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IEDs: The Aftermath
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$455M JCREW 3.2 order for up to 5,000. (Aug 19/10)

The US military is working on the next-generation of jammers to defeat improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that pose such a grave threat to US forces deployed overseas. The jammers are called Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device (RCIED) Electronic Warfare (JCREW) devices. They are high-power, modular, programmable, multiband radio frequency jammers designed to deny enemy use of selected portions of the radio frequency spectrum. They come in 3 varieties – fixed, mounted, and dismounted.

The first generations of JCREW devices were developed and deployed quickly to meet an urgent need in the field. The next generation of JCREW devices, known as 3.x, are being developed to increase capabilities and tap into the power of the network to enhance their effectiveness. The JCREW 3.1 version is a dismounted device, the 3.2 version is a mounted device, and the 3.3 version is being developed to work in mounted, dismounted, and fixed-installation roles, using a common open architecture of electronics…

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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.

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C2BMC in action
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$90 million to Northrop Grumman for C2BMC sensor management and data processing. (Aug 18/10)

C2BMC puts the “system” in the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) System. At least that’s how the Missile Defense Agency describes the Command and Control, Battle Management, and Communications (C2BMC) element.

The C2BMC system synchronizes individual missile defense systems, sensors, and operators, which is essential to the layered missile defense approach the agency is working to develop. The layered BDM system is designed to destroy enemy ballistic missiles by engaging them in all phases of flight.

The layered architecture of the BMD system targets the boost, mid-course, and terminal phases of ballistic missiles. The elements include Aegis BMD ships, Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), Patriot anti-air missile defense, and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries, along with stand-alone sensors. Tying it all together is the C2BMC…

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THAAD: In flight
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Safety switch addition delays delivery, freezes a major contract. (Aug 17/10)

The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system is a long-range, land-based theater defense weapon that acts as the upper tier of a basic 2-tiered defense against ballistic missiles. It’s designed to intercept missiles during late mid-course or final stage flight, flying at high altitudes within and even outside the atmosphere. This allows it to provide broad area coverage against threats to critical assets such as population centers and industrial resources as well as military forces, hence its previous “theater (of operations) high altitude area defense” designation.

This capability makes THAAD different from a Patriot PAC-3 or the future MEADS system, which are point defense options with limited range that are designed to hit a missile or warhead just before impact. The SM-3 Standard missile is a far better comparison, and land-based SM-3 programs will make it a direct THAAD competitor. Thus far, both programs remain underway…

• The THAAD System: Further Details
• The THAAD Program [updated]
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  
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• South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak lays out a 3-step process for reunification of the peninsula. It is not a return to his predecessor’s anti-American “sunshine policy,” and includes a reunification tax to begin preparing for the massive costs of either peaceful reunification, or regime collapse.

• China set to test DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile. USA finishes first test of the supersonic GQM-163 Coyote High Diver, which may help simulate those attacks for defensive systems.

• Exit, Stage Left: US Defense Secretary Gates plans to retire next year before the presidential election season heats up, after serving in the position since 2006.

• Canada’s frigate replacement program slammed as late and over budget – and it hasn’t even started yet.

• Lots of Green: DoD spent $29.8 billion on environmental cleanup from 1986 to 2008, but still hasn’t cleaned up Fort Meade, MD, and 2 other US military bases, according to a GAO study due out this week.

• Checking under the Hood: SAIC gets a DLA contract worth up to $241 million to provide logistics support for US military vehicle maintenance depots, including the Anniston Army Depot in Anniston, AL, and the Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, TX.

• Russian completes the MiG-31BM modernization program to enhance its interceptor fleet.

• Private Security, No Thanks: Afghan President Karzai said his government will disband private security companies that operate in his country within 4 months, a deadline that leaves NATO unsure how it will fill the personnel gap, the Washington Post reports.

• Good Morning, Vietnam: Is US attempt to strengthen ties with Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries to counter China a mistake? Wall Street Journal | Christian Science Monitor | Center for Research on Globalization.

• Chasing Butterflies: DARPA awards GE-led team a $6.3 million contract to develop butterfly-inspired nanostructured sensors to detect dangerous warfare agents and explosives.

F-15S & weapons
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Recently, reports surfaced in the Wall Street Journal that Saudi Arabia is negotiating a $30-60 billion arms package with the USA. The reported deal would involve another 84 F-15 Strike Eagles to replace the Kingdom’s Tornado strike aircraft and/or F-15A-D fighters, about 132 UH-60 Black Hawk utility and AH-64 attack helicopters, and armaments to equip them.

Since these deals aren’t even expected to reach the official DSCA request stage until September or October 2010, details are still hazy at best. The reports do tie in to a number of events and deals that have been covered in previous years, however, and some details and key questions are beginning to emerge. This article looks at those tie-ins, and covers the key requests and issues that are reportedly part of this deal…

• Wings of Eagles: Which F-15s?
• What’s the Buzz: Helicopters
• Foreign Affairs: Considerations and Competitors
• Updates and Timeline
• Additional Readings
  
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GMD launch, 2001
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Raytheon conducts successful test of exoatmospheric kill vehicle. (Aug 16/10)

The USA’s Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program uses land-based missiles to intercept incoming ballistic missiles in the middle of their flight, outside the atmosphere. The missiles are currently based at 2 sites in the USA: 4 at Vandenberg AFB in California, and 20 (eventually 26) at Fort Greely in Alaska.

The well-known Patriot missiles provide what’s known as terminal-phase defense options, while longer-reach options like the land-based THAAD perform terminal or descent-phase interceptions. Both can be used against intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), but their sensors and flight ranges are best suited to defense against shorter range missiles launched from in-theater. In contrast, GMD is designed to defend against ICBMs. It depends on tracking that begins in the boost phase, in order to allow true mid-course interception attempts in space, before descent or terminal phase options like THAAD and then Patriot would be tried. In order to accomplish that task, GMD missiles must use data feeds from an assortment of long-range sensors, including the naval SBX radar. GMD’s future is the long term question…

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PJ-10 BrahMos
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Nag & Agni-III updates; BrahMos exports and the MTCR treaty. (Aug 9/10)

Back in November 2005, The Hindu newspaper reported that India’s government had given the go-ahead for exporting missiles, and that India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was looking to market several of its products internationally. The missile systems in question included several products from the decades-long IGMP set of development programs, and one new success that used a very different approach. DRDO has led the long, turbulent development histories of the Trishul (“trident”) short-range surface-air missile (SAM), the Akash (“sky”) medium-range SAM, and the Nag (“cobra”) vehicle-mounted anti-armor missile. In contrast, the Indo-Russian PJ-10 BrahMos medium-range supersonic cruise missile was developed very quickly, and performed as advertised.

As of August 2010, India has not made an export sale, or even formally decided which countries would be eligible to receive these missiles. The programs themselves have also seen changes and developments, with Trishul canceled, Akash finally ordered, BrahMos expanded, and ongoing IGMP work in other areas. DID reports…

• The Missiles: IGMP set, and BrahMos
• Program Updates
• Appendix A: India’s Export Prospects – DID Op/Ed Analysis (Dec 1/05)
• Appendix B: Additional Readings & Sources – Related Reports & News [updated]
• Appendix C: Additional Readings & Sources – The Missiles
  
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• To Russia, with Sub: Russia’s Zvezdochka shipyard begins an $80 million overhaul of India’s S63 INS Sindhurakshak submarine, an improved Kilo-class diesel-electric submarine that Russia built for India.

• Simulated Revenues: Canada’s CAE expects a 10-12% rise in revenue for the year, spurred by an increase in its military crew simulator training business.

• RFID leader Savi shifts its HQ out of California to Alexandria, VA – near Washington DC.

• US Army 3D backpacks: Is that like having eyes in the back of your head?

• Britain buys Lockheed Martin’s TopScene, which makes 3D simulation maps based on cartography and satellite data, to aid with mission rehearsal in Afghanistan.

• Lockheed Martin ExLS launches Nulka ship decoy. ExLS installs in Mk41 cells, allows launch of smaller payloads like Nulka decoys or NLOS-LS missiles without deck mountings, or custom launchers. Too bad the USA’s $700 million Littoral Combat Ships won’t have any.

• Food for Thought: A Kuwaiti paper is reporting that the US is extending Agility’s $2 billion prime vendor contract for 6 months to supply food to US forces in Iraq, Kuwait, and Jordan, even though the company’s contract was not renewed because of fraud charges.

• USMC Gen. Mattis takes over as CENTCOM commander, says some US forces will remain in Iraq through 2020.

• Easterline Defense Products secures $29 million contract to make combustible cases for US Army and USMC artillery.

Javelin, firing
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$309M hardware contract (Aug 12/10)

The Javelin missile system aimed to solve 2 key problems experienced by American forces. One was a series of disastrous experiences in Vietnam trying to use 66mm M72 LAW rockets against old Soviet tanks. A number of replacement options like the Mk 153 SMAW and the AT4/M136 spun out of that effort in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until electronics had miniaturized for several more cycles that it became possible to solve the next big problem: the need for soldiers to remain exposed to enemy fire while guiding anti-tank missiles to their targets.

Javelin solves both of those problems at once, offering a heavy fire-and-forget missile that will reliably destroy any enemy armored vehicle, and many fortifications as well. While armored threats are less pressing these days, the need to destroy fortified outposts and rooms in buildings remains. Indeed, one of the lessons from both sides of the 2006 war in Lebanon has been the infantry’s use of guided missiles as a form of precision artillery fire. Javelin is not an ideal candidate for that latter role due to its high cost-per-unit; nevertheless, it has often been used this way. Its performance in Iraq has revealed a clear niche on both low and high intensity battlefields, and led to rising popularity with American and a international clients.

• The Javelin Anti-Tank Guided Missile System
• Javelin ATGM: The Program [updated]
• Javelin ATGM: Reports from the Front
• Javelin: Contracts & Key Events (2004 – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings
  
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