Indonesia Signs $1B+ Defense Credit Agreement With Russia

Kilo Class

Russian President Vladimir Putin stopped in Indonesia to finalize a $1.2 billion defense agreement and to strengthen economic ties. Indonesia has begun buying Russian equipment, including the recent $335 million purchase of more SU-27/30 Flanker family fighters, but Defence Ministry spokesman Edy Butar Butar told Reuters that no banks had stepped forward yet to finance the deal. The Russian defense package opens a line of credit that will allow Indonesia to buy Russian military equipment during the next 15 years, something they can afford as natural resources have made Russia the world’s second-largest holder of foreign currency reserves after China. A pair of SSK Kilo Class attack submarines, 20 armored vehicles, and 15-22 helicopters are reportedly on the shopping list, as part of larger modernization efforts; meanwhile, President Yudhoyono was blunt about their other reasons for accepting:

“We want to diversify the sources of our equipment. Russia is offering us a generous package, and Russia also does not attach any conditions whatsoever. Russia is all business and does not attach any political conditions and that is the way we like it, and that is why we took up the offer.”

Indonesian Defence Minister (and blogger) Juwono Sudarsono was even blunter:

$248.5M to Protect Bases, Checkpoints in Afghanistan

ZBV remote operation

June 29/11: The U.S. Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground’s Natick Contracting Division in Orlando, FL recently issued a 7-vendor, multiple-award contract for “non-intrusive” systems that can scan the inside of personnel, vehicles, and cargo containers; and Entry Control Point (ECP) systems for protecting bases in war zones. The ECP Hardware Sets will include day/night cameras, command and control stations, environmentally protected work stations, biometric systems, barriers, and protective shelters. Most of these systems will be used in Afghanistan, but some few systems will be bought for for training in the United States.

Up to $248.5 million in equipment will be bought, with the winning vendors competing for task orders. In several cases, the vendors listed below are actually leading teams of sub-contractors. The contract will run until August 31/14. Bids were solicited through the Internet, with 7 bids received. The winners were:

Sustaining the M1 Abrams: US Army Puts a TIGER in its Tanks

M1 Abrams: Let’s Roll

Honeywell International Inc. in Morris Township, NJ won a U.S. Army contract to change the way it supports its AGT-1500 turbine engine, used on the M1 Abrams tank and related platforms. Honeywell had forecast that the overall contract under the US Army’s Total InteGrated Engine Revitalization (TIGER) program could amount to $1.4 billion by the end of its lifetime – and with the program reaching the $1.5 billion milestone, their estimate was proven correct.

What distinguishes Honeywell’s performance-based approach under TIGER from previous contracts? How does the program fit in with overall US Army plans for the M1 Abrams out to 2027? And what are the latest awards made under the TIGER program to the end of FY 2011?

Small Is Beautiful: US Military Explores Use of Microsatellites

TacSat-1 Concept
(click to view larger)

At a time when defense budgets are being cut, the era of the multi-billion dollar military satellite program might be over. Witness the fate of the massive $12 billion TSAT program, which was shut down in 2009. As a much cheaper alternative, governments are exploring the possibility of using microsatellites to perform many of the functions currently performed by expensive large satellite systems: GPS navigation, communication, surveillance, and earth imagery.

At a 10th of the cost of their larger cousins, microsatellites are much easier sell to budget conscious procurement officers. They are much cheaper and faster to build and launch. For key military missions, however, their reliability and longevity are an issue. They might be cheaper, but if the military has to use 10 times as many to do the job of traditional satellites, would that be a cost savings?

This DID Spotlight article will focus on the US military’s microsatellite development and launch programs, as well as the Army’s development of nanosatellites for battlefield communication, and take a brief look at the problem of space debris.

• Microsatellites: Definitions and Technologies
  
• Pentagon’s TacSat Program
  
• TacSat-2 and Beyond [updated]
  
• One MiDSTEP for DARPA
  
• Army’s Nanosatellites: Smaller Is Better
  
• Tracking Space Debris
  
• Future: Faster, Better, Smaller, Cheaper
  
• Key Contacts
  
• Additional Readings
  

Rapid Fire Evening 2011-06-30: Philippines’ Wish List

• General David Petraeus wins unanimous Senate confirmation to replace Leon Panetta as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

• The Chief Executive Officer of the Aerospace Industries Association calls for increased investment in research and development so that the United States does not lose its leadership of aerospace and defense. Speaking at the launch of the ‘Second to None’ [PDF] campaign, Marion C Blakey raised a number of concerns that could affect the aerospace and defense industry. These include the development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), trade regulations and the absence of new fighter aircraft programs.

• Following President Obama’s announcement of the drawdown in Afghanistan, an article emerges speculating that troop withdrawals could be replaced by a surge in private contractors.

• The European Defence Agency (EDA) and 15 European Union (EU) member states demonstrate a Maritime Surveillance network (MARSUR) that could support military operations and homeland security. Aimed at improving the Recognized Maritime Picture (RMP), MARSUR’s open design will allow member states to feed in and exchange data at their own discretion. The primary cost to member states will be the ability to plug into an interface costing $1.3 billion.

• Following announcements that Russia plans to begin production of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Commander of the Russian Navy says the country will finish construction in 2016 of a new class destroyer, which may also be nuclear-powered.

• Former Defense Secretary William Perry adds to the criticisms of China’s aircraft carrier program, by telling Taiwan that the vessel will not threaten the island in the near future. Perry attributed this to the lack of development of an aircraft carrier group.

• Following recent intrigues regarding China’s fifth generation fighter, pictures emerge on the internet of a possible Chinese high-altitude, long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The UAV may be the Xianglong, China’s counterpart to the RQ-4 Global Hawk.

• Despite a senior politician’s recent criticisms, the Philippines’ Foreign Affairs Secretary has nevertheless submitted a  military equipment ‘wish list’ to the United States. The list includes additional maritime assets and a state-of-the-art radar.

Rapid Fire Morning 2011-06-30: Weapons for Libyan Rebels

• In his last interview before stepping down as US Defense Secretary, Robert Gates says that military spending is not the main cause of the United States’ $1.4 trillion budget deficit.

• The Government Accountability Office (GAO) publishes its report Further Actions Needed to Institutionalize Key Business System Modernization Management Controls [PDF]. Among the report’s criticisms are the Department of Defense’s failure to oversee each military department’s full implementation of an enterprise architecture program.

• France confirms that it has provided weapons to Libyan rebels. A spokesman confirmed that assault rifles and ammunition were part of the airdrop, but denied that France had supplied Milan anti-tank missile launchers.

WNAN: DARPA’s Idea for Next-Generation Soldier Networks

Not ideal.

At present, many soldiers don’t have communications radios because the hardware is too expensive. Buying 2-way radios from Radio Shack before deployments solved that problem for some soldiers, but insecure communications created others. On the high end, the US military’s JTRS program is expected to create radios that are much better at working together, and much easier to upgrade. As one might expect, however, the hardware appears to be on track to be more expensive, in return for that improved performance.

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Wireless Network after Next (WNaN) program aims to shift the approach used to design these military wireless networks. It also intends to use inexpensive, high-volume, commercial off the shelf hardware components. They would be combined with adaptive wireless network software operating over densely-deployed, low-cost wireless nodes, with the aim of putting a reliable communications radio into the hands of every soldier. How could that work?

Rapid Fire Evening 2011-06-29: Safety in the Indian Ocean

• The Dutch Defense Minister, Hans Hillen, replicates outgoing US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and uses a Security and Defence Agenda event to call for a greater pooling of resources among NATO’s European partners.

• President Barack Obama tells a press conference that questions over whether he should have sought congressional approval for operations in Libya are ‘noise about process’. The President is also confident that he has fulfilled his commitment not deploy troops on the ground and that the United States has been supportive of operations led by other NATO members.

• The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, tells the launch of the Fund for Peace’s 2011 Failed States Index that the United States can still provide aid to failed states, providing that Washington strikes the correct fiscal balance.

Rapid Fire Morning 2011-06-29: Australian Equipment Disposal

• The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passes a measure that authorizes President Obama to conduct a ‘limited’ military engagement in Libya. Note that the committee can’t actually authorize any such thing, but it can set up a full Senate vote.

• In an interview for a BBC program to be broadcast this evening, General Dan McNeil says that it was only in 2010 that the British operation in Helmand, Afghanistan, was given the troops and equipment needed to be effective. Until that point, US commanders effectively bailed out the British by deploying more forces in Helmand.

• The RAND Corporation releases Afghanistan in Early 2011 Relative to the Insurgencies of the Past 30 Years [PDF]. The report uses a scorecard approach to predict that the US campaign in Afghanistan could end in defeat due to a lack of historical factors deemed necessary for counterinsurgency success.

UH-60M VIP Helicopters for the UAE

US UH-60M carries
Iraqi PM, 2007

June 24/11: The US DSCA announces [PDF] the United Arab Emirates’ formal request for 5 UH-60M Black Hawk VIP helicopters. The move will bring the UAE’s UH-60M fleet to 45 helicopters, which breaks down as at least 17 standard transports, up to 23 modified and armed AH-60M Battlehawks, and 5 VIP helicopters. It will also keep pace with Jordan’s monarchy, which recently bought a pair of UH-60M VIP machines. With nearby Bahrain as a UH-60M customer, and Saudi Arbia submitting a major buy request for the type, the UH-60M is quickly becoming the Gulf Cooperation Council’s referenceable standard.

The estimated cost is $217 million, but actual costs will depend on negotiated contracts. The complete request involves…