Griffin-B launch

As UAVs proliferate, and the demands of counter-insurgency fights force militaries to look at arming new kinds of aircraft, a number of manufacturers and governments are looking to develop precision-guided “mini-missiles” and glide weapons. Raytheon’s 33+ pound, 42 inch long Griffin is a member of that class, and comes in 2 versions.

The Griffin-A version is currently in use as part of American roll-on armed kits for its C-130 Hercules transports. It’s dropped out of “gunslinger” tubes, providing precision firepower from the rear ramp. The Griffin B is a forward-firing weapon that can be launched from land, naval, or aerial platforms. Either way, the missile packs a 13 pound blast-fragmentation warhead, and uses a combination of GPS/INS and a semi-active laser seeker for guidance. Griffin-B is currently a candidate to equip the Littoral Combat Ship’s surface warfare module.

• Griffin And Its Uses [updated]
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
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XM-7 Spider System

The 2004 National Landmine Policy directed the Pentagon to end the use of persistent landmines after 2010, and introduce self-destructing and self-deactivating alternatives. The XM-7 Spider is the successor to the Matrix system deployed in Iraq, and part of the USA’s Non-Self-Destructing Anti-Personnel Landmine Alternatives (NSD-A) program.

Spider is more of a “remote explosive device” than a typical lay-and-forget land mine. It’s detonated by soldier command, and that soldier can even load non-lethal canisters if the mission calls for it. Unlike conventional land mines, the XM-7 Spider always has a known location, so it can be safely and easily recovered and re-deployed. If that isn’t possible for some reason, XM-7 units deactivate after a set time period, so they won’t become a future threat. It sounds good, and its capabilities are badly needed in places like remote fire bases, and along Korea’s dangerous DMZ. Unfortunately, the program has run into difficulties and delays.

• Anatomy of a Spider
• The XM-7 Spider Program
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
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Every year the US Department of Defense goes through a complicated process to establish and finalize its budget. This entry will keep tracking the budgeting cycle for fiscal year 2013 as it unfolds over the months, in a fractious political environment, and with the threat of sequestration looming over multi-year budgets that do not take it into account.

• President Budget
• FYDP
• House Bill [updated]
• Senate Bill (expected Sept. 2012)
• Conference & final bill (expected Sept. 2012)
• Congressional Hearings [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources [updated]
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USN Heli Plan

The US Army’s UH-60 Black Hawks have always had a naval counterpart. SH-60B/F Seahawk/ LAMPS helicopters were outfitted with maritime radar, sonobuoys, and other specialized equipment that let them perform a wide variety of roles, from supply and transport, to anti-submarine warfare, search and rescue, medical evacuation, and even surface attack with torpedoes or Kongsberg’s AGM-119 Penguin missiles. Like their land-based counterparts, however, the Seahawks are getting older. The Reagan defense build-up is receding into history, and its products are wearing out.

European countries chose to build new designs like the medium-heavy EH101 and the NH90 medium helicopter. They’re larger than the H-60s, make heavy use of corrosion-proof composites, and add new features like rear ramps. The USA, in contrast, decided to upgrade existing H-60 designs for the Army and Navy. Hence the MH-60R Multi-Mission Helicopter (aka. “Romeo”) and MH-60S (aka. “Sierra”) Seahawks. MH-60Rs and MH-60Ss will eventually replace all SH-60B/F & HH-60H Seahawks, HH-1N Hueys, UH-3H Sea Kings, and CH-46D Sea Knight helicopters currently in the US Navy’s inventory. Both programs are underway, and will be covered in this DID FOCUS Article:

• The New Sikorsky Seahawks [updated]
  • Romeo, Armed: The MH-60R Multi-Mission Helicopter
  • Blue Collar Sierra: The MH-60S
• The MH-60R/S Program
  • USA: MH-60R/S Budgets
• MH-60R/S Contracts and Key Events, 2005-Present [updated]
• Additional Readings and Sources
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Sniper on F-16

At the end of September 2010, the USAF dropped something of a bombshell. Under their $2.3 billion Advanced Targeting Pod – Sensor Enhancement (ATP-SE) contract, the service that had begun standardizing on one future surveillance and targeting pod type decided to change course, and split its buys.

This decision is a huge breakthrough for Northrop Grumman, whose LITENING pod had lost the USAF’s initial 2001 Advanced Targeting Pod competition. As a result of that competition, the USAF’s buys had shifted from LITENING to Sniper pods, and Lockheed Martin’s Sniper became the pod of choice for integration onto new USAF platforms. Since then, both of these pods have chalked up procurement wins around the world, and both manufacturers kept improving their products. That continued competition would eventually change the landscape once again…

• ATP-SE: Evolution in Action
• ATP-SE: The Competitors
  • Lockheed Martin’s Aerial Sniper
  • Northrop Grumman: LITENING in a Pod
• Contracts & Key Events: ATP-SE
• Contracts & Key Events: ATP-SE Lead-Ins [updated]
• Additional Readings
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Mexican CN-235 MPA

Mexico’s military needs have escalated, as the country faces what counter-terrorist analyst John Robb has called a growing “open source insurgency” composed primarily of narco-traffickers, with some leftist groups and political forces jockeying for position in the uncoordinated mix. By 2010, the violence associated with “The Cartel War” had reportedly claimed around 28,000 lives since 2006 – a figure that continues to rise steadily.

In response, the Mexican government has been signing contracts on a number of fronts, from full city-wide surveillance and monitoring systems, to UAVs and aerostats, to medium helicopters. More equipment is on the way, via Mexico’s own purchases and the USA’s Merida Initiative.

One of its most important acquisition programs is EADS-CASA’s popular CN-235 MPA maritime patrol aircraft, which currently serves with Spain, Colombia, Ireland, Turkey, and the US Coast Guard. Indonesia’s Digiranta has built them for Indonesia, Brunei and the UAE, and recently added South Korea’s Coast Guard as a customer. A May 1/08 Economist article may help to explain the importance of these aircraft to Mexico’s current Cartel War:

Map by Gene Thorp
The Washington Post

Pakistan will reopen its roads to NATO convoys, but at a price. They want to charge $5,000 per container, according to the Washington Post.

Other recent international defense developments include:

USMC KC-130J

Special Operations Command’s AC-130H/U gunships can lay down withering hails of accurate fire, up to and including 105mm howitzer shells, in order to support ground troops.

The Marines also wanted heavy aircraft that could support their Leathernecks on the ground. The bad news was that the Corps could field about 45 KC-130J aerial tankers for the price of a 12-plane AC-130J squadron. Lighter options like the AC-27J “Stinger II” would probably tally similar costs, once R&D dollars were distributed among such a small fleet. Could the Marines change tack, and offer a modular weapon package that would let them arm their existing tankers as needed? Could armed KC-130Js offer limited fire support, while loitering over the battlefield and using their unique speed envelope to refuel helicopters and fast jets alike? The Harvest Hercules Airborne Weapons Kit (HAWK) program aims to do just that. It gives the USMC a far less capable convertible gunship option in Afghanistan, but the cost is about 2 orders of magnitude below a dedicated gunship fleet. Unsurprisingly, the next service to show interest in this concept was SOCOM itself…

• Gunships R Us: Equipping The Hercs
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings and Sources
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Frank Kendall has been confirmed by the US Senate Armed Services Committee as the Pentagon acquisition chief, alongside 6 other nominees including Heidi Shyu at Army acquisition. Back in March SASC Ranking Member Senator McCain had held up their confirmation. A full Senate vote is still needed to finalize the process. The chief and principal deputy acquisition jobs in the Air Force are vacant since David Van Buren’s departure for L-3 Communications.

In other news:

ER/MP, armed

In August 2005, “Team Warrior” leader General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. in San Diego, CA won a $214.4 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) of the Extended Range/ Multi Purpose Unmanned Aerial Vehicle System (ER/MP UAS). That was just the first step along the US Army’s $5 billion road to fielding a true Medium Altitude, Long Endurance, armed UAV, modified from the USAF’s famous MQ-1 Predator.

The ER/MP program was part of the US Army’s reinvestment of dollars from the canceled RAH-66 Comanche helicopter program, and directly supports the Army’s Aviation Modernization Plan. Its position got a boost when a 2007 program restructuring cut the Future Combat Systems Class III UAV competition, in favor of ER/MP. Next, the US Air Force saw this Predator derivative as a threat and tried to destroy it, but the program survived the first big “Key West” battle of the 21st century. Now the MQ-1C “Gray Eagle” is moving into full production, as the US Army’s high-end UAV. This FOCUS article offers a program history, key statistics and budget figures, and ongoing coverage of the program’s contracts and milestones.

• The MQ-1C Gray Eagle, and its Band of Brothers [updated]
• The Army’s ER/MP Program [updated]
• ER/MP UAS – Enter the Warrior: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Appendix A: US Army et. al. vs. USAF Over UAVs
• Appendix B: Who Controls the UAVs? Readings & Primers
• Additional Readings
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