Mexico’s T-6C+ Turboprop Planes: SIVA’s 1st Counterpart

T-6C

In January 2012, Hawker Beechcraft sold an initial order of 6 new T-6C+ military trainers to the Mexican Air Force (FAM), with deliveries to begin to “an advanced training base in Mexico’s northern region” in early 2012. This is almost certainly Santa Gertrudis, in Chihuahua. Terms were not disclosed, but Hawker Beechcraft also advertised the T-6C+ plane’s “[carriage of] external stores and delivering practice weapons for training purposes.”

Latin American aviation expert and author Inigo Guevara added some outside background into the sale, and its rationale. The FAM needs to replace its entire 66-plane Pilatus PC-7/9 fleet over the next decade or so. The FAM also needs planes that can respond to the information relayed by their new Integrated Air Surveillance System (SIVA) of aircraft and ground radars, since their fighter fleet is just a handful of aged F-5E/F jets. The T-6C+ planes are Mexico’s 1st step toward solving these problems…

Rapid Fire August 24, 2012: CBO on Sequestration

• The US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a short report [PDF] on the effects of sequestration, though they note that their estimates are not binding, as it’s the Administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that has authority to determine how cuts would be made. Their interpretation:

“The reductions in the caps for defense programs would be proportionately larger than the reductions in the caps for nondefense programs. The defense cap would shrink by $55 billion each year (which translates to a cut of 9.8% for 2014 and smaller percentages for subsequent years).

With the way they reckon automatic enforcement procedures would play out, they see the defense budget bottoming out at $501B in FY2014. The report lacks details though, as it does not spell out whether the Administration’s decision to exclude personnel expenses from the sequester is taken into account.

Indonesia Wants Maverick Missiles for Training

Mavericks got better eyesight as they aged

The US DSCA notified Congress [PDF] on August 21, 2012 of Indonesia’s request for 18 AGM-65K2 Maverick missiles, 36 TGM-65K2 Captive Air Training Missiles, 3 TGM-65D Maintenance Training Missiles, and the necessary services and ancillaries, for an estimated $25M total. If the request turns into an actual contract, the missiles will equip Indonesia’s F-16s. The contractor is Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, AZ.

Australia-USA Defense Trade Agreement Takes Time to Take Effect

John Howard (left)
G.W. Bush (right)

On Sept 5/07, The Australia-United States Treaty on Defense Trade Cooperation was signed by Australian Prime Minister John Howard and US President George W. Bush. The USA and Canada have had a special agreement for several decades, designed to remove many defense export restrictions on US-Canadian industrial cooperation. In June 2007, Britain and the USA also agreed to a treaty framework.

The new agreements with Britain and Australia were not fully defined when signed, however, and full implementation is a long and complicated process. Over 4 years later, it’s still ongoing. This article explains the issues with the current system, the intent of the treaty, and the steps involved on the way to implementing it. The latest step is Australian legislation:

• The Trouble With the Current System
  
• How the New Treaty Is Intended to Work
  
• Steps Toward Final Approval, and Updates [updated]
  
• Additional Readings
  

Rapid Fire August 22, 2012: Helicopters in Asia

• It seems recent outreach efforts from US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and his deputy Ash Carter might be paying off: according to the Times of India a $1.4B order for 22 AH-64D Apache helicopters (and assorted weapons) is about to be signed. However such reports that Boeing had won the competition already surfaced up in October last year, while the initial DSCA request dates from December 2010.

• Separately the Indian Navy has issued an RFP for 56 light naval utility helicopters that may be worth $1B. Induction planned for 2016.

• Russia will deliver 55 Mi-171E transport helicopters to China at an estimated $10M+ each.

Space Based Space Surveillance Makes Headway [SBSS]

SBSS Constellation
(click to view larger)

In January 2001, a commission headed by then US Defense Secretary-designate Donald Rumsfeld warned about a possible “space Pearl Harbor” in which a potential enemy would launch a surprise attack against US-based military space assets, disabling them. These assets include communications satellites and the GPS system, which is crucial for precision attack missiles and a host of military systems.

“The US is more dependent on space than any other nation. Yet the threat to the US and its allies in and from space does not command the attention it merits,” the commission warned.

One of the systems that grew out of the commission’s report was the Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) project, which is developing a constellation of satellites to provide the US military with space situational awareness using visible sensors. After a slow start, SBSS Block 10 reached a significant milestone in August 2012 with its Initial Operational Capability.

Rapid Fire August 21, 2012: UAV Aerial Refueling

• President Obama sticks to presenting a binary choice “between sequester going through or tax cuts continuing for millionaires and billionaires” as if these were the only two possible options.

• Australia passed legislation banning the use of cluster munitions. Australians don’t own such ordnance anyway, but that means that if the US presence grows in Australia, Americans won’t be allowed to stockpile such munitions there. The US is not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, whereas Australia signed it and is moving ahead to ratify it.

• The US Navy will repair USS Miami, the submarine damaged by a fire started by a painter startled by his girlfriend.

Galileo GPS Project Faces More Certain Future

Galileo concept

The USA’s Global Positioning System service remains free, but the European Union is spending billions to create an alternative under their own control. In addition to civilian GPS (the Open Service), services to be offered include a Safety of Life Service (SoL) for civil aviation and search and rescue, a paid Commercial Service with accuracy greater than 1 meter, plus a Public Regulated Service (PRS) for use by security authorities and governments. PRS/SoL aims to offer Open Service quality, with added robustness against jamming and the reliable detection of problems within 10 seconds.

Organizational issues and shortfalls in expected progress pushed the “Galileo” project back from its originally intended operational date of 2007 to 2014/15. After a public-private partnership model failed, the EU gained initial-stage approval for its plan to finance the program with tax dollars instead of the expected private investments. Political issues were overcome in 2007 by raiding other EU accounts for the billions required, but by 2011, it became clear that requests for billions more in public funds were on the way. Meanwhile, doubts persist in several quarters about Galileo’s touted economic model. Security concerns regarding China’s involvement, and its Beidou-2/Compass project overlap, have been equally persistent. On a European political level, however, Galileo is now irreversible.

This article offers background, players, developments, contracts, and in-depth research links for Galileo, as well as linked EU programs like GIOVE and EGNOS.

Rapid Fire August 20, 2012: Federal Contract Cancellations | MRAP JLI

• Procurement data crunched by Bloomberg Government shows a surge of federal contract cancellations with 13,579 contracts worth $2.15B cancelled during the current – and almost finished – fiscal year. Some of these cancellations may be recompeted and are thus really postponed rather than terminated.

• US Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command (LCMC) issued draft RFP W56HZV-12-R-0034 [PDF] for Joint Logistics Integrator (JLI) services for MRAP vehicles. The idea is to pool needs from all US and foreign MRAP users with a 1-year contract (extendable to 3) involving 2.1 million man hours of service to support operational readiness. The formal RFP is planned for mid-October 2012 will proposals due the next month and an award made by the end of May 2013. The document notes an organizational conflict of interest with ManTech, the prime contractor of Contractor Logistics Sustainment and Support (CLSS) as the JLI will have to monitor them.

• The latest Defense AT&L [PDF] features an article that channels Nassim Nicholas Taleb and pushes back against bogus quantitative risk assessment methodologies. Also: how to form an integrated product team (IPT), and an interesting question: why is DoD not making money off commercial use of GPS?

Up to $84M for 5 Years of MK437 Multi Option Fuze Navy (MOFN)

Fuze family

On August 15, 2012 the Office of the Product Director for Joint Products (PDJP) awarded a single Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Firm Fixed Price (FFP) contract to Alliant Techsystems (ATK) to manufacture MK437 Multi Option Fuze for Navy (MOFN). Contract W15QKN12D0089, administered by the Army Contracting Command – New Jersey (ACC-NJ), spans FY12-16 split in five 1-year ordering period for a maximal potential value of $84.1M. MOFN fuzes are used in MK 186 HE-MOF rounds fired by 5″ (127mm) Mk45-mounted guns for anti-surface warfare (ASuW) and land attacks, while airborne threats are handled with the MK419 Multi-Function Fuze.