Javelin, firing
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After a series of disastrous experiences in Vietnam trying to use 66mm M72 LAW rockets against old Soviet tanks, the US military developed a renewed seriousness about giving its soldiers shoulder-fired weapons that packed enough punch to face down enemy armor. A number of options like the Mk 153 SMAW and the AT4/M136 spun out of that effort in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until electronics had miniaturized for several more cycles that it became possible to solve the next big problem: the need for soldiers to remain exposed to enemy fire while guiding anti-tank missiles to their targets.

Javelin solves both of those problems at once, offering a heavy fire-and-forget missile that will reliably destroy any enemy armored vehicle, and many fortifications as well. While armored threats are less pressing these days, the need to destroy fortified outposts and rooms in buildings remains. Indeed, one of the lessons from both sides of the 2006 war in Lebanon has been the infantry’s use of guided missiles as a form of precision artillery fire.

Javelin is not an ideal candidate for that latter role due to its high cost-per-unit; nevertheless, it has often been used this way. Its performance in Iraq has revealed a clear niche on both low and high intensity battlefields, and led to rising popularity with international and American clients. This DID FOCUS Article covers the Javelin anti-armor missile system, and associated contracts and key events. The latest items include a $200+ million contract for more Javelin systems…

• The Javelin Anti-Tank Guided Missile System
• Javelin ATGM: The Program [updated]
• Javelin ATGM: Reports from the Front
• Javelin: Contracts & Key Events (2004 – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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B-52H: to 2030?
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The current US Air Force fleet, whose planes are more than 23 years old on average, is the oldest in USAF history. It won’t keep that title for very long. Many transport aircraft and aerial refueling tankers are more than 40 years old – and under current plans, some may be as many as 70-80 years old before they retire. Since the price for next-generation planes has risen faster than inflation, average aircraft age will climb even if the US military gets every plane it asks for in its future plans. Nor is the USA the only country facing this problem.

As this dynamic plays out and average age continues to rise, addressing the issues related to aging aircraft becomes more and more important in order to maintain acceptable force numbers, readiness levels, and aircraft maintainability; avoid squeezing out recapitalization budgets; handle personnel turnover that becomes more and more damaging; and keep maintenance costs in line, despite new technical problems that will present unforeseen difficulties. Like F-15 fighters that are under flight restrictions due to structural fatigue concerns – or grounded entirely.

The biggest contracts aren’t always the ones deserving of the most attention. Enter the USA’s Joint Council on Aging Aircraft (JCAA), and initiatives like the Navy’s ASLS. Enter, too, DID’s Spotlight article. It seeks to place the situation and its effects in perspective, via background, contracts, and a research trove of articles that tap the expertise and observations of outside parties and senior sources within the US military. The latest addition is a $75+ million contract to BAE, and some alarming data concerning KC-135 tanker fleet costs…

• The JCAA
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Aging Aircraft: Some Additional Readings
  
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CREW Duke V2 System

The US Army Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command awarded SRCTec a 5-year indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract (W15P7T-09-D-M615) worth up to $700 million for Counter Remote Control Improvised Explosive Devices (RCIED) Electronic Warfare (CREW) Duke V2 system upgrades. The initial order is worth $188 million.

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 V2 Upgrade improves the Duke’s capability to the level of the JCREW 3.2 system, she added. For DID coverage of the JCREW systems, click here.

The CREW Duke system was developed to provide US forces protection against a range of RCIED threats…

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Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) in McLean, VA won an estimated $120.2 million firm-fixed-priced, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract as the program support integrator (PSI) for the US Marine Corps counter-radio controlled improvised explosive device (CREW) program. SAIC will perform the work at various locations within the United States, Iraq and Afghanistan, and expects to complete it by August 2014. Contract funds in the amount of $22.4 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via a Request for Proposal (M67854-09-R-7005), with 3 offers received by the Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, VA (M67854-09-D-7005).

CREW systems are vehicle mounted electronic jammers designed to prevent the remote detonation of land mines…

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Wyle Information Systems in McLean, VA received a $13.9 million indefinite delivery/ indefinite quantity contract modification to provide technical services and space operations support to the Space Innovation and Development Center located at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado.

The contract is directed toward examining, assessing, and developing the means to integrate national system and US DoD space systems support to enhance combat and research and development capabilities within the US Air Force. This includes integrating existing and advanced-technology weapons, platforms and special test facilities as well as the technical expertise such as knowledge of emerging space-based technologies and systems.

Space Innovation and Development Center at Schriever Air Force Base manages the contract (FA2550-01-D-0003, P00026). The center’s mission is to advance warfare through rapid innovation, integration, training testing, and experimentation…

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MTRS: TALON IV
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In May 2005, the title “Remote Control Toys Used By Iraq Patrols,” talked about childrens’ toys being used on the front lines to look fo roadside bombs. It would appear that someone took notice, because there has since been a flurry of activity on the robotic explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) front. Meanwhile, deliveries of smaller and cheaper MARCBOTs and BomBots are underway.

DefenseLink notes in its announcements that “The increase in production quantity is due to the urgent and compelling need for units that are forward deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.” So, what exactly is the MTRS program? DID explains, and covers the latest news and contract information for MTRS robots. Per DID convention, new items are indicated in green type.

The latest news includes another American contract to iRobot…

• MTRS: Why Send A Man to Do A Robot’s Job? (i.e. “Continue reading…”)
• MTRS: Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• MTRS’ Mini-Mes: MARCbot & BomBot
• MTRS Additional Readings & Sources
  
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K-Dog: disco is worse
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The global proliferation of advanced, ultra-quiet diesel electric submarines has prompted a number of responses around the globe, from initial-stage efforts to mimic a shark’s senses in the USA, to the most obvious route of using more powerful active sonars. In Western countries, concerns have been expressed that these sonars may disorient or scare marine mammals, leading to decompression sickness or disruption of their biological sonar navigation systems. This has led to (unsuccessful) lawsuits aimed at curtailing submarine exercises by Western navies.

In December 2007, USN Rear Adm. Lawrence S. Rice, director of Naval Operations Environmental Readiness, discussed some of the measures that are being taken to investigate the issue, and also mitigate any possible effects. In January 2008, a court battle erupted over undersea training off the coast of San Diego, CA, throwing the issue back into the limelight and potentially crippling Navy training before a dangerous deployment to the Persian Gulf. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ follow-on ruling was predictable, but in November 2008, the US Supreme Court issued its ruling.

In light of that favorable ruling, a settlement has now been reached on the Navy’s terms. The Navy has just been given permission to conduct exercises near Hawaii, and this, too, is likely to end up in court, along with its planned training near Florida. Meanwhile, the US Navy continues to fund marine mammal research – which may begin to include UUVs and/or USVs…

• Sonar and Marine Mammals
• Updates and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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The U.S. Army Joint Munitions & Lethality Life Cycle Management Command (JM&L LCMC) awarded indefinite-delivery/ indefinite quantity contracts with cost-plus-fixed-fee/ firm-fixed-price orders to 5 companies to support the Army’s effort to get high-tech weapon prototypes in the hands of soldiers in the field as soon as possible. The effort, known as the Rapid Prototyping and Technology Initiative (RPTI), is run by the Army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC).

The maximum value of the 5 contracts is $300 million.

DID has a list of winners, contract numbers, as well as work to be performed under these contracts…

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Leo C2s, Afghanistan
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It would seem that the Canadian Forces are taking some of the lessons re-learned during Operation Medusa in Afghanistan to heart. Canada’s DND:

“The heavily protected direct fire capability of a main battle tank is an invaluable tool in the arsenal of any military. The intensity of recent conflicts in Central Asia and the Middle East has shown western militaries that tanks provide protection that cannot be matched by more lightly armoured wheeled vehicles…. [Canada’s existing Leopard C2/1A5] tanks have also provided the Canadian Forces (CF) with the capability to travel to locations that would otherwise be inaccessible to wheeled light armoured vehicles, including Taliban defensive positions.”

In October 2003, Canada was set to buy the Styker/LAV-III 105mm Mobile Gun System to replace its Leopard C2 tanks. In the end, however, the lessons of war have taken Canada down a very different path – one that now has them renewing the very tank fleet they were once intent on scrapping with one of the world’s best tanks, and backing away from the wheeled vehicles that were once the cornerstone of the Canadian Army’s transformation plan. This updated article includes a full chronology for Canada’s new Leopard 2 tanks, and adds information concerning DND’s exact plans and breakdowns for their new fleet. Which seems set to add some specialty vehicles, and important accessories…

• Why New Tanks Now?
• Choices, Choices: Leopard 2s For Canada
• Next Steps and Updates [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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Not ideal.

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?

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