Austal MRV/JHSV concept

Hawaii Superferries to supplement JHSV; Cut to program. (Jan 26/12)

When moving whole units, shipping is always the cheaper, higher-capacity option. Speed and port access are the issue, but what if getting there was faster, and full-service ports weren’t necessary? After Australia led the way by using what amounted to fast car ferries for military operations, the US Army and Navy picked up the idea themselves. Both services leased Incat TSV/HSV wave-piercing catamaran ship designs, while the Marines’ charged ahead with very successful use of Austal’s Westpac Express high-speed catamaran. These Australian-designed ships all give commanders the ability to roll on a company with full gear and equipment (or roll on a full infantry battalion if used only as a troop transport), haul it intra-theater distances at 38 knots, then move their shallow draft safely into austere ports to roll them off.

Their successful use, and continued success on operations, attracted favorable comment and notice from all services. So favorable that the experiments have led to a $3+ billion program called the Joint High Speed Vessel. These designs may even have uses beyond simple ferrying and transport.

• The US Military’s HSV/TSV Experience
• The JHSV Ships
• The JHSV Program [updated]
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
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AIM-120C from F-22A
(click for test missile zoom)

SLAMRAAM updates; AIM-120D contract; AIM-120D testing & status; 2013 budget may be good news for AIM-120D. (Jan 26/12)

Raytheon’s AIM-120 Advanced, Medium-Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM) has become the world market leader for medium range air-to-air missiles, and is also beginning to make inroads within land-based defense systems. It was designed with the lessons of Vietnam in mind, and of local air combat exercises like ACEVAL and Red Flag. This DID FOCUS article covers successive generations of AMRAAM missiles, international contracts and key events from 2006 onward, and even some of its emerging competitors.

One of the key lessons learned from Vietnam was that a fighter would be likely to encounter multiple enemies, and would need to launch and guide several missiles at once in order to ensure its survival. This had not been possible with the AIM-7 Sparrow, a “semi-active radar homing” missile that required a constant radar lock on one target. To make matters worse, enemy fighters were capable of launching missiles of their own. Pilots who weren’t free to maneuver after launch would often be forced to “break lock,” or be killed – sometimes even by a short-range missile fired during the last phases of their enemy’s approach. Since fighters that could carry radar-guided missiles like the AIM-7 tended to be larger and more expensive, and the Soviets were known to have far more fighters overall, this was not a good trade…

• Some MRAAM History, and AMRAAM’s Design Approach
• AMRAAM: Versions & Derivatives [updated]
• AMRAAM’s International Competitors
• AMRAAM: Program [updated]
• AMRAAM: Contracts & Key Events, FY 2006-Present [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
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Javelin, firing

Retrofit and support contracts to USA, UAE, Australia. (Jan 17/12)

The Javelin missile system aimed to solve 2 key problems experienced by American forces. One was a series of disastrous experiences in Vietnam, trying to use 66mm M72 LAW rockets against old Soviet tanks. A number of replacement options like the Mk 153 SMAW and the AT4/M136 spun out of that effort in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until electronics had miniaturized for several more cycles that it became possible to solve the next big problem: the need for soldiers to remain exposed to enemy fire while guiding anti-tank missiles to their targets.

Javelin solves both of those problems at once, offering a heavy fire-and-forget missile that will reliably destroy any enemy armored vehicle, and many fortifications as well. While armored threats are less pressing these days, the need to destroy fortified outposts and rooms in buildings remains. Indeed, one of the lessons from both sides of the 2006 war in Lebanon has been the infantry’s use of guided missiles as a form of precision artillery fire. Javelin isn’t an ideal candidate for that latter role, due to its high cost-per-unit; nevertheless, it has often been used this way. Its performance in Iraq has revealed a clear niche on both low and high intensity battlefields, and led to rising popularity with American and international clients…

• The Javelin Anti-Tank Guided Missile System
• Javelin ATGM: The Program
• Javelin ATGM: Reports from the Front
• Javelin: Contracts & Key Events, 2004 – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings
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Phalanx, firing

Sale to Korea; Design agent contract. (Dec 27/11)

The radar-guided, rapid-firing Mk. 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapons System (CIWS, pron. “see-whiz”) can fire between 3,000-4,500 20mm cannon rounds per minute, either autonomously or under manual command, as a last-ditch defense against incoming missiles and other targets. Phalanx uses closed-loop spotting with advanced radar and computer technology to locate, identify and direct a stream of armor piercing projectiles toward the target (see video: MPEG | AVI, with hat tips to the good folks at Digg.com).

These capabilities have made the Phalanx CIWS a critical bolt-on sub-system for naval vessels around the world. The latest fielded development is C-RAM/Centurion, a land-based system designed to defend against incoming artillery and mortars. This DID Spotlight article offers updated, in-depth coverage that describes ongoing deployment and research projects within the Phalanx family of weapons, the new land-based system’s new technologies and roles, and international contracts from FY 2005 onward. As of Feb 28/07, more than 895 Phalanx systems had been built and deployed in the navies of 22 nations.

• The Phalanx Platform: Competition, Upgrades & Developments
• Land-Based Phalanx: C-RAM
• Phalanx Contracts and Key Events, FY 2005-Present [updated]
• Additional Readings
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MH-53E & Mk-105 sled

Reliability improvement efforts for the RMS snorkeling USV. (Dec 19/11)

The US Navy currently uses large CH-53/MH-53 helicopters and towed sleds to help with mine clearance work, but they hope to replace those old systems with something smaller and newer. The MH-60S helicopter’s Airborne Mine Counter-Measures (AMCM) system adds an operator’s station to the helicopter cabin, additional internal fuel stores, and towing capability, accompanied by a suite of carried systems that can be mixed and matched. AMCM is actually 5 different air, surface and sub-surface mine countermeasures systems, all deployed and integrated together in the helicopter.

While the US Navy develops AMCM, and complementary ship-launched systems for use on the new Littoral Combat Ships, new minehunter ship classes like the Ospreys are being retired by the US Navy and sold. All in an era where the threat of mines is arguably rising, along with tensions around key chokepoints like the Suez Canal and Strait of Hormuz.

This article explains the components involved (AQS-20, ALMDS, AMNS, OASIS, RAMICS; COBRA, RMS, SMCM), chronicles their progress through reports and contracts, and provides additional links for research…

• Airborne Mine Counter-Measures (AMCM): The Set [updated]
• Contracts & Key Events, 2000 – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings
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General Dynamics Team
Trimaran LCS Design
(click to enlarge)

Class services from each builder; LCS 3 post-production support; Mine-hunting ancillaries. (Dec 19/11)

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 Solution = Standard Equipment + Mission Modules
• LCS: Controversies & Cautions
• LCS: Export Potential
• LCS: Designs & Teams
• LCS: Budgets and Program Structure
• LCS Ship Roster
• LCS: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• LCS Ancillaries: Mission Module & Weapon Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
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Latest update: Dec 8/11

Reaper, ready…

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).

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
• Program Highlights [NEW]
• Future Planning & Developments [NEW]
• Contracts & Key Events, 2005 SDD – Present [updated]
• OICU: MQ-9 Ancillaries
• Additional Readings & Sources
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TCOM 32M

In December 2011, TCOM, LP in Columbia, MD received a $10.4 million firm-fixed-price contract for the Kuwait Low Altitude Surveillance System aerostat’s contractor engineering technical support (CETS). While the aerostat itself could be handled by commercial sale protocols, CETS operation and maintenance of the KLASS aerostat is considered to be a Foreign Military Sale item, in pursuit of a “mission essential asset for this sensitive region of the world.” Work will be performed in Kuwait (90%); Columbia, MD (5%); and Elizabeth City, NC (5%), and is expected to be complete by December 2013. Kuwait directed its agents at US Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, VA to sole-source this buy (M67854-12-C-2404).

These kinds of tethered lighter-than-air craft come in a range of sizes, and aerostats have become a global trend. Their ability to carry sensors aloft for weeks at a time greatly improves radar and/or optical surveillance systems’ field of view at near-zero per-hour deployment costs. This makes them especially effective at protecting military bases or key national infrastructure, but they’ve also been deployed to provide coverage over cities, border patrol, and coastal surveillance. Larger aerostats, like the TCOM 71s used in the USA’s JLENS system, can offer the kind of coverage that normally requires high-end AWACS aircraft.

• In the latest issue of Joint Aircraft Survivability Program Office (JASPO)’s Aircraft Survivability: a threat model development for Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS), a study of how much of a threat their are to the large engines of transport aircraft, and notes on the USAF’s efforts to improve its combat damage data collection and analysis. PDF.

• USN tests its new APKWS laser-guided 70mm rockets with the new Mk152 warhead, as part of low-rate production.

• Britain about to confirm it will sell its 74 Harrier jets to the US. The initial reporting on this deal that first surfaced back in June was denied by the UK MOD at the time.

• Is the huge 2010 Saudi arms request stalled?

• Northrop Grumman sees sustained demand for UAVs says Jim Zortman, site manager for Northrop’s unmanned systems business in San Diego County.

• More Q3 ‘11 results: Huntington Ingalls Industries: $1.59B revenue (-4.3% vs. same period last year), $248M loss because of a $300M noncash goodwill charge | CSC: $3.97B revenue (+1%), $2.69B goodwill impairment charge.

• After watching Italy’s AMX light attack planes vs. its expensive Eurofighters over Libya, and tallying up their own bills, NATO Countries are beginning to realize the need for low-cost light attack aircraft. Hate to say we told you so, but…

• Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin committed to significant naval spending last week.

• US Army soldiers are starting to use the Carl Gustav M3 Multi-role Anti-armor Anti-tank Weapon System (MAAWS) in Afghanistan. So far this Swede 84mm recoilless weapon introduced in 1948 was mostly used by Special Forces, as far as the US military goes. Video below:
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Griffin-B launch

As UAVs proliferate, and the demands of counterinsurgency 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
• Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings
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