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• US Missile Defense Agency is reportedly eyeing potential competitive bids worth as much as $37 billion over the next 5 years, as it moves away from sole-source contracts. The GMD system is an early harbinger…

• Brookings think tank staffer P.W. Singer discusses the think tank world in Washington.

• Honeywell has now delivered 28 engines, as part of Britain’s CH-47 Chinook upgrade to handle Afghan conditions.

• ViaSat deploys mobile broadband terminals on-board the USAF’s twin-turboprop MC-12W Liberty surveillance aircraft.

• China’s none too happy about what the Pentagon is saying in its new report. Xinhua | Christian Science Monitor | Bloomberg

• Over 70% of JFCOM’s budget goes for contractors, making it an easy target for Pentagon cuts, but Virginia’s governor and mayors want to save it.

• Rockwell Collins gets $140 million USAF contract to develop the Common Range Integrated Instrumentation System (CRIIS) that will provide time, space, and position information for military test ranges

• Colombia’s high court strikes down a deal that would have given US troops greater access to Colombian military bases.

• The Israeli approach linking threats to military budgeting... and their “Talpiot” program that has started plucking top 18 year olds out of standard military service and putting them to work solving key problems in the government, military and industry.

• They’ll See the Big Board!: The Russian air force will join its U.S. and Canadian counterparts in the first-ever joint air defense exercises Aug 8-11. NORAD will manage the event, which will involve simulated hijacking of commercial flights by terrorists.

• Private Sector Salvation: Aerospace CEO says the company is looking to expand in the commercial space business as defense business slows down.

• Strategy Analytics: Fighter aircraft, UAVs expected to spur a 43% growth in the military airborne communications system market, which could reach $1 billion by 2020.

• CACI gets $22 million task order to support the US Strategic Command’s joint exercises and training under the $900 million USAMS II contract vehicle.

• Rin Tin Timid: Gina the German shepherd, a US military bomb-sniffing dog, suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after a tour in Iraq, says USAF vet. Better-adjusted dogs are deploying to Afghanistan.

• Airbus A400M medium-heavy transport’s all-composite wing passes punishing stress tests.

• That’s So 20th Century: Using rhetoric out of a Soviet propaganda film, the North Korean official news agency warned that the nation’s military would “repel fire with fire” in response to the “puppet military’s warmongers’...naked military invasion of our Republic’s sacred territorial waters.” Apparently, they are not happy about the US-South Korean naval exercises.

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IAI Heron
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Technical help withdrawn, deal in question again. (June 16/10)

In April 2005, Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and Elbit Systems won an contract to supply medium endurance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to the Turkish military. Turkey’s local industry would provide sub-systems and services amounting to 30% of the contract.

The contract’s terms have been the subject of shifting reports, and the type of UAV was not specified in the official releases. Over time, however, clarity has emerged on several fronts. One front is the UAV type: the same Heron UAVs that serve with Israel, India, Canada, and other customers. Another front has involved problems with the contract, related to the weight of made-in-Turkey equipment. As clarity has emerged on those fronts, however, a 3rd front – the political front – is introducing complications…

• Contract Arrangements and Participants
• The UAVs – and the Issues
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings and Sources
  
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RQ-11B Raven
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New orders for Raven UAVs, retrofit kits from US Army & Marines, tests for a family of Ravens? (May 12/10)

The RQ-11 Raven is a 4.2-pound, backpackable, hand-launched UAV that provides day and night, real-time video imagery for “over the hill” and “around the corner” reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition.

Each Raven system typically consists of 3 aircraft, 2 ground control stations, system spares, and related services. The digital upgrades are still designated RQ-11Bs, but they enable a given area to include more Ravens, with improved capabilities. The secret? Using L-band spectrum more efficiently…

• Ravin’ bout Ravens: Current Models, and Proposed Upgrades [updated]
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings [NEW]
  
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Watchkeeper 450
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3-year support contract; 30,000 hour mark and possible interim UAV extension; first WK450 OC flight; new program members. (April 15/10)

Britain has given the green light to the Watchkeeper Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Program. The initial August 2005 contract award to Thales UK’s joint venture was worth around GBP 700 million, and the program expected to create or sustain up to 2,100 high-quality manufacturing jobs in the UK. The Watchkeeper platform is based on Elbit Systems’ Hermes 450 UAV platform, which is serving as a contractor-operated interim solution on the front lines of battle.

Watchkeeper will be an important system, working as the likely medium-range mainstay within a complementary suite of manned (vid. ASTOR Sentinel R1) and unmanned (Buster, Desert Hawk, MQ-9 Reaper) aerial Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition Reconnaissance (ISTAR) systems. This will make it a core element of the UK Ministry of Defence’s Network-Enabled Capability strategy.

• Watchkeeper: Rationale & Concept
• Watchkeeper MK450: The Platform
• Watchkeeper: Team and Program [updated]
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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BAMS Operation Concept
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FY 2009-2011 budgets, $25 million to Curtiss-Wright. (March 2/10)

The world’s P-3 Orion fleets have served for a long time, and many are reaching the end of their lifespans. In the USA, and possibly beyond, the new P-8 Poseidon Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft will take up the P-3’s role. While the P-8’s base 737-based airframe offers strong service & maintenance arguments in its favor, the airframe is expensive enough that the P-3s cannot be replaced on a 1:1 basis.

In order to extend the P-8 fleet’s reach, and provide additional capabilities, the Poseidon is expected to work with at least one companion platform under the BAMS (Broad Area Maritime Surveillance) and/or PUMAS (Persistent Unmanned Aerial Surveillance) programs. This DID FOCUS Article explains the winning BAMS concept, the program’s key requirements, and its international angle. We’ll also cover ongoing contracts and key events related to the program, which chose Northrop Grumman’s navalized RQ-4N Gloal Hawk.

• Next-Gen Maritime Patrol Systems: Issues and Options
• BAMS: Requirements and Missions
• BAMS: The RQ-4N Maritime Hawk
• BAMS: The International Angle
• BAMS: The Program [updated]
• BAMS: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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HART system diagram
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The US Defense Advanced Research Project Agency is working with the US Air Force Research Lab and Northrop Grumman to develop a web-based system to autonomously control manned and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.

Getting real-time information in an urban firefight can mean the difference between life and death, success and failure. The Heterogeneous Airborne Reconnaissance Team (HART) program is developing IT capabilities to feed ISR aircraft data directly to the soldiers in the field.

On Feb 17/10, Northrop Grumman received a $46.2 million contract under the HART program to develop technologies enabling command and control of unmanned aircraft for the conduct of urban operations…

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B-52H
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Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. in San Diego, CA received an $8.2 million contract to provide Phase II data rate communications upgrades for the Aircraft Structural Integrity Program (ASIP).

The US Air Force initiated the ASIP because of catastrophic, unanticipated, in-flight fatigue failures of in-service aircraft. ASIP is the management tool for the USAF to safely manage the fleet from initial operating capability through the design service goal and beyond.

The program focuses on monitoring the structural integrity of USAF aircraft, including:

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AF DCGS

The US Air Force awarded General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems a 5-year $60 million contract to provide network management and mission operations support to the 480th Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Wing.

General Dynamics will support the Air Force Distributed Common Ground System (AF DCGS) and 2 network operations centers in Virginia and California.

The AF DCGS is a globally networked intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) system that integrates information collected by the U-2 high-altitude spy plane and the RQ-4 Global Hawk, MQ-9 Reaper, and MQ-1 Predator UAVs...

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(click to download)

Defense was an issue in the last Australian election. The center-left Labor Party attacked the center-right Liberal Party by citing mismanaged projects, and accusing the Howard government of making poor choices on key defense platforms like the F/A-18F Super Hornet and F-35A Joint Strike fighters. That sniping continued even after Labor won the election, and has been evident in more than a few Defence Ministry releases.

The new government made some program changes, such as canceling the SH-2G Seasprite contract. Yet it has been more notable for the programs it has not changed: problematic upgrades of Australia’s Oliver Hazard Perry frigates were continued, the late purchase of F/A-18F Super Hornets was ratified rather than canceled, and observers waited for the real shoe to drop: the government’s promised 2009 Defence White Paper, which would lay out Australia’s long-term strategic assessments, and procurement plans.

On May 2/09, Australia’s government released “Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030.” DID has reviewed that document, and the reaction to date… including a new ASPI roundup of reactions from around Asia.

• Fast Incoming
• The Highlight Reel
• Additional Readings & Assessments [updated]
  
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