Latest updates[?]: South Korea is shopping for 12 new naval helicopters as its Defense Acquisition Program Administration earmarks $768 million for the acquisition. A decision will be made by the end of 2018 with AgustaWestland’s AW-159, the Sikorsky MH-60R, and NHIndustries’ NH-90 are all in the running. Deliveries will take place between 2020-2022 and the choppers will be deployed on next-generation frigates to counter North Korean submarines and surface vessels.
SM-2 salvo
North Korea’s recent aggressive actions, including abrogation of the 1953 ceasefire, nuclear detonation, and testing of short and long-range missiles, has increased international tensions and directly threatened its southern neighbor. South Korea has been modernizing its defenses for some time now, and a recent request for Standard Missile 2 (SM-2) systems from the United States is a case in point.
The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced May 26/09 [PDF] South Korea’s official request to buy 46 SM-2 Block IIIA missiles, 35 SM-2 Block IIIB missiles, 3 SM-2 Block IIIB Telemetry Missiles for testing, 84 SM-2 missile containers, and associated test and support equipment, spare and repair parts, training, and other forms of support. The estimated cost is $170 million, and the prime contractor will be Raytheon in Tucson, AZ. The sale would require temporary travel for U.S. Government or contractor representatives to the Republic of Korea for in-country training, as a recurring requirement during the life of the missile systems.
How does this purchase fit into South Korea’s overall defense plans?
Latest updates[?]: An exercise off the coast of Rio de Janeiro has seen the Brazilian Navy fire an anti-ship missile from its newly acquired S-70B naval helicopters for the first time. Brazil has acquired six of the Seahawk helicopters over the last number of years to replace their older SH-3A/B Sea King fleet. During the exercise, the helicopter fired an AGM-119 Penguin missile causing significant damage to its target, an MM40 Exocet missile which was later sunk.
USN & Brazilian SH-3s at TOPEX 1987
Brazil needs new anti-submarine helicopters to accompany its “AH-11” Super Lynx models, and replace HS-1 Squadron’s aged SH-3A/B Sea Kings. HS-1 bases out of Sao Pedro da Adelia near Rio, and generally serves aboard Brazil’s sole aircraft carrier, NAe Sao Paulo (ex-Foch).
Brazil is standardizing on Eurocopter’s EC725 Cougar as its medium helicopter across all 3 services, but that model doesn’t have a naval/ anti-submarine variant. Brazil could have chosen a comparably-sized naval helicopter like the EH101 Merlin, or the forthcoming NH90 NFH. Instead, they opted for Sikorsky’s smaller S-70B/H-60 Seahawk. It’s in wide service around the globe, and offers commonalities with the Brazilian Army’s fleet of S-70/UH-60L Pave Hawk search and rescue aircraft. Now, the final pieces of Brazil’s contract and support structure are falling into place.
Latest updates[?]: The F-35's GAU-22/A 25mm cannon has been tested on the ground at Edwards Air Force Base, with the General Dynamics-designed weapon having been developed for both internal and external gun systems of the Joint Strike Fighter. The cannon is mounted on an external pod for the F-35B and C variants, with the Air Force's F-35A variant positioning the weapon internally. The four-barrel system allows the fighter to let loose just 180 rounds per reload, allowing for three short passes at best. That last problem featured heavily in criticism of the Air Force for floating the idea - since backtracked - that the F-35A could serve as the main ground forces protection platform. The program has been busy testing other weapons in recent weeks, including the Marines testing live JDAM bombs in early July. The Pentagon has been mulling what to include in future F-35 weapon tranches, with options including the Small Diameter Bomb II and Joint Strike Missile, as well as several others.
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Grim Reapers F-35C
The $400 billion F-35 Joint Strike fighter program may well be the largest single global defense program in history. This major multinational program is intended to produce an “affordably stealthy” multi-role fighter that will have 3 variants: the F-35A conventional version for the US Air Force et. al.; the F-35B Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing for the US Marines, British Royal Navy, et. al.; and the F-35C conventional carrier-launched version for the US Navy.
This article will serve as DID’s central repository explaining and contrasting all 3 F-35 variants, detailing the fighter family’s core technologies and features, and laying out the core industrial framework whose “political engineering” has made the program almost impossible to kill. It will also summarize the core arguments that swirl around the fighter’s future capability, and provide useful background links regarding the program and its key technologies.
India’s Navy will be hard-pressed to keep an adequate submarine force afloat over the medium term. Its 6 “Project 75” Scorpene Class submarines won’t begin deploying before 2019, 2 of its 10 aging Kilo Class boats have been wrecked, and its 4 U209 submarines are quickly approaching the end of their useful lives.
Nevertheless, if submarine strength is to be maintained while waiting for the Scorpenes, it’s the U209s that are going to have to fill the numbers gap…
In July 2006, the Indian government announced that Russia would build 3 “stealth warships” for India under a Rs 5114 crore (INR 51.14 billion, then about $1.1 billion) contract signed in New Delhi. The contract actually covers 3 modified Krivak III/ Talwar Class frigates, as a follow-on to an earlier $900 million purchase in 1997.
The Krivak III/ Talwar Class ships like INS Tabar are not really stealth warships, esp. by comparison to more modern designs like Singapore’s new Formidable Class frigates from France (a Lafayette Class derivative). They’re best described as mid-range multi-role frigates, with some stealth features and a potential emphasis on anti-submarine work. By mid-2013 they had all been commissioned by the Indian Navy.
In mid-May 2013, MBDA signed an MoU with Lockheed Martin that has the potential to shake up the naval missile industry. It sounds innocuous: both companies agree to jointly explore the market for the integration of MBDA naval missile systems into Lockheed Martin’s MK-41 Vertical Launch System, and ExLS VLS/cell insert. They’ll begin with a late 2013 demonstration involving Britain’s new CAMM-M Sea Ceptor missile, but the implications reach far beyond.
Right now, the naval missile market is divided by launcher type, and many of MBDA’s missiles sit in a DCNS banlieue.
Pakistan’s location on the Indian Ocean next to the Persian Gulf, and its rivalry with India, ensure that its maritime patrol and strike capabilities will need to operate across a wide expanse of ocean. Maritime patrol aircraft are critical to that effort, because of the surveillance area that a single plane can cover. Like India, Pakistan relies on a mix. In its case, that mix includes converted Fokker F27 twin-turboprops, a couple of early-model Dassault Atlantiques, and a high-end force of 2 P-3C Orion aircraft, reactivated in 2006. The 4-engine Orions have much better range than Pakistan’s other maritime patrol aircraft, which widens that country’s sphere of naval influence.
Subsequent orders have served to detail the modernization work for Pakistan’s Orion fleet, via a deal for 8 more P-3 aircraft, refurbishment orders, and the accompanying orders for AGM-84 Harpoon missiles that can attack naval or land targets.
In order to defend against a threat, you have to be able to simulate it for realistic training and evaluation. Navy ships are increasingly threatened by supersonic anti-ship missiles, which can leave defenders as little as 45 seconds from the moment they break the horizon to impact with the ship. The USA’s GQM-163 Coyote target was developed to simulate those, but the Russians also sell an interesting hybrid threat. The 3M54E “SS-N-27 Sizzler” variant of the Klub missile uses the usual sub-sonic, sea-skimming approach in order to extend its range, until it gets within 60 km/ 36 miles of its target. Then it boosts to supersonic speed, and performs evasive maneuvers to confuse defenses.
It’s a deadly threat. Which is why the USA has been funding the Multi-Stage Supersonic Target Program since 2008, in order to develop a target that can bring the same kind of sizzle to defensive exercises.
Sometimes, an order request is just an order request. Sometimes, as seen in Singapore, it amounts to more than that. In September 2008, the US DSCA announced India’s official request to buy a package of 24 L-model Harpoon Block II ship-killing missiles, with added GPS guidance and littoral/ land attack capabilities, for up to $170 million.
India’s rival Pakistan is already arming its P-3 Orions with AGM-84Ls, so regional stability wasn’t an issue, but the exact match for India’s missiles remained a mystery for a while. The order seemed to presage a buy of P-8i Sea Control and Surveillance aircraft, and India did indeed end up choosing Boeing’s 737 derivative. In September 2010, however, reports indicated that the deal was really focused on India’s fleet of Jaguar IM strike aircraft. Now, in 2010, comes a request specifically aimed at India’s forthcoming P-8is…
The Emirate of Qatar sits in the middle of the Persian Gulf, a shallow and narrow body of water that lends itself to fast, small, missile armed ships and boats. Qatar’s Navy relies on 7 French and British 400t-500t Fast Attack Craft, and MBDA’s Exocet missile is their anti-ship weapon of choice. MBDA has just announced that the Qatar Emiri Navy’s 4 Vosper Thorneycroft Vita Class FACs will now be equipped with the new Exocet MM40 Block 3 missiles, under a recent batch buy.
The Block 3 replaces rocket fuel with turbojet propulsion, extending the missile’s range; and adds GPS-like targeting. That kind of geographic targeting is especially useful in cluttered near-shore zones, minimizing the odds of false lock-ons before the missile gets close to its target. The first operational firing of the MM40 Block 3 from a naval warship took place in France on March 18/10, from the Horizon Class advanced air defense frigate Chevalier Paul. MBDA release | French DGA re: test [in French].
