Can’t do that anymore
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BAE Systems received a contract worth up to $20 million to support the US Air Force global monitoring for nuclear treaty compliance. The company will provide engineering, research, and program management services for the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC) at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida.

AFTAC operates and maintains a global network of nuclear explosion detection sensors called the US Atomic Energy Detection System (USAEDS). Once the USAEDS senses a disturbance underground, underwater, in the atmosphere or in space, the event is analyzed for nuclear identification and findings are reported to national command authorities through USAF headquarters.

AFTAC monitors compliance with the following nuclear testing treaties:

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SSK Dolphin Class
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In November 2005, reports surfaced that that Germany would sell Israel 2 AIP-equipped SSK Dolphin Class submarines. In 2006, the deal was finalized at a total of $1.27 billion, with the German government picking up 1/3 of the cost. The new boats were built at the Howaldtswerke-Deutche Werft AG (HDW) shipyard, in the Baltic Sea coastal city of Kiel.

Now, reports indicate that both submarines have been delivered early…

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From these…

In the aftermath of arms control treaties, some of the USA’s nuclear-powered Ohio Class SSBN nuclear missile submarines are being converted to become long range conventional strike and special operations SSGN “Tactical Tridents.” Four ultra-stealthy Ohio-class SSBNs are having their 24 Trident II D-5 nuclear ballistic missiles removed and replaced with up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles. The USA is also adding accommodation for 66-102 special forces troops, special attachments for new Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) or older Seal Delivery Vehicle (SDV) “mini-subs,” and a mission control center. In future, the SSGNs may also carry UUV underwater robotic vehicles and even UAVs for aerial operations.

...to these
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These modifications provide the USA with an impressive and impressively flexible set of conventional firepower, in a survivable and virtually undetectable platform that can remain on station for very long periods.

DID FOCUS articles cover significant programs of record. This updated article covers the origins of this conversion program, the key players, the timeline, the key technologies involved, and comprehensive coverage of the announced contracts under this $1.4 billion refurbishment and conversion program to date. All 4 submarines have now returned to service, and they are beginning to execute key missions…

• The US Navy’s New SSGN Platform
• SSGN Conversions: Timelines & Program Contractors
• SSGN Tactical Trident: Contracts and Key Events
• SSGN Tactical Trident: Ancillary Programs [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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SSN Akula Class
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According to GlobalSecurity.org, India’s ATV (advanced technology vessel) program to build a nuclear-powered submarine began in 1974, and became a serious effort in 1985. The Federation of American Scientists’ December 1996 document “The Indian Strategic Nuclear Submarine Project: An Open Literature Analysis” remains one of the best single open sources on India’s program. Unfortunately, it was compiled over a decade ago and has become rather dated. That project has continued, and this DID Spotlight article continues to collect open source information on the ATV program.

More and more sources were claiming that a rented Russian Akula class boat would be operational as a training vessel by 2009. But a deadly accident during K-152 Nerpa’s sea trials has delayed that project. As renewed sea trials of the Nerpa continue, India has finally launched its indigenous nuclear sub Arihant, to begin sea trials and testing…

• The ATV Program: Background
• The Arihant Class: Destroyer of Enemies? [NEW]
• Events and Reports [updated]
• Additional Readings [updated]
  
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“Il n’y a pas de liberté, il n’y a pas d’égalité, il n’y a pas de fraternité sans securité.”
—French President Nicolas Sarkozy

In June 2007, “France’s Sarkozy Softening on Defense After Electoral Stumble” covered debate around France’s future armed forces, and apparent backtracks in his campaign position regarding future defense spending. In July 2007, President Sarkozy put together a group that was tasked it with creating a White Paper to define France’s future defense policy. The last time an exercise of this type had been conducted was in 1994.

That group eventually returned with its report, and on June 17/08, President Sarkozy made a speech outlining the key elements of that future direction. The decisions made will change the shape of French defense spending, and will launch an attempt to implement an interlocking set of procurement, infrastructure, and political reforms and changes.

This DID article offers some details from that plan, explains the implications for NATO and the EU, and follows ongoing developments, which include recent cabinet approval of a 6-year spending plan…

• France’s 5 Foci
• Military Programs and Decisions
• Other Elements of Interest
• France, NATO, and the EU
• Updates and Key Events [NEW]
• Additional Readings
  
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Nuclear airbust

L-3 Services, Inc. in San Leandro, CA received a $7.4 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the design, development, integration and production of a form, fit and function, environmentally sealed, state-of-the-art Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Pulser and its associated control system. Work will be performed in San Leandro, CA, and is expected to be complete in August 2010. Contract funds in the amount of $1.25 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under an electronic request for proposals, with 2 offers received by the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Patuxent River, MD (N00421-08-C-0070).

EMP is a side-effect of intense radiation bursts, usually from a nuclear weapon. Its effect is to fry most semiconductor-based electronics within its effective range, which is to say most electronics these days. This gives EMP a potential offensive use via strategically placed nuclear airbursts. Rep Roscoe Bartlett [R-MD] has led the charge on this issue in Congress, working to establish an EMP Commission that has reported on the USA’s general vulnerability to such attacks.

The military’s interest in this issue is narrower and more specific. Military systems are checked for their ability to survive specific EMP levels – but to do that, one needs to generate an EMP. Since the exact fate of any one device depends on its resistance, the power of the original pulse, and its distance from the source, testing EMPs from devices like L-3’s pulser can be much smaller – and much closer – than the real thing.

How do you train militaries and public agencies for the challenges and scale of nuclear, chemical, or biological (NBC) attacks or outbreaks, without creating unacceptable levels of disruption in society’s daily workings during the exercise? The US military has similar scope and space problems for other military exercises. Its solution is a combination of live training, virtual simulators et. al., and “constructive” environments. That last piece of the puzzle integrates the live and virtual efforts in an imaginary world, and provides status reports to commanders.

Right now, the “live virtual constructive” training environment for NBC operations appears to be falling short of its goals. To fix this, Cubic Applications, Inc. in Lacey, WA received a not-to-exceed $16.3 million cost-plus-fix-fee contract. They will provide investigative research and analysis, explore emerging technologies, and develop proof-of-concept/ prototype solutions to the shortfalls in realistic Nuclear, Chemical and Biological training. The goal is to create “a single, more realistic operational and training environment for the Live Virtual Constructive.”

Work will be performed in Shalimar, FL and is expected to be complete in May 2011. Contract funds in the amount of $2 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via a Broad Agency Announcement, with 1 offer received by The Naval Air Warfare Center, Training Systems Division in Orlando, FL (N61339-08-C-0024).

Science Applications International Corporation recently announced an indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, joint services contract from the U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN)—Installation Protection Program (IPP). The program was initiated in December 2003, and is managed by the Joint Project Manager Guardian (JPMG) for the Joint Program Executive Office (JPEO) for Chemical and Biological Defense, and the goal is to ensure that American military installations can continue operating after being hit with CBRN weapons.

The concept is nothing new. After all, that very motivation is what spurred the creation of the ARPANet – now the Internet. In Europe, NATO’s reliance on nuclear deterrence rather than conventional military parity made military operations in a nuclear environment a certain planning scenario. Meanwhile, Soviet doctrine emphasized heavy front line and second echelon use of chemical weapons in a major war’s opening offensive phases, forcing corresponding bio-chemical preparations. Biological weapon defenses were considered a secondary aspect, but that conceit was shaken after advanced, treaty-breaking Soviet biological weapons programs came to light through the post-Soviet revelations of scientists like Dr. Ken Alibek.

The need for JPMG’s IPP is nothing new, therefore. What has changed is the depth profile of the threat. A Soviet strike on the Pentagon would almost certainly have triggered global thermonuclear war, in a way that chemical or even nuclear strikes across and behind the front lines in West Germany and the Netherlands likely would not. On the other hand, it’s quite possible to launch a strike against the Pentagon in the modern era, using supported organizations that confer deniability. With the notion of restrictions on targets or means destroyed by 9/11’s example, modern planners are faced with a growing threat in the new era that extends to a much wider range of military installations.

SAIC worked with JPMG on the original contract, and the new contract has a one year base period of performance plus 4 one-year options, with a contract ceiling value of $500 million if all options are exercised. SAIC will provide program management and execution of all phases of the IPP’s design, purchases, integration and fielding. They will then support the system’s architecture, training and exercises, and logistics, while providing technical expertise, equipment, and services to meet current program requirements. Work will be performed primarily in Abingdon, MD.

Sunset at NB Kitsap
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Naval Base Kitsap is one of the homes for the USA’s fleet of Trident nuclear missile submarines; the Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific stores both propellant and nuclear warheads. One report claims that this location has the highest concentration of nuclear warheads in the USA with more than 2,300 warheads, about half of which are sailing aboard America’s Pacific fleet of ballistic-missile submarines at any given time.

A set of contracts begun in 2008 aim to make improvements to this facility. They aren’t cheap, but one can argue that they’re worth it…

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LGM-30G Minuteman III
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Northrop Grumman Space and Mission Systems of Clearfield, UT received a contract modification for $176.2 million, exercising the Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Propulsion Replacement Program’s (PRP) final full rate production (year 7) option. NGC tends to sub-contract large portions of this work to ATK Thiokol; the Minuteman III PRP began in 1998 as a Joint Venture between ATK and Pratt & Whitney, but all work content was transitioned to ATK in the 2003-2004 timeframe following a contract restructure. DID has covered related contracts in November 2006 ($222.5 million), March 2006 ($541 million) and January 2006 ($225.2 million). Presumably, the ICBMs’ Environmental Protection Agency certification has been taken care of by now.

The purpose of PRP is to ensure MM Flight Reliability and supportability of the USA’s LGM-30G Minuteman III nuclear ICBMs through 2020 by correcting identified mission threatening degradations, sustaining existing reliability, and supporting Minuteman Life Extension Efforts. America chose to retire its larger, newer, and more capable MX Peacekeeper missiles in 2005, in compliance with arms control treaties it has signed. This contract action will purchase the remaining 56 Minuteman III booster sets, making a total of 601 sets acquired during the PRP. At this time, $51.6 million has been obligated. The 526th ICBM Systems Wing at Hill Air Force Base, UT holds the contract (F42310-98-C-0001). See also Northrop Grumman release.