Northrop Grumman Enters the Sand Dragon with a Bat

Off you go

On August 12, 2011 Northrop Grumman was awarded $26,178,369 on a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification basis for Sand Dragon B Tier II UAVs. The goal is to develop and deploy a counter-IED unmanned aerial system. Northrop Grumman told DID that the product in question is the Bat-12 model within the company’s Bat family of medium altitude UAS’s.

The contracting activity is the Research Laboratory (AFRL) at the Wright-Patterson, OH Air Force Base (FA865011C7147).

Up to $700M to SRCTec for US Army CREW Duke V2 Upgrades

Latest updates[?]: Contracts to date hit $278M; 40,000th delivered.

CREW Duke V2 System

The SRCTec CREW Duke system is a vehicle-mounted electronic jammer designed to prevent the remote detonation of land mines. The CREW Duke V2 is the US Army’s CREW 2.0 system, comparable to the Joint CREW (JCREW) 2.1, according to Lisa Mondello, a SRCTec spokesperson. The Duke V3 Upgrade improves the Duke’s capability to the level of the JCREW 3.2 system, she added.

The CREW Duke system was developed to provide US forces protection against a range of land mine threats. The field-deployable CREW Duke system uses jamming technology, and the design has been engineered to keep weight, size, and power requirements at a minimum. CREW Duke mounts into HMMWVs and other military vehicles.

$9.5M to ARA for Humanitarian De-Mining Research

He’s using a rake…

According to the Landmine Monitor Report, landmines and “explosive remnants of war” contaminate as many as 200,000 square kilometers of land in more than 90 countries around the world. Allied forces deal with that reality every day in Afghanistan, where Soviet-era relics create their own threat, but this is a problem in many other countries, and the civilian technologies used to address the problem have now fallen behind current military practice.

The Pentagon’s Humanitarian De-Mining program is not new, and is pursuing a number of new technologies based on a combination of US military and civilian systems. Applied Research Associates, Inc., Albuquerque, NM recently received a $9.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to “develop and test cost effective intelligent systems that will address present and future humanitarian demining (HO) mine and unexploded ordinance (UXO) clearance needs.”

The systems they develop are intended to support mission planning, detection and clearance of landmines and UXO, and will be executed in 6 primary areas: landmine detection, UXO detection, intelligence systems, minefield management, humanitarian demining special initiatives, and system integration and logistics. Work is to be performed in Albuquerque, NM (89%); Long Beach, MI (4%); Durham, NC (3%); Etna, NH (2%); Gainesville, FL (2%); and Torrensville, South Australia (1%), with an estimated completion date of Oct 28/13. One bid was solicited with one bid received by the CECOM Contracting Center Washington in Fort Belvoir, VA (W909MY-11-C-0002).

US Army To Buy Backscatter Trailers to Monitor Checkpoints in Afghanistan

Backscatter Truck Scan

The US Marine Corps has been using them in Afghanistan for years. And now the US Army wants to get its hands on some. Some what? You may ask. Why backscatter van (BV) military trailers, of course.

BV military trailers use backscatter x-ray technology to peer into vehicles and containers that enter and exist military checkpoints. The technology can detect improvised explosive devices (IEDs), people, and plastic weapons, among other things. The backscatter x-ray technology is similar to the full body scanners now being deployed by the US Transportation Security Administration at US airports.

American Science and Engineering (AS&E) in Billerica, MA supplies the US military with both the backscatter van, which houses the technology in an inconspicuous delivery van, and the BV military trailer designed to traverse rugged terrain…

SRCTec Gets Order for 3,239 ‘Urgently Needed’ Duke V2 IED Jammers

CREW Duke V2 System

SRCTec in Syracuse, NY received a $94.4 million firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of 3,239 urgently required Duke V2 systems.

The SRCTec CREW Duke system is a vehicle-mounted electronic jammer designed to prevent the remote detonation of land mines.

The CREW Duke V2 is the US Army version of the CREW 2.0 system, comparable to the Joint CREW (JCREW) 2…

South Africa’s Mine Sweeper: US Army, USMC Orders VMMD Systems, Parts

Husky w. trailers

$7.2 million USMC order for VMMD spare parts. (March 24/10)

Detecting and defusing IEDs and mines has been a preoccupation of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The South Africa-based RSD, a division of Dorbyl, has developed a vehicle mounted mine detector (VMMD) system that it is supplying to the US Army and US Marine Corps through its US marketing arm Critical Solutions International (CSI).

The VMMD system is a route-clearing system that includes a mine detection vehicle, detonation trailers with a prime mover, and support packages. The VMMD is based on the earlier Interim VMMD system, which consisted of a Meerkat mine-detection vehicle, and a Husky prime mover and detonation trailer system.

Rapid Fire: 2010-02-08

• NATO Ministerial: Gates pledges greater sharing of classified technology with allies; NATO chief calls for more resources to train Afghan army and police, while France agrees to send 80 more trainers.

• European defense ministers call for speedy conclusion to talks on troubled Airbus A400M military airlift program.

• The US Navy UCAS program receives $2 billion QDR push.

• US Army pays $253.3 million to service US Stryker vehicles around the world.

• Australia ready to OK final version of $547 million integrated HF communications system for armed forces.

• US Navy orders $122.5 million in spares and extra engine maintenance for V-22 Osprey.

• Obama administration beefs up missile defense budget. BMD report focuses on regional missile threats.

• Romania to allow US ballistic missile defense inceptor missiles to be deployed, following US cancellation of larger BMD deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic.

• Boeing gets $99.3 million order to supply 13 more AH-64D Block II helicopters to the US Army.

• Which defense firms will benefit from FY 2011 defense budget?

• Northrop Grumman feels Pentagon heat over KC-X aerial refueling tanker RFP.

• Taiwan’s order for Eurocopter EC225s could strain China-European Union relations – but hasn’t, so far.

• Asia-Pacific nations revamp their fighter inventories.

• DARPA has enlightened view on funding for ArcLight, a long-range strike weapon that could be launched using the MK 41 system onboard ships and subs.

• US military sends bomb-sniffing dogs to Iraq.

Landmines in Afghanistan: A Decades Old Danger

US Army explosives expert
defuses Russian landmine

Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. These landmines are not just from the Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighting US and coalition forces. Many are left over from the Soviet occupation of the country from 1979 to 1989.

There are an estimated 100,000 landmines in Afghanistan. They pose a risk not only to US and coalition forces, but civilian Afghanis as well. Several international organizations, such as the UN Mine Action Centre for Afghanistan, have been working to clear the mines for decades. A video by filmaker Oliver Englehart provides a compelling view of a landmine clearing team.

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has been working to clear landmines from Afghanistan since Operation Enduring Freedom began. The USACE uses a combination of US soldiers and contractors to perform the work. The USACE’s Engineering and Support Center in Huntsville, AL, recently awarded a contract worth up to $60 million to EOD Technology (EODT) in Lenoir City, TN, to clear mines and battlefield areas…

OM Group to Acquire Defense Battery Supplier EaglePicher Technologies for $171.9M

OM Group in Cleveland, OH agreed to acquire EaglePicher Technologies, a Joplin, MO-based manufacturer of batteries, battery management systems and energetic devices for the defense, aerospace, and medical industries, from EaglePicher Corp. for $171.9 million.

In fiscal year 2009, EaglePicher recorded revenues of approximately $125 million, of which approximately 60% came from its defense business, approximately 31% from its aerospace business, and the balance from its medical and other businesses…

Bittersweet Symphony: Lockheed & A-V Deliver Anti-IED Devices

Symphony on Iraqi vehicle
(click to view larger)

Vehicle mounted systems are one element of the USA’s Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device (RCIED) Electronic Warfare (JCREW 2) program. Lockheed Martin’s Symphony IED Jammer System is a programmable, vehicle mounted radio-frequency IED jammer with a role that’s similar to other fielded systems including Elisra’s EJAB, as well as ICE and ITT’s Warlock/ JCREW.

Neither Lockheed nor the Army are releasing details concerning the Symphony system, but it is known to come from the Canadian/UK firm Allen-Vanguard, who also acts in this capacity for General Dynamics ATP via their Med-Eng subsidiary. Outside the USA, Allen-Vanguard supplies jamming devices directly to Canada, Australia, and various European militaries. Symphony orders are continuing, and the latest addition is a major new 5-year contract…