Latest update (Feb 2/12)

Galileo concept

The USA’s Global Positioning System service remains free, but the European Union is spending billions to create an alternative under their own control. In addition to civilian GPS (the Open Service), services to be offered include a Safety of Life Service (SoL) for civil aviation and search and rescue, a paid Commercial Service with accuracy greater than 1 meter, plus a Public Regulated Service (PRS) for use by security authorities and governments. PRS/SoL aims to offer Open Service quality, with added robustness against jamming and the reliable detection of problems within 10 seconds.

Organizational issues and shortfalls in expected progress pushed the “Galileo” project back from its originally intended operational date of 2007 to 2014/15. After a public-private partnership model failed, the EU gained initial-stage approval for its plan to finance the program with tax dollars instead of the expected private investments. Political issues were overcome in 2007 by raiding other EU accounts for the billions required, but by 2011, it became clear that requests for billions more in public funds were on the way. Meanwhile, doubts persist in several quarters about Galileo’s touted economic model. Security concerns regarding China’s involvement, and its Beidou-2/Compass project overlap, have been equally persistent. On a European political level, however, Galileo is now irreversible.

This article offers background, players, developments, contracts, and in-depth research links for Galileo, as well as linked EU programs like GIOVE and EGNOS:

• The Galileo Program
  • Galileo: The System [updated]
  • Galileo Elements [updated]
  • Galileo Structure & Costs [updated]
  • Galileo Timeline [NEW]
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings [updated]
  • PNT alternatives
  • News & Views
  • The Security Dimension
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• The RAND Corporation researched ways to reduce attrition in US Air Force training programs, which they believe could produce significant savings.

• The GAO finds DOD’s reporting of the costs involved in operating and supporting major programs to be lacking with a number of inconsistencies and under-reported amounts.

• DARPA is organizing a Proposers’ Day on Feb. 21 in Arlington, VA, to present its High-Assurance Cyber Military Systems (HACMS) whose goal is to secure embedded computer system software.

• A&P and Thales Australia are partnered to bid on long-term support of HMAS Choules, the RAN’s newest amphibious ship.

• 1st French Army NH90 TTH “Caiman” unveiled [in French].

• Fighting base realignment is guaranteed work for lobbyists. What’s less guaranteed are the chances that a bill introduced by Senate Republicans to partially undo sequestration gets traction with Democrats.

• CACI International’s revenue grew by 12% to $973M for its second FY12 quarter. Funded backlog at the end of 2011 was stable at $2.19B out of an $8B total. Meanwhile Harris Corporation had a flat second quarter at $1.45B in sales, with an increase in exports to compensate for lower US sales.

• The RAND Corporation published a report prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) on what it would take to sustain a competitive military aircraft industry in the US. It comes with plenty of charts on research and procurement spending by contractor and by program, with historical context going back to 1980 and projections into 2025. Among the sustainment scenarios the research firm looked at: resuming production of F-22s for export, and starting a new bomber.

• Wired: “The Defense Department’s networks, as currently configured, are ‘not defensible,’ according to the general in charge of protecting those networks.” Among other threats, malware that targets DoD smart cards.

• The US Army is pausing its Enterprise Email migration until it has finished turning it into a formal acquisition program with the Army Acquisition Executive as its milestone decision authority (MDA), then reported to Congress.

• Preserving technical documentation across decades, from old-school 2D printed blueprints to CAD computer files in various formats is proving to be a headache because of physical deterioration, skill loss and fast digital obsolescence. Libraries around the world have been working on long-term preservation methodologies for years individually and together through organizations such as the OCLC, but they don’t face the same operational obligations.

• US, Israel postpone “Austere Challenge” missile defense exercise.

• The USA’s 2nd Independence Class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS 4 Coronado) is christened.

• Over at HII, they’re touting a naval “Patrol Frigate 4921” that could be based on the US Coast Guard’s frigate-sized Legend Class National Security Cutters. They’ll need a customer, though.

• The British Armed Forces are about to go through their 2nd tranche of personnel reduction of up to 400 people in the Navy, 900 in the Air Force and 2,900 in the Army.

• Canada’s Ottawa Citizen: “The deputy minister of Defence approved a $374,000 renovation to his executive suite just three weeks after the department circulated a business plan highlighting the need to save money and eliminate the jobs of at least 2,100 civilian public servants…”

• 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.

AEHF concept

US nuclear weapon communications to be modified. (Dec 30/11)

The USA’s new Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites will support twice as many tactical networks as the current Milstar II satellites, while providing 10-12 times the bandwidth capacity and 6 times the data rate transfer speed. With the cancellation of the higher-capacity TSAT program, AEHF will form the secure, hardened backbone of the Pentagon’s future Military Satellite Communications (MILSATCOM) architecture, with a mission set that includes nuclear command and control. Its companion Family of Advanced Beyond-line-of-sight Terminals (FAB-T) program will give the US military more modern, higher-bandwidth receiving capabilities, and add more flexibility on the front lines. The program has international components, and partners currently include Britain, Canada, and the Netherlands.

This article offers a look at the AEHF system’s rationale and capabilities, while offering insight into some of the program’s problems, and an updated timeline covering over $5 billion worth of contracts since the program’s inception…

• The AEHF Program
• The AEHF Satellites
• The AEHF Satellites: Contracts & Key Events, full history
• FAB-T Terminals and Ground Control
• FAB-T & Ground Control: Contracts and Key Events, full history [updated]
• Additional Readings
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• President Obama will attend today’s Pentagon briefing on strategic adjustments that will lead to a 10+% reduction in the number of ground troops (presumably from peak levels): NYT | Reuters | C-Span stream (to start live at 10:50am ET).

• The UK’s defence secretary Philip Hammond will meet his American counterpart Leon Panetta later today. Hammond’s take: “today the debt crisis should be considered the greatest strategic threat to the future security of our nations. The fact is, in this era of austerity… not even the United States can afford the astronomical resource commitment required to deal with every threat from every source.”

• Boeing confirmed it’s going to close its Wichita plant in Kansas by the end of 2013. Some of the 2,000+ jobs will be moved to sites in the states of California, Oklahoma and Washington; others will be cut. Congressman Mike Pompeo is fuming while Tom Cole and Rick Larsen are obviously more upbeat.

• Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) chief Marion Blakey: “At this point we see all of the oxygen in the room being absorbed by the presidential debates. We want to be part of that oxygen, if you will.” (WSJ)

• The British MoD is using balls of rubber strengthened with Kevlar to deliver fuel by helicopter or transport aircraft. Known as the Mk 5 Air Portable Fuel Containers and manufactured by GKN Aerospace, they weight 2 tonnes (4,400 pounds) when full. See a short video at the bottom of this entry. Now, wouldn’t this make sense slung under a K-Max?

• Vincent Manzo, a research analyst at the National Defense University asks [PDF]: where do space and cyberspace fit in questions of deterrence and escalation in cross-domain operations?

• DARPA scientists have found that using an antibiotic and a protein together is more effective to fight radiation than when used separately. Well, at least for mice, but the potential for human application seems promising.

• Gunther Krauter, the general secretary of Austria’s (left wing) Social Democrats (SPO), said the country should sell its Eurofighter jets. Though they belong to the same political party that’s currently leading the government, such as sale is not on the agenda of defence Minister Norbert Darabos, so he was not thrilled by Krauter’s unexpected suggestion: Austrian Independent | Austrian Times. Austria does plan to sell many of its tanks; another contentious issue is Darabos’ support for ending conscription (Germany did so last year, France too in the late 90’s/early 00’s). The right wing People’s Party (OVP), the junior member in an obviously uneasy coalition, had its spokesman call the SPO (in German) the Unsicherheitspartei (the “non-security party”). Surely there must be a 19-letter word for “ouch” in German.
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DID would like to wish all of our readers a Happy New Year!

• So, what milestones does India’s Ministry of Defence want to highlight from 2011?

• Dynamint Nobel is still working on its classic Panzerfaust, whose modern versions have proven quite popular. The lightweight versions are strong urban warfare weapons, and the next step is integrating them with remote weapons stations for roles like harbor defense.

• Switchblade UAVs to launch from subs? While they could retain their kamikaze capabilities, the reality is that sub-launched UAVs are going to be 1-shot items at first. Why not adapt an existing UAV designed for that?

• InnoCentive offers a $15,000 reward for a concept or design of a medical transportation device that would enable a rescuer to quickly and safely transport an injured person away from an active combat site.

• Range remains a significant challenge for nonlethal weapons.

• Aviation Week Intelligence Network really doubts that the US Navy will be able to keep its resolutions about fielding modernized DDG-51 Flight III destroyers. Worse, operations and maintenance costs are going to be a problem for the existing fleet. Meanwhile Walter Pincus is challenging the Navy’s numbers and Bloomberg View bemoans how LCS has turned out so far.

• At least the US Navy is not facing a fire on one of its nuclear submarines, unlike its Russian counterpart yesterday.

• Thursday was not a good day for the Russian military since they also had a Su-24 crash. These crashes have happened like clockwork over the years [in Russian]. Nobody died in either incident yesterday though some people appear to have been injured in the submarine fire.

• Yet another cybersecurity acquisition for Raytheon: Henggeler Computer Consultants, Inc. It’s the 2nd this month and the 10th in the last 4 years.

• Britain is really missing its Nimrod patrol planes. They had to dispatch a Type 42 destroyer from Portsmouth on the English Channel, to watch a Russian battlegroup 25 miles off of Scotland that included the Admiral Kuznetzov aircraft carrier.

• The British Ministry of Defence (MOD) awarded BAE a £40M (about $63M) contract dubbed Future Combat Air System (FCAS) to support UAV research.

• A $1 billion cyber-warfare program in Iran? Hard to judge. It might add credence to claims that they hacked Lockheed’s RQ-170 stealth UAV down, though there are doubts. The USAF’s emergency buy of a General Atomics Predator C Avenger jet UAV, and reports that it will be deployed to Afghanistan as an apparent replacement, make one wonder if there is a flaw.

• A quick think tank review on Dear Leader’s death: CNAS, CSIS, CFR, Brookings, USIP. Euphemism of the day: uncertainty. It’s quite dark there, who really knows what’s going on?

• Looks like Frank Kendall is well positioned to be confirmed as US acquisition deputy secretary, a position he’s filled in an acting capacity since last September.

• The new Counter-IED Collective and Individual Mounted Training Program at Camp Atterbury (Indiana) tries to simulate the sound and furor of living through an IED blast within an armored vehicle.

• Advances in battlefield medicine have relied on better protection gear, medical practices and logistics to increase survival rates.

• In speeches to Brazil’s generals [in Portuguese], president Dilma Rousseff and defense minister Celso Amorim said financial mechanisms should be put in place to give more visibility and continuity to the country’s defense procurements, thus providing a sustainable foundation for the local industry (as opposed to relying on exports). In the last decade Brazil has grown its official reserves to the 6th position in the world with $350B as of November 2011. Last week French Prime Minister Fillon met with Amorim.

• A recent Finmeccanica DRS release about a $691 million sub-contract for submarine parts was wrong; the figure is apparently $400 million. More details to come later.

• India’s defense minister, meanwhile, talks about 9 more C-130Js – but the DSCA request was for only 6.

• Well, this is an interesting point of view: “It is perhaps time for the Indian majors like Tata, L&T and Mahindra Defence and indeed the Indian Government/DPSUs to invest in American and European defence companies.” After all, the hostile takeover of Arcelor by Mittal in 2006 was rocky but eventually went through to form the largest steel maker in the world. Who would have thought that possible when the roots of the European Union are found in a steel and coal common market and the French state owned Usinor-Sacilor as late as 1995? That said India is currently stalling on allowing foreign direct investment in retail so globalization is not quite complete just yet.

• TASC and its 15 partners wins a $133 million NASA contract [PDF] for software verification and validation. Projects since 2005 have included instrument flight software, launch vehicles, navigation systems and ground system legacy integration.

• US Navy SEAL “Naval Special Warfare Group Four” is being recognized for its… business process improvement.

• Researchers at the Center for Corrosion Science & Engineering (CCSE) within the Naval Research Laboratory have developed a cheaper way to inspect the exterior coating of ships by using digital cameras and custom-made software. They expect to shorten the workload by a factor of 6 vs. the existing visual inspection process.

• Members of the US House and Senate have been working in conference on the Defense Authorization bill all week and hope to have it ready to send to the President next week. Among the points under discussion: whether to transfer the MC-12 program, and the ongoing VA vs. FL CVN homeporting contention. Another budget issue: sticking to what the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) budget is supposed to be about.

• Should the US develop a counter-UAV doctrine? Maybe other countries already have one…

• “All your drone r belong to us”: Bad day for Lockheed Martin’s Skunkworks. Iran shows pictures of an intact RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone, which it says it hacked into and forced to land in western Iran. The Iranian regime’s lie detector scores are measured using the Richter Scale, but the drone is curiously intact. Partly because the US couldn’t bring itself to strike & destroy it. Video after the jump:
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• The US DSCA managed [PDF] $28.3 billion in Foreign Military Sales cases in FY 2011, and another $6.5 billion were made through Direct Commercial Sales, etc. Top 10 buyers were Afghanistan ($5.4 billion), Taiwan ($4.9 billion), India ($4.5 billion), Australia ($3.9 billion), Saudi Arabia ($3.5 billion), Iraq ($2.0 billion), the United Arab Emirates ($1.5 billion), Israel ($1.4 billion), Japan ($0.5 billion), and Sweden ($0.5 billion). Afghanistan is basically US donations, so it shouldn’t really count, but it’s an eye-opening figure.

• Another interesting turn of events in Afghanistan: the country has vast mineral resources (including copper and gold) that the US DOD and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have helped map. The Afghan Mining minister has just opened a tender process to tap these deposits.

• Meanwhile a German government report [PDF in German] points to record weapons exports of 2.1 billion euros (about $2.8B) in 2010. Sales to EU/NATO countries amount to 77% of the total with more than half for submarine sales to Portugal and Greece alone. But with these countries threatened with being U-booted out of the Euro, Germany will probably have to look elsewhere in the future. This might be easier said than done. German parliamentarians are unhappy [in German] about the delayed, partial data they get from the executive about armament sales, especially when they involve countries where human rights abuses are committed. The Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC) and the Joint Conference on Church and Development (GKKE) have both produced research [PDF, nochmal auf Deutsch] on this topic. Still, this is a drop in the bucket for the 1 trillion euro export powerhouse that Germany has become.

• Hackers are using a vulnerability in Adobe Reader 9.4.6 for Windows to target defense contractors including Lockheed Martin, reports Reuters. Attack emails embedded a bogus “contract guide” PDF attachment.

• Assistant Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford said the FY13 President Budget should preserve USMC procurement but will see a smaller number of troops.

• RAND’s Arroyo Center has looked at how to optimize truck logistics within the continental United States (CONUS).

• Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith will speak at an event organized by the Asia Society tomorrow in Mumbai. Beyond allowing uranium sales to India, will this lead to strengthened military ties between the two countries?

• UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond spoke at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) earlier today. He announced that the final cost of operations in Libya was £212 million (about $330M) – 68% operations costs / 32% ammo.

• The Canadian Army is hosting a counter-IED symposium this week, arguing that improvised landmines are not going away neither will dealing with them. Videos in English and French embedded below:
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