Night raid
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Irvine Sensors snags subcontract to supply clip-on thermal imagers under $37.8 million US Navy special ops night vision contract. (Feb 8/10)

It was Christmas Eve 2007 and US Army Rangers were searching for suspected Al-Qaeda members in Mosul, Iraq. They were using their night vision goggles so they would have the element of surprise on their side. The story, detailed in a USA Today article, dramatically demonstrates the advantage night vision capabilities provide to US troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Rangers found 2 Al-Qaeda suspects who were holding an 11-year-old Iraqi boy hostage. Using their night vision capabilities, they were able to shoot the suspects without harming the boy. After that encounter, a firefight erupted between the Army rangers and Al-Qaeda insurgents, with 10 insurgents killed, including the head of an assassination cell, and no Army ranger losses. As former General Barry McCaffrey, commander of the US Army’s 24th Infantry Division in the 1991 Desert Storm conflict, commented: “Our night vision capability provided the single greatest mismatch of the war.” It still does.

This DID Focus Article will examine how this technology works, how its military application has developed over years, how the technology is used by troops in the field, as well as major DoD contracts for procuring night vision devices. The latest contract was awarded to Optics 1 to provide Clip on Thermal Imager systems for PVS-15A night goggles…

• Night Vision Technology
• Generations
• Riding the Omnibus
• Thermal Weapon Sight II
• Multi-Functioning Aiming Laser System
• Helicopter Systems
• Panoramic Night Vision
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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DSP Satellite
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Major update to the article, which now offers a complete timeline and new materials. (Feb 5/10)

The USA’s “SBIRS High” missile launch early-warning satellites, which aim to replace the existing DSP fleet, have been facing
ongoing project issues. Massive cost overruns, technical challenges that continue to present problems, and uncertain performance all factor into the equation. Yet their mission – to detect ballistic missile launches and so serve as the critical first stage of the USA’s national early warning system – is too critical to abandon. What to do?

While some progress has been made on SBIRS-High, the search for alternative technologies is now well underway in a program called AIRSS the Alternate InfraRed Satellite System, also known as 3GIRS (3rd Generation Infrared Surveillance). The effort progressed well, but despite good performance and cost-effective development, the program is facing its end in the FY 2011 budget…

• For Every Action… SBIRS-High From $4B to $10+B
• Reaction: AIRSS & the “Full-Earth Sharing Sensor Assembly” [updated]
• AIRSS/3GIRS Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings [updated]
  
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UCAS-D concept
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N-UCAS receives $2 billion QDR push, aims for quasi-operational status. (Feb 4/10)

In early 2006 the future of the J-UCAS program seemed uncertain. It aimed to create Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAV) for the USAF and Navy that could approach the capabilities of an F-117 stealth fighter. Boeing’s X-45C was set to face off against Northrop Grumman’s X-47B Pegasus, the program had demonstrated successful tests that included dropping bombs, and aerial refueling tests were envisioned.

J-UCAS was eventually canceled, but the technologies have survived, and the US Navy remains interested. A May 2007 non-partisan report discussed the lengthening reach of ship-killers. Meanwhile, the US Navy’s carrier fleet sees its strike range shrinking to 1950s distances, and prepares for a future with 11 operational carriers – but just 10 carrier air wings. Could UCAV/UCAS vehicles with longer ranges, and indefinite flight time limits via aerial refueling, solve these problems? Some people in the Navy seem to think that they might. Hence UCAS-D/ N-UCAS, which has received a major push in the FY 2010 defense review.

• The UCAS-D Program
• The X-47B
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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• US QDR 2010 (Quadrennial Defense Review) in bullet points. Plus, some questions to think about. And what about small business and innovation?

• US Army to spend $7 billion to develop replacement for cancelled FCS manned ground vehicles.

• Portuguese Institute of International Relations and Security (IPRIS) – Using BRIC to build at sea: The Brazil-China aircraft carrier agreement and shifting naval power [PDF].

• London-based IISS’s annual military balance report warns that cyber warfare threat is growing.

• Georgian satellite channel taken off-air by French firm as a condition of the proposed Mistral Class amphibious ship sale.

• Eurojet says it will share single-crystal engine blade technologies with India if Eurofighter wins MMRCA, or EJ200 engine is selected for the LCA Tejas Mk2.

• US Intel community funds power-generating silicone implants. No, really.

• Is a Golden Age of the Silicon Economy just ahead of us? That’s silicON – but if the above is true, we suppose it could be silicone…

• Northrop Grumman posts higher quarterly sales across nearly all of its businesses. What do the analysts have to say?

• Canada’s CAE gets C$58 million ($54 million) in Germany military contracts, including several contracts to provide flight simulator upgrade, maintenance and training support.

• Spiderman gets military assignment: DARPA’s web crawler device could enable US special ops forces to scale walls.

• IBM to develop secure cloud computing for US Air Force networks.

• US Air Force mulls $2 billion order for 100 light-weight armed counter-insurgency planes.

• The Royal Navy flagship HMS Illustrious arrives in Scotland to undergo a £40 million ($63 million) maintenance and upgrade program.

• Barak LR-SAM with 120 km range to fly in August 2010?

• Canada’s submarines – finally operational by 2012?

• Is a shortfall in the number of Pashto interpreters threatening the Afghan war effort?

Reaper, ready…
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Test variants for USAF, USCG; Gorgon stare pod; new Reaper weapon?; Comlink compromise; MQ-9 shootdown. (Feb 2/10)

The MQ-9 Reaper UAV, once called “Predator B,” is somewhat similar to the famous 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. Some have called it the first fielded Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV).

DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. The Reaper UCAV will play a significant role in the future USAF, even though its capability set makes the MQ-9 considerably more expensive than MQ-1 Predators, whose price benefits from less advanced design and volume production orders. Given these high-end capabilities, and 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. Other countries are also expressing interest, and international deployments are accelerating.

• The MQ-9 Reaper, and its Little Brothers
• Contracts & Key Events, 2005 SDD – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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Cloud Computing Diagram
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The commercial IT sector has been using “cloud computing” for a number of years. Cloud computing is a term that describes how large scale computer infrastructure can tap the power of the Internet to perform complex tasks.

Cloud computing allows computer users to realize efficiency and cost savings by using shared IT resources such as applications, storage devices and servers that are delivered as services over the Internet.

The US Air Force wants to tap this technology for its complex IT needs. An obvious problem for the Air Force is the security of accessing information from remote locations not on its secure servers. The Air Force has tasked IBM to come up with a solution to this problem…

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General Dynamics Team
Trimaran LCS Design
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New RFP, FY 2011 budget request, Problems with ship survivability, LCS-2 commissioning, GAO costs report. (Feb 2/10)

Exploit simplicity, numbers, the pace of technology development in electronics and robotics, and fast reconfiguration. That was the US Navy’s idea for the low-end backbone of its future surface combatant fleet. Inspired by successful experiments like Denmark’s Standard Flex ships, the US Navy’s $30+ billion “Littoral Combat Ship” program was intended to create a new generation of affordable surface combatants that could operate in dangerous shallow and near-shore environments, while remaining affordable and capable throughout their lifetimes.

It hasn’t worked that way. In practice, what the Navy wanted, the capabilities needed to perform primary naval missions, and what could be delivered for the sums available, have proven nearly irreconcilable. The LCS program has changed its fundamental acquisition plan several times since 2005, and canceled contracts with both competing teams, without escaping any of its fundamental issues. This public-access FOCUS article offer a wealth of research material, alongside looks at the LCS program’s designs, industry teams procurement plans, military controversies, and contracts.

• LCS: Concept & Needs
• LCS: The Competing Teams
• LCS Solution = Standard Equipment + Mission Modules
• LCS: Controversies & Cautions
• LCS: Budgets and Program Structure [updated]
• LCS: Export Potential
• LCS: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• LCS Ancillaries: Mission Module & Weapon Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings & Sources [updated]
  
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E-737 Wedgetail
over New South Wales
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Successful C2 test, 5-year support contract for Thales. (Feb 2/10)

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 (multirole electronically scanned array) radar from Northrop Grumman. That radar exchanges the traditional AWACS rotating dome for the E-737’s stationary antenna and its “top hat” look. That design, and the project as a whole, have run into severe turbulence, creating problems for Boeing earnings, the ADF, and other export orders for the type. 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.

• Project Wedgetail: Program and Participants
• Contracts & Key Events, 1997 – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings [updated]
  
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F-35A: incoming…
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FY 2011 budget proposals, withheld performance fees, a change in program leadership, Australian reaction. (Feb 2/10)

The $300+ billion F-35 Joint Strike fighter may well be the largest single global defense program in history. This major multinational program is intended to produce an “affordably stealthy” multi-role fighter that will have 3 variants: the F-35A conventional version for the US Air Force et. al.; the F-35B Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing for the US Marines, British Royal Navy, et. al.; and the F-35C conventional carrier-launched version for the US Navy. The aircraft is named after Lockheed’s famous WW2 P-38 Lightning, and the Mach 2, stacked-engine English Electric (now BAE) Lightning jet. Lightning II system development partners included The USA & Britain (Tier 1), Italy and the Netherlands (Tier 2), and Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Turkey (Tier 3), with Singapore and Israel as “Security Cooperation Partners.” Now the challenge is agreeing on production phase membership and arrangements, to be followed by initial purchase commitments in 2009-2010.

This updated article has expanded to feature more detail regarding the F-35 program, including contracts, sub-contracts, and notable events and reports. New material is highlighted by putting it in green type.

• The F-35 Family of Aircraft
• F-35 Program: Production Timelines & Structure
• F-35 Program: Controversies and Competitions
• F-35 Program: Events & Developments, CY 2009-2010 [updated]
• F-35 Program: System Development & Production Contracts, FY 2009-2010 [updated]
• F-35 Program: Ancillary and Sub-contracts, FY 2009 – 2010
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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Basic Nuclear Propulsion
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Added billions of dollars worth of contracts and events for Babcock & Wilcox. (Jan 31/10)

This DII Spotlight article covers American nuclear propulsion industrial base contracts since the beginning of FY 2006. The USA has had an all-nuclear submarine fleet for over 50 years, a policy that dates back to the visionary Admiral Hyman Rickover. On the surface, America’s aircraft carriers became an all-nuclear fleet with the retirement of the USS Kitty Hawk [CV 63], and FY 2008-09 spending legislation pushed the US Navy to use nuclear power in its future CG (X) cruisers and new amphibious ship classes. At present, however, carriers are the only nuclear-powered American surface ships on the drawing board.

• Nuclear Naval Propulsion Around the World
• American Contracts (FY 2006 – Present)
  
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