Not ideal.

What’s a platform, without its associated gear? (June 29/11)

At present, many soldiers don’t have communications radios because the hardware is too expensive. Buying 2-way radios from Radio Shack before deployments solved that problem for some soldiers, but insecure communications created others. On the high end, the US military’s JTRS program is expected to create radios that are much better at working together, and much easier to upgrade. As one might expect, however, the hardware appears to be on track to be more expensive, in return for that improved performance.

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Wireless Network after Next (WNaN) program aims to shift the approach used to design these military wireless networks. It also intends to use inexpensive, high-volume, commercial off the shelf hardware components. They would be combined with adaptive wireless network software operating over densely-deployed, low-cost wireless nodes, with the aim of putting a reliable communications radio into the hands of every soldier. How could that work?

• WNAN: The Concept
• WNAN: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

• A new report [PDF] from the unaligned CSBA think tank states that “the growth and proliferation of anti-access/area-denial capabilities, together with short-range guided munitions, have the potential to bring the era of the aircraft carrier to an end, obviate the ability of short-range, tactical U.S. air power to operate from forward bases, and substantially raise the difficulties and costs of moving heavy ground forces into overseas theaters, much less sustaining them once there.” 

• The IISS use the first day of the Shangri-La Dialogue to unveil its latest study of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

• Canada sends out mixed messages regarding negotiations for overseas bases.

• Boeing delivers 2 more F100-powered F-15Ks to Daegu AB in South Korea. That makes 10 planes, from the 21-plane F-X-2 batch.

• Nanotechnology advances may lead to the transformation of combat fatigues and and bulky equipment into lightweight do-it-all battle uniforms.

• Mexico’s drug wars driving armored car maker Texas Armoring Corporation’s rapid growth.

Start with this…

“ROVER” is an unimpressive piece of equipment. Mostly, it looks like a ruggedized laptop with antennas. But SpaceWar.com quotes Lt. Col. Gregory E. Harbin, of the 609th Combat Operations Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base, SC, who says ”...the ROVER is bringing a phenomenal capability to our people on the ground.” ROVER is the Remotely Operated Video Enhanced Receiver, which receives camera images from nearby aircraft and UAVs (somewhat like Israel’s wrist-mounted V-RAMBO), then integrates them with other US positioning and targeting software.

Staff Sgt. Justin Cry, a Shaw Joint Tactical Air Controller (JTAC), has a job that’s an art form at the best of times. Describing features from the ground to a pilot looking down while flying at high speed is no easy task. According to a Dec 16/05 USAF article, he used the system in Iraq and in New Orleans, and says simply: “I can circle an area on my screen, drawing arrows for emphasis, and what I’m drawing appears on (the pilots’) screens as well.”

ROVER continues to evolve, and is becoming an unheralded but critical piece of equipment in America’s arsenal. This is DID’s FOCUS Article covering the system and its ongoing developments – the latest of which is appears to be the FY 2009 ROVER contract.

• From X-Box to ROVER
• ROVER Types [NEW]
• ROVER: Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  Continue Reading… »

CREW Duke V2 System

Contracts to date hit $278M; 40,000th delivered. (April 22/11)

The SRCTec CREW Duke system is a vehicle-mounted electronic jammer designed to prevent the remote detonation of land mines. The CREW Duke V2 is the US Army’s CREW 2.0 system, comparable to the Joint CREW (JCREW) 2.1, according to Lisa Mondello, a SRCTec spokesperson. The Duke V3 Upgrade improves the Duke’s capability to the level of the JCREW 3.2 system, she added.

The CREW Duke system was developed to provide US forces protection against a range of land mine threats. The field-deployable CREW Duke system uses jamming technology, and the design has been engineered to keep weight, size, and power requirements at a minimum. CREW Duke mounts into HMMWVs and other military vehicles…

• More UK defense cuts this year, says Defence Equipment Minister Peter Luff.

• North Korea attacks South Korean government computers.

• The Pentagon’s quasi-decoy blimps idea is a good one.
  Continue Reading… »

• India is planning to boost its defense spending by 11.6% in the next fiscal year to counter China’s growing military capabilities.

• How was the Stuxnet attack on Iran targeted?

• But a recent IAEA report says enrichment and production has continued at Natanz despite the Stuxnet slowdown, and adds that Iran continues to prepare military delivery vehicles etc. for nuclear weapons.

• Steel cut to begin CVN 79, the 2nd carrier in the Gerald R. Ford class. If only budgets and funding could be as certain.

• According to Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, Russia is still planning to supply supersonic P-800 Yakhont anti-ship cruise missiles to Syria, despite US and Israeli opposition.

• Advanced Russian S-300 anti-aircraft missiles are also on their way to Venezuela, now that a timeline has been agreed. There have been rumblings for a few months now that Iran’s requested missiles could be headed that way instead.

• Oshkosh job fair attracts over 1,700 applicants to fill between 650 and 750 positions to build US Army tactical vehicles.

• On the other hand, Frost & Sullivan expects a steep drop in US military tactical vehicle market, from $4.45 billion in 2010 to just $740 million in 2015.

• SAIC gets $25 million contract to provide management planning and systems integration services to the US Navy Strategic Systems Programs Command.

• Harris secures $14 million order from Brazil to provide Falcon III RF-7800V VHF handheld combat net radios and Falcon II AN/PRC-150-C [PDF] HF manpack radios.

• Expand your intellectual horizons a bit, and meet Gene Sharp... the unsung, mostly-unknown thinker whose ideas and approaches have underpinned many modern non-violent uprisings. You might want to read former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky’s current thoughts after that. Both can provide insights into counterinsurgency and the “3 block war.”

• America’s under-performing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education is widely seen as a slow-motion crisis by the industry. Former hedge fund manager Sal Khan and The Khan Academy say… YouTube to the rescue!

ATK’s PGM

APMI full production contract. (Feb 3/11)

The US Army is pushing to get precision mortars developed and deployed to the field in Afghanistan as soon as possible. Mortars are lighter and can be towed by a HMMWV or MRAP, or carried and fired from inside M113 or Stryker APCs, making them easier to deploy than heavier cannon artillery.

When indirect fire support is needed against enemies who are dug in along mountain ridgelines and other high positions, or in an urban area where which building you hit matters a great deal, getting the job done requires precision artillery. That capability has already come to MLRS rockets (M30/31 GMLRS, ATACMS), and 155mm artillery shells (Excalibur), and has been deployed to great effect on the front lines by American forces and their allies. Now it is coming to the USA’s 120mm mortars as well.

• The Accelerated Precision Mortar Initiative (APMI)
• Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

L-3 MPRI, Inc. in Alexandria, VA recently received a $156.1 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to embed former law-enforcement professionals into corps, division, brigade, regimental and battalion headquarters. Their mission will involve helping battlefield commanders penetrate and suppress criminal networks involved in IED land mine production, distribution, and use throughout Iraq, Afghanistan, and other overseas operations. The contract will run to Dec 10/11, and 1 bid was solicited with 1 bid received by the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command Contracting Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD (W91CRB-08-D-0049).

• Russia says Da: NATO leaders agree on NATO missile defense shield at Lisbon summit; Russia pledges to cooperate if it is a “full-fledged strategic partner.”

• Hotly disputed: As early as fiscal 2014, Japan plans to deploy 100 ground self-defense forces to the Diaoya (Senkaku) islands – ownership of which is disputed with China and Taiwan – the Nikkei newspaper reported.

• UAV bazaar: China unveils more than 25 different models of UAVs at Zhuhai air show, Wall Street Journal reports.

• Research and Markets: China’s double-digit annual growth rate in defense spending continues, reaching a total of $78 billion this year.

• Slither bots: Snake-like robots being developed under DARPA’s Multi Dimensional Mobility Robot program will offer US military the ability to see into tight spaces and surveil tough terrain.

• Oh Rats! US military team observes use of bomb-sniffing rats in Tanzania; well, at least they eat less than dogs.

• Thinking Strategically: UK government’s new National Security Strategy [PDF] identifies terrorism, cyber attacks, natural disasters, and foreign wars as the top 4 threat facing the nation.

• Not So Strategic: UK parliamentary panel is not impressed with government’s strategic thinking.

• Max Boot looks at indicators of progress in Afghanistan, while WIRED discusses the prospects for an innovative program that aims to provide cellphone justice.

• Stepping Stone: Xi Jinping is named to head China’s People Liberation Army, a stepping stone to the presidency.

• Israel urged to step up civil disaster capabilities as a nuclear Iran – or Israeli strikes – loom large.

• Up to $490 million to ManTech to provide integrated logistics support services to US Army Sustainment Command.

• Peru and Ukraine’s Morozov begin testing their Tifon-2 derivative of Peru’s T-55 tanks.

• Raytheon gets $37.6 million initial production contract to supply 22 Navy Multiband Terminals (NMT), compatible with a range of US military satellite constellations, as part of $1 billion program.

• General Dynamics ATP continues its relationship with Boeing for C-17 parts & spares.

• Britain’s “Wolfhound” blast resistant supply vehicles are operational in Afghanistan.

• Infowar front: The suicide protest. Not the Buddhist variety.