico’s civilian population during natural disasters. Events related to this purchase, and background resources regarding Mexico’s situation, include…

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Aria’s airship
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Aria International, Inc. recently announced a contract from the Royal Thai Army to provide in-country surveillance and communications solutions and services, for an aggregate purchase price of $9.7 million. The RTA surveillance system consists of a manned airship with military-grade imaging and communications systems, a state-of-the-art Mobile Command and Control Vehicle, and upgrades to existing communications and facilities to receive real-time surveillance data.

Thailand has the questionable distinction of being saddled with the bloodiest Islamist insurgency most people have never heard of…

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Spanish CN-235-300MPA
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Mexico’s military needs have escalated, as the country faces what counter-terrorist analyst John Robb has called a growing “open source insurgency” of narco-traffickers and some leftist groups. The violence associated with “The Cartel War” has reportedly claimed between 6,000 – 8,000 lives over the last 2 years.

Mexican governments are signing contracts on a number of fronts, from full city-wide surveillance and monitoring systems, to UAVs and aerostats, to medium helicopters. More equipment is on the way, via Mexico’s own purchases and the USA’s Merida Initiative.

One of its most important acquisition programs has just received official notification: EADS-CASA’s popular CN-235MPA maritime patrol aircraft, which currently serves with Spain, Ireland, Turkey, and the US Coast Guard. Indonesia’s Digiranta has built them for Indonesia, Brunei and the UAE, and recently added South Korea’s Coast Guard as a customer.

A May 1/08 Economist article may help to explain the importance of these aircraft in Mexico’s current Cartel War:

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Thales graphic
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Thales recently announced a 3-year, $460 million contract from Mexico City to install pervasive surveillance and monitoring systems, coupled to centralized control and rapid response. The system will process information from 8,080 video cameras and sensors located within the city, and transmits alarms to the appropriate command center operators when any unusual events or behavior are detected. It will also have the ability to track vehicles, by reading license plates. Police will be able to deploy specially equipped mobile command centers that maintain contact with the central command center.

Countries like Britain have deployed similar systems over the years, despite the obvious civil liberties and privacy concerns inherent in their construction and use. Mexico’s own needs have escalated, as the country faces what counter-terrorist analyst John Robb has called a growing “open source insurgency” of narco-traffickers and some leftist groups. The violence associated with “The Cartel War” has reportedly claimed between 6,000 – 8,000 lives over the last 2 years…

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CGC Sanibel
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DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. On Sept 16/05, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Lockheed Martin/ Northrop Grumman joint venture Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) completed the preliminary design review for the 58 Fast Response Cutters (FRC). “The FRC is being designed to provide the Coast Guard with a state-of-the-art patrol craft that is capable of conducting simultaneous missions,” said ICGS Deepwater’s FRC program manager Mike Duthu.

That success has been followed by delays and failures, on multiple fronts. More than 2 years after the Coast Guard asked ICGS to accelerate the Fast Response Cutter (FRC) program timeline by more than 10 years, in order to hasten replacement of their rapidly deteriorating Island Class patrol vessels, the Coast Guard is still waiting for replacements of any type to arrive. The USCG’s 30-year old patrol boats soldier on, less the 8 “upgraded” Island Class ships whose hull cracking has now made them unfit for service. Another 41 Island Class vessels still ply US and international waters.

The Island Class’ replacement program fared little better. In February 2006, the Coast Guard’s Deepwater system-of-systems Program ‘temporarily’ suspended design work on the FRC-A program due to technical risk. That suspension remains in place, and it soon became clear that Congress was unwilling to fund further FRC design work. FRC-A has effectively been canceled, in favor of an off-the-shelf buy. On March 14/07, the Coast Guard took the next step. ICGS’ lost responsibility for the Deepwater Fast Response Cutter-B off-the-shelf acquisition as well, and the FRC project was reassigned to the Coast Guard’s new Acquisition Directorate.

What happened? What will happen next? DID reviews, from the programs, to the outcomes and controversies, to the fate of the Island Class and FRC programs. The latest news is an initial contract for the Coast Guard’s off-the-shelf FRC-B cutter, which could become a $1.5 billion buy. Naturally, there was a bid protest, but the US GAO denied it…

• Behind the Programs: The Modernization Imperative
• Appendix A: Down on the Islands – The Suspended Modernization
• Appenix B: FRC-A’s Not-So Fast Response: The Catch With Composite Cutters
• March 2007: What Next?
• FRC Plan B: The Sentinel Class [NEW]
• Program Updates & Contracts [updated]
• Additional Readings – Background
• Additional Readings – News, Official Reports & Statements
  
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Ripple effect
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“Sri Lanka: Fulcrums & Lions to Battle Tigers?” discussed the Tamil Tigers’ (LTTE) attacks on Sri Lankan military bases and oil facilities using an unusual weapon for guerrillas and terrorists: aircraft. The implications of those attacks are becoming regional in scope, which should probably be expected given that the LTTE was responsible for assassinating Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. The Indian military’s reaction suggested that they were not taking the Tigers lightly, and approval would eventually follow for a follow-on IAF buy of advanced Israeli surveillance radars mounted on tethered aerostat blimps

India’s purchase involved strategic concerns that reach far beyond the Tamil Tigers. In time, that fact would be driven home by another surprise, this time from the LET terrorists that operate from Pakistan. The additional aerostat systems had yet to arrive from Israel when the 2008 Mumbai Massacres took place, but the gaps it revealed in India’s defenses, and the deployment of the existing systems to protect critical areas in the attack’s aftermath, strongly underlined the systems’ value. So much so, that India’s Navy is now buying them, too…

• Flying Tigers, and Unease in India
• The Aerostat Solution
• Updates and Developments
  
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EMB-314, FAD concept
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Brazil’s EMB-314/AT-27 Super Tucano continues to be the aircraft of choice for Latin American air forces who want to conduct drug interdiction and counterinsurgency missions. Their modern trainer/ counterinsurgency concept is slowly replacing the brilliant but under-appreciated OA-37 Dragonfly in the region. While the US Air Force was quick to throw the aircraft away, Latin American countries have made strenuous efforts to keep their fleets in service. Nevertheless, the Vietnam-era Dragonflys were not cost-effective to modernize, and are simply running out of parts and safe flying hours.

The large, ruggedly-built Super Tucano trainers can operate from unimproved airfields. They come with a pair of M3P .50 caliber machine guns in the wings, the ability to mount surveillance and targeting pods like RAFAEL and Northrop-Grumman’s popular LITENING, and the ability to carry both Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and precision ground attack weapons in place of standard COIN loads like conventional bombs, rocket pods, and gun pods. To date, 63 Super Tucanos have been delivered to Brazil (of 99 ordered) and all 25 to Colombia. Chile recently ordered 12, and Venezuela wanted 36 but the USA intervened to bock the sale.

A-37, USAF Museum
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Now Embraer confirms the sale of 8 Super Tucano aircraft to the Dominican Republic, which shares an island in the Caribbean with Haiti. Embraer adds that the aircraft will be used for “internal security and border patrol missions, within an operations theater focusing on fighting the drug traffic.” The Fuerza Aerea Dominicana stopped flying its A-37s in 2001, and the Super Tucanos will restock its combat squadron at San Isidro. The contract was finalized at the end of 2008.

Mexican freelance journalist Inigo Guevara is a member of the SIPRI Network, and has just finished a book covering Latin America’s jet fighters. He informs DID that the figure mentioned in the Dominican Republic’s press is US$ 93 million, financed by a a loan from Brazil’s National development bank that required 18 months of Congressional debate to approve. Guevara adds that other Super Tucano exports within the region are pending: a 24 plane deal for Ecuador worth up to $280 million, and Guatemala’s intent to buy 6 aircraft.

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IBM’s Center for the Business of Government:

“One of the biggest challenges facing the new administration, as well as future administrations, is the effective acquisition of complex products…. This report examines contracting for complex products by reviewing the U.S. Coast Guard’s experience with its Deepwater Program…. a major “system of systems” acquisition to upgrade and integrate the Coast Guard’.... Important elements are missing from the Deepwater story, notably the impact of contract management and the behavior of each party within the IDIQ contract design…. Although Deepwater has garnered headlines for some of its stumbles, a more complete review of the early phases suggests a more mixed and balanced record.”

DID has covered numerous aspects of the US Coast Guard’s $25 billion Deepwater program-of-programs; “US Coast Guard’s Deepwater Effort Hits More Rough Sailing” offers a good summary of developments to date, and links to most of the key articles. Readers can download the full IBM CBG report [PDF], which recommends more investment in building up the acquisition workforce (a workforce that is often cut short-sightedly when budgets get smaller), which leads to a better understanding of risk drivers. They CBG also recommends a commitment to learning by trying different kinds of contracts for complex systems, ensuring that the contracts can be modified mid-stream in light of experience, and collecting lessons learned.

This report was also discussed in USCG Rear Admiral Blore’s Dec 31/08 blog post, where he states his general agreement with the report, and contends that most of its recommendations have already been implemented.

X-ray vs. ZB
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American Science and Engineering’s Z Backscatter Van™ (ZBV) is a low-cost, extremely maneuverable screening system built into a commercially available delivery van. The ZBV employs AS&E’s patented Z Backscatter technology, which reveals contraband that transmission X-rays miss – such as explosives (including car bombs), plastic weapons, and people – providing photo-like imaging for rapid analysis.

The Z-Backscatter Van is also capable of identifying low levels of radioactivity from both gamma rays and neutrons with optional Radioactive Threat Detection (RTD) technology. This article explains how it works, and provides an illustrative slice of coverage regarding contracts and key events from FY 2005 to the end of FY 2008. The latest set of additions wraps up DID’s coverage…

• The Technology
• Contracts & Key Events, FY 2005-2008
• Additional Readings
  
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