Nimrod MR2 – incoming!
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On Sept 3/06, an RAF Nimrod MR2 sea control aircraft was flying near Kandahar, Afghanistan, using its advanced sensors and long endurance in support of NATO ISAF forces on land. The aircraft moved to take on additional fuel from an aerial tanker, in order to remain on station longer. That’s when the trouble began. Alerts soon began to sound, and the crew remained professional and businesslike as they steered their ailing plane toward Kandahar for an emergency landing. They never arrived. RAF Nimrod #XV230 exploded in mid-air over Afghanistan, killing all 14 crew members.

“Nimrod Was Actually a Fine Hunter: Upgrading Britain’s Fleet (updated)” details Britain’s current and future Nimrod sea control aircraft fleet, which first entered service in 1969. In the aftermath of the inquests and enquiries that have followed the September 2006 explosion, however, serious questions have been raised concerning the Nimrod’s fleet’s ongoing fitness, and the measures taken to maintain these aging aircraft.

The problems have continued to pile up for the RAF. Beyond a scathing coroner’s report, a set of High Court filings by the UK MoD admit to failures in the RAF’s duty of care. Those are weighty legal words, and now an official independent review has delivered its verdict…

• Nimrod #XV230: What the Coroner Said
• Updates and New Developments
  
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AIM-120C from F-22A
(click for test missile zoom)

Raytheon’s AMRAAM has become the world market leader for medium range air-to-air missiles. It was designed with the lessons of Vietnam in mind, and of local air combat exercises like ACEVAL and Red Flag.

One of the key lessons learned from Vietnam was that a fighter would be likely to encounter multiple enemies, and would need to launch and guide several missiles at once in order to ensure its survival. This had not been possible with the AIM-7 Sparrow, a “semi-active radar homing” missile which required a constant radar lock on one target. To make matters worse, enemy fighters were capable of launching missiles of their own. Pilots who weren’t free to maneuver after launch would often be forced to “break lock,” or be killed – sometimes even by a short-range missile fired during the last phases of their enemy’s approach. Since fighters that could carry radar-guided missiles like the AIM-7 tended to be larger and more expensive, and the Soviets were known to have far more fighters overall, this was not a good trade.

Enter AMRAAM – the AIM-120 Advanced, Medium-Range Air to Air Missile. This DID FOCUS article covers successive generations of AMRAAM missiles, international contracts and key events from 2006 onward, and even some of its emerging competitors. New materials will be highlighted in green type. The most recent additions involve a contract for development of a new AMRAAM rocket motor…

• Some MRAAM History, and AMRAAM’s Design Approach (ie. Continue reading – updated)
• AMRAAM: Versions & Derivatives
• AMRAAM’s International Competitors
• AMRAAM: Contracts & Key Events, FY 2006-Present [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources [updated]
  
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IAI’s Heron-TP
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Germany has just added itself to the list of countries leasing UAV services for the Afghan conflict, by signing a contract with Rheinmetall Defense and their partners at Israel Aerospace Industries to provide an unspecified number of Heron UAVs as the SAATEG (System zur Abbildenden Aufklarung in der Tiefe des Einsatzgebietes). Rheinmetall’s KZO tactical UAV began operating in Afghanistan in 2009, but the Heron is a larger UAV with much better endurance and payload. The “multi-million Euro” contract will see the Bundeswehr lease the UAV system and support from Rheinmetall for 1 year, with an option for a 2 year-extension. Flight operations will commence by mid March 2010, backed by an in-theater 24/7 maintenance and support center. Rheinmetall | IAI.

At least one article [in German] claims that negative experiences with American weapons export bureaucracies and laws shifted the competition away from the MQ-9 Reaper, which was the target of an Aug 1/08 German DSCA request.

Different IAI Heron variants are serving in Afghanistan right now, with the Canadians and Australians leasing Heron-1 UAVs operated by MDA, while France fields a larger “SIDM” Heron TP variant that’s built and maintained by EADS. The pictures put forward in the Rheinmetall and IAI releases suggest that the German system will be IAI’s Heron TP. It will join other leased UAVs in theater with Australia (Heron-1, Boeing’s ScanEagle), Britain (Elbit Systems’ Hermes 450), Canada (Heron-1, ScanEagle), and the Netherlands (Aeronautics DS’ Aerostar).

B-2 drops JDAM
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DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. The DID FOCUS Article looks at the transformational history of the JDAM GPS-guided bomb program, the ongoing efforts to bring its capabilities up to the level of weapons like Israel’s Spice and Raytheon’s Enhanced Paveway, and the contracts issued under the JDAM program and its derivatives.

Precision bombing has been a significant military goal since the invention of the Norden bomb sight in the 1920s, but its application remained elusive. Over 30 years later, in Vietnam, the destruction of a single target could require 300 bombs, which meant sending an appropriate number of fighters or bombers into harm’s way to deliver them. Even the 1991 Desert Storm war with Iraq featured unguided munitions for the most part; the US Air Force did use some laser and TV-guided weapons like Paveway bombs and Maverick missiles, but they were very expensive and only effective in good weather. If precision bombing was finally to become a reality throughout the Air Force, a new approach would be needed.

The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) became that alternative, an engine of military transformation that was also a model of procurement transformation. The latest news involves FY 2009-2010 budget updates, plus a $72 million contract for 2,925 JDAM kits…

• JDAM: A History of Transformation (i.e. Continue reading…)
• JDAM: Program & Variants [updated]
• JDAM: Contracts and Key Events, 1996 – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
  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. To support its 2,000 or so troops in Afghanistan, Canada has to rely on favors from US, British, Australian, Polish, and – irony of ironies – Dutch pilots flying CH-47 Chinooks.

Even so, Canada’s “emergency” purchases for Operation Archer never included helicopters. 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. It took 21 months after this helicopter program was announced before a sole-source RFP was even issued.

DID explains the Afghan situation on the ground for Canadian forces, the RFP, the options, the problems, the ultimatum issued by Canada’s Parliament, and the contract(s). As Canada’s August 2009 CH-47F buy moves forward, the latest addition is an order for the helicopters’ surveillance turrets…

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

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. By the end of July 2008, Pakistan was expected to have its first 10 planes. The first new-build F-16, on the other hand, just had its acceptance ceremony this month…

• 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)
  
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Reaper, ready…
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DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. The MQ-9 Reaper, once called “Predator B,” is somewhat similar to the Predator. Until you look at the tail. Or its size. Or its weapons. It’s called “Reaper” for a reason – while it packs the same surveillance gear, it’s much more of a hunter-killer design. The Reaper is 36 feet long, with a 66 foot wingspan. Its maximum gross takeoff weight is a whopping 10,500 pounds, carrying up to 4,000 pounds of fuel, 850 pounds of internal/ sensor payload, and another 3,000 pounds on its wings. Its 6 pylons can carry GPS-guided JDAM family bombs, Paveway laser-guided bombs, Sidewinder missiles for air-air self defense, and other MIL STD 1760 compatible weapons, in addition to the Hellfire anti-armor missiles carried by the Predator. When loaded up with laser-guided Hydra rockets, the Reaper becomes the equivalent of a close air support fighter with less situational awareness, lower speed, and less survivability if seen – but much, much longer on-station time. Some have called it the first fielded Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV).

That capability set makes the MQ-9 considerably more expensive than its MQ-1 Predator counterparts, whose price also benefits from volume production orders. Given these high-end capabilities, and high-end expenses, one might not have expected the MQ-9 to enjoy better export success than its famous cousin. Nevertheless, that’s what appears to be happening. MQ-9 operators currently include the USA and Britain, who have both used it in hunter-killer mode, and Italy. If current contract requests are fulfilled, Germany may soon add MQ-9s to their forces as well.

New material is indicated in green type. The latest additions includes support and spares contracts for the USA and Italy, development of a SIGINT/COMINT payload, and reports of interest from France…

• The MQ-9 Reaper, and its Little Brothers
• Contracts & Key Events, 2005 SDD – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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Canadian T-33, on display
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The Fuerza Aerea Boliviana wants to replace its 16 obsolete Lockheed T-33s, a fleet of trainer and light attack jets whose design is derived from the USAAF/ USAF’s first jet fighter, the P-80 Shooting Star. American production ended during the late 1950s, but licensed builds ended later, and it is still in service with some air forces around the world.

Bolivia has discussed possible deals for EMB-314 Super Tucano aircraft with Brazil, and spent a great deal of time negotiating with The Czech Republic for some of its surplus L-159 ALCA/ L-159T advanced trainers and light attack jets. Unlike their popular Soviet-era L-39/L-59 counterparts, however, the L-159 was designed for compatibility with NATO equipment, and featured a number of American components. That proved the sale’s undoing. The USA invoked ITAR military technology transfer laws, and blocked the export to Chavez ally Evo Morales’ government.

In response, Bolivia turned to a Chinese/Pakistani joint venture, and will soon receive its jets…

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Bagram Air Base

AECOM Government Services in Fort Worth, TX received a $78.8 million, 6-month extension to the US Army’s global maintenance support and service (GMASS) contract for AECOM’s work in Afghanistan.

Under the GMASS contract, AECOM provides general support maintenance, as well as construction and operation of maintenance facilities, living quarters, and offices at 2 US military bases, forward operating bases, and satelite locations in Afghanistan.

One of the facilities AECOM serves under the GMASS contract is Bagram Air Base...

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SOS International in Reston, VA won a $136.2 million fixed-rate contract for linguist services in support of US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The contract is expected to run through Sept 25/14. Bids were solicited via the General Services Administration with 4 offers received. The US Army Corps of Engineers and Defense Intelligence Agency manage the contract (WHHM402-09-F-0658).