Aria’s airship
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In early 209, Aria International, Inc. announced a contract from the Royal Thai Army to provide in-country surveillance and communications solutions and services, for an aggregate purchase price of $9.7 million. The RTA surveillance system consists of a manned airship with military-grade imaging and communications systems, a state-of-the-art Mobile Command and Control Vehicle, and upgrades to existing communications and facilities to receive real-time surveillance data.

Thailand has the questionable distinction of being saddled with the bloodiest Islamist insurgency most people have never heard of. The American export system hindering their order, however, is well known around the world…

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SELEX VTMS Control Center
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Border control and domestic security systems are becoming an important export category for many defense suppliers. Finmeccanica subsidiary SELEX Sistemi Integrati recently announced a EUR 300 million (currently $442 million) contract with Libya for a large Border Security and Control System. The first tranche of EUR 150 million has already started.

Finmeccanica will provide all the typical functions of a C3 (Command, Control & Communication) system, such as command decision support tools, information processing, integration of data gathered by different sensors, the sensors themselves, and emergency management. SELEX-SI has prime responsibility for the architecture of Large Systems within Finmeccanica, and they will design, install and integrate all the subsystems on behalf of their customer, The Libyan General People’s Committee for General Security. SELEX-SI will also be responsible for the training of operators and maintenance staff, as well as the completion of all associated civil infrastructures required by the contract. Finmeccanica release.

Given the nature of Libya’s regime, and recent events, this contract may acquire a more political context…

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C-27J Spartan
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The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced Ghana’s official request for 4 C-27J light tactical transports, to be delivered with 10 Rolls Royce AE-2100 engines (8 + 2 spares), 4 of BAE’s AN/ALE-47 Countermeasures Dispensing Systems, 4 AN/ARC-210 VHF/UHF Multimode Integrated Communication Systems without COMSEC (COMmunications SECurity; encryption), 4 of Raytheon’s AN/APX-119 Identification Friend or Foe Digital Transponders with mode 1,2,3a, 3c; plus commercial GPS navigation, a VIP module and observation windows, spare and repair parts, support and test equipment, publications and technical documentation, personnel training and training equipment, and U.S. Government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support.

The estimated cost is $680 million, but a DSCA request is not a contract. If Congress does not block the sale within 30 days, negotiations may begin.

Ghana is a West African country located on the Gulf of Guinea. Its parliament was chosen to host President Obama’s 2009 Africa speech, and the DSCA describes the country and the sale as…

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Saudi Arabia
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Border fences and related surveillance systems are becoming popular around the world, including the Middle East. As “Jordan’s JBSP Border Security Program” notes, these systems are not foolproof. They can offer important improvements, however, and in recent years, the risk of violence insourcing back to Saudi Arabia from Iraq prompted construction a fence along the kingdom’s northern border. That concept became a serious initiative in 2006, and is currently scheduled for completion by the end of 2009.

The northern fence was never designed to be a stand-alone effort. A much larger border project was first envisaged in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War, and The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been conducting a 13-year long bidding competition for a more comprehensive set or border and infrastructure security measures. Bidders reportedly included France’s Thales and EADS, Britain’s BAE Systems, and Raytheon in the USA. Now, a contract worth a reported $2.3-2.8 billion has been issued for over 8,000 miles of fencing and surveillance. Even as Saudi Arabia’s biggest concerns have shifted away from its northern border…

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Hermes 450 -
note civil reg. #
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“Will UAV Proliferation Create Unfriendly Skies for Other Aircraft?” addressed the critical issue of ‘deconfliction,’ as well as ‘swarming’ algorithms currently under development. Meanwhile, flying restrictions aimed at avoiding aerial collisions have put a serious crimp in the tactical usefulness of UAVs at the battalion level and below, as detailed in “Field Report on Raven, Shadow UAVs From the 101st.”

Deconfliction issues have also prevented civil UAV markets from reaching anything close to their full potential for border patrol, land surveying, etc. The task is not impossible – for instance, the Hermes 450, which is the basis of Britain’s Watchkeeper Mk450 system, is now civil certified in Israel. Which is why a May 2007 EUR 500,000 (then about $672,000) European Defence Agency initiative could be significant… and now, a EUR 50 million MIDCAS contract involving an array of European firms has been signed at the 2009 Paris Air Show.

• The EDA’s Goals
• Air for All
• Contracts and Events [updated]
  
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Bell 412EP
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Bell’s 412 series helicopters represent the latest evolution of its famed “Huey” design. These twin-engine utility helicopters are easily identifiable by their 4-bladed composite rotors, and serve with a wide array of military, government, and civilian operators around the world. Over 700 have been produced.

Bell 412EP (“enhanced performance”) helicopters are being sold to the Mexican Air Force (FAM). Mexico will use them to fight drug traffickers, gangs, and other criminal activities in its ongoing “Cartel War,” which has already claimed thousands of lives. The helicopters can also provide support to Mexico’s civilian population during natural disasters. Events related to this purchase, and background resources regarding Mexico’s situation, include…

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Spanish CN-235-300MPA
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Mexico’s military needs have escalated, as the country faces what counter-terrorist analyst John Robb has called a growing “open source insurgency” of narco-traffickers and some leftist groups. The violence associated with “The Cartel War” has reportedly claimed between 6,000 – 8,000 lives over the last 2 years.

Mexican governments are signing contracts on a number of fronts, from full city-wide surveillance and monitoring systems, to UAVs and aerostats, to medium helicopters. More equipment is on the way, via Mexico’s own purchases and the USA’s Merida Initiative.

One of its most important acquisition programs has just received official notification: EADS-CASA’s popular CN-235MPA maritime patrol aircraft, which currently serves with Spain, Ireland, Turkey, and the US Coast Guard. Indonesia’s Digiranta has built them for Indonesia, Brunei and the UAE, and recently added South Korea’s Coast Guard as a customer.

A May 1/08 Economist article may help to explain the importance of these aircraft in Mexico’s current Cartel War:

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Thales graphic
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Thales recently announced a 3-year, $460 million contract from Mexico City to install pervasive surveillance and monitoring systems, coupled to centralized control and rapid response. The system will process information from 8,080 video cameras and sensors located within the city, and transmits alarms to the appropriate command center operators when any unusual events or behavior are detected. It will also have the ability to track vehicles, by reading license plates. Police will be able to deploy specially equipped mobile command centers that maintain contact with the central command center.

Countries like Britain have deployed similar systems over the years, despite the obvious civil liberties and privacy concerns inherent in their construction and use. Mexico’s own needs have escalated, as the country faces what counter-terrorist analyst John Robb has called a growing “open source insurgency” of narco-traffickers and some leftist groups. The violence associated with “The Cartel War” has reportedly claimed between 6,000 – 8,000 lives over the last 2 years…

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CGC Sanibel
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DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. On Sept 16/05, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Lockheed Martin/ Northrop Grumman joint venture Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) completed the preliminary design review for the 58 Fast Response Cutters (FRC). “The FRC is being designed to provide the Coast Guard with a state-of-the-art patrol craft that is capable of conducting simultaneous missions,” said ICGS Deepwater’s FRC program manager Mike Duthu.

That success has been followed by delays and failures, on multiple fronts. More than 2 years after the Coast Guard asked ICGS to accelerate the Fast Response Cutter (FRC) program timeline by more than 10 years, in order to hasten replacement of their rapidly deteriorating Island Class patrol vessels, the Coast Guard is still waiting for replacements of any type to arrive. The USCG’s 30-year old patrol boats soldier on, less the 8 “upgraded” Island Class ships whose hull cracking has now made them unfit for service. Another 41 Island Class vessels still ply US and international waters.

The Island Class’ replacement program fared little better. In February 2006, the Coast Guard’s Deepwater system-of-systems Program ‘temporarily’ suspended design work on the FRC-A program due to technical risk. That suspension remains in place, and it soon became clear that Congress was unwilling to fund further FRC design work. FRC-A has effectively been canceled, in favor of an off-the-shelf buy. On March 14/07, the Coast Guard took the next step. ICGS’ lost responsibility for the Deepwater Fast Response Cutter-B off-the-shelf acquisition as well, and the FRC project was reassigned to the Coast Guard’s new Acquisition Directorate.

What happened? What will happen next? DID reviews, from the programs, to the outcomes and controversies, to the fate of the Island Class and FRC programs. The latest news is an initial contract for the Coast Guard’s off-the-shelf FRC-B cutter, which could become a $1.5 billion buy. Naturally, there was a bid protest, but the US GAO denied it…

• Behind the Programs: The Modernization Imperative
• Appendix A: Down on the Islands – The Suspended Modernization
• Appenix B: FRC-A’s Not-So Fast Response: The Catch With Composite Cutters
• March 2007: What Next?
• FRC Plan B: The Sentinel Class [NEW]
• Program Updates & Contracts [updated]
• Additional Readings – Background
• Additional Readings – News, Official Reports & Statements
  
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Ripple effect
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“Sri Lanka: Fulcrums & Lions to Battle Tigers?” discussed the Tamil Tigers’ (LTTE) attacks on Sri Lankan military bases and oil facilities using an unusual weapon for guerrillas and terrorists: aircraft. The implications of those attacks are becoming regional in scope, which should probably be expected given that the LTTE was responsible for assassinating Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. The Indian military’s reaction suggested that they were not taking the Tigers lightly, and approval would eventually follow for a follow-on IAF buy of advanced Israeli surveillance radars mounted on tethered aerostat blimps

India’s purchase involved strategic concerns that reach far beyond the Tamil Tigers. In time, that fact would be driven home by another surprise, this time from the LET terrorists that operate from Pakistan. The additional aerostat systems had yet to arrive from Israel when the 2008 Mumbai Massacres took place, but the gaps it revealed in India’s defenses, and the deployment of the existing systems to protect critical areas in the attack’s aftermath, strongly underlined the systems’ value. So much so, that India’s Navy is now buying them, too…

• Flying Tigers, and Unease in India
• The Aerostat Solution
• Updates and Developments
  
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