• The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) think tank published a report [PDF] on the South China Sea, a potential hot zone because of its sea lanes and China’s increasingly assertive territorial claims driven by natural resources such as deepwater oil and gas. Just surveying these resources has been a source of tension between China and neighbors including Vietnam and the Philippines.

• IAI says: Our President is retiring. Oh, and by the way, we just made a $1.1 billion sale to an unnamed Asian country (Globes first reported it was India but later retracted). It reportedly includes aircraft (UAVs? G550 ISR? KC-767 MMTT?), missiles (ground strike, anti-ship or naval air defense), and intelligence technologies (very wide range).

• Fellow Israeli UAV firm Aeronautics DS now has 8 long-range Dominator XP UAVs in different stages of work, as the DA42-based UAV ramps up production in the wake of export clearances.

• Little Rock AFB, AR accepts the 4th of 5 C-130H Avionics Modernization Program test & evaluation transport aircraft, and the 1st modified by the USAF’s Warner Robins ALC.

• Christmas came for the Swiss, with delayed delivery of their initial AEV-3 Geniepanzer heavy armored engineering vehicles. The Dutch and Swedes will be glad that problems were ironed out over there.

• Airdrops by US troops over Afghanistan reached a record last year at almost 16M pounds (about 7,250 tonnes). They like their JPADS. The airdrop ramp-up started a few years ago.

• THE US Air Force has a quick review on the state of eye injury protection and post-injury care. See also from the Army: Combat eye protection | Vision conservation and readiness program [PDF].

• US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Jacob Lew will wrap-up the FY13 President Budget then replace William Daley as President Obama’s Chief of Staff.

M50 mask training

In December 2011, Avon Protection Systems, Inc. in Cadillac, MI won a 5-year, $176.4 million firm-fixed-price contract to make M61 filter canisters for the new M50 Joint Service General Purpose Mask. Work will be performed in Cadillac, MI, and is expected to run until Dec 22/16. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with 6 bids received by U.S. Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD (W911SR-12-D-0001).

The new M50 mask is designed to be more compact, lighter, more comfortable and more effective than the older M40. When worn in conjunction with a MOPP suit, the mask allows over 24 hours of protection against chemical or biological agents and radioactive particulates. Improvements include a single cast, optically correct visor with a wider field of view than the previous twin-lens design, and a twin conformal filter for a 50% improvement in breathing resistance. Anyone who has ever tried heavy physical exertion in a gas mask understands how much that improvement means. The convenient integrated 3L Camelbak for drinking, and clip-on sunglasses or corrective lenses, will also be appreciated.

• The Pentagon is to modestly reduce the number of its top-ranked officers, after a decade of “star creep.”

• How do you squeeze a Merlin AW101 helicopter into a C17? The BBC explains with a timelapse video and helpful charts.

• Some British soldiers are complaining that their new Personal Clothing System (PCS) makes them look American, which is apparently not a flattering statement.

• Turkey has frozen political and military relations with France because of the French recognition of the Armenian genocide as such. Back in September Turkey suspended its defense ties with Israel, though last week coordination between their respective air forces was reestablished.

• How will the United States’ AirSea Battle work-in-progress doctrine affect Japan?

• Kit Up’s advice on Carl Gustaf tactical employment: learn to use it or someone is going to get hurt, and not just the intended target.

• Mike McCord, principal US under secretary of defense (Comptroller), and Vice Admiral Mark Skinner, Principal Military Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, both told reporters that the FY13 budget that DoD, the services and OMD are working on will not incorporate the sequester supposed to kick in by 2013. the President’s Budget is to be presented by the 1st Monday of February but the Pentagon might run a preview by Congress next month. Future Years Defense Program (FYDP) is also being worked on to cover the FY13-17 span. It looks like weapons acquisitions won’t bear the brunt of whichever level of cut is actually going to be enacted. Meanwhile House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is trying to work out a deal to scale back sequestration, reports Politico.

• US Under Secretary of Defense Michele Flournoy will meet next week with General Ma Xiaotian, deputy chief of the People’s Liberation Army General Staff on Dec. 7 for the 12th annual defense between the US and China.

• USMC General Joseph Dunford is bullish on the F-35B making it out of probation.
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• U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said during the Halifax International Security Forum last Friday: “I feel very confident that we’ll get funding for the F-35 program”. A day later Senator John McCain (R-AZ) answered: “We want the F-35 to succeed. We’re not opposed to the F-35. But we have obligations to our taxpayers.” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey tried to walk back his comment from last month and told reporters he “didn’t have a cross hair on the F-35.” Acting defense acquisition undersecretary Frank Kendall went to Lockheed Martin’s plant in Fort Worth, TX where final assembly takes place.

• This while the Super Committee looks dead on arrival: Politico | Roll Call. Next likely step for defense budget battles: attempts to unwind the Budget Control Act of 2011’s automatic sequester before it kicks in by 2013. This is probably the end of the beginning rather than the beginning of the end.

• US federal agencies that don’t pass a clean audit this year: the Departments of Defense, State, and Homeland Security.
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CSEL Handset

Bren-Tronics Inc. in Commack, NY recently received a sole source 5-year, $23.1 million fixed price with economic price adjustment, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, contract from the US Army, for AN/PRQ-7 Combat Survivor Evader Locator radio batteries and adapters. The money will come from FY 2012 Army Working Capital funds, and the contract will run to Nov 1/16. The US Defense Logistics Agency Land at Aberdeen in Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, manages this contract (SPRBL1-12-D-0001).

Statistics indicate that most downed pilots are captured within the first hour. CSEL’s system is designed to provide search and rescue forces with the immediate ability to locate, authenticate and communicate with downed aircrew worldwide, using precision GPS-based geoposition and navigation data, 2-way over-the-horizon (OTH) secure data communication via satellite to Joint Search and Rescue Centers (JSRC), and an OTH beacon. Once rescuers are in range, it uses line-of-sight voice communication, with swept tone beacon capabilities to vector rescuers in. Those technologies tend to bulk up its size compared to the smart phones we’re all used to, and its screen and texting are small and basic. On the other hand, if you’re a pilot deep in enemy territory, the only Angry Birds you want to see are your buddies in helicopters and close-air support jets. Boeing delivered the 50,000th AN/PRQ-7 CSEL handset to the US military in October 2011.

• The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) commissioned a study [PDF] to measure the likely impact on US employment, were automatic cuts to be triggered by a lack of consensus from the Super Committee. The conveniently scary result is a loss of 1 million jobs, incl. about 300,000 in California, Virginia and Texas. This “sequestration” outcome seems unlikely, but few of the committee’s deliberations have been made public, and time is running short.

• Over in Mayport, FL, they’re worried about ship repair job losses, as the naval base stops hosting ships to maintain. The proposed aircraft carrier relocation won’t come in time.

• Got Fast Rope? The USAF is interested in a non-exclusive license to your solution.

• Saab has submitted their offer to Croatia: a few JAS-39A Gripens as immediate MiG-21 replacements, to be replaced by 8-12 JAS-39C/Ds. Eurofighter is expected to be their main competition.

• 1st Canadian CH-147 Chinook helicopter enters final assembly.

• LCS 3 Fort Worth, the 2nd Freedom Class Littoral Combat Ship from Team Lockheed, completes builder’s trials.

• At yesterday’s hearing at the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, DoD officials described the intervention in Uganda as “not open-ended.”

• The US Department of Justice has indicted 5 people after they allegedly tried to illegally export thousands of radio frequency modules to Iran, at least 16 of which were later found in unexploded improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Iraq.

RQ-11B Raven

USAF to use RQ-11Bs at bases worldwide. (Oct 5/11)

The RQ-11 Raven is a 4.2-pound, backpackable, hand-launched UAV that provides day and night, real-time video imagery for “over the hill” and “around the corner” reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition.

Each Raven system typically consists of 3 aircraft, 2 ground control stations, system spares, and related services. The digital upgrades are still designated RQ-11Bs, but they enable a given area to include more Ravens, with improved capabilities. The secret? Using L-band spectrum more efficiently…

• Ravin’ bout Ravens: Current Models, and Proposed Upgrades
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
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Night raid
(click to view larger)

FY 2011 Pentagon announcements. (to Sept 30/11)

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 free DID Spotlight 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 contracts for procuring night vision devices.

• Night Vision Technology
• Generations
• Riding the Omnibus
• Night Vision Limitations
• The Way Ahead
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
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PLGR & DAGR
(DAGR is on the right)

Out in the field, one of the most important questions is also one of the simplest: where am I? Map-reading and orienteering remain critical soldiering skills, but the explosive growth of the GPS receiver market offers modern-day soldiers – and their opponents – new options. GPS has a military channel as well, of course, offering greater precision. These military-grade GPS receivers are becoming common among American units and their allies, often operating alongside civilian units from firms like Garmin that can include in-country roadmaps for front-line zones. Then again, you probably wouldn’t want to offer nearby airstrike coordinates based on a civilian unit if there was any choice in the matter.

Defense Advanced GPS Receivers (DAGRs) will serve as a smaller, lighter, replacement for the Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver (PLGR). Their electronics can be integrated into tanks, UAV drones, et. al., or serve as standalone handheld systems for both advanced and basic military GPS users. Authorized Department of Defense (DoD) and foreign military sales (FMS) customers receive a hand-held Precise Positioning System (PPS) with a dual-frequency (L1/L2) receiver that weighs less than a pound, and incorporates the next generation, tamper-resistant GPS “SAASM” (Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module) anti-jamming and security module:

• The Defense Advanced GPS Receiver
• DAGR: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources [updated]
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