Afghan 7000 series
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The U.S. Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command recently awarded Navistar Defense a follow-on contract to provide medium tactical trucks and spare parts to the Afghanistan National Police, Afghan National Army and the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.

Under the multi-year, $1.283 billion contract, Navistar will supply 7,072 vehicles based on their severe service International 7000 Series truck. The order will include General Troop Transporter, POL (petroleum, oil and lubricant), water tankers, wreckers and hazardous material truck variants. In addition, Navistar will supply all required spare parts necessary to support several years of scheduled maintenance. Approximately half of the 2008 order will be delivered during the first year of the contract, with nearly 1,000 units expected to be delivered in FY 2008 (i.e. before Oct 1/08).

MV 7000 as tanker
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This award follows a $430 million contract, 2,900 vehicle contract awarded in 2005, bringing the overall total to $1.71 billion and 9,972 trucks. Navistar release. Note that the International 7000 truck chassis is also the basis of the blast-resistant MaxxPro 4×4 patrol vehicle, which is currently the lead vehicle in the USA’s 15,000+ vehicle MRAP (Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected) program.

A Viking comes ashore
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The BvS-10 is the successor to the wildly popular Bv206, 11,000 of which have been sold to 40 countries around the world – including the USA (M978). It is in use in both Britain and the Netherlands as a key armored vehicle for their respective Marines, and is under evaluation elsewhere. Singapore has developed and manufactured an improved variant of its own called the Bronco ATTC, and Finland and Norway also have their own local Bv-206 variants.

What makes this unusual-looking vehicle family so popular? They aren’t like Hummers or similar wheeled mainstays. They aren’t full armored personnel carriers, either – they’re armored, but Bv family vehicles can’t take the kind of punishment that a Bradley or LAV can absorb. Instead, the secret to their success lies in a remarkable all-terrain capability, and their ability to fill a rare and critical role: air-portable and amphibious infantry enhancement.

These success factors are discussed below, along with contracts and key developments related to this vehicle family. The latest development involves a bulletin from the Dutch, who are finding that they need to fix some issues with the BvS-10 Vikings headed for duty in Chad…

• The Bv Family of Vehicles (i.e. Continue reading…)
• Bv Family: Why So Popular?
• Bv Family: Performance in Afghanistan [updated]
• Contracts and Key Events
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
  Continue Reading… »

Telford’s airship

Telford Aviation Inc. in Bangor, ME received a $26.4 million5 time and materials contract for “9 months of continued multi-sensor airborne reconnaissance surveillance system support.” Telford’s own site states that their available government services include system maintenance and system training on special mission equipment for ISR programs, as well as all operational support for a 30,000 cubic foot surveillance airship.

Work will be performed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is expected to be complete by Jan 31/09. One bid was solicited on March 11/08 by the CECOM Acquisition Center at Fort Monmouth, NJ (W15P7T-07-C-W009).

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. Here’s how it works…

Continue Reading… »

PAF F-16A drops Mk.82s
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On June 28/06, the US DSCA notified Congress via a series of releases of its intention to provide Pakistan with a $5.1 billion Foreign Military Sales package to upgrade the F-16s that serve as the PAF’s top of the line fighters. Some of these items had been put on hold following the October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan & Kashmir, but the request for 36 new F-16 Block 50/52s is now going ahead following the required 30-day review period, along with new weapons, engine modifications, 60 F-16 upgrade kits that would cover Pakistan’s older F-16 A/Bs plus other aircraft it might buy second-hand, and related equipment.

These items are detailed below… along with controversies the proposed sales have created, and some of the conditions attached to the sale by the US government. Another piece of the contract has gone through via engineering change and support purchases.

• Item 1: 36 New F-16 Block 50/52s – $3 billion
• Item 2: Weapons for the New F-16s – $650 Million
• Item 3: F-16A/B Mid-Life Update Modification Kits – $1.3 billion
• Item 4: F-16A/B Engine Modifications & UP/STAR – $151 Million
• Deal Updates and Progress [updated]
• Potential Controversies (July 5, 2006)
  
  Continue Reading… »

FC-1/ JF-17
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Back in January 2007, DID wrote:

“The military world has no shortage of irony. The defense industry has its moments too, as Pakistan just discovered. An aircraft whose development was driven by military sanctions from the US and Europe is now derailed by military sanctions. This leaves the Pakistani Air Force dependent on an alternative from… America. Meanwhile, the Chinese are left with no export launch customer for a plane they may now have to reluctantly buy themselves, instead of the favoured and more capable J-10. Somewhere in Delhi, champagne is pouring – but first, a bit of background.”

The arms market also features no shortage of change. The agreement India thought it had, was reversed by Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin. Now Pakistan has begun to take delivery of the new fighters, and is reportedly seeking additional agreements with Western firms for avionics and weapons upgrades. In addition, a joint marketing agency has been set up in conjunction with China…

• The JF-17 Thunder, aka. FC-1 Fierce Dragon
• Stuck in Sichuan: The Saga
• Updates and Key Events [updated]
  
  Continue Reading… »

Spanish Searcher, Herat
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In April 2007, Spanish reader Pedro Lucio alerted us to an official announcement that Spain’s Ministry of Defence has issued a EUR 14.37 million (then about $19.5 million) contract for unmanned air vehicles that would be deployed to support Spanish troops in Afghanistan. The contract was awarded to a consortium formed by Indra Sistemas and EADS-CASA, and Israel’s IAI; they will produce IAI’s Searcher-II-J UAV, which received excellent reviews from India in the wake of the 2004 tsunami.

Ongoing updates include delivery, a complementary buy of mini-UAVs, and the first flight in Afghanistan. The key characteristics of Spain’s new sistema de Plataforma Autonoma Sensorizada de Inteligencia (PASI), and contract developments, include…

Continue Reading… »

C-212, hot & high
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Blackwater, USA subsidiary Presidential Airways, Inc. of Moyock, NC uses the EADS-CASA 212 transport aircraft for its work, which is short-haul supply flights in and out of remote locations – including combat zones. Hopefully, they will be able to address some of the issues US combat commanders have raised re: the need for transport aircraft that can use smaller runways, and land closer to zones of operations.

The firm has received a few contracts from the US government for these services, covering a number of Central Asian countries. The latest contract is a bit different, as it involves helicopters…

Continue Reading… »

Used to be ours…
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Back in 1991, Canada’s Mulroney government sold the country’s CH-47 Chinook medium-lift helicopter fleet to the Dutch. They cost a lot to maintain and operate, and Canada didn’t need them anyway. Or so they thought. Fast forward to 2002, then 2006. Canada has had boots on the ground in Afghanistan for several years now, but doesn’t have any helicopters capable of operating in the hot and/or high-altitude environment of southern Afghanistan. Its CH-146 Griffons (Bell 412s) can’t carry useful loads in that environment, its ancient CH-124 Sea Kings are falling apart, its CH-148 Cyclones (H-92 Superhawks) are ordered but not yet manufactured, and its 14 new search-and-rescue CH-149 Cormorants are few in number, are based on the EH101’s civil model rather than its military model, and were consuming spares at a torrid rate before being grounded for an extended period due to maintenance & safety issues. To support its 2,000 or so troops in Afghanistan, therefore, Canada has to rely on favors from US, British, Australian, Polish, and (irony of ironies) Dutch pilots flying CH-47 Chinooks.

When DID covered Canada’s “emergency” purchases for Operation Archer back in November 2005, DID made a strong point of noting the absence of medium-lift helicopters from that list. It should have come as a relief, therefore, to learn in June 2006 that the Canadian government had announced a CDN$ 4.7 billion program to purchase 16 “medium-heavy” helicopters for military and “disaster response” roles.

It should have, but it didn’t. DID explains the Afghan situation on the ground, the RFP, the options – and the problem. Now, almost 2 years after the program was announced, a sole-source RFP has been issued…

• Cemetary Sideroad: On the Ground in Afghanistan
• Bring It All Back: The New Helicopter Competition
• Looking for a Place to Happen: The Problem [updated]
• We’ll Go Too: Updates [new]
• Escape Is at Hand for the Travellin’ Man: Additional Readings & Sources [updated]

JLENS Concept
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The proliferation of cruise missiles and associated components, combined with a falling technology curve for biological, chemical, or even nuclear agents, is creating longer-term hazards on a whole new scale. Intelligence agencies and analysts believe the threat of U.S. cities coming under cruise missile attack from ships off the coast is real, sophisticated and evolving. Meanwhile, the July-August 2005 issue of Air Defense Artillery Magazine discusses experiences in Operation Iraqi Freedom which showed that even conventional cruise missiles could have important tactical uses in the hands of a determined enemy.

Aerial sensors are preferred against low-flying cruise missiles, because they lack the range/horizon limitations of ground-based systems. The bad news is that keeping planes in the air all the time is very expensive, and the aircraft themselves aren’t cheap. The primary challenge for theater and national cruise missile defense, therefore, is the development of a reliable, affordable, long-flying look-down platform to detect, track and identify incoming missiles and support over-the-horizon engagements in a timely manner. Hence JLENS.

This is DID’s FOCUS Article covering the JLENS system, from key capabilities to program structure to ongoing procurements. Per DID practice, new materials will be highlighted in green type. The most recent news is a successful review milestone…

• The JLENS System: This is Not Your Grandpa’s Barrage Balloon
• JLENS: The Program
• JLENS: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources