Avenger
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In November 2009, Chile submitted a pair of purchase requests to the US DSCA whose net effect would be to create a mobile short-range air defense system for its army. Chile’s Ejercito currently relies on MBDA’s shoulder-fired Mistral missiles for this role, but the addition of Avenger fire units and Sentinel radars would offer quantum leaps forward in mobility and battlefield awareness.

Rebounds in commodity prices have helped several nations, Chile among them. The country’s goal is to modernize their military by 2015, and mechanized forces seem to be playing a much greater role in the new structure. Recent military purchases have included Leopard 2A4 tanks and Marder IFVs from Germany, M113 variants from the USA and Belgium, and upgraded M109 self-propelled howitzers. They are also reportedly modifying the Army’s structure by adding armored brigades throughout their entire territory. Mobile forces need mobile protection, however – hence the current half-billion dollar request set…

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M249 machine gun, Afghanistan
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FN Manufacturing in Columbia, SC received a $68.4 million firm-fixed-price contract to supply M249 5.56mm light machine guns to the U.S. Army. The quantity was not disclosed.

FN Manufacutring will perform the work in Columbia, with an estimated completion date of July 24/14. 1 bid solicited with 1 bid received by the U.S. Army Contracting Command, Joint Munitions & Lethality Contracting Center at Picatinny Arsenal, NJ (W15QKN-09-D-0019).

FN’s 5.56mm M249 was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1984 to replace the 7.62mm M60 Machine Gun…

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Base, Bleeding Out?
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Back in July 2005, DID informed its readers that India’s sanctions against Denel and possible disqualification from a $2 billion artillery contract could have a major effect on the South African defense firm as a whole. In August 2005, those sanctions came to pass, barring Denel from a contract it was likely to win and accelerating efforts already underway to radically restructure the firm.

CEO Shaun Liebenberg launched that shift in late 2005 with some frank discussion of the global defense market, and the position of small-medium players like Denel in it. At DSEI 2005 in London, UK, the outline of this new strategy was already apparent. Many of the products Denel is known for will no longer define the firm. But could it find a way to stanch the bleeding and survive in a globalized market?

And how has it done since?

• Denel’s Position
• Denel’s New Strategy
• Updates and Key Events [updated]
  
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M2HB: “Aroint thee!”
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Built since the 1920s, the reliable, powerful, air-cooled .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning Machine Gun (aka. “Ma Deuce”) is still one of the world’s most effective heavy machine guns. It can be carried by a team of soldiers, or mounted on vehicles and aircraft. Despite its age, its combination of reliability, durability, and kick-butt firepower has made it one of the most requested weapons in the Iraqi theater of war, and it remains popular around the world. Modern alternatives like FN’s M3M/GAU-21 have been introduced, and the XM307/312 remains a future possibility, but the M2 remains, as one of our correspondents put it, “the mounted lance of the US cavalry.” The USA has even had to ramp up .50 cal ammunition production, in order to keep up.

This article covers the venerable, and valuable, M2 machine gun, and associated contracts. The US government is still buying more, and has just issued a multi-year contract, and a small business secondary supplier contract…

• Ma Deuce: the M2 Heavy Machine Gun [updated]
• Contracts [updated]
  
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Iraqis train: M240B, PKMs
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Trijicon in Wixom, MI won a $33 million not-to-exceed ceiling, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for the procurement, delivery, maintenance, and logistical support of the M240B 7.62-mm machine gun day optic (MDO), which is a magnified day optic that mounts onto the M240B. The MDO aids the machine gunner in target detection, recognition, and identification.

This contract is a 5-year contract with a minimum buy of 25 MDO systems within the 1st contract year. Trijicon will perform the work in Wixom and expects to complete it by July 2014. Contract funds in the amount of $16.4 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online, with 2 offers received by the Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, VA (M67854-09-D-1015).

DID has more on the M240B…

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Spanish M109A5,
Brite Star 2001
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June 12/09: The USA’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced [PDF] Chile’s official request for self-propelled howitzers, artillery radars, tracked armored vehicles, weapons, and assorted equipment required to equip a new mechanized artillery battalion.

Chile already operates the M109 self-propelled howitzer; this order will double its available forces. The exact request could be worth up to $275 million once a contract is negotiated, and includes…

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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 recent 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. It 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 for 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. Special Operations Command has ordered some, and now the US Marines are getting set to deploy with some..

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YRH-70 test, 2005
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The ARH (Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter) is a program by the United States Army to replace around 375 Bell Textron OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters. The Army’s initial replacement, the $14.6 billion RAH-66 Comanche program, was canceled in 2004. Instead, the Army would buy a larger number of less expensive platforms, with reduced capabilities.

Bell Helicopter Textron initially won the ARH competition, beating an MD Helicopter/Boeing consortium. As DID has noted re: a similar $500-600 million competition in India, Bell’s ARH-70 is a militarized version of its highly successful 407 single-engine commercial helicopter.

This will serve as DID’s FOCUS Article for the ARH program, providing updated background, details, and contract award information. Bell Helicopter continued to work on the ARH-70 at its own expense, but rising program costs killed the program. The OH-58Ds still need to be replaced, and Eurocopter is already testing an armed variant of the UH-72A that won the Army’s Light Utility Helicopter competition. Even as developments in the Army make it less certain that the next winner will be a helicopter solution…

• The ARH Program: What Happened? [updated]
• ARH: Now What? [updated]
• The ARH Program: Contracts & Events [updated]
• Appendix A: Weary Warriors – The Army’s OH-58D Kiowa Warrior Fleet
• Appendix B: Initial Winner – Bell’s ARH-70
• Appendix C: Additional Readings & Sources
  
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M113A1 & M1A1s, 1AR
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The M113A1 family of vehicles was introduced into service in Australia in the mid 1960s, and arrived in time to see service in Vietnam. Additional vehicle variants were added until 1979, and there are 766 M113A1 vehicles currently in the Australian Army fleet. By February 2005, however, only 520 remained in service.

A number of upgrades have been suggested for Australia’s APCs over the years, with a number of different reviews and upgrade proposals submitted. Many of Australia’s M113s remain in M113A1 configuration, with some having undergone repair and overhaul at 25,000 km. Bushmaster wheeled mine-resistant vehicles have replaced some M113s, but the M113’s lightweight, tracked, off-road mobility remains important to Australian mechanized formations, and to troops deployed in combat zones.

A plan approved in the late 1990s involved a “minimum upgrade” of 537 vehicles from 1996-1998, at a cost of about A$ 40 million in 1993 dollars, with a major upgrade to follow. That was derailed mid-stream by an unsolicited contractor proposal to combine the 2 phases. The end result was Australia’s LAND 106 project, which aimed to perform major upgrades to 350 M113 APCs. That program suffered from problems in its early stages, delaying any fielded modernization until 2007, but the program is said to be back on track now.

The new Labor government has just added emphasis to that assessment, by expanding the program as part of Australia’s push for a “Hardened and Networked Army.” But Australia’s National Audit Office sees both substantial progress, and serious problems, with the program.

• The New Vehicles
• The Program
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Aditional Readings
  
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CH-146 w. (old)
AN/AAQ-501
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In December 2005, “Canada Purchases $200M in Equipment for Operation ARCHER in Afghanistan” noted the issues created by Canada’s complete lack of integrated in-theater battlefield helicopter support. Events since that date have been instructive.

That complete lack of helicopters eventually became a large political problem. When the January 2008 Manley Report [PDF] was delivered to Parliament, it effectively made Canada’s continued military presence in Afghanistan contingent on fielding an adequate solution by February 2009. Canada’s delayed CH-47F Chinook buy wouldn’t arrive quickly enough, so the government wound up buying 6 used CH-47Ds from the US Army in August 2008 – more than 2 years after calls for exactly that course of action had begun.

Those helicopters will still need escorts, however, and so will some convoys. Meanwhile, allied AH-64 Apaches or Mi-24 Hinds are in high demand, and are not always available. A September 2006 article from the CASR think tank had suggested turning Canada’s CH-146 Griffon/ Bell 412 helicopters into light armed reconnaissance helicopters, making a virtue of necessity given the type’s limited carrying capacity in hot and high altitude conditions.

In fall 2007, however, the (appointed) Liberal Party Senator Colin Kenny was ridiculed by Canada’s defense minister for suggesting the very same thing…

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