Rapid Fire 2011-01-24: Russian Assault Rifles

• Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said that he wants to replace Russia’s iconic Kalashnikov assault rifles and Dragunov SVD sniper rifles, possibly with foreign made weapons. Unsurprisingly, controversy ensues. Media mistake alert: current Kalashnikovs in Russian service are not 7.62mm AK-47/AKMs. They’re 5.45mm AK-74s, which entered service in the 1990s.

• Did the Serbian shoot-down of an F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter in 1999 contribute to Chinese development of its J-20 stealth fighter?

• Israeli firm Aeronautics DS is set to begin manufacturing parts of its Aerostar and Orbiter UAVs, and performing final assembly, in Baku, Azerbaijan. Azeri use of the UAVs will benefit both countries. Since the opening of the Baku-Ceyhan (Turkey) oil pipeline in 2006, Azerbaijan has become one of Israel’s biggest crude oil suppliers. At least, until Israel transitions to a natural gas economy.

Post-Shakedown for SSN-780, As Virginia Class Peels

SSN 780, sea trials

Jan 21/11: General Dynamics Electric Boat Corporation in Groton, CT receives a $44.3 million cost-plus-fixed fee contract modification for the Virginia Class Block II fast attack submarine USS Missouri’s [SSN 780] post shakedown availability. PSAs are used to identify and fix remaining issues that are discovered during the ship’s initial “shakedown cruise” with the crew, after all sea trials are done and the ship has been delivered. Work will include long lead time material procurement as well, and will be performed in Groton, CT (99%), and Quonset Point, RI (1%), and is scheduled to be complete by January 2012. The US Navy Supervisor of Shipbuilding Conversion and Repair in Groton, CT manages the contract.

The nuclear-powered Virginia Class fast attack boats were designed in the Clinton era as a less expensive alternative to the SSN-21 SeaWolf Class, which nonetheless incorporated key technology advances Seawolf had pioneered. Cheaper is a relative term, of course, and the cost of each sub has been in the $2.5 billion range. A series of design improvement efforts have aimed to fix that, and Block III submarines will have a new bow design, in addition to an array of other changes. With production from the 2 shipyards just beginning to shift from 1 sub per year to 2 submarines per year, recent news concerning problematic systems on board, and revelations that the Virginia Class’ sound-absorbing external tiles have been de-laminating at sea could hardly have come at a worse time. Even as the Navy must continue to ready and field the boats it has got. See also SSN 779 interactive tour | NextNavy pictures of coating issues.

UPDATE: The US Navy thinks it has a fix for the peeling anechoic tiles.

MASS for Effect: The UK’s Long-Term Ammo Contract

81mm mortar
(click to view larger)

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 Supply Solution” (MASS) program, inaugurated in August 2008.

• BAE and The MASS Program
  
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
  

Rapid Fire 2011-01-21: Russia’s 2010 Armament Sales

• Boom goes bust: An EADS A330 MRTT tanker plane being developed for the Royal Australian Air Force loses part of its refueling boom during tests with a Portuguese F-16 fighter.

• Russia’s arms sales continue to climb, as the Russian Centre for Analysis of Global Arms Trade pegs them at $10 billion in 2010, good for 2nd place overall.

• Perhaps responding to Chinese pressure, North Korea offers to hold high-level military talks with South Korea, an offer the South couldn’t refuse.

Dutch Sign 10-Year Ammo Agreement with Rheinmetall

PzH 2000NL firing,
Afghanistan

In December 2010, the Dutch Ministerie van Defensie signed a 10-year, EUR 200 million (about $270 million) framework agreement with Rheinmetall Defence that lets the Netherlands order a wide range of different ammunition and pyrotechnic types, from bullets and propellant charges to grenades. The first order was actually placed at the end of 2010, and involved modular propellant charges for the army’s PzH 2000NL self-propelled 155mm howitzers.

This contract replaces several existing agreements. The Dutch Army already relies on Rheinmetall for nearly all its ammunition needs, including practice and service ammunition in multiple calibers. Assured access to supllies at short notice is therefore part of the agreement. So, too, is external storage and management. The end result moves toward more of a “just in time” ammunition supply model. As a bonus, the Dutch MvD no longer has to pay value-added tax on purchases within this contract.

Dutch and German cooperation between their defense procurement groups forms a related facet of this partnership. The Dutch DMO and German BWB will undertake joint development, testing, purchasing and storage for 6 ammunition types: 44 mm and 76 mm grenades, 120 mm tank shells, 155 mm PzH-2000 howitzer ammunition, and Panzerfaust rockets. They will also share test data, and make use of each other’s testing facilities and equipment. As an initial example, a Dutch PzH-2000NL that is already in South Africa for long range and precision ammunition tests, which cannot be performed at any range in Europe, will be used by the Germans for their own tests. All results from both countries’ tests will then be shared. MvD [in Dutch | English] | Rheinmetall Defence.

Rapid Fire 2011-01-20: Saudis Want Tech Transfers

• US long-term economic security requires cuts in defense spending, argues Michael O’Hanlon of the liberal Brookings Institution.

• Saudi Arabia wants to produce 70% of military equipment locally using foreign technology transfer, plans to offer greater investment incentives. That particularly significant in light of their massive purchases in the pipeline – but building that much industry from nothing, within a procurement culture of baksheesh, is a very dubious prospect.

• In the battle against piracy, NATO admits that the Somali pirates are winning.

Rapid Fire 2011-01-19: Inside NORAD

• Crunch time for General Dynamics and Boeing cases. They argue that the government improperly invoked the state secrets privilege, in order to hide information that would help them prove their side of cases surrounding the A-12 naval stealth fighter’s program cancellation liabilities.

• Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system is a “stupid idea” driven by the French military, according to OHB-System CEO Berry Smutny. Sorry, former CEO.

• Lockheed Martin says the Chinese J-20 unveiling has added urgency to F-35 sales discussions with JSF consortium partner Singapore, plus Japan and South Korea – with all 3 countries in active discussions with US officials.

Desert Chameleon APCs for Kuwait

Desert Chameleon

In mid-January 2011, Advanced Defense Vehicle Systems (ADVS) announced an initial delivery of their new 6×6 wheeled armored personnel carrier (APC) design to Kuwait’s Ministry of the Interior. The vehicle’s full size cannon may be unusual for policing forces, but it is not unusual for interior ministry troops around the world to use full-scale military equipment, and similar APC designs are already serving with police forces, including police forces in the USA.

There is no shortage of wheeled APC designs in the global marketplace, but Kuwait chose to develop its own, in conjunction with a new firm.

• ADVS, and the Desert Chameleon
  
• Contracts and Key Events
  
• Additional Readings
  

Maintaining France’s LaFayette Frigates

FS La Fayette

DCNS recently announced a EUR 60 million (about $80 million) contract for through-life support (TLS) services from 2011-2015 to the French Navy’s 5 La Fayette Class frigates: F710 La Fayette, F711 Surcouf, F712 Courbet, F713 Aconit, and F714 Guepratte.

The new TLS contract will come into effect in spring 2011, when the FS Surcouf is laid up for a scheduled refit…

Rapid Fire 2011-01-18: US to Prioritize Older Systems

• “Most Dangerous Week Ever“?

• India’s foreign direct investment cap is crippling the Indian defense industry, argues Sushant Singh of the Takshashila Institution.

• Israel Military Industries Ltd. (IMI) to merge with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd?

• Fall of Tunisia’s government looks set to affect that proposed SH-60F helicopter sale covered in July 2010.

• Meanwhile, a more natural flood could wash away Brazil’s proposed fighter purchase.

• More US defense funds likely to go into repairing, upgrading older systems.

• US needs to shore up its air superiority vis-a-vis China, warns the American Enterprise Institute.

• Is an arms race in East Asia imminent?

• Are American P-3 Orion sea control aircraft hunting narco-smuggler submersibles in the Caribbean?

• The GAO is expected to rule in March on a protest over the US Army’s $88 million contract award to Boeing for development of 4 ISR aircraft based on the Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350, under the Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (EMARSS) program.

• AM General to lay off 300 workers at its Mishawaka, IN, plant that manufactures Humvees.

• Sikorsky Aircraft opens virtual reality center to identify production and maintenance gaps for the USMC’s forthcoming CH-53K heavy lift helicopters, before the initial builds take place.