PJ-10 BrahMos
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Back in November 2005, The Hindu newspaper reported that India’s government has given the go-ahead for exporting missiles, and that India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is looking to market several of its products internationally. The DRDO will participate in international expos as part of its marketing strategy, and government officials have claimed interest from African, Gulf and South-East Asian countries. They have also noted, however, that India’s government would be required to approve any foreign sales to specific countries.

The missile systems in question include:

• Trishul (“trident”) short-range surface-air missile (SAM)
• Akash (“sky”) medium-range SAM
• Nag (“cobra”) anti-armor missile; and the
• Indo-Russian BrahMos medium-range supersonic cruise missile, which is primarily designed as an anti-ship weapon but can also perform land attack.

DID describes each of these programs, then adds some analysis that offers insights into these long-running missile programs and their competitive prospects. Updates have also been added, including another milestone from BrahMos, and a potential joint enture with France that could afect a number of existing IGMP and IGMP-replacement programs…

• The Missiles: IGMP set, and BrahMos
• Program Updates [updated]
• Appendix A: India’s Export Prospects – DID Op/Ed Analysis (Dec 1/05)
• Appendix B: Additional Readings & Sources – Related Reports & News
• Appendix C: Additional Readings & Sources – The Missiles
  
  Continue Reading… »

C-5 Galaxy
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When it was introduced, back in 1970, the C-5 Galaxy was the largest plane in the world. A second construction program in 1981-1986 delivered 50 more; 4 have been lost in crashes, for a total fleet of 126. Each C-5 aircraft can carry 265,000 pounds of cargo for 4,000 miles (roughly double that of the newer C-17A), or 125,000 pounds for 8,000 miles. Its hinged nose can even be raised to make loading or unloading easier, and the Galaxy’s ability to lift even the heaviest main battle tanks into theater made it a critical part of the transatlantic air bridge that would reinforce Europe in the event of a Russian attack.

During the 2003 run-up to Operation Iraqi Freedom I, C-5s proved their worth again as they helped clear logistics bottlenecks in Europe. Even so, the fleet is not without its issues. The C-5 has the highest operating cost of any Air Force weapon system, and those costs stem from extremely high maintenance demands as well as poor fuel economy. Availability rates routinely hover near 50%. To add insult to injury, the Russians not only built a bigger plane (the AN-124), they sold it off at the end of the Cold War to semi-private operators, turning it into a commercial success whose customer list now includes… NATO.

Sunrise? Sunset?
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Meanwhile, the USA needs long-range, heavy load airlift. The AN-124’s commercial success may get its production line restarted, but the C-5 has no such hope. With C-17s running over $200 million per plane. That isn’t far from the cost of a 747-8 freighter, but it’s still a lot of money. The Air Force believed it could save money by upgrading the older C-5s to renew their avionics (AMP) and engines (RERP). Their hope is that this will eliminate the problems that keep so many C-5s in the hangar, cut down on future maintenance costs, and grow airlift capacity without adding new planes. The plan currently involves converting C-5Bs and up to the modernized C-5M, as the USAF is not yet certain that the upgrades will succeed in meeting readiness goals on the older C-5As. To complicate matters, the program is program experiencing major cost growth, and a battle is ongoing between C-5M and C-17 supporters in Congress.

DID’s FOCUS Article explains why the C-5 AMP/RERP program is such a challenging project, and covers developments on the political and contracting fronts – including a confusingly written program cutback decision that DID sorts out for our readers, and the latest minor RERP contract…

• The C-5’s AMP/RERP Changes
• The AMP/RERP Program
• Contracts & Key Events, 1999 – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
  Continue Reading… »

Raytheon: C4ISR Future?
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As video communications is integrated into robots, soldiers, and UAVs, and network-centric warfare becomes the organizing principle of American warfighting, front-line demands for bandwidth are rising sharply. The Transformation Communications Satellite (TSAT) System is part of a larger effort by the US military to address this need.

The final price tag on the entire TSAT program has been quoted at anywhere from $14-25 billion through 2016, which includes the satellites, the ground operations system, the satellite operations center and the cost of operations and maintenance. By mid-2007, the U.S. Air Force was scheduled to make a key decision: build the TSAT system on its current schedule and launch in 2013-2016, or postpone TSAT, take stopgap measures and add Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites 4 & 5 to the three slated for launch from 2009-2012.

Lockheed Martin and Boeing have won a total of $514 million each in risk reduction contracts for the TSAT SS satellite system, in hopes of making that Plan B unnecessary. The bids are in, and both teams await a decision. TSAT’s $2 billion TMOS ground-based network operations contract is already underway.

The TSAT constellation of satellites, receivers, and infrastructure has seen a recent resurgence of news coverage, and its central role in next-generation US military infrastructure makes it worthy of in-depth treatment. Yet its survival is not assured by any means. Outside events and incremental competitors could spell its end just as they spelled the end of Motorola’s infamous Iridium service. This updated DID Special Report looks at the TSAT program, its challenges, and the potential future(s) of U.S. military communications – with new additions highlighted in green for your convenience. The latest item is another $150 million in TSAT-SS development contracts, despite an expected decision date of November 2007. The wording of the accompanying announcements also suggests that some reconsideration of TSAT program options in under way…

• Key Background – Why TSAT Is Thought to be Necessary (i.e. continue reading…)
• Key Background – The Big Picture: TSAT and the Transformational Communications Architecture
• Briefing – What Is TSAT?
• Briefing – TMOS: TSAT’s Ground Component
• Briefing – The AEHF Alternative, and Lessons Learned for TSAT
• Analysis – TSAT Program: Issues & Decisions
• Analysis – TSAT’s Competitors – and Its Fate
• News – TSAT: Timeline and Ongoing Developments [updated]
• Appendix A – Additional Readings & Sources
  
  Continue Reading… »

RIM-162: sections
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The RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) is used to protect ships from attacking missiles and aircraft, and is is designed to counter supersonic maneuvering anti-ship missiles. Compared to the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow, ESSM is effectively a new missile with a larger, more powerful rocket motor for increased range, a different aerodynamic layout for improved agility, and the latest missile guidance technology. Testing has even shown the ESSM to be effective against fast surface craft, an option that greatly expands the missile’s utility. As a further bonus, the RIM-162 ESSM has the ability to be “quad-packed” in the Mk 41 vertical launching system, allowing 4 missiles to be carried per launch cell instead of loading one larger SM-2 Standard missile or similar equipment.

The Sea Sparrow was widely used aboard NATO warships, so it isn’t surprising that the ESSM is an international program. The NATO Sea Sparrow Consortium includes Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and the USA – as well as non-NATO Australia. Foreign Military Sales customers outside this consortium include Japan, Korea, and the United Arab Emirates.

This is DID’s FOCUS article for the program, containing details about the RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow missile family, and contracts placed under this program since 1999. The latest addition is a support contract…

• ESSM: The Missiles and the Program
• ESSM-Related Contracts & Key Events (1999 – Present) [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
  Continue Reading… »

Deep Green concept
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DID readers send us some interesting tips. The USA’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency handles futuristic research projects that would be too difficult for the normal defense program R&D process (one of those projects became the Internet). Now its Information Processing Technology Office (IPTO) is turning its attention to a project called “Deep Green,” which aims to provide US commanders with significantly better decision support tools in battle. According to DARPA, Deep Green will:

”...aid in battle command and commander’s visualization by creating technologies that make it easier for the commander to articulate options to consider and anticipate the possible futures that result from those options. This proactive analysis will help predict which possible futures are becoming more likely – before they occur. Given that information, the commander can make better decisions and focus planning efforts (the generation of future branches and sequels) on where they can be the most useful.”

The article below explains the vision of Deep Green, its envisioned components, and some of the challenges the program faces. It also begins to cover contracts, now that the first R&D orders are being issued…

CH-53E Super Stallion
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Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems’ Defensive Systems Division in Rolling Meadows, IL received a $5.9 million cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-08-G-0012) for Group-A and Group–B testing support on the Navy CH-53E Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures Ultra Violet Engineering Change Proposal (ECP).

Readers who follow DID know that LAIRCM systems protect large aircraft against infared-guided missiles by detecting the incoming missile, then firing pulsed lasers at its guidance head to confuse it. Using infared and ultraviolet together in the detection process helps improve results, just as it does on the other end for missiles like the FIM-92B+ Stinger. A number of advanced aircraft defensive systems currently use this combination, and refinements are an ongoing process.

This particular ECP contract includes the development, operational and ECP validation and verification, support for personnel in the Safety of Flight Clearance process, and the installation of a Flight Instrumentation package. Work will be performed in Rolling Meadows, IL and is expected to be complete in May 2009. The Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD issued the contract.

Chilean Phalcon/ Condor
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In February 2006, “India’s Air Force Looks to Enhance Its Reach With Upgrades & Force Multipliers” discussed India’s growing shift toward aircraft that would give it the ability to patrol and act at extended ranges. In January 2004, India and Israel signed a $1.1 billion contract for 3 Phalcon airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft, as part of a $1.5 billion tripartite agreement with Russia. The Prem PS-90 engines in the upgraded IL-76TD aircraft will make operation in India’s hot climates easier, and the system will also reportedly make heavy use of Russian electronics, including a partial glass cockpit.

Israel Aerospace Industries’ Phalcon system is built around an ELTA EL/M-2075 AESA L-band radar, then adds electronic and communications intelligence gathering (ELINT and COMINT) capabilities. The system can also receive transmissions from other air and ground stations, and uses sensor fusion to provide a complete picture of the battlespace. IAI had already delivered an earlier-model 707-based “Condor” system to Chile, and has created a Phalcon variant for Israel and Singapore that fits into a Gulfstream 550 business jet. India already operates the IL-76 as its strategic transport aircraft and aerial refueling tanker (IL-78), however, and made its decision accordingly.

Now reports are surfacing that India intends to extend its AWACs capabilities on 2 fronts, even as its original order will be delayed again…

Continue Reading… »

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In the 1970s, fighter aircraft began to appear with Head-Up Displays (HUD) that projected key information, targeting crosshairs et. al. onto a seemingly clear piece of glass, so the pilot could keep his eyes on the sky instead of looking down at his instruments. We’ve been wondering when we’d see them in our automobiles ever since. In the 1990s, another innovation appeared: helmet-mounted displays put the HUD inside the pilot’s helmet, providing this information even when the pilot wasn’t looking straight ahead. The Israelis were already using a system called DASH when a set of former East German MiG-29s equipped with HMDs slaughtered USAF F-16s in exercises, and helmet-mounted displays suddenly became must-haves for modern fighters.

The Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS) projects visual targeting and aircraft performance information on the back of the helmet’s visor, including aircraft altitude, airspeed, gravitational pull, angle of attack, and weapons sighting, enabling the pilot to monitor this information without interrupting the field of view through the cockpit canopy. The system uses a magnetic transmitter unit fixed to the pilot’s seat and a magnetic field probe mounted on the helmet to define helmet pointing positioning. A Helmet Vehicle Interface (HVI) interacts with the aircraft system bus to provide signal generation for the helmet display. This provides significant improvement for close combat targeting and engagement.

A September 2005 exchange with Boeing enabled DID to gain insights into the rocky past, overall state, and future of a program that has experienced its share of snags and controversy – but gone on to become the #1 helmet-mounted sight in the world today. That information fits nicely with DID’s expansion of our coverage to detail the JHMCS’ game-changing effects on air combat, its production sets and known customers, and all contracts since full-rate production began. The latest item is a minor contract to equip USAF F-15Es…

• JHMCS: A Combat Multiplier [updated] (i.e. Continue reading…)
• JHMCS: The Program to Date
• JHMCS: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Appendix A: JHMCS History & Challenges
• Appendix B: Additional Readings & Sources
  
  Continue Reading… »

RGS for V-22
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“V-22 Osprey: A Flying Shame?” detailed a number of very detailed and specific allegations concerning the V-22 Osprey’s performance, testing flaws, and survivability issues in anything beyond low-threat situations like the present Anbar deployment in Iraq. Despite direct offers, US NAVAIR chose not to respond or address any of those allegations. One of the flaws that appeared headed for correction, however, was the issue of 360 degree covering fire. This capability is useful for fire support generally, and is especially helpful when entering or covering landing zones, where rotary aircraft are most vulnerable. The Osprey’s huge propellers and the positioning of its engines had created obstruction issues with normal machine gun mounting locations, but AUSA 2007 saw BAE Systems promoting a retractable belly turret solution based on a 3-barrel 7.62mm GAU-17 minigun.

Now BAE Systems has announced that will develop this Remote Guardian System for the CV-22 Ospreys that will be flown by US special forces. The $491,000 U.S. Special Operations Command contract calls for rapid development, installation, testing, and qualification of this solution, and has a potential value of $16.3 million if all options are exercised and the solution goes into production for the SOCOM fleet. The US Marine Corps’ MV-22B tilt-rotors are not involved in this contract, nor have they signed a separate contract with BAE Systems at this time.

May 1/08: Production begins. BAE Systems Inc. in Johnson City, NY receives a FFP pre-priced contract modification for $8 million for a CV-22 interim defense weapon system productions option in support of U.S. Special Operations Command and NAVAIR. Work will be performed in Johnson City, NY from April 30/08 through Jan 31/09, using FY 2006 SOCOM procurement funds and FY 2008 Navy aircraft procurement funds. This is a within scope modification to a competitive contract where 2 offers were received (H92222-08-C-0006-P00003).

FSF-1 Sea Fighter
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The 262 foot long, 950 ton displacement FSF-1 Sea Fighter experimental ship was once called the X-Craft. It’s a high speed, shallow draft catamaran that was built to demonstrate and validate many of the Navy’s operational concepts for littoral warfare, and many of its experiments fed into the Littoral Combat Ship program. Sea Fighter can launch and recover surface and sub-surface vehicles up to the size of an 11 meter Rigid-Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB)from its rear ramp, can carry specialized equipment in its mission module bay, and can support up to 2 MH-60 helicopters on its deck. The ship currently has 4 stations for .50 caliber machine guns, some of which could be converted to Mk38 remotely-operated 25mm cannon. Missiles other than crew-operated Stingers would likely create a deck hazard, but more advanced weaponry such as the SBOC chaff dispensers, Phalanx 20mm CIWS, or the 35mm Millennium Gun tested on the similar Sea Slice vessel in 2002 would be possible with additional work. The vessel is already paid for, and has been available for service since 2005. An armed Sea Fighter could function in a variety of limited roles, depending on the equipment set provided. Possibilities include a coastal or shallow water patrol vessel, special forces or riverine support vessel, short-range “connector” supply vessel, or even specialized functions like minesweeping or submarine detection.

May 2/08: International Systems LLC, DBA L-3 Communications Advanced Systems Division in San Diego, CA received a $20 million cost plus fixed fee contract to modify the FSF-1 Sea Fighter experimental ship. They will design, integrate, and implement modifications that will improve ship survivability, and also improve various hull, mechanical and electrical capabilities. This award stems from one of Rep. Duncan Hunter’s [R-CA-52, ranking Republican on House Armed Services Committee] FY 2008 earmark initiatives, which passed through the appropriations committee process.

Work will be performed in San Diego, CA and is expected to be complete in April 2009. This contract was competitively procured under Office of Naval Research Broad Agency Announcement 08-001, and the Office of Naval Research in Arlington, VA issued the contract (N00014-08-C-0625).