Fearless: Oman’s New Patrol Boats from Singapore

Fearless-75

ST Kinetics subsidiary Singapore Technologies Marine Ltd. has won a EUR 534.8 million (about USD $700 million) competitive contract from the Ministry of Defence of the Sultanate of Oman, to bolster that country’s inshore and mid-range patrol fleet. The 4 patrol vessels will based on ST Marine’s Fearless 75 Class of 75m ships, which are in turn derived from Singapore’s own fleet of 12 Fearless Class 55m boats. The project will begin immediately, with the first vessel expected to be delivered in Q2 2015 and the final vessel in Q3 2016.

ST Marine’s Fearless boats were once planned to have missile Fast Attack Craft capabilities, but Singapore’s smaller 500t boats ended up limited to an Oto Melara 76mm gun, torpedoes, and a Simbad twin-launcher for very short range Mistral air defense missiles. Oman’s larger vessels will add a landing pad for helicopters or UAVs, and could choose to introduce additional offensive capabilities like anti-ship missiles, which are explicitly specified [PDF] as options in the firm’s marketing materials. Neither party is talking about those choices, yet, or about the replacements for the Israeli equipment used in Singapore’s boats. Even without naval strike missiles, however, the new vessels will add punch to Oman’s presence guarding the tense Strait of Hormuz, the wider Persian Gulf, and/or to the country’s efforts against piracy around its Indian Ocean shores.

Rapid Fire April 10, 2012: Not So Rare Earths

• Concerns about China’s ability to disrupt electronics and defense manufacturing by withholding rare earth materials are blowing over thanks to a ramp up in domestic production. See also this CRS report [PDF].

• The US closed its military bases in the Philippines two decades ago but, like in the case of Vietnam, China is working hard to get America and its former colony to revisit their bilateral relationship. The Hill on the USMC’s presence | Latest CRS report [PDF].

• The Pentagon intends to fast-track cyberweapon procurement.

Rapid Fire April 9, 2012: Counting Our Blessings

• The US Navy said it would start releasing emergency funds today to start compensating the households whose property was destroyed in an F/A-18 crash on Friday in Virginia Beach. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt: “about as close as you can get to a miracle.” Video at the bottom of this entry.

• A RAF Chinook had to make an emergency landing in Arizona on Saturday but nobody was injured either.

• The San Diego Union-Tribune wrote a glowing profile of Susie Alderson, an engineer now at the US Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) who promoted the production of MRAPs to protect troops from roadside IEDs.

Rapid Fire April 6, 2012: Defense Logistics Agency Guidance

• US Navy Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek, Director of the Defense Logistics Agency since November 2011, published his revised 2012 guidance [PDF] that conveniently highlights where the changes are. Among them, improved support for reset and force drawdown processes in Afghanistan starts with optimized use of the Northern Distribution Network (NDN), a necessity pointed out on DID just two days ago. Airlift through the NDN (dubbed Northern Distribution Nightmare by Foreign Policy – see also this WaPo map which was drawn before options like use of the Ulyanovsk Russian airport were discussed) is way more expensive than using Pakistan’s GLOC (Ground Lines of Communication) and Karachi port. As in, as much as 3 to 5 times more expensive to ship out about 50,000 vehicles.

• As a side note, when USMC Lieutenant General Frank A. Panter, Jr. discussed options at a recent HASC hearing, he never said Indian but rather NDN, contrarily to bad transcripts floated in the Indian press. How would India even make sense if you glance at a map? It beats us too.

• The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission published a report [PDF] on indigenous weapons development in China’s military modernization. They conclude that many analysts have let themselves being misled and blindsided by trends from past decades that no longer apply. “U.S. analysts and policymakers should expect to see continued advancements in the ability of the PRC to produce modern weapons platforms, and an attendant increase in the operational capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army.”

Rapid Fire April 5, 2012: Rationale, Structure, Obligations and Incentives by Contrat Type

• The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) put together a convenient chart [PPT] that compares major contract types – FPAF, CPIF, T&M et. al. – to show what risks they intend to mitigate, when they should be used, their main elements, what they commit the contractor to and where’s the incentive.

• The DAU’s 2012 industry day will take place on May 1st in Fort Belvoir, VA. On the agenda: affordable programs, efficiency, and DoD’s industrial base policy.

• Milnews.ca has a good round-up on Canada’s 2012 budget cuts.

Rapid Fire April 4, 2012: Retrofitting Energy Efficiency

• Pentagon Energy use data from a recent Congressional testimony [PDF] by Sharon Burke, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Plans and Programs:

“For FY13, DoD anticipates spending over $16 billion on energy for military operations, which will provide more than 4 billion gallons of fuel for military operations and exercises. DoD will also invest $1.4 billion on initiatives to improve operational energy security, about 90% of which are aimed at reducing DoD’s demand for operational energy. […] DoD is the single largest consumer of energy in the nation, accounting for approximately 1% of national demand.”

• DoD is not only starting to inject energy considerations into requirements for new platforms via Fully Burdened Cost of Energy analyses, Burke also stated that “in FY12 and FY13, we also will look at how to ensure that improved energy performance will be incorporated into refit and upgrades of legacy platforms and equipment, whether through contracting or other methods. ” This comes in a context of $100+ per barrel of oil vs. a budgeted $88 for FY12. DoD comptroller Robert Hale said last month that every dollar above $88 translates into an extra $31M in spending.

Rapid Fire April 3, 2012: Cutting Order Size Is Self-Inflicted Wound

• Daniel Goure at the Lexington Institute challenges the value of the “should cost” procurement methodology pushed by Undersecretary of Defense Ashton Carter. He calls it “new” but finds it “rather traditional in nature”. Well, “should cost” looks traditional indeed because it is not new. That methodology first came up decades ago as shows this Air University Review article from 1972. The Defense Acquisition University has an analysis of the relevant literature from the 70s and 80s.

• The Heritage Foundation makes a good point on Nunn-McCurdy cost breaches: “The services should do everything possible to avoid the stigma of breach – no easy task today when breaches can be the result of dramatically cutting purchases (driving up per unit cost) as budgets are slashed rather than mismanagement of the program.” [Emphasis ours]. Case in point: the E-2D Hawkeye.

Rapid Fire April 2, 2012: Selected Acquisition Report 2012

• The US Department of Defense released its latest Selected Acquisition Report (SAR – PDF). SARs track cost, schedule and performance changes for 83 Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) amounting to a total of 1.6 trillion dollars in spending. 3 programs were flagged as being in critical breach of Nunn-McCurdy cost increase ceilings: AIM-9X Block I, C-130 AMP and JLENS. Several programs are showing costs decreases because of reductions in production rates.

• The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has its own report on the report. A table of the 10 most costly programs can be found at the bottom of this entry. For reference, historical SAR reports can be found here. DID will follow up with more details at the program level.

• The GAO also reviewed the Pentagon’s airborne electronic attack plans: “current and planned acquisitions will not fully address materiel-related capability gaps identified by DOD – including some that date back 10 years. Acquisition program shortfalls will exacerbate these gaps.”