Morocco Boosting its Air Defense System

MPQ-64F1 Sentinel

June 24/11: The US DSCA announces [PDF] Morocco’s official request to buy 8 AN/MPQ-64F1 Improved Sentinel radars, 8 M1152 HMMWV Sentinel transports, 8 accompanying AN/VRC-92E SINCGARS Vehicular Dual Long-Range System Radios, plus Sentinel Software, HMMWV support equipment, spare and repair parts, personnel training and training equipment, publications and technical data, and U.S. Government and contractor support.

The DSCA says that “The Government of Morocco is modernizing its armed forces and expanding its air defense architecture.” They could certainly use that…

$64.4M for Brigade Garrison in Ghazni, Afghanistan

The Lakeshore TolTest JV, LLC in Detroit, MI recently won a $64.4 million firm-fixed-price contract to design and build a brigade garrison at “Deh Yak Ghazni”, Afghanistan. Work will be performed in Ghazni, Afghanistan, with an estimated completion date of Jan 30/13. It is not immediately clear whether the garrison is for Afghan government use, under the ANSF program, but that is likely. Bids were solicited through the Internet, with 8 bids received by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Afghanistan Engineer District in Kabul, Afghanistan (W5J9JE-11-C-0130)

Deh Yak is a district about 30 km east of Ghazni city in Ghazni Province, which is located in eastern Afghanistan. The province has served as part of the trade route from Kabul to Kandahar for many centuries, and was recently discovered to have incredibly rich lithium deposits. Those discoveries will likely add to Ghazni’s interesting history. It was a thriving Buddhist center before its destruction by Muslim conquerors in 869 AD, and the area’s subsequent historic legacy still shapes it via the number of resident Hazaras among the Pashtun population. The Deh Yak district is majority Pashtun, however, with some ethnic Tajiks.

Rapid Fire: Evening 2011-06-28

• At the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on President Obama’s unilateral decision to engage US forces in Libya, State Department Advisor Harold Koh stated that Congressional approval was not required due to the ‘limited’ nature of military operations. Ranking Member Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) responded that the United States’ roles in Libya are significant as it provides the majority of intelligence and air refueling.

• The Senate Armed Services Committee holds a confirmation hearing for the commander chosen to replace General David Petraeus in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General John Allen.

• The US Army issues a Request for Information (RFI) to support the development of the Medium Range Multi-Purpose (MRMP) Vertical Take Off and Landing UAS acquisition strategy. The RFI also covers the Army and Navy Medium Range Maritime UAS (MRMUAS) Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) program.

• The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) orders 12,500 rugged encrypted tablet personal computers from Software Box Ltd. The £30 million ($48 million) five-year contract also includes maintenance support and forms part of the Joint Asset Management and Engineering Solutions (JAMES) project.

• Speculation mounts that Textron may follow L-3 and become a target for activist investors.

• Northrop Grumman signs a Global Supply Chain (GSC) Deed with the Australian Ministry of Defence. The deed forms part of a program designed to increase the presence of Australia’s defense industry within global supply chains.

• Russia announces the successful test-firing of its Bulava (SS-NX-30) submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM). Prior to today only seven of the fourteen previous test launches of the Bulava were deemed a success.

• Italy takes delivery of its first NH90 NFH naval helicopter, making it the 2nd delivery customer after the Netherlands. But when will the type be fully operational?

• The US DoD announces that recruitment and retention levels for all four active services and five of six reserve components met or exceeded their year-to-end accession goals.

Rapid Fire Morning 2011-06-28: Unmanned Cargo Hauling

• ASDReports’ latest publication says that the value of the Russian defense market in 2010 was $47.1 billion. The Russian Defense Market 2011-2021 also predicts that President Medvedev’s economic liberalization plans will encourage greater investment in the domestic defense sector.

• The Government Accountability Office publishes its report [PDF] on the military buildup on Guam. Despite making savings to program costs, the report raises concerns over the timeline of the project, as well as the Department of Defense’s (DoD) failure to develop cost estimates for air and missile defenses. The failure to develop the Guam Joint Military Master Plan is also a concern, prompting Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) to press the DoD for its finalization.

• Almost 24 hours after Defense Secretary Robert Gates called upon NATO’s European members to pool resources, Germany announces that it is ready to provide military ordnance to the mission in Libya. However, the announcement means that Germany will still not be taking a direct part in operations.

10-Yr., EUR 100M to Alenia for NE-3A AWACS Maintenance

NE-3A AWACS

NATO’s shared NE-3A Sentry AWACS fleet act as flying command posts and radar stations, directing aerial operations and providing an overall picture of activity in the air and on the sea. They are crewed by multinational teams, made up of all 16 (soon 15) participating countries. The 18-plane acquisition was signed in 1978, and remains the largest single joint purchase ever made by the alliance. Today, 17 of the 707-based NE-3As remain in operation, flying out of their main base at NAB Geilenkirchen, Germany, and other locations as needed. Ongoing upgrade programs have worked to keep them relatively current.

Finmeccanica’s Alenia Aeronautica recently announced a 10-year, estimated EUR 100 million contract with the IAMCO joint venture, to supply a range of maintenance and upgrades for NATO’s NE-3A AWACS fleet. Within the contract…

SAIC’s WikiCaulking Research: Do Insider Threats Leave Routine Clues?

Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) in McLean, VA recently won a $9 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for an unusual effort:

“…research in the detection of insider threats based on sensor data from routine activities of members of a group, and possibly social networks.”

Call it the WikiCaulking contract. Work will be performed in McLean, VA; Amherst, MA; Corvallis, OR; Pittsburgh, PA; and Atlanta, GA, with an estimated completion date of May 31/13. Bids were solicited through a broad agency announcement, with 7 bids received by U.S. Army Contracting Command in Durham, NC (W911NF-11-C-0088).

Rapid Fire Evening 2011-06-27: Withdrawal Management

• UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox is confident that the findings of the Defence Reform Unit’s report [PDF] will help tackle the financial and structural problems endemic across the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The Opposition gives its tacit support to the review of senior officer’s posts.

• Outgoing Defense Secretary Robert Gates reiterates concerns made at a speech in Brussels by repeating his call that NATO’s European partners pool their defense funds to bolster declining military power. Last Friday French President Nicolas Sarkozy attributed Gates’ statement to the bitterness of a retiring man (official Elysée statement, in French).

• L-3′s new majority shareholder, Relational Investors, is keen on breaking the company into smaller pieces, a trend which may be replicated across the industry as the downturn in defense spending gathers momentum.

Rapid Fire Morning 2011-06-27: State of Australian Defense

• UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox is due to unveil the findings of the Defence Reform Unit’s Report. It is likely the report will lead to an overhaul in the number of Armed Forces senior officers and a radical shake-up of the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) senior decision making body, the defence board.

• The Pentagon is to send almost $45 million in aid to Burundi and Uganda to help tackle the growing terrorist threat in Somalia. Items being shipped out include four Raven shoulder-launched unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), body armor and surveillance systems.

• Russia is to resume test launches of its Bulava submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM) on June 28. At least four test launches are scheduled for this year.

• Australian think tank the Lowy Institute releases a report examining maritime security issues in the Asia Pacific region. Crisis and confidence: major power and maritime security in Indo-Pacific Asia argues that the changing maritime strategies of the region’s major powers are increasing the prospect of Asia becoming a danger zone for conflict at sea.

• Another Australian think tank says that a combination of scandals and equipment-related problems have left the nation’s defense in a ‘beyond tolerable’ condition.  The Australian Strategic Policy Institute advocates improving civilian influence within the Ministry of Defence and making the services more accountable when problems occur.

• Israel’s Defense Ministry clears its authorities of any wrongdoing after Spanish businessmen attempted to sell to Iran Bell B-112 helicopters previously used by the Israeli Air Force.

• South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration among the government agencies to be targeted by the Ministry of National Defense’s new inspection system. The Ministry’s plans form part of attempts to curb corruption and promote military reform.

• Debate regarding China’s fighter aircraft program continues unabated. A recently-published report [PDF] predicts that China is 5-10 years away from from being able to consistently mass produce turbofan engines for a fifth-generation fighter.

Taiwan Seeking a Better F-CK, With Possible Longer-Term Aspirations

F-CK-1A/B Ching-Kuo
(click to view all 3)

In 2006, the Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC), based in Taichung, celebrated the upgrade of 2 of the ROCAF’s 130 F-CK-1A/B Ching-Kuo Indigenous Defense Fighters, “to improve their combat-capabilities against China.” Details that have emerged since show a set of upgrades that turns the aircraft into fully multi-role fighters, moving them beyond their current limitations as air superiority aircraft and de facto lead-in fighter trainers for the ROCAF’s F-16s and Mirage 2000s.

Upgrades of the ROCAF’s other 128 aircraft were set to follow, even as China continues to deploy advanced SU-30 family and J-10 4+ generation fighters on their side of the Taiwan Straits. The new “F-CK-1C/D Hsiung Ying” (Brave Hawk) would still be a generation behind China’s most advanced machines, and budgets had to be approved to accomplish even that much. That approval was stalled for years, but the project is finally about to start delivering some planes – even as Taiwan’s request to buy 66 F-16C/D fighters remains stalled in Washington…

• F-CK-1: Taiwan’s Indigenous Defense Fighter
  
• Contracts & Key Events
  
• Additional Readings
  

Obama’s Plans for Afghanistan: Reactions Wrap-up

President Barack Obama’s June 22, 2011 address to the nation confirmed that the decision he made in 2009 to send an additional 33,000 troops into Afghanistan was by no means an open-ended commitment. Starting in July, the United States will begin removing 10,000 troops from Afghanistan, with a further commitment to bring home the additional 23,000 troops by next summer. Reflecting that the United States’ mission in Afghanistan will change from combat to support, troop withdrawals will progress at a steady place until 2014. It is anticipated that by this time Afghanistan will be responsible for its own security.