• “Taking Back the Infantry Half-Kilometer” – US infantry poorly equipped for rifle engagements in Afghanistan?

• EADS expects final deal on A400M military transport plane; Euro 3.5 billion funding deal in works.

• US Navy, House Armed Services Committee members, clash over FY 2011 shipbuilding budget.

• ThyssenKrupp’s Swedish subsidiary Kockums to build Sweden’s next-generation submarine.

• Israel’s Plasan secures $170 million subcontract from Oshkosh to supply 1,460 M-ATV protection kits; see Oshkosh’s recent win for 1,460 M-ATVs.

• US Army’s NETFIRES non line-of-sight launch system (NLOS-LS) fails recent tests at White Sands.

• US Marines go green.

• DARPA working on foliage-penetrating radar signal processing workstation to detect infantry moving in dense foliage.

Tornado w. Storm Shadows
(click to view full)

On Feb 19/10, Defense News reported that Saudi Arabia’s fleet of Tornado low-level, medium-range strike fighters will soon be receiving a pair of significant enhancements: MBDA’s stealthy Storm Shadow medium range cruise missiles, and the MBDA/Boeing Brimstone anti-armor missile. The Storm Shadow would give the Saudis a potent long range strike capability against even heavily-defended targets, while the Brimstone missiles will allow Saudi fast jets to serve in an assault-breaker role, or offer reliable close air support for ground forces.

The Saudi Tornado Sustainment Programme has been engaged in a little-discussed modernization of Saudi Arabia’s primary strike fleet, under BAE Systems’ aegis…

Continue Reading… »

Pandur II w. RCWS-30
(click to view full)

Serious corruption allegations could destroy the deal – again. (Feb 22/10)

In January 2006, the Czech Republic selected General Dynamics’ European Land Combat Systems subsidiary Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug GmbH of Austria to supply its army with 199 new eight-wheeled Pandur II armored personnel carriers (APCs) between 2007-2012. The vehicles would replace Soviet-era OT-64 SKOT APCs, and would be produced in Austria and the Czech Republic.

In 2005 the contract included an option for 35 additional vehicles for a total of 234, and had a potential value of Koruna 23.6 billion ($1-1.4 billion). Steyr’s Pandur II was a finalist, and eventually won the competition. But questions arose, the deal became a political football, and delivery issues jeopardized the deal into oblivion. Or so it seemed. Despite the economic crisis gripping Eastern Europe, the Czechs reinstated a scaled-down version of the deal in late February 2009.

• Selection and a Winner
• Pandur II Industrial Arrangements
• Contracts & Updates [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
  Continue Reading… »

• As Argentina and Britain revisit their Falklands dispute, the UK conducts armed patrols, while France reportedly considers selling Argentina improved Super Etendard strike aircraft by 2015.

• Taiwan air force is not ready to withstand an attack from China, US DIA report warns. AP | Reuters

• Pakistan formally inducts 1st JF-17 fighter squadron.

• WIRED Danger Room: Where have all the MANPADS (MAN Portable Air Defense missile Systems) gone?

• United Technologies’ Sikorsky Aircraft selected for DARPA mission-adaptive rotor (MAR) technology development.

• Sikorsky upgrading its S-92 helicopters; British SAR likely to benefit.

• US Army’s proposed new IFV hitting roadblocks?

• British defense firm VT Group rejects revised GBP 1.3 billion takeover offer from Babcock.

• Israel’s Elbit Systems gets $20 million follow-on contract from defense ministry for “Snunit” aircraft trainer.

Javelin, firing
(click to view full)

France picks Javelin – but no contract. Taiwan picks and signs. (Feb 25/10)

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 is not 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 a international clients.

• The Javelin Anti-Tank Guided Missile System
• Javelin ATGM: The Program [updated]
• Javelin ATGM: Reports from the Front
• Javelin: Contracts & Key Events (2004 – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
  Continue Reading… »

PJ-10 BrahMos
(click to view full)

Major Akash order by India, additional background. (Feb 2/10)

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 included:

• The canceled Trishul (“trident”) short-range surface-air missile (SAM)
• Akash (“sky”) medium-range SAM
• Nag (“cobra”) vehicle-mounted anti-armor missile; and the
• Indo-Russian PJ-10 BrahMos medium-range supersonic cruise missile, which is primarily designed as an anti-ship weapon but can also perform land attack.

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

USMC KC-130J
(click to view full)

Sierra Nevada Corp. wins a $32M contract for MC-130W consoles, and MC-130Ws head to Haiti. (Jan 29/10)

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 the Corps could field about 45 KC-130J aerial tankers for the price of a 12-plane AC-130J squadron, and lighter options like the AC-27J “Stinger II” would probably tally similar costs once R&D dollars were factored in. 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 range to refuel helicopters and fast jets alike? The Harvest Hawk program aims to do just that. It would give the USMC a far less capable convertible gunship option for Afghanistan, at a cost that’s 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 [updated]
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings and Sources
  
  Continue Reading… »

Hydras & Hellfires
(click to view full)

The versatile Hydra 70mm rocket family is primed for a new lease on life, thanks to widespread efforts underway to convert these ubiquitous rockets into cheap laser-guided precision weapons.

The benefits would be considerable, which explains why strong competition has emerged from all points of the compass. America’s “Advanced Precision-Kill Weapon System (APKWS)” is one of those efforts, and after numerous delays and false starts since its inception in 1996, an “APKWS-II” program finally entered System Design and Development (SDD) in 2006.

The program is now closing in on a Milestone C decision, and Operational Assessment, following a series of recent firings. NAVAIR is also preparing initial sole-source buys…

Continue Reading… »

Hellfire II

Dec 18/09: The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency formally announces [PDF] Egypt’s request to buy another 450 AGM-114K3A Hellfire II missiles, plus spare and repair parts, test and tool sets, personnel training and equipment, publications, and U.S. Government and contractor support. Egypt already has AGM-114K missiles in its inventory, to equip its AH-64D Apache attack helicopters. As such, implementation of this proposed sale will not require the assignment of any additional U.S. Government or contractor representatives to Egypt. The prime contractor is HELLFIRE Ltd., LLC, and the estimated cost is $51 million.

The AGM-114K is the standard Hellfire II anti-armor missile, with a tandem warhead to defeat reactive armor and new features that include semi-active laser homing, a digital autopilot, target reacquisition after lost laser lock, and better resistance to laser countermeasures.

Note that a DSCA announcement is not a sale; if Congress does not block the sale, negotiations may proceed. In this case, the DSCA adds that: “The missiles will be provided in accordance with, and subject to the limitation on use and transfer provided under the Arms Export Control Act, as amended, as embodied in the Letter of Offer and Acceptance.” While this request in likely to be uncontroversial, Egypt’s simultaneous request for Harpoon Block II anti-ship and land-attack missiles has created far more concern in Israel.

TOW Launch
(click to view full)

LaBarge in St. Louis, MO received a $7.3 million order from Raytheon Missile Systems to provide complex wiring harnesses for the US Army’s TOW (tube-launched, optically-tracked, wireless-guided) weapon system.

TOW is a long-range, anti-armor family of attack missiles designed to destroy a range of targets, from reinforced tanks to bunkers and urban fortifications.

The wireless TOW missiles receive commands from the gunner through a wireless data link, instead of the wire connection that the system used for over 30 years. Because the wireless system is built into the missile and the missile case, wireless TOW works with all existing launch platforms…

Continue Reading… »