India’s defense industry has some measure of transparency due to the country’s democratic structure and rule of law, but a powerful bureaucratic tradition contributes a parallel level of obfuscation that makes information less forthcoming than it is in countries like Australia, Britain, the USA, et. al.

Recently, the Minister of State for Defence Production Rao Inderjit Singh offered a written reply in India’s Rajya Sabha (Upper Legislative House, lit. “Council of States”) to Shri Tapan Kumar Sen and Shri Mohammed Amin. They wanted to know how many employees worked in each of the main government departments, state-owned corporations, and other major entities associated with defense production in India. The answer was given on Feb 27/08…

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Scorpene construction
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Infodefensa relays a Negocios newspaper report [Espanol] that Navantia has submitted its S-80 Class currently under development for Spain, in response to an Indian Navy RFP for a follow-on submarine purchase. The purchase would follow India’s 2005 contract for 6 Scorpene Class submarines, and is expected to allocate almost EUR 3 million (about $4.5 billion) to buy another 6 submarines.

Infodefensa adds that bids for the follow-on contract have also been submitted by France’s DCNS (likely the Scorpene AIM-2000, or possibly the in-development Marlin Class), Russia’s Rubin (Advanced Kilo Class, note the recently returned Kilo refit, though), and Germany’s HDW (likely the Type 214).

Thanks to DID subscriber Pedro Lucio for his tip and translation assistance. Interestingly, the Negocios article also says that the Government of India had asked Navantia for a proposal to supply up to 7 modern frigates, but Navantia’s leadership decided not to respond after carefully analyzing the requirements, and taking into account its order book for the next few years. See “India Issues RFI for “Stealth Frigates” for more background on that topic. Navantia is currently building frigates for Spain, Norway, and Australia.

Fix that pipe!
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When things go wrong on a naval ship, they can go very badly wrong indeed. Accidents, hostile fire, or hazardous conditions can force a crew to fight to save their vessel. Since humans don’t survive very well in open ocean, it’s usually a fight to save themselves as well. Effective damage control is a critical sailor’s skill, one that cannot be provided as effectively by automated systems. Executing it often requires iron nerve as well as knowledge, which is why testing and training needs to be as realistic as possible.

The Haskell Co. in Jacksonville, FL recently won a $12 million firm-fixed price task order under a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, multiple award construction contract (N62472-01-D-0075/ 0004), to design and build a 2 story Damage Control School Trainer Facility at Naval Support Activity, Norfolk, VA. The facility will provide student training on techniques to arrest ship flooding situations. Construction includes a damage control wet trainer (“USS Buttercup”), trainer rooms, classrooms, and support spaces. Demolition includes a portion of Building #N30 (also including a pool, trainer device and associated equipment) where the current wet-trainer exists on Naval Station, Norfolk. The contract contains one additional option totaling $220,000, which may be exercised within 120 calendar days, bringing the total contract amount to $12.25 million. Work is expected to be complete by September 2009. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic in Norfolk, VA received 2 proposals for this task order.

RSAF AS332 on LSD-49
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DID has talked about maintenance trends as one of the most underrated issues in the defense field. Britain is leading the way with “contracting for availability” approaches that pay fixed annual costs over a system’s lifetime, and reward firms for ready-to-go weapons rather than paying for spares and maintenance hours. America, and many other air forces as well, are grappling with aging aircraft fleets whose average age exceeds their pilots’.

Then there’s the related trend of prognostics and HUMS that monitor parts, predict key failures in advance, and may even be tied to fleet-wide artificial intelligence systems. With enough prognostics, goes the theory, it may be possible to eliminate unneeded “routine” maintenance, restricting work to “condition based maintenance” while pinpointing failure-prone areas more exactly and working to improve them throughout the fleet. The end result? More aircraft available, at less long-term cost. That has certainly been the case with Britain’s Tornado aircraft and their RB199 engines, for instance, which had been described as “easy to remove for maintenance – often.”

Singapore has a global reputation for being a sharp observer and implementer of defense trends, in a society that stresses efficiency on many levels…

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Japanese E-2C
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On Feb 25/08, Northrop Grumman Systems Corp in Bethpage, NY received two contracts via the US Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD related to Japan’s E-2C Hawkeye Airborne Early Warning and Control (AWACS) aircraft. Work will be performed in Bethpage, NY, and is expected to be complete in June 2010.

On was a $25.9 million firm-fixed-price delivery order against basic ordering agreement N00421-05-G-0001, to provide Upgrade Kits 12 and 13 for the Japanese Foreign Military Sales (FMS) E-2C aircraft program. The other is an $11.2 million firm-fixed-price delivery order against basic ordering agreement N00421-05-G-0001 to provide spare parts for the Japanese E-2C fleet.

Old: Gazelle
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On Jan 31/08, French Defence Minister Herve Morin authorized the first public-private partnership contract by the French DGA procurement agency. This kind of arrangement is becoming more common, especially in Britain, but France has lagged in adopting it. Under this arrangement, the firms Défense Conseil International and Proteus Hélicoptères will supply 36 new Eurocopter EC120 helicopters to replace the Ecole d’application de l’aviation legere de l’armee de terre’s (EAALAT, Fench Army aviation school’s) 54 SA342 Gazelle helicopters based in Dax, France. The first EC120s are planned to arrive in 2010, and the 22-year partnership contract also covers an estimated 22,000 fleet helicopter flight hours per year for pilot training.

New: EC120
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The contractors will be in charge of buying, operating, servicing and repairing the EC120 helicopters, which will be the contractor’s property over the course of the contract. Pilot training itself will still be provided by the military instructors at EALAAT, which is in charge of the initial training of helicopter pilots of the French Army, Navy, Air Force and Gendarmerie. Pilots of some foreign armies are also trained at EALAAT, per international agreements. DGA release.

UPDATES

Oct 16/09: The DGA accepts the first lot of 3 EC120 NHEs for EAALAT, and the instructors begin flying the next day. DGA release [in French].

RB 57 NLAW
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The Soviet tank threat may be history for now, but missiles that can attack moving trucks, armored vehicles, and bunkers remain in demand. This is especially true in urban situations, where the ability to fire a rocket or missile safely from inside an enclosed space is a very important plus.

In 2000, the UK Ministry of Defence carried out a series of trials to evaluate missiles for their “NLAW” program. In the summer of 2002, the Saab/Thales MBT-LAW team beat the Predator/Kestrel system from Lockheed Martin, MBDA and Insys. The Swedish FMV and British Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) followed by ordering final development of the RB 57 NLAW (Next generation Light Antitank Weapon) for the United Kingdom and Sweden. Assembly will take place at Thales Air Defence in Belfast.

Saab Bofors Dynamics of Sweden and Thales Air Defence in the UK have a marketing agreement that lets customers buy the system from Saab Bofors Dynamics or Thales Air Defence – and now Saab as added another customer to the list, while expanding the Swedish order…

• The RB57 NLAW/ MBT-LAW
• Contracts and Key Developments
• Additional Information & Sources
  
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A330 MRTT
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In February 2007 the UAE announced its selection of the EADS A330 MRTT as its next-generation aerial tanker, with secondary transport capabilities. In this industry, however, contracts can take a while to materialize. EADS has just announced that a contract for the 3 aircraft has been signed. The aircraft will be fitted with under-wing “hose and drogue” pods to refuel boom-equipped aircraft like the UAE’s Mirage 2000v9s, and an EADS CASA boom system to refuel aircraft with dorsal inlets like their F-16 E/F Desert Falcons.

As is usually the case for contracts involving the UAE, price is not revealed. In this case, however, the quantity is known. The UAE will buy 3 aircraft, to join the 5 ordered by Australia and the 3 ordered by Saudi Arabia on EADS’ order books. The A330 MRTT/KC-30 is also Britain’s preferred candidate for its proposed FSTA public-private tanker partnership (14-18 planes), and is a candidate for the USA’s huge 179-aircraft KC-X competition.

In late December 2007, BAE Systems signed a definitive agreement to sell its Surveillance and Attack business in Lansdale, PA to Cobham Defence Electronic Systems Corporation, for $240 million on a debt and cash free basis, payable on completion. The goodwill arising on completion is an allowable tax expense with an estimated net present value of $45 million, resulting in an effective price of $195 million. For the year ended Dec 31/06, BAE’s S&A division generated revenue of $91 million, and profits of $14 million, with gross assets of about $34 million as of Sept 30/07. The effective price represents a multiple of approximately 11.1×2006 EBITDA.

The cash transaction was expected to close in the first quarter of 2008, following receipt of regulatory approvals. That has now happened.

Lansdale’s 400 or so employees provide broadband high-power transmitter and radio frequency front-end systems for military aircraft.

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Protests, 2001-2007
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In “General bemoans glut of Air Force contract protests”, Government Executive magazine quotes Gen. Bruce Carlson, the commander of US Air Force Material Command [link added by DID]:

”[he said] that the contract for the huge airborne tanker program will be awarded by the end of this month, but he also expressed confidence that the protest against the decision already has been written. The reason… is that there are no penalties for a losing bidder to protest, even though the appeals delay vital acquisition programs and cost the military hundreds of millions of dollars. The protest of the November 2006 decision on the Air Force’s new combat search and rescue helicopter, won by the Boeing CH-47, has cost the Air Force $800 million, Carlson said…. The general told reporters at a forum sponsored by Aviation Week that there should be some form of penalty instituted for protests that are found to be unwarranted. He said that some losing bidders file protests with 20 or 30 elements when perhaps only one part has any foundation….”

The general is correct concerning the costs, and some US Government Accountability Office protests do appear to cross the line between customer and supplier in attempting to dictate the criteria as well as the process. The near-certainty of protests around major awards has also had the effect of shutting smaller firms out of the bidding altogether for key contracts. There are considerations on the other side of the ledger as well, however….

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