Rapid Fire May 25, 2012: Oversight in Afghanistan

• India’s new aircraft carrier will have its sea trials delayed. The problem isn’t the contractor this time – it’s the weather in northern Russia.

• US base closures: if not this year, maybe the next?

• The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) think tank proposes their recipe for “sustainable pre-eminence.” You’ve heard it before: more Asia/Pacific, more Air/Naval, more joint interdependencies. They are sticking their neck out on capabilities: cut 1 CVN, stop LCS in FY17 at 27 ships vs. a planned 55, get less F-35Cs for the Navy and more F/A-18s instead.

Saudis Sign Multi-Billion Trainer Aircraft Deal With BAE

Pilatus PC-21

In May 2012, Saudi Arabia signed a long-rumored agreement with BAE for training aircraft that can take RSAF pilots all the way from basic training to lead-in fighter training, along with their accompanying classroom training and simulators. The Saudi purchase takes place within the existing Saudi-British Al-Yamamah/ Project Salam Defence Co-operation Programme, which also provided the RSAF with its high-end fleet of Eurofighter fleet, and its Tornado strike aircraft.

This GBP 1.6 billion/ $2.5 billion contract will provide familiar plane types, that continue previous RSAF relationships.

New-Old Hercules Planes for Bangladesh

BAF C-130B

The Bangladesh Air Force currently flies 4 ancient C-130B Hercules medium transports, bought second-hand from the USAF. A May 2012 DSCA request [PDF] would replace them with 4 merely old C-130E Hercules medium transports, bought second-hand from the USAF. The 4 Lockheed Martin C-130Es would be provided for free as Excess Defense Articles (EDA), along with 20 T56AA Rolls-Royce engines. If a contract is signed, Bangladesh gets these items, but would pay up to $180 million for an overhaul to full flight condition and many safe airframe hours, plus modifications and in-service support. it would also include delivery to Bangladesh, repair and return, spare and repair parts, support equipment, tools and test equipment, technical data and publications, training, and other forms of US government and contractor support. That contractor will be determined by competitive bids, since there are a number of companies offering “like-new” C-130 refurbishment services.

Rapid Fire May 24, 2012: US DoD Foreign Transactions

The US DoD published two FY11 reports on purchases from foreign entities and to foreign countries [PDFs]. DoD procurement actions from foreign entities amounted to $24B or 6.4% of the total. 67% of that comes from fuel, services, construction, or food. 18% or about $4.3B were spent on imported equipment.

Meanwhile US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) of $2M+ amounted to a total of $14.2B: $10.5B through the Army, $2.6B via the Air Force, $1B handled by the Navy and $102M via the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). One may conclude that the US exported $10B more in military equipment than it imported, but that would be a hasty conclusion. Substantial FMS transactions to countries like Afghanistan, Egypt or Israel are subsidized with American military aid funds.

Government Contract Costs, Pricing & Accounting Report has a scathing article [PDF] on the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA)…

Rapid Fire May 23, 2012: Missiles for Korea

Chinook at Night

South Korea intends to spend more than 2 billion dollars over the next 5 years on missiles according to Yonhap. The Chosunilbo reports that this sum will translate into 500+ Hyunmu-2 and Hyunmu-3 missiles. They’re also adding to their minesweeping capabilities.

Rapid Fire May 22, 2012: Unsafe Parts Supply

Spot the fake

The US Senate published a report [PDF] on counterfeit electronics that follows up on a hearing from November last year. Besides blaming China, the report concludes that:

$83M to Keep Avengers in Theaters

Tony Stark approves

In May 2012, Boeing in Huntsville, AL received an $83 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, for “engineering services in support of the Avenger weapon system.” Work will be performed in Huntsville, AL until March 31/15. One bid was solicited, with 1 bid received by US Army Contracting Command in Redstone Arsenal, AL (W31P4Q-12-C-0117).

Boeing informs DID that deliveries from their new-build production line ended in 2009, but existing systems still need support. The firm has continued to invest in the Avenger turret, however, privately developing and testing an Avenger Adaptive Force Protection System variant that can mix and match its weapons. Instead of being restricted to a .50 caliber machine gun and twin 4-packs of FIM-92 Stinger missiles, AFPS uses a 25mm cannon in the center, while its 2 stations can each mount a variety of packages: a Stinger 4-pack, twin AIM-9X Sidewinder anti-aircraft missiles, an AGM-114 Hellfire ant-tank missile, a laser-guided 70mm rocket pod, or even a high-power laser module. Recent DSCA requests for the Avenger system have included Chile (2009), Oman (2011) and the UAE (2008), and the April 2012 US SIGIR report [PDF] indicates that Iraq intends to file a formal request soon.

India Opens Major Western Naval Base Near Karwar

Karwar, India: The Site

Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee opened the first phase of India’s giant western naval base INS Kadamba in Karwar, Karnataka state, on May 31/05, saying it would protect the country’s Arabian Sea maritime routes. Kadamba has become India’s 3rd operational naval base, after Mumbai and Visakhapatnam. It is valuable for its location, and also for its ability to transcend the fundamental capacity and security limitations of India’s other 2 naval bases.

INS Kadamba is being built near Karwar in the southern state of Karnataka. That Phase I construction was just part of India’s ambitious “Project Seabird,” a potential INR 50+ billion project that will include the naval base, and much more besides. India finished a scaled-back Phase I a full decade after the originally-envisaged 1995 completion date. As might be expected, Phase II is now likely to be approved at last, long after it was supposed to have been finished:

• INS Kadamba, at Karwar [updated]
  
• Rationale & Role
  
• INS Kadamba: Expansion
  
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
  
• Additional Readings
  

Rapid Fire May 21, 2012: NATO Summit No Peak

• NATO and Pakistan have not found an agreement on reopening transport routes out of Afghanistan. The fact Pakistan tried to increase the price per truck by a factor of 20 might have something to do with it. If allied combat troops are to withdraw by mid-2013 and don’t want to leave most of their equipment behind or ship it back at an outrageous cost, this will need to be resolved.

• Five years after Estonia’s cyber attacks: any lessons learned for NATO? [PDF]

• The Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) gathered a lot of force composition data [PDF] in the Gulf.

Noted & Quoted: RIA Novosti on India’s Arms Market

From RIA Novosti’s op-ed feature “India’s Arms Market: Everyone In, Nobody Out” :

“The Indian arms market is an extraordinary place even by the standards of the markets of the Gulf oil monarchies, which buy weapons indiscriminately, provided the batch is big and the price is high. But India, although it also buys many weapons, does so only after serious consideration and for far-reaching reasons. This is why arms talks with India are like a complex dance with a large number of partners, not unlike a Bollywood movie…

Unlike Chinese reverse-engineering efforts, India honors [intellectual property]… However, India also burdens arms acquisition contracts with so many requirements for localized components production, technology transfer and reinvestment of revenues in the Indian economy that any other client with such exacting tastes would have long been shown the door… But the Indian market is so large and attractive that global arms corporations are fighting for a place on it.”