Death from above
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1st order for new owners. (Jan 17/12)

The Viper Strike began life as the BAT – a canceled munition option for ground-fired ATACMS missiles. After USAF Predator UAVs armed with Hellfire missiles began to show promise in the Global War on Terror, however, US Army planners began to examine their options. Could they place a similar capability in the hands of Army ground commanders? In July 2002, these examinations led to the award of a 90-day contract to demonstrate the possibility of BAT deployment on a modified U.S. Army RQ-5 Hunter UAV.

Those tests went well, and Viper Strikes are currently carried by MQ-5B Hunter UAVs – see this video [MPG, 13.2 MB] of a Viper Strike in testing. The weapon’s small size (3 feet long, 44 pounds) and special advantages in urban fights, mountainous terrain, etc. give it a chance of spreading to other platforms. Special Operations Command has shown interest, but front-line deployment has been limited. Is the Viper Strike a case of “the right weapon at the right time”? Or a case of “caught betwixt and between”? That’s now an important question for Europe’s MBDA, who bought the weapon and manufacturing from Northrop Grumman…

• Viper Strike: Weapon, Platforms & Positioning
  • SOCOM’s Solution: Viper Strikes for AC-130s?
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
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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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USN MH-60S test

Hellfire I/II missiles are the USA’s preferred aerial anti-armor missile, and are widely deployed with America’s allies. They equip America’s helicopter fleets (AH-64, AH-1, OH-58D, MH-60S/R), AH-64 and S-70 helicopters flown by its allies, and even Australia and France’s Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopters. Range is officially listed as 9 km/ 5.6 miles.

While Hellfires lack the fast-jet launch capabilities – and correspondingly extended maximum range – of the UK’s MBDA Brimstone missiles, Lockheed Martin’s missile has become the US Army’s main air-launched weapon. It has also carved out unique niches as tripod-launched coastal defense assets, as the guided missile integrated into American UAVs like the MQ-1 Predator family, and even on transport aircraft like the C-208B and C-130J/W...

• Lockheed Martin’s Hellfires
• Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings
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• US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta visited General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, CT to defend the principle of a sustained industrial base. EB announced earlier this month that it will lay off 52 people next January.

• The FY12 defense authorization bill is still hung in the US Senate because of detainee policy. The White House threatened a veto if they don’t get language they like. The Senate approved a related bill introduced by Jack Reed (D-RI) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) reducing the Air Force’s strategic airlift aircraft inventory minimum from 316 to 301 aircraft.

• While the Pentagon updated is cyberspace policy report [PDF] to Congress a few days ago, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is trying to append cybercrime language to the aforementioned authorization bill, just in case it was not stalled enough already. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid plans to debate more comprehensive cybersecurity legislation in early 2012. A couple such bills have been in the work for several years. Even the SEC has an opinion.

• It looks like the 3% contractor tax withholding law is going to stay dead after it was repealed unanimously in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday.

• Acquisition lingo clarification: though “program of record” is widely used to describe programs that passed milestone B and will get funded, it is not an actual official DFARS term.

• Raytheon and the UAE’s EAI are set to begin production of their TALON 70mm laser-guided rockets.

• Mexico takes delivery of its 1st CN-235 maritime patrol aircraft.

• Next time you have a Power Point presentation to give, try this. We’ve added it to our “Sharpen Yourself” article on the subject.

• Deakin University’s Centre for Intelligent Systems Research in Australia is showing their new motion simulator with an eye of flight simulation thanks to its ability to rotate continuously and simultaneously around 2 axes, as per the video below:
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• 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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Future Lynx naval

1st landing on a ship; Timeline added. (Nov 7/11)

In 2006, Finmeccanica subsidiary AgustaWestland received a GBP 1 billion (about $1.9 billion at 02/07 rates) contract from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) for 70 Future Lynx helicopters. The Lynx is an extremely fast helicopter that entered service in the 1970s and has seen several versions and upgrades over the decades. Lynx helicopters have been used in a number of British Army [AH7 & AH9] and Fleet Air Arm [Mk 8] roles, from reconnaissance and attack to casualty evacuation & troop transport, logistical support, anti-submarine operations; and even command post functions.

The Future Lynx program reflects that. The original goal was 40 Battlefield Reconnaissance Helicopters (BRH) for the British Army, and 30 Surface Combatant Maritime Rotorcraft (SCMR) for the Royal Navy, with an option for another 10 helicopters that could be split in any way desired. At present, contracts have been issued for 34 AW159 BRHs, and 28 AW159 SCMR naval helicopters. This is DID’s FOCUS Article for the AW159 Lynx Wildcat Program, describing its improvements, schedules, and related contracts…

• The Future Lynx Helicopters
• Future Lynx: The Program [updated]
• Future Lynx: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

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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• US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) published its latest acquisition guide [PDF].

• Katherine Hammack, the US Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Energy, & Environment), presented “US Army Power & Energy” [PDF] last week during AUSA.

• MBDA announced that it is pitching its Taurus air-to-ground missiles in answer to a Request for Information from the Indian Air Force.

• According to the New York Times, the Obama administration considered using cyber warfare during the war in Libya, but balked because of legal concerns and to avoid setting a precedent.

• South Africa’s Department of Defense discloses the value of its assets but the country’s Auditor General could not audit that statement, reports DefenceWeb. This sounds familiar.

• South Korea’s Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is reportedly working on a tilt-rotor UAV.

• If Scotland were to break up from the United Kingdom – an event that is actually under serious consideration – what would be its defense policy?

• US Rear Admiral Craig Faller, Commander of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 3, muses over the value of a CSG in terms of power, flexibility and mobility.

• The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) released a briefing [PDF] on the state of Iran’s chemical, biological, and nuclear capabilities. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) also published several updates about Iran’s nuclear facilities and centrifuges.
• Winslow T. Wheeler from the Center for Defense Information (CDI) takes US SecDef Leon Panetta to task on the latter’s assertion that “the American military today is without question the finest fighting force that has ever existed.” Wheeler’s contention: “We got this smaller, older, less ready force not because of less money but because of more.” While some may object to Wheeler’s tone, he’s summoning accurate facts to support his rebuttal: the US Navy does have fewer ships than it used to, and USAF planes are indeed aging on average.

• Video below of a Q&A with Dmitri Trenin at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Russia where Putin is likely to again become President:
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Part-converted UH-60M

Sept 22/11: The US DSCA announces [PDF] the United Arab Emirates’ request to buy 500 AGM-114R3 Hellfire II missiles, plus containers, spare and repair parts, support and test equipment, repair and return support, training equipment and personnel training, and other U.S. Government and contractor support. The estimated cost is up to $65 million, and if a contract is negotiated, it will be with the Lockheed/Boeing Hellfire Systems LLC joint venture in Orlando, FL. Under Foreign Military Sales rules, the US military will act as the UAE’s agent, and the order will almost certainly be added to the USA’s existing umbrella contract.

The AGM-114R has a triple-threat warhead, which works against armored vehicles, fortified positions, and troops in the open. The UAE can deploy them on its modernized AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters, and also on its forthcoming UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters equipped with the Battlehawk kit.

TOW Launch

The island Emirate of Bahrain sits in such a strategic location within the Persian Gulf, that its own armed forces serve more of a tripwire and delaying function. Their goal is to control the lanes around Bahrain, make initial entry difficult, and buy time for its foreign allies to intervene. The country serves as the headquarters for the US Navy’s regional 5th Fleet, and recently cooperated with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council to suppress internal unrest among its Shia population.

A recent request for mobile TOW short range guided missile launchers illustrates that military philosophy. While they could conceivably be used in an internal security role, this buy is more calibrated toward external defense…

• Want a TOW?
• Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings
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