Defence`s Feeds

Americas

The US Army is increasing its processing power as part of the Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Program. Cray Inc. will increase the processing capability of the current Cray XC 40 High Performance Supercomputer under this $12.5 million firm-fixed-price contract. The supercomputer consists of 101,312 computer cores, 32 general-purpose computing on graphics processing units, or GPGPUs, and 411 terabytes of memory, and provides 3.77 petaflops of peak computing capability. The supercomputer is at the heart of the ERDC, which conducts R&D in support of the soldier, military installations, and civil works projects, as well as for other federal agencies, state and municipal authorities, and with US industry through innovative work agreements. The contract also includes the purchase of 2083 additional nodes compatible with the existing system architecture. Work will be performed at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center DoD Supercomputing Resource Center (ERDC DSRC) in Vicksburg, Mississippi and is expected to be completed by October 31, 2018.

Boeing is being tapped to arm the Navy’s F/A-18E/F and EA-18G aircraft. The awarded contract modification is valued at $40.3 million and provides for the procurement of aircraft armament equipment (AAE) in support of 12 Super Hornets and 14 Growlers. The AAE program procures, modifies and upgrades common bomb racks, peculiar bomb racks, missile launchers, and provides related support for Navy and Marine Corps platforms. Work will be performed at multiple locations, including – but not limited to – Meza, Arizona; St. Louis, Missouri and Minneapolis, Minnesota. The contract is set to run through November 2022.

General Dynamics Mission Systems is being contracted to sustain essential systems on SSBNs and SSGNs. The contract modification is valued at $12.8 million and provides for sustainment of Fire Control Systems installed on US and UK SSBNs, as well as the Attack Weapon Control System on US SSGNs. The contract further includes relevant training and support equipment. The Fire Control System delivers data required to monitor the launch sequence of ballistic missiles. The Attack Weapon Control System (AWCS) consists of an integrated Launch Control System interfaced with the Tactical Tomahawk Weapon Control System and the Captain’s Information and Control Station, having the capability to launch up to 154 missiles from a maximum of 22 missile tubes. Work will be performed at multiple locations in the US and the UK, including GD’s facility in Pittsfield Massachusetts. The contract has a performance period of five years and is expected to e completed by September 2023.

Middle East & Africa

The governments of Jordan, Morocco, Afghanistan, Senegal, Tunisia and Pakistan are set to receive additional rifles as part of US Foreign Military Sales. Colt will provide the countries with up to 10,000 additional M4 and M4A1 5.56mm carbine rifles at a cost of $57.7 million. The M4/M4A1 Carbine is a lightweight, gas operated, air cooled, magazine fed, selective rate, shoulder fired weapon with a collapsible stock. It is now the standard issue firearm for most units in the US military. The M4 offers a collapsible buttstock, flat-top upper receiver assembly, a U-shaped handle-rear sight assembly that could be removed, and assortment of mounting rails for easy customization with a variety of sight, flashlight, grenade launchers, shotgun attachments, etc. Like its predecessor the M16, the M4 also has a reputation as an excellent weapon – if you can maintain it. Work will be performed at Colt’s facility in West Hartford, Connecticut, and is scheduled for completion by September 2019.

Saab is currently recommending that the South African Air Force (SAAF) adopts the latest software update for its JAS39C and JAS39D Gripen fighter jets. MS 20 is the latest step in Saab’s process of constant capability expansion. The MS 20 upgrade includes integration of the MBDA Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile and Boeing GBU-39 Small-Diameter Bomb, improved radar modes and a new laser designation pod (LDP) among other things. The new software will would also increase the performance of the Gripen’s radar and would allow the fitting of an automated Ground Collision Avoidance System. The Swedish Air Force was using MS 20 to improve the reconnaissance performance of its Gripens.

Europe

The US is sending missiles to European allies under its FMS program. The governments of Estonia, Lithuania and Ukraine will each receive an unspecified number of Javelins under this $27.6 million contract modification awarded to Raytheon/Lockheed Martin Javelin JV. The Javelin is a portable anti-tank weapon, which is shoulder-fired but can also be installed on tracked, wheeled or amphibious vehicles. The Javelin system consists of the CLU and the round. With a carry weight of 6.4kg, the CLU incorporates a passive target acquisition and fire control unit with integrated day sight and thermal imaging capabilities. This contract also includes sales to the governments of Australia, Turkey and Taiwan. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona and is scheduled for completion by August 31, 2021.

The State Department is determined to approve a FMS to the United Kingdom. If approved, the UK would receive three SEAL Delivery Vehicles (SDV) MK 11 Shallow Water Combat Submersibles (SWCS) for an estimated cost of $90 million. The SWCS is a manned submersible and a type of swimmer delivery vehicle which will deliver US Navy SEALs and their equipment for special operations missions. The SWCS is deployable from surface ships, land, and Dry Deck Shelters on submarines. The SWCS carries passive sonar the ability to sense electromagnetic energies like radars, a navigation system with INS/ secure GPS capability, secure wireless underwater communication links, and the ability to operate down to at least down to 190-300 feet undersea. Included in the contract are spares, relevant equipment, manuals and other support services. Prime contractor will be Teledyne Brown Engineering.

Asia-Pacific

Chinese defense manufacturer Ziyan is showcasing its new Blowfish I VTOL UAV at the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) 2018 exhibition in South Africa. The Blowfish I is a multifunctional and universal unmanned helicopter. It can flight in ultra-low altitude to medium-altitude environment, complex geography and in all-weather conditions. According to the company, the new UAV has a maximum take-off weight of between 28 and 50 kg and an endurance of between 45 to 60 minutes. It is electrically powered and has a payload of 12 kg that can include different types of weapons. The company also revealed that the Blowfish I is currently entering service with the People’s Liberation Army Navy.

Today’s Video

Watch: REVEALED! The UK’s New Challenger 2 tank known as BLACK NIGHT

Ten years (and a few weeks) ago, in August 2008, a process started that would later become known as enteqal (transition), namely of security responsibility from NATO to the Afghan forces. (*) This process was supposed to be finalised by the end of 2014. Full troop withdrawal was never fully achieved, though. NATO troops’ “watchful eye from the side lines”, as cited in the text, and their quick response in situations of security crises are still indispensable  Here is an article (translated from its original German) written for a Berlin-based daily newspaper by AAN co-director Thomas Ruttig less than a year before AAN was formally founded. The article provides a déjà vu– many of the issues described remained unresolved for over a decade now.

From Thursday [28 August 2008] onwards, the Afghan National Army (ANA) will progressively take over responsibility for the security in the Afghan capital Kabul from the NATO-led ISAF mission. The Kabulis will not notice much, though – perhaps only that there will be more ANA patrols in the streets than before. Even the originally planned handover ceremony will not be held. One can also presume that NATO troops will remain present, with a watchful eye from the side lines.

The reason is that security provided by the Afghan security forces has shown a lot of gaps over the past months. They were neither able to prevent the devastating attack at the Indian Embassy in Kabul on 7 July (1) nor an attempt to kill President Hamed Karzai at a military parade on 27 April when the shots fired by a commando of insurgents only just missed him. (2) During the subsequent investigations into the latter incident it turned out that high officers at the Ministry of the Interior had supported the attackers. This cast serious doubts over the ANA and the police’s abilities to assume their newly acquired security responsibilities. “God alone knows what will happen after that,” a Kabuli woman working for an international organisation commented, sceptically.

The transfer of security responsibility was brought up for the first time by President Hamed Karzai at the NATO 2008 spring conference in Bucharest and approved at the Afghanistan conference in Paris in June that year. According to Kabul’s Ministry of Defence, only NATO trainers for the ANA and ANP as well as NATO command centres and logistic bases would remain (…).

Handover to the Afghan forces was supposed to demonstrate abroad that the Karzai government was increasingly able to operate on its own and that the strategy of the US and its western allies to build up effective Afghan forces was working. The fact that the handover will now be implemented without any public event turns the whole affair into a vote of no-confidence on the Afghan forces’ abilities and into an admission that western plans to build them up are way behind schedule. Former Kabul chief of police General Babajan’s recent boasting in Kabul Weekly newspaper, where he claimed the transfer showed that “the Western style of guaranteeing security in Kabul was ineffective” also highlighted that the Afghans dangerously overestimate their own forces’ capabilities.

Starting with the weekend before the now-cancelled handover ceremony, the tone between the Karzai government and the US became sharper. By the end of the previous week, a total of 130 civilians had been killed in two more US airstrikes, one in the western province of Herat and one in eastern Laghman. US representatives vehemently denied that any civilians had been killed in those attacks, but the United Nations confirmed the Afghan government’s reports. (3)

Following these developments, the Afghan cabinet decided to open negotiations with “representatives of the international community” so that, according to Karzai’s spokesman Homayun Hamidzada (contemporary media reports here and here), “air strikes against civilian targets, uncoordinated house searches and illegal arrests of Afghan civilians” by western troops would stop. He said that earlier demands for “moderation” had been “ignored.” Hamidzada further announced that the government wanted to bring all foreign troops “under Afghan law.” Draft legislation would be brought into parliament where emotions about the US attacks have been boiling for several weeks already. One female deputy led a protest of several hundred tribal elders from Logar last week, a province that has also seen a US airstrike. (4)

Hamidzada added that the government was not asking the West to withdraw its troops, though: “This is neither our nor the people’s demand, as we need to strengthen our army before we are able to defend our country [independently].” NATO has responded dryly so far, saying that it has not been notified about any wish for new negotiations.

In contrast to European NATO member states, Washington has so far shown no interest in concluding a status-of-forces agreement with Kabul, which is the international norm and which would define the US troops’ mandate in Afghanistan. In contrast, the deployment of US troops under Operation Enduring Freedom – which does not fall under ISAF’s command – is based on a bilateral “Strategic Partnership Agreement” from May 2005 that largely gives the Americans a free hand to operate at will. Washington also points to the UN Security Council that has mandated the presence of its troops after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. So far, only the Afghan political opposition had demanded to newly regulate the presence of the US troops. Now, it seems, Karzai has joined their bandwagon.

This is mainly related to the presidential elections in 2009. (5) Karzai’s reputation in the country is declining, the insurgent Taleban are portraying him as an “American puppet.” A recent poll by the Kabul office of the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation, asking 1,050 inhabitants in Kabul province, found that only 17 per cent would vote for him again. (6) In the 2004 election, he officially won 54 per cent of the vote countrywide. The security handover of Kabul was meant to be NATO’s campaign support for Karzai. But this has not really worked out well.

The original German article under the title “Unter afghanisches Gesetz” can be found here, at the Berlin daily Tageszeitung’s website (27 August 2008).

Read AAN’s August 2013 dossier, entitled “Looking back at transition“ here.

 

(*) NATO made “transition” its official strategy for Afghanistanat its Lisbon summit in November 2010 (see here), setting mid-2013 as the time when responsibility for security throughout all of Afghanistan should have been handed over – or “transitioned” – from NATO to the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in a process of five phases (see AAN analysis here). On the Afghan side, transition was handled by Ashraf Ghani, the country’s president since 2014 and then in the role of what had been dubbed the ‘transition czar’ (see media report here).

(1) At that point, this attack was the bloodiest that had ever occurred in Kabul, with 58 people dead, including two Indian diplomats (one the military attaché), and 141 injured, according to UN figures (a media report here).

(2) The attack occurred on 27 April, the mujahedin’s victory day over the regime of Dr Najibullah. Three people – among them one member of parliament, Fazl Rahman Tsamkanai, a Shia community leader and a 10-year old boy – were killed and eleven wounded (media reports here and here).

(3) The airstrike in Herat province was carried out by the US Air Force on 22 August 2008 in the village of Azizabad in Shindand district, in pursuit of a local Taleban commander, according to the US military. It killed an estimated 92 civilians, 62 of them children, according to UN investigations (see report here). After a separate investigation, the US insisted only seven civilians were killed. The airstrike in Garloch village, Laghman, also in August, killed more than a dozen civilians, according to provincial officials, while the US claimed 30 Taleban dead in the strike and “no knowledge of non-combatant deaths” (media reports here and here; exact date and district not reported). According to a later investigation by Anand Gopal, the attack had hit a wedding.

Previous to those attacks, there had been two similar air strikes with 64 civilians killed in total in the provinces of Nuristan and Nangrahar, according to the UN. In both, wedding processions were hit again. In the Nuristan case on 4 July 2008, US troops again claimed they had been fired at and that they had no knowledge of “injured non-combatants.” Provincial governor Tamim Nuristani, however, reported the US attack was in retaliation for insurgent rockets fired at a US base the night before. The Afghan Ministry of Health said that three of its medical personnel and four other government employees were among those killed (media report here). The Nangrahar case happened on 6 July 2008 in Dehbala district (aka Haska Mena) (media report here).

These incidents led to an increase of US-Afghan tensions, as a contemporary BBC report reflected.

(4) In an airstrike on 15 August in Kharwar district, three children were killed (media report here).

(5) This election was held on 20 August 2009, four months after the constitutional deadline. Karzai had stated that he did not want to stay in office “even one day” after his mandate ended in May 2009, but neither the constitution nor the electoral law included any transitional measures for such a case. The oppositional National Front originally demanded that a Loya Jirga be held to solve the problem. But when Karzai adopted this demand, fears arose that he might manipulate the composition and the outcome of the jirga in his favour. The NF then suggested installing an all-party transitional government. None of this came to fruition.

(6) This was a non-representative poll.

The WH and the Pentagon have a plan to step up offensive cyber operations to deter foreign adversaries. The Trump administration has authorized the use of “offensive cyber operations” as part of a new national cyber strategy that aims at deterring attacks on the U.S. most critical networks, preventing interferences on future elections (in order […]

Photos show Marines F-35B aircraft carrying the external gun pod during exercise off the coast of Djibouti. For the last two weeks, U.S. Marine Corps F-35Bs assigned to the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 211 “Wake Island Avengers”, deployed with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, have undertaken the type’s first operational deployment in international waters off […]

Hippo Multipower displayed an autonomous variant of its amphibious HIPPO All Terrain Support Vehicle (ATSV) at Defence Vehicle Dynamics (DVD) 2018, Millbrook, Bedfordshire, UK, fitted with a robotic applique kit. Hippo Multipower has teamed with Digital Concepts Engineering (DCE) to demonstrate the

Key Points An Indonesian shipbuilder has laid down two more PC-40-class patrol vessels for the Indonesian Navy The service is further bolstering its patrol boat programmes amid the rise of non-conventional maritime threats in the region Indonesian shipbuilder PT Caputra Mitra Sejati (CMS) has

The Russian defence industry is upgrading the Uran-9 unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), Jane’s has learnt. The baseline Uran-9 UGV was unveiled in December 2015. “The trials of the Uran-9 combat UGV will be finished by the year-end,” an industry source said. “The vehicle has

Rwanda is to receive two new aircraft to be used for medical evacuation and light transport missions during international peacekeeping operations throughout Africa, it was disclosed on 20 September. A sources sought notification issued by the US Air Force (USAF) calls for two single-engined

Lockheed Martin has completed construction of its Space Fence radar on Kwajalein Island in the Marshall Islands and has been tracking space objects using the full-up radar as the company prepares to hand over testing to the US Air Force (USAF) later in 2018. Space Fence, designed to track space

The last of 23 AAV7A1 Reliability, Availability, Maintainability/Rebuild to Standard (RAM/RS) armoured amphibious vehicles for the Brazilian Navy Marine Corps (Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais: CFN) arrived in the country on 17 September, the force told Jane’s the following day. The AAVP7A1 RAM/RS

The Dutch shipbuilder Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding and Swedish major Saab have formed the Damen Saab Tamandaré consortium to compete to build four Tamandaré-class multi-purpose ships for the Brazilian Navy in a proposal that includes significant transfer of technology (ToT) and

General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) UK displayed the first four production standard variants of the Ajax armoured fighting vehicle at the DVD 2018 exhibition held at the UK’s Millbrook Proving Ground on 19-20 September. GDLS UK Vice-President Kevin Connell told Jane’s on 19 September,

European missile house MBDA demonstrated a proof-of-concept mounting for the Missile Moyenne Portée (MMP) anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) on a Kongsberg M153 Protector remote weapon station at the DVD 2018 exhibition held in Millbrook, Bedfordshire, on 19-20 September. The M153 was shown fitted

The UK Royal Navy (RN) is preparing to retire its last Sea King ASaC.7 (SKASaC) helicopters, bringing to an end the Sea King’s near 50-year career in UK military service. Two of the remaining SKASaC aircraft from 849 Naval Air Squadron (NAS) flew a farewell flypast around southwest England on

As expected, the US Navy (USN) signed deals to buy three more Littoral Combat Ships (LCSs) under fiscal year 2018 (FY 2018) funding. However, the service will not release the price for the ships because it is considering acquiring additional ships through the FY 2019 budget. The three LCSs awarded

The US Navy (USN) Naval Surface Warfare Center – Panama City Division and subsea-capability provider James Fisher and Sons’ JFD have developed an advanced hands-free combat diver navigation module called Shadow Nav. Designed to help divers conduct accurate underwater navigation missions

The Israeli Air Force launched an airstrike in the Gaza Strip on 17 September after it said it identified an armed cell approaching the Israeli border and planting an explosive device. Palestinian medical sources said two Gazans were killed in the attack. The incident is part of a wider escalation

Officials from Chinese state-owned shipbuilder China Shipbuilding and Offshore International Company (CSOC) have revealed technical specifications of a concept for a new 20-tonne armed unmanned surface vessel (USV) it is showcasing at the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) 2018 exhibition in South

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has expressed his willingness to continue to take measures towards his country's denuclearisation, including the permanent dismantlement of the Yongbyon nuclear facilities, where a 5 MWe plutonium-producing reactor is located. The move was announced on 19

Singapore Technologies Engineering (ST Engineering) and South Africa’s Paramount Group have signed an agreement to collaborate on marketing the Belrex family of 4x4 military vehicles to global defence markets. ST Engineering said on 19 September that the agreement applies to 10 variants of