M142 HIMARS
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Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Missile and Fires Control in Grand Prairie, TX received a $151.2 million firm-fixed-price contract to supply high mobility artillery rocket system (HIMARS) full rate production Lot 5 launchers for the US Army.

The contract includes 46 Army launchers; 1 Army launcher rebuild; launchers loader module trainer kit; product definition data package maintenance tack; new equipment training; and support equipment.

The HIMARS is the newest member of the multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) family.

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M734A1 Mortar Fuze
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L-3 Fuzing & Ordnance Systems in Cincinnati, OH received a $98.5 million firm-fixed-price contract with 4 firm-fixed-priced options for the production and delivery of US Army mortar fuzes.

The fuze controls separation of the munition from the delivery platform and triggers its detonation. Safety features are built into all fuzes to protect personnel while handling ammunition during storage, transit and deployment.

L-3 Fuzing and Ordnance Systems, a unit of L-3 Communications, will provide the US Army with M734A1 and M783 fuzes…

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Now: M2A2 105mm
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In February 2006, the Australian Government gave first pass approval for the replacement of the ADF’s current 105mm and 155mm artillery pieces with new, more capable, artillery systems that feature improved mobility, protection, range and accuracy. Current systems are all towed, and include the aged 105mm M2A2, the L119 Hamel 105mm Field Gun, and the M198 155mm Howitzer. Options for replacing them include a mix of self-propelled artillery systems and lightweight towed artillery systems under an A$ 450-600 million project known as LAND 17. The project will also examine advanced high precision munitions and a networked command and fire control system.

So, how does this project fit into Australia’s larger defense plans? What’s the expected program timeline? And who are the declared and potential contenders? That matters even more now that the solicitation has been released. DID covers the program, and a number of the confirmed or likely competitors… but one category has now been decided.

• The LAND 17 Program
• LAND 17: Likely Contenders
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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81mm mortar
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A weapon without ammunition is useless, which is why ammunition is almost always a strategic national capability whose production must remain in-country. On the other hand, government demand has a tendency to swing up and down within narrow limits, and the demands of efficiency usually lead to a single supplier situation – often using equipment that dates back to World War 2. The USA has run into problems because of its reliance on a single small arms ammunition plant, for instance, and has moved to modernize and diversify its base. Its ally Australia is modernizing key ammunition facilities, and trying to modernize its industrial approach as well.

Then there’s Britain, whose long-term defense contracting practices are establishing world-class benchmarks. The UK MoD had been working on an arrangement that secures national supply needs from British sources, and ensures that modernization investments continues to improve industrial efficiency. Hence the new 15-year, GBP 2+ billion “Munitions Acquisition – the Supply Solution” (MASS) program, inaugurated in August 2008. The latest component is a major deal with a German supplier…

• BAE and The MASS Program
• Contracts & Key Events
  
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YRH-70 w. Hydras
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In July 2008, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced Iraq’s formal request to buy 24 helicopters. Based on the request, Iraq seems to be interested in Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters that act as scouts, perform light close air support, and escort other helicopters on dangerous missions.

The IqAF currently relies on a small force of Russia’s popular Mi-8/17 and refurbished Bell “Huey II” helicopters. While the Russian helicopters can be armed, their status as Iraq’s only medium utility helicopters makes them a poor fit for an ARH role. Instead, Iraq chose between 2 competitors: Bell’s 407, whose derivative ARH-70A won the competition in America but ran into trouble; and Boeing’s AH-6 “Little Bird” light attack helicopters used by US Special Forces. AH-6s are very effective in urban settings, and provided critical fire support during the 1991 “Blackhawk Down” incident.

The DSCA documents also included requests for airborne weapons – something the nascent post-Saddam IqAf has not really had to this point. Now, it appears that Iraq has picked its ARH winner – and issued production contracts. Even so, much still remains to be decided…

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Bofors Archer system
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BAE Systems Bofors’ Archer is a light, air-portable, and highly automated 155/52 light mobile artillery system that can hit targets with great accuracy at ranges up to 50km/ 30 miles. Automation ensures that the crew can fire the gun within 30 seconds of arriving in position, and without leaving the cabin. Archer belongs in the same class as Nexter’s Caesar (France), Denel’s G6 (South Africa), and Soltam’s Atmos-2000 and Rascal (Israel).

To this point, Archer has been a Swedish project, administered by their FMV procurement agency. Funding has been provided for system development and some initial production, but the project’s future has been shadowed by anemic Swedish defense budgets. In May 2007, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with Norway’s FLO procurement agency. Now, it has evolved into joint development of the Archer artillery system, and an initial contract…

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CAESAR, firing
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Unlike Britain and the USA, France’s economic stimulus package includes military modernization funds. As part of that effort. France’s DGA procurement agency recently announced [in French] 3 ammunition purchases worth EUR 43.9 million (currently $62.3 million).

One contract for EUR 7.2 million goes to Diehl’s Defence’s French subsidiary Junghans T2M SAS, for multi-mode fuzes to equip the 155mm shells carried by France’s truck-mounted CAESAR expeditionary self-propelled howitzers. Fuzing options include impact detonation, short post-impact delayed detonation for punching into buildings and strongpoints, time-delay fuzing, and proximity fuzing. They’re paired with a EUR 16.7 million contract to Nexter Munitions for LU 211-IM 155mm MURAT shells. The French MURAT standard involves shells whose insensitive explosives are far less likely to become a local safety hazard if they fail to detonate. It is similar to LOVA standard, and complies with NATO STANAG 4439, as well as the STANAG 4224 safety standard. The LU 211 family is also distinguished by the use of field-fitted bases that can be either hollow-base or extended range base-bleed, as the situation requires. The CAESAR cannon was qualified for these new munitions and fuzes at the beginning of July 2009, and a battery recently deployed to Afghanistan.

The 3rd order is a EUR 20 million contract to Thales subsidiary TDA Armement SAS for 120mm mortar shells to equip its rifled mortars. These mortars are in use by a number of countries, including the US Marine Corps (as the EFSS). This French order will include both high-explosive and illumination shells.

M1028 120mm Tank Round
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Alliant Techsystems in Minneapolis, MN received a firm-fixed-price contract with a maximum value of $7.6 million to supply M1028 120mm canister catridges to the U.S. Army. The contract has a base year and 4 one-year options.

The U.S. Army Joint Munitions & Lethality Life Cycle Management Command (JM&L LCMC) manages the contract (W15QKN-08-C-0473).

The M1028 is a tank fired, anti-personnel canister cartridge intended to be used against advancing dismounted infantry armed with hand held anti-tank and automatic weapons at close range.

The cartridge is to be fired from the M1A1/M1A2 Abrams main battle tank with the M256 smoothbore cannon.

DID has more on the M1028 as well as the Army facilities that Alliant will be supplying…

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CACI International in Arlington, VA received a $125 million task order to provide the U.S. Army’s Communications-Electronics Command’s (CECOM) Fires Software Engineering Division (FSED) with software engineering support for fielded fire support systems. The award, for 1 base year and 2 option years, was competitively awarded under the Army’s Strategic Services Sourcing (S3) contract vehicle. The task order brings the total amount of S3 awards to CACI to nearly $2 billion.

DID has more on the FSED and the CACI team…

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RQ-7 Shadow
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In 2007, US Army RQ-7 Shadow battalion-level UAVs saw their use increase to up 8,000 flight hours per month in Iraq, a total that compares well to the famous MQ-1 Predator. Those trends have continued as workarounds for the airspace management issues that hindered early deployments become more routine. Some RQ-7s are even being used to extend high-bandwidth communications on the front lines.

The difference between the Army’s RQ-7 Shadow UAVs and their brethren like the USAF’s MQ-1A Predator, or the Army’s new MQ-1C Sky Warriors, is that the Shadow has been too small and light to be armed. Larger RQ-5 Hunters have been tested with Viper Strike mini-bombs, and RQ-7s will certainly be eligible for NAVAIR’s 5-6 pound Spike missile project. Meanwhile, as “CENTCOM Looks to Boost ISR Capabilities in 2008-2009” explained, UAVs can still pack a punch without weapons. UAVs can provide targeting data to M30 GPS-guided MLRS rockets, long-range ATACMS MLRS missiles, or GPS-guided 155mm Excalibur artillery shells – as long as those weapons are (a) appropriate and (b) within range.

Using an ATACMS missile to take out an enemy machine gun position seems a bit silly, but that’s exactly the sort of help that could really make a difference to troops on the ground. Precision weapons can also be dropped by fighters or bombers, but their $10,000 – $25,000 cost per flight hour is prohibitive, they require extensive planning processes to use, and their declining numbers affect their potential coverage and response times. With NAVAIR’s mini-missile still in development, and missions in Afghanistan occurring beyond artillery support range, arming the Army’s Shadow UAVs has become an even more important objective. So important, in fact, that it spawned a bright idea: what if smaller UAVs could carry and drop the Army’s 81mm mortar ammunition, which weighs just 9-10 pounds? Enter General Dynamics’ RCFC kit….

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