Rapid Fire 2011-07-25: Digital Army Program (DAP)

• Airborne Mobility Command point to the increase in airdrops over Afghanistan over the past five years as evidence of the growing importance of  Joint Precision Aerial Delivery Systems (JPADS) to operations.

• The French Government’s agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Dassault for the production and purchase of Heron TP long range UAVs is expected to cost $500 million.

• Elbit announces that the Israeli Ministry of Defence has awarded the company with a $40 million follow-on order for the Digital Army Program (DAP) [PDF].  The announcement comes as the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announces that it has embarked upon the follow-up phase of the DAP.

• A leaked memo written by the UK’s Chief of the General Staff appears to contradict assurances made by the Government that no more troops will be made redundant before the end of the Afghan campaign in 2015. The news comes after the United Kingdom National Defence Association (UKNDA) branded recent memo leaks as examples of deliberate disinformation from within the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

• Ahead of next month’s Operation Nanook 2011, Canada’s annual arctic military exercises, Defence Minister Peter MacKay reveals that the number of Canadian Rangers has increased since 2007.

• The US Navy deployment to Libya, counter-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia and budget issues make a similar response to the growing problem of West African piracy problematic.

• Taiwan reveals that a People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Su-27 fighter crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait in late June. The Su-27 was in pursuit of a US U-2 reconnaissance plane. Taiwan responded by scrambling two F-16s to the area.

• Meanwhile China and South Korea will hold an inaugural defense dialogue in Seoul this week. News that Pyongyang tested its intercontinental ballistic missile prior to the attack on Yongpyeong Island may force North Korea onto the agenda.

• Reportlinker adds iCD Research’s Global Aerospace Industry Outlook Survey 2011-2012: Industry Dynamics, Market Trends and Opportunities, Buyer Spend and Procurement Strategies to its list of publications.

Rapid Fire 2011-07-22: 2010 Army Acquisition Review

• The release of the Final Report of the 2010 Army Acquisition Review [PDF] reveals that since 1995 the US Army has spent $32 billion on testing and evaluation of weapons programs that were eventually canceled. Among the largest programs was Boeing’s Future Combat Systems.

• Russian police have launched a criminal investigation into the financial affairs of the management of the Severnaya Verf shipyard, St Petersburg. The investigation adds to concerns about the shipyard, after it announced that the launch of the first Admiral Gorshkov class frigate would be delayed until 2012.

• Australia’s Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith lays out progress and perils to date re: Australian acquisition reform, projects of concern, the 2030 defence capability plan, and more.

• EADS’ Cassidian signs a cooperation agreement with Ilex, a specialist Identity and Access Management (IAM) publisher. Cooperation is expected to to result in greater synergy between Cassidian’s Public Key Infrastructure system and Ilex’s access control platform.

• Bids have been submitted for two packages of work worth $33 billion in support of Canada’s National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS). However, officials have yet to decide whether to allow the new owners of Davie Yards to compete.

• Pictures of L-3 Communications’ Spydr modifications of a Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350ER show the replacement of the nose section with a new structure capable of carrying the company’s Wescam MX-15 camera.

• A declassified report obtained by the National Security Archive reveals that China’s electromagnetic pulse weapons (EMP) programs are more advanced than once thought. The report also indicates that China has developed tactics utilizing EMP weapons in the event of US deployments in any future conflict with Taiwan.

• The appointment of a maritime expert as Turkey’s new Defense Minister may see the profile of the indigenous shipbuilding sector on the rise.

• Pakistan’s Navy inducts its first squadron of indigenous Uqab-II UAVs at PNS Mehran, in Karachi. That’s just a day after a Pakistani Navy drone hit a bird and crashed near an oil refinery in a suburb of Karachi.

Rapid Fire: 2011-07-21 | CIRCM

• The Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Buck Mckeon (R-CA), says that the $866 billion spending-reduction proposal formulated by the ‘Gang of Six’ would not allow the United States to provide ‘safety and security’.

• Despite UK Defence Secretary Liam Fox’s recent announcement of plans to reduce troop levels from 101,000 to 82,000 by 2020, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is struggling to attract voluntary redundancies, particularly from the Royal Navy and Air Force.

• Bidders for the US Army’s Common Infrared Countermeasure (CIRCM) program raise their game by declaring that the products on offer can be adapted for broader applications.

• Boeing holds an industry forum in Brazil to outline opportunities available as part of the company’s F/A-18 Super Hornet offering for the F-X2 competition.

• Russia has ordered two Sukhoi Su-30SM multirole fighters. The new version of the Su-30 is a modification of the Su-30MKI developed for the Indian Air Force. The Russian Air Force is looking to purchase an additional 30 aircraft.

• Meanwhile, Russia’s Chief of the General Staff, General Nikolai Makarov, says the country will move towards ‘virtual battlefield’ military training by 2013. The move is likely to be welcomed by Transas New Technologies, a Russian company that has already impressed Makarov with its battlefield simulation technology.

• India announces the successful test flight of its Prahaar short range tactical missile. The launch was conducted from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Orissa with the missile hitting a pre-designated target in the Bay of Bengal.

USA Moves to Improve Arms Export Regulation Process

Canada’s $3 billion frigate modernization program, which specifically aimed to exclude American technologies from key areas, was just one example of a growing problem for American defense firms. Major players in the defense industry have been pushing for years to change US ITAR export controls. Unfortunately, the USA’s use of export controls for protectionist and political purposes has had a predictable effect, and made American defense components toxic to some potential export customers. Even as cumbersome rules, and a slow American bureaucracy, add additional layers of export control across more than 3 different agencies. The end product is significant friction for important international deals, impediments to partnerships with friends and allies, and erosion of global market share for American defense products.

On April 20/10, American Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, backed by several other departments, crystallized a reform push that has been underway for years. The proposed “4 singles” approach would make significant changes to American technology export controls. Nor is that the only initiative underway:

• Export Controls’ Persistent Problems
  
• The January 2008 Presidential Directives
  
• The April 2010 “4 Singles” Reforms
  
• Recent Updates and Additional Developments (2009-) [updated]
  
• Additional Readings
  

Rapid Fire 2011-07-20: China’s Defense Industry

• The Government Accountability Office (GAO) publishes Pakistan Assistance: Relatively Little of the $3 Billion in Requested Assistance is Subject to State’s Certification of Pakistan’s Progress on Nonproliferation and Counterterrorism Issues [PDF].

• The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, Gregory Schulte, tells a defense writers group that the United States is seeking dialogue with China concerning the ‘rules of the road’ in outer space.

• The UK Government unveils its Building Stability Overseas Strategy [PDF]. The strategy is an inter-departmental initiative encompassing the Ministry of Defence (MoD), Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Department for International Development (DFID).

Rapid Fire: 2011-07-19

• The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) publishes its analysis of the 2012 defense budget [PDF]. The report suggests that while defense expenditure increased by $300 billion between FY2001 and FY2011, almost half of the spending was unrelated to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

• UK Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox MP announces that the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) equipment budget will be increased by £3 billion ($4.8 billion) after 2015. The funding will allow the MoD to order equipment including 14 Chinook helicopters as well as converting the first Queen Elizabeth Class carrier to include catapult and arrestor gear.

• Meanwhile the UK Government’s Defence and Security Organisation (DSO) reveals that British defense exports for 2010 totalled £8 billion ($12.9 billion). Despite a decline in defense sales, the DSO further revealed that the UK’s share of the export market had increased by 4% throughout the same time period.

• Taiwan publishes its biennial national defense report. Despite outlining that China’s defense budget is 21 times higher and its military force levels are 10 times higher than Taiwan, the report says the island will not enter into an arms race with its neighbor. Instead Taiwan will focus upon putting its ‘limited defense resources to its utmost effective use’.

• The next Lockheed Martin Freedom Class Littoral Combat Ship will be named USS Little Rock.

• The Indian Air Force is set to ignore requests from rival bidders and maintain its preference for the Pilatus PC-7 turboprop for its training aircraft requirement.

• Codan wins a sole source contract [PDF] to deliver its MRX-I Interoperability Gateway and NGT high power high frequency radios to the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) J6 Directorate.

• Ukraine exported almost $1 billion worth of defense products in 2010. The majority of exports involved African countries, including sales of T-55 and T-72 main battle tanks (MBT) to Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo respectively. However, a former director of the state-run arms exporter, Ukrspetexport, disputes the figures.

US MSC Contracts for Maritime Satellite Broadband

USNS Bridge & USS Nimitz

Far out at sea, no-one can hear your cell phone. That’s why ships of all kinds need satellite communications, in order to stay in touch beyond their immediate task group. The USA’s Military Sealift Command operates government ships, but they’re crewed by civilian mariners. To provide them with the satellite communications they need, the US Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization has awarded Inmarsat subsidiary Stratos Government Services Inc. in Washington DC a maximum $315 million, 8-year indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract.

MSC’s next generation wideband commercial satellite communications infrastructure and service will replace the current MSC Afloat Bandwidth Efficient Satellite Transport (BEST) contract. Inmarsat’s FleetBroadband service delivers simultaneous broadband data and voice, with data rates up to 432 kbps and guaranteed data rates on demand up to 256 kbps, using Inmarsat’s I-4 satellite constellation. The contract is structured as a 4-year base period from July 2011 – July 2015, plus 4 more 1-year option periods that could run the contract to July 2019 (HC1013-11-D-0102).

Rapid Fire 2011-07-18: Spydr ISR Aircraft

• NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen thanks General David Petraeus for his command of coalition troops, and hails the handing over of Bamiyan province to Afghan security forces as the beginning of full transition.

• UK Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox is set to unveil a radical overhaul of the British Army. It is expected that regular troop levels will fall from 101,000 to 82,000 by 2020. Dr Fox is also expected to endorse a review of the UK’s use of its reserve forces for frontline activities.

• L-3 uses the UK’s Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) to unveil its Spydr intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) aircraft. The Spydr is based upon Hawker Beechcraft’s King Air 350-ER with the potential to be equipped with L-3′s processing, exploitation and dissemination systems.

Canada, Australia Contract for Heron UAVs

Heron 1 UAV, Canada

Israel Aerospace Industries’ Heron is a large MALE (Medium Altitude, Long Endurance) UAV in the MQ-1 Predator’s Class. It is primarily used as a surveillance UAV over land and sea, and can be equipped with a number of modular radar, sensor, and even electronic intelligence packages. The 2006 war in Lebanon also demonstrated that they could be armed, if necessary. Herons are known to serve with Israel (Heron 1 and Heron TP), India, Turkey, and in France as the EAGLE/ Harfang variant. They have also been used successfully by US SOUTHCOM as drug interdiction aircraft; a leasing deal with El Salvador is reportedly pending, and Brazil is also showing interest.

Canada has a long-term JUSTAS program that includes UAVs in this class, and the Heron will fill the Phase 1 near-term MALE UAV requirements – but the longer-term procurement choices will not be made until Phase 2. Meanwhile, the Heron UAV have begun serving Canada in Afghanistan, under an August 2008 arrangement. In 2009, Australia added itself as a second customer.

Rapid Fire 2011-07-15: Cuberspace Strategy

• The Department of Defense (DoD) releases [PDF] its strategy for operating in cyberspace. Speaking at its launch, Assistant Defense Secretary William J Lynn III said the strategy rested upon five pillars that aim to harden defenses and reduce incentives for cyber attacks.

• The DoD also announces that a comprehensive review found only 20 out of 249 renewable projects impacted upon US military missions. The findings help clear the way for the future production of more than 10 gigawatts of renewable energy generation capacity.