• US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said yesterday that the US Army stationed in Europe will replaces 2 brigade combat teams with rotational units.

• The Pentagon is going to discuss with other government agencies on how to deal with international dealings that appear commercial in nature but may bring defense considerations into play. This follows a letter sent by Congressman Randy Forbes (R-VA) expressing concern that joint ventures such as GE/AVIC might lead to sensitive tech ending up in Chinese military equipment.

• The latest Approach [PDF] is focused on Near-Midair Collisions (NMAC), whose number has been slowly creeping up to about 50 a year, according to the Naval Safety Center’s data. After a near encounter by just 10 feet between his FA-18E Super Hornet and a Predator UAV, CDR Richard Rivera offers some advice on deconfliction that includes not relying solely on instrumentation and keeping your eyes peeled.

• US Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), member of the Armed Services and Appropriations committees, addressed the Surface Navy Association Annual Symposium by expressing her concern on the Navy’s shipbuilding plans and the number of available ships.

• The US House Armed Services Committee is back in business next week with a hearing scheduled on Jan. 17 on the challenges of dealing with DOD for small and medium businesses.

• The US Navy accepted delivery of USNS Howard O. Lorenzen (T-AGM 25), the 3rd such Missile Range Instrumentation ship operated by Military Sealift Command (MSC) to collect dual-band radar data in order to check compliance with ballistic missile treaties.

• The French MinDef published a comparison of French and British defense spending [PDF, in French].

• Discussions on Scottish independence, puns on having a “neverendum” aside, raise significant defense questions. Video wrap-up below from British Forces News:
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C2BMC in action

$980 million, 5 year main contract. (Dec 23/11)

C2BMC puts the “system” in the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) System. At least that’s how the US Missile Defense Agency describes the Command and Control, Battle Management, and Communications (C2BMC) element. Basically, C2BMC synchronizes individual missile defense systems, sensors, and operators, which is essential to the layered missile defense approach the agency is working to develop. Since no one system is foolproof, layered system is designed to destroy enemy ballistic missiles by tracking and engaging them in all phases of flight, from boost, mid-course, and terminal phases of ballistic missiles. Tying all that together is a real challenge, since these systems weren’t all designed from the outset to operate together.

Some elements of the USA’s current missile warning and defense architecture include DSP and SBIRS satellites, Aegis BMD ships, Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), Patriot anti-air missile defense, and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries, along with flexible dual-use elements like the Patriot PAC-3, other sensors that might be plugged into the network, and other elements that will be developed in future…

• What C2BMC Does [updated]
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
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SSBN Vanguard Class
(click to view larger)

Another $191M for General Dynamics. (Dec 21/11)

SSBNs are nuclear missile submarines. The USA’s Ohio/ Henry M. Jackson Class and Britain’s Vanguard Class SSBNs will begin experiencing age-related risks by the late 2010s, and military programs of this type can easily take 15-20 years from concept to fielding. The Common Missile Compartment (CMC) sub-program will help to define one of the next-generation SSBN’s most important constraints.

CMC aims to define the missile tubes and accompanying systems that would be used to launch new ballistic missiles, successors to the current Trident II/ D5 missile fleet used by the USA and Britain. The new CMCs will reportedly carry just 12 launch tubes each, as opposed to the current Ohio SSBNs’ 24, or the Vanguard SSBNs’ 16. Key options under consideration include a widened diameter for each tube from 2.21m – 3.04m, and the potential for flexibility beyond nuclear missiles…

Trident II D5 Test Launch

Over $1 billion in contracts. (Dec 15/11)

Nuclear tipped missiles were first deployed on board US submarines at the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, to deter a Soviet first strike. The deterrence theorists argued that, unlike their land-based cousins, submarine-based nuclear weapons couldn’t be taken out by a surprise first strike, because the submarines were nearly impossible to locate and target. Which meant that Soviet leaders couldn’t hope to destroy all of America’s nuclear weapons before they could be launched against Soviet territory. SLBM/FBM offered shorter ranges and less accuracy than their land-based ICBM counterparts, but the advent of Trident C4 missiles began extending those ranges, and offering other improvements. The C4s were succeeded by larger Trident II D5 missiles, which added precision accuracy and more payload.

The year that the Trident II D5 ballistic missile was first deployed, 1990, saw the beginning of the end of the missile’s primary mission. Even as the Soviet Union began to implode, the D5’s performance improvements were making the Trident submarine force the new backbone of the USA’s nuclear deterrent – and of Britain’s as well. To ensure that this capability was maintained at peak readiness and safety, the US Navy undertook a program in 2002 to replace aging components of the Trident II D5 missile called the D5 Life Extension (LE) Program…

• D5 Life Extension Program
• Contracts and Key Events, 2005-Present [updated]
• Additional Readings
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• The Institute for the Study of War offers a good snapshot of the Libyan revolution and operations by the numbers. This week Libya was also on the mind of the UK’s House of Commons Defence Committee in a Q&A session with the Minister for the Armed Forces, and France’s Assemblée Nationale in one of several hearings [in French] focused on the 2012 budget. One outcome: Britain and France’s navies plan a major joint exercise next year.

• According to the Washington Post the US Air Force is now flying armed UAVs out of the Arba Minch airport in Ethi­o­pia.

• DAPRA has a $50K prize set aside for the team coming with a way to “unshred” documents. 12/02/11 update: solved!

• Project Manager Soldier Sensors and Laser’s (PM SSL) logistics team won the US Army Acquisitions Excellence “Transforming the Way We Do Business Award” FY11 earlier this month because it came up with a system to improve inventory accountability.

• Mantech to buy IT provider Worldwide Information Network Systems, Inc. for $90M in cash.

• The US Defense Science Board researched early intercept (EI) ballistic missile defense feasibility [PDF] and found that “EI in and of itself is not a useful objective for missile defense [...] Intercept prior to the potential deployment of multiple warheads or penetration aids [...] requires Herculean effort and is not realistically achievable”. But this doesn’t necessarily undermine regional missile defense plans, if they don’t rely too much on EI.

• US DoD undersecretary for personnel and readiness Clifford L. Stanley resigned. DoD’s Inspector General was investigating allegations of incompetence and waste sent by anonymous Pentagon employees last summer. JoAnn Rooney, Stanley’s principal deputy since last June, will take his job on an acting basis in 2 weeks and until a replacement is formally announced.

• The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) compares the emerging Democratic and Republican positions within the Super Committee.

• US Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO) asks [PDF] the Secretary of Defense to look into how the infamously bankrupt Solyndra LLC was selected as a finalist for a contract via the Defense Venture Catalyst Initiative (DeVenCI). Note that in the end Solyndra did not get a DoD contract award.

• The Readiness Subcommittee in the US House of Representatives held a hearing yesterday on the effects of “austerity” on readiness with witnesses from the 4 services. Exec summary: budget cuts affect readiness. 1st video embedded at the bottom of this entry.

• Another HASC hearing took place to review the state of DoD ERP systems. In its testimony the GAO highlights schedule slippages, cost increases and functionality gaps.

• The 2nd video below shows a quick glimpse of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s work on micro-UAVs looking like birds or even insects.
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• The Pentagon wants to radically change the terms of the F-35 contract, and have Lockheed Martin pay for problems discovered through testing, and fixes to already-produced aircraft. Suddenly, the Pentagon’s plan to start production before testing is done has a contractor downside, not just a political engineering upside.

• More Q3 ‘11 financial results: General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin.

• Hackers hit Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which makes Japanese fighters and missiles, and license-builds Patriot PAC-3 missiles. PCs were infected with a Trojan application designed to send data to an outside server, and an internal investigation found signs that the stolen information had been transmitted.

• Boeing delivers the US Navy’s 12th C-40A transport aircraft, derived from the 737. They’re replacing C-9s (DC-9).

• Boeing’s P-8A sea control aircraft launches its 1st torpedo, as testing continues.

• Denmark is working to narrow choices for its next naval helicopters. The AW159 Lynx Wildcat could succeed its Lynx predecessor, or Denmark could turn to Eurocopter’s AS565 Panther or Sikorsky’s larger S-70/MH-60 Seahawk.

• The French Ministry of Defense submitted its annual report [PDF, in French] to parliament on armament exports. France received 5.12 billion euros in orders last year (about $7.2B at current exchange rates), the lowest amount in years and a 37% drop from 2009’s record 8.16 billion euros ($11.4B) order book.

• The US Army would benefit from working with energy utilities to lower its installation costs, according to the RAND Corporation.

• The US has more offensive nukes than Russia, according to data collected under the START treaty.

• Ghana gets 4 Chinese patrol boats, and immediately threatens to declare war against… its fishermen?

• VT Halter Marine holds a dedication ceremony for Egypt’s 1st Ambassador III Class Fast Attack Craft, S. Ezzat. The class is only 63m long but armed like a corvette, with Harpoon Block II ship/land attack missiles, a RAM missile launcher for air defense, a MK15 Phalanx Block 1B 20mm CIWS (Close-In Weapon System, vs. boats or even missiles), and an Oto Melara 76mm gun. See model.

• EMALS electro-magnetic aircraft catapult shore site launches an E-2D Advanced Hawkeye AWACS plane, as it widens its aircraft compatibility testing. EMALS will equip the new USS Gerald R. Ford super-carrier, replacing the Nimitz Class’ steam catapults.

• Will playing with Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) spending serve as the Super Committee’s escape hatch? The committee had a public hearing yesterday and there’s still a significant gap before an agreement is reached.

• The Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee also had a hearing yesterday on Army acquisition and modernization, discussing the network portfolio (WIN-T, JTRS, SoSE…), combat vehicles (GCV, AMPV, PIM, JLTV, HMMWV Recap), soldier modernization, and aviation (OH-58, armed Aerial Scout). Video below:
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• Don’t mind me, I’m just the user. Driven mostly by political pressure, defense offsets have grown to 130 countries for an estimated $100B/year.

• Russia is likely to continue renewing its aging materiel, at least if oil prices remain high and Putin gets, as widely expected, the presidency back. They’ll have finished scrapping their T-64 tanks by the end of the year.

• The Military Logistics Forum reviewed the effectiveness of current ground vehicle RESET/RECAP programs.

• Right steps, wrong order. Tech. Sgt. Joshua Lopez realized the Technical Order Data (TOD) he was following to test the rail launcher that mounts an AIM-9 Sidewinder on an F-22 could lead to damage of the launcher’s $14K detent assembly. Rather than just go through an informal workaround he submitted a request to reorder the TOD and got rewarded for it.

• What gets measured gets improved. RAND surveyed troops using the Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) Warfighters’ Forum (SWfF StrykerNet), a private website made to help them get ready for deployment. The non-profit found the site’s users satisfied with the service, but recommends among other things to implement some form of tracking/analytics to better assess usage of future similar warfighting communities. This would require caution re: confidentiality but in this day and age barely any private actor would consider deploying a new web service without some level of embedded analytics.

• US DoD Systems Engineering aka DASD (SE) and the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) announced their 2011 award winners: Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense (AIAMD), Chinook CH-47F Multi-Year I, Advanced Explosive Ordnance Disposal Robotic System (AEODRS), CH-53K Heavy Lift Replacement Helicopter (HLR) and Enterprise Business Systems.

• World of Malcraft. USAF issued an official statement with more details on the type of malware recently found on ground control stations at Creech AFB: “more of a nuisance than an operational threat.” More serious is the lack of internal transparency on this issue. In an interesting parallel, the head of cyber security at Raytheon UK warns that if you choose to sell to Taiwan, you will be under constant attack from the large continental country across the strait. This requires organization-wide mobilization and response.

• F-35 by numbers. Well, maybe not the kind of numbers you had in mind: 1,300 subcontractors, 130,000 jobs in 47 states, and a Congressional Caucus approved [PDF] on September 14 that already has 40 members, according to the AP. The caucus is co-chaired by Congresswoman Kay Granger (R-TX 12, member of the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee) who clashed with Senator McCain (R-AZ) last month on F-35 funding. According to the Sunlight Foundation, Lockheed Martin (employees + PAC) was Granger’s #2 campaign finance contributor for 2009-2010.

• Details might finally emerge today at a US House Armed Services Committee (HASC) hearing on where budget cuts might be made, a question carefully dodged so far. Freshly-appointed Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey will testify, and they’re not fans of cuts themselves. A group of 65 House Democrats sent a letter [PDF] to the deficit supercommittee urging it to find savings in nuclear weapons, while conservative think thank Heritage Foundation argues in favor of missile defense. Finally, in case you had any doubts about how they feel, HASC Republicans made the video clip below and chairman of Military Personnel Subcommittee Joe Wilson (R-SC) wrote this op ed:
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• The Department of Defense releases Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2011 [PDF]. While the report acknowledges China’s growing importance to peacekeeping and an array of international security operations, Taiwan remains the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) ‘main strategic direction’. State media reiterated that China’s defense policy is defensive in nature and criticized US interference over Taiwan.

• Boeing delivers three more F-15K Slam Eagles to South Korea.

• The Iranian Ambassador to Moscow hopes that the International Court of Arbitration will rule in favor of Tehran over the legality of Russia’s $800 million contract to supply Iran with S-300 air defense systems.

• Meanwhile, sources claim that Russia will next test-launch its Bulava (SS-NX-30) submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) on the 27th August. The launch will be from the Borey Class Yuri Dolgoruky strategic nuclear submarine.

• Research and Markets adds Defense and Security in India 2011 Report to its list of publications. The report says India spent $39 billion on defense and security in 2010, and continues to look towards self-sufficiency. Publication also comes at a time when Robert Sher, Deputy Assistant of Defense for South and Southeast Asia, called US-Indian defense ties a ‘natural partnership’.

• Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Richard Shelby (R-AL) release a statement saying that the failure of the Russian Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) underscores the need for American leadership in space and the development of the Space Launch System (SLS).

• As the Government Accountability Office (GAO) releases a report [PDF] on US initiatives to safeguard maritime energy security, analysts line up to argue that the US Navy should increase its focus on irregular warfare challenges.

• Interest in China’s J-20 stealth fighter continues at a relentless pace. A new set of photographs reveal the aircraft’s weapons bay. Photos have also emerged of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) North Sea Fleet’s nuclear submarine base.

• While the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) seeks to develop Mission-oriented Resilient Clouds (MRC), the Department of Defense (DoD) drags its heels over the implementation of ‘cloud computing’ initiatives.

• Concerns are raised that General Electric’s proposal to build a a $1 billion plant in North Carolina to support laser enrichment efforts may have implications for nuclear proliferation.

• South Korean media raises concerns that the country has insufficient radar systems to track long-range artillery attacks by North Korea. This is compounded by reports that six Swedish-made Arthur radars broke down 78 times last year, alongside ThalesRaytheon-made TPQ-36 and 37s malfunctioning on 98 and 60 times respectively over the past five years.

• India launches the frigate INS Satpura, the second indigenously-built stealth warship of the Shivalik class.

• The Israeli defense budget dispute continues unabated. The Defense Ministry claims that the budget is already ILS6.2 billion ($1.6 billion) under 2011/12 estimates. The Finance Ministry wants greater efficiencies within the defense establishment.

• Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) deployment of Rafael’s Iron Dome air defense system has prompted a change of tactics by militants in the Gaza Strip.

• Russia delays the next test-firing of the Bulava (SS-NX-30) submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) until the end of August.

• As China’s profile in the UAV sector rises, state-run media shows the hand-held ASN-15 in action, supporting a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) main battle tank (MBT) unit.

• The US Navy’s Program Executive Office (PEO) Integrated Warfare Systems (IWS) announces that it has made $50 million-worth of savings in procuring weapons for new construction amphibious ships between FY2009-2011.

• The British House of Commons’ Public Accounts Committee (PAC) publishes a report warning that until the Ministry of Defence (MoD) implements the Future Logistics Information Services project the UK’s Armed Forces remain reliant on a supply chain susceptible to a ‘critical risk of failure’.

• The US Army awards General Dynamics a $107 million contract for unspecified combat, assault and tactical vehicles.

• Meanwhile, the US Navy awards Federal Cartridge Company a $46.5 million contract for 5.56m frangible ammunition.

• Russia is to build its second Tupolev Tu-214ON aircraft for international aerial inspections under the Open Skies Treaty [PDF].

• Saab says its Skeldar V-200 unmanned helicopter will soon be on the market in its land-based and maritime versions.

• Boeing announces that it will use a Ryan Aerospace Helimod helicopter simulator to train Australian Army pilots to fly Bell 206B-1 Kiowa helicopters.

• The right-wing Heritage Foundation think tank raises concerns that the Budget Control Act will jeopardize the US solid rocket industrial base via the Administration’s reluctance to modernize strategic missiles to replace or expand on the likes of the Minuteman III ICBM and Trident II D-5 SLBM.