Brazil Buying & Building BAE’s 90m Patrol Vessels

Scarborough, Trials

As 2011 came to a close, Brazil’s buy of 3 in-stock Offshore Patrol Vessels from BAE, with an option to license-build 5 more, had the potential to cast wide ripples.

Brazil has very extensive coastal responsibilities, a sizable Marine Corps, and a Navy whose frigates are either British designs, or former British ships. That navy is expanding, as Brazil moves to protect key assets like its deep-water oil production, but British shipbuilders will face stiff competition. Other key Brazilian suppliers like France’s DCNS will be bidding, alongside naval shipbuilders around the world. The Amazonas Class OPV purchase is certainly another piece of the naval puzzle for Brazil, alongside its future submarines. Is it also another piece of the puzzle for BAE?

S-80: A Sub, for Spain, to Sail Out on the Main

S-80 cutaway, labeled

The CIM-2000 Scorpene class diesel-electric attack submarine partnership marked an important step for Spain’s Navantia, as it joined with France’s DCNS to enter the global submarine market. Scorpene is an advanced SSK design, and can be upgraded to AIM-2000 configuration by adding MESMA Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) systems alongside their diesel-electric drives.

Now Navantia is building on that base of expertise, to field its own S-80 Class for the Spanish Armada. Spain’s new submarines will be larger boats with AIP(Air-Independent Propulsion) systems as standard gear, as well as other important modifications. This article will cover the S-80 submarines’ capabilities and associated key events and contracts – including sub-contracts to American, British, and Italian firms.

The US Navy’s Dual Band Radars

DBR on CVN-21

The US Navy’s newest light cruiser and aircraft carrier designs offer a wide array of new technologies. One is the Dual-Band Radar (DBR) system, which can be scaled up or down for installation in the new DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class “destroyers”, and the CVN-21 Gerald R. Ford Class aircraft carriers.

The DBR concept involves a significant change from current naval design approaches, and that change is not without risk. The USA’s GAO audit office remains concerned that key tests may not happen before the radar is installed on new ships, and any more development or testing snags could put much larger programs at risk. In April 2009, a successful full-power “lightoff” of both DBR radars was encouraging, but 2010 saw a major program shift. Sharp drops in the planned number of DDG-1000 destroyer created a per-ship cost crisis. Part of the response involved a shift to a single X-band SPY-3 radar for the Zumwalt Class, leaving DBR as a dual-band SPY-3/ SPY-4 solution only on America’s new carriers.

DDG Type 45: Britain’s Shrinking Air Defense Fleet

Daring Class

The 5,200t Type 42 Sheffield Class destroyers were designed in the late 1960s to provide fleet area air-defense for Britain’s Royal Navy, after the proposed Type 82 air defense cruisers were canceled by the Labour Government in 1966. Britain built 14 of the Type 42s, but these old ships are reaching the limits of their operational lives and effectiveness.

To replace them, the Royal Navy planned to induct 12 Type 45 Daring Class destroyers. The Daring class would be built to deal with a new age of threats. Saturation attacks with supersonic ship-killing missiles, that fly from the ship’s radar horizon to ship impact in under 45 seconds. The reality of future threats from ballistic missiles, and WMD proliferation. Plus a proliferation of possible threats involving smaller, hard to detect enemies like UAVs. Overall, the Type 45s promise to be one of the world’s most capable air defense ships – but design choices have left the cost-to-value ratio uncertain, and limited the Type 45s in other key roles.

This feature will become a subscription-only DII FOCUS article in due course. Meanwhile, a reduced 6-ship program continues to move forward.

Italy & Israel: A Billion-Dollar Offer They Didn’t Refuse

The Israeli Air Force has known since December 2008 that its fleet of A-4 Skyhawk jet trainers and light attack aircraft would leave service. It took until July 2012 to sign a contract for the Skyhawk’s successor, despite justifiable complaints from South Korea that the process lacked full professional formality. The first M-346 Master trainers should begin arriving in Israel around mid-2014, where they will be operated by the IAI/Elbit “TOR” joint venture as a public-private partnership service to the IAF.

Italy’s M-346 eventually beat KAI’s supersonic T-50, thanks to a combination of air force evaluations, geo-political considerations, and countervailing industrial offers. For most countries, “industrial offsets” mean sub-contracting work in their country, sometimes even in sectors of their economy outside of the defense industry. Israel’s weapons industry is far more developed, however, and so their advanced trainer competition saw “industrial offsets” as the purchase of full-fledged Israeli weapons systems. South Korea was already a customer for Israeli radars, UAVs, and missiles, and was seen as the favorite thanks to their relationships and their jet. Italy was a much smaller customer, but relations between Silvio Berlusconi and the Jewish state had been good for a long time. By October 2011, reports surfaced that Italy had made Israel a very impressive offer – one that would make Italy a major export customer for strategic systems, even as it equalized purchases on both sides. In the end, it was an offer the Israelis couldn’t, and didn’t, refuse.

The deal’s components are as follows:

Ascent’s Long-Term UKMFTS Contract for Military Flight Training

Hawk LIFT

Back in October 2006, an $840 million contract for BAE’s Hawk LIFT trainers aimed to provide advanced jet training for both Royal Air Force and Royal Navy pilots, as part of the consolidated UK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS). In November 2006, the Ascent team of VT Group plc and Lockheed Martin announced their status as Preferred Bidder to provide military flying training to the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Army Air Corps for the next 25 years.

In June 2008, they secured the contract. That began a combination of infrastructure build-out, aircraft modification, and managed competition, aimed at fulfilling a contract estimated at up to GBP 6 billion (about $11.7 billion)… when it was signed. It’s hard to evaluate that number until Britain finally buys its training aircraft and associated training service, and as of 2012, they haven’t even put out the RFP.

A160 Hummingbird: Boeing’s Variable-Rotor VTUAV

A160T carries
1,000 pounds

Recent years have seen a variety of unmanned helicopter options introduced into the market. Boeing’s entry lays a breathtaking challenge before the field: what could the military do with a helicopter-like, autonomously-flown UAV with a range of 2,500 nautical miles and endurance of 16-24 hours, carrying a payload of 1,000-2,500 pounds, and doing it all more quietly than conventional helicopters? For that matter, imagine what disaster relief officials could do with something that had all the positive search characteristics of a helicopter, but much longer endurance.

Enter the A160 Hummingbird Warrior (YMQ-18), which was snapped up in one of Boeing’s corporate acquisition deals. It uses a very unconventional rotor technology, and Boeing’s Phantom Works division continues to develop it as a revolutionary technology demonstrator and future UAV platform. With the Navy’s VTUAV locked up by the Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout, Boeing’s sales options may seem thin. Their platform’s capabilities may interest US Special Operations Command and the Department of Homeland Security, and exceptional performance gains will always create market opportunities in the civil and military space. At least, Boeing hopes so.

Raytheon’s APG-79 AESA Radars

AN/APG-79 AESA Radar

The AN/APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar began life as a replacement. Initial F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet production batches installed Raytheon’s all-weather, multimode AN/APG-73, but the APG-79 has intrinsic technical features that offered revolutionary increases in capability, reliability, image resolution, and range.

Unlike the APG-73 that equipped the first Super Hornets, the APG-79′s AESA array is composed of numerous solid-state transmit and receive modules that are fixed in place, eliminating a common cause of breakdowns. To move their beams, they rely on electronic changes in each module’s transmissions, creating useful interference patterns in order to aim, focus and shape their output. Other system components include an advanced receiver/exciter, ruggedized commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) processor, and power supplies. With its open systems architecture and compact COTS parts, it changes what both aircrews and maintenance staff can do with a fighter radar – and does so in a smaller, lighter package.

Brazil’s F-5BR Fighter Fleet Upgrade Program

FAB F-5EM

Elbit’s May 2008 investor filing with the SEC had this to say about their program history with Brazil’s F-5 fighters:

“In 2001, Elbit Systems began work under contracts for the Brazilian F-5 Aircraft Modernization Program. The program calls for the upgrade of 46 F-5 aircraft for the Brazilian Air Force. Our contracts for the program are with Embraer and the Brazilian Government, with a total value of approximately $230 million to be performed over an eight-year period. The contract with Embraer provides for an avionics upgrade, which includes an EW suite, mission computers, helmet mounted system, radar, displays and other avionics products. Delivery of production aircraft began in 2005. In January 2007, Elbit Systems was awarded an additional order to integrate further advanced capabilities in the F-5 aircraft. The contract with the Brazilian Government covers a logistic support program including establishment of an in-country maintenance center based at AEL.”

Brazil’s F-5BR upgrade program creates F-5EM and F-5FM aircraft…

Saudis Seek E-3 Fleet Upgrades

Saudi E-3

The 707-based E-3 aircraft forms the backbone of American, British, French, and NATO airborne early warning and control (AWACS), monitoring large swathes of airspace from an elevated position to detect incursions by enemy fighters, missiles, and even UAVs. When coupled with communications systems that allow it act as an airborne relay and command post for the aerial fight, it becomes a uniquely valuable weapons system. Under the 1981 – 1986 “Peace Sentinel” program, Saudi Arabia bought 5 E-3 AWACS(Airborne Early Warning and Control) planes and 8 KE-3A aerial tanker and cargo aircraft. Up to 3 of the KE-3s were later converted to RE-3A TASS(Tactical Airborne Surveillance System) electronic eavesdropping planes, leaving 5 E-3As, 3 RE-3As, and 5 KE-3 tankers.

Most E-3s around the world are well over 20 years old, and American, British, French, and NATO aircraft have received ongoing upgrades. Like Boeing’s US, British, French, and NATO customers, the Saudis are now seeking upgrades to keep their aircraft up to date. Broadly speaking, Saudi jets are getting 3 kinds of upgrades.