Defence`s Feeds

China has continued enhancing its dual-use facilities on three artificial islands in the South China Sea (SCS) by building new shelters and installing additional radar and communications structures there, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the Center for Strategic and

Key Points President Sisi considers his position secure and is likely to stand for re-election in 2018 with the backing of the military. The executive and legislative branches are willing to over-rule the judicial branch at the risk of civilian protests. Mass demonstrations are unlikely under

Key Points The Islamic State holds less than 2 sq km of Mosul, Iraq, with the coalition expecting to reclaim the city within days Islamic State leadership has fled Raqqa, Syria, and the group no longer has a central city for running its organisation Three years after the Islamic State declared

Finnish defence minister Jussi Niinistö agreed a Statement of Intent with his NATO counterparts on 29 June, facilitating Finland's membership of a working group on co-operation on ammunition procurement. Invited to participate alongside fellow non-NATO member Sweden, Finland hopes to take

Rostec unveiled an export version of the Russian Instrument Design Bureau (KBP)-designed integrated gun and surface-to-air missile (SAM) naval weapon system Pantsir-M, designated Pantsir-ME, at the International Maritime Defence Show (IMDS) in St Petersburg. Pantsir-ME is a fully automated

The Israeli Ministry of Defense (MoD) and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on 26 June that they had awarded a contract for the largest and most complex technological project in Israeli military history. The contract worth "hundreds of millions of shekels" was awarded to a

The Kenya Air Force (KAF) has received Bell AH-1F Cobra attack helicopters that were donated by Jordan, a source close to the KAF has told Jane's . The source declined to state how many aircraft are being transferred to Kenya. Kenya's acquisition of at least one Cobra was revealed in May, when

Key Points The northern German city of Hamburg will host the G20 summit on 7 and 8 July and local authorities expect at least 100,000 protestors to stage rallies promoting anti-capitalist, anti-globalisation, pro-Kurdish, and other causes. Violence is likely to break out during some of the

MBDA is to introduce a new unpowered, stand-off air-launched munition capability to its air-to-surface guided weapons portfolio, through the development of what the company describes as a "family of all-up-round glide weapons" with the designation 'SmartGlider'. Optimised as a

The Mexican Secretariat of the Navy (SEMAR) launched a new Tenochtitlan-class coastal patrol vessel (CPV) at Naval Shipyard 1 on 27 June, SEMAR said in a statement. ARM Chichén-Itzá (PC 340) is the tenth ship in the Tenochtitlan class, a Mexican-produced variant of the Dutch-designed

Austrian Steyr SSG 69 Sniper Rifle

British Royal Navy sailors have received four new full-size replicas of the F-35 Lightning II jets to enable them to train for operations on the nation's future flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier.

The US Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command has awarded a contract worth approximately $492.4m to DRS Laurel Technologies and three other contractors for the provision of automated digital network systems (ADNS).

Huntington Ingalls Industries' (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division has secured a contract modification to integrate Flight III upgrades on to the Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125) Arleigh Burke-class (DDG 51) guided missile destroyer for the US Navy.

BAE Systems is set to collaborate with Leonardo for the delivery of new precision-guided munitions for all air, land and sea threats.

The European Defence Agency (EDA) recently published a contract notice on its Contractor Support to Operations (CSO) platform for Role 2 Medical Support Services to European Union Training Mission in Somalia (EUTM-S).

Procuring specific services such as Role 2 Medical Support or customised assets can be challenging especially on short notice. EDA assists EU military operations in fulfilling their needs for complex goods or services (e.g. armoured vehicles, air to ground surveillance, medical services ) through the CSO platform. A powerful tool for interaction, the CSO platform helps to connect economic operators and procurement authorities. Economic operators are invited to subscribe to the platform database to receive regular updates on business opportunities from EU-led operations or other governmental and institutional authorities.

EUTM-S is currently seeking for Role 2 medical care services to cover the region of Mogadishu. Medical care support is categorised into four roles that identify the functions and the capabilities of a medical unit or element. Most of the care capabilities of each role are subordinates to the next higher role. In general a Role 2  as medical care support is characterised by its ability to perform surgical interventions, including damage control  surgery and  surgical  procedures  for  emergency  surgical  cases,  to  deliver  life,  limb  and  function  saving  medical  treatment and to perform reception / triage of casualties.

The full contract notice, as well as another contract notice from EUFOR Althea HQ in Bosnia and Herzegovina for food, water and catering supply, can be found on the CSO Platform which constitutes the one-stop-shop for EDA contractor support to operations:

http://cso.eda.europa.eu/Pages/BusinessOpportunities.aspx.

 

Support to operations

Since the creation of the European Defence Agency in 2004, support to the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and to EU operations has been part of EDA's core mission. Procurement of contracted solutions has become increasingly relevant for EU military operations not only to fill capability gaps in the force generation process, but also as a general planned support for ongoing operations.

Several activities are ongoing in support of CSDP military and civilian operations or missions as well as EU Battlegroups at the request of Member States, such as  the provision of satellite communication, the use of EDA-developed projects, and the testing of EDA-funded demonstrators, and soon in-theatre aeromedical evacuation services.

Copyright picture: Bundeswehr/Jane Schmidt

More information:

• Support to operations project page
• News: "EDA signs cooperation arrangement with Athena" (2 March 2015)
• CSO platform (password required)

Order to be placed by NSPA through OCCAR under EDA initiative

Germany and Norway officially joined the European/NATO program to acquire Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft along with Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The two nations committed to participating in the project through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding at NATO HQ in Brussels today.

Known as the Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet (MMF) the programme was initiated by the European Defence Agency (EDA) in 2012. Europe’s organization for the management of cooperative armament programmes - OCCAR - manages the MMF acquisition phase as Contract Executing Agent on behalf of the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). Following the acquisition phase, NSPA will be responsible for the complete life-cycle management of the fleet.

The Programme is funded by the four nations who will have the exclusive right to use these NATO–owned aircraft which will operate in a pooling arrangement. The aircraft will be configured for inflight refuelling, the transport of passengers and cargo, and medical evacuation flights. The first two aircraft have already been ordered to be delivered from Airbus Defence and Space’s tanker conversion line at Getafe near Madrid in 2020. Five additional aircraft will now be ordered, and that order will include options for up to four further aircraft.

NSPA GM, Peter Dohmen said “As NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency, we are proud to be a key enabler of this critical project to help European nations meet their air transport and refuelling requirements. The successful cooperation in this project - bringing together all our capabilities - bodes extremely well for further future NATO / EU collaboration.”

OCCAR Director, Arturo Alfonso-Meiriño said: “The MMF programme has broken new ground in bringing together the combined capabilities of the EDA, NSPA and OCCAR as one team, with each organisation working within its particular sphere of expertise. I very much welcome that this important initiative has now attracted additional partners to join, and it still includes options for the participation of even more countries.”

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq said: “The MMF is a prime example of European defence cooperation which shows that once a capability shortfall has been jointly identified, European nations can pull together, work on a common project aimed at filling the gap, and eventually deliver. It’s Pooling & Sharing at its best”.

Airbus Defence and Space Head of Military Aircraft Fernando Alonso said: “The A330 MRTT has established itself firmly as the world’s premier tanker/transport aircraft. It is extremely satisfying to now see it adopted as the core asset of one of Europe’s most important cooperative defence programmes. We hope that this collaborative approach will serve as a model for future joint procurements.”

Contacts for the media:

 

• Airbus Defence and Space:
  Kieran Daly +34 689 669 661 kieran.daly@airbus.com
• European Defence Agency:
  Helmut Brüls +32 47 35 63 964  helmut.bruls@eda.europa.eu
• OCCAR:
  Falko Fanslau +49 22 85 50 21 16 falko.fanslau@occar.int
• NATO Support and Procurement Agency:
  Karen Tissot Van Patot +352 30 63 65 57 karen.tissotvanpatot@nspa.nato.int

On 12 April, the SEDE committee organised a workshop on the implementation of the EU's arms export control system, in the context of its work on the annual report on arms exports. The workshop focused on the issues of strengthening compliance with the Council common position governing control of exports of military technology and equipment, compliance with reporting obligations, increasing transparency and public scrutiny, and the development of the EU's institutional framework.
Further information
Workshop report
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

For the last two weeks, Beja Airbase in Portugal has hosted the European Air Transport Training 2017 (EATT17), the annual tactical airlift training event, which has become an important feature of the Portuguese and several other European air force’s annual airlift training programmes. Some 600 military personnel from seven Member States (Portugal, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, the United Kingdom), the European Air Transport Command (EATC) as well as observers from Brazil and Hungary participated in this sixth edition of EATT.

The tragic loss of life in northern Portugal as a result of wildfires was a sombre backdrop to this year’s training. Understandably, a large element of the exercise’s firefighting and heavy lift equipment was redeployed to the rescue effort at very short notice. Nevertheless, the training continued with eight aircraft (see below) and ten aircrews from seven nations and over 600 supporting personnel in the form of ground engineers, paratroopers, logistic teams and normal operational support personnel drawn from the air force, army and navies of the contribution nations, underlining the inherently joint nature of contemporary operations and training.

As in previous years, the focus of the second week has been on advanced tactical operations with the crews dropping tactical loads and paratroopers within an increasingly complex intelligence driven scenario.  The main effort is to operate the aircraft in packages of up to six  to form the mainstream of a Composite Air Operation (COMAO) mission with integrated fighter aircraft as protection.  The training has offered a very sharp reality check through the addition of surface-to-air threat emulators that illuminate the aircraft, testing their tactical ability and drawing lessons on the challenges of operating  in contested air environments.  The German A400M was a welcome new addition to this year’s event and was put through its paces by the exercise staff who are drawn from the EATC, the newly formed European Tactical Airlift Centre (ETAC), EDA and the multi-national Core Planning team from the contributing Member States.  The training also enjoyed a visit from observers from the Brazilian Air Force and a multi-disciplinary team from Hungary who is planning to run a future EATT from Papa airbase.  Despite the restrictions on airspace and equipment resulting from the operations to the north to counter the wildfires, the participating crews are unanimous in the need to run more multi-national events to improve interoperability and to share best practice in this critical operational domain.

EATT17 (as of 2018 to be renamed European Tactical Airlift Project Training, ETAP-T) is also an important milestone for EDA in that it marks the first practical handover of a training activity from the Agency to the ETAC following the formal transfer of responsibility that occurred on 8th June 2017 in Zaragoza.  HRVP Mogherini and the Spanish Defence Minister Mme de Cospedal opened the ETAC in a joint ceremony, which also included the symbolic handover of the ETAC banner from EDA’s Chief Executive Jorge Domecq to the newly appointed ETAC commander. EDA will continue to support the 20-nation European Air Transport Fleet (EATF) Programme in other areas of airlift such as harmonisation of diplomatic clearances and the development of user groups for specific aircraft operators. 

 

Assets: Germany (C-160 Transall and A400M Atlas), France (C-130H Hercules), the Netherlands (C-130H Hercules), Poland (C295), Portugal (C-130H Hercules), Romania (C-27J), and United Kingdom (C-130J Hercules). 

 

More information:

• Pictures of the event are available here.
• A video summary is available on YouTube.
• Project page European Air Transport Fleet (EATF)

Americas

• Lockheed Martin has received a $39.2 million contract modification in support of several allied countries Patriot Advanced Capability-3 anti-ballistic missile systems. Germany, Netherlands, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Japan and United Arab Emirates are all covered under the deal, which includes work on the enhanced launcher system, field missile activities and unscheduled maintenance as ordered. Contract completion is scheduled for June 25, 2018.

• The US Navy has been asked by Congress to provide a plan for the replacement of reserve F/A-18 aircraft incapable of being integrated back into their fleet. As many as 33 Super Hornets were found to lag behind front-line aircraft in terms of technology and will be unable to participate in combat activity during a time of crisis. The aircraft are predominantly used by the service to act as opposition forces for training aviators and are painted to look like Russian MiG fighters. Congress expects the plan to be delivered no later than December 1.

Europe

• Next month will see the Croatian government send letters of interest to four governments for fighter aircraft. Both the US and Israel are being looked at to provide second-hand F-16s, while Sweden and South Korea are having their respective Gripen and FA-50 fighters considered as well. Responses are expected for the second week of September. Saab, which has targeted Croatia as a potential customer for the Gripen for the last ten years, remains the front runner at present, however, Israel have approximately 40 upgraded F-16C/D variants ready to roll at a much cheaper price.

• General Dynamics European Land Systems has been contracted by the Danish government to deliver Mowag EAGLE light armored 4X4 vehicles. The initial contract calls for 36 vehicles, with deliveries starting in 2018, to supplement their existing EAGLE fleet, and contains options to expand the program to include electronic-warfare, support, and reconnaissance variants of the vehicle. The value of the deal remains unknown. Used by a number of NATO members, including Denmark and Germany, the vehicle features a modular armor package that can be adjusted depending on mission needs, including improved improvised explosive device and rocket-propelled grenade protection.

• Germany has received its 15th and final H145M multi-role helicopter from manufacturer Airbus. The 2013 contract was awarded to provide the German military with light utility and light attack rotorcraft capability, and includes a fast-roping system for troops, a camera system for reconnaissance and equipment for fire support during deployment. With Germany acting as the launch customer for the platform, other countries who have subsequently ordered the H145M include Serbia with nine units and Thailand with five.

Asia Pacific

• AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) have been deployed to South Korea by the US military. As many as ten of the long-range, precision-guided missiles are now on the peninsula, and will be deployed on F-16 fighters located at Kunsan Air Base. While the type of JASSM variant deployed remains unknown at this time, the base model boasts a range of 300 kilometers and is equipped with a penetrating blast-fragmentation warhead. Manufacturer Lockheed Martin stated in March that it had performed several flight tests with an updated version of the JASSM. Its JASSM-Extended Range (ER) is also in production.

• Japan is considering a procurement of Kongsberg’s Joint Strike Missile (JSM) for its fleet of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters in what is being considered by analysts as “a big step forward in stand-off capability”. At present, Tokyo’s fighters are only equipped with anti-ship missiles, so an added air-to-surface missile strike capability would be welcomed as tensions in the region rise amid North Korean ballistic weapons testing and the controversial deployment of the THAAD missile defense system by the US in South Korea. However, Japan had previously resisted the purchase of air-to-ground munitions, in part not to offend sensibilities in Beijing and Pyongyang, and may now face further accusations of looking to pursue renewed imperial ambitions.

• A new domestically-built destroyer has been unveiled by China. Dubbed the Type 055 destroyer, the vessel is considered to be a successor class to the smaller Type 052D guided missile destroyers and is part of a drive by Beijing to modernize and increase its naval presence within its armed forces. Local media described the vessel as “equipped with new air defense, anti-missile, anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons,” and will undergo testing before being commissioned into use. China’s naval effort comes alongside its increasingly assertive stance over disputed territory in the South China, where it lays claim to territory believed to hold oil and gas reserves and through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.

Today’s Video

• Live-firing of Igla missiles in Russia’s Southern District: