Replacing Canada’s Failing CC-130s: 17 C-130Js

CC-130 over BC

The US military has been coming to the realization that its aging aircraft fleet will begin posing serious challenges in the coming years. Canada is experiencing similar problems. In 2005, Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Rick Hillier said that:

“Our [CC-130 E/H] Hercules fleet right now is rapidly going downhill. We know that three years and a little bit more than that, the fleet starts to become almost completely inoperational and we will have to stop supporting operations – or else, not be able to start them.”

This Spotlight article offers additional details regarding the Canadian CC-130 recapitalization program, and the thinking behind it; some background that points up the parallels between the issues faced by the Canadians, and the experiences of other air services; and some insight into why the buy took so long, after the C-130J was declared Canada’s preferred choice in an “expedited” process. Canada has begun using the new planes on operations, and is preparing to accept the last “CC-130J.” This will shift its focus to issues of long-term support costs.

Reality-Undeterred USAF Secretary Releases Buzzword Compendium

• US Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James is worried about the service’s current readiness because of budgetary squabbling, but that didn’t stop her from releasing a lofty long-term strategy document [PDF] where the word “global” appears no less than 65 times (one time more than “future” and 65 more than “interesting”). Read it if you need a dose of game-changing high-end full-spectrum multi-domain verbiage (quoted verbatim). In the future such vapid documents will be both written and read by robots, letting humans focus on actual thinking.

• Actually 30 years from now the US Air Force will be flying F-35s running software version 7E, with luck [Bloomberg].

Iraq Requests Missiles, Aviation Support from US

• Iraq’s government would like to procure more Hellfire missiles [US DSCA] as well as helicopter sustainment services from the US.

• In the meantime ISIS is busy establishing Shari’a law, and a modicum of governmental services, in the northern city of Mosul. Institute for the Study of War.

• And the Pentagon is deeply offended by the notion that the US is not helping Iraq. No, really, we’re doing stuff!

Brazil’s New-Old Maritime Patrol Aircraft

FAB P-3AM

The discovery of major deepwater oil finds off of Brazil’s coast changed its military priorities. The military’s mission has always been influenced by the land’s vastness, but until recently, that meant keeping a careful watch over the Amazon basin. The Marinha do Brazil had its own role policing the wide swathes of ocean around its long coast, but the air force’s construction was oriented toward supporting the army. Recent years have seen significant changes, as the Navy works to expand its surface fleet and field advanced submarines, and the FAB begins to revitalize its maritime patrol aircraft fleet.

A 2005 contract to buy modernized P-3 Orion long-range sea control planes has created the biggest shift in Brazilian capabilities. The planes began entering service in 2011, and more changes are on the way…

GAO Frets About Tax Liability of Security Clearance Holders

• The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report stating that about 83,000 DOD employees and contractors who held or were eligible for security clearances (out of a total of about 5.1 million) had unpaid federal tax debt totaling more than $730M as of June 30, 2012. Though not technically illegal, that is an obvious vulnerability.

• The US Marines want samples from contractors bidding for its Diver Reconnaissance Vehicle (DRV) program, and while their initial intent was not to pay for these bid samples, they seem inclined to revisit their position, meaning they’d buy and keep the samples. Here’s the industry day slide deck [PPTX].

• Strategy+Business explains how to tell whether an industry is about to be hit by “dematurity”, which aside from being an ugly neologism afflicts disruption by a thousand cuts to unsuspecting firms.

• According to security firm Cyber Engineering Services Inc. (CyberESI), hackers presumably from China hacked into the networks of several Israeli defense firms in 2011-12. Krebs on Security. Update: IAI refuted this report.
  

C-17s for India: 10 Aircraft by 2015

IAF’s 1st C-17

In November 2009, reports surfaced that India was negotiating to buy 10 C-17A Globemaster III heavy transports for its air force. A Defense News article added that:

“The C-17’s advantages include its easier handling (compared with the IL-76) and ability to operate from short and rough airstrips, added the sources… The Indian military needs to do three things: augment its ability to quickly lift larger numbers of troops as it views possible threats on its border with China; strengthen its presence on the Pakistani border; and fight terrorism and low-intensity warfare, said a senior Defence Ministry official. India needs to triple its lift capacity, said the official.”

Fighting Goes On in Gaza, Tripoli

• After a brief lull fighting continued in Gaza: USA Today | WaPo.

• The US evacuated its embassy in Tripoli as fighting in Libya’s capital has been worsening. DoD | Daily Beast | NYT.

• Richard N. Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, compares the situation in the Middle East to Europe’s 17th century Thirty Years’ War. There are limits to that analogy, but this, as then, indeed looks like a protracted conflict with a mix of religious and political causes. Will it eventually be resolved with something akin to the era-defining Peace of Westphalia?

Big Hairy Issues Still Unresolved by US Congress, Days before Recess

• Negotiations between US House and Senate lawmakers failed yesterday to lead to an agreement on a bill meant to fix the Veteran Affairs’ egregious and urgent problems.

• The State department also reminds Congress that issuing more visas for Afghan interpreters – also a pressing life-or-death issue – is also on their plate. That’s a week from summer recess.

Fighting Continues in Ukraine While MH17 Has Elusive Consequences for Russia

• 2 Ukrainian Su-25 close support jets were downed by pro-Russian rebels yesterday. Given their flight profiles, MANPADS are a likely culprit. Artillery and rocket fire has also been reported in several places, including coming from Russia according to the (pro-Kiev) Kyiv Post.

• The EU’s foreign ministers met to discuss sanctions against Russia but the Netherlands are stalling as their prime minister wants to recover the bodies of those who died aboard flight MH17 before assigning blame.

• Echoing concerns voiced in Germany, MPs from the UK’s House of Commons want the executive’s arms exports policies under greater parliamentary scrutiny and control. They just released a report [PDF] on this topic. Russia’s RIA Novosti takes their now usual approach by taunting Western powers with their own contradictions: UK Continues Exporting Arms to Russia Despite Call for New Sanctions.

• RIA Novosti also notes that Russia will continue to supply space rocket engines to the US… as long as these are lucrative contracts. Well done, Komrade Kapitalist! Russia is also quick to remind France of its contractual obligations, after President Hollande said he may reconsider authorizing the delivery of the 2nd Mistral ship.

• Ambrose Evans-Pritchard from the Telegraph ties Europe’s lack of nerve for sanctions to the Euro zone’s lasting economic slump. So far it is hard not to conclude that Vladimir Putin is going to get away with murder.
  

FY2014 “Use It Or Lose It” Season Opening at the Pentagon

• The US Department of Defense now expects to spend $26B more in procurement and research/development by the end of the current fiscal year (Sept. 30) than outlined in recent budget documents. Up until April their contracting was significantly below last year though things picked up in June. The final 2 months of the fiscal year traditionally see an uptick in federal spending. DoD is now even more likely to spend everything they’ve got in light of Senate appropriators going after unspent funds from prior years.