DJ Elliott is a retired USN Intelligence Specialist (22 years active duty) who has been analyzing and writing on Iraqi Security Forces developments since 2006. His Iraqi Security Forces Order of Battle is an open-source compilation that attempts to map and detail Iraqi units and equipment, as their military branches and internal security forces grow and mature. While “good enough for government use” is not usually uttered as a compliment, US Army TRADOC has maintained permission to use the ISF OOB for their unclassified handouts since 2008.
This compilation is reproduced here with full permission. It offers a set of updates highlighting recent changes in the ISF’s composition and development, followed by the full updated ISF OOBs in PDF form. Reader feedback and tips are encouraged. This month’s developments include:
US Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic in Charleston, SC recently issued cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery /indefinite-quantity, multiple award contracts to 7 universities, who will compete for task orders. Up to $30 million may be requested over the base year and 5 option years, in exchange for “…technical and maintenance services to obtain analytical and technical support services, and research and development efforts from undergraduate and graduate students and faculty… in support of advanced research and development projects on behalf of multiple customers in the South East region to include, but not limited to, SPAWAR Atlantic.”
These educational institutions will compete for the task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. Work will be performed in Charleston, SC (40%), Norfolk, VA (30%), and New Orleans, LA (30%). Work is expected to be complete in September 2011, and could continue until September 2015 if all options are exercised. The multiple award contracts were competitively procured by full and open competition via the SPAWAR e-Commerce Central website, with 8 offers received. The 7 winners were:
Clemson University in Clemson, SC (N65236-10-D-6834)
Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA (N65236-10-D-6835)
Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA (N65236-10-D-6836)
University of New Orleans in New Orleans, LA (N65236-10-D-6837)
University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL (N65236-10-D-6838)
University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC (N65236-10-D-6839)
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State Institution in Blacksburg, VA (N65236-10-D-6840)
US Missile Defense Agency is reportedly eying potential competitive bids worth as much as $37 billion over the next 5 years, as it moves away from sole-source contracts. The GMD system is an early harbinger.
Rockwell Collins gets $140 million USAF contract to develop the Common Range Integrated Instrumentation System (CRIIS) that will provide time, space, and position information for military test ranges
Colombia’s high court strikes down a deal that would have given US troops greater access to Colombian military bases.
Northrop Grumman Corp. in Rolling Meadows, IL recently received a 5-year $457.1 million firm-fixed-price contract for its APR-39A/B/C Radar Signal Detection Set (RSDS) including upgrade kits; and repair, integration, interim software support and field support. Work is to be performed in Rolling Meadows, IL, with an estimated completion date of Dec 31/14. One bid was solicited with one bid received by U.S. Army CECOM at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD (W15P7T-10-D-R802).
APR-39s are used on an array of US Army and Navy helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, and serve to warn pilots when they’re targeted by radar. Platforms with the APR-39 range from C-130 and RC-7s, to attack helicopters like the AH-1 and AH-64, to transport rotaries from the MV-22 and CH-47 to MH-60S and even US Presidential helicopters.
The AN/APR-39Av2 is a basic threat warning system, which acts as a control for a survivability suite that includes a laser warning receiver and an infrared missile warner. The AN/APR-39Bv2 also acts as a full electronic warfare management system, serving as the heart of Northrop Grumman’s Suite of Integrated Sensors and Countermeasures (SISCM). Customers can add onboard sensors as SISCM input, or upgrade existing components. It will automatically detect and identify threat type, bearing and danger levels, then alert the crew to each threat with a graphical symbol in the cockpit multifunction display (MFD) or video display, accompanied by synthetic speech audio threat warnings. It also records what it finds for later analysis, if its aircraft returns. Northrop Grumman release
China Resurgent: DoD’s overdue report to Congress on China’s military capabilities says China is beefing up its ballistic and cruise missiles, naval, and air defense forces. Report [PDF]
Keeping in Touch: Updated CRS report [PDF] details US-China military exchanges since 1993.
179th Airlift Wing in Ohio becomes the first US ANG(Air National Guard) unit to convert to the C-27J Spartan.
Northrop Grumman announces a successful Preliminary Design Review for its US Navy CANES solution.
China expands military exchanges with Serbia and Bolivia.
Conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation warns against drastic cuts in US defense budget.
BRAC base closings can devastate US towns where bases are located. Other locations may open new industrial parks, or take advantage of a sudden airport upgrade.
South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak lays out a 3-step process for reunification of the peninsula. It is not a return to his predecessor’s anti-American “sunshine policy,” and includes a reunification tax to begin preparing for the massive costs of either peaceful reunification, or regime collapse.
Exit, Stage Left: US Defense Secretary Gates plans to retire next year before the presidential election season heats up, after serving in the position since 2006.
Britain’s new defence minister Liam Fox outlines the process and considerations they’ll use when thinking through Britain’s defense spending during the 2010 strategic review.
To Russia, with Sub: Russia’s Zvezdochka shipyard begins an $80 million overhaul of India’s S63 INS Sindhurakshak submarine, an improved Kilo-class diesel-electric submarine that Russia built for India.
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. in Rolling Meadows, IL recently receive an unfinalized contract estimated at $77.7 million for 121 AN/AAQ-24v25 Guardian laser transmitter assemblies for installation on US Navy and USMC CH-53D Sea Stallion, CH-53E Super Stallion, and CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters, including associated technical data. The AAQ-24 Guardian/Nemesis is a next-generation directable laser-based countermeasures system, based on the LAIRCM system for larger aircraft. The idea behind such Directional InfraRed Counter-Measures (DIRCM) systems is to aim appropriately coded laser pulses at an incoming missile’s seeker, decoying it away.
Work will be performed in Rolling Meadows, IL (39%); Edinburgh, Scotland (16.8%); Goleta, CA (10%); Blacksburg, VA (9.4%); Boulder, CO (7.1%); Dallas, TX (5.5%); Lewisburg, TN (2%); Apopka, FL (1.8%); Woodland Hills, CA (1.3%); Tampa, FL (1%); Santa Clara, CA (1%); Melbourne, FL (1%); Wheeling, WVA (1%); and various locations throughout the U.S. (3.1%), and is expected to be completed in August 2012. This contract was not competitively procured by the US Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River MD (N00019-10-C-0080).
India’s comptroller and auditor general criticizes the Defense Ministry’s plans to build an army carbine factory in Amethi, northeast India, for poor site selection, defective planning, and hasty decision making.
Meanwhile, the Indian Navy is proceeding with a $1.5 billion tender to replace its Alouette-III derivative Chetak naval helicopters with 56 light naval utility helicopters. RFPs are expected to go out to existing supplier Kamov (Ka-28/Ka-27), and to Eurocopter, AgustaWestland, Sikorsky, and Bell Helicopter. HAL’s Dhruv could be a wild card.
