(c) DJ Elliott(click to view full) DJ Elliott is a retired USN Intelligence Specialist (22 years active duty) who has been analyzing and writing on Iraqi Security Forces developments since 2006. His Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle is an open-source compilation...
USA Articles
Italy’s Forza NEC Battlefield Command System
June 9/10: Finmeccanica subsidiary SELEX Sistemi Integrati announces [PDF] a 5-year, EUR 238 million contract from the Italian Ministry of Defence's Land Armaments General Directorate, for a digitized system known as Forza NEC (Network Enabled Capability). The...
Private Shipbuilding Firm Wins Indian OPV Contract
USCG Boutwell, Iraq(click to view larger) In June 2010, India's largest privately-owned ship-builder, Pipavav Shipyard, won a Rs 2,600 crore (about $553.5 million) contract, as the lowest bidder to build 5 new 110m, 2,000t offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) for the Indian...
Rapid Fire: 2010-06-10
* Running of the Bulls: Deutsche Bank is bullish on military aircraft segment but cautious about weapons production firms. * FOR SALE: US defense security contractor Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, is on the block. * I, Robot: General Dynamics-led...
Rapid Fire 2010-06-09: Diesel-Electric Helos
* A400M transport aircraft: What a long strange trip it's been! * Don't get no respect: Pentagon opposes US Senate bill giving USMC equal billing to US Navy in department's title. * US State Department accepts first modernized S-61T helicopters. * EADS Eurocopter...
Taking Back The Infantry Half-km: Britain’s L129A1
SA80A2s, Iraq(click to view full) If fighting in Iraq was mostly about Close Quarters Battle, experience on the ground in Afghanistan is driving home the opposite imperative: marksmanship and lethality at range. US studies like the influential "Taking Back the...
Rapid Fire 2010-06-08: German Subs Head for Early Retirement
* Pentagon directive hopes to cut up to $100 billion in support costs over 5 years, by looking at personnel policies, medical costs & Tricare, organizational restructuring, acquisition practices and logistical efficiencies. They might want to look at how security...
Rapid Fire: 2010-06-07
* Pakistan to increase its defense spending by 17% in FY 2010-2011 to fund war against Taliban/ al-Qaeda in its "lawless frontier." * Britain contracting with BAE for a better 5.56mm bullet, under their MASS umbrella contract. Major improvements like 6.5mm Grendel, or...
Rapid Fire 2010-06-04: Unmanned Naval Mine Detection
* USA sends aircraft carrier USS George Washington [CVN-73] to participate in South Korean naval exercises in the Yellow Sea. * Scaling the SUMMIT: Lockheed Martin gets ONR contract to develop software system - known as the Supervision of Unmanned vehicles Mission...