3BCT-101st, Iraq-
no Chavis turrets?
(click to view full)

Navistar subsidiary International Military and Government LLC (IMG) in, Warrenville, IL has now won well over $3.5 billion in contracts to date under the MRAP program. The Category I MRUV vehicle’s role is similar to a Hummer’s, albeit with more carrying capacity and much more protection. That has become a staple for IMG’s entry, dubbed the “MaxxPro” by its manufacturer. Their collaboration with an Israeli firm who provides up-armored vehicles for the Marines successfully overcame lukewarm initial interest, but even successful survivors of Aberdeen’s tests may not offer enough protection against the ERP class of land mines that bagen to appear in Iraq. Nevertheless, the MRAP program has become a production race – and Navistar has done very well under those competitive terms. A July 2007 order vaulted them into 1st place for MRAP vehicles ordered, and they have kept that position ever since.

In the end the military’s desire for standardization of its fleets exerted something of a gravitation pull on the competition. That helped Navistar, who finished on top at the end of the day. Recent updates include related spares and support contracts for regular and ambulance versions…

• MRAPs, Start Your Engines (i.e. Continue reading…)
• MaxxPro: A Collaborative Success
• MaxxPro Contracts [updated]
• MPV or APC to Face EFPs? (June 2007)
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
  Continue Reading… »

Heron 1 UAV, Canada
(click to view full)

Israel Aerospace Industries’ Heron is a large MALE UAV in the MQ-1 Predator’s Class. It is primarily used as a surveillance UAV over land and sea, and can be equipped with a number of modular radar, sensor, and even electronic intelligence packages. The 2006 war in Lebanon also demonstrated that they could be armed, if necessary. Herons are known to serve with Israel (Heron 1 and Heron TP), India, Turkey, and in France as the SIDM/EAGLE EuroMALE variant. They have also been used successfully by US SOUTHCOM as drug interdiction aircraft; a leasing deal with El Salvador is reportedly pending, and Brazil is also showing interest.

Canada has a long-term JUSTAS program that includes UAVs in this class, and the Heron will fill the Phase 1 near-term MALE UAV requirements – but the longer-term procurement choices will not be made until Phase 2. Meanwhile, the Heron UAV have begun serving Canada in Afghanistan, under an August 2008 arrangement. Now Australia has joined this effort…

Continue Reading… »

SPYDER Mobile Firing Unit
(click to view full)

Israel’s SPYDER air defense system follows a recent trend of using advanced air-air missiles designed for fighter jets as ground-launched surface-to-air missiles (SAM). This truck-mounted system mixes radar and optical tracking with any combination of short to medium-range Derby 4 and ultra-agile short-range 5th generation Python 5 air to air missiles, in order to create a versatile system adapted for a wider range of threats. Hence its inclusion in in our AMRAAM FOCUS article’s “international competitors” section.

India has become the system’s inaugural export customer. SPYDER will reportedly replace India’s Russian-made OSA-AKM/SA-8 Gecko and ZRK-BD Strela-10M/ SA-13 Gopher SAM systems, and the purchase has decisively shelved the Indian DRDO’s failed Trishul project.

More success may be on the way. As India’s Air Force gears up, the Army is reportedly about to follow suit with an even bigger contract…

• The SPYDER System
• Contracts and Key Events: India
• Additional Readings
  
  Continue Reading… »

TU-142: headed out
(click to view full)

In a November 2005 article, DID covered India’s $133 million deal for 2 P-3C Orion maritime-optimized patrol and surveillance planes. As it happens, that deal fell through on grounds of expense, support costs, and timing. Apparently, it would have taken 18-24 months for the US Navy to retrofit the aircraft to the Indian Navy’s specifications, once the lease had been finalized.

In December 2005, therefore, India’s navy floated an RFP for at least 8 new maritime aircraft. Subsequent statements by India’s Admiral Prakash suggested that they could be looking for as many as 30 aircraft by 2020. Lockheed was invited to bid again, and this time, they werre not alone. The bids were submitted in April 2007. The plan was for price negotiations to be completed in 2007, with first deliveries to commence within 48 months.

India’s Ministry of Defence has extreme problems with announced schedules, but their existing fleet was wearing out, international requests for India’s maritime patrol help are rising, and some action is necessary. DID discusses the geopolitical drivers, the current fleet, and the known competitors. As of August 2009, the competition has a winner, and a deal that’s adding the final pieces…

• With Growing Naval Power Comes Growing Naval Responsibility
• The Competitors
• Listed, But Not Submitted
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
  Continue Reading… »

HMCS Montreal & sub:
HMCS Windsor
(click to view full)

Launched between 1988-1995, and commissioned between 1992-1996, Canada’s 12 City Class (now Halifax Class) frigates currently form the high end of its naval capabilities. The Canadian Navy has declined drastically from its post-WWII status as the world’s 4th largest navy, and the Halifax Class itself is finding that its open-ocean design is not suited to cope with modern littoral threats and improving anti-ship missiles. Replacement vessels are still many years away, which means that the 4,750t frigates will need to be modernized within the limits of their design if they are to remain effective.

Canada’s government has decided to fund that modernization, much as Australia and New Zealand are modernizing the Halifax Class’ ANZAC Frigate contemporaries. Refits are scheduled to begin with HMCS Halifax in 2010, and that ship is scheduled to re-enter service about 18 months later in 2012. By 2017, all 12 frigates are scheduled to be upgraded as part of a C$ 3.1 billion (about $2.9 billion) program.

This DII Spotlight article explains the scope of the upgrades, notes the current systems, and covers the contracts and developments involved. The latest addition is a contract for Indentification Friend-or-Foe systems, and the opening of a key program facility in Nova Scotia…

• Upgrading The Halifax Class
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
  Continue Reading… »

Israeli A-4Ns
(click to view full)

McDonnell Douglas’ A-4 Skyhawk, aka. “Scooter,” has a long and storied career as a carrier-based attack aircraft with the US Navy. It’s old enough that Sen. John McCain was flying one when he was shot down over North Vietnam. It also has a storied land-based career with the Israeli Air Force, who used this simple, pilot-friendly aircraft from late 1967 onward as a versatile attack aircraft with surprising air-air teeth.

Israel’s induction of F-16s was a turning point for the type, which has declined in importance but never vanished from service. Some are in storage or used as specialty platforms, others have been sold or leased to private operators, and the “Flying Tigers” of 102 Squadron at Hatzerim Air Base still use their A-4Ns and 2-seat TA-4Js for advanced IAF Lead-In Fighter Training.

A maintenance scandal has led Israel to conclude, after more than 40 years, that its Skyhawks need replacement. The latest news involves an official Israeli delegation that’s in South Korea to test-fly KAI’s supersonic T-50…

• On Wings of Eagles: Service in Israel
• Updates and Key Events
• Additional Readings
  
  Continue Reading… »

P-8i concept
(click to view full)

When countries export weapons, they frequently set associated conditions. Rules against reselling the gear without permission would be a basic condition for obvious reasons, and more advanced restrictions on technology transfer, sharing of details about the weapon with other countries, and related codicils are also common. Some western countries will also place restrictions on what the purchaser can do with the weapons as part of these “End Use Monitoring” (EUM) agreements. Britain recently forbade Indonesia from using its Scorpion light tanks against a separatist insurgency in Aceh, which caused Indonesia to turn toward Russia as a future supplier. In Africa, Chad encountered trouble from Switzerland after its Pilatus-7 turboprops were reportedly armed for use against a Sudanese-backed guerrilla army. A problem that Sudanese forces and their allies don’t seem to have with Sudan’s new Chinese and Russian jets.

During the Cold War, regimes always had the option of playing Western suppliers off against the Soviet Union. With the USSR’s collapse, that option disappeared for a while. In the early 21st century, the re-emergence of Russia’s weapons industry, and the development of competitive arms industries in countries like China, South Korea, Brazil, and India, is changing the global equation again. EUMs are likely to be affected by this trend, as the leverage to apply them declines. The question is which items are deal-breakers that must be retained by western countries, and which will be allowed to quietly fall by the wayside. That decision will be different in different countries, of course. Meanwhile, the strains created in India by standard American EUMs is an early indicator.

A positive one, it seems, for a deal is done. Details have been scarce, but they’re beginning to emerge amidst opposition party criticism…

• A Trend-Setter’s Trends
• EUM Issues and Options
• EUM Updates & Developments [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
  Continue Reading… »

Elbit Systems in Haifa, Israel, agreed to pay $34 million to acquire BVR Systems (1998) Ltd., a provider of training, simulation and debriefing systems for air, sea and ground forces. The transaction is subject to price adjustment as well as fulfillment of certain conditions, including receipt of all approvals required by law. The transaction will also include the re-employment of BVR’s employees by Elbit.

The merger affects, and is affected by, BVR’s recent debt financing agreement. BVR provides a range of services to militaries around the world…

Continue Reading… »

E-737 Wedgetail
over New South Wales
(click to view full)

The island continent of Australia faces a number of unique security challenges that stem from its geography. The continent may be separated from its neighbors by large expanses of ocean, but it also resides within a potential arc of instability, and has a number of important offshore resource sites to protect. Full awareness of what is going on around them, and the ability to push that awareness well offshore, are critical security requirements.

“Project Wedgetail” had 3 finalists, and the winner was a new variant of Boeing’s 737-700, fitted with an MESA radar from Northrop Grumman. That radar exchanges the traditional AWACS rotating dome for the E-737’s stationary antenna and its “top hat” look.

Project Wedgetail’s flight has not been smooth. DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. This one covers contracts, events, and key milestones within Australia’s E-737 program, from inception to the current day. The latest developments include much more precise information regarding the radar’s problems…

• Project Wedgetail: Program and Participants
• Contracts & Key Events, 1997 – Present
• Additional Readings
  
  Continue Reading… »

Saar 5 Eilat Class
(click to view larger)

The 1,227t/ 1,350 ton Sa’ar 5 Eilat Class corvettes were built by Northrop Grumman in the 1990s for about $260 million each. It’s a decent performer in a number of roles, from air defense to anti-submarine work, to coastal patrol and special forces support – but a master of none. The Israelis are looking for a next-generation vessel with better high-end capabilities, and the USA is their logical supplier. Given Israel’s size and cost requirements, however, the only American option is their Littoral Combat Ship.

LCS-I components
(click to view full)

The Israelis have a long-standing relationship with Lockheed Martin, and a 2,500-3,000t LCS design with the USA’s swappable mission modules could significantly improve Israel’s ability to conduct anti-submarine warfare and mine neutralization missions. Unfortunately, the weak armament of the USA’s LCS ships is inadequate for the Israelis, who need their ships to be able to engage other naval vessels, and to provide their own air defense. Worse, the American design lacks the flexibility to add meaningful weapons upgrades in future. As a result, the Israelis took a different approach, eliminating the ship’s swappable mission modules in favor of a much more heavily-armed vessel.

Initial studies were conducted in conjunction with Lockheed Martin, leading to an RFP and even an official $1.9 billion DSCA request for Lockheed Martin’s LCS-I design. That would have made Israel the first LCS export customer – but now the Israelis are reportedly backing away from the ship’s high costs, and looking at another solution…

• LCS-I: Details and Rationale [updated]
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources [updated]
  
  Continue Reading… »