Defence`s Feeds

Chinese Taian TA5380 8x8 Special Wheeled Chassis

I was on Huffington Post Live this afternoon, speaking on a panel about the rapidly expanding Russian military presence in Syria. Unfortunately, I can’t embed the video directly on the blog, but it can be found at this link.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Seven aircraft from six countries (Czech Republic, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain) currently gather at Zaragoza Airbase in Spain for the fourth training event this year organised in the framework of the European Air Transport Fleet (EATF). From 6 to 18 September, participants of the European Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Course (EAATTC) will undergo a robust training in order to enhance interoperability between European air forces. A total of 130 flight hours and 63 sorties are planned.

The first week of the course will start with tactical awareness academics spread over four half-days and basic flying sorties. The complexity of the missions will increase over the course of the second week to involve low-level flying, cargo and personnel air drop, engine running operations, air-to-air (F18 and Eurofighters) and surface-to-air threats as well as maximum effort landings. At the end of the two weeks course, crews will receive a graduation certificate and patch.   

 

Host country: Spain 

The European Air Transport Command (EATC), EDA and Spain as host nation constitute the “Core Planning Team” of the flying event. Together with a team of international tactical instructors from seven different countries (Belgium, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, France and Germany), they will challenge the course participants. This is the fourth time that Spain is hosting an EATF event. Moreover Spain has been selected to host the permanent European Airlift Centre (ETAC) with its tactical arrangement currently under development. The Initial Operating Capability (IOC) of the centre is foreseen for September 2016.   

 

Improving interoperability 

Initiated by the European Defence Agency and run by the European Air Transport Command, the EAATTC series of courses aim to provide air transport crews with a robust airlift tactics training syllabus in order to enhance interoperability between European air forces. It takes crews into a theatre-deployment mindset, exposing them to airland and airdrop missions in a tactically-challenging environment. Emphasis is put on aircraft operations and on application of procedures in a changing environment. The EAATTC series of courses is one of the deliverables of the European Air Transport Fleet partnership, launched in 2011 by 20 participating nations under the framework of the European Defence Agency.  

More information:

• Pictures are available on Flickr
• The EAATTC15-3 factsheet is available here.
• More information on the EATF is available here.
• Visit the website of the European Air Transport Command (EATC).

Greek ELBO M1114GR Light Protected Vehicle

Yesterday David Cameron played a political blinder: “We’re here to talk about refugees, but enough of criticising my terrible response on that, I had a British citizen killed two weeks ago.” Understandably, this blindsided most, and the fact that the UK government has committed to sheltering a paltry 4000 Syrian refugees per year, as opposed to larger numbers in Germany and elsewhere has fallen quickly off the front pages. These numbers are an abdication of moral responsibility towards refugees. Nonetheless, the use of a targeted killing against a UK citizen (by the UK government, not our American friends after we revoke their passport) is the topic du jour. Understandably, this has been called our ‘Anwar al-Awlaki moment’ – the first time the government crosses the proverbial rubicon of intentionally and openly killing a citizen that has run off to a foreign country to (supposedly) organise terrorist campaigns against their home state. The UK, of course, has much more recent experience of the moral and legal quandaries of using force against our own citizens due to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Over at Lawfare, Robert Chesney pointed out that this is actually a test of a particular scenario and legal interpretation – the American interpretation of the concept of self defence as it applies to terrorists that has developed since 9/11.

The legal justification, as presented was that this was an act of self defence, broadly in line with American interpretations of self defence versus individuals and terrorist organisations:

As part of this counter-terrorism strategy, as I have said before, if there is a direct threat to the British people and we are able to stop it by taking immediate action, then as Prime Minister, I will always be prepared to take that action and that’s the case whether the threat is emanating from Libya, Syria or from anywhere else….

We should be under no illusion. Their intention was the murder of British citizens. So on this occasion we ourselves took action. Today I can inform the House that in an act of self-defence and after meticulous planning Reyaad Khan was killed in a precision air strike carried out on 21 August by an RAF remotely piloted aircraft while he was travelling in a vehicle in the area of Raqqah in Syria…

Mr Speaker, we took this action because there was no alternative. In this area, there is no government we can work with. We have no military on the ground to detain those preparing plots. And there was nothing to suggest that Reyaad Khan would ever leave Syria or desist from his desire to murder us at home. So we had no way of preventing his planned attacks on our country without taking direct action…

First, I am clear that the action we took was entirely lawful. The Attorney General was consulted and was clear there would be a clear legal basis for action in international law. We were exercising the UK’s inherent right to self-defence. There was clear evidence of the individuals in question planning and directing armed attacks against the UK. These were part of a series of actual and foiled attempts to attack the UK and our allies.

And in the prevailing circumstances in Syria, the airstrike was the only feasible means of effectively disrupting the attacks planned and directed by this individual. So it was necessary and proportionate for the individual self-defence of the UK.

There are, however, significant differences between the UK and the US in both legal opinion and the jurisdiction of international courts.

• Armed conflict: The US claims to be in an armed conflict with al-Qaeda and associated forces, the UK doesn’t. Therefore while the UK talks about IHL and military rules of engagement, this is ‘icing on the cake’ so-to-speak – we’re not at war (proverbially) or engaged in an armed conflict (legally). This aspect of Cameron’s statement is effectively saying that when UK armed forces kill outside an armed conflict, they still consider themselves constrained by the rules developed within it.
• The extraterritorial applicability of human rights treaties: A bit of a mouthful for non-lawyers. Unlike America, the UK considers its obligations as extending beyond the territory of the UK, which means that outside armed conflict human rights law definitely applies, and furthermore UK cases have applied human rights standards to matters in the context of armed conflict (much to the chagrin of many people, but that doesn’t matter so much here).
• The European Convention on Human Rights: Unlike the US, we have the ECHR, and we are also subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights, meaning that judges beyond our immediate political system can pass judgement on the actions of the state (like, err, Article 2, protecting the right to life – expect to see arguments about 2.a. where “Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in contravention of this article when it results from the use of force which is no more than absolutely necessary: a. in defence of any person from unlawful violence”). This is a key difference from the al-Awlaki case as there is no international court with jurisdiction that America accepts that can pass judgement on the American state for his death.
• No constitution: Unlike America, we don’t have a written constitution. This means that whereas the American debate on the domestic legality of killing citizens has plenty of plain text hooks and principles to work from, as well as the separation of powers, the UK debate will likely be more nebulous, involving the royal prerogative, and so on. I’d expect some British anti-monarchists to come out of the woodwork at some point to state that it’s a bit bloody odd that the Queen is technically the one in charge of all of this, and David Cameron ordered a citizen dead based on inherited authority. For American readers worried about the ‘Imperial Presidents’ of Bush and Obama, at least you have the Authorization for the Use of Military Force to complain about, as well as requirements for intelligence oversight, Presidential findings etc etc.

My last thoughts on this (for now) is that this appears to be the way things are going: that the ‘Caroline test‘ will apply to individuals and small scale groups, and that the American “unwilling/unable” test, discussed by Robert Cheney, will propagate. The use of straight up self defence as a justification for targeted killing (as opposed to self defence that leads to/in context of armed conflict) is discussed in a pretty accessible way by Kenneth Anderson in a 2009 paper here. What strikes me about Cameron’s decision is that the US has hewed towards the armed conflict model for justifying targeted killings and explaining their legal rationale, whereas the UK decision appears to be straight self defence. From everything I’ve read about targeted killings, the armed conflict model is better, as it is at least more explicit and requires political declarations of war. The US Congress can always call off its war with al-Qaeda, and hem in the President’s authority. The British political system has markedly fewer constraints on the exercise of power by the Prime Minister.

The European Defence Agency (EDA) provided technical, contractual and administrative support to the EU Training Mission (EUTM) Mali regarding the procurement of a biomedical incinerator to be installed in Koulikoro.

The requirement for the new equipment, to meet European standards in case of an EBOLA outbreak, was identified by the operation. EDA´s support was requested in May 2015 and the award decision was signed by the former Operation Commander, Brigadier General Alfonso García-Vaquero Pradal in July 2015. The contract, with a budget of 59.000€, includes transportation and on-site maintenance. The incinerator should be operational by mid-September.

This is the first case conducted under the EDA-Athena cooperation arrangement signed on 27 February 2015 which aims at facilitating direct procurement support to CSDP military operations.

EDA supports CSDP operations and missions to meet their operational needs. Based on the combination of industry knowledge, in-house technical expertise and experience in procurement, the Agency helps operations to optimize procurement procedures in order to save resources.

More information:

• Operations support project page

French president François Hollande announced on 7 September he had instructed the French forces already engaged in Operation 'Chammal' to launch reconnaissance flights above the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) installations in Syria, a first move before striking targets. The first

The Pakistan Army on 7 September claimed to have successfully used an indigenously built armed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to target a Taliban location for the first time. Major General Asim Bajwa, chief spokesman of Pakistan's armed forces, said in a Twitter post that "a terrorist compound

Designated AL-1, the first F-35A assembled internationally flew today from Cameri airbase, Italy.

On Sept. 7, the first F-35A assembled outside the US, made its very first flight from Cameri airbase.

The aircraft, designated AL-1, is the first of eight aircraft currently being assembled at the Final Assembly and Check Out (FACO) facility at Cameri, in northwestern Italy. As already explained in a previous post, the FACO will assemble the first Italian F-35As and the remaining F-35A and F-35B for the Italian Air Force and Navy, and build F-35A for the Royal Netherlands Air Force.

The 5th generation multirole aircraft was given the low-visibility roundel and markings of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force), as well as the 32° Stormo (Wing) emblem and code “32-01.”

During the flight, that lasted about 1,5 hours, the F-35A was escorted by a Eurofighter Typhoon.

The Aviationist’s contributor Simone Bovi took the exclusive images that you can find in this post.

The first F-35A is expected to be delivered to the Italian Air Force by the end of the year.

 

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An awesome airshow.

Along with an impressive line-up, what made Radom Airshow 2015 interesting was the fact that it provided an overview of some of the weapons systems involved, in one way or another one, in several Polish Armed Forces procurement programs.

Among the aircraft that took part in the largest airshow organized in Poland this year there was the T129 ATAK helicopter, offered by TAI within the scope of the Polish “Kruk” attack helicopter tender, that performed an interesting dynamic display.

Secondly, the ATK company presented its AGM-88E AARGM (Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile) which is offered as a complementary element of ordnance for the Polish F-16 fleet.

Then, Alenia Aermacchi company showcased a scale model of M-346 Master armed with the Brimstone missiles. Poland has already procured eight M-346 jets for the Air Force Academy but along with the advanced jet training role the “Master” could also partly replace the old (but recently upgraded) Polish Su-22 fighter bombers thanks to the advertised ground attack capabilities.

The main portion of the show belonged to the aerobatic teams. Radom flightline included the Polish Orlik and Iskry teams, as well as the famous Frecce Tricolori, along with Patrulla Águila and Patrulla Aspa from Spain, Swiss Patrouille de Suisse team, Baby Blue team from Denmark or the Baltic Bees team from Latvia.

Fighter jets also performed spectacular displays.

Both the Italian Eurofighter Typhoon, the Polish and Slovak MiG-29 and Belgian or Greek F-16 fighters, and the French Rafale took part in the air display with stunning maneuvers.

However, one of the most spectacular displays was performed by the Romanian MiG-21 LanceR, as this fighter is at least two decades older than the fourth generation jets. The MiG-21 display exhibited the raw power of the Cold War jet, with a lot of afterburner coming into play.

Two displays that are worth mentioning here were performed by the role demo teams – the Polish Su-22 aerobatic team which presented the capabilities of the old jet – including spectacular passes with varied geometry of the wings (which is quite difficult, considering the small speed overlap in case of the extreme wing positions). Second display was performed by a CAS-role demo team with the Polish F-16 jets performing a CAS (Close Air Support) demonstration, together with the Fitters.

Unfortunately, the F-16 solo display did not take place during the Radom show, even though the demo team is involved in intensive training activities over the Krzesiny airbase. The display is rumored to have a premiere planned for the Krzesiny Air Base annual air show, scheduled on Sep. 5.

The static display also featured numerous interesting airframes, as the above-mentioned MiG-21, two examples of C-27J Spartan transports, Israeli C-130 Hercules (open to the public) and the German P3 Orion.

The Polish Air Force showcased all of its inventory as well, including the Mi-8 and Mi-14PŁ helicopters and F-16, Su-22 and MiG-29 fighters. Even Kaman Seasprite helicopter of the Polish Navy was presented in a static display, unfortunately without the special color scheme painted on the fuselage.

Overall the air show in Radom was very interesting. The only thing lacking were the jets from beyond the Eastern border of Poland, such as the Ukrainian or Belarusian Su-27 Flankers or Su-24 Fencers.

However, in the current geopolitical situation, it is hard to expect that the Ukrainians would attend any air show east of Hungary. The Belarus’s Flanker fleet is in a really bad shape, on the other hand – according to some of the last year’s reports.

All photos: Jacek Siminski

 

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