Elbit Turns Initial Mikal Stake Into Targeted Acquisitions

Latest updates[?]: African sale for ATMOS howitzers.

In June 2009, Elbit Systems in Haifa, Israel, agreed to pay $18 million for a 19% stake in fellow Israeli defense firm Mikal Ltd., the country’s 2nd largest privately owned defense conglomerate. The Mikal group operates through 3 main divisions: Soltam Systems, which supplies artillery, mortars, and ammunition; Saymar, which supplies armored fighting vehicles; and ITL Optronics, which supplies sensors for soldiers, unmanned aerial vehicles, military vehicles and battle management systems.

By August 2010, however, the acquisition had shifted to a targeted buy of several Mikal properties. The move will consolidate Elbit’s position in a number of sectors, offering the prospect of close links between its sensors, targeting systems, UAVs, and front-line battlefield platforms.

Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle, Feb. 2011

(c) DJ Elliott

DJ Elliott is a retired USN Intelligence Specialist (22 years active duty) who has been analyzing and writing on Iraqi Security Forces developments since 2006. His Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle is an open-source compilation that attempts to map and detail Iraqi units and equipment, as their military branches and internal security forces grow and mature. While “good enough for government use” is not usually uttered as a compliment, US Army TRADOC has maintained permission to use the ISF OOB for their unclassified handouts since 2008.

This compilation is reproduced here with full permission. It offers a set of updates highlighting recent changes in the ISF’s composition and development, followed by the full updated ISF OOBs in PDF format.

Desert Chameleon APCs for Kuwait

Desert Chameleon

In mid-January 2011, Advanced Defense Vehicle Systems (ADVS) announced an initial delivery of their new 6×6 wheeled armored personnel carrier (APC) design to Kuwait’s Ministry of the Interior. The vehicle’s full size cannon may be unusual for policing forces, but it is not unusual for interior ministry troops around the world to use full-scale military equipment, and similar APC designs are already serving with police forces, including police forces in the USA.

There is no shortage of wheeled APC designs in the global marketplace, but Kuwait chose to develop its own, in conjunction with a new firm.

• ADVS, and the Desert Chameleon
  
• Contracts and Key Events
  
• Additional Readings
  

Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle, Jan 2011

(c) DJ Elliott

DJ Elliott is a retired USN Intelligence Specialist (22 years active duty) who has been analyzing and writing on Iraqi Security Forces developments since 2006. His Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle is an open-source compilation that attempts to map and detail Iraqi units and equipment, as their military branches and internal security forces grow and mature. While “good enough for government use” is not usually uttered as a compliment, US Army TRADOC has maintained permission to use the ISF OOB for their unclassified handouts since 2008.

This compilation is reproduced here with full permission. It offers a set of updates highlighting recent changes in the ISF’s composition and development, followed by the full updated ISF OOBs in PDF format.

Poland & Elbit to Cooperate on Rosomak APC Surveillance Upgrade

Elbit concept

Elbit Systems Ltd. recently announced a $16 million contract from the Polish Ministry of National Defense to supply a testing set of mobile multi-sensor monitoring and surveillance systems for Poland’s Rosomak, a variant of Patria’s 8×8 AMV wheeled Armored Personnel Carrier.

The consortium of Elbit Systems Land, Elbit C4I-Tadiran and the Polish Military Communication Institute will give the APC with surveillance payloads that include TV, thermal vision systems, a motion detection battlefield surveillance radar unit, encrypted communications systems, and an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) which is presumed to be Elbit’s Skylark. The project will be performed in cooperation with the local Polish industries.

Swiss Sell Leopard 2s Back to Rheinmetall

Swiss Pz 87

Switzerland became a Leopard 2 tank customer under Armament Program 84, with 380 Leopard 2A4 variants delivered as “Pz 87s” from 1987-1993. The Swiss military has been drawing down sharply over the last decade and a half, with many tanks mothballed into storage. With plans for a smaller defense force firmly set, some of those tanks are being converted or sold.

The Swiss recently converted 12 of their tanks to AEV-3 Kodiak/Geniepanzer Armored Engineering Vehicles, as a partnership between Rheinmetall and the Swiss firm RUAG. The type has received export orders, but Leopard 2 tanks aren’t being manufactured any more. Some countries can use stocks of existing Leopard 2 tanks for conversion, but that won’t be true for every customer. Fortunately for the partnership, in November 2010, aramsuisse announced the sale of another 42 tanks to Rheinmetall, for conversion to “protected special vehicles.” The tanks they’re receiving are being delivered without weapons or communications system, which wouldn’t be useful to Rheinmetall anyway. That equipment will be kept by the Swiss armed forces, as spares. Tank deliveries will begin before the end of 2010, per undisclosed sale terms. Swiss government.

Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle 2010 09/10

(c) DJ Elliott

DJ Elliott is a retired USN Intelligence Specialist (22 years active duty) who has been analyzing and writing on Iraqi Security Forces developments since 2006. His Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle is an open-source compilation that attempts to map and detail Iraqi units and equipment, as their military branches and internal security forces grow and mature. While “good enough for government use” is not usually uttered as a compliment, US Army TRADOC has maintained permission to use the ISF OOB for their unclassified handouts since 2008.

This compilation is reproduced here with full permission. It offers a set of updates highlighting recent changes in the ISF’s composition and development, followed by the full updated ISF OOBs in PDF format. Reader feedback and tips are encouraged. This month’s developments include:

2010-10-13: $141M in Stryker-related Contracts

M1127 Stryker Recce

Oct 13/10 saw over $140 million in announced contracts related to the US Army’s Stryker fleet. The US Army’s 8×8 Stryker family of wheeled armored vehicles were originally put forward as a C-130-portable medium armor fleet, which might eventually replace heavy and medium tracked vehicle altogether. Battlefield reality ended up pouring very cold water on that notion, as the resulting vehicles could not be carried by C-130s in ready to fight condition, had trouble handling difficult terrain, and can’t be relied on to face enemy heavy armor.

On the other hand, the Stryker Brigade Combat Teams have proven to be very mobile on roads, using their relative silence to tactical advantage, making good use of their advanced computers and communication gear in counter-insurgency fights, and handling certain weapons like land mines and enemy RPG anti-tank rockets better than most people expected they would. The economic lifeline that roads represent will always be an important aspect of any American-style counterinsurgency fight, and Strykers have obvious value for domestic emergencies as well. Hence the fleet’s ongoing popularity.

Dutch XA-188 Pasi Wheeled APCs for Estonia

Estonian XA-180EST
Tor Ghar, Afghanistan

Before Patria Oyj introduced the popular AMV 8×8 wheeled APC, Finland’s XA-180 Pasi family of wheeled APCs was sold to a number of Nordic countries, as well as the UN and to several countries with UN peacekeeping missions. In 2004, Estonia bought 60 of Finland’s XA-180s, and had them refurbished and modified to XA-180EST configuration. Some of those wheeled APCs went on to serve with Estonia’s contingent in Afghanistan.

The Netherlands is modernizing its wheeled APC fleet with the Boxer MRAV, whose deliveries have been delayed. Even so, budget issues are leading the Dutch to sell some of their XA-188 APCs before the Boxers arrive. Estonia will buy 81 of the Dutch vehicles, under a EEK 320 million (kroons, about $28.7 million equivalent) contract. It will be paid out as the APCs are delivered to Estonia’s 1st brigade between 2011-2015. Estonian Kaitseministerium [in Estonian] | Mil-Tech.

Iraq Requests M113 APCs

US M113A3, Iraq

On Sept 15/10, the US DSCA announced [PDF] Iraq’s formal request to buy 440 refurbished M113A2 tracked Armored Personnel Carriers, which would be transferred from American stocks as Excess Defense Articles. The total contract value could be up to $131 million, and would also include 440 M2 .50 caliber machine guns mounted up top, 607 AN/VRC-90E Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radios Systems (SINCGARS), plus M259 Smoke Grenade Launchers, Combat Vehicle Crewmember Helmets, publications and technical documentation, tools and test equipment, spare and repair parts, support equipment, site survey, construction, personnel training and training equipment, and U.S. Government and contractor support.

The prime contractor will be BAE Corporation in Rosslyn, VA, and implementation of this proposed sale will require the assignment of multiple additional U.S. Government and contractor representatives to Iraq for a period of 2 years, with an option for additional years.

Iraq’s neighbors in Jordan and Saudi Arabia already operate M113s, whose light weight and tracks given them good all-terrain mobility. The M113A2 variant lacks the power train and transmission upgrades of the most modern M113A3 variants. Iraqi Order of Battle compiler DJ Elliott believes this order is part of an ultimate pool of 1,026 M113 APC, command, and mortar variants, which will accompany Iraq’s M1 tanks and serve is some of its mechanized divisions.