West, Russia Jaw-Jaw Another Toothless Agreement over Ukraine

• BBC: Ukraine crisis: Deal to ‘de-escalate’ agreed in Geneva.

• USA Today: Obama skeptical over Ukraine deal.

• FT: Russia’s Vladimir Putin still has friends in the west. A fact Russia’s ITAR-TASS news agency is quick to highlight.

• CBS/AP: Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine thumb noses at interim deal.

• Kyiv Post: Security Service of Ukraine ramping up security operations in Kharkiv Oblast, plans to cordon off separatists in Donetsk.

• RIA Novosti: Russian Defense Ministry Placed $140M Order at Crimean Shipyard. Earlier this week the ministry had announced a $470M contract for 16 MiG-29 SMTs.

Taiwan’s Frigate Corruption Investigation: Can they Collect?

Kang Ding w. SH-60
(click to view all)

In 1991, Taiwan’s $2.8 billion buy of 6 Kang Ding Class multi-role stealth frigates from France, purchased the navy’s current high-end surface combatants. These ships are derivative of the Lafayette Class, which has been used as the base platform for several nations’ frigate designs – but they have critical weaknesses due to technologies not transferred to Taiwan.

That’s not the only weakness associated with this purchase. A major bribery scandal involving hundreds of millions of dollars has percolated for several years – and is also associated with a murder. It’s now associated with a demands for around $950 million in fines, most of which is already owed by Thales and the French state under international court rulings. The rest is tied up in a 2nd lawsuit, against DCNS.

SALIS’ Sibling: NATO’s C-17 Pool Inaugurates In-House Heavy Lift

SAC 01: Come to Papa!

The long-range C-17 Globemaster III heavy transport aircraft remains the backbone of US Air Mobility Command inter-theater transport around the world, and its ability to operate from shorter and rougher runways has made it especially useful during the Global War on Terror. Recent buys by Australia, Britain, and Canada have broadened the plane’s its global use. Now NATO, who has relied on the SALIS arrangement and its leased super-giant AN-124s from Russia, is looking to buy and own 3 C-17s as NATO pooled assets with multinational crews. Participating countries will receive allocated flight hours relative to their participation, and thus far they include 12 nations: Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, and the United States.

This order will not materially change the coming shut-down of C-17 production, but it does look like the inauguration of a pool that will fill a gaping hole in Europe’s defense capabilities – its complete lack of heavy airlift. This article covers NATO C-17 acquisition program, including its structure and ongoing announcements.

The program now has an adequate name, as NATO SAC has signed a contract, all 3 aircraft have been delivered, and SAC C-17s have been busy on missions for a couple of years now.

Poland to Extend, Improve Its FFG-7 Frigates

ORP Gen. T. Kosciuszko

The FFG-7 Oliver Hazard Perry Class of frigates successfully achieved the goal of fielding a lower-cost warship to bulk up numbers during the Cold War, and proved their ability to take a punch when the USS Stark survived an Iraqi Exocet missile strike in 1987. The flip side of that success was very little internal room to spare, and a design whose systems have proven prohibitively costly and difficult to upgrade. The USA has been providing these frigates to allies at low to no cost, rather than spend the money required, and has removed the advanced weapons on remaining American ships of class.

Poland was one of the recipients, and their 2 frigates retain the front pop-up launcher for SM-1 anti-air and RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles. These are the Marynarka Wojenna Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej’s largest combat ships. Their equipment standard is adequate in the narrow Baltic Sea, where they are supplemented by Fast Attack Craft hosting more advanced RBS-15 missiles, and by even more advanced NSM missiles mounted in coastal shore batteries. The ex-FFG-7s also serve well enough for wider deployments with allies. Poland is now looking for more service life extension work, as well as upgrades, but those upgrades will stop well short of Australia’s difficult and costly “Adelaide Class” refit.

Putin Doesn’t Rule Out Official Invasion of Eastern Ukraine

• 3 pro-Russian insurgents were killed and 13 were wounded while they attacked a military base in Mariupol, a coastal town in southeastern Ukraine. WSJ | Ukrainian Ministry of Interior [in Ukrainian].

• Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a press conference that he was ready to (officially and reluctantly) send troops to Eastern Ukraine if what he considers as the illegitimate government in Kiev continues its so far fumbling attempts to counter pro-Russian rebels with force. Putin brushes off talks of covert Russian meddling in Ukraine as “nonsense.” Financial Times | Video of press conference.

• Defense One: The science of unmasking Russian forces in Ukraine.

• Atlantic Council: How Much of Ukraine is Putin Thinking to Invade?

• Only a minority of Swedes would like their country to join NATO, but their number has risen significantly, from 17% of respondents a year ago to 29% in a recent survey, reports The Local.
  

US Air Force Seeks Encryption Devices to Secure Field Operations

• The US Air Force released an RFP for the development and production of “mini crypto” devices that meet both NSA approval and Size, Weight, and Power constraints in line with combat use. They intend to handle unclassified and Secret data, for devices that may be lost during operations that may be conducted with other services and allied countries.

• This follows an industry day that took place in September last year. Mini Crypto is meant to be a multi-platform solution to shortfalls identified in the past, such as the interception by insurgents of UAV video feeds. Back during the industry day, the Air Force sized their need at 10,000 devices for around $1K apiece, and the RFP’s upper range indeed asks for quotes for 10,000 or more devices.

Ravens, Mini-UAVs Winning Gold in Afghanistan’s “Commando Olympics”

RQ-11: higher, faster…

In 2005 the RQ-11 Raven mini-UAV was enjoying positive field reports from Iraq. In November 2005, StrategyPage reported that the RQ-11 Raven was also turning heads in what it calls “the commando Olympics” of Afghanistan:

“In addition to all the cooperation, there’s also a lot comparing notes. One thing everyone has noted is the large number of useful gadgets American Special Forces troops have. The most envied item is the American Raven UAV.”

It’s an apt phrase. This Spotlight article looks at Special Forces related mini-UAV buys from a number of countries, spurred by requests from special operations troops in theater.

Ukraine Pushes Back Against Pro-Russian Building Takeovers

• Russia wants to keep the monopoly on the use of force in Eastern Ukraine, but Kiev’s interim government has reportedly started to launch a counter-attack to the pro-Russian “Occupy Donetsk” movement.

US Government Denies Heartbleed Prior Knowledge, Confirms It Might Keep Exploits to Itself

• An article first published by Bloomberg last Friday claiming that the NSA was aware of the Heartbleed [PDF] vulnerability for years was promptly denied by the White House.

• However the National Security Council’s rebuttal implies that the Administration may not disclose all vulnerabilities its agencies discover. Bloomberg’s report is based on the claims of two anonymous people “close to the matter.” It sounds unlikely that the NSC would blatantly lie in this specific instance, but they confirmed that in principle the government may withhold knowledge of a similar exploit.

Desert Leopards: Germany Selling Heavy Armor to the Saudis?

Leopard 2A7+

In mid-2011 reports surfaced that Saudi Arabia was preparing to buy around 200 German Leopard 2A7+ main battle tanks. Those reports stirred serious controversy in Germany, and indirectly confirmed the existence of a sales request.

Saudi Arabia would hardly be the first recipient of new or refurbished German tanks; indeed, Germany has displayed a consistent policy of selling cheap used tanks to countries all around Europe, and far beyond. Saudi Arabia is a somewhat surprising customer, because of its traditional “dual buy” structure for its land forces equipment, but there are strong reasons for Germany to be very interested in closing a Saudi sale. At the same time, the concerns expressed by opposition members are not without foundation.