• US defense secretary Gates calls for military to focus on reducing overhead costs, which are over 40% of the budget. TRICARE medical costs are one element of that.

• South Korea finds RDX, a chemical substance used in torpedoes, on sunken ROKS Cheonan (PCC-772), a Pohang-class patrol combat corvette.

• Was Greece wrestled into buying German submarines, French FREMM frigates, and other equipment, as a quiet condition of its bailout package?

• Pakistan test fires 2 nuclear-capable missiles – the Ghaznavi with a range of 180 miles and the Shaheen with a range of 400 miles.

• IISS study: Iran makes “robust strides” in developing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles.

• Meet Inbal Kreis, the woman in charge of Israel’s Arrow-3 anti-ballistic missile development program.

• Remaining B-61 American nuclear bombs in Europe stirring controversy, security concerns at Belgium’s Kleine Brogel air base, Dutch Volkel, Germany’s Buechel, Italy’s Ghedi Torre and Aviano, and Incirlik in Turkey.

• Afghan National Army soldiers get NATO training on the M-9 pistol, M-16 rifle, M203 grenade launcher, M-249 squad automatic weapon, M-240B machine gun, and .50-caliber machine gun.

• Sock it to them: Swiss defense ministry tests high-tech sweat-absorbing socks for soldiers.

• STG gets $19 million order to help with the BRAC-mandated relocation of US Army’s TRADOC headquarters from Fort Monroe to Fort Eustis, both in Virginia.

• NATO’s Review Magazine features: “Maritime Security: Sink or Swim.”

• Russia’s moves its newest S-400 Triumf/ SA-21 Growler air and missile defense SAM into serial production.

• British worries that US SecDef Gates’ comments on the future force (see also video in right sidebar) may imperil both nations’ plans to replace their Trident nuclear missile SSBN submarines. He does describe some real problems, however.

• Nice shot: British sharp shooter kills 2 Taliban machine gunners from 1.5 miles away using a British-built L115A3 long range rifle.

• Afghan First: Effort to award US military construction contracts to Afghan firms is slowing down construction, say US officials. On the other hand, too many contracts to foreign firms creates local resentment.

• Would a Rafale fighter jet sale to the UAE require a buyback of, or buyer for, its 62 advanced Mirage 2000v9 fighters?

• First South Korean Batch 2 F-15K flies with F100-PW-229 engines.

• US, European countries launch anti-al-Qaeda military exercise with countries in the Sahara desert region.

• When pigs fly? Hungry pigs in Dresden, Germany, almost went flying when they dug up a World War II vintage panzerfaust anti-tank weapon.

• Sectra gets SEK 23 million order to supply high-speed crypto to Swedish Defense Material Administration.

Bristol Design Build Services, a small business qualifier based in Anchorage, AK received a $14.8 million firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a multi-purpose machine gun (MPMG) range at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

Camp Lejeune is the home of the Expeditionary Forces in Readiness, including the II Marine Expeditionary Force, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Logistics Group. The base is home to more than 47,000 Marines and sailors from around the world.

Work on the range will include relocation of an engineering training area (ETC) and explosive ordinance disposal site…

5.56mm Mk46 MOD0

FN Manufacturing in Columbia, SC received an $11.5 million firm-fixed-priced, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract to refurbish and overhaul machine guns in support of multiple US military agencies.

The company will overhaul MK46 lightweight machine gun (LMG), MK 48 LMG, and the M240 machine gun.

Both the MK46 and MK48 LMGs are designed specifically for US special ops requirements. The Mk46 is a lighter weight variants of the 5.56mm M249 “Minimi” Squad Automatic Weapon…

“Ma Deuce”

Olin Corp.’s Winchester Division in East Alton, IL received $43.4 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity with firm-fixed-price orders for .50 calibre M903 saboted light armor penetrator (SLAP) and M962 saboted light armor penetrator tracer (SLAPT) bulk and the 4 ball (M903) to 1 tracer (M962) configuration.

The .50 caliber SLAP ammunition was developed by the US military during the mid/late 1980s for the M2 heavy machine gun, known as “Ma Deuce.” It uses a reduced caliber, heavy metal (tungsten) .30 inch diameter penetrator wrapped in a plastic sabot or “shoe” of .50 inch diameter.

M249 machine gun, Afghanistan

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…

Base, Bleeding Out?

Back in July 2005 it was apparent 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]
  Continue Reading… »

Iraqis train: M240B, PKMs

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…

CH-146 w. (old)
AN/AAQ-501

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.

Mk93 mount & M2

The Mk93 Heavy Machine Gun Mounting System is used to lessen the recoil of heavy weapons like the 40mm MK19 Grenade Machine Gun (GMG) and the .50 caliber/12.7mm M2 Heavy Machine Gun (HMG), improving their accuracy. It attaches to a tripod for infantry use, but it’s seen much more frequently as part of a vehicular mount, using the MK175 pintle pedestal. The MK93 requires no external adapters or tools, and consists of a gun carriage and cradle assembly, a train stop bracket, an ammunition can holder, a bolt-on small pintle, a bolt-on large pintle, and a stowage bar assembly. The U.S. Army Tank Automotive and Armaments Command in Rock Island, IL recently announced a set of contracts for these items to: