Defense`s Feeds

Here’s my latest policy brief from the series on Russian strategic culture and leadership decision-making, written for a collaborative project organized by the Marshall Center with support from the Russia Strategy Initiative. This one is on Russian foreign policy narratives. As with the previous ones, I am posting the full text here with permission from the Marshall Center. Please go to the Marshall Center website if you would prefer to read a PDF version.

Most of the data collection for this policy brief was done by Katherine Baughman and Umida Hashimova. Thanks to Kasey Stricklin for putting together the trends graphic.

Executive Summary

• This Marshall Center Security Insight provides a summary of a project that examined Russian foreign policy positions by analyzing statements made and interviews given by Russian government officials. The analysis found a set of ten narratives frequently used by officials discussing Russian foreign policy. In this policy brief, we describe each of the narratives and provide some recent examples of their use.
• The narratives described in this brief include Russia as the center of a distinct Eurasian civilization, Russia as a bastion of traditional values, Russophobia, whataboutism, fraternalism with Russia’s near abroad, ties with Soviet-era allies, outside intervention in sovereign affairs, Russia as a proponent of stability in the world, Russia as a proponent of multipolarity in the world, and the promotion of international structures in which Russia plays a leading role.
• The most frequently used narratives included outside intervention in sovereign affairs, whataboutism, the promotion of international structures in which Russia plays a leading role, and Russophobia.
• Although the foreign policy narratives of Russian officials are designed to twist reality in ways that promote and justify foreign policy decisions to both domestic and foreign audiences, one common thread tying these narratives together is that all of them have an element of truth at their core.

Introduction

This policy brief provides a summary of results of a project that examined Russian foreign policy positions using statements made and interviews given by Russian government officials. The research team monitored Russian and Western media over a ten-month period, from September 2018 to June 2019, collecting both Russian- and English-language statements. We found a set of ten narratives frequently used by officials discussing Russian foreign policy. In this policy brief, we describe each of the narratives and provide some recent examples of their use. We conclude with some preliminary frequency analysis and trends of use over time during the study period.

Eurasia Versus Europe

This narrative tends to portray Russia as the center of a distinct Eurasian civilization with its own sovereign path that is separate from the rest of Europe. According to this argument, Russia is separate and different from the rest of Europe and should not be expected to integrate with it on purely European terms. This argument reflects a long tradition of Eurasianist discourse among Russian intellectuals that goes back to the early twentieth century and also hearkens back to an even older debate about Russian identity between Slavophiles and Westernizers that goes back to the tsarist era.

Officials focusing on this narrative discussed the need to form a greater Eurasia to safeguard the region’s distinct path, often in contrast to decadent European values. For example, in April 2019, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov stated, “We believe that there is the need to aspire for Greater Eurasia, which includes the European Union, our Eurasian Union and various Chinese initiatives.” This statement highlights the significance placed by Russian officials on deepening Russia’s relationship with China and especially highlights Russia’s role as a conduit for Chinese trade with Europe.

Russia as a Bastion of Traditional Values

According to this narrative, Russia possesses a distinct civilization that embodies and promotes “traditional” religious, societal, and other values in contrast with the more liberal, “decadent” West. This has been a common trope for Vladimir Putin. For example, in November 2018, he stated, “There is one thing I do not doubt: the voice of Russia will be dignified and confident in the future world, which is predetermined by our tradition, domestic spiritual culture, self-awareness, and, finally, the very history of our country as a distinctive civilization that is unique but does not make self-confident and loutish claims of exclusiveness.”

This narrative has been particularly favored by senior leaders in the Russian Orthodox Church, such as Patriarch Kirill, who said the following in November 2018: “The narrow paradigm of the New Time speaks of globalization as an inevitable process. Hidden underneath the word “inevitability” is the western principle of global development which features liberal secularism and modern forms of colonialism. . . . This mistake is a departure from tradition, the system of passing values from generation to generation which forms the civilizational code of peoples with its cultural, spiritual, and religious paradigms, relying on God-given and thus invariable moral values which have accompanied the humankind throughout history. Experience shows that the trampling of these values has led to tragedies and cataclysms in personal, societal and international relations.”

Russian leaders have focused on traditional values, particularly in their domestic messaging, as a way of contrasting Russia with the supposedly immoral member states of the European Union. This narrative helps Russian leaders justify their caution about developing close ties with Western Europe and their policies aimed at curtailing Western influence in Russia.

Russophobia

Russophobia refers to the narrative that the policies and actions of Russia’s opponents are motivated by an unjustified prejudice against Russia, rather than legitimate disagreement over policy or differences in geopolitical interests. Russian officials frequently highlight the role of Russophobia in accusations by U.S. politicians and media commentators of Russian interference in U.S. elections.

For example, in April 2019, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov commented on the publication of the Mueller Report, “Unfortunately, there is no sign that US political circles, particularly those who seek to score political points in the Congress from Russophobia, are ready for dialogue. The document is most likely to have no effect from the standpoint of improving relations.” He added that Washington “continues to bombard the public with anti-Russian allegations. Russian officials often argue that Russophobia makes it easy for Western politicians to blame Russia for all of their problems, rather than dealing with the actual causes.

Whataboutism

Whataboutism is the narrative that other powers are engaging in the same activities that they accuse Russia of engaging in. During the study period, Russian officials resorted to whataboutism frequently, including when criticizing the United States and its allies for interfering in Russian elections. In May 2019, the Federation Council released a statement noting, “Washington, its allies, and its partners are using available instruments, including information, political, administrative, diplomatic, organizational, technical, and financial ones, for illegally intervening in Russia’s sovereign affairs, including in the period of preparation for and holding of electoral campaigns of various levels in Russia.” This statement was clearly designed to highlight the equivalence between U.S. activities in 2019 and accusations of Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. election.

Russian officials also highlighted violations of freedom of the press in Western Europe and compared Russian police actions against protesters with French police actions against Yellow Vest protesters to show that Russian actions are no different than those of the countries that regularly accuse Russia of violating human rights and international norms. For example, Vladimir Putin highlighted restrictions placed on RT broadcasting in France by noting, “We hear from our Western colleagues that the free dissemination of information . . . is one of the most important principles of democracy. . . . States should not hinder information spread through administrative routes, but rather put forward their perspective and let the people decide for themselves where the truth is and where its falsification is.” Commenting on European government actions against domestic protesters, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said, “Unlike France and Germany, Russia never uses water cannons, tear gas or rubber pellets to disperse protesters.”

Whataboutism is also used to reject criticism regarding Russian military and political influence activities abroad. In April 2019, referring to Russian support for the Venezuelan government, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, “What do they mean by insolent remarks that the countries [outside] the Western Hemisphere are not allowed to have any interests there? But what is the United States doing? Take a look at the map of the US military bases: the entire world is dotted with red spots and each of them poses rather serious risks.” Overall, the whataboutism narrative is used to suggest that Russia is no different from the Western states that regularly condemn Russian behavior both domestically and on the world stage.

Fraternalism with Russia’s Near Abroad

The Near Abroad is Russia’s preferred term for the countries of the former Soviet Union, with the arguable exception of the Baltic States. The term is associated with fraternalist narratives concerning brotherly links, paternalistic relationships, and special historical and cultural commonalities with these countries.

Officials using this narrative during the study period made references to the continuing fraternal relationship with Belarus during a period of intense discussion of potential closer integration of the two states. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov highlighted the special fraternal relationship, noting, “I don’t think anyone in Moscow or Minsk would dispute the existence of de facto and de jure special and allied relations between the two countries.” Officials also lamented the destruction of brotherly ties with Ukraine by fascists and nationalists bent on tearing Ukraine away from Russia. For example, in reference to Russia’s relationship with Ukraine, Vladimir Putin said, “As for the long term, no matter what happens, no matter who is in power in Kyiv today, the Russian and Ukrainian peoples have always been and will forever be fraternal and very close . . . . This political scum will go away, recede.” Similarly, Peskov stated in May 2019 that “[Putin] has always stated that the relations between the countries’ leadership should not in any way be projected to the long-standing close and brotherly relations of the peoples of the two countries.” These statements highlight Russian leaders’ tendency to continue to consider former Soviet states, especially Ukraine and Belarus, as “naturally” belonging to Russia’s cultural and political sphere of influence.

Relations with Soviet-Era Allies

This category refers to the set of Russian narratives that relate to “traditional relations” with partners that have maintained close ties with Russia since the Soviet Era, such as Vietnam and Syria. When discussing new initiatives with foreign states that fit this category, Russian leaders commonly refer to the history of bilateral ties in the Soviet period. During the study period, Vladimir Putin mentioned such ties during official meetings with leaders of Vietnam and Serbia, and Sergey Lavrov highlighted the history of close relations between Russia and Latin American countries. This emphasis is especially common in situations in which the two sides are discussing military assistance. For example, in April 2019, Russian Presidential Special Representative for the Middle East and Africa Mikhail Bogdanov noted “Sudan’s willingness and readiness to develop cooperation with Russia on the basis of traditionally friendly relations spanning since 1950s.” Although this is not a frequent narrative, it does play an important role when Russian officials seek to further links with states with which Russia had ties during the Cold War.

Outside Intervention in Sovereign Affairs

This category describes the narrative that certain domestic policies and developments in a given country are the result of meddling from outside powers, most often the United States, rather than the outcome of internal factors. Russian leaders frequently express vehement opposition to such activities, although many countries accuse Russia of employing similar tactics abroad. During the study period, Russian officials made strong statements against U.S. intervention in Venezuela, citing the principle of noninterference in sovereign affairs. For example, in May 2019, Sergey Lavrov stated, “Mike Pompeo called me, urged [Russia] not to support [Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro, and urged us and Cuba not to interfere in Venezuela’s internal affairs. This whole story sounds quite surrealistic. I answered him, based on our principled position, that we never interfere in somebody else’s affairs and call on others to act the same way.”

Russian officials have made similar statements about how U.S. military operations in Syria and support for specific political groups in Ukraine were instances of interference in sovereign affairs. In the context of the Syria operation, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin condemned the “United States of America, which continues using terrorists and extremists as a tool of pressure and direct inference in the affairs of sovereign states.” Regarding Ukraine, Russian officials accused the United States of getting involved in the conflict over the autocephaly of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and condemned its influence on Ukrainian elections. Sergey Lavrov’s assessment was that, “The current leadership in Kyiv is guided not so much by the interests of their country but by the ambitions and ‘recommendations’ and often direct orders from other capitals.” When asked about similar Russian activities, Russian leaders argue that unlike the United States Russia only acts when invited by a country’s official government.

Russia as a Proponent of Stability in the World

Russian leaders frequently argue that Russia’s activities at home and abroad are justified by the need to maintain stability, while portraying opponents’ actions as attempts to destabilize a given situation. For example, in April 2019, Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov criticized Western humanitarian operations around the world in the following terms: “Frequently, the so-called humanitarian interference is done under the pretext of promoting democracy, thus provoking intra-state instability. For Western countries, unilateral actions towards other states carried out with disregard for the opinion of their legitimate governments and not authorized by the UN [United Nations] have already become the norm.”

Around the same time, General Alexander Levin, one of the commanders of the Russian military base in Tajikistan, highlighted the beneficial nature of the humanitarian operation there, saying, “The joint actions by the Russian base, units of the Defense Ministry and other security structures of Tajikistan are becoming a guarantor of peace and stability in the region.” This pair of statements highlights the Russian trope that Russian interventions promote stability in the world, while interventions by Western countries, especially by the United States, sow chaos.

Russia as a Proponent of Multipolarity in the World

Russian officials often describe the current world order as being unfairly dominated by a single power—specifically, the United States. In response, they promote the idea that the international community should welcome multiple arbiters, including and especially Russia and China. In the meantime, they highlight how most of the world’s problems are caused by the United States trying to resist the natural development of a polycentric world order. In late May 2019, Lavrov noted, “As we can see, security problems have been piling up in the Asia Pacific region and the world at large because Western countries are trying to stall or even reverse the objective formation of a polycentric world order.” Also that month, Vladimir Putin called for the establishment of an efficient security system that would be equal for all states, arguing that only through a collective response can radical extremist ideas be defeated.

Russian officials generally argue that the U.S. effort to maintain its unilateral dominance is a fruitless battle, and one that the United States will eventually lose. For example, in April 2019, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu argued that “[o]ur Western colleagues cannot accept the fact that the era of the unipolar world order is nearing an inevitable end so they are trying to protract this natural process.” These statements highlight the key idea of this narrative: that multipolarity is inevitable, and that efforts by Western states to resist it are both futile and counterproductive.

Promotion of International Structures in Which Russia Plays a Leading Role

This narrative refers to Russian leaders’ tendency to promote the involvement in international negotiations of organizational entities in which Russia has a dominant or equal voice as compared with Western powers. Such organizations include, most prominently, the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations Security Council. Conversely, Russian leaders frequently criticize structures in which their country is less empowered, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Council of Europe.

During the study period, Russian officials frequently argued that international crises could only be solved through the UN. This was particularly noticeable during the peak of the effort by the Venezuelan opposition to replace Nicolás Maduro with Juan Guaidó. Sergey Lavrov stated, “We with our Venezuelan partners share the opinion that any use of force in circumvention of the [UN] Security Council is fraught with disastrous consequences for modern international security as a whole.” Similarly, Vyacheslav Volodin argued that the Kosovo conflict can only be solved under the auspices of the UN: “A solution to the Kosovo problem can definitely only be sought via dialogue based on decisions made in the UN. Primarily, UN Security Council Resolution 1244.”

Russian officials also sought to use other international organizations, especially the OSCE. The OSCE was used to promote Russian interests in Ukraine, as highlighted in the following statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry: “Regardless of this fact, Russia will utilize its right to monitor the elections within an international mission in another OSCE member state, in this case in Ukraine. Our steps are based on the mutual obligations of all OSCE members to provide reciprocal, and unimpeded access by observers to one another’s elections. This measure needs to ensure that electoral processes are transparent and democratic.” These statements show that Russian officials prefer to promote their country’s interests through international organizations in which Russia plays a prominent role, while avoiding or denigrating organizations from which Russia is excluded (such as NATO).

Frequency Analysis

As shown in Table 1, the frequency with which these narratives were used by Russian officials during the period of analysis can be divided into three groups. The most frequently used included outside intervention in sovereign affairs, whataboutism, the promotion of international structures in which Russia plays a leading role, and Russophobia. A second set of narratives was used somewhat less frequently, including references to Russia’s near abroad, Russia’s focus on multipolarity versus Western unilateralism, and Russia’s role as a promoter of stability as compared with the Western tendency toward destabilizing interventions. The least frequently used narratives included references to Soviet-era allies, the importance of Russia’s Eurasian identity, and Russia’s role as a bastion of traditional values.

Table 1. “Frequency of Narratives Used by Russian Officials”

In terms of trends over time, most of the narratives were relatively evenly spread out over the entire ten-month period of observation. In particular, Russophobia, whataboutism, and references to the near abroad occurred at a fairly constant rate throughout the period. Figure 1 shows that some narratives have noticeable peaks and valleys over time, especially sovereign affairs and the promotion of international structures. The February peak in the sovereign affairs narrative is related to the peak of the crisis in Venezuela and concurrent Russian fears of a U.S. military intervention there. However, the smaller April peak in that narrative and the February peak in the promotion of international structures both include mentions of a wide variety of topics. For the former, these include discussion of Western intervention in Libya and Venezuela and discussion related to Brexit and cyberattacks. For the latter, Russian officials refer to a wide variety of crises that they say should all be dealt with either in the UN Security Council or the OSCE, including Ukraine, Syria, Macedonia, Kosovo, and the U.S. decision to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

Figure 1. “Trends in Key Narratives”

Conclusion

Although Russian official foreign policy narratives are designed to twist reality in ways that promote and justify foreign policy decisions to both domestic and foreign audiences, one common thread tying these narratives together is that all of them have an element of truth at their core. These narratives all connect with prevalent perceptions of the world and of the role of Russia and the United States in it. By starting with a core element of truth, Russian officials are able to create narratives that resonate with the dominant frames through which their audiences view the world.

Thus, they tend to highlight Russophobia and traditional values to domestic audiences. They also highlight the tendency of the United States to intervene in other countries and connect this tendency to increased instability in regions such as the Middle East in order to create the narrative of the United States as a destabilizing actor in world affairs. Whataboutism is used with both domestic and international audiences to highlight instances in which Western actors fall short of their stated principles, making the argument that Western leaders have no standing to criticize Russian actions. The end result is a relatively coherent picture of the world as a chaotic place and of Russia as a stabilizing agent within it.

A Note on Sources: Materials were collected through a variety of sources, including Opensource.gov, the Eastview database of Russian newspapers, and direct access to the TASS news agency and the websites of major Russian and Western newspapers. The bulk of the materials came from newswire reports, such as TASS in Russian and Interfax in English. Russian-language sources also included all major central newspapers. English-language sources also included Western English-language newspapers and media sites of record, such as the New York Times and the BBC. All materials were hand-coded by one of the two team members. Our analysis assumes that statements in Russian-language sources are aimed primarily at a domestic audience, while statements in English-language sources are aimed primarily at an international audience. Links are provided to sources that are available on the internet. Citations to all sources may be found on the Marshall Center’s version of this article.

End of October, EDA’s Cyber Defence Research and Technology (R&T) Ad Hoc Working Group (AHWG) organised its 10th meeting in Madrid, combined with a research workshop on cyber defence technologies innovation management.

The aim of the Cyber R&T AHWG was to analyse emerging new cyber defence technologies with a twofold objective: firstly to get feedback from participants as regards the development of future technology roadmaps; and secondly to review the updated Cyber Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) and ensure it is complete. The EDA Cyber R&T AHWG is composed of cyber defence research experts and cyber specialists coming from participating Member States, industry and academia. Their task is to develop and update the cyber defence SRA within EDA’s Overarching Strategic Research Agenda (OSRA) framework. Since its establishment in 2016, the Cyber R&T AHWG has promoted EU collaborative research projects on cyber defence including work on emerging technologies with cyber implications. During its mandate, the working group has provided expertise for two ongoing EDA Cat B projects notably on “Cyber Situation Awareness Packages” and on “Enhanced Malware detection”. The Cyber Technology Landscaping Study - commissioned by EDA in 2018 and awarded to ISDEFE, AIT and CEIS – analyses the implementation aspects of the SRA and provides additional inputs which complement the findings on the state-of-the-art technology and related cyber threats.

At the second workshop devoted to innovation, which is part of the OSRA value chain and toolbox, participants discussed cross-cutting cyber defence aspects related to land, maritime, air and space domains as well as modelling and simulation in order to develop new ideas that have the potential to increase cyber defence effectiveness and efficiency. One of the objectives here was to identify potential new projects to be launched in a longer capability perspective, up to 2028. 

Both events took place in Madrid at INDRA and ISDEFE premises respectively.   
 

Background

In November 2018, the European Council adopted an updated version of the EU cyber defence policy framework (CDPF) which calls for considering cyber defence issues in the calls of the Preparatory Action on Defence Research and in the topics called for in the European Defence Fund.

Cyber R&T’s primary focus is to reduce risks when addressing future military capabilities. Researchers in this field are encouraged to explore new avenues because of its novelty and the likelihood of getting quick applications. The military is taking steps towards a better understanding of the implication of recognising cyberspace as an operational domain. Therefore, mature solutions shall always count on well-structured research, development and testing  prior to fielding.

Cyber R&T is one important work strand of the Capability Development Priority “Enabling capabilities for cyber responsive operations”. The OSRA - which provides a necessary link between R&T efforts and the military tasks and long-term capability needs of the Capability Development Plan (CDP) -  identified a number of Research and Technology areas, the so-called Technology Building Blocks (TBBs), in which a cooperative approach at the European level would bring an added-value to support the development of defence capabilities. The Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) on Cyber Defence developed within the relevant EDA Ad Hoc Working Group in compliance with OSRA requirements provides informed prioritisation on cyber-related technologies necessary for the military, while at the same time identifying opportunities for dual-use efforts and investments - be it in national, multinational or EU-funded contexts. 
 

More information:

• Cyber defence (EDA factsheet)

Today, the European Defence Agency (EDA) has for the first time been chosen to support the development of a PESCO project as an Agency initiative, in line with the PESCO commitment to use EDA as the European forum for project capability development. The Austrian-lead project, CBRN Surveillance as a Service (CBRN SaaS), will provide a rapidly deployable 24/7 chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) surveillance capability. The project aims to maximise the use of unmanned ground systems and aerial drones which will be equipped with a variety of sensors to deliver a real time CBRN surveillance, detection and incident management capability for both civilian and military purposes. 

CBRN SaaS involves four contributing Member States (cMS), Austria (lead), Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia. Following a request from the project lead, on behalf of the cMS, CBRN SaaS will be taken forward as an EDA project. The transfer was formalised today during a signing ceremony in the margins of the EDA Steering Board.

Speaking at the event, Thomas Starlinger, Minister of Defence of Austria said, “CBRN SaaS will be designed for use in the military and civilian domain. For the Austrian Armed Forces it constitutes another means to increase force protection for operations in Austria as well as abroad. National project partners may also benefit since the project will most probably be eligible for funding from the European Defence Industrial Development Programme. Through this, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises and Research Institutes will profit through a financial return from the EU.”

The high strategic value of assets that provide 24/7 CBRN surveillance is proven by their ability to survey critical infrastructure and borders, augment situational awareness and support not only  military commanders but also national disaster management in dealing with CBRN incidents. CBRN SaaS will establish an unmanned sensor network consisting of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and Unmanned Ground Systems (UGS) that will be interoperable with legacy systems. When combined with communications and data networks it will deliver a Recognised CBRN Picture that enhances knowledge-based decision making by leaders and supports the mission of saving lives. In focusing on the deployment of unmanned systems, operational flexibility will be increased and reduces the risk to the operators.  

“EDA is delighted to take this project forward and support our Member States. CBRN SaaS will benefit from EDA’s extensive experience of delivering defence cooperation projects, especially the insights gained from the EDA CBRN Joint Investment Programme. CBRN agents and weapons are a source of great concern, effective surveillance is therefore a crucial capability. As endorsed by the EU’s Capability Development Plan, developing enhanced CBRN capabilities based on newly available technologies such as unmanned systems is a priority that will enhance Europe’s resilience and preparedness to deal with CBRN threats.” EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq commented.

The CBRN SaaS main deliverable will be an operational plugin module for widely varying civilian missions and CSDP or NATO military operations. As a capability and technology development project, CBRN SaaS aims to provide suitable mobility (e.g. aerial, ground, unmanned) to mount CBRN sensors that will collect and send data to be processed through a secure network to the decision maker.

In addition, the generated Recognised CBRN Picture can be offered as a power by the hour service to others in need of CBRN surveillance.

The project will run until 2022, and will mainly deliver a demonstrator that provides a proof of concept; a Cooperation Roadmap which identifies what future modules could be developed in what format and with whom; a concept of operations and a service availability concept. 
 

Background

CBRN SaaS was approved and initially launched as a PESCO project within the second batch on 19 November 2018.

Following a decision of the cMS, EDA was requested to support establishing the CBRN SaaS Cat. B project (developed and launched by a number of cMS with the opportunity for other participating Member States to join later) that will help implement the CBRN SaaS PESCO project.
   
 

EDA press contacts:

Elisabeth SCHOEFFMANN
Head of Media & Communication
elisabeth.schoeffmann@eda.europa.eu
T+32 470 87 01 65

Paul QUINN
Media & Communications Officer
paul.quinn@eda.europa.eu
T+32 2 504 28 10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The European Defence Agency’s (EDA) ministerial Steering Board met today under the chairmanship of the Head of the Agency, Federica Mogherini. Defence ministers shared their expectations and views ahead of the presentation  of the first full CARD Report which will be delivered to the Steering Board in November 2020.
 

Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD)

Ministers took the opportunity to highlight their expectations and share success factors they deem important ahead of delivery of the first full CARD Report. The discussions come at an important juncture in the CARD process, as EDA together with the EU Military Staff (EUMS) are currently carrying out bilateral dialogues with each Member State to complement and consolidate information it has already gathered on national defence planning.  

Ministers discussions focused around CARD’s relevance for national defence planning and its contribution to other EU defence initiatives. Ministers expressed their views on how best to structurally integrate CARD into national planning and decision-making and how to incentivise the translation of CARD recommendations into new collaborative projects. 

CARD provides an overview that will allow Member States to better coordinate their defence planning and spending and engage in collaborative projects, improving consistency in Member States defence spending and overall coherence of the European capability landscape. 

“CARD is designed to be a ‘pathfinder’ helping Member States to get a better picture of the European capability landscape and identify new opportunities for cooperation on capability development and procurement, while avoiding duplication of work with NATO. CARD will over time play a crucial role in providing a comprehensive picture of Member States’ defence plans and capabilities, the state of collaboration, as well as progress towards EU capability development priorities.” Jorge Domecq, EDA’s Chief Executive, commented.
 

2020 budget

Ministers also approved the Agency’s general budget 2020 on the basis of a proposal made by the Head of the Agency at the level of €34.125 M. This is with the understanding that pending further clarification of the Brexit situation in 2020, an Amending Budget, that takes into account the role EDA plays in the context of major EU defence initiatives and the Agency’s core activities, will be submitted by the Agency to the Steering Board
 

EDA to take forward PESCO project on CBRN surveillance

EDA has for the first time been chosen to support the development of a PESCO project as an Agency initiative, in line with the PESCO commitment to use EDA as the European forum for project capability development. The project, CBRN Surveillance as a Service (CBRN SaaS), will provide a rapidly deployable 24/7 chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) surveillance capability.

CBRN SaaS involves four contributing Member States (cMS), Austria (lead), Croatia, Hungary and Slovenia. Following a request from the project lead, on behalf of the cMS, CBRN SaaS will be taken forward as an EDA project. The transfer was formalised today during a signing ceremony in the margins of the EDA Steering Board (full press release).

 
  EDA press contacts:

Elisabeth SCHOEFFMANN
Head of Media & Communication
elisabeth.schoeffmann@eda.europa.eu
T+32 470 87 01 65

Paul QUINN
Media & Communications Officer
paul.quinn@eda.europa.eu
T+32 2 504 28 10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Antti Kaikkonen, the Defence Minister of Finland, visited the European Defence Agency on 11 November where he was welcomed by Chief Executive Jorge Domecq. The Minister was accompanied by the Defence Political Director, Janne Kuusela, as well as other officials from the MoD.

A wide range of topics related to European defence cooperation were discussed, including the state of play on the EU defence initiatives (CARD, PESCO, EDF), the importance of ensuring their coherent and efficient implementation, as well as the need for Member States to embed them into their national defence planning in order to reach the goal of a more coherent, efficient and interoperable European defence landscape.

Finland’s role and participation in EDA projects were also discussed during the visit. Minister Kaikkonen  was presented with detailed updates on several ongoing projects including the air-to-air refuelling Multinational Multirole Tanker Transport Fleet (MMF) or the Agency’s work related to governmental satellite communication (GovSatCom) and the EU Satellite Communication Market (EU SatCom Market).

Americas

Redstone Arsenal is starting to test a new air defense vehicle for the Army. The Stryker A1 IM-SHORAD vehicle supports the Army’s short-range air defense (SHORAD) operational gap. Armed with Hellfire missiles, Stinger missiles and a 30mm cannon, its precision fire-power defeats unmanned aerial systems as well as fixed wing and rotary wing threats. “It all started about 18 months ago when the Army identified that we had this existing gap and they charted our office to find the right material solution to fill that gap,” said Colonel Chuck Worshim, cruise missile defense systems. Arsenal officials say government testing for the very first prototypes started in Huntsville. Test stations in other states will start in January.

Two Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Cost Reduction Initiative interceptors successfully hit two ballistic missile targets Thursday at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, Lockheed Martin announced. The demonstration was meant to support the US Army’s Field Surveillance Program by ensuring the reliability and readiness of PAC-3 missiles already fielded by the service. The Army-led missile defense flight test demonstrated the weapon’s hit-to-kill capability and was observed by representatives from the service as well as current and potential PAC-3 customers. Lockheed’s PAC-3 CRI is a high-velocity interceptor that defends against incoming threats, such as tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft. “PAC-3 continues its long history of reliability and readiness in the field and remains the only combat proven Hit-to-Kill interceptor in the world,” said Jay Pitman, vice president of PAC-3 programs at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “Today’s global security environment demands reliable solutions. We expect PAC-3 interceptors to continue serving as an essential element in integrated, layered defense systems.”

Middle East & Africa

Iran told the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that three of its tankers have been attacked in the Red Sea this year, the Wall Street Journal reports. The government warns IMO of “unsafe routes” in Red Sea after saying incidents previously described as technical faults were in fact missile attacks. Iran previously reported one attack carried out against the tanker Sabiti on October 11, forcing it to return to Iran. The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) said the vessel was probably hit by two missiles and photographs showed its hull had been punctured in two places. „We believe that this is an attack organized by one or more states, since two other Iranian flagged [very large] tankers were similarly attacked in the same approximate area” and with “similar damages to the ships“, the Wall Street Journal quotes an Iranian letter. The newspaper identified the two other tankers as Happiness 1 and Helm, which were attacked in April and August respectively.

Europe

Up-armored Alvis Warrior infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) have been deployed to Estonia as part of a rotation of the equipment for the UK-led NATO enhanced Forward Presence battlegroup, Jane’s reports. The Warrior tracked vehicle family is a series of British armored vehicles. The Warrior family developed by Alvis Vickers, which is now BAE Systems Land Systems, has been proved in action with the British Army in operations in the Middle East during Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom and on United Nations duties in Bosnia. Warrior vehicles were also deployed to Afghanistan. The British Army has upgraded its Warriors to extend their service life to 2025. The upgrade included the General Dynamics UK Bowman tactical communications system and the addition of a night fighting capability in the form of the Thales Optronics battle group thermal imaging program. Until now the Warriors on duty in Estonia have been standard vehicles from the British Army training fleet with no theater-specific enhancements. The new Warriors appeared to be fitted with plates along the length of their hulls to defeat high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warheads, which British Army sources said is designated Operational Equipment Standard 3 (OES3). This is an evolution of the theater entry standard armored packages developed for the Iraq and Afghan campaigns.

Asia-Pacific

The Nikkei reports that Japan has embarked on a program to process data collected by its maritime patrol aircraft using artificial intelligence (AI) in order to cut down the workload of the crews. $8.25 million is being allocated and the program will begin in April. It is expected that the system can be operational in 2024. The AI would help ascertain whether a target spotted by conventional radar is an enemy vessel or some other threat. Machine learning through previous data would be used to develop the ability to identify a vessel from images that are difficult for the human eye to decipher.

A US Air Force F-16 assigned to the 35th Fighter Wing at Misawa Air Base, Japan had dropped a 500lb BDU-50 inert bomb on a private land on November 6. The BDU-50 is reported to have landed 5 kilometers away from its target. It did not contain explosives, and no damage was reported. “Such an incident is a huge concern for surrounding residents and should never happen,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a November 7 news conference. “We urge the US military to provide more information and effective measures to prevent a recurrence.” The US military later found the mock bomb buried in grass on a private farm. US Forces also told the ministry that they will refrain from mock-bomb drop training for the time being.

Today’s Video

Watch: U.S. Marine M142 HIMARS loads on Army landing craft for the first time

Warrior in “Wrap-2”
(click to view full)

Britain’s MCV-80/FV510 Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle was produced between 1984 and 1995. Built of all-welded aluminum construction and armed with the 30 mm Rarden cannon, it was designed to destroy enemy armored personnel carriers at ranges of up to 1,500m, while offering a fast, armored battlefield taxi for up to 7 infantry soldiers. These IFVs were pressurized to protect against Soviet chemical and biological weapons, and included a full range of night vision equipment. They served capably during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, were used to maintain the peace in Bosnia/Kosovo, and have found themselves in very high demand on the post 9/11 front lines.

Individual programs have improved some vehicles’ optics, radios, and add-on armor, but keeping the fleet in service until 2035 will require more extensive work. Hence the GBP 1 billion Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme (WCSP). In mid-November 2009, BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin UK submitted their bids, but the decision took almost 2 years. Fielding isn’t expected until 2018, but work proceeds.

WSCP Program, Technologies, and Bid Teams WSCP: Program

Basic Warrior IFV
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The WCSP effort has 4 main sections; WFLIP (Warrior Fightability Lethality Improvement Programme) to improve turrets and sensors, and add firepower; WMPS (Warrior Modular Protection System) to add a modular armoring system; WEEA (Warrior Enhanced Electronic Architecture) to add a fully integrated set of modern, expandable electronics and communications gear; and ABSV (Armoured Battlefield Support Vehicle) to improve the repair and recovery variants that keep the fleet in the field.

Out of 789 Warrior IFVs received by the British military between 1987 – 1995, WCSP will upgrade 643 vehicles with WEEA electronics, and WMPS modular armoring upgrades. The latter offers a standard armor mounting system, giving the new Warriors the flexibility to fit different types of armor as future protection technology advances. Within that group, 449 vehicles (69.8%) will also get the WFLIP program’s new turret and weapon system. The remaining ABSV Warriors will be turretless, and carry out field repair and recovery roles using winch and crane attachments.

The UK MoD awarded its contract to Lockheed Martin UK in October 2011. The System Architecture Design Review was completed in November 2012. A future Critical Design Review will be followed by man-in-the-loop firing trials in 2014, and the demonstration phase will end in 2016. Production will follow, with 2018 set as the scheduled in-service date.

WSCP: Technologies

Lockheed UK WSCP
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The core of the WFLIP weapons program will be a new gun, paired with an automated ammunition feed instead of manually-loaded 3-round clips. It will be mounted in a new, stabilized turret, capable of firing accurately on the move, and linked to advanced sensors, modernized targeting systems, and a built-in defensive aids suite. The promise is a 40mm system that combines the space requirements for a 25mm gun and ammunition with a 50mm gun’s killing punch.

The UK Ministry of Defence mandated the CT40 CTWS (cased telescoped weapon system) and its unique 40mm ammunition for both Warrior WCSP and Britain’s forthcoming FRES-SV scout vehicle. The system is produced by CTA International (CTAI), an Anglo-French joint venture between BAE Systems and Nexter. It fires a 1 kg HE (high-explosive) round with 3 times the terminal effect of the 30mm Rarden shell, and its high explosive air burst (HEAB) capability allows detonation in mid-air at precise ranges. This is very useful for dealing with urban strongpoints by firing through a window into a reinforced building, or for detonation above enemies hiding behind cover outdoors.

The system’s most unusual feature, however, is its ammunition – a projectile encased inside a cylinder, with the propellant packed around it. That cuts round length by about 50%, and improves volumetric efficiency by about 33% for a given level of performance. Storage space is always at a premium, and these efficiencies remove some of the natural penalties that accompany a larger 40mm gun. Telescoped ammunition also allowed CTAI to replace the normal breech arrangement with a static ammunition feeder that feeds into a novel rotating breech design, via a hollow trunion. Practical advantages include a feeder with less than 50% of the number of parts found in a standard system, all located farther forward, out of the crew’s way.

WCSP: Challenges & Teams

BAE Warrior MTIP2, trials
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Despite this compartmentalization of the WCSP, the process must also be managed holistically. As BAE Systems’ Warrior campaign director Judith Eastwood, points out, changes in one area lead to changes elsewhere:

“For instance, as Warrior weight has grown, we have developed better brakes. These generate extra heat, which has to be managed to avoid knock-on effects.”

And so forth. Despite general agreement on this point, the competing bids represent different philosophies.

BAE Systems’ Team

BAE plan

BAE touted the need for a new turret into order to provide optimum structural integrity, protection and crew exit, and human design for the crew. BAE sees less value in keeping the Warrior’s exact current chassis. Crew stations and hatches, for instance, were re-designed to accommodate the extra bulk of infantry body armor, which has become ubiquitous in recent years and can make it hard for troops to escape the vehicle. Their “make it right” approach would have changed both the chassis and turret, while adding other improvements.

BAE’s WEEA offering is very similar to the open architecture system that BAE Systems is offering for is CV90 FRES SV, while its WMPS solution will provide a standard mounting system for the various armor fits that have been developed for the Warrior under recent UOR (Urgent Operational Requirement) rapid buys. A new blast-attenuating driver’s seat will improve earlier UOR mine protection measures, which included new belly plates, and stiffer suspension to restore the vehicle’s ride height.

The UK MoD ended up disqualifying BAE’s bid around February 2011, however, for reasons that weren’t made public. That left a different philosophy to guide the upgrades.

Lockheed Martin’s Team (winner)

LM-UK plan

In contrast to BAE’s approach Lockheed Martin UK touted the virtues of a WFLIP turret that’s a modified version of the current system. They point to lower acquisition costs by avoiding significant hull modifications, and better whole life costs from reuse of existing spares stocks. Their upgrade is designed to be achieved as part of the Warrior Base Overhaul process done by the UK Army Base Repair Organisation (ABRO, which was later merged into the DSG).

In October 2011, that approach won the contract. Lockheed Martin UK’s Warrior Transformation team includes:

• UK’s Defence Support Group (and see Nov 19/09 strategic partnership entry)
  
• Caterpillar UK
  
• CTA International (40mm cannon, ammunition handling)
  
• Curtiss-Wright Antriebstechnik GmbH (electro-mechanical turret drive and stabilization system)
  
• Elbit Systems Kinetics
  
• Jenoptik ESW
  
• Lorica/ Plasan
  
• Meggitt
  
• MIRA (mechanical design, electrical design, systems integration and test)
  
• Moog (rotary base junction)
  
• NP Aerospace – portion now up for bid.
  
• Rheinmetall Land Systems (turret design, cannon mounting)
  
• SciSys (electronic architecture)
  
• Thales Optronics (Battlegroup Thermal Imaging; commander and gunner sights)
  
• Ultra Electronics (power distribution, driver instrument panel, cannon control unit, fire control computer)

Contracts & Key Events 2012 – 2019

The new Warrior
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November 12/19: Estonia Up-armored Alvis Warrior infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) have been deployed to Estonia as part of a rotation of the equipment for the UK-led NATO enhanced Forward Presence battlegroup, Jane’s reports. The Warrior tracked vehicle family is a series of British armored vehicles. The Warrior family developed by Alvis Vickers, which is now BAE Systems Land Systems, has been proved in action with the British Army in operations in the Middle East during Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom and on United Nations duties in Bosnia. Warrior vehicles were also deployed to Afghanistan. The British Army has upgraded its Warriors to extend their service life to 2025. The upgrade included the General Dynamics UK Bowman tactical communications system and the addition of a night fighting capability in the form of the Thales Optronics battle group thermal imaging program. Until now the Warriors on duty in Estonia have been standard vehicles from the British Army training fleet with no theater-specific enhancements. The new Warriors appeared to be fitted with plates along the length of their hulls to defeat high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warheads, which British Army sources said is designated Operational Equipment Standard 3 (OES3). This is an evolution of the theater entry standard armored packages developed for the Iraq and Afghan campaigns.

June 16/14: CT40. The WSCP’s 40mm Cased Telescoped Armament System (q.v. Feb 8/10) has achieved qualification certification from the UK and France for the 40mm cannon and 2 tracer round types: APFSDS armor piercing and TP full target practice rounds.

Qualification certification allows manned firing demonstration phases to begin for Britain’s FRES-Scout and WCSP programs, and for the French DGA’s EBRC wheeled light tank program. The program will work to certify the other initial ammunition types (A3B anti-aerial airburst, Point detonating and Airburst general purpose tracer rounds, and a low-cost reduced range TPPR-T training round) over the next 2 years, in time for the first delivery of the UK’s series production vehicles. The French EBRC program is expected to start full development in 2015. Sources: CTAI, “CTA International achieves Anglo-French qualification for the 40mm Cased Telescoped Cannon and Ammunition”.

Jan 28/14: PDR. Lockheed Martin UK completed its WCSP Preliminary Design Review the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme (WCSP), following successful completion of a System Architecture Design Review (SADR). Sources: Lockheed Martin UK, “Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle Upgrade Gets Initial Design Approval”.

PDR

Oct 30/13: Kuwait. The Kuwaitis are reportedly inquiring about a similar upgrade for their 250+ vehicle Warrior fleet. Reports indicate that they’re willing to run the same competition based on their own needs, rather than just picking the same solution as the UK. Sources: Tactical Report, “Kuwait: Desert Warrior, Lockheed Martin v/s BAE Systems”.

Nov 13/12: Update. Lockheed Martin UK offers a brief progress report. WCSP programme manager Colin Gilding says that they’re “integrating a number of new technologies into the existing platform around space, weight, height and power…” The System Architecture Design Review was completed in November 2012. The Critical Design Review will be followed by man-in-the-loop firing trials in 2014, and the demonstration phase will end in 2016. Production will follow, with 2018 set as the scheduled in-service date.

Lockheed Martin UK’s Ampthill facility has received GBP 2.5 million in investment, including a GBP 1 million motion test rig with 8t capacity. It incorporates advanced aircraft simulator technologies, and will be used instead of outdoors vehicle tests for turret stabilization testing, turret servo testing, human factor assessments, training, and shakedown testing.

Nov 13/12: Sub-contractors. Lockheed Martin UK announces some new suppliers and responsibilities. MIRA will help Lockheed Martin UK with mechanical design, electrical design, and systems integration and test, working side by side at their dedicated new facility at Nuneaton. They’ll start with about 20 engineers and support staff, which will grow as the program matures.

Ultra Electronics is already a partner, and their Precision Air & Land Systems unit at Cheltenham now has a contract that includes the Warrior Power Distribution System, the Cannon Control Unit and Fire Control Computer (FCC). Ultra is already well underway with the development of the FCC, and will deliver the first Warrior units early next year. Their team will grow to 30 people during peak periods, and the recent contract will help them secure their supply chain.

June 19/12: Weapons. At the Eurosatory 2012 show, French operators give the Javelin anti-tank missile high marks for performance in Afghanistan, and the Javelin JV is in talks with 2 French firms to integrate Javelin with the BAE/Nexter CT40 turret. Nexter is the first firm, of course.

At the same time, Panhard General Defense is working with Lockheed Martin UK to develop its Sphinx medium 6×6 wheeled armored vehicle concept for France’s EBRC light tank competition. Lockheed Martin UK expects to leverage its turret work from the British FRES-SV and WCSP programs for EBRC, and the Javelin missile is already a mainstay in British service. Which means that any Javelin integration work performed for the French market could eventually filter back to those British armored programs. Sources: Army Recognition, “Lockheed Martin at Eurosatory 2012”.

2010 – 2011

With Scots Guards
(click to view full)

Oct 25/11: The UK Ministry of Defence signs a GBP 642 million (currently $1.06 billion) contract with Lockheed Martin’s team, as part of the GBP 1 billion WCSP upgrade program. WCSP reportedly got the go-ahead only after the Treasury’s spring 2011 agreement to a modest 1% increase in the MoD’s defense equipment program after 2015.

Lockheed Martin UK’s team will be responsible for upgrades and enhancements that extend the Warriors’ service life to beyond 2040, and the firm says that WCSP will support up to 600 jobs in the UK. UK MoD | Lockheed Martin | BBC.

WCSP contract

Feb 11/11: BAE. Reports surface that the UK Ministry of Defence has rejected BAE Systems’ WCSP proposal, leaving Team Lockheed as the only option. If the program continues, that is, and if they submit a satisfactory bid. No public explanation was given.

The loss, following General Dynamics’ big win on the FRES-SV contract, leaves BAE Systems with a very diminished presence in Britain’s future armored vehicle industry. Jane’s | The Telegraph.

BAE out

Jan 31/11: Is there a future for WCSP? Even after the recent Strategic Defence and Security Review, Defense News reports:

“The Warrior program, a top British Army priority, is at serious risk of being descoped, delayed or even shelved as budget cuts bite deeply into equipment plans. If the money is available – and that’s a big if – the revamped Warrior could have an initial operating capability of 2015, defense sources here said… Depending on whom you listen to, the WSCP program is either dead, almost dead or facing big changes.”

Some accounts have the number of remaining Warrior vehicles cut to just 270.

Jan 5/11: LMCO. Lockheed Martin UK announces that its Warrior Transformation Team (WTT) has successfully completed the latest series of live WCSP turret firing trials at the Faldingworth Test Range in Lincolnshire, confirms that they’ve submitted their Revise and Confirm proposal for the delayed WCSP upgrade program, and touts commonality benefits given their FRES-SV win.

In detailing its partner firms, the Lockheed Martin UK release no longer mentions NP Aerospace. Questions to Lockheed Martin UK received the response that: “The element that was NP is now being competed”.

March 3/10: WSCP Delay. Funding shortfalls have led the MoD’s Investment Approvals Board (IAB) to call for a 1-year delay before launching the WCSP program. The recommendation was made following the IAB’s Feb 25/10 meeting, which also covered the MoD Defence Equipment & Support’s recommendation in the FRES-SV competition. Jane’s report | PURCON | Defense News re: IAB’s agenda.

Feb 26/10: BAE. Jane’s reports that the FRES-SV industrial programs have become an issue in the Warrior competition, and could elbow it out. At the same time, BAE Systems had warned that its UK military land vehicle concerns will become a “dwindling support services business” should the group fail to be selected to meet the UK FRES-SV and the Warrior Capability Sustainment Plan. In other words, significant layoffs.

Feb 22/10: BAE. BAE Systems announces that they’re starting to build a GBP 4.5 million Turret Test Rig (TTR) for the FRES Scout and Warrior upgrade programs. The rig is closely modeled on BAE Systems’ Mission Equipment Vibration Table (MEVT) in Minneapolis, built for the US Future Combat Systems program. Indeed, systems modeling and analysis manager Vince Whelan relocated from Minneapolis.

The TTR is designed to take a turret through a 20-year life-span in 12-18 months by subjecting it to “shake, rattle and roll” tests under extremes of temperature. Electronic components in particular tend to dislike vibration, but the life of an armored vehicle makes a lot of vibration inevitable. Testing must be done, but field testing is inefficient and expensive. Hence the development of facilities like TTR/MEVT.

Feb 8/10: Cannon. The CTA International (CTAI) joint venture between BAE Systems and France’s Nexter signs a GBP 11 million contract with the French and British ministries of defense, in order to fund qualification of their 40mmm CTCA caseless cannon system. Qualification will begin in early 2011, including freezing, baking, humidity, “shake, rattle and roll” trials, etc. The UK and France have already signed a Government to Government Technical Arrangement for a jointly-funded qualification program, which will require around 15,000 rounds.

The final ammunition requirements will be defined once the prime contractors are announced in the next few weeks. Nexter has secured an ammunition supply contract from the French government, while BAE Systems Global Combat Systems – Munitions (GCSM), recently submitted a proposal to produce that 40mm ammunition through Britain’s existing MASS munitions supply contract.

While the system has been passed for manned firing and considerable data has already been collected, these trials will formally pass the system for use by the British and French armies. CTCA will be used in the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme (WCSP), the FRES Scout reconnaissance vehicle for the British Army and in the French Army’s EBRC future reconnaissance vehicle. In Britain, however, the WCSP/FRES turrets and the FRES Scout chassis will be selected through competition. BAE Systems release.

CTAI contract

2007 – 2009

Dec 15/09: LMCO. Lockheed Martin UK announces that their team has successfully tested its design for the Warrior Capability and Sustainment Programme (WCSP) in a series of limited live firing trials, at the QinetiQ Test Range in Shoeburyness, Essex, UK. These tests were designed to prove structural integrity, accuracy, and integration. See also Dec 3/08 entry.

Nov 19/09: LMCO. Lockheed Martin UK signs a Strategic Partnering Agreement (SPA) with the UK government’s Defence Support Group (DSG). It provides an overarching partnership framework that sets out key terms between the 2 organizations, which will be supplemented by specific teaming agreements, as opportunities arise. Specific teaming agreements for the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme (WCSP) and the Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) are part of the initial SPA. Lockheed Martin adds that:

“This Strategic Partnering Agreement underpins Lockheed Martin UK’s commitment to the Armoured Fighting Vehicle (AFV) Sector… Our plan, if we are successful in our bids on the WCSP and FRES programmes, is to co-locate with DSG at their Donnington facility.”

DSG launched on April 1/08 and brought together the Army ABRO and Navy/RAF DARA trading fund organizations into a single new defense Trading Fund, whose primary focus is in providing expert in-house maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade services for the through-life support of UK Armed Forces equipment. DSG’s Head Office is located in Andover and provides strategic direction to the main sites in Bovington, Catterick, Colchester, Donnington, Sealand, St Athan, Stafford, Stirling, Telford and Warminster. Smaller support sites are located in Aldershot, Bicester, Kinnegar and Sennybridge ; and small support teams are permanently embedded at other UK military sites, as well as supporting operations at home and abroad. Lockheed Martin UK | UK DSG.

Nov 17-18/09: BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin UK submit bids for the WSCP program, and offer details concerning their solutions and/or teams. A decision is expected in Q1 2010.

BAE Systems touts their delivery of over 40 Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) modifications for Warrior in the last 5 years, and investment of GBP 40 million in company funds to develop the new gun, a new turret, and the vehicle’s electronic architecture.

Lockheed Martin UK’s release mentions its team of partners, and the firm provided additional details in response to questions; these were incorporated into the background briefing, above.

Bids in

March 30/09: Cannon. Defense News reports that Britain and France have agreed to a common process to qualify CTAI’s CT40 gun and ammunition, as the culmination of a 15-year, EUR 100 million development effort by the BAE Systems/ Nexter joint venture. Testing is expected to involve around 20,000 rounds, and could clear the cannon and most of its ammunition types for action by 2012.

Dec 3/08: Cannon. BAE Systems announces the successful completion of a demonstration and trials at the Kirkcudbright range in Scotland, using their MTIP2 40mm turret and its Cased Telescoped Armament System (CTAS). MTIP2 is a BAE Systems-funded project to lower risks for both both the Warrior Fightability and Lethality Improvement Programme (WFLIP) and the FRES-SV Scout vehicle. While the company’s offerings will use different turrets, they’ll share many common systems. BAE:

“Over the course of 3 trials open days, visitors saw the system perform static and moving firings against static and moving targets, using both training and armour-piercing rounds. 90 rounds were fired from the 40mm gun and 600 rounds from the chain gun [coaxial machine gun], achieving high levels of accuracy and reliability.”

March 26/08: Cannon. The British MoD decides that Warrior WFLIP and FRES-SV will use the Nexter/BAE CT40 gun and ammunition system. The design beats out Finmeccanica’s HITFIST-30 2-man turret with ATK’s Mk.44 30mm gun; and General Dynamics UK’s MK46 turret with Mk.44 gun as developed for the USMC’s amphibious EFV. Lockheed Martin Insys’ is designing a turret based on the existing Warrior design, adapted by Germany’s Rheinmetall Landsysteme. It was also reportedly slated to use the Mk.44, but the firm claims that its design is weapon-agnostic, and intends to continue competing. Jeffrey Strategic.

CT40 beats HITFIST

Dec 5/07: LMCO. Lockheed Martin UK announces successful testing of its WFLIP turret design, which combines ATK’s Bushmaster 30mm Mark 44 Cannon, on a modified Warrior turret with a dual axis stabilized BGTI (Battle Group Thermal Imaging) sight from Thales Optronics Limited. Rhinemetall Defence has designed the cannon, the mounting structure and the Ammunition Handling System. Curtiss-Wright is responsible for the turret stabilization.

The series of limited live firing trials was conducted at the Cranfield Ordnance Test & Evaluation Centre on Salisbury Plain Training Area. Through rapid prototyping Lockheed Martin has taken its WFLIP turret from an idea, through concept design, physical prototyping to live firing in just 33 weeks.

Additional Readings

• UK MoD – Medium Armoured Tracks Team (MATT). 2011 snapshot.

• British Army – Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

• Army Technology – Warrior Tracked Armoured Vehicles, United Kingdom.

• Wikipedia – Warrior Tracked Armored Vehicle.

• Lockheed Martin UK – Warrior fightability and lethality improvement programme (WFLIP). 2010 snapshot.

• Defence Management Journal (Issue 40) – The WFLIP dilemma. Discusses the choice of gun: ATK’s Mk44 30mm cannon, or the Franco-British CT40?

Americas

Boeing won a $22.5 million contract for Laser Small Diameter Bomb all up rounds and warhead shipping containers. The deal provides 522 all up rounds and 131 warhead shipping containers for use by US Special Operations Detachment 1. The GBU-39 is a 250 pounds precision-guides glide bomb that is intended to provide aircraft with the ability to carry a higher number of more accurate bombs. It uses an advanced anti-jam GPS-aided inertial navigation system to attack fixed or stationary targets, and carries a multipurpose penetrating blast-and-fragmentation warhead with a programmable fuze. Boeing will perform work at St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be complete by February 8, 2021.

The US Navy awarded Lockheed Martin a $13.9 million contract modification, which is for engineering services and travel for the AN/SLQ-32(V)6 upgrades design agent contract under the Surface Electronic Warfare Improvement Program or SEWIP. SEWIP is an evolutionary acquisition and incremental development program. AN/SLQ-32(V)6 upgrades the existing AN/SLQ-32(V) electronic warfare system by incorporating SEWIP Block 1B3 and SEWIP Block 2 systems. The AN/SLQ-32 is an electronic warfare system that provides powerful countermeasures protection for small and mid-size surface ships. The SLQ-32 systems feature a lens-fed multi-beam array that generates very high jamming power at continuous wave so that an almost unlimited variety of jamming techniques can be used. Work will take place in Syracuse, New York and estimated completion will be by September 2020.

Middle East & Africa

Colonel Terence Taylor, commander of Combined Joint Special Operations Air Component–Afghanistan, told reporters recently that the new AC-130J gunship are in high demand over Afghanistan. Taylor said the gunships were flying every night and so far clocked 218 sorties. The new aircraft’s missions are part of an increase in the pace of the air war following the collapse of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban in early September, and a vow by President Donald Trump “to hit our enemy harder” than ever before. The Air Force’s new AC-130J has been operating over Afghanistan for a little more than four months. The AC-130J Ghostwriter’s gunship comes with the standard 105 mm cannon and an additional 30 mm GAU-23/A cannon, along with wing pylons designed to haul both GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.

The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has notified Congress on the potential Foreign Military Sale to the United Arab Emirates of 10 CH-47F helicopters. The estimate cost for the package is $830.3 million. This request represents the 10th Foreign Military Sales request from the UAE since the start of fiscal 2017, for a total approximate worth of $10.5 billion. It is also the first Foreign Military Financing request cleared by the DSCA since the Trump administration declared a regional emergency in order to get several weapons packages pushed through Congress despite opposition on Capitol Hill, leading to bipartisan criticism of the move. The UAE bought its first lot of CH-47Fs, 16 aircraft for estimated total of $2 billion, in 2009.

Europe

Swedish Defense company Saab carried out the first flight tests with its new advanced Electronic Attack Jammer Pod (EAJP). Saab flew its EAJP on the Gripen combat aircraft for the first time on November 4, the company announced. According to Saab, the pod’s interfaces with the aircraft’s hardware and software, as well as cockpit control and monitoring, were tested during the flight. “The purpose of Saab’s new EAJP pod is to protect aircraft against radars by sophisticated jamming functions, thereby blocking the opponent’s ability to attack them,” the company added. The EAJP is part of Saab’s Arexis family of electronic warfare systems, and the test marked the latest milestone since the system was first briefed to reporters earlier in the year.

Asia-Pacific

Bell-Boeing won a $68.2 million delivery order, which provides non-recurring as well as recurring engineering associated with the development, qualification test, integration, airworthiness substantiation, flight test demonstration and validation/verification of the Japan unique configuration into MV-22 Block C aircraft and the MV-22 Containerized Flight Training Device. This effort also includes logistics and training efforts, to include post-delivery reach-back support, aircraft preservation and de-preservation, storage, aircraft transit support as well as the remaining unique kits and installs in support of the government of Japan. The V-22 is a multi-mission, tiltrotor military aircraft with both vertical takeoff and landing, and short takeoff and landing capabilities. It is designed to combine the functionality of a conventional helicopter with the long-range, high-speed cruise performance of a turboprop aircraft. Work will take place in Pennsylvania, Texas, Japan, Alabama, Kansas, Texas, Indiana, Virgnia, Alabama and is expected to be finished in August 2024.

Today’s Video

Watch: Sig Sauer presents Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW) for US Army

SDB concept
(click to view larger)

Nov 1/10: Boeing in St. Louis, MO receives a $106.4 million contract modification, exercising the Production Lot 7 (FY 2011) option for GBU-39 small diameter bombs, carriages, and technical support. At this time, the entire amount has been committed by the AAC/EBMK at Eglin Air Force Base, FL (FA8672-11-C-0034). Boeing’s Nov 9/10 release states that Lot 7 covers 2,700 GBU-39s and 280 GBU-61 carriages. Production Lots 1-5 delivered approximately 7,000 bombs and 1,200 carriages to the USAF, and Lot 6 production of 2,613 bombs and 472 carriages is more than 3 months ahead of schedule.

Unlike Raytheon’s GBU-53 SDB-II, Boeing’s SDB-I isn’t designed to attack moving targets. Instead, this GPS-guided weapon is more like the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), with a number of key design modifications. This specially shaped 250-pound bomb’s thin and pointed shape gives it extra punch against buildings and hardened targets, even though its warhead is only 50 pounds of explosive. Its pop-out glide wings and guidance set give it extended range, depending on the launching aircraft’s speed and altitude. The bombs are carried on a smart BRU-61/A 4-rack carriage, or in the internal weapon bay of planes like the F-22A Raptor. Either way, the SDB-I’s weight and compact design let aircraft carry far more smart bombs than they could otherwise.

Contracts & Events

November 11/19: All Up Rounds And Warhead Shipping Containers Boeing won a $22.5 million contract for Laser Small Diameter Bomb all up rounds and warhead shipping containers. The deal provides 522 all up rounds and 131 warhead shipping containers for use by US Special Operations Detachment 1. The GBU-39 is a 250 pounds precision-guides glide bomb that is intended to provide aircraft with the ability to carry a higher number of more accurate bombs. It uses an advanced anti-jam GPS-aided inertial navigation system to attack fixed or stationary targets, and carries a multipurpose penetrating blast-and-fragmentation warhead with a programmable fuze. Boeing will perform work at St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be complete by February 8, 2021.

January 5/18: Contract-FMS Boeing has been awarded a $193 million US Air Force contract by the Department of Defense (DoD), to provide GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb Increment 1 (SBD-1) to several foreign partner nations. Saudi Arabia, Japan, Israel, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Singapore will all benefit from the deal, and 6,000 SDB 1 all-up-rounds are being produced under the modification to the original Lots 12-14 production order. Production will take place at St. Louis, Mo., and deliveries will be completed by December 2020.

April 8/16: Australia has been cleared to purchase up to 2,950 GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs by the US State Department. The $386 million sale will include the provision of up to 50 Guided Test Vehicles (GTV) with GBU-39 (T-1)/B (Inert Fuze) as well as containers, weapons system support equipment, support and test equipment, site survey, transportation, repair and return warranties, spare and repair parts, publications and technical data, maintenance, personnel training, and training equipment. Included additionally are US Government and contractor representative engineering, logistics, and technical support services, and other related elements of logistics support.

November 12/15: Boeing has been awarded an Air Force contract modification covering Foreign Military Sales production of GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs. The $130.1 million modification covers deliveries of the weapons to foreign partners, with the contract modification running to 2019. Israel and Italy operate the munition outside of the United States. First initial production of the SDBI began in 2005, after a controversial decision to award Boeing a production order.

Americas

Lockheed Martin won a $184.6 million modification to establish organic depot level repair capabilities for F-35 systems under the low-rate initial production Lot 11 non-annualized sustainment contract in support of the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and non-Department of Defense participants. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather, stealth, fifth-generation, multirole combat aircraft. It is designed for ground attack and air superiority missions. Systems included under the contract modification are common components, conventional controls, surfaces and edges, electrical/mechanical activation, firewall shutoff valve, radar, wing flap actuator system, hydraulic power generation system, arresting gear, standby flight display, fuel system, exterior lighting, gun system control unit, filter modules, thermal management system fan, alternating current contactor module and rudder pedals. Estimated completion will be in March 2023.

The Naval Air Systems Command awarded Northrop Grumman a $32.5 million contract modification, which exercises the option for five aerial refueling retrofit kits, installations and technical data in support of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye aircraft. The aircraft is the the latest version of the Hawkeye and features an entirely new avionics suite including the new AN/APY-9 radar, radio suite, mission computer, integrated satellite communications, flight management system, improved T56-A-427A engines and a glass cockpit. The first E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft with aerial refueling capability has joined the US Navy’s fleet at Naval Station Norfolk in September. In April this year, the US Navy awarded a contract modification worth $3.2 billion to Northrop Grumman to deliver 24 E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne surveillance aircraft. Work will take place in Florida, New York, California, Maryland as well as England and other locations. Estimated completion will be in March 2021.

Middle East & Africa

Aljazeera reports that Sudan’s first satellite has been successfully launched into orbit. The satellite aims to develop research in space technology, acquire data, as well as discover natural resources for the country’s military needs. The Sudan Remote Sensing Satellite (SRSS-1) was developed by Chinese Shenzhen Aerospace Oriental Red Sea Satellite Company for both military and civilian applications. Xinhua, China’s state news agency, reported that the Sudan Remote Sensing Satellite (SRSS-1), was launched on Sunday from the northern Chinese province of Shanxi. Spokesman of the ruling body, Mohamed al-Faki Suleiman told AFP news agency that “in a few months the satellite would be monitored from Sudan”.

Europe

Airbus Defence and Space disclosed a plan for a Electronic Combat Reconnaissance (ECR)/Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) variant of the Eurofighter for Germany. Germany plans to replace its Tornado fighter, 40 of them are the ECR variant. Airbus wants to put escort jammer pods on the underwing stations while moving the 1,000 liter tanks to another station that has to be modified to carry fuel tanks. Speaking at the company’s Manching facility in southern Germany on November 5, Kurt Rossner, head of Air Combat, provided the first insight into Airbus DS plans for an Electronic Combat Reconnaissance (ECR)/Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) version of the Eurofighter to replace the Luftwaffe’s Tornado ECR aircraft. This Tornado ECR replacement covers 40 aircraft as part of the wider Tornado IDR/ECR replacement program for 85 aircraft.

Asia-Pacific

A new report from Taiwan’s Up Media says the military is reassessing a plan to buy the land-based Phalanx weapons system to help protect its underground Air Bases at Hualien and Taitung. Although Taiwan had floated a tender to buy the system, it had yet to receive a response from the United States. The Ministry of National Defense is evaluating whether the protection offered by the land-based Phalanx system will overlap with the Air Force’s Oerlikon 35 mm twin cannon. The Orelikon has been upgraded to GDF-006 standard with AHEAD rounds. The Phalanx weapon system is a rapid-fire, computer-controlled, radar-guided gun that can defeat anti-ship missiles and other close-in threats on land and at sea.

Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) launched the second Soryu Class diesel-electric attack submarine for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force equipped with lithium-ion batteries. The 84 m-long boat, which has been named Toryu, entered the water on November 6 in a ceremony held at KHI’s facilities in Kobe. The launch comes after GS Yuasa, a Kyoto-based developer and manufacturer of battery systems, announced in February 2017 that Japan would become the first country in the world to equip SSKs with lithium-ion batteries in place of lead-acid batteries.

Today’s Video

Watch: Just How Powerful is USA 20mm Phalanx CIWS

The European Defence Agency’s (EDA) Cyber Ranges Federation project, in which 11 Member States federate their national cyber ranges and thereby improve their respective cyber defence training capabilities, reached an important milestone with the successful multinational demonstration exercise held in Helsinki. The event, co-organised by the Finnish MoD and EDA, was attended and supported by experts from several contributing countries (Finland, Estonia, Sweden, Latvia) as well as the European Space Agency (ESA). 

Two and a half years after the launch of the Cyber Ranges Federation project (the first ever cyber defence pooling & sharing project initiated by the Agency), the objective of the live demonstration was to showcase the practical implications and benefits of connecting and jointly using Member States’ cyber ranges in order to improve and expand each one’s cyber training capabilities. The event allowed participants to witness first-hand what the project aims to achieve and how it has already enhanced the cyber expertise and skills of each of the contributing Member States. 

Practically speaking, the event consisted of a live fire exercise, based on a fictive but realistic training scenario, in which one team had to respond to and defend itself against cyber attacks from another. The exercise used SD-WAN technology as the backbone network technology. The participating national cyber ranges as well as the European Space Agency’s were all interconnected and interacting in real time, with and each of them having its own particular role to play in the exercise.

The demonstration event was part of the ‘European Union’s combined Cyber and Hybrid Week’ which is currently being held in Helsinki under the auspices of the Finnish EU Presidency. The aim of the week is to create synergies by combining three independent events: EDA’s Project Team Cyber Meeting (5-6 November), EDA’s Cyber Ranges Demo Event (6 November) and the Cyber Power in Hybrid Warfare-symposium organised by the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (7-8 November).

“Finland, as an active player in Cyber domain, has been honoured to be in the lead of this project since Sept 2018. Finalizing challenging project is always a result of good and fruitful cooperation – in this case between 11 contributing member states. It´s very significant to continue developing just established Cyber Ranges Federation platform in the future”, said Jukka Juusti, Permanent Secretary of Finnish Ministry of Defence.

“There isn’t probably a domain from which more new security threats are emerging than from cyber. Therefore, stepping up our common cyber defence is a matter of priority and urgency, as it is also reflected in the revised European Capability Development Priorities approved last year. By pooling and sharing their national cyber ranges, participating Member States will be able to improve their joint training conditions and, as a result, strengthen their cyber resilience. This successful exercise has shown that we are on the right path”, said Jorge Domecq, EDA’s Chief Executive. 

“It is now well ascertained that space systems play a crucial role in the security, wellbeing and economic success of Europe. Protecting space assets from cyber threats is therefore a key priority and technological challenge. ESA has a duty to protect its Member States’ investments in space. Today we witnessed a successful demonstration of the ESA-EDA partnership. A partnership that will continue to be instrumental in increasing Europe’s cyber resilience, namely through strengthening cyber response skills and capabilities in ESA. Todays` significant exercise illustrates our existing cyber resilience capabilities located in the European Space Security and Education Centre in Belgium. Cyber threats are constantly evolving. We must therefore maintain and strengthen our capabilities and have made the necessary funding proposals to the Council at Ministerial level to be held in late November. The vitality of our cooperation with EDA and its Member States will continue to play an important role in the future. This is therefore but a beginning, as we are currently considering the creation of a Joint ESA-EDA Cyber Resilience Task Force to further explore cooperation avenues, including with other European partners,” added Jan Woerner, ESA’s Director General.
 

Background

The aim of EDA’s Cyber Ranges Federation project is to develop a more sophisticated and powerful platform for cyber training purposes connecting Member States´ national Cyber Ranges to one another and enabling other countries, which don’t have their cyber ranges, to train and improve their cyber defence skills nevertheless. A European federation of cyber ranges, i.e. the availability of mutually accessible cyber defence training and exercise ranges, may in the future leverage other benefits, such as cyber research ranges and cyber simulation & test ranges.
 

Contacts:

• Finnish MoD spokesperson: harri.reini@defmin.fi
• EDA spokesperson: elisabeth.schoeffmann@eda.europa.eu
• ESA spokesperson: florent.mazurelle@esa.int
  
  
  

Americas

Aptiv Services won a $28.4 million contract for F-15 aircraft electrical special purpose cable assemblies. Using military service is the US Air Force. The F-15 Eagle has been the US Air Force’s primary fighter jet aircraft and intercept platform for decades. The aircraft has electronic systems and weaponry to detect, acquire, track and attack enemy aircraft while operating in friendly or enemy-controlled airspace. The weapons and flight control systems are designed so one person can safely and effectively perform air-to-air combat. Aptiv Services US, LLC designs and engineers a variety of automotive systems and components. The Company manufactures fuel cells, entertainment systems, sensors, powertrain systems, driver interfaces, and security devices. The company will perform work in California. Estimated performance completion date is November 5, 2024.

The US Navy is reportedly preparing to sign a contract for nine Virginia Class Attack submarines. Eight of them will include an 84-foot section that boosts the boat’s strike missile capacity. Bloomberg reports that the Navy has reached an agreement with General Dynamics. The contract will also include an option for a 10th boat if needed. The news comes after the Virginia Class program has seen creeping delays and slipping profits in recent years caused by labor issues and a strained submarine industrial supply base. “We have reached a multiyear” agreement “and are working to announce a contract” by December 31, Navy spokesman Captain Danny Hernandez said in a statement. It “will achieve significant savings, will include important lethality enhancements,” and “provide critical stability to the industrial base. Further information will be available upon contract award,” he said.

Middle East & Africa

Iran reportedly said Tuesday it will begin injecting uranium gas into more than 1,000 centrifuges at its Fordow enrichment plant. Since the nuclear deal was struck in 2015, the centrifuges at the Fordow plant had actually spun empty. According to president Hassan Rouhani, the gas injection will begin Wednesday. He also states that the country’s new activities will be under the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) supervision. On the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the “Iran deal” or the “Iran nuclear deal“, on May 8, 2019, Tehran decided to reduce its commitments to the JCPOA, based on Article 26 and 36, and set a deadline for Europeans to remedy breaches. The move is the fourth step away from the JCPOA, which was brokered four years ago between Tehran and a coalition including the United States, Britain, Russia, France, Germany, China and the European Union. The Iranian leader said, however, that each step Tehran has taken away from the agreement can be reversed if the United States agrees to lift economic sanctions it imposed in place of the nuclear deal.

Europe

Finland has issued a call for revised tenders for its F/A-18 replacement contest, local media reports. All five contenders were reportedly given the documents on October 31. They have until January 31 next year to submit their response. The calls for tenders allows those companies to revise their bids to the comply with what was negotiated with Finland during the initial bids. The fighter jets under consideration in the so-called HX Fighter Program are Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Lockheed Martin F-35 and Saab Gripen. The goal of the project is to replace the aging fighter jet fleet with up to 64 multi-role fighter jets that meet the requirements of the operating environment.

Asia-Pacific

Vietnam has mounted its KCT 15 anti-ship missile on Pohang Class Flight III corvette HQ-20. It has also been reported that the Igla anti-air missile has been mounted on another corvette HQ-18. The Pohang is a class of Patrol Combat Corvette originally of the Republic of Korea Navy. The Vietnamese Pohang Flight III Class submarine guard installed their own versions of the Russian 3K24E, the Uran-E anti-ship missile on a Pohang type corvette received at the end of 2018 as military aid from the South Korean Navy. Vietnam became the second country in the Asia-Pacific region to develop its own missile based on the Russian 3M24 Uranus. The first such country was North Korea, which previously showed images of a missile that looked very much like a Russian medium-range anti-ship missile. The Vietnamese version is designated KCT 15 and is the result of technology transfer from Russia. The nature of the program is still unclear: it remains to be seen whether Vietnam will organize full-cycle production, or whether it is only an assembly from Russian components.

The Indonesian Air Force is planning to procure two squadrons of Lockheed Martin’s F-16V (Viper) Block 70/72 Fighting Falcon multirole combat aircraft. The procurement is planned to coincide with the third and final phase of the TNI-AU’s modernization program called Minimum Essential Force (MEF). The program runs from 2020 until 2024. During this phase, the TNI-AU also plans to finalize its planned procurement of Sukhoi Su-35 fighter aircraft from Russia. The Indonesian Air Force currently operates some 36 older-variant F-16s, including 24 F-16C/D Block 25s transferred to Indonesia as Excess Defense Articles after first undergoing an upgrade to Block 52 status under a $670 million US government-to-government Foreign Military Sales agreement. This sale included six additional F-16s that are used solely for spare parts.

Today’s Video

Watch: UGVs Unmanned Ground Vehicles for Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light (RCV-L) program of US Army AUSA 2019

Americas

The Naval Air System Command awarded Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office a $146 million contract modification, which exercises the option to upgrade nine MV-22 aircraft from the Block B to the Block C configuration, as well as planned maintenance intervals for eight MV-22 aircraft, in support of the Common Configuration-Readiness and Modernization (CC-RAM) program. The MV-22 Osprey is the primary assault support aircraft for the US Marine Corps. It was fielded to replace the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter and has been deployed to support troops in combat since 2007. The new Block C variant of the aircraft features a new weather radar system that improves navigation in poor weather conditions and a redesigned environmental conditioning system to enhance aircrew comfort. More than 160 Osprey tiltrotors are currently in operation and the worldwide fleet has amassed more than 130,000 flight hours, with nearly half of those hours logged in the past two years. Work will take place in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania and Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be finished by March 2022.

Lockheed Martin Space won a $40.3 million modification for TRIDENT II (D5) missile production and deployed systems support. The Trident II (D5) is the latest generation of the US Navy’s submarine-launched fleet ballistic missiles, following the highly successful Polaris, Poseidon, and Trident I C4 programs. Each generation has been continuously deployed at sea as a survivable retaliatory force and has been routinely operationally tested and evaluated to maintain confidence and credibility in the deterrent. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company is the Navy’s Trident missile prime contractor. Lockheed Martin employees, principally in California, Georgia, Florida, Washington, Utah, Virginia and Scotland, support the design, development, production, test, and operation and sustainment of the Trident Strategic Weapon System. The company also supplies technical and logistical support at sites where the missiles are deployed. Estimated completion date for work under the contract modification will be September 30, 2024.

Middle East & Africa

Egyptian President Abd al-Fattah as-Sisi has said that military-owned industrial organizations could be included in the country’s privatization program, according to Reuters. Last year, the government said it planned to sell minority stakes in 23 state-owned companies in an initial phase of privatization, part of a plan to raise up to $4.97 billion. Speaking on October 31 while opening two military-owned chemical plants in Abu Rawash, el-Sisi remarked that military companies should be listed on the Egyptian Exchange or opened to foreign investment. “The offerings being prepared by the Egyptian state should include a chance (for) the Armed Forces companies. In this way we will have opened a door for the Egyptian people and society to these companies,” Sisi said at the ceremony.

Europe

Hesco Bastion Inc. won a $24 million contract for the Expeditionary Barrier System. This is a 10-month, 300-day bridge contract. Hesco’s earth-filled barriers are designed to form compartmentalized areas to keep soldiers safe from indirect and direct fire. The units are lined with a heavy-duty polypropylene geotextile and filled with available material using commonly available equipment. Location of performance are South Carolina as well as the United Kingdom. Estimated completion will be on September 1, 2020.

Asia-Pacific

Boeing won a $34.2 million delivery order, which provides for the non-recurring engineering, logistics product data, 28 Group A-1 retrofit kits, 28 Group A-2 retrofit kits, and 28 Group B retrofit kits for incorporation of the Distributed Targeting Processor-Network into the F/A-18 aircraft for the Navy and the Government of Australia. The F/A-18 “Hornet” is a single- and two-seat, twin engine, multi-mission fighter/attack aircraft that can operate from either aircraft carriers or land bases. Boeing will perform work in St. Louis, Missouri, China Lake, California, and Whidbey Island, Washington. Expected completion is in June 2022.

Armenia will take delivery of its Su-30SM fighters by February 2020, Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan has disclosed. The jets will either be handed over next month or in January and February of 2020, local media reports. The Sukhoi Su-30 is a Russian-made twin-engine, two-seat supermaneuverable fighter aircraft. It is a multirole fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions. The Su-30SM is considered a 4+ generation fighter jet. The aircraft has been upgraded for radar, radio communications systems, friend-or-foe identification system, ejection seats, weapons, and other aircraft systems. SM stands for „Serial, Modernized“.

Today’s Video

Watch: US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford completes Post-Shakedown Availability sea trials

Americas

General Dynamics Land Systems won a $9 million contract modification for Abrams systems technical support. The M1 Abrams is a third-generation Main Battle Tank. The General Dynamics Land Systems-built M1 Abrams battle tank is in service with the US Army and US Marine Corps. Other users include land forces in Kuwait, Egypt, Australia, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The M1 Abrams MBT has been the mainstay of the US Army’s armor branch for 40 years. It is one of the heaviest tanks in service. Work under the modification will take place in Sterling Heights, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of September 30, 2021.

The US Air Force Life Cycle Management Center awarded Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials a $13.4 million deal for sustainment of the B-1B aircraft. The Rockwell B-1B Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the USAF. The deal provides 48 shield mild detonating cord (SMDC) kits for B-1B aircraft; with each kit containing 461 SMDC lines. The B-1 is a highly versatile, multi-mission weapon system. The B-1B’s synthetic aperture radar is capable of tracking, targeting and engaging moving vehicles as well as self-targeting and terrain-following modes. In addition, an extremely accurate Global Positioning System-aided Inertial Navigation System enables aircrews to navigate without the aid of ground-based navigation aids as well as engage targets with a high level of precision. Work will take place at Hollister, California. Estimated completion will be in June 30, 2023.

Middle East & Africa

Israel’s new Air Force One flew for the very first time on November 3. An Israeli version of Air Force One took off Sunday for its first test flight after two years of preparation. The aircraft was unveiled on October 31, when a test run at Ben Gurion Airport ahead of its first takeoff was shadowed by a brake malfunction that prompted officials to briefly declare an emergency alert. The Boeing 767-300ER aircraft will be used by the prime minister and the president for official visits abroad. The aircraft’s official name is 4X-ISR. “4X” is part of the name of all Israeli aircraft, and the remaining letters are meant to signify that it is the official plane of the State of Israel.

Europe

Saab and Raytheon successfully finished a series of guided flight tests for the shoulder-launched guided Carl-Gustaf munition, the companies announced. The US Armed Forces as well as the Ground Forces of more than 40 countries use Saab’s Carl-Gustaf weapon system. The guided munition will allow Armed Forces to accurately engage stationary or moving targets up to, and beyond 2,000 meters. The increased range, in combination with a Confined Space capability will offer troops greater tactical flexibility when selecting a firing position. The tests were performed at the Mile High Range in Sierra Blanca, Texas, United States and at Saab Bofors Test Center in Karlskoga, Sweden. “The Guided Carl-Gustaf Munition is a next step in the evolution of the Carl-Gustaf system. It will be the most advanced Carl-Gustaf munition yet and will offer greater precision, minimize collateral damage and deliver outstanding performance with pin-point accuracy and multi-target capability,” says Görgen Johansson, Head of Saab business area Dynamics.

Asia-Pacific

Raytheon Missile Systems won a sole source, cost only contract modification to increase the CLIN 0014 undefinitized contract action not-to-exceed value by $267.2 million from $387.2 billion to $654.4 billion. Under the modification the “pacing items only” restriction is removed and the contractor is now authorized to work the full, unchanged, effort to manufacture, assemble, test and deliver 20 Standard Missile-3 Block IIA missiles and related efforts, and four missiles under Foreign Military Sales case JA-P-ATB to Japan. SM-3 Block IIA is a weapon system, the US Navy uses to target short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles and a key part of the European missile defense system. It has a larger kinetic warhead and rocket motors built to home in on ballistic missile threats.

The Indian Air Force will retire its MiG-27 on December 31, local media reports. Also named Bahadur in India, the Soviet MiG-27 was introduced into the IAF in 1984 and over the years served seven operational squadrons and other combat training and tactics-evaluation establishments. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited built 165 of these aircraft and in 2004 HAL began upgrading some of these aircraft, christened MiG-27 UPG, to enhance their combat capability and extend their service life. The aircraft are armed with rockets, bombs and air-to-surface missiles. The MiG-27 formed an important element of the IAF’s ground attack and tactical close support capability.

Today’s Video

Watch: Indian Defence Updates : FOC Tejas 1st Flight,K4 SLBM Test,4 Type-54 Frigate PAK,114 Dhanush By 2022

Americas

November 4/19: Sustainment General Dynamics Mission Systems, won a $90.7 million contract for sustainment of the Littoral Combat Ship Integrated Combat Management System and associated combat system elements. Work includes development, integration, test and delivery of future combat system baseline upgrades for in-service ships, supporting ship integration, installation and checkout, developmental test/operational test, developing training and logistics products, support for field baselines. General Dynamics Mission Systems will develop, integrate, test and deliver baseline modifications for the LCS ICMS and support the integration of upgrades into in-service vessels. Naval Sea Systems Command will obligate $1M at the time of the award from the Navy’s fiscal 2018 other procurement funds. Work will take place in Massachusetts, California and Alabama. Estimated completion will be in October 2024.

The Naval Sea Systems Command awarded Raytheon an $11.5 million modification to exercise options for DDG 1000 ship class integrated logistics support and engineering services. DDG 1000 combat systems provide offensive, distributed and precise firepower, and long ranges in support of forces ashore, while incorporating signature reduction, active and passive self-defense systems and enhanced survivability features. DDG 1000 or USS Zumwalt is a guided missile destroyer. The Zumwalt Class destroyers are designed as multi-mission stealth ships with focus on land attack. Work under the contract modification will take place in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, California, New Hampshire, Maine, California, and Indiana. Estimated completion is expected to be by October next year.

Middle East & Africa

Raytheon won a $22.3 million contract modification for the Qatar Air Missile Defense Operation Center or ADOC. The modification is for the procurement of the outside continental US transfer of ADOC prime mission equipment, installation of ADOC PME, integration activities, training of ADOC operators, and development of a communications cabinet. The modification is a Foreign Military Sale to Qatar. Work will take place in Massachusetts as well as Qatar. Expected completion will be by May 31, 2020.

The Israeli Air Force says its F-35 will be participating in Exercise Blue Flag from November 3 to November 14 at Uvda Air Base. Germany, Italy, Greece and the United States are participating as well. The Blue Flag exercise will have a significant impact on the Air Force, the IDF and the State of Israel as a whole. The exercise will include over a thousand air crew, technical and administrative personnel from different Air Forces. During the exercise, dozens of aircraft, both international and Israeli, will be deployed and will practice air-to-air and air-to-ground combat scenarios, dealing with advanced SAM threats as well as enemy combat scenarios.

Europe

The State Department approved a sale of UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters and related equipment to Croatia for an estimated cost of $115 million. “The sale of these UH-60 helicopters to Croatia will significantly increase its capability to provide troop lift, border security, counterterrorism, medical evacuation, search and rescue, re-supply/external lift, and combat support. These UH-60 helicopters will allow for interoperability with US and NATO forces in rapid response to a variety of missions and quick positioning of troops with minimal helicopter assets,” the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said. If the proposed sale is approved by Congress, the new helicopters will join a pair of UH-60Ms that will be donated by the US government in 2020. At the time the donation was announced in October 2018, the Croatian Ministry of Defense said the helicopters would be used for airborne assault, air-medical evacuation, casualty evacuation, search and rescue, surveillance, command, troop and cargo transport and, if armed, for firing weapons such as rockets.

Asia-Pacific

Taiwan will be upgrading the avionics of its C-130H fleet and it is likely that the Rockwell Collins Flight2 system will form the core of the upgrade. National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology will be the project manager and Air Asia plus Canada’s Cascade will be carrying out the upgrades. Taiwan’s Republic of China Air Force has purchased 20 C-130Hs from the United States Air Force. Flight2 is built on architecture compliant with Communications, Navigation, Surveillance and Air Traffic Management Systems (CNS/ATM), supportable and sustainable to meet existing and future aviation mandate requirements.

Today’s Video

Watch: Stryker A1 IM-SHORAD: Precise Short-Range Air Defense

Americas

Boeing won a $62.3 million contract modification for performance-based logistics support for the AH-64D/E Apache Attack helicopter. The AH-64 Apache is the Army’s heavy division/corps attack helicopter. The AH-64D Longbow remanufacture effort incorporates a millimeter wave fire control radar, radar frequency interferometer, fire-and-forget radar-guided HELLFIRE missile and cockpit management and digitization enhancements. The helo has a four-blade main rotor and a four-blade tail rotor. The crew sits in tandem, with the pilot sitting behind and above the copilot/gunner. Both crew members are capable of flying the aircraft and performing methods of weapon engagements independently. Work will take place in Mesa, Arizona. Estimated completion date will be April 30, 2024.

Boeing won a $17.6 million modification, which exercises an option to perform 27 modifications in support of the Increment 3 Block I retrofit requirement for P-8A aircraft for the Navy and the government of Australia. The Increment 3 focuses on network ready open architecture and net-enabled weapons. The program consists in the integration of the Harpoon Block II+ anti-ship missile and Link 16 datalink, targeting improvements, and various communications upgrades. The P-8A already in service with the US Navy will all be retrofitted to the Increment 3 standard. The P8-A is expected to have a completely upgraded software by 2022, in time to become fully operational in 2023. Boeing will perform work in Washington, Australia and Arizona and estimated completion will be in September, 2021.

Middle East & Africa

The Bahrain Defense Force (BDF) unveiled the Faisal Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) that it has developed during the Bahrain International Defense Exhibition and Conference (BIDEC) held between October 28 and October 30. The BDF said the Faisal is the first armored vehicle to be designed and developed by its Technical Maintenance Unit. It said the 4×4 vehicle can carry up to eight people, has B6-level armored protection and a V-shaped hull that ensures maximum protection against explosive devices. It is equipped with an automatic fire-suppression system, central tyre inflation system, and external security cameras.

Europe

The US and German Armies signed an agreement targeting an unprecedented level of interoperability between their formations within seven years, Defense News reports. By 2027, the two countries’ ground forces want to push interoperability, which means that both forces work seamlessly on the same tactical objective, to what a statement calls an “integrated level” in both regional and global operations. Additional objectives include aligning the information systems of both militaries so that there is a common procedure at the brigade and division levels for intelligence collection and sharing as well as and joint targeting.

Asia-Pacific

The NAWCAD awarded BAE Systems a $69.2 million contract for 931,200 man hours of installation and certification technical support to the Combat Integration and Identification Systems Devision, Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Webster Outlying Field. The deal is in support of the US Navy as well as the governments of Japan, South Korea and Australia. Work will take place in Maryland and estimated completion will be in April 2025.

Lockheed Martin won a $10.6 million modification, which provides for the development and delivery of an enhanced simulator database and project management support for the F-35 aircraft of Japan. The F-35 Lightning II is designed and built to counter the most advanced airborne and ground-based threats. Japan’s program of record is 147 aircraft. In December 2018, the Japan Ministry of Defense announced its decision to increase its procurement of F-35s from 42 to 147. They stated the aircraft will be a mix of 105 F-35As and 42 STOVLS. The F-35 possesses 5th Generation capabilities that are not found on legacy 4th Generation fighters: very low observable stealth coupled with full fighter performance, advanced sensors and sensor fusion, network-enabled operations and advanced sustainment. Work under the contract modification will take place in Florida and Texas and estimated completion will be in July 2021.

Today’s Video

Watch: BIDEC 2019 Bahrain International Defense Exhibition Manama army show daily News Day 3

Americas

L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace won a $30 million contract modification for contractor logistics support of the Air Force C-12 fleet. The Beechcraft C-12 Huron is based on the Super King and 1900 series platforms and serves with the United States military as a utility transport among other roles. The Beechcraft Super King Air civilian utility aircraft forms the basis of the US military’s C-12 “Huron” military-minded hauler. The type was introduced in 1974 and maintains an active presence in the air fleets of the United States Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines. Work will take place in Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma, as well as other places in the US, Argentina, Botswana, Brazil, Columbia, Egypt. Ghana, Hondura, Hungary, Nairobi, Kenya, Morocco, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey, Norway sonf Japan. Estimated completion will be by December 31, 2020.

Huntington Ingalls Industries announced that it delivered the fast-attack submarine, the ninth Virginia Class vessel it has built, to the US Navy ahead of its commissioning next year. The nuclear-powered vessel completed sea trials earlier this month, and is the Navy’s 18th Virginia Class submarine, the company announced. The commissioning of the USS Delaware is scheduled for April 4, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. Delivery to the Navy was made on Friday. The submarine will be the seventh Navy vessel to carry the state’s name. The purchase of at 20 more Virginia Class vessels, replacing the Los Angeles Class, is planned through 2043. They are designed for open-ocean and littoral missions, anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, strike warfare, special operation forces support, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, irregular warfare and mine warfare missions.

Middle East & Africa

Israel Defense reports that the Egyptian Navy wants to upgrade its Submarine warfare capabilities, which could potentially pose a threat to Israel. As part of its expedited force build-up process of the last decade, the Egyptian Navy is interested in improving its submarine warfare capabilities. The Egyptians are conducting negotiations with the Chinese regarding the acquisition of additional submarines. The Egyptian Navy embarked on an expedited force build-up process about ten years ago. As part of this process, the Egyptians acquired four U-209 type submarines from Germany; surface vessels from the US, Russia, Germany and France; cutting-edge missile and torpedo systems; anti-aircraft systems; Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) helicopters; communication, command and control systems; upgrading of old vessels and more.

Europe

In 2021, HMS Queen Elizabeth will deploy with two frigates, two destroyers, a nuclear submarine and support vessels. The HMS Queen Elizabeth will be escorted by two Type 45 destroyers, two Type 23 frigates, a nuclear submarine, a Tide Class tanker and RFA Fort Victoria. The ship will also carry 24 F-35B jets, including US Marine Corps aircraft, in addition to a number of helicopters. Prior to the deployment, it is understood that the Queen Elizabeth carrier strike group will go through a work-up trial off the west Hebrides range sometime in early 2021. It is understood that the 2021 deployment will see the Carrier Strike Group sail in the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf and end up in the Pacific.

Asia-Pacific

The Republic of China Army officially retired its UH-1H fleet on October 30 and declared the UH-60M fleet fully operational. A ceremony was held at Tai Chung Lung Hsiang base to mark the event, local media reports. The UH-1 has been in service on the island for 50 years. It will be replaced by the UH-60. H-1 Iroquois is a military medium-sized general-purpose helicopter designed and built by Bell Helicopter in the United States, UH-1 is designed for multi-purpose, from performing transportation and supply operations to attack missions and its U stands for utility. The UH-1 was the first turbine-powered helicopter to enter production for the United States military.

The US State Department approved a possible Foreign Military Sale to Japan for the upgrade of up to ninety-eight F-15J aircraft to a Japanese Super Interceptor (JSI) configuration for an estimated cost of $4.5 billion. The F-15J is the Japanese version of the McDonnell Douglas F-15C and is manufactured under license by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. McDonnell Douglas and the F-15 product line were purchased by Boeing in 1997. As part of the modernization package, the government of Japan is asking for 103 Raytheon APG-82(v)1 active electronically scanned array radars; 116 Boeing Advanced Display Core Processor II mission system computers; and 101 BAE Systems ALQ-239 digital electronic warfare systems to be installed in the F-15J fleet.

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Americas

Lockheed Martin won a $7 billion modification, which provides for the procurement of additional 114 F-35 aircraft. The deal, which updates an earlier procurement contract, covers aircraft and other considerations for the Defense Department as well as F-35 partner nations and other foreign customers. Of the 114 aircraft in the agreement, 48 are F-35As for the Air Force; 20 are Marine Corps F-35Bs; and nine are Navy F-35Cs. The US will receive 77 total aircraft, while 15 F-35As will go to Australia, 12 F-35As will go to Norway, and eight F-35As and two F-35Bs will go to Italy. The contract also covers funds to supply parts that have become harder to find, as well as software data, safety items, engineering services, and more. Lockheed will partner with Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems on the bulk of the work. Estimated completion will be in March 2023.

The US Navy awarded IAP Worldwide a $84.6 million contract modification, which exercises an option to provide logistics services in support of the E-6B aircraft and the requirement for parts industry management and support equipment maintenance for the E-6B aircraft. The Navy’s E-6B Mercury is based on a Boeing 707 commercial plane. The aircraft is part of the Navy’s “Take Charge and Move Out” community. The USA’s E-6 Mercury “survivable airborne communication system” airplanes support their Navy’s SSBN ballistic missile submarine force and overall strategic forces. Work will take place in Oklahoma, Nebraska, California and Maryland and is scheduled to be finished in November 2020.

Middle East & Africa

Turkey and Russia are currently negotiating to finalize a potential deal on the Russian made SU-35 fighter aircraft. „The talks have quite matured,” a senior Turkish procurement official told Defense News on the condition of anonymity. “A deal does not appear to be too distant.” Ankara and Moscow are reportedly also discussing potentially co-manufacturing a few components of the jets. If penned, an Su-35 deal will be Turkey’s second major purchase of weapons systems from Russia. To the dismay of its NATO allies, Turkey acquired the Russian-made S-400 long-range air defense system. The S-400s were delivered to the Turkish military in August. The Su-35 is a 4.5-generation aircraft.

On the evening of October 26, 2019, in Syria’s Idlib Province, a US special operations raid occurred, in which Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died at his own hands. He was the founder and leader of the Islamic State militant group. The Pentagon now announced that multiple AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles had been used to destroy the Islamic State group leader’s hideout in Syria following the raid that resulted in his death. In addition to JASSMs, US Forces used guided bombs, Hellfire missiles, miniguns, and other small-arms fire on the compound. News agencies published photographs of the site taken after the raid that show piles of rubble, with no free-standing buildings left. The incident marked the second time JASSMs have been used in Syria. In April 2018, B-1 bombers launched 19 of the missiles at the Syrian regime’s chemical weapons production facilities as part of a large strike, which also included 57 Tomahawk missiles. JASSM family missiles are guided by a combination of GPS/INS positioning en route, and Imaging Infrared (IIR) for final targeting. They carry a dual-mode penetrator and blast fragmentation warhead at subsonic speed, in a body shape designed to have a very low radar profile.

Europe

European country Bulgaria is planning to upgrade its T-72M1 main battle tanks (MBTs) in the near term while continuing rolling overhauls, Jane’s reports. The T-72M1 overhauls are being carried out at the Bulgarian TEREM-Khan Krum plant in Targovishte, a subsidiary of the TEREM EAD holding company. The standard T-72M1 weighs around 43 tonnes and is powered by the V-46-6 diesel developing 780 hp that gives a power-to-weight ratio of 18.1 hp/tonne. This gives a maximum road speed of 60 km/h, with a speed on a dirt road of 35 to 40 km/h.

Asia-Pacific

The Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN’s) last operational Adelaide Class guided-missile frigate, HMAS Melbourne, was decommissioned in a ceremony held on October 26 at its home port of Fleet Base East, Garden Island in Sydney. During its 27 years in service the 4,260-tonne frigate was deployed on operations to the Middle East eight times and earned battle honors for service in East Timor, the Persian Gulf, and Middle East. The 138-meter warship was the only missile frigate left in the fleet of six, after HMAS Newcastle was decommissioned in June. Her departure will make way for a more modern fleet of warships.

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Americas

The US Air Force has decided to buy two to three A-29 and AT-6 light attack aircraft. The final request for proposal was published on October 24. The A-29 will be deployed at Hurlburt Field, Florida, by Air Force Special Operations Command to develop an instructor pilot program for the Combat Aviation Advisory mission. The contract award is expected to be end of the year. The AT-6 will be going to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, for continued testing and development of operational tactics and standards for exportable, tactical networks by Air Combat Command. The propeller-driven planes will be part of the Light Air Support program of the Air Force, which seeks a light counter-insurgency, ground attack and reconnaissance aircraft. The Air Force and US Navy have flown both planes since 2017 to assess their capabilities.

The USS Gerald R. Ford completed a five-day pierside exercise, the US Navy announced, although it may not be ready for service until 2024. The “fast cruise,” a final exercise in the ship’s 15-month Post Shakedown Availability series of tests, put Navy personnel into scenarios that tested their ability to respond to challenging situations while still at the Huntington Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding site in Virginia. Upcoming tests include the Full Ship Shock Trial, in which explosives are detonated near a new Navy vessel to simulate near-misses in a battlefield environment to test the validity of the ship’s construction.

Middle East & Africa

Turkish president Erdogan and Russian president Putin agreed on a 10-point plan under which Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units (YPG) will be removed from most of the Syrian border east of the Euphrates river. From Tuesday on, Russian and Turkish forces will start to patrol a narrower, 10 kilometer strip of land in northeast Syria. Ankara views the YPG as a terrorist organization linked to Kurdish insurgents in southeast Turkey. Its Syrian offensive, launched after President Donald Trump pulled out 1,000 US troops from the area, drew criticism from Turkey’s NATO allies. Russia has already warned the YPG that it will face the full force of Turkey’s army, the second biggest in NATO, if it fails to withdraw its fighters and weapons from the designated area in northeast Syria within the agreed deadline.

Europe

The Royal Air Force has retired its Short Tucano at RAF Linton-on-Ouse after 30 years of service. They were trainer planes for pilots wanting to progress onto fast jets. As 72 Squadron will move from North Yorkshire to Wales, the Tucano’s replacement aircraft, the Texan, will enter service. The plane was first built in Belfast and conducted its maiden flight in Brazil in 1986. “The Tucano represents a different generation of aircraft, where the cockpits have instruments that look like clocks,” explained Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston.

The Czech Republic became the sixth country to join the European Union/NATO Multinational Multi Role Tanker Transport Fleet (MMF). NATO announced on October 24 that the country had joined Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Norway in operating eight Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft in an attempt to offset some of Europe’s reliance on the United States for aerial-refueling services. This initiative was launched by the Netherlands and Luxembourg in 2016 and aims to boost the ability of European allies to refuel aircraft in mid-air. The initiative has been supported by NATO and the European Union. The aircraft are owned by NATO and procured by the NATO Support and Procurement Agency through the Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation.

Asia-Pacific

The Indian Air Force testifired two BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles on October 21 and October 22. The Diplomat reports that the aim of the test launches was to validate the IAF’s ability to hit targets at a distance of up to 300 kilometers with pinpoint accuracy. The missiles were fired in operational configuration to assess mission readiness and swift deployment of the tactical missile over long distance. The BrahMos is a derivative of the Russian-made P-800 Oniks over-the-horizon supersonic anti-ship cruise missile with a range estimated at between 300 to 400 kilometers. It is thought to be capable of reaching top speeds of up to Mach 3.

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Americas

Honeywell International won a $77.1 million contract modification for an additional three years of pricing in support of the F/A-18 aircraft. The F/A-18 “Hornet” is a single- and two-seat, twin engine, multi-mission fighter/attack aircraft that can operate from either aircraft carriers or land bases. The F/A-18 fills a variety of roles: air superiority, fighter escort, suppression of enemy air defenses, reconnaissance, forward air control, close and deep air support, and day and night strike missions. The F/A-18 Hornet replaced the F-4 Phantom II fighter and A-7 Corsair II light attack jet, and also replaced the A-6 Intruder as these aircraft were retired during the 1990s. Honeywell will perform work in Arizona and estimated completion is in October 9, 2022.

Lockheed Martin won a $148.4 million order, which procures durability testing support for the certification of the F-35B aircraft variant to a minimum of 8,000 flight hours/30 year service life in support of the Marine Corps and non-Department of Defense participants. The effort includes the test article configuration, the test article build, the test plan, the testing itself, and teardown and analysis. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather, stealth, fifth-generation, multirole combat aircraft, designed for ground attack and air-superiority missions. The F-35B is the short takeoff and vertical landing variant of the aircraft. Work will take place in Texas, California and Samlesbury in the UK. Estimated completion is in July 2032.

Middle East & Africa

Jane’s reports that a Patriot fire unit has been deployed for the first time at one of the sites being constructed for the air defense system in Qatar. Located at the southwest of Al-Udeid Air Base, the site has been under construction since early 2018. The AN/MPQ-65 radar and four launchers appeared on their pads between October 19-21. Raytheon has been awarded two contracts together worth $250 million to deliver an Air and Missile Defense Operations Center (ADOC) to Qatar. The Patriot system is in use with 16 countries for integrated air and missile defense.

Europe

The US Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a $12.4 million undefinitized contract action contract for C-130J support. The deal will provide long term sustainment (LTS) for France’s C-130-J aircraft. Critical components of LTS support include program management support; spares, supply support services; support equipment; diminishing manufacturing sources, sustaining engineering services, sustaining engineering/technical services, field services representatives (FRS), logistics service representatives, contract field team, FSR deployment/travel, technical order updates; technical order print and distribution; country standard time compliance technical orders; depot maintenance; aircraft modifications; and data and configuration management programs. The global community of Super Hercules operators recently surpassed two million flight hours. Work will take place in Marietta, Georgia, and at French Air Bases and is expected to be completed by January 1, 2023.

General Atomics won a $17.9 million contract action for the France MQ-9 Block 5 weaponization and Foreign Military Sales Pod Integration effort. The deal provides for the weaponization of the French Air Force MQ?9 Block 5 aircraft and integration of the FMS Pod onto the French Air Force MQ?9 Block 5 aircraft. The MQ-9 Reaper is a UAV capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations. It is the first hunter-killer UAV designed for long-endurance, high-altitude surveillance. The UAV, which is sometimes also called Predator B, has an endurance of over 27 hours, a speed of 240 knots true airspeed, can operate at an altitude of up to 50,000 feet, and has a 3,850 pound payload capacity that includes 3,000 pounds of external stores. Work will take place Poway, California, and estimated completion is in November 30, 2021.

Asia-Pacific

The Uzbekistan Ministry of Defense said on October 24 that it has tested the Chinese-made FD-2000 air defense missile system. The testing was carried out at the Kulkuduk training ground. The military unit of the Air Defense Forces and the Air Force based in the Kashkadarya province together with senior command officers took part in the first practical test of an HQ-9/FD- 2000 at the Kulkuduk training ground in the Navoi province. The FD-2000 is an advanced long-range air defense missile weapon system designed and manufactured by the Chinese Defense Company CPMIEC.

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