jdw.janes.com •volume 42 •issue 32 •10 august 2005...jane’s defence weekly in print format,...
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jdw.janes.com • VOLUME 42 • ISSUE 32 • 10 AUGUST 2005
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BBeellll rriinnggss ffoorr AARRHH
Singapore develops airdefence system – p6Early entry for Javelin intoUK service – p12
Singapore develops airdefence system – p6Early entry for Javelin intoUK service – p12
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Headlines4 US picks Bell ARH and eyes light helicopters
5 US company sees gap in defences
6 Singapore develops Igla air defence system
First production MH-60R flies
7 Turkey’s MilGem project given new momentum
Rafael bids Spike-ER for Spanish Tigers
The Americas8 Lockheed wins DoD contract for massive airship
Columbia, Thailand to get UH-60L helicopters
9 US Navy explores joint high-speed cargo ship
Europe10 Bowman add-on package recast
11 Gavial on offer for German Army requirement
ITT Defence wins Belgian contract for radiosystem
12 Early entry for Javelin system into UK service
Turkey issues tender for acquisition of mini UAVs
13 Latest Kazan armed helicopter prepares for debut flight
Raytheon moves to meet UK trainer requirement
Asia Pacific14 Japan report outlines growing China threat
Strait of Malacca to be given air protection
US approves transfer of F-16s to Pakistan
15 Report slams Australian M113 upgrade project
Middle East/Africa17 Egypt requests additional M109 artillery systems
Plasan details M-PAV 2 variant for Humvee
Business23 Latest acquisition pushes QinetiQ turnover
above £1bn
UK signs Watchkeeper contract
Analysis20 Withdrawal from Gaza: The Israel Defence
Force is preparing for what will be a stormydisengagement from the Gaza Strip andnorthern West Bank. Alon Ben-David reports
Briefing
24 Aiming for the high ground: The lucrative air-to-air missile market remains an active one withestablished players and secretive developments.Robert Hewson looks at the latest trends andachievements in the world’s major programmes
Air Forces Update29 US DoD plans autonomous refuelling demo
30 India plans air force boost among major challenges
32 UK Sea Kings take to ground surveillance
Directory33 Customer service offices; subscription form; list
of advertisers
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jdw.janes.com • VOL 42 • ISSUE NO 32 • 10 AUGUST 2005
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● Garrison in Northern Ireland to be madedeployable
● Finnish Air Force outsources basic pilot training● US Air Force awards radar warning contract
for C-130Js ● UN panel probes illegal arms sales to Côte
d’Ivoire● Italian Air Force receives first SF-260EA
training aircraft
The US Army wants the BellHelicopter ARH to carry outmissions including armedreconnaissance, light attack,troop insertion and specialoperations (see page 4).
On the cover
All editorial content is available online atjdw.janes.com prior to publication of the
hardcopy magazine
jdw.janes.comInterview34 JDW talks to General
Ray Henault, Chairmanof the NATO MilitaryCommitteeEMPICS; 1116412
BellHelicopter; 1116416
The UK Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Invinciblereturned on 1 August to its homeport ofPortsmouth for probably the last time after anoperational career spanning 25 years. A formaldecommissioning ceremony followed on 3 August
Empics; 1116414
The US Army took twomajor steps at the endof July towards re-capitalising its ageingrotary-winged fleet.
On 29 July, the service selected amilitarised derivative of Bell Heli-copter’s Model 407 commercialdesign to be its next-generationarmed reconnaissance helicopter(ARH).
It expects to field the first units inFiscal Year 2008 (FY08) under a programme potentially worthUSD3 billion.
Three days prior to the decision,the army issued the request for pro-posals for its next-generation lightutility helicopter (LUH). Bids aredue in September and the armyanticipates selecting the winningdesign inApril 2006.
The ARH will replace the army’sOH-58D Kiowa Warriors, also pro-duced by Bell, which have been inservice since 1985 and seen exten-sive use in Afghanistan and Iraq.Although extremely valuable, armyofficials have said the Kiowas sufferfrom performance limitations suchas not being suited to hot and highconditions.
The army envisages that the newARHs, which are expected to pro-vide better performance in theseareas, will carry out armed recon-naissance, light attack, troopinsertion and special operations mis-sions.
Bell will start delivering the firstARHs to the army in FY06. Overall,the service could buy as many as 368units with deliveries lasting throughto 2013. The programme has thepotential to generatearoundUSD2.2billion in revenues for Bell, accord-ing to a company statement.
“This is the first competitive con-tract that Bell Helicopter has won
from the army in about 12 years, sofrom that respect this is a really bigwin for us,” company spokeswomanErin Dick, told JDWon 1August.
US defence aerospace analystsagreed.
“They needed a win after thatlength of time,” said Paul Nisbet ofJSA Research in Newport, RhodeIsland.
Jeffrey Roncka, vice presidentand director of Washington, DC,operations for CRA International’sAerospace & Defense consultingpractice, added that the relativelyhigh production volume shouldmake the ARH programme a prof-itable endeavour for Bell.
Bell Helicopter, which is ownedby Textron, beat Boeing for therights to build theARH.
The latter offered its AH-6 Mis-sion Enhanced Little Bird, aderivative of the MD500-basedAH-6/MH-6 Little Birds in service withArmy Special Operations Com-mand. As JDW went to press, anarmy spokesman said the servicehad yet to brief Boeing on the deci-sion. It was not known if thecompany intended to protest againstits loss.
Bell is now operating under theUSD211 million contract that the
army awarded it on 29 July for theARH’s three-year system develop-ment and demonstration phase,during which it will build 38 low-rate initial production units.
As Bell commences work on theARH, it is also bidding its Model210, a modified and refurbishedUH-1 Huey, to be the army’s LUH.
The army expects to procure up to322 LUHs for domestic roles suchas civil search and rescue opera-tions, damage assessment support,medical evacuation (medevac) andcounternarcotics activities. TheLUHs will replace existing UH-1s,UH-60A medevac platforms andolder OH-58s in the Army NationalGuard.
As with theARH, the army wantsto field the LUH as soon as possible.
Accordingly, it has said it intendsto select a platform currently in pro-duction that has been certified by theUS Federal Aviation Administra-tion.
AgustaWestland is expected tooffer its A109 design, while EADSis likely to bid its EC-135 helicopter.DynCorp has said it would propose arefurbished UH-1 with a Pratt &Whitney Canada PT6C-67D enginethat is lighter than Bell’s 210.
Both the ARH and LUH pro-grammes came about as a result ofthe army cancelling its USD39 bil-lion RAH-66 Comancheprogramme in February 2004 afterinvesting about USD6.9 billion in it.The army said the Comanche, anARH designed in the 1980s, did notmeet its revised post-Cold Warrequirements in areas like counter-ing current and next-generationanti-aircraft missiles equipped withinfra-red seekers.
Bell’s ARH design has two crew-men and space for three passengers.
HEADLINES4 • 10 August 2005 • JDW • jdw.janes.com
US picks BellARH and eyeslight helicoptersMICHAEL SIRAK JDW Staff ReporterWashington, DC
StaffEditor Peter FelsteadLand Forces Editor Christopher F Foss Aviation Editor Damian KempMiddle East and Europe Editor Robin HughesNaval Editor Richard Scott Features Editor Melanie Bright Acting Features Editor Tricia ShannonReporter: Tony SkinnerWashington DC Bureau:
Bureau Chief Andrew KochReporters Joshua Kucera, Michael Sirak
Asia Pacific Editor Robert Karniol
Chief Sub Editor Lisa ZanardoSenior Sub Editor Susie KornellSub Editors Chris Evenden, Karen DeansJane’s Defence Industry Editor Guy Anderson
Reporter James MurphyGroup Technical Editor Rupert Pengelley Aerospace Consultant Nick CookBusiness Consultant James SmithAdministrative Assistant Marian ChilesProduction Controller Melanie Arise-Publishing Alexander Garrett, Ray Trott
Publisher Jonathan GrevattGroup Managing Director Alfred Rolington
CorrespondentsThe Americas:Scott Gourley; José Higuera; Sharon Hobson;Jeremy McDermott; Pedro Paulo Rezende; Cesar Cruz Tantalean
Asia/Pacific:Iqbal Athas; Rahul Bedi; Joseph Bermudez;Farhan Bokhari; Ian Bostock; Yihong Chang;Anthony Davis; Shinichi Kiyotani; GhaziMahmud Iqbal; Robert Keith-Reid; WendellMinnick; Phillip Mckinnon
Europe:Martin Bayer; John Berg; Piotr Butowski;Thomas Dodd; Tim Glogan; GrzegorzHoldanowicz; David Ing; Henry Ivanov; Jiri Kominek; J A C Lewis; Georg Mader; Nikolai Novichkov; Tim Ripley; Lale Sariibrahimoglu; Radu Tudor; Theodore Valmas; Paolo Valpolini
Middle East/Africa:Segun Adeyemi; Alon Ben-David; Nicholas Blanford; Helmoed-Römer Heitman,Muhammad Najib
NATO and EU Affairs: Nicholas FiorenzaUN: Thalif Deen
e-mail the editors: [email protected]
● Bell Helicopter will build up to368 armed reconnaissancehelicopters to replace the USArmy’s fleet of OH-58D KiowaWarriors
● The company received a three-year, USD211 million contract on29 July for the helicopter’s system development anddemonstration phase
● The army also issued a request for proposals on 26 July for its light utility helicopter
Bell will build up to 368 armedreconnaissance helicopters for the USArmy, with deliveries starting in 2006Bell Helicopter; 1116417
jdw.janes.com • JDW • 10 August 2005 • 5
US opts to build airship demonstrator - page 8
Lockheed Martin has proposed anarchitecture of sensors and anti-missile interceptors to counter theemerging threat of short-rangeballistic missiles and cruise mis-siles launched at the US homelandfrom ships at sea. It is a threat, thecompany said, that has to datebeen neglected in US defence plan-ning.
“You don’t need an intercontinen-tal ballistic missile to attack theUnited States,” said Lockheed Mar-tin’s Vice President and ManagingDirector for ProtectionDaveKier, on28 July.
Instead a nation or terrorist groupcould takea short-rangeScudmissileor GPS-guided cruise missile andfire it at the US from a freighter orbarge sittingabout 100nmiles off theUS coast, he said.
In the case of the latter, he noted,the state of coastal protection is suchthat onecouldfly it “right through thefront door of the [US] Capitol [build-ing] without anyone seeing itcoming”.
Accordingly, the company hasproposed stregthening the US’ abil-ity to detect the low-flying cruisemissiles and having anti-missile bat-teries in place to counter both themand the Scuds. These assets would betied to existing satellite early warn-ing networks and command-and-control systems.
The architecture entails position-ing Patriot missile batteries along thecoast, augmented by Aegis shipsequipped with theStandardMissile 3interceptor, stationed in US territor-ial waters. Until the advent oflong-loitering, overhead surveil-lance systems against cruisemissiles, such as the company’snascent High Altitude Airship that itis developing for the US MissileDefense Agency (MDA), LockheedMartin proposes using a novel detec-tion system it has developed calledPassive Coherent Location (PCL).
It functions by using unused FMradio bands on the US periphery tomeasure for electromagnetic distur-bances in the air as a means ofdetecting low-flying objects. It couldalso use high-definition televisionsignals.
Kier said thePCLhas alreadybeentested in an operational sense, butdeclined to provide specifics, citingsecurity concerns. He said the com-pany would like to work with the USNavy, using USD20 million that theHouse of Representatives has pro-posed adding to the Fiscal Year 2006(FY06) defence authorisation bill, tosee how far out to sea it can extendthe FM signals.
The goal, he said, is to extend thesignals out 200 n miles – or at least aminimum of 150 n miles – from thebeach using coastal towers.
Kier told JDW that it would cost
about USD1 billion to establish thearchitecture for the US Northeastcorridor, which runs roughly fromBoston to Washington, DC.
To cover this stretch would require12 Patriot fire units and three Aegiscruisers. To stand up this architecturein 2007 would require a governmentcommitment, he said.
The MDA said it is examining theproposal, along with additional con-cepts to deal with this threat, as partof a study it is conducting andexpects to complete before the end of2005.
“There is a difference of opinionas to whether that constitutes a realthreat, but that is something that I ampersonally concerned about,” theMDA’s director, US Air Force Lieu-tenant General Henry Obering, toldreporters in Washington, DC, on 21July.
“The thing about cruise missiles isthat we have the capability to shootthem down today, as long as we candetect them. We don’t have the capa-bility over wide areas to do that witha ballistic missile.”
The MDA has requested fundingits spending plan for FY06-FY11 toupgrade by early next decade coastalsurveillance radars in Alaska, Mass-achusetts and Virginia so that theycould detect missiles with ranges upto 3,000 km launched at the US.
Kier said additional systems indevelopment couldbeintegrated intothe architecture at later times like theUS Army’s Terminal High AltitudeArea Defense and Joint Land AttackCruise Missile Defense ElevatedNetted Sensor systems, and the Sur-face Launched – Advanced MediumRangeAir-to-Air Missile.
The army is also pursuing the LowCost Interceptor (LCI), which isdesigned to counter unsophisticatedcruise missiles and aircraft so that themore sophisticated and expensivePatriots can be withheld for morecomplex threats.
On 3 August, the serviceannounced that it and Miltec, theprime contractor, had completed ashort hot launch of the LCI. This wasthe first flight test of a full-size mis-sile under the programme. ■
US company sees gap in defencesMICHAEL SIRAK JDWCorrespondentWashington,DC
It can carry a GAU-17 or GAU-19Gatling gun, AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles and up to 38guided or unguided 2.75 in rockets.In its nose, it holds FLIR Systems’Brite Star II sensor turret with a laserrange-finder, laser spotter, colour TVand forward-looking infra-red cam-era.
The ARH features Honeywell’sHTS900 turboshaft engine thatreplaces the Rolls-Royce 250-C47Bpowerplant used in the basic Model407. The standard platform configu-ration also includes active andpassive countermeasures and asophisticated communication suite.It has a range of 362 km andendurance of more than two hours.
Bell said two ARHs can bedeployed from a C-130 Herculesmedium tactical transport aircraftand be ready to fly in 15 minutes –meeting the army’s requirement.
Thehelicopter “excels in low-hov-ering areas of urban street fighting”,according to the company.
Bell’sARH demonstrator made itsmaiden flight in June.
Dick said Bell expects to add up to350 new positions to work on theARH programme to supplement itsexisting global workforce of morethan 7,500 employees.
The Bell 407 airframe is manufac-tured in Canada in Mirabel, Quebec,as will the airframes for the ARHs.Components for the ARHs will bemanufactured in Fort Worth. Dicksaid Bell has not yet decided wherethe final assembly of the helicopterswill occur and the army has not yetissued the designation of theARH.
Neither Bell’s ARH programmemanager nor the army’s equivalentwere available for comment beforeJDWwent to press. ■
RELATED ARTICLES:Light utility helicopter to be restricted toUS territory (jdw.janes.com, 13/05/05)US Army hones aircraft wish list(jdw.janes.com, 28/05/04)Bell 407 (jhms.janes.com)
● Lockheed Martin has proposed anarchitecture of sensors and anti-missile interceptors to protect theUS coast from ship-launchedballistic and cruise missiles
● The architecture includes thecompany-developed PassiveCoherent Location system that uses FM radio signals to detect cruise missiles and low-flyingaircraft
RELATED ARTICLES:US releases its first homeland defencestrategy (jdw.janes.com, 11/07/05)US DoD seeks to bolster cruise missiledefences (jdw.janes.com, 30/08/02)
Proposed architecture to counter missilethreats includes positioning Patriotmissile batteries along the US coast,augmented by Aegis ships equippedwith the Standard Missile 3 interceptorMissile Defense Agency; 0560680
HEADLINES6 • 10 August 2005 • JDW • jdw.janes.com
Singapore has unveileda locally developedmobile air-defence systemthat combines the Russ-ian-made Igla (SA-18
‘Grouse’) low-altitude surface-to-air missile system with the US-made M113 armoured personnelcarrier (APC).
The Igla M113, or MechanisedIgla, is produced in two variants: theIntegrated Fire Unit (IFU) and theWeapon Fire Unit (WFU). Thesewere developed by the Defence Sci-ence and Technology Agency
(DSTA), the Ministry of Defence’s(MINDEF’s) technology arm, andare intended to equip the SingaporeArmy’s combined arms divisions(CADs).
The army has three CADstogether with one rapid deploymentdivision but it is not knownhow many Mechanised Iglas arerequired.
“The IFU comes with an inte-grated radar that is used to provideearly warning of air threats to theWFUs. There is no differencebetween the IFU and WFU in
terms of engagement capability,” a MINDEF source told JDW.
The development programmewas launched in the 1990s with theaim of providing the CADs withimproved air-defence capabilities.JDW reported that Singapore wasformally briefed on several Russianmissile systems in 1993 and 1996.Its purchase of several Iglas wasofficially confirmed in 1997, andthe first live firing test was con-ducted at South Africa’s OverbergToetsbaan Range in 1999.
“The main challenge lay in inte-grating the various commercialoff-the-shelf subsystems. Tests andtrials were conducted to ensure the
compatibility between subsystemswhile maintaining system function-ality in an operationalenvironment,” the MINDEF sourcesaid.
“The M113’s interior and roofwere modified to enable the installa-tion of the launcher as well as toimprove the overall inter-crew oper-ation. Human factor engineers werealso involved to enhance theergonomics of the hardware andman-machine interfaces.”
The MINDEF official furthernoted that DSTA engineers werealso responsible for integrating theIgla M113 weapon system onto theM113 APC. “DSTA also developedthe command-and-control system tolink up various subsystems, whichinclude the radar and navigationsystem, to offer the Igla M113 bettermobility, speed and accuracy,” thesource.
Singapore’s Mechanised Igla wasdue to be formally unveiled at theNational Day Parade on 9August. Itis not known when the system is dueto be deployed operationally. ■
Singapore develops Iglaair defence systemROBERT KARNIOL JDWAsia-Pacific EditorBangkok
Far left: The IglaIntegrated Fire Unit
Left: Both variants ofthe Mechanised Iglahave two twin-mountedmissile launchers. TheWeapon Fire Unit isshown here
Singapore MINDEF; 1116422;
1116423;
● The locally developedMechanised Igla combines theRussian-made Igla missile withthe US-made M113 platform
● The system is intended to provideair defence for Singapore’scombined arms divisions
● MINDEF’s Defence Science andTechnology Agency oversaw theproject
RELATED ARTICLES:Igla low-altitude surface-to-air missilesystem (jlad.janes.com)SAM sale marks Russia’s debut deal inSingapore (jdw.janes.com, 22/10/97)
The first production Sikorsky MH-60R multi-missionhelicopter made its maiden flight on 28 July at thecompany’s Stratford, Connecticut facility.
The MH-60Rs will replace the US Navy’s (USN’s) fleetof SH-60B/F helicopters. The USN has trialled SH-60Bhelicopters, which have been remanufactured in MH-60R configuration.
It was originally planned to remanufacture a largenumber of SH-60s but the programme was changed tothe production of new-build helicopters in 2001.
The MH-60R’s main roles will be submarine huntingand surface attack. The navy is expected to buy up to254 of the multi-mission helicopters with the annualproduction rate ramping up to 30 aircraft.
Lockheed Martin is systems integrator on the pro-
gramme and will also provide the digital common cock-pit, which is used in all MH-60s and MH-60Rhelicopters.
The MH-60R will be fitted with AGM-114 Hellfire anti-armour missiles, Raytheon Thales AN/AQS-22advanced airborne low-frequency sonar and Telephon-ics AN/APS-147 multimode radar.
Test MH-60R helicopters have been undergoingoperational evaluation since May. The aircraft will bedelivered to Lockheed Martin’s integration facility inOwego, New York, in August for the installation of mis-sion systems.
The aircraft is the first of four to be built as part of asecond Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP II) contract.Prior to LRIP II the helicopters were remanufactured
MH-60Bs. The first MH-60B upgraded to MH-60R con-figuration made its first forward flight in July 2001.
Damian Kemp JDW Aviation Editor, London
First production MH-60R flies
The first production MH-60R made its first flight in lateJuly Lockheed Martin; 1116430
Turkey has given fresh impetus toits long-stalled USD1.2 billionnational vessel (MilGem) projectafter the Defence IndustriesUndersecretariat (SSM) issued arequest for proposal (RfP) for thelocal design and manufacture of afirst-of-class ship.
The MilGem programme envis-ages the construction of a new class of patrol and anti-submarinewarfare vessels at the Turkish NavyForces Command’s (TNFC’s) Istan-bul Shipyard. An initial eight shipsare planned, with a second batch offour to follow.
The RfP was released on 15 July,with responses due back into theSSM by 26 September. SomeUSD200 million has beenearmarked for the design, develop-ment and build of the first-of-class,which is due for delivery around2012.
Since the programme is intendedto maximise indigenous industrialcapacity and content, the SSM hasstipulated that design activities willbe carried out by local companies.
However, those companies with 51per cent or more Turkish ownershipfully controlling the managementwill also be able to compete in theproject.
Local companies Havelsan andAselsan will jointly develop thecommand-and-control system des-tined for the MilGem ships.
Other combat system equipmentto be acquired by the SSMfor the first-of-class include a 3-Dsurveillance radar, a degaussingsystem, fire-control radars,hull-mounted sonar, naval guns,navigation radars, the RollingAirframe Missile system and a tor-
pedo countermeasures system.Some Western industrialists havecast doubt as to whether Turkey hasthe requisite industrial capacity anddesign resources to undertake theindigenous development of theMilGem project.
However, outgoing TNF Com-mander Admiral Ozden Ornek saidon 26 July that Turkey is alreadyableto design and to develop a nationalcommand-and-control system forcorvettes through the infrastructureand expertise that it has gained in thepast years.
“Unjustified allegations beingmade both from within and outsideTurkey that the Turkish Navy andTurkish industry do not have thenecessary infrastructure to realisethe MilGem project by itselfhave made us even more deter-mined to grasp this opportunity,”Adm Ornek said.
The TNFC is currently workingto develop a prototype for the Turk-ish Navy’s Vessel IntegratedWarfare Management System andcommand, control, communica-tions, computers and intelligenceproject (GENESIS) under which itplans to set up a national software
source-code system for the mostadvanced command-and-controlsystems of its surface combatants aswell as submarines. The command-and-control systems to be developedunder GENESIS will be applied toMilGem.
In a related development,Turkey’s SSM has issued a RfP forthe local production of a new class ofpatrolboats intended to protect navalbases and port facilities.
A total of 16 vessels are planned,to be delivered in four batches.
The RfPwas released on 1Augustwith responses to be submitted by 30December.
General characteristics outlinedin the RfP include a maximumcontinuous speed of 22 kt, a maxi-mum speed of 25 kt, and a range of1,000 n miles.
Bidders can propose to build theships at one or more local shipyardspreviously qualified to build navalships and having already deliveredvessels to the TNFC.
Maximum local content isrequired. In those cases where it isnecessary to purchase systems fromoverseas, local companies areobliged to ensure appropriate tech-nology transfer.
Additional reporting byLale Sariibrahimoglu,
JDW Correspondent, Ankara
jdw.janes.com • JDW • 10 August 2005 • 7
Turkey’s MilGem projectgiven new momentumLALE SARIIBRAHIMOGLU JDW CorrespondentAnkara
● Turkish Defence IndustriesUndersecretariat RfP spurs stalledUSD1.2 billion MilGem nationalvessel programme
● The programme envisages a newclass of patrol and anti-submarinewarfare vessels
● An initial eight vessels areplanned, with a second batch offour to follow
RELATED ARTICLE:Turkey gives MilGem project fresh impetus(jdw.janes.com, 30/09/04
Israel’s Rafael Armament Development Authority isbidding its Spike Extended Range (Spike ER) anti-tankguided weapon (ATGW) system for the Eurocopter AS 665Tiger multirole combat helicopter to be ordered by theSpanish Army.
Tiger has been ordered by Australia (22) France (50), Ger-many (80) and Spain (24) with the latter due to be deliveredbetween 2007 and 2011.
Also competing for the Spanish Army order are MBDA/LFKwith the long-delayed TRIGAT- Long Range (TRIGAT-LR)and Lockheed Martin with AGM-114 Hellfire II, which hasalready been selected for the Australian Tiger armed recon-naissance variant. The TRIGAT-LR ATGW, which has yet toenter quantity production, was originally intended to equipthe Tiger in French and German service.
JDW sources indicate that a decision about which ATGWsystem to install on the Spanish Tiger helicopters is likely inthe next two months.
Spike-ER is the extended long-range version of the Spikefamily, capable of defeating main battle tanks at a range of upto 8 km. In addition to being fitted with a tandem high-explo-
sive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead to neutralise tanks and othertargets fitted with explosive reactive armour, Spike-ER canalso be fitted with a penetrating blast-type warhead for use inurban operations.
According to Rafael, Spike-ER is a “fourth-generationATGW system”, where the operator has the option of eitherfire-and-forget/fire-observe-and-update or a man-in-the-loop mode. This is considered essential in many types ofoperations now being conducted as it gives much greaterflexibility and reduces ‘blue on blue’ attacks.
The missile features a dual sensor, imaging infra-red andcharge-coupled device seeker with an automatic targettracker and a fibre-optic datalink and is designed for installa-tion on land vehicles, helicopters and naval platforms.
The Israel Air Force has tested Spike-ER on its AH-1F/SCobra attack helicopter, and is currently considering whetherto install Spike-ER on its more recent AH-64A Apache attackhelicopters, which currently use the Hellfire, although thislatter programme has not been funded. Spike-ER is in ser-vice with the Romanian Air Force on its upgraded IAR-330SOCAT transport helicopters.
A Spike-ER was recently displayed beside an Italian AirForce A-129 Mangusta light attack helicopter at the 2005Paris Air Show at Le Bourget in June.
In addition to marketing Spike-ER for the Spanish Tigerattack helicopter requirement, Rafael is offering the Spike-Long Range to Spain for a ground forces’ requirement.
Christopher F Foss JDW Land Forces Editor, London.Additional reporting by Robin Hughes,
JDW Europe Editor, London
RELATED ARTICLES:Spain’s first helicopter factory to be in Albacete(jdw.janes.com, 20/05/05)Australian Tiger ARH test fires Hellfire(jdw.janes.com, 03/06/05)
Rafael bids Spike-ER for Spanish Tigers Israel isbidding itsSpike ERATGWsystem forthe SpanishTigerRafael; 1116421
THE AMERICAS8 • 10 August 2005 • JDW • jdw.janes.com
The US Department ofDefense has decided tocontinue development of amassive, autonomousunmanned airship that
could play a vital role in comingdecades in protecting the UShomeland from air and missileattack.
The Missile Defense Agency(MDA) announced on 26 July that itintends to award Lockheed Martinan approximately USD137 millioncontract in October for phase 3 of theHigh Altitude Airship (HAA) pro-gramme.
During this phase, which isexpected to last about four years, thecompany will build a solar-poweredairship prototype approximately131 m long and 45.75 m at its widest point that displaces about103,000 m3 of helium, according toLockheed Martin and MDAofficials.
The MDA wants the prototype tobe capable of loitering at 18,300 mfor up to one month while carrying a227 kg payload and providing 3 kWof continuous power to the payload.
A three-flight demonstration,culminating in a one-month deploy-ment, could begin as early as
mid-2008, according to the officials.The exercise will yield valuable datafor the larger operational variant thatthe MDAenvisages, they said.
“What really hasn’t been demon-strated before is getting a vehiclelike this to altitude and goingthrough multiple diurnal cycles andstaying at that altitude,” RonaldBrowning, director of businessdevelopment for Surveillance Sys-tems at Lockheed Martin MaritimeSystems and Sensors in Akron,Ohio, told JDW on 28 July.
The MDA chose Lockheed Mar-tin in September 2003 to develop anairship that could float above the UScoastline at altitudes in the stratos-phere for extended periods.
There its payload of electro-opti-cal and infra-red cameras, radar andadditional sensors could observe outto hundreds of kilometres to provide
early warning of ballistic and cruisemissiles approaching the US as wellas additional air threats like low-fly-ing aircraft.
The HAA could also be forward-deployed in-theatre to protect UStroops and allies and serve addi-tional roles. “In mountainous terrainthis would be a valuable asset forcommunications relay,” a seniorMDAofficial said.
After a competitive first phase ofconcept development, LockheedMartin concentrated during phase 2on reducing the developmental riskto technologies like the airship’slightweight hull fabric, solar arrays,batteries and components for its fourelectric motors. This work led to acritical design review of its airshipconcept in October 2004.
After reviewing the concept, theMDA opted to continue the initia-tive, but under a restructuredframework to allow more time tocomplete the project. LockheedMartin is expected to contributeabout USD43 million of its ownfunds to phase 3, according to MDAand Lockheed Martin officials.
Browning said Lockheed Martinis confident that it has met the princi-pal design challenge of theprototype: developing a strong,composite lightweight fabric thatcan withstand the rigours of operat-ing in the stratosphere, where it willbe exposed to extreme fluctuationsof temperature and radiation andozone, and yet contain the helium.
Upon successful demonstration,programme engineers will addoff-the-shelf sensors and radios tothe vehicle and conduct exercises to assess the military utility of theairship.
The North American AerospaceDefense Command will lead theassessment, which will take placeover US test ranges.
The MDA ultimately envisagesthe operational variant, which wouldbe about twice as large as theprototype, loitering for periodsapproaching one year at altitudesaround 70,000 ft where winds arelighter while carrying several thou-sand pounds of payload.
Lockheed Martin will build theprototype HAAinAkron. ■
Lockheed winsDoD contract formassive airshipMICHAEL SIRAK JDWStaffReporterWashington, DC
Colombia and Thailand are set to boosttheir Black Hawk utility helicopter fleetsafter the US Defense Security Co-operation Agency (DSCA) notified the USCongress in late July of the possible saleof eight and two UH-60L variantsrespectively to the countries.
According to the notification, the sale willoccur under the US government ForeignMilitary Sales programme and is notbelieved to involve offsets.
A key use for the helicopters in bothcountries would be in anti-drug traffickingoperations but in the case of Columbia theywould be used against insurgent groupsand in the case of Thailand to fill deficien-cies exposed during emergency reliefoperations.
Both countries already operate BlackHawk helicopters.
The Colombian purchase is worth up toUSD100 million, which would includespare parts and training. The DSCA saidthe sale would assist US national securityby helping Colombia prevent illegal drugmanufacture, particularly when it is tied toterrorist activities.
“These helicopters will be used to pin-point and destroy narco-terroristsidentified and operating within Colombia,”the DSCA advised Congress.
Colombia has more than 14 UH-60LBlack Hawks in its army fleet and about 49UH-60A/L s in its air force inventory.
Thailand’s USD46 million possible pur-chase would add to the six Black Hawksalready operated by the country’s defenceforces and would be committed to navyservice. A shortfall in lift capacity was high-lighted during the tsunami natural disaster,which occurred on 26 December 2004.
Damian KempJDW Aviation Editor, London
Colombian armed forces board aUH-60L Black Hawk. The country isset to purchase additional platformsEmpics; 0096891
Colombia andThailand lineup for UH-60Lhelicopters
● Lockheed Martin aims to beginflight demonstrations of theprototype airship in mid-2008
● The key challenge is to design alightweight fabric for the airship’shull that can withstand thestresses of thermal fluctuationsand exposure to radiation andozone
● The airship will be used for long-range surveillance and as acommunications relay
RELATED ARTICLES:Go to jdw.janes.com for more of this articleBallistic Missile Defense: The end game(jdw.janes.com, 08/09/04)Lockheed Martin wins airship competition(jdw.janes.com, 03/10/03)
The US Missile Defense Agency wants to conductdemonstration flights of Lockheed Martin’s High AltitudeAirship prototype before the end of the decadeLockheed Martin; 0562868
jdw.janes.com • JDW • 10 August 2005 • 9
TheUSNavyandarmyareexplor-ing the possibility of building ajoint high-speed cargo ship to meetthe resupply needs of army andnaval forces, navy officials say.
With the army looking to movea brigade’s worth of equipmentdirectly from the continental US toaustere ports around the world andthe navy wanting to resupply itsseabases from the US mainland, thetwo service’s requirements appearclose enough to warrant a joint programme.
Talks on a leading contender to fill theneed– theRapidStrategicLiftShip (RSLS) – are under way, saidJonathon Kaskin, director for Strate-gic Mobility and Combat Logisticsin the Office of the Chief of NavalOperations.
At an estimated USD1.3 billionper ship and with limited productionorders expected, savings could bemade by making the RSLS a jointeffort. The navy anticipates needingone RSLS per Maritime PrepositionForce-Future squadron, Kaskin said,noting that the service plans to haveone to three of the squadrons. Headded that a formal construction pro-gramme could begin in Fiscal Year2012 (FY12) to meet the initialdeployment timelines envisaged forthe seabase.
The RSLS would have a notionalspeed of 36 kt to 39 kt, a range of8,000 n miles, a draft of 7.3 m, and beable to carry 1,650 personnel as wellas military equipment that cannot self-deploy. That equipment includes20 CH-53 heavylift helicopters, 18AH-1Z Super Cobra attack heli-copters, nine UH-1Y Huey lightutility helicopters and 10 CH-60multipurpose helicopters.
Navy documents say the conceptwould cut three to four days off thetime needed to conduct “force clo-sure” and would eliminate the needfor C-17 strategic transport aircraftsorties.
However, Kaskin noted, the armyalso wants other attributes for itsresupply ship, which the navy judgesto be either prohibitively expensiveor not achievable with current tech-
nologies. Those include having ashallow draft of 6 m or less, a 9,000to 10,000 n mile range and speeds ofat least 45 kt. Kaskin said that, forexample, with those specificationsthe ships wouldbeable to carry so lit-tle cargo that it would take three suchvessels per brigade (a total of 6,000to 8,000 tonnes of cargo) rather thanone, driving the overall cost of theforce up substantially.
The navy is talking with the armyabout whether some of the more dif-ficult requirements can be relaxed,Kaskin said, noting that reducing theship’s speed from 45 kt to 36 ktwould entail only one additional daywhen crossing the Pacific Ocean.
The Office of Naval Research isexpected to release a broad areaannouncement on some basicresearch for an RSLS type ship,including propulsion alternativesand technologies that would allowthe drag that water causes on a ship’shull to be reduced by 30 per cent to50 per cent through the use ofpolymers.
One such project, expected tocommence in FY07, is building a 38MW axial flow waterjet. The navyis looking at axial flow waterjetpropulsion as an option to enablehigh-speed future vessels capable ofcarrying large amounts of cargo longdistances, said Rear Admiral JohnBowling, the Deputy Director forExpeditionary Warfare in the Officeof the Chief of Naval Operations.
Water jets offer the potentialadvantage of saving space over traditional propulsion means andallowing that area to be usedfor addi-tional cargo or fuel.
The navy is interested in buildinga scaleable prototype between 7.5MW or 8 MW that could be demon-strated in a proposed T-Craft vesselor on a vessel such as the HSV-2Swift.
Additional reporting byMichael Sirak, JDW Staff Reporter,
Washington, DC
US Navy explores jointhigh-speed cargo shipANDREW KOCH JDW Bureau ChiefWashington, DC
RELATED ARTICLES:Go to jdw.janes.com for more of this articleUS Navy shipbuilding plan takes on water(jdw.janes.com, 24/06/05)Navy considers seabase transport options(jdw.janes.com, 18/02/05)
EUROPE10 • 10 August 2005 • JDW • jdw.janes.com
Bowman add-on package recast
TThe UK Ministry ofDefence’s senior procure-ment body, the Invest-ment Approvals Board(IAB) is reviewing the
GBP330 million software add-onto the Bowman tactical communi-cations system.
The IAB is expected to meet inSeptember to decide the future levelof funding for the Bowman soft-ware package, consisting of theCommon Battlefield ApplicationToolset (ComBAT), Infrastructure(I) and armoured PlatformBattlefield Information SystemApplication (P BISA) – commonlyknown as CIP.
Effectively three inter-related pro-jects procured as a single entity, the
GBP330 million (USD581 million)CIP add-on to the Bowman pro-gramme was awarded to GeneralDynamics UK (GD UK) in 2002,providing the means to run a battle-field internet over the bearer system.
GD UK Bowman Vice PresidentAndrew Browne said the CIP in-service date was originally Decem-
ber 2004 but was pushed back 12months when field trials showed thesoftware applications were “not reli-able and robust enough”.
Browne said once recast toinclude recently identified require-ments as well as the altered deliverydates, the CIP programme will besignificantly developed above andbeyond the original contract.
“There will be a number of thingsadded in – the requirements are notthe same as they were four yearsago. Four years downstream, we aremuch more knowledgeable aboutthe technology,” Browne said.
A spokesman for GD UK said theIAB will be looking to decide thelevel of funding for CIP Bowmangoing forward – whether that is thestatus quo or a higher level of invest-ment.
Whatever the IAB’s decision, the
company can expect there to befurther incremental softwareinsertions/upgrades as the pro-gramme advances and technologydevelops. GD UK said new BISAswere being constantly identified –around 19 at the current count –and future software upgradescould be introduced on an annualbasis.
The problems of in-crew inter-com ‘drop-outs’ in the Warriorinfantry fighting vehicles, Chal-lenger 2 main battle tanks andCombat Reconnaissance Vehicles(Tracked) – deemed a safety issueby the British Army and preventing12th Mechanised Brigade from tak-ing those vehicles to Iraq – has beensolved by the development of ahardware/software patch. ■
● The Bowman software packagewill achieve its in-service date inDecember 2005, 12 months afterinitially planned
● Problems with intercoms ‘drop-outs’ in armoured vehicles havebeen solved by a hardware/software upgrade
● Future software upgrades couldbe introduced on an annual basis
TONY SKINNER JDW Staff ReporterOakdale, UK
Go to jdw.janes.com for more of this article
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jdw.janes.com • JDW • 10 August 2005 • 11
Rheinmetall Landsysteme(RLS) of Germany hasteamed with France’sAuverland to market aversion of their A4 4 x 4
Armoured Vehicle Light (AVL) tomeet the potential requirements ofthe GermanArmy.
Earlier in 2005, the GermanArmed Forces Office for MilitaryTechnology and Procurementannounced that it had a requirementfor a new family of wheeledarmoured vehicles – Group 1, 2, 3and 4. These are known collectivelyas the Geschützte Führungs undFunktionsfahrzeuge (ArmouredCommand and Operations Vehicle).
The Group 1 requirement is for a4 x 4 vehicle in the five tonne classfor which RLS will bid a modifiedversion of the French Auverland A4AVL. This was selected by theFrench Army to meet its PetitVéhicule Protégé requirement fol-lowing extensive trials betweenseveral vehicles.
The first FrenchArmy order is for314 units. One of the key Germanrequirements is that the Group 1vehicles be fully air transportable in
a Boeing CH-53 Stallion helicopteras used by the German Army. Tomeet this requirement the roof of theA4 will be slightly lowered.
Under the terms of the agreementbetween Auverland and RLS, thechassis and body for all vehicles willbe supplied from France with theRLSfacilityat Kassel responsible forintegrating the mission and weaponsystems before delivering the com-plete vehicle to the customer.
For the German market RLS havenamed the vehicle the Gavial.
While RLS has the demonstratedcapability to design, develop andmanufacture a new wheeledarmoured vehicle, its teaming withAuverland (which now owns Pan-hard) is seen as a more cost-effectivesolution with almost no risk to theend user.
TheAuverlandA4AVL features achassis of tubular design to which an
armoured hull is fitted, providing theoccupants with protection up toSTANAG 4569 Level 2 with thefloor and hull providing protectionup to Level 1. Gross vehicle weightis five tonnes, with up to one tonne inpayload, and up to five people can becarried.
The power pack consists of anIveco four-cylinder turbo-chargeddiesel engine developing 146 hpcoupled to a ZF automatic gearboxand electrically operated transfercase. An anti-skid braking system isfitted as standard, as is a rear differ-ential lock-and-run flat tyres.
Maximum road speed is 120 km/hwith an operating range of 750 km.
Optional equipment includes anuclear, biological and chemicalwarfare protection system, front-mounted winch, central tyreinflation system and an RLS 609overhead weapon station that can bearmed with a 7.62 mm or 12.7 mmmachine gun or a 40 mm automaticgrenade launcher.
For the Group 2 requirement RLSwill offer the Italian Light Multipur-pose Vehicle under the name ofCaracal. These vehicles will have agross vehicle weight (GVW) ofbetweenfiveand 10 tonnes,a payloadof one to two tonnes andincorporateahigher level of protection.
A requirement is that two of thesevehicles can fit in GermanAir ForceC.160 transport aircraft.
Group 3 vehicles will have aGVW of 10-13 tonnes, adequateprotection, should fit in a C.160,have a minimum payload oftwo tonnes and an internal volumeof 9m3. ■
Gavial on offerfor German ArmyrequirementCHRISTOPHER F FOSS JDW Land Forces EditorKassel, Germany
● Rheinmetall Landsysteme has teamed with Auverland to market AVL for the German Army 4 x 4requirement
● The vehicle will be designatedGavial for the German market
The RheinmetallLandsystemeGavial 4 x 4 lightprotected multi-purpose vehicleRLS; 1116411
RELATED ARTICLES:Rheinmetall markets Caracal to Germany(jdw.janes.com, 04/05/05)Petit Véhicule Protégé (PVP) Programme(jaa.janes.com)
The Belgian Ministry of Defence hasawarded ITT Defence, the UK arm ofITT Industries, a contract for the supplyof its High Capacity Data Radio (HCDR)system.
The company hopes the initial GBP1.2million (USD 2.11 million) order for 60HCDRs will result in a follow-on order for afurther 600 units.
ITT Defence Head of Business Develop-ment John Greenhalgh told JDW the unitswill undergo evaluation and trial by Bel-gium’s Land Command Control andCommunications Digitisation Programme.
The Belgian contract is the first of a num-ber of expected export orders, Greenhalghsaid.
“Everybody is delighted. Our export mar-keting team was only brought together[December 2005] and it is only six monthslater, so this is a great start for our exportambitions,” he said.
The HCDR is a self-forming and self-healing, radio-based transmission controlprotocol/internet protocol router radio, util-ising intranet routing protocols andservices to provide a tactical mobile, high-capacity data distribution system, whichdoes not require fixed-base stations and iscapable of transmitting video, data andvoice over IP on the move.
Utilising UHF the HCDR has a 1 Mbit/sdata capacity over 10-12 km. Broadcastover a 4 MHz spread spectrum and coupledwith frequency agility, the system isextremely difficult to locate or jam.
Greenhalgh said the HCDR is a key com-ponent of the company’s Centaur family ofradios, providing the essential mobile net-working communications layer for modernfield armies.
Using the HCDR would ensure tacticalcommand-and-control interoperabilitywith NATO coalition forces, as well as giv-ing the Belgian armed forces a system thatis capable of growing to accommodatetheir network-enabled communicationsambitions as they are progressivelydeployed. Other Centaur componentsinclude cryptography management, theCommunication Management System,training, installation and support services.
The HCDRs will be manufactured at ITTDefence’s Basingstoke site, commissionedin 2002 to manufacture the VHF and UHFradios for the UK’s Bowman digitisationprogramme.
Tony SkinnerJDW Staff Reporter, London
ITT Defence winsBelgian contractfor radio system
EUROPE12 • 10 August 2005 • JDW • jdw.janes.com
The UK has declared theRaytheon/LockheedMartin Javelin anti-tankguided weapon (ATGW)system operational for
its armed forces four months earlier than originally antici-pated.
The current Euromissile MILANATGW was to have been replaced inUK service by the EMDG TRIGATMedium RangeATGW.
However, following the with-drawal of the UK from theprogramme, a competition was initiated for a Light Forces ATGW,
contested by the Rafael ArmamentDevelopment Authority SpikeMedium Range and Javelin mis-siles. The latter system was selectedin January 2003.
It was originally expected thatJavelin would only replace the
MILAN in service with the BritishArmy’s 16 Air Assault Brigade andmechanised infantry brigades, and3 Commando Brigade, RoyalMarines. A decision was subse-quently taken to replace all otherMILAN systems in service with theBritish Army including armouredinfantry and formation reconnais-sance forces.
The latter use the 4,000 m rangeSwingfire ATGW, which islaunched from the Striker lighttracked armoured vehicle. It isexpected that MILAN and Swing-fire will be phased out of servicewith the UK by 2007.
MILAN has a maximum range of2,000 m and is fitted with a singleHigh Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT)warhead that cannot neutralisearmoured vehicles fitted with explo-sive reactive armour (ERA).
The Javelin is a fire-and-forgettop-attack weapon with a maximumrange of over 2,500 m and is fittedwith a tandem HEAT warhead todefeat targets fitted with ERA.
The UK version has a number of modifications including anenhanced Command Launch Unit(CLU) with a wider field-of-view torecognise targets at a longer rangeand a tripod. The day/thermal CLUallows targets to be detected, recog-nised and engaged under almost allweather conditions.
The UK Javelin ATGW pro-gramme is being run by theInfantry Guided Weapons Inte-grated Project Team of the UKMinistry of Defence’s (MoD’s)Defence Procurement Agency(DPA).
According to the DPA, the earlyin-service date (ISD) was achieveddue to the work of the UK MoD, theJavelin Joint Venture (Raytheon andLockheed Martin) and the USDepartment of Defense.
Javelin is being supplied to theUK through an innovative hybridcommercial arrangement, whichuses the US government’s DirectCommercial Sales (DCS) andForeign Military Sales (FMS) pro-grammes.
Missiles and training are pro-vided by DCS and the CLU via theFMS programme.
Javelin training courses startedin late 2004 at Warminster Anti-Tank Division, Wiltshire, andin April a series of 15 successfultest firings cleared the way for theacceptance of the ISD missilewarstock.
From an early stage, Britishindustry has been heavily involvedin the UK’s Javelin programme and,according to Raytheon/LockheedMartin, some USD623 million ofwork will be brought to the UK aspart of a 100 per cent offset arrange-ment.
UK contractors will also beallowed to bid as subcontractors for US-built Javelin ATGWs. Some300 jobs have been created or main-tained in the UK under theprogramme. ■
Early entry for Javelinsystem into UK serviceCHRISTOPHER F FOSS JDW Land Forces EditorLondon
● The Javelin will replace the MILANand Swingfire ATGW systems inservice with the UK armed forces
● The new system will be in servicefour months earlier than anticipated
● UK industry will benefit from the 100per cent offset agreement
RELATED ARTICLES:UK selects Javelin(jdw.janes.com, 24/01/03)Javelin ATGW (jaau.janes.com)
The Javelin anti-tank guided weapon will soon enter UK serviceLockheed Martin; 1121330
Turkey’s Defence Industries Undersecretariat (SSM)issued a request for proposal (RfP) on 26 July for theacquisition of 19 mini unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)systems, each containing two to three aircraft, to meetthe requirements of the Turkish Land Forces Command.
The SSM has restricted the RfP to Turkish companiesthat could indigenously develop the bodies and autopilotsof the mini UAVs and has set 3 October as the deadlinefor responses. The SSM told JDW that several localcompanies have already shown an interest in the scheme.
Bidding companies will demonstrate their products,which must have an endurance of around one hour, on17 October. The SSM also plans to issue separate tenders
for the acquisition of tactical UAVs for the army, with aminimum endurance of six hours, as well as micro UAVs,which will be deployed with units.
Meanwhile, Turkey has applied to take part in both theEADS-run medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) UAVand French-Swedish-led Neuron unmanned combat airvehicle programmes.
SSM Undersecretary Murat Bayar told JDW that he hasnot yet received any response to Turkey’s applications.
However, Western industry sources close to the Neuronprogramme told JDW that it did not seem possible forTurkey to join the programme since the division of work-share had already been completed. The same sources
were more optimistic about the possibility of Turkey tak-ing part in the EADS MALE project.
In parallel to Turkish attempts to join the EADS project,the SSM has authorised Turkish Aerospace Industries(TAI) to locally develop a MALE UAV under a USD65 mil-lion contract. The first local system is planned to bedelivered to the Turkish armed forces in the next four tofive years. If it is success ful, TAI will develop another fiveMALE UAV systems.
Meanwhile on 18 April, under the first phase of Turkey’sUAV programme, the SSM signed a USD183 million con-tract with the Israeli UAV partnership of IAI and Elbit forthe off-the-shelf purchase of three MALE UAV systems aswell as associated surveillance and ground command-and-control equipment.
Lale Sariibrahimoglu JDW Correspondent, Ankara
Turkey issues tender for acquisition of mini UAVs
jdw.janes.com • JDW • 10 August 2005 • 13
Russian Kazan’s Ansat-2R newlightweight armed reconnais-sance helicopter was expected tofly for the first time as JDW wentto press. The flight precedes thehelicopter’s expected first publicappearance at the Moscow AirShow 2005 (MAKS 2005) in mid-August.
The helicopter was shown to rep-resentatives of around 12 countries,mainly fromAsia andAfrica, duringa conference of operators of Kazan-made Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters on28 July.
The Ansat-2R demonstrator wasconstructed around the engines,transmissions and rotors removedfrom the first flying Ansat prototypeand it has kept aircraft number 902.TheAnsat-2R pilot’s cockpit is fullyequipped,however thecockpit of theweapon operator, as well as theweapon systems, were mock-ups forthe display.
The helicopter is fitted with theGOES 521 electro-optical turretunder the front fuselage and shortwings on fuselage sides with fourpylons. During the presentation to
operators, the pylons were loadedwith two 9M39 Igla short-rangeinfra-red air-to-air missiles, smallbombs and two seven-round 80 mmrocket launchers.
A fixed Kord 12.7 mm heavymachine gun is built into the star-board. Another flexible gun ismounted in the window of a smalltransport compartment in the rear.UV-26 chaff/flare launchers are builtinto the sides of the fuselage. TheAnsat-2R has a maximum take-offweight of 3,500 kg and is poweredby two Pratt & Whitney CanadaPW207K engines of 710 hp each.
According to the company the heli-copter can reach 300 km/h and has arange of 650 km.
Kazan Helicopters funded thedesign and development of theAnsat-2R. Awooden mock-up of thehelicopter was shown for the firsttime as early as August 2001, desig-nated the Ansat-Observer andlabelled as a “civilian ecological andengineering monitoring helicopter”equipped with sensors for detectingleakages of gas and oil, as well as agamma radiation spectrometer andgas analyser.
Development of the Ansat began
in 1993 with mock-ups, substan-tially different to the Ansat-2R,exhibited at a number of shows,before the Ansat-2 observationhelicopter, closely resembling theAnsat-2R, was shown at MAKS2001. The first flight of the Ansat-2took place in August 1999, but fur-ther flying was suspended becauseof gear problems. Flying resumed in2000, with two Ansat prototypesaccumulating 520 flights. The firstthree productionAnsat-2 helicopterswere delivered to South Korea inDecember 2004.
Variants of the aircraft include theAnsat-U, which was selected for theRussian Federation Air Forces lighttraining helicopter requirement inSeptember 2001, with the first air-craft now ready for testing. TheRussian armed forces are expectedto acquire up to 100Ansat-U aircraftbefore 2015.
Anew variant weighing 6,000 kg,designated theAnsat-3, is also beingdeveloped. ■
Latest Kazan armed helicopterprepares for debut flightPIOTR BUTOWSKI JDWCorrespondentMoscow
The KazanAnsat-2R isexpected to makeits inaugural flightprior to its firstappearance at theMoscow Air Showin mid-August
P Butowski; 1116413
● Kazan has funded design anddevelopment of the Ansat-2Rlightweight armedreconnaissance helicopter
● Based on other Ansat variants itwill be shown for the first time atthe Moscow Air Show 2005
● According to Kazan, Ansat-2R hasa maximum take-off weight of3,500 kg, can reach 300 km/h andhas a range of 650 km
Raytheon Aircraft Company is proposing a morecapable version of its King Air 350 special missionaircraft as a solution for the rear-crew and multi-enginetraining requirement of the UK’s Military FlyingTraining System (MFTS).
MFTS is expected to be worth up to GBP15 billion(USD26.7 billion) over the next 25 years, according to theUK government, and will eventually bring together the fly-
ing training for all three services ranging from fast jet torotary-wing aircraft.
Three consortia are contending for MFTS – Ascent,Sterling and Vector – and they have been provided withinformation on a variety of platforms from aircraft manu-facturers, including five from Raytheon alone.
Bids are being presented to the UK Ministry of Defence(MoD) outlining a number of possibilities.They willbe submitted by 23 August with a selection expectedabout mid-2006 and initial service provision to beginin April 2007.
The King Air 350ER and five other aircraft were pre-sented to the MoD’s MFTS integrated project team (IPT),at the request of the IPT, and bidders from Vector andSterling on 3 August in Oxford. The King Air 350ER, firstdisplayed at the Paris Air Show in June, is fitted with largerfuel tanks and heavier landing gear as well as a radome,the latter particularly relevant as it reopens the synthetic-versus-live training debate. The King Air 350ER has anadditional 180 US gallons (150 gallons) of fuel and
increases range from 3,317 km to 4,260 km.Raytheon Aircraft Company Vice President Special
Mission Systems John Brauneis said the aircraft wasbrought to the UK “to demonstrate that we could put a360° live radar onto the aircraft. The modification toinstall the radome is reversible which means the aircraftcan be returned to commercial service”.
According to the company, the radome is capable oftaking Raytheon’s SeaVue, Thales Searchwater andOceanmaster, and other maritime patrol radars of asimilar size, or Raytheon’s Hughes Integrated SyntheticApperture Radar or similar radars.
Other aircraft presented to the MFTS IPT by Raytheonwere King Air B200, Hawker 400 and 800XP, Beech 1900Dand Beechcraft Premier 1.
Damian Kemp JDW Aviation Editor, London
Raytheon moves to meet UK trainer requirement
Raytheon’s King Air 350ER is a modified platformnow being bid for the MFTS programmeRaytheonAircraft Company; 1116424
RELATED ARTICLE:Serco bails out of UK training contest(jdw.janes.com, 07/05/04)
The Japanese govern-ment approved thecountry’s 2005 DefenceWhite Paper on 2August, highlighting a
heightened potential threat fromChina.
A focus on Beijing’s militarybuild-up echoes a similar themearticulated by the US, where theBush administration has expressedconcerns over the pace of China’sforce modernisation, which isviewed as increasing the threat toTaiwan and, more broadly, to USnational security interests.
China’s Foreign Ministry wasquick to respond to the Japanesereport, dismissing Tokyo’s con-cerns as “groundless” and“irresponsible”.
Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesman Kong Quan, quoted bythe Xinhua news agency, said theWhite Paper harms efforts toestablish mutual trust on security.
Reflecting directions laid out in
a defence policy paper released inlate 2004, Japan’s new WhitePaper stresses the efforts toimprove capabilities of the Self-Defence Force (SDF) to respond tocrises, including ballistic missileattacks, threats from terrorists orspecial forces as well as large-scale natural disasters.
On the issue of missile defence,which is being pursued jointlywith the US, the White Paper callsfor speedier research and develop-ment activity as well asoperational studies.
It is also noted that the SDF is
due to introduce a joint commandstructure from March 2006through a transformation of itsJoint Staff Committee.
Regarding China, the WhitePaper stated that Beijing has yet tomake public its true spending ondefence-related activities. Japanis also calling for greater transparency regarding China’sPeople’s Liberation Army (PLA),including organisation, equipmentand detailing of expenditure.There are also concerns over thePLA’s growing air and navalpower capabilities.
North Korea is also highlightedas a concern for Tokyo, reiteratinga long-standing worry overPyongyang’s efforts to develop itsnuclear and ballistic missile forcesand its extensive special opera-tions capabilities.
These are a seriously destabilis-ing factor for the region, the WhitePaper stated. ■
ASIA PACIFIC14 • 10 August 2005 • JDW • jdw.janes.com
Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore areset to expand their co-ordinated navalpatrols in the Strait of Malacca with theintroduction of air assets following anagreement announced in Kuala Lumpuron August 2. However, exact details ofthe plan have not been released.
The initiative is aimed to bolster securityin the vital sealane.
The plan to introduce maritime patrol air-craft was announced following a two-daymeeting between chiefs of defence fromthe three countries, which also includedtheir Thai counterpart.
The Royal Thai Navy has been invited toparticipate in the co-ordinated patrols buthas yet to accept.
“We want to show the international com-munity that we are serious about securingthe Malacca Strait,” Indonesia’s MilitaryChief, General Endriartono Sutarto, toldreporters following the talks.
The sealane initiative was first proposedpublicly by Malaysian Deputy Prime Minis-ter and Defence Minister Dato’ Seri NajibTun Razak during a June defence confer-ence held in Singapore and follows earlierstatements by Japanese Defence MinisterYoshinori Ohno urging increased co-ordi-nation between the three countries tobetter control piracy.
In his formal remarks to conference par-ticipants, Dato’ Seri Najib said: “We shouldcall upon the wider international commu-nity, and in particular those who benefitmost from safe passage through thestraits, to step forward and make concretecontributions to support ongoing efforts bythe littoral straits.” This could include theprovision of maritime patrol aircraft, headded in response to a question from thefloor.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Singaporelaunched co-ordinated naval patrols in theStrait of Malacca in mid-2004 to betterdeter piracy and terrorism.
The patrols are not conducted jointly andare, therefore, viewed by analysts as largelysymbolic of the common interestsinvolved. Perhaps more tangibly, Indonesiaand Singapore have jointly established atracking centre on the Indonesian island ofBatam to monitor, using radar and satellitetechnology, vessels approaching theSingapore Strait.
Robert KarniolJDW Correspondent, Bangkok
Strait of Malaccato be given airprotection
SHINIICHI KIYOTANI JDW Correspondent andROBERT KARNIOL JDW Asia-Pacific EditorTokyo and Bangkok
RELATED ARTICLE:Multinational patrols begin in MalaccaStrait (jdw.janes.com, 04/08/04)
● Japan’s new defence White Paperstresses the growing potentialthreat from China
● The report also points todestabilising developments inNorth Korea
● Force development plans outlinedin a new policy paper releasedin 2004 are also reiterated
RELATED ARTICLES:Japanese Defence Reform: shifting gear(jdw.janes.com, 17/03/05)China more open to using force, says USreport (jdw.janes.com, 03/06/04)
Japan report outlinesgrowing China threat
The US has approved the initial transfer of two refurbishedF-16 multirole fighters to Pakistan, ending a moratorium onsuch sales introduced over 15 years ago.
A further shipment involving at least 10 additional refurbishedaircraft could be delivered in mid-2006, according to a Westerndiplomat based in Islamabad.
The sales will boost Pakistan’s F-16 fleet of 32 operational air-craft to at least 40. However, Pakistan Air Force sources said thatIslamabad could seek up to 75 new F-16s worth over USD3 bil-lion, which would represent the country’s largest defencepurchase.
The deal for the two F-16 fighters comes just a fortnight afterthe US agreed to provide civilian nuclear power reactors to India,which caused dismay in Pakistani political circles.
“This would intensify the nuclear rivalry between India and Pak-istan and harm any future US-backed confidence-buildingmeasures,” a foreign ministry official told JDW.
Western diplomats are divided over Pakistan’s chance of receiv-ing clearance for the 75 new F-16 fighters.
Although Lockheed Martin and Boeing are bidding for a majorfighter aircraft contract in India, offering the F-16 Block 50/52 anddual-engine F/A-18 Super Hornet respectively, New Delhi haswarned the US that the resumption of F-16 sales to Pakistan couldhave negative consequences for India’s security interests.
Farhan Bokhari, JDW correspondent, Islamabad, Pakistan
US approves initial transferof two F-16s to Pakistan
The lifting of a 15-year moratorium by the US may seePakistan increase its F-16 fleet to over 40 fightersPakistan MoD; 0013282
jdw.janes.com • JDW • 10 August 2005 • 15
A report compiled by the Aus-tralian National Audit Office(ANAO) has revealed a litanyof contractual and managementinadequacies in the troubledprogramme to upgrade the Aus-tralian Army’s fleet of M113A1tracked armoured vehicles
Tasked with providing an inde-pendent analysis of the DefenceMateriel Organisation’s (DMO’s)management of the M113 upgrade,the report – entitled ‘Management ofthe M113 Armoured Personnel Car-rier Upgrade Project’ – found thatthe AUD552 million (USD428 mil-lion) programme has undergoneextensive scope changes andchronic schedule delays since itsinception in the early 1990s.
The latest upgrade iteration,which requires prime contractorTenix Defence to upgrade 350vehicles to the AS3 and AS4 stan-dards, suffered a three-year delaybetween project approval in June1999 and contract signature in July2002. The ANAO found that thisperiod of excessive inactivitywas “characterised by an inabilityof [the Department of] Defence tosuccessfully manage changes inrequirements”.
Managed within the TrackedManoeuvre Systems ProgramOffice, the DMO accepted an unso-licited proposal from Tenix inJanuary 1998 to combine the twophases of the original M113 Mini-mum Upgrade into one projectsole-sourced through the company.
According to the report, Tenixindicated that vehicles could bedelivered two to three years earlierthan planned and anAUD30 millionsaving be realised by adopting thisacquisition strategy.
The 2000 Defence White Paperstated that the upgraded vehiclesacquired through this proposal wereto enter service beginning in 2005.That milestone has since slipped toNovember 2006, when Tenix isrequired to deliver 14 initial produc-tion vehicles (IPVs) to the army fortest and evaluation.
Part of the problem in Tenix meet-ing the contracted schedule is due toperformance issues concerningexcessive engine heat from the new260 kW MTU 6V 199 TE dieselengines installed in the two demon-stration vehicles.
This delay has hindered Tenix inprogressing to Stage 2, whichinvolves production and delivery ofthe 14 IPVs. The DMO has nonethe-less allowed Tenix to progress toStage 2, confident that a technicalremedy would be implemented bythe company in a timely manner.Theissue, however, has not yet beenresolved, the report cited.
Tenix has informed JDW thatsolutions to the engine heatingproblem have been identified andare being installed in the two demon-stration vehicles.
The solutions, according to acompany spokesman, includereplacement of selected engine com-ponents, increasing fan speed and anew air intake screen that improvesair flow to the engine. The new system will undergo company engi-neering and field testing throughoutthe rest of 2005.
The November 2006 introductioninto service goal is unlikely to beachievable, however, according tothe ANAO, which stated that theproduction of some of the IPV vari-ants would “slip by up to sixmonths”. This is likely to result indelivery of the IPVs around May2007. Final deliveries, therefore,would not take place until 2011.Tenix has also failed to supply theDMO with the requisite integratedlogistics support data, the reportfound. To hasten transition to full-rate production (FRP), Tenixdevised a process of fast-trackingproduction whereby it commences
production of the vehicles beforethey have passed Department ofDefence (DoD) formal testing.
This circumvents the DoD’sown plan to put the 14 IPVs througha series of rigorous functionaland physical configuration audits,reliability and maintainabilitydemonstrations and qualifications.From these tests, the DoD wouldgive Tenix approval or otherwise toproceed to FRPunder Stage 3.
However, Tenix will conduct itsown reliability qualification testsand proceed directly to FRP basedon the results. “This revised pro-gramme shows that not only is theschedule some 11 months later thanoriginally planned, [but] productionwill occur before the necessaryDepartment of Defence sign-off,”the ANAO concluded. This, it said,was still a high-risk option for deliv-ery of army capability even if mostof the commercial risk resides withTenix. As of 30 June, Tenix hadreceived AUD187 million from theDoD for the M113 upgrade. TheANAO determined that the originalAUD30 million in savings for the DoD predicted by Tenix willnot occur due to increases in projectcost and changes to the acquisitionstrategy. ■
Report slams Australian M113upgrade programmeIAN BOSTOCK JDWCorrespondentSydney
China, Russia to hold joint exercisesChina and Russia will hold their firstjoint military exercise over the period18-25 August with more than 100,000troops expected to participate, accord-ing to China’s official Xinhua newsagency. ‘Peace Mission 2005’ willinvolve forces from ground, naval, air,marine corps, airborne and logisticunits. It will be held in Vladivostok in theRussian far east and in the coastal Chi-nese province of Shandong andadjacent waters.
ST Engg acquires US vehicle businessSingapore Technologies Engineering(STEngg) has acquired the US-basedcompany Specialised Vehicles Corpthrough its local subsidiary, VisionTechnologies Land Systems, at a cost ofsome USD52.5 million. “The acquisitionis in line with STEngg’s strategy to growthe commercial automotive business ofits land systems sector and to become aglobal specialty vehicle player,” the Sin-gapore company said in a statementannouncing the deal.
Indonesian firm wins C-295 contract Dirgantara Indonesia has been awardeda USD45 million contract to produceparts for C-295 and CN-235-300 aircraftto be produced by CASA in Spain. Theseven-year contract involves compo-nent packages for the nose, centre andrear fuselage.
Australian companies win JSF contractCanberra-based Kellogg Brown & Roottogether with Catalyst Interactive, in col-laboration with Adacel Technologiesfrom Melbourne, have been selected forsoftware development on the US-ledJoint Strike Fighter (JSF) project. Atundisclosed cost they will help develop-ment of training courseware productsfor pilots and maintenance personnel.
In Brief
● The M113 APC upgradeprogramme has undergoneextensive scope changes andchronic schedule delays since itsinception in the early 1990s
● November 2006 introduction intoservice goal is unlikely to beachievable, says ANAO
RELATED ARTICLES:Australian Defence Industry: hard drive(jdw.janes.com,05/03/05)Australian Army falls short of capabilitygoals (jdw.janes.com, 04/02/05)
One of the two demonstration vehiclesproduced by Tenix Defence for theAustralian Army’s M113 Upgrade projectDMO; 1116419
All the presentations from the largest Gulf Defence Conferenceto date are now available on an interactive CD-ROM. The CDincludes full speaker presentations, biographies, IDEX exhibitorinformation and other useful resources relating to the conference.
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MIDDLE EAST/AFRICAjdw.janes.com • JDW • 10 August 2005 • 17
The Egyptian Army isseeking to augment itsinventory of M109 series155 mm self-propelledhowitzers with the acqui-
sition of additional systems underthe US government’s ForeignMilitary Sales (FMS) pro-gramme.
Cairo has requested the possiblepurchase of 200 M109A5 155 mmself-propelled howitzers plus asso-ciated logistics and trainingpackages with a potential notifica-tion contract value of USD181million, the US Defense SecurityCo-operation Agency (DSCA)announced on 29 July.
The systems requested are formerUS Army M109A5s that will berefurbished by prime contractorBAE Systems Land and Arma-ments’ Ground Systems Division(formerly United Defense Indus-tries). BAE Systems acquiredUnited Defense on 24 June for
USD4.19 billion. The company hasnow merged its existing land sys-tems activities in South Africa,Sweden and the UK with UnitedDefense to form a new BAE Sys-tems Land and Armamentsoperating group, headquartered inthe US.
“Egypt will use the M109A5howitzers primarily in support of itsarmed forces, but may also use themin joint exercises with the US gov-ernment,” a DSCAstatement said.
In December 2004, Cairo tookdelivery of its first batch of a total ofsome 201 surplus US ArmyM109A2/M109A3 self-propelled
howitzers to be refurbished for theEgyptian Army under a USD43.7million FMS contract awarded tothe then United Defense Industriesby the US Army Tank-AutomotiveandArmaments Command.
The howitzers are being refur-bished to a fully functionalcondition at the now BAE SystemsLand and Armaments’ Ground Sys-tems Division facilities at York andFayette County in Pennsylvania andat Anniston Army Depot, Alabama.The remainder of the order isexpected to be delivered by Novem-ber.
This latter order will be usedalongside the 164 new-buildM109A2 self-propelled howitzerscurrently in service with the Egypt-ianArmy. These are supported by 51United Defense M992 FieldArtillery Ammunition SupportVehicles and 72 Fire Direction Cen-tre vehicles.
The refurbished self-propelledhowitzers will probably replaceolder Russian-supplied 122 mm and152 mm towed systems to comple-ment the Egyptian Army’s M1A1Abrams and M60A3 main battletank (MBT)-equipped divisions.
Defence sources have told JDWthat Egypt has also test-fired a 155mm/52 calibre weapon mounted ona modified T-55 MBT chassis.However, to date, this has notentered into service with the Egypt-ian armed forces. ■
Egypt requestsadditional M109artillery systemROBIN HUGHES JDW Middle East EditorLondon
Israeli ballistic protection systems developer PlasanSasa has detailed the latest in its Multi-PurposeArmoured Vehicle (M-PAV) family of up-armoured AMGeneral Humvees – the M-PAV 2.
Building on earlier solutions developed for the IsraelDefence Force Humvees, and for the Hellenic Armed ForcesM-PAV 1 variant, the M-PAV 2 retains the same four-wheelmine protection and NATO STANAG Level II armour pack-ages, while extending the armour suite to a newpassenger-accessible rear load area volume of over 2.2 m3.According to Plasan, this does not encroach on the frontcrew compartment.
With a height of 1.1 m and minimum width of 1.3 m, thecompany said the M-PAV 2 rear load area can “easilyaccommodate a 1 m3” payload through its rear doubledoors.
Plasan Chief Executive Officer Dan Ziv told JDW that,“while the M-PAV 2 features a more comprehensive level ofprotection for vehicle-mounted equipment and systems, our
composite armour solutions still give unprecedented pay-load capacities of 900 kg [and 1300 kg for M-PAV1]”.
Approved by Humvee manufacturer AM General and com-pliant with requirements for retaining the vehicle’s chassisflexibility, the M-PAV 2 is also configurable with a third rowof seats and extra windows, which, Ziv noted, “for the firsttime offers a fully-armoured six-seater Humvee variant”.
The vehicle also has an optional rear roof hatch that can befitted with an extendable electro-optic/radar system that canretract into the protected rear area.
Ziv said that Plasan designers have upgraded bothergonomics and maintainability for the M-PAV 2.
“With a raised roof-line extending the front screen to cre-ate a more spacious cabin [M-PAV 2 is 20 cm higher thanM-PAV 1 or other standard Humvees]. Plasan’s new M-PAV2 helps ensure that troops can remain combat-ready evenon extended duty aboard the vehicle,” he said.
The M-PAVs sandwich-structure composite armouredbody provides insulation from temperature and noise andfeatures single-piece panoramic ballistic windscreens andsweeping side ballistic windows for uninterrupted field ofvision.
Plasan has been awarded a contract to supply the M-PAV2 package to an unspecified NATO user, with the vehicle nowapproved for production. The company will provide thearmour suite in kit form, which will be assembled locally bythe customer.
Robin HughesMiddle East Editor, London
RELATED ARTICLE:Egypt receives refurbished M109howitzers (jdw.janes.com, 15/12/04)
Plasan details M-PAV2 variant for Humvee
Booz AllenHamilton wins SaudicontractBooz Allen Hamilton of the US has beenawarded a USD16.4 million contract fortraining, education, engineering, technicaland management support services for theRoyal Saudi Naval Forces under the US gov-ernment’s Foreign Military Salesprogramme. The contract includes a baseyear and four one-year options which, ifexercised, would bring the total estimatedvalue of the contract to USD99.99 million.Work will be performed in Saudi Arabia (65per cent); McLean, Virginia. (34 per cent);and other locations (1 per cent) and isexpected to be completed by July 2006.
Oryx life extensionThe South African Department of Defence’sacquisition agency, Armscor, has issued arequest for proposals for airframe andengine life-extension work on the SouthAfrican Air Force’s fleet of Oryx mediumtransport helicopters. The Oryx, essentiallya Puma with a Super Puma power train andtail boom, is expected to remain in serviceup to 2015. It had been intended to receive anew avionics suite developed from that ofthe Rooivalk, but funding will probably onlypermit a partial avionics upgrade.
A-Darter technology demonstratorDenel Aerospace Systems has beenawarded a contract to develop anA-Darter air-to-air missile technologydemonstrator. The South African AirForce has provisionally selected theA-Darter as the ‘dogfight’ missile for itsfuture Gripen fleet.
In Brief
Plasan Sasa has received an order for an unspecifiednumber of M-PAV kits for a NATO user Plasan; 1116429
● Egypt requests 200 refurbishedM109 A5s self-propelledhowitzers
● Potential order will augment existing Egyptian Army M109series systems
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While Israel is already experien-cing the turmoil of theforthcoming withdrawal fromthe Gaza Strip and northernWest Bank, its strategists and
planners remain concerned over the poten-tial ‘morning-after’ scenario following theimplementation of Ariel Sharon’s ‘Disen-gagement Plan’.
On 14 August more than 50,000Israel Defence Force (IDF) troopsand Israel Police officers will bedeployed in and around the GazaStrip. The following morning theywill knock on the door of each ofthe 8,000 Israelis living in 20 set-tlements in the Gaza Strip,notifying them that in accordancewith the law, they are requested toleave peacefully within 48 hours.
“Following that notice, I believethat more than 50 per cent of the settlers willobey and leave peacefully,” said Major GeneralDan Harel, General Officer CommandingSouthern Command, who will lead this opera-tion. Others claim this is wishful thinking andthe majority of settlers will refuse to leave will-ingly. Moreover, the opposition movement’sefforts to breach the isolation imposed on theGaza Strip in July have already succeeded insmuggling an additional 2,000 Israelis to rein-force the Gaza settlements.
Whatever the number of settlers might be, on17 August unprecedented deployments of troopsand police will begin a systematic forceful evic-tion of all settlements. “We cannot afford tofail,” said IDF Chief of General Staff LieutenantGeneral Dan Halutz. “Failure to implement alegitimate decision of the Israeli governmentand parliament would be the end of Israelidemocracy as we know it.”
A ‘likely severe’ scenarioIDF planners have sketched several scenarios onthe level of resistance the evacuating forces willmeet from the settlers. Gen Halutz selected the“likely severe” scenario, in which the majorityof settlers resist evacuation non-violently, theminority resist, using physical force, and there islikelihood that some elements will resort to the
use of weapons to avoid eviction. Under thoseconditions, the IDF’s specially created evacua-tion units were ordered to prepare to end theevacuation of all Gaza settlements within threeto four weeks.
Subsequent to the Gaza withdrawal, the IDFwill evacuate four additional settlements in thenorthern West Bank, where the struggle isexpected to be even harsher. While the fence-
encircled Gaza Strip is relatively easy to isolate,the four settlements in Samaria are accessiblefrom various directions, and therefore expectedto draw masses of demonstrators who wouldjoin the settlers in resisting the withdrawal. “Italready appears that the major showdown of theDisengagement [Plan] will be in the settlementof Sa-Nur,” a senior IDF source told JDW. Sa-Nur, located north of Nablus, which was untilrecently a small moderate settlement hosting 10families, now holds more than 500 settlers,many of whom are from the neighbouringextremely radical settlements of Samaria. “Thiswill most likely be the grounds for the final ‘Dis-engagement’battle,” said the source.
The ‘lone gunman’“There will be evacuation, period,” says GenHarel. “No question about it.” Yet, the IsraeliSecurity Agency (ISA, aka Shabak), which ismonitoring the radical right movements oppos-ing the Disengagement Plan, fear that extremistsare seeking ways that will stop the process fromtaking place. “The radicals believe that only aspectacular act could derail the disengagement,”said a senior ISA source. “The two most com-mon scenarios mentioned by extremists are anattempt on the Prime Minister’s life or an attackon the Mosques of Temple Mount [in
Jerusalem],” said the source. As a result, the ISAhas placed an unprecedented level of protectionon Sharon and Israel Police have substantiallyreinforced security around the Muslim holy sitesin Jerusalem. While Sharon and Temple Mountwill be hard to damage, the ISA is mostly dis-turbed by what is called the ‘lone gunman’scenario – an attack by a lone assailant on a sen-sitive Palestinian target, such as a mosque or a
school. “This requires no prepara-tion and no organisation, just asingle armed and determined per-son, and therefore is very hard toprevent,” said the ISAsource.
On 4 August, an IDF defectorrandomly shot and killed fourIsraeli Arabs in northern Israel.Similar attacks with graver resultscould ignite a wave of violenceamong the Palestinians, whichcould jeopardise or stall the
disengagement, the ISAfears.
‘Iron Fists’The Palestinians are also preparing to decreasefriction during the disengagement: some 5,000
Palestinian troops will be deployed in the
“The radicals believe only aspectacular act could derailthe Disengagement Plan”
ANALYSIS
IDF braces itself forwithdrawal from GazaThe Israel Defence Force is preparing for what will be a stormy disengagementfrom the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. Alon Ben-David reports
20 • 10 August 2005 • JDW • jdw.janes.com
areas surrounding the Gaza settlements to pre-vent violence from insurgent groups. Althoughthe other Palestinian insurgent organisations,such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have declaredthat they would refrain from attacks during theIsraeli withdrawal, the IDF remains sceptical.“The Palestinians won’t be able to resist thetemptation of appearing as chasing Israel out ofGaza,” a senior IDF source said.
Under the assumption that Palestinian attackswill increase before or during the withdrawal, theIDF has readied three armoured brigade combatgroups, dubbed ‘Iron Fists’ to take over Palestin-ian territory and prevent firing on the settlers andthe evacuation forces. “There will not be evacua-tion under fire,” said Gen Halutz. “If there isPalestinian fire we will first suppress it and onlythen resume evacuation.”
Although attempts have been made to co-ordinate the withdrawal with the PalestinianAuthority (PA), the IDFdoubts thePA’scapabilityto actually control events. “The PA’s capability toenforce law and order is virtually nil,” YuvalDiskin, the head of ISA, recently told a KnessetCommittee. “Hamas, which has become a realalternative to the PA in Gaza, would like to takecredit for the Israeli withdrawal,” added the IDFsource. “Eventually, they will open fire and wewill be forced to move into the Palestinian areas.”
Following the evacuation of settlements fromGaza, by early October, the IDF will withdraw allits bases and forces from the Gaza Strip and willredeploy on the Israeli-Egyptian 1949 ArmisticeDemarcation Line. The IDF is already expandingits defences, both on the ground and along theMediterranean coastline, to prevent Palestinianinfringements after the disengagement.
Egypt is scheduled to deploy 750 additionaltroops along its border with the Gaza Strip inearly September. Israel, Egypt and the Palestini-ans are still negotiating the passage proceduresthat will exist between Gaza and Egypt after thewithdrawal, but it appears that Palestinians willbe able to enter Gaza from Egypt for the first time
without Israelimonitoring. This, combined with Israeli consentto allow free maritime passage to Gaza, worriesboth the IDF and the ISA. “With an open sea portand an open border with Egypt, weapons and for-eign terrorists could be easily imported intoGaza, and turn it to a massive base of terrorism,”said a defence source. The ISA is extremely con-cerned that Al-Qaeda-affiliated organisations,which apparently are active in Egypt, will be ableto enter the Gaza Strip.
HamastanIsrael is also concerned about the strengtheningof the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas inthe Gaza Strip, which recently began participat-ing in Palestinian elections and gainingincreasing support. “With Hamas running sev-eral municipalities, and with its 5,000-strong‘popular army’[JeishA-Sha’abi], Gaza is slowly,but surely, turning into ‘Hamastan’,” a seniorIDF source said: “Hamas is imitating the trans-formation of Lebanese Hizbullah – becoming apolitical party with an army of its own,” thesource added. IDF assessments say there is a “fairchance” that Hamas will take over the Gaza Stripfollowing the Israeli withdrawal.
Yet, not all Israelis see it as a threat. “Even rad-ical movements are forced into moderation oncethey take power,” said an IDF source. “Israel hasbeen dealing with the Palestinian Fatah move-ment for more than a decade, but they proved tobe corrupted and have consistently failed todeliver. If Hamas could establish a vital, non-cor-rupted, government – albeit extreme – they willeventually have to negotiate with us.”
However, very little optimism can be found inIsrael for the day after the disengagement. Whatstarted as a unilateral act and turned into a co-ordinated one, is still perceived by most Israelis
not as a step towards peace or reconciliation withthe Palestinians, but as an internal Israeli decisionaimed at ending its presence in the Gaza Strip.Recent surveys show a solid 60 per cent consen-sus among the Israeli public in support of thewithdrawal, but at the same time doubting that itwill improve Israel’s security situation.
The ISA’s Diskin foresees an immediate waveof violence in the West Bank following the disen-gagement: “Hamas will have an interest todemonstrate control over Gaza immediately afterthe withdrawal,” he told the Knesset. “I believethat in the weeks following the disengagement,the focus of Palestinian struggle will move to theWest Bank.” Former IDF chief of staff, retiredGeneral Moshe Ya’alon, has a more apocalypticvision. “If Israel does not commit to a furtherwithdrawal [from the West Bank], we will face aviolent eruption that begins in the West Bank andspreads to Gaza,” he said recently.
Sharon, who has lost support among the Israeliright, and will by then begin preparing for his re-election, would probably respond aggressively toPalestinian violence, in an attempt to rehabilitatehis reputation as a hawk.
Both IDF and ISA sources believe that vio-lence will continue to come out of Gaza after theDisengagement and that will eventually requirethe IDF to continue operating there. With the IDFimproving its efficiency in sealing the borderbetween Gaza and Israel, the main concern is adevelopment of Palestinian rocket capabilities,which will threaten the highly populated areas insouthern Israel. “The morning after the with-drawal we will be ready to lead armouredcolumns back into Gaza,” Colonel Eyal Eisen-berg, commander of IDF Givati infantry brigadetold JDW. “We just hope we won’t have to.”
AlonBen-DavidJDWCorrespondent, Tel Aviv
jdw.janes.com • JDW • 10 August 2005 • 21
Israeli Border Policetrain for thedisengagement in amock-up settlementbuilt in the NegevMoshe Almaliah, Israeli Police;
1116428
Opponents of the disengagement plan try to convinceIDF soldiers to disobey orders. Opposition movementshave already succeeded in smuggling around 2,000Israelis to reinforce the Gaza settlementsEmpics; 1116431
RELATED ARTICLES:IDF gears up for Gaza disengagement (jdw.janes.com, 29/07/05)PA recruits more troops(jdw.janes.com, 16/06/05)
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UK science and technologygroup QinetiQ has com-pleted its largest-everacquisition in the US, thethird transatlantic deal
in 12 months, which will take itsturnover beyond GBP1 billion(USD1.8 million).
QinetiQ – which is 31 per centowned by the US private equityhouse Carlyle Group and is gearingup for a listing on the London StockExchange (LSE) – announced on 3August that it had acquired informa-tion technology provider ApogenTechnologies in a GBP162.7 milliondeal.
Chief executive Sir JohnChisholm described the US as “cen-tral to our overall growth strategy”.
QinetiQ began its push for growththrough acquisitions in the US withthe purchase of defence companiesWestar Aerospace & Defense Groupfor GBP72.2 million and Foster-Miller for GBP91.8 million inSeptember 2004.
The first two acquisitions provided a bridgehead into theUS Department of Defense for theUK technology provider, andincreased its US sales fromGBP300,000 to GBP70.1 millionin FiscalYear 2005 (FY05).
“Stronger access to the world’s
largest defence and security marketprovides us with a powerful pull-through for our UK-based business,allowing our capabilities to reach abigger overall market,” Chisholmsaid. “Our strategy in the US is topenetrate the defence and securitymarkets by creating three operatingbusinesses that reflect our three mainroutes to market – through the provi-sion of ground-breaking technology,systems engineering and customersupport, and information technol-ogy.”
Virginia-based Apogen – anational security and federal technol-ogy specialist with a 900-strong staff– posted revenues of USD205.1 mil-lion in FY04. The increase of 12 percent on the previous year was largelydriven by growth in demand for itshomeland security expertise.
Chisholm said: “Our objective
now is to develop the synergiesbetween these three operating busi-nesses, which together deliveredsome USD600 million in revenue in2004.
“Our US development from nowon will be carried out principallythrough these companies, both byorganic growth and through possibleacquisition.”
The company saw sales increasefrom GBP795.4 million toGBP872.4 million during FY05 –largely on theback of the first two USacquisitions. Adding Apogen to theQinetiQ North America portfoliowill increase the group turnover toaround GBP1.12 billion.
QinetiQ, which was partly priva-tised two years ago when Carlyleacquired a 31 per cent stake forGBP150 million from the UK gov-ernment, is expected to take its firststeps towards an initial public offer-ing on the LSE in September thisyear.
Investment markets have beenpoised for the flotation since the UKMinistry of Defence announced inJuly that it would permit QinetiQ toappoint financial advisers. The mar-ket consensus is that the flotation willvalue QinetiQ at around GBP1 bil-lion. ■
BUSINESSjdw.janes.com • JDW • 10 August 2005 • 23
Latest acquisition pushesQinetiQ turnover above £1bnGUYANDERSON Editor, Jane’s Defence IndustryLondon
● UK science group QinetiQ hasacquired US defence technologygroup Apogen Technologies in aUSD288 million deal, its third USdeal in 12 months.
● The acquisition will pushQinetiQ’s turnover beyond GBP1billion for the first time, andcomes as it prepares to be listedon the London Stock Exchange
RELATED ARTICLES:September IPO on the cards for QinetiQ(jdin.janes.com, 03/08/05)Another US acquisition for QinetiQ(jdw.janes.com, 17/09/04)
General Dynamics (GD) has acquiredItronix Corporation, a provider ofwireless, rugged mobile computingtechnology, in a move the companysees as a significant increase in itscomputing solutions capability.
GD announced on 3 August that ithad entered into a definitive agreementwith Itronix Holdings and Golden GateCapital for the acquisition. The com-pany is now awaiting a regulatoryreview by the US Department of Justiceto finalise the sale, expected before theend of September.
A GD spokesman said the terms ofthe acquisition were not being dis-closed.
Itronix, which will become part of theGeneral Dynamics C4 Systems busi-ness unit, supplies a range ofhand-held equipment, laptops andtablet PCs, and wireless integration andsupport services.
General Dynamics C4 Systems Presi-dent Mark Fried said, with much of thecompany’s business already in therugged computing solutions market,the acquisition would help broaden itsproduct range.
“The acquisition of Itronix will allowGeneral Dynamics C4 Systems to bringeven higher value to our core Depart-ment of Defense and Department ofHomeland Security customers, andexpand further into select commercialand international markets, whichincreasingly are calling for ruggedcomputing solutions to meet their mis-sion requirements.”
Tony SkinnerJDW Staff Reporter, London
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed a GBP700million (USD1.24 billion) contract with Thales UK for theWatchkeeper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system butdetails remain sketchy on how many aircraft will bemanufactured or what the initial capability will be when itis declared.
The contract signature on 4 August was pre-empted bySecretary of State for Defence John Reid on 20 July, one day
before the UK parliament went into recess, when heannounced the programme had been given the “green light”.
The Watchkeeper contract was originally predicted to beworth GBP800 million but the move from two platforms toone and clarification of the requirement is believed to havereduced the price. However, the contract is the largest to datefor Thales UK.
The MoD plans to “introduce [the] capability in 2010”,according to a spokesman, but what this involves in terms ofnumber of platforms or ground stations is unknown and adate when all platforms will be delivered has not beenannounced.
Watchkeeper involves the purchase of Israel’s Elbit Sys-tems’ Hermes 450 UAVs (designated WK450 for theprogramme, pictured left), ground stations and sensors to
provide 24 hour, seven-day-a-week surveillance whenrequired.
Thales and Elbit Systems are finalising details of a jointventure (JV), which will be established in Leicester, centralEngland, and signatures for the creation of the JV areexpected to be placed later in 2005.
Elbit Systems, in a statement released on the day of thecontract signature, said it expected to receive about GBP300million of the contract. Other team members include LogicaCMG, Marshall SV, Cobham, Cubic Corporation, Boeing andVega.
Thales UK Chief Executive Officer Alex Dorrian said thecompany “expects to secure export sales of at least GBP400million over the next 10 years”. Thales UK was selected aspreferred contractor in July 2004 and was awarded a GBP6million development contract six months later.
Damian Kemp, JDW Aviation Editor, London
UK signs Watchkeeper contract
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General Dynamicsto acquire Itronix
Go to jdw.janes.com for more of this article
In the global market (excluding Russiaand China) the US dominates the indus-trial and operational landscape in twoways. With the largest deployed airforce it obviously has the largest
weapons requirement. US manufacturerswill always be supported by this single,fiercely protected market that guaranteessales. For example, the US Air Force (USAF)plans to replace its AIM-9M Sidewinderstocks (about 4,400 missiles) on an almostone-for-one basis with the AIM-9X (4,000missiles) by 2012. No other customer has thiskind of buying power.
At the same time, it is interesting to note thatprojected AIM-120 Advanced Medium-RangeAir-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) export salesare running at a roughly 2:1 ratio to currentdomestic buys. AMRAAM production Lot 20for (Fiscal Year 2006, FY06) contains 267 mis-siles for the USAF and US Navy (USN), but565 for Foreign Military Sales (FMS) cus-tomers. In FY07 the number is 365 US versus585 FMS.
This illustrates the second dominant US posi-tion: platform access. US air-to-air weapons are
probably integrated and available for a widerrange of aircraft than those of all the rest of theworld’s missile makers put together. This mar-ket ‘high ground’ensures a continuing stream offollow-on sales, quite apart from any new cus-tomers. And there are new customers.
All the former Warsaw Pact states that havere-equipped their new NATO air forces – theCzech Republic, Hungary and Poland – haveeach signed for US air-to-air weapons regard-less of whether they have purchased US aircraft.That trend is set to continue, both in Europe andelsewhere.
Europe’s missile industry watches the air-to-
air weapons market with increasing frustration.The easy availability of integrated and afford-able US missiles continues to eat up marketshare. Europe’s air-to-air missile (AAM) devel-opers hold impeccable high-tech credentialsand have produced advanced and effectiveweapons. However, they have failed to developsufficient critical mass while always strugglingwith delays and high costs. France has had areliable market for its missiles but theseweapons have been tied to French-built plat-forms. That route is now a dead end for futurevolume sales. The UK is arguably in a worseposition, with no national aircraft industry tofall back on and exports to the US or Europeunlikely. Other projects, like the German-ledIRIS-T, survive at the margins but the Europeanmissile industry is failing to effectively com-pete by not having a unified product line, oreven a unified process.
A ‘must have’ packageOne of the few instances where this is not true –and the only example in the AAM field – isMBDA Missile Systems’ Meteor Beyond-
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KEY POINTS● The US has the largest AAM requirement and
enjoys the market ‘high ground’● European developers have produced advanced
weapons while struggling with delays andhigh costs
● Israel continues to be a major source ofinnovation and new technology
● China draws heavily on Russian technology for key systems
BRIEFINGjdw.janes.com • JDW • 10 August 2005 • 25
AIR-TO-AIR WEAPONS
Visual-Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM)programme. The Meteor should be a benchmarkfuture weapon, one that pulls together all ofEurope’s skills into a ‘must have’ package. Thethreat to this rosy future is two-fold. Meteor mayyet arrive into a ‘no need’ world, where there isno effective air threat to warrant such a high-performance (and highly priced) missile.
The second, greater, danger is a ‘no room’sce-nario where Meteor is quietly but effectivelyshut out from any US platform – specifically theF-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) – and therebyexcluded from what could be the lion’s share ofthe post-2020 combat aircraft market.
Missiles are nothing without the aircraft tocarry them on and there are already rising con-cerns that the US will not exert itself to assist aMeteor integration, while producing its ownnext-generationAAM in the 2015 timeframe.
The first Meteor live firing trial is scheduledto take place in Sweden before the end of 2005.
Along with Meteor, MBDA is responsible forthe UK-developed Advanced Short-Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) and French MICAcombat and air intercept missiles.
ASRAAM is now operational with the UK
Royal Air Force (RAF) and, since September2004, the RoyalAustralianAir Force, arming theTornado F.3 and upgraded F/A-18 Hornetrespectively.
In May 2005 RAF Eurofighter Typhoonsundertook the first operational ASRAAM trials,shooting down two targets over the Hebrides searange, off Scotland.
ASRAAM remains an intriguing weapon.High speed and highly agile, it is a within-visual-range (WVR) missile that can engage targets atbeyond-visual ranges (BVRs). It is also the onlycurrent AAM capable of conducting lock-on-before-launch engagements from inside theJSF’s internal weapons bay.
Conversely, MBDA’s MICA is a larger BVRweapon that (like the US AMRAAM) offers aneffective WVR capability. The MICA is avail-able in two variants, the active radar-guidedMICA EM and passive infra-red (IR)-homingMICA IR.
The MICA EM has been in service on theMirage 2000-5 with several operators for sev-eral years. It was declared operational on theRafale in 2002. In June the French Air Forceconducted the first live fire trial of the MICAIRvariant from a Mirage 2000, as part of its clear-ance for service testing.
Germany, together with Greece, Italy, Nor-way, Spain and Sweden, is developing theIRIS-T short-range dogfight missile for the airforces of those six countries. IRIS-T produc-tion was launched by a German order for 1,250missiles in 2003 and operational testing con-tinues. The first launch from a Eurofighter wasconducted in April 2004.
Raytheon monopolyIn the US, Raytheon looks unlikely to relin-quish its monopoly position as developer,supplier and supporter of all in-service andfuture air-to-air weapons for the US armedforces. Today’s Raytheon product portfolioincludes theAIM-9X Sidewinder and AIM-120 AMRAAMfor the USAF, USN and US Marine Corps(USMC) – and the FIM-92 Stinger that arms US Army OH-58D Kiowa Warriors and otherhelicopters.
The AIM-9X Sidewinder has now beendeployed by the USAF (F-15), USN andUSMC (F/A-18C/D) units. The full introduc-tion of the Joint Helmet-Mounted CueingSystem (JHMCS), first used operationally byUSN Super Hornets in 2003, will furtherincrease the efficacy of the AIM-9X. In March,Raytheon delivered its 1,000th missile andexport orders have been received from Den-mark, Poland, South Korea and Switzerland,while the missile has also been selected by Fin-land and Turkey.
The current AMRAAM production variant forthe US and international customers is theAIM-120C-5. This version features a longerrocket motor section, an improved warhead anda repackaged guidance system. The C-5 devel-opment is Phase II of the AMRAAMpre-planned product improvement (P3I) pro-gramme, which began with the baselineAIM-120C of 1994.
Beginning in 2000 the AM-120C-5 becameavailable to the US government’s FMS cus-
A active radar-guided MICA EM is launchedby a Dassault Rafale. The passive infra-red-homing MICA IR variant entered operationaltesting this year MBDA Missile Systems; 1116395 The lucrative air-to-air missile
market remains an activeone with established players andsecretive developments. RobertHewson looks at the latest trends and achievements in the world’smajor air-to-air missile programmes
BRIEFING26 • 10 August 2005 • JDW • jdw.janes.com
tomers. The UK has ordered 170 AIM-120C-5sto arm RAF Tornado F.3s and as an interimweapon for the Typhoon F.2.
Significant leapThe US is now moving forward with the AIM-120C-7 (P3I Phase III), launched in the Lot 16production order. The C-7 introduces whatRaytheon describes as a “significant leap inradar architecture” using guidance systemsoriginally intended for Raytheon’s Extended-RangeAir-to-Air Missile (ERAAM) challengerto the European Meteor missile. The C-5 willalso have improved electronic protection, orresistance to jamming and countermeasures.The missile has now completed operationaltests and should be in service by October.
Following the C-7 is a new and shadowyAMRAAM variant – the AIM-120D. Work onthis weapon began quietly in 2004 under P3IPhase IV. It is being developed primarily for theUSN’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet force to pro-vide long-range air defence, but will go on toequip the F-15, F-16 and F/A-22. The AIM-120D incorporates a two-way datalink forimproved accuracy over distance, augmentedby GPS navigation. The missile also deliversgreater kinematics and an improved high off-boresight capability. Some sources credit it witha 50 per cent increase in range over existingvariants and it is due to enter service in late2007.
Beyond AMRAAM and AIM-9X the US isevaluating an entirely new AAM programme,the Joint Dual Role Air Dominance Missile(JDRADM). This would be a combined air-to-air and air-to-ground weapon, intended for theF-22, F-35, future unmanned combat aerialvehicles and some existing types. A USAFbriefing document describes JDRADM suc-cinctly as “the future” – but that future is stillsome distance off.
With a notional deployment date of 2018,seed funding for the JDRADM has beenrequested for FY11, but in US budgetary termsthis effectively means the programme does notexist. In addition, the USAF continues to funddevelopment work of the Aerojet (formerlyAtlantic Research) Variable Flow DuctedRocket ramjet system as a future propulsionoption for an extended rangeAAM.
Beyond Europe and the US there are manyareas of interest – some well documented, othersless so. Israel continues to be a major source ofinnovation and new technology. The RafaelArmament Development Authority is thenational AAM house and is currently marketingits Python 5 highly agile AAM and the active-radar BVR Derby.
As far as is known, neither missile has yetbeen sold to a foreign user and the first opera-tional export application of both the Python 5and Derby is likely to be in Rafael’s Spyderground-based air-defence system. Israel has soldthe earlier Python 4 to Chile, Thailand and oth-ers, and all existing Python 3 and 4 customers
are being offered the improved Python 5. BothPython 5 and Derby will equip Chile’snew Block 50 F-16s, the first of which madeits debut flight in June.
South Africa and partnersIsrael and South Africa co-operated closely onthe joint BVR missile programme that deliveredthe Derby, and the essentially identical R-Darter(also known as V4) to South Africa. Kentron(now part of Denel Aerospace Systems) headedR-Darter development and the missile is opera-tional on South African Air Force (SAAF)Cheetah C fighters.
The missile will also arm the SAAF’s newGripens, to be operational in 2008. The R-Darter
has been earmarked for Brazil’s F-5BR aircraft,now being upgraded by Embraer and Elbit. InApril Kentron announced it had completed F-5BR integration trials for the R-Darter, but noorder has yet been placed.
Brazil has its own short-range AAM pro-gramme in the shape of the Mectron MAA-1Piranha. After a development process that beganin the mid-1970s the Piranha was finallydeclared operational in June 2003. It currentlyarms Brazilian Air Force (FAB) F-5Es and willbe integrated on several other FAB aircraft.Mectron has high hopes of export sales as part ofthe weapons package for the Embraer ALX(Super Tucano).
South Africa has developed and fielded a lineof combat-proven short-range missiles, the lat-
Upgraded RAF Tornado F.3sarmed with the ASRAAMmissile on the duallaunchers under the wing.AMRAAMs can be seen onthe centreline stationsMBDA Missile Systems; 0577895
Right: the efficiency of theAIM-9X Sidewinder willbe further increased in USservice by the fullintroduction of the JointHelmet-Mounted CueingSystemRaytheon Missile Systems; 1116393
The Astra is India’s new BVRmissile, now underdevelopment and scheduledto enter service at the end ofthe decadeR Hewson; 0547205
jdw.janes.com • JDW • 10 August 2005 • 27
est of which was supposed to be the advancedA-Darter (Agile-Darter), or V3E. Work on thisweapon has been under way since the 1990s butit has been crippled by a lack of funding and aSAAF requirement that has not always beenclear. The A-Darter will still notionally equipSAAF Gripens, but a long-awaited series of ini-tial flight tests have yet to occur and the future ofthe programme is in doubt.
There are persistent reports that Pakistan andSouth Africa have co-operated on several mis-sile programmes, including new AAMs. Sourceswithin Pakistan have alluded to an AAM thatincorporates elements of the advanced BVRDarter designs that were once part of SouthAfrica’s previously well-funded developmentplans. There is still no hard evidence for this
AAM programme – althougha South African-derivedstand-off air-to-surfaceweapon is thought to havebeen tested and deployed.
Long denied a BVR AAMfor its air force, the develop-ment of such a missilehas been an obvious priorityfor Pakistan. It remains to be seen how its revivedrelationship with the USwill affect any such nationalprogramme.
India develops AstraThe same is also true for India, now entering anentirely new phase in its military dealings withthe US – and also developing its own BVRAAMknown as Astra. The Astra should be ready forservice by 2010-11, potentially to arm the Tejaslight combat aircraft (LCA) and other IndianAir Force fighters. To date, two ground test campaigns have been conducted, in 2003 and again in January. The first airbornetrials were predicted for 2004, but this has
slipped. The Astraremains an intriguingproject with severalunanswered questionssurrounding it, not theleast of which is whereIndia has gained accessto the sensitive activeradar seeker technol-ogy that the missilerequires.
This is a closelyguarded technologythat few nations possess and one that is immensely difficultto master for anycountry seeking tobuild an advanced
BVRAAM from scratch, as India is.Two nations that do appear to have developed
their own active radar BVR missiles are Taiwanand Japan, although both have probably bene-fited from US input. Taiwan’s Chung-ShanInstitute of Science and Technology (CSIST)has successfully developed the Tien Chien II(Sky Sword II) – operational on the F-CK-1Ching Kuos of the Republic of China Air Force(ROCAF) since 1996. More recently the exis-tence of an anti-radiation variant of the missile,the Tien Chien IIA has been revealed. Japan’sAAM-4 (Type 99) missile is thought to haveentered service on the F-15J Eagle around thebeginning of this decade and an upgrade pro-gramme for the missile is now under way.
Both Taiwan and Japan have also produced
their own indigenous short-range missiles. InTaiwan’s case it is the CSIST’s AIM-9 look-alike Tien Chien I. This missile was developedduring the 1980s and entered service in 1993. Itcurrently equips the F-5Es and F-CK-1s of theROCAF and the CSIST hopes to integrate it onTaiwan’s F-16s and Mirage 2000-5s.
In Japan the Technical Research and Develop-ment Institute of the Japan Defence Agency hasteamed with Mitsubishi to develop the AAM-5agile dogfight missile. This is an advancedweapon that on first glance shares many similar-ities with the IRIS-T. Captive carriage tests andground-launched firings have been conducted,but the operational status of the AAM-5 isunclear.The missile is not thought to be in Japan-ese Air Self-Defence Force service and has notyet been issued a Type designation like theAAM-4/Type 99. Japan is intensely secretiveabout all of its military technology and virtuallyno public data has been released on the AAM-4or AAM-5.
China making stridesElsewhere in Asia, China’s military industriesare making major strides in the aerospace sector,with particular attention being paid to missileand AAM development. During the 1980s –before sanctions were imposed following theTiananmen Square clashes between students andmilitary – Chinese endeavours were boosted byan influx of technology and expertise fromEurope and the US.
In the post-Tiananmen era and into the 1990sIsrael supplied weapons and expertise, epito-mised by the PL-8/Python 3 programme thatmade a major contribution to current AAMssuch as the PL-9. During the 1990s Chinarenewed its links with Russia and has becomethe main customer for advanced Russian hard-ware, including entire missile families.
To support sales of Sukhoi Su-27 and Su-30multirole fighter aircraft to the People’s Libera-tion Army Air Force (and Navy), Russia hassupplied China with extensive stocks of Vym-pel’s R-27 (AA-10 ‘Alamo’), R-73 (AA-11‘Archer’) and, crucially, RVV-AE/R-77 (AA-12‘Adder’) AAMs. The R-77, more correctlyknown under its export designation RVV-AE(Raketa Vozdukh-Vokdukh Activnaya Export –air-to-air missile, active, for export) givesChina’s expanding force of Russian fighters asignificant air-to-air combat capability.
China has also taken delivery of extended-range R-27E (Energitisheskaya) ‘Long Alamo’missiles, which are equally formidable. Thesesubstantial sales have given China access toRussian technology, particularly radar seekertechnology, which has been exploited to the full.
China is now preparing to field its own activeradar BVR missile, the PL-12 (SD-10), whichdraws heavily on Russian technology for its all-important seeker and other key systems. Chinatook components bought off-the-shelf fromRussian suppliers – including AGAT (seeker),Vympel (actuation systems) and NIIP (inertial
A Eurofighterdevelopment aircraftcarried four AIM-120AMRAAMsEurofighter; 1116394
Israel’s Python 5is the cuttingedge of agiledogfight missiletechnology. Thenew dual-bandimaging infra-red seeker isshown hereR Hewson; 0552859
Meteor on a Saab Gripen.Gripen, Eurofighter and Rafalewill be the first platforms to beoperational with the EuropeanBVRAAM MBDA Missile Systems; 1121489
navigation system) – and delivered them to itsown engineering teams for further develop-ment. The PL-12 project has been under way forwell over a decade, and a comprehensive seriesof ground-launched trials have been completed.Airborne firings were due to have commencedin 2004, but recently there has been a clamp-down on new information from Chinesesources.
However, in May, representatives of theChengdu Aircraft Company told JDW that thePL-12 had already been “fully tested” on theJ-10 fighter. China is now working on its nextgeneration of agile dogfight missiles, incorpo-rating advanced IR seekers and thrust vectoringcontrols. It has also successfully deployed thehelicopter-launched TY-90 system.
Russian missiles andseekersChina and India are now the two main customers– effectively the only customers – for Russia’smissile manufacturers. The Vympel DesignBureau is almost the only air-to-air weapondeveloper left in Russia. Its sole companion isNovator, which may have restarted develop-ment of its KS-172 ultra-long-range AAM inpartnership with India.
A handful of specialist componentsuppliers in the Ukraine are tied inwith Vympel. Ukraine’s Arsenalenterprise supplied the electro-opti-cal seekers for missiles like the R-60(AA-8 ‘Aphid’) and R-73 (AA-11‘Archer’). In 2002 it was reportedthat Vympel was studying a new two-colour IR seeker, possibly known as‘Impulse’, for an upgrade to the R-73(R-73RDM3). The status of this mis-sile is still unknown.
The other key link in Russia’sAAM chain is the AGAT MoscowResearch Institute. AGAT suppliesradar seekers for a host of Russianmissile systems.
These include the 9B-1348 seekerfor the R-77 and the improved 9B-1103M, which AGAT has offered toRVV-AE export customers. The 9B-1103 was originally developed for a proposed‘activeAlamo’variant of the R-27, the R-27AE.
Another specialist version of the R-27 is thepassive radar homing R-27P (Pasivnaya) vari-ant, fitted with the AGAT 9B-1032 seeker. Thisclassified anti-radiationAAM has been in Russ-ian service for many years but in 2004 theauthorities there cleared it for export for the firsttime.
This missile’s passive RF homing capability,combined with the range of the R-27E airframeis a unique and lethal capability for any air forcethat fields it.
At the 2005 Paris Air Show AGAT displayedanother new seeker system that may be appliedin a revolutionary way. AGAT’s designers have
taken the 9B-1103M active radar seeker andcondensed it to fit within a missile body of150 mm diameter – hence the designation9B-1103M-150.
The seeker now weighs just 8 kg and has beendesigned to replace the IR seeker on a conven-tional short-range AAM. AGAT claims that it iseffective at ranges of up to 13 km against a targetwith a 5 m2 radar cross-section.
In the past, Vympel suggested that the R-73could be fitted with such a seeker to allow 360°engagements with particular emphasis on therear sector, which is blind to conventionalmissiles.
The 150 mm sizing of the 9B-1103M-150does not precisely line up with the 170 mm
diameter R-73, but it is close enough to be con-sidered a candidate.
Alternatively, AGAT may have designed theseeker for a completely new application, andgiven the company’s efforts to sell seeker tech-nology in China, the possibility of another suchlink cannot be ruled out.
RobHewson is Editor of Jane’sAir-Launched Weapons and is based in London
BRIEFING28 • 10 August 2005 • JDW • jdw.janes.com
RELATED ARTICLES:Raytheon Missile Systems wins partnering contract(jdw.janes.com, 21/06/05)US Army works to expand air defence(jdw.janes.com, 21/01/05)Air-to-air missiles: command of the air (jdw.janes.com, 22/05/03)
China’s PL-12 (SD-10for export) active radarBVR missile. Accordingto the Chengdu AircraftCompany the PL-12has been fully tested onthe J-10 fighter CATIC; 0563303
Above: Vympel’s R-77 has been exportedin large quantities to China and IndiaR Hewson; 11163396
Right: AGAT’s new miniaturised 9B-1103M-150 active radar seeker could herald arevolution for short-range missilesR Hewson; 1116397
AIR FORCES
The US Department ofDefense has taskedBoeing to demonstratearound 2010 the abilityof the X-45C strike
unmanned aerial vehicle to refuelautonomously in flight.
The company is building threeX-45C air vehicles for the DefenseAdvanced Research ProjectsAgency (DARPA),USAir ForceandUS Navy under the Joint UnmannedCombat Air Systems (J-UCAS) pro-gramme.
Under a USD175 million con-tract modification that DARPAannounced on 11 July, the companywill conduct “a full fuel transfer”between a KC-135 Stratotanker andan X-45C equipped with a boomreceptacle, said Tom Goldman ofBoeing’s J-UCAS X-45 businessdevelopment office. This contractbuilds upon the USD767 million thatBoeing received from DARPA for J-UCAS work in October 2004.
The air force and navy envisageusing operational variants of vehicleslike the X-45C to penetrate hostileairspace to jam enemy communica-tions and radar signals, strike airdefence sites, communicationsnodes and fleeting targets, and gatherintelligence as part of a battlefieldnetwork of sensors.
The ability to refuel these vehiclesin flight will further extend their abil-ity to loiter in hostile airspace andhold enemy forces at risk, USdefence officials said.
At the same time, it presents chal-lenges such as ensuring that theunmanned aircraft can gauge theirposition relative to the tankers toavoid colliding with the mannedplatforms.
The air force does not plan to oper-ate tankers dedicated to refuellingunmanned aircraft, so it is seeking
options for supporting them that donot require extensive modificationsto its tanker fleet yet will ensure thesafety of the tanker aircrews, airforce officials have said.
Accordingly, Boeing and the airforce intend to demonstrate a preci-sion GPS system that allows theunmanned aircraft to approach thetankers safely and remain in theirproximity during the tankingprocess, while adjusting their rela-tive positions as necessary, andhaving the ability to abort rendezvous.
The Air Force Research Labora-tory (AFRL) is laying the foundationfor this type of refuelling through theactivities it has under way with itsAutomatedAerial Refuelling (AAR)advanced technology demonstra-tion. This project will culminate in2007 with a flight test of a CalspanLear jet, acting as an unmanned air-craft surrogate and equipped with theprecision GPS software, ren-dezvousing with aKC-135 tanker autonomously,manoeuvring itself into positionbehind the tanker and remainingthere for an extended period to simu-late a tanking period.
It will also demonstrate break-offmanoeuvres, according to JacobHinchman, who heads the AARproject for theAFRL.
Goldman said Boeing will take theAFRL’s GPS software and install it,initially, on the manned T-33 test air-craft that thecompanyhas been using
to support the J-UCAS programme.Flight tests will be conducted to ver-ify it.
The software suite will then betransferred to the first C-model airvehicle, designated X-45C1. Flighttests will incrementally add com-plexity, leading up to the finaldemonstration that will be conductedusing the third air vehicle, which isdesignated X-45C3.
“It is a building block approach,”Goldman told JDW. “At every stagewe will go from a rendezvous to apre-contact position to a contactposition and then eventually to a con-tact and then to a fuel transfer.”
Boeing’s refuelling exercise willbuild upon the J-UCAS activitiesthat it has under way to demonstratethe technical feasibility, military util-ity and operational value of using thesleek, stealthy X-45Cs in combat.The air force has said it would likelyopt for larger, operational deriva-tives.The C-model design is a 16,326kg gross weight vehicle. X-45C1 isin production and scheduled forcompletion in 2006. Flight testing ofit will commence in 2007.
As part of the J-UCAS pro-gramme, Northrop Grumman isbuilding several X-47B prototypes.DARPA is currently transitioningcontrol of theJ-UCAS programme tothe air force.
As Boeing prepares for the re-fuelling demonstration, work underthe AFRL’s AAR project continues.Hinchman said the programme con-ducted a flight test in September2004 that proves that the GPS systemis “a viable solution” for theautonomous refuelling.
The next flight mission, expectedaround September, will position theLear jet and a KC-135 aircraft inproximity to one another using real-time GPS updates via the TacticalTargeting Network Technology(TTNT) system, Hinchman said.DARPA developed TTNT as arobust, high-data-rate transfer andeasily scalable system to give tactical
users access to real-time informa-tion.
In the following flight in May2006, which will be the mission priorto the project’s final flight demon-stration, the Lear jet will maintain itsposition behind the tanker for anextended period.
Upon completion of the flights,theAFRL will carry out ground sim-ulations to demonstrate how a groupof four unmanned strike aircraftwould carry out a refuelling. Con-cepts of operation will also be refinedbefore the project concludes in 2007,said Hinchman.
The AFRL is also examining themerits of installing electro-optical/infra-red or millimetre wavesensors on board the tankers andunmanned aircraft to allow them tooperate in proximity and carry outthe fuel transfers, said Hinchman.
Unlike the GPS system, theywouldnot beas susceptible to disrup-tion, but likely would take longer todevelop and require more modifica-tions to the tanker aircraft.
Boeing is in the final stages of fly-ing two, smaller X-45A air vehiclesunder a J-UCAS programme. It hasconducted more than 55 flights sinceMay 2002, including missions dur-ing which the two aircraftco-ordinated their activities and alsooperated with manned aircraft.
As JDWwent to press, Boeing andthe air force were preparing todemonstrate at Edwards Air ForceBase, California, the ability of thetwo X-45As to attack enemy airdefences in a simulated preplannedstrike mission. During the mission,the two aircraft will determineautonomously the best route of flightto attack mock radar and missile sitesbefore they can fire on friendlyaircraft. ■
US DoD plansautonomousrefuelling demoMICHAEL SIRAK JDW Staff ReporterWashington, DC
● Boeing will demonstrate the fullfuel transfer between an X-45Cunmanned strike aircraft and aKC-135 tanker around 2010
● The demonstration builds uponBoeing’s continuing J-UCASactivities
RELATED ARTICLES:Special Report: Soaring ambitions - Futureoffensive air systems (jdw.janes.com,15/06/05)Northrop Grumman proposes J-UCASrevision (idr.janes.com, 12/05/05)
Boeing willdemonstratethe ability of the X-45Cstrikeunmannedaerial vehicleto refuelautonomouslyin flightBoeing; 0590084
jdw.janes.com • JDW • 10 August 2005 • 29
AIR FORCES30 • 10 August 2005 • JDW • jdw.janes.com
The Indian Air Force(IAF) faces a crisis ofdepleting assets over thenext decade, threateningits expanding opera-
tional challenges that includeconventional and nuclearwarfare, regional power projec-tion and energy security anddomestic counter-insurgencyoperations.
By the end of the 12th FinancePlan in 2017, the IAF’s existing 29combat squadrons will drop to 26.At the same time, its obsoleteintegrated command-and-controlsystems for better air space man-agement, air defence (AD)detection radar and overall missilecapability will also be substantiallydegraded, requiring either replace-ment or augmentation.
Senior officers concede that theIAF, which operates 26 differenttypes of aircraft, will for the “fore-seeable future” continue to buy anair force,AD assets and force multi-pliers rather than build them locally.This is despite the ambitious claimsof the state-owned DefenceResearch and Development Organi-sation (DRDO) and the fledglinginvolvement of private industry in
the military sector. “There arenumerous difficulties, [in particu-lar] budgetary support has not beenmade available at the desiredlevel,” a senior IAF officer said. TheDRDO, he added, has proven“inadequate” in numerous air forceprogrammes plagued by time, costand technological over-reach.
The officer pointed to the fly-by-wire Tejas light combat aircraft(LCA) powered by the GeneralElectric F404-GE-F2J3 engine,which is more than a decade behindschedule, as one such project.
The LCA, having logged morethan 380 sorties since its 2001maiden flight, is projected to joinIAF squadron service around 2010
to replace the MiG-21 variants thatform the backbone of the IAF andface retirement by 2015-20.
However, the IAF, under politicalpressure to acquire the import-dependent LCA, remains privatelysceptical about its capabilities andhas yet to order 20 aircraft forINR20 billion (USD444.4 million)as announced in February by IAFChief of Staff Air Chief MarshalShashindra Pal Tyagi at Aero India2005 in Bangalore. He had said afollow-on order for 20 additionalLCA’s in full operational configura-tion would also be forthcoming.Doubts also persist over the localdevelopment of the Kaveri enginefor the LCA to replace the USengine.
The DRDO has also stymiedefforts to replace the IAF’s obsoleteair space management commandand reporting centres that have lim-ited real-time linking andmulti-sensor tracking capabilitywith the wider integrated air command-and-control systems(IACCS) encompassing a spectrumof assets, including airborne earlywarning (AEW) systems, radar,fighter aircraft and battlefield airdefence systems.
After the 1999 border conflictwith Pakistan in the northerndisputed Kashmir state, the govern-ment cleared the import of fiveIACCS for deployment from Kash-mir to the western port city ofMumbai. Additional systems werealso to be deployed later in central,eastern and southern India.
Testing of six IACCS systems,including those from Thales ofFrance, Elta Electronics of Israeland from Italy, was completed in2002 and tie-ups with local compa-nies finalised when former air chiefmarshal Srinivaspuram Krish-naswamy recommended the projectbe handed over to the DRDO, lead-ing to its “quiet demise”.
Meanwhile, despite financialconstraints and increasing bureau-cratic vacillation in the Ministry ofDefence (MoD), triggered by alle-gations of large-scale corruption inmilitary purchases, the IAF claimsto be “firmly embarked” on a pro-gramme to emerge “lean and mean”by 2025. This is despite DefenceMinister Pranab Mukherjee order-ing an investigation in April into 37military contracts worth overUSD324 million awarded to over-seas vendors by the previous Hindunationalist-led administration.
To transform itself from a tactical,status-quo force into a strategic one,to meet extended challenges, theIAF plans by 2025 to operate 35combat and some nine supportsquadrons, including one compris-ing six Ilyushin Il-78 air-to-airrefuellers bought in 2001 for INR8 billion to provide its fighters
India plans air force boostamong major challengesRAHUL BEDI JDWCorrespondentNew Delhi
● India plans new airborne earlywarning system, fighter, transport,refuelling and light combataircraft over the next decade aswell as new weapons for aircraft
● The Indian Air Force’s improvedcapability is considerednecessary to make a networkeddefence force and match itsneighbours China and Pakistan
● Doubts remain that the ambitiousprogramme can be achieved
India’s Tejas lightcombat aircraft isdelayed and furtherproblems are beingexperienced with thelocally developed engine
Indian MoD; 1116410
jdw.janes.com • JDW • 10 August 2005 • 31
with enhanced endurance. Senior officers said the IAF’s
platform capability will be furtheraugmented by net-centric warfare,secure communication, electronicwarfare and an aerospace commandto implement the air force’s evolv-ing joint warfighting doctrine. Thisincludes offensive counter-air oper-ations to suppress enemy airdefences, offensive air defence andcounter surface forces campaign,planned jointly with land combatforces and launched in tandem withthem.
Largely with Israeli help, the IAFplans to exploit the proposed Aero-space Command to develop amobile ground-based imageryreceiving and processing terminalfor use by the army and the navy.
Through a complex web oflocally developed satellites andlaunch vehicles and with sensorsprovided by Israel Aircraft Indus-tries and Israel’s Elta Electronics,the IAF also aims to use the Aero-space Command to accurately targeta varied range of indigenouslydesigned, nuclear capable ballisticmissiles.
“The IAF aims to achieve lethal-ity through a combination ofimporting fighters and by selec-tively upgrading existing platformsand rendering them all capable ofdelivering beyond-visual-rangemissiles and precision-guidedmunitions (PGMs),” ACM Tyagitold JDW. The air chief also insiststhat maintaining numerical superi-ority in fighters is a priority for theIAF since “enhanced technologicalcapability can never adequatelymake up for numbers”.
Consequently, the IAF is in themarket to acquire 126 multirolecombat aircraft through a combina-tion of outright purchase andlicensed manufacture. It is examin-ing proposals and presentationsfrom the US’s Lockheed Martin forF-16s and Boeing for F/A-18s,France’s Dassault for Mirage2000-5s, Russia for the MiG-29M2and the JAS-39 Gripen fromSweden.
Official sources said Indian
defence planners are “favourably”viewing the two American fighteroffers following closer bilateralstrategic and nuclear ties forged dur-ing Prime Minister ManmohanSingh’s US visit in mid-June.
The IAF will also conduct itsthird round of exercises with the USAir Force later in 2005 in which theF-16s and F-18s are expected to par-ticipate. The IAF also participatedin ‘Garuda-II’, the second jointfighter exercise with the French AirForce in France in June in whichMirage 2000-5 and Sukhoi Su-30Kfighters took part.
The IAF’s projected assets in2020-25 will include a combinationof imported and locally built 180-190 Su-30 MKIs, around 50 Mirage2000-Hs, 125 upgraded MiG-21bisground attack aircraft and around40 upgraded dual and single-seatJaguar fighters, all capable of deliv-ering PGMs.
The IAF’s efforts at acquiringPGMs, however, have encounteredproblems after the Rafael Arma-ment Development Authority/Lockheed Martin medium-range,conventional stand-off AGM-142Popeye missile proved unsuccess-ful in its second validation test firinginApril in India’s western Rajasthandesert. The missile’s first validationfiring, which also proved unsuc-cessful, was held in December2004.
In December 2001, the IAF hadsigned a deal for 30 AGM-142 mis-siles for around INR2.7 billionsubject to two “corroborative” testsin India. Official sources, however,dismissed the problem as “minor[and] easily rectified”.
The IAF’s planned force levelswould be further amplified byaround 40 upgraded MiG-27Mfighters with improved avionics andweapons delivery systems.
It will also be boosted by thephased induction from 2007onwards of three Israel AircraftIndustries Phalcon AEW systemsmounted on Russian Il-76TDtransport aircraft, significantlyaltering the regional power balancewith nuclear rivals Pakistan andChina.
Neither country has AEWcapability, though Pakistan is nego-tiating with Sweden to procure suchsystems.
With the Phalcon’s induction, theIAF will begin executing its airdefence and airborne battle man-agement operations, leading to a
gradual winding up of the sixground-based Air Defence Direc-tion Control Centres located alongIndia’s northern, western and east-ern frontiers.
Additionally, India’s CabinetCommittee on Security has clearedthe development of an indigenousAEW system by 2011 for INR18 billion, reviving the DRDO’ssix-year project that was abandonedafter the locally designed airbornesurveillance platform crashed in1999, killing eight people involvedwith the programme.
The DRDO has signed a memo-randum of understanding withBrazil’s Embraer to purchase threeEMB-145 aircraft as platforms,with the option of acquiring a simi-lar number, for the IAF to be fittedwith active phased-array radarantennae which will also double asan inverse synthetic aperture radardesigned by the Electronics andRadar Development Establishmentand the Centre for Airborne Systemsin Bangalore.
Operating in tandem with thePhalcons, these integrated surveil-lance and reconnaissance systemswill eventually mean the end ofextended surface-to-air missile net-works and gun-based artilleryassets.
The emphasis, instead, will shiftto the selective deployment of low-level quick-reaction missile(LLQRM) systems for which theIAF is currently evaluating France’sMBDA VL MICA and Israel’sRafael-IAI’s Spyder-SR.
The IAF wants 12 LLQRMbatteries, three of them in completedform, and the remainder to be builtlocally; they will be specially con-figured to local deploymentpatterns, terrain and weather condi-tions in a deal estimated at aroundINR15 billion.
The IAF’s rotary wing and strate-gic medium transport lift capabilityalso needs refurbishment as the ser-vice strives doctrinally and in itsoverall equipment profile to execute“extended challenges” domesti-cally, in its neighbourhood andbeyond,ACM Tyagi declared. ■
ACM Tyagi: “Enhanced technologicalcapability can never adequately make upfor numbers” Indian MoD; 1116408
Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft are already inservice with the IAF as transports but theplatform will also be used for AEWsystems Indian MoD; 1116409
RELATED ARTICLES:Indian Su-30K fighters display newcapabilities (jdw.janes.com, 08/07/05)Indian Defence Industry: Two-way stretch(jdw.janes.com, 27/01/05)Aero India 2003: Air force on course tobecome ‘lean and mean’(jdw.janes.com, 07/07/03)
AIR FORCES
British Army comman-ders deployed RoyalNavy Westland SeaKing Airborne Surveil-lance and Control Mk 7
(ASaC.7) helicopters in a groundsurveillance role for the first timein a major field exercise in lateMay to expand the networkenabled capability of 16 AirAssault Brigade.
The use of the airborne earlywarning (AEW) helicopters to iden-tify hostile armoured vehicles forAgustaWestland Apache AH.1attack helicopters (AH) builds onthe employment of 849 Naval AirSquadron in an airborne groundsurveillance or ‘mini Joint STARS’role during the invasion of Iraq in2003.
During the warfighting phase ofthe UK’s Operation ‘Telic’, the SeaKing ASaC.7 Thales pulse DopplerSearchwater 2000 radar providedeffective overland moving targetindicator (MTI) coverage of Iraqtroop movements, allowing air andartillery strikes to be directedagainst targets.
An 849 Squadron pilot told JDWthat since the war the squadron hadbeen increasingly “dragged acrossthe beach” as army and marine com-manders became aware of theASaC.7’s ability to contribute toland operations.
As part of these efforts, three ofB Flight 849 Squadron’s helicopterswere used to support deep-strikeoperations by AgustaWestlandApache AH.1 attack helicopters of9 Regiment Army Air Corps duringExercise ‘Eagles Strike’ in south-west England in May.
This culminated in a night-timeair assault operation launched fromRNAS Merryfield in Somerset toseize the Imber urban warfare train-ing site, some 100 km away onSalisbury Plain in Wiltshire, which
was being defended by a simulatedhostile armoured force.
“The Sea Kings gave me an Air-borne Command Element, a UHFstrike primary radio net and an airmission command radio net,” Lieu-tenant Colonel Richard Felton,commanding officer of 9 Regiment,told JDW.
“I used two Sea King’s [radar in]MTI [mode] to track moving vehi-cles and then to cue my attackhelicopters to destroy the enemyarmour. The Sea King’s radar has afar wider coverage than the Long-bow radars on our Apache.”
Senior commanders in 16 Brig-ade’s headquarters were able towatch an air picture of the operationshowing the position of all heli-copters linked in real-time from theseekings by the Link 16 Joint Tacti-cal Information Distribution Systemthroughout the assault on Imber.
Individual attack mission had tobe cued verbally over radio nets byoperators on the Sea Kings becausethe Apaches do not have Link 16 fitted to allow their aircrews to mon-itor the radar tracks from the earlywarning helicopters.
“Our AHs don’t have Link 16 butwe do have the Improved DataModel that allows us to track theposition of all the other AHs,” saidCol Felton.
During the fielding of the Bow-man digital communicationssystem, beginning later in 2005, to16 Brigade in 2006, a network ofgateways or rebroadcast systemswill be procured by the BritishArmy to allow improved data-com-munications traffic to be routed toand from airborne Apache andground headquarters.
According to Commander BrianMeakin, officer commanding 849Squadron, the ASaC.7s were calledin to support the amphibious assaultby 3 Commando Brigade RoyalMarines on to the Al Faw peninsulaon the opening day of the Iraq warbecause US Air Force NorthropGrumman E-8 Joint STARS wereheavily committed to supporting theUSArmy’s drive on Baghdad.
The lack of Joint STARS cover-age was constraining groundmanoeuvre planning so an ad hocsurveillance of theAl Faw peninsulawas launched by 849 Squadron,Comm Meakin told the recentDefence IQAirborne EarlyWarningand Battle Management Conferencein London. A week before the inva-sion in late March 2003 thesquadron began using its radar inMTI mode to establish traffic pat-terns in southern Iraq to check ifroads were being mined.
Constant surveillance of thepeninsula was mounted once3 Commando Brigade began itsassault and radar tracks were down-loaded into the brigade’sheadquarters by Link 16, said CommMeakin. On the second day of theconflict, Royal Marine officers were
flown in the helicopters to act as anairborne ground command element.
As 3 Commando Brigade beganexpanding its bridgehead on the AlFaw peninsula, the Sea Kings beganto be used to cue targets for attack.The rules of engagement requiredpositive visual identification of tar-gets so it took time for BAESystems’Phoenix unmanned aerialvehicles of the British Army RoyalArtillery to positively identify tar-gets for artillery and air strikes.
This process was complex andcould take up to two hours, accord-ing to UK officers involved in theoperation, because of a lack ofsecure data networks, meaning thatmuch of the co-ordination had to beundertaken over voice radio links.
By 10 April when UK forces moved from warfighting to peace-keeping mode, 849 Squadron hadflown 109 sorties, including 154hours by day and 102 at night.According to Comm Meakin,confirmed tracks from thesquadron’s helicopters resulted inthe destruction of 26 Iraqi mainbattle tanks, 15 armoured person-nel carriers and artillery pieces.849 Squadron lost two of its fourhelicopters in a non-combat crashduring the conflict, with the loss ofseven personnel. ■
UK Sea Kingstake to groundsurveillanceTIM RIPLEY JDW Special CorrespondentRNAS Merryfield, UK
32 • 10 August 2005 • JDW • jdw.janes.com
● UK Sea Kings flew 109 sorties aspart of ground surveillance duringwarfighting during Operation‘Telic’
● They were also used to check forIraqi mining operations before theinvasion in March 2003
● The ground surveillance role hasbeen incorporated into exercisesand is likely to now be a commonrole for the helicopters asrequired
Sea King ASaC.7s at RNAS Merryfield during Exercise ‘Eagles Strike’ PAllen/Jane’s; 1143420
RELATED ARTICLES:
First Apaches fully operational(jdw.janes.com, 27/05/05)Sea King AEW.7 and Apache AH.1(jwaf.janes.com)Thales outlines Sea King versatility(jdw.janes.com,19/11/03)
jdw.janes.com • JDW • 10 August 2005 • 33
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34 • 10 August 2005 • JDW • jdw.janes.com
Newly appointed Chairman of theNATO Military Committee, GeneralRay Henault is the first CanadianForces officer to occupy the post in 25years. This, he says, is important for
Canada from the international perspective and agreat mark of confidence in its role in the alliance.
While Canada no longer has troops permanently sta-tioned in Europe, it plays an important role in NATOpeacekeeping operations. It is currently setting up aprovincial reconstruction team (PRT) in Kandahar,Afghanistan, initially under the US-led Operation ‘Endur-ingFreedom’,but this will switch to NATO’sInternationalSecurityAssistance Force (ISAF) as part of its stagethree expansion to the south of the country.
“By [early] next year, the February-March timeframe, we will be able toformally transition to stage three ofour plan for Afghanistan,” GenHenault said. “Stage one is nowcomplete [north of Kabul], stagetwo in the west is almost complete,”he says, adding that national com-mitments made at the forcegeneration conference on stagethree expansion were “very, verypositive”.
“Everything leads to our confi-dence that we will be able totransition to stage three in the timelines that we have set for ourselves. Theindications are that nations are committed to providing enablers, the rotarywing, tactical airlift capabilities,” he said.
Gen Henault observed that “each PRT has a different threat assessmentattached to it. Each region has capabilities which are slightly different thanthe other. The commitment of assets, whether that’s rotary wing, fast air orwhatever it happens to be, is all based on the threat assessment in that partic-ular region. So the assets required to go into stage three are now beingassessed based on the stage three capability requirement, especially on thethreat assessment itself and, by and large, we have seen the commitment bynations to satisfy that requirement.”
Gen Henault is also positive about the NATO Response Force (NRF),which he describes as “the transformational engine” of NATO.
“The NRF has come a long way since it started. Each subsequent NRFcomponent, whether air, land or naval, has been better each time that we’vedone it. The NRF did achieve its initial operational capability in October2004. We’re still working, though, towards a full operational capability dec-laration in October 2006,” he said.
“The June or July [2006 to be held in Cape Verde] LIVEX [first full scaleNRF deployment exercise] is an important component of that ability todeclare a full operational capability. That LIVEX will demonstrate clearlyour ability to both put the force together [and] deploy the force to a relativelyaustere location, a location which will demand deployment and operationfrom a non-fixed base of operations. It will demonstrate the interoperabilityof the force and the strategic deployment capability, the command-and-con-trol and surveillance. The full package of what’s required to deploy the force
will be validated at Cape Verde in terms of ourLIVEX.”
However, he noted, “there is more than just theexercise itself that will validate the NRF, it will beour ability to deploy, the ability to have the com-mand-and-control andcommunications in place,the sustainability aspect of it, not just the LIVEX
itself but the force itself; and then the ability notonly to declare full op-capability [operational
capability] in October of this coming year but fullop-capability of the next six-month tranche. We
have to sustain that capability oncewe achieve it and that’s not a simplematter for nations. We are all payingverycloseattention to achieving thisfull op-capability. It is considered tobe a key element of not only ourcredibility but also our capability inthe longer term.”
TheNRFis meant to start deploy-ing within five days of a decision bythe North Atlantic Council, theAlliance’s highest decision-makingbody which meets weekly at theambassadorial level. Gen Henaultsaid he is considering “how we canstreamline the decision-makingprocess and how we can providemore timely advice to the North
Atlantic Council. Many of the things that we now do are relatively quick-pacedand that reallymeans you do need to adapt thedecisionmaking processat NATO to this new security environment, which demands much quickerdeployability, interoperability, sustainability”. The fundamental review ofthe InternationalMilitaryStaff launchedbyGenHenault’s predecessor,Gen-eral Harald Kujat of Germany, “will seek to realign the staff and seekefficiencies in that respect not only for decision making but also the staffingprocess and what’s needed to actually support decision making for the Mili-tary Committee and NorthAtlantic Council”.
Gen Henault was still the Canadian Chief of Defence Staff when NATOdefence ministers, meeting during the alliance’s Istanbul summit in June2004, agreed to usability goals for NATO land forces of 40 per cent deploy-ability and 8 per cent sustainability. “It’s important from a NATOperspective that we seek to achieve those goals. That’s all part of transfor-mation,” he said.
However, he added: “There’s a certain asymmetry in terms of the ability ofnations to actually achieve that. Some have already achieved it. Nations willmove towards them, they’ll achieve them, they may slip down below themevery now and then: that happens over certain periods as nations go throughtheir ownadjustments or their own transformational processes. My owncoun-try has been through an operational pause based on the intensity, the tempo ofoperations and personnel deployments over a period of time and a restructur-ingand transformation process that was going on internally. That also happensin other nations as they shift from conscript armies to all professional armies.”
Nicholas FiorenzaJDW NATO and EU Affairs Correspondent, Brussels
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