Defence`s Feeds

29 March 1967: 50 years ago, Le Redoutable, first French SSBN to ensure the permanence of nuclear deterrence, was launched in the presence of General de Gaulle in France, single autonomous nuclear military power in Europe. Nuclear deterrence is designed to protect people against any aggression of state origin against our vital interests, wherever it may come from and whatever form it may take. Strictly defensive, its use is conceivable only in extreme circumstances of self-defense.

Following the Second World War, France, wants to make nuclear the keystone of the energy and strategic independence of the country. In 1958, the French military nuclear program was formalized by General de Gaulle. By mastering this technology France ensures a place alongside the American and Soviet superpowers. In the 1960s, it was decided to equip the navy with a nuclear launching submarine. On March 29, 1967, Le Redoutable was launched ..

A step is taken. But that activity still to be deployed before the presentation to the tests planned for 1969! The outer shells and thick shells are finished, but the access chambers, flaps of the torpedo tubes, the hydroreactors intended to stabilize the SNLE during the firing of the missiles must be mounted and the breach of the machined reactor compartment.

The gateway, the platforms and the incorporated boxes are installed at 90%. But the partitions are installed only 70% and the carlingages, the crossings of hull, the definitive ballasting to 35%. As for the sailing shelter with its ailerons, too high, it can not be mounted before the launch. For the propulsion, tank, exchangers and pressurizers were embarked, the primary circuit was tried, but clutch, turbo-reducer group, condensers and cradles of the turbo-generator group are being lineed. The main cable layers have been fitted, but the circuit-breaker cabinets are just embedded.

This launch seems modest at a time when the US nuclear submarine fleet is hosting its 41st SSBN and the Soviet fleet already has twenty such units. But with the completion in May of the construction of the Pierrelatte isotope separation plant, which is essential for the enriched uranium of the reactors, and the continuation of the experiments to reach the H-bomb, a major step is taken. "An additional and costly illustration of a ruinous, dangerous and inefficient military policy", according to L'Humanité, or "a capital day for our navy, our defense and, hence, our independence", according to General Le Redoutable does not leave indifferent.

Source

Tag: SSBNLe RedoutableFrance

Navantia Australia specialises in project management, engineering services and through life support in the shipbuilding domain.

Mark Sedra

Senior Fellow

The co-founder of the Centre for Security Governance, Mark is currently the President and Research Director of the Canadian International Council (CIC) an independent, member-based council established to strengthen Canada’s role in global affairs.

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Mark’s research has focused on peace building and state building processes in fragile and conflict-affected states. He has conducted research on several countries and regions, including Afghanistan, Northern Ireland, the Middle East and the Balkans. Mark has been a consultant to governments, intergovernmental organizations, and NGOs, including the United Nations, Global Affairs Canada and the UK Department for International Development.

In 2012, Mark established the Security Governance Group, a private research consulting firm, which specializes in international security issues.

Mark has held a variety of positions in the international affairs field both in Canada and globally, including: Senior Researcher and Program Leader at the Centre for International Governance Innovation; Cadieux-Léger Fellow at Global Affairs Canada; Visiting Research Fellow at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom; and Researcher and Project Manager at the Bonn International Centre for Conversion.

Mark is also currently an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo and Balsillie School of International Affairs.

He has published widely and is a regular commentator on security issues in the Canadian and international press. His most recent book, Security Sector Reform in Conflict-Affected Countries: The Evolution of a Model, was published by Routledge in the fall of 2016. He has a PhD in Political Science from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London.

The growing human activity in the marine environment is entailing an increasing concern on its potential negative global effects on this environment and particularly on its fauna, as reflected in international regulations such as the MSFD in Europe.

The East and South China Sea is a strategic maritime link and a major trade route with rich fishing grounds and oil and gas reserves. Mounting conflicts between neighbouring countries (in particular China, the Philippines and Vietnam) have resulted in growing security tension and militarisation of the region. The hearing will therefore address security implications of the territorial disputes for global and European security, and the role the EU could play in easing tensions in the region.
Location : Paul-Henri Spaak 5B001
Further information
Draft programme
Presentation by Dr. Eva Pejsova, Senior analyst, EUISS
Presentation by Dr. Frans-Paul van der Putten, Senior Research Fellow, Clingendael
Presentation by Prof. Bernard Oxman, University of Miami
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

On 12 April, the SEDE committee will organise 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 will focus 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.
Location : Altiero Spinelli building 3G-3
Further information
Programme
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

On 12 April, the SEDE committee will organise 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 will focus 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
Programme
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

The EDA is now inviting participants to the fourth conference of the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CF SEDSS) which will take place from 16-18 May in Lisbon (Portugal). Building on the progress made during the previous conferences, experts from national administrations, industry and academia are encouraged to continue to work in three parallel working groups: (1) Energy Management, (2) Energy Efficiency focusing on buildings, and (3) Renewable Energy.  Further information is available here.
 

More information:

• Third conference of the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in Defence held in Rome (14 Dec 2016)
• Energy and Environment Programme (EDA project page) 
• European Defence Energy Network (EDEN) 

Afghanistan continues to make inroads into the world of cricket. The men’s team has progressed from being a disorganised band of reckless hitters of the ball in the early 2000s to a well-balanced team. Two Afghans recently got contracts to play in the biggest cricket league in the world, the Indian Premier League, with deals worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. AAN’s cricket-loving Sudhanshu Verma and ‘not very interested in cricket’ Kate Clark look at how, in two decades, Afghan men have come to compete with the big boys of the game. Afghan women’s cricket, though, they say, has barely begun.

For any reader who finds cricket something of a mystery, a brief description of how the game works can be found in an Appendix. For readers interested in sport generally, they might also like to read our reports on Afghan football, brought together in a dossier here.

18-year-old Afghan national team player, Rashid Khan, was in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, playing for Afghanistan in a One Day International series on 20 February 2017, when bidding for the Indian Premier League (1) began. The IPL is the biggest, richest cricket league in the world, watched by millions and attracting the world’s top players. Every year before the season starts, the eight IPL teams bid for new players. In the IPL, the money bid goes to the players themselves (although, as in football, teams may also ‘buy’ players from other teams). “My parents woke up early to watch the auction,” Rashid told the website, ESPNcricinfo. “I was still sleeping when they called me and told me to get up and watch because I was coming up.” He had doubts, he said, as to whether he would attract any bids from any of the IPL teams, but then heard his name called out.

Our second Afghan leg-break specialist Rashid Khan joins the #OrangeArmy brigade. Here's to the Rise of Orange. #IPLAuction pic.twitter.com/BrMIMmNimo

— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) February 20, 2017

Rashid is a special type of bowler, a ‘leg spinner’ who makes the ball spin, or turn, leading it to bounce unpredictably on the pitch and making it tricky for the batsman to play. The bidding for him was the biggest surprise of the 2017 IPL auctions. He is only an ‘Associate player’ (a middle rank related to the level of cricket he has played) (2) and has been playing international cricket for less than 18 months. Nevertheless, two top teams, Mumbai Indians and defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad, bid for him, hard and fast (you can watch Rashid’ bidding here). Rashid bagged one of the most lucrative contracts this year: Sunrisers offered him a jaw-dropping sum of four crore (forty million) Indian Rupees (about USD 600,000).

“It feels unreal,” Rashid told The Deccan Chronicle, “that I will be sharing the dressing room with the players I have grown up watching on television.” He named such cricketing stars as India’s Yuvraj Singh and Shikhar Dhawan, Australia’s David Warner and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson.

Rashid will also have a fellow Afghan on the team. In the same auction, just ahead of him, his Afghan national team-mate, Muhammad Nabi, became the first Afghan cricketer to join the IPL, also snapped up by Sunrisers Hyderabad. Nabi has an outstanding track record at the international level, ranked by cricket’s governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), as the seventh best all-rounder (ie he bats and bowls) in the world in One Day Internationals cricket. Nabi is also one of ten players in the last two years who has scored more than 600 runs and taken over 60 wickets in the shortest version of the professional game, known as T20 Internationals. Nabi also has the third-best ‘economy rate’ – a statistic which measures a bowler’s ability over his career – in T20, (3) in T20, behind only two men, both stars of world cricket, West Indian Sunil Narine and Pakistani Shahid Afridi. Nabi was the top wicket-taker in the 2016 World T20. (For any readers, now feeling lost amid the cricketing terms, the basic message here is that Nabi is world class. See also the Appendix.)

HISTORY made at #IPLAuction – Mohammad Nabi becomes the first Afghanistan cricketer to join VIVO IPL and joins the #OrangeArmy brigade. pic.twitter.com/esfYc4xaYa

— SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) February 20, 2017

It is immensely important for the national game that Afghan cricketers are getting into the IPL. It provides them with an environment where they can raise their game further and there is the hope that popularity on the international stage will filter down into Afghan cricketing more generally, boosting aspiring youngsters to train and play better. It is also a remarkable success story, given that, 20 years ago, cricket was scarcely played by Afghans at all.

Origins

Afghan cricket is a child of conflict and exodus. When Afghans fled the Soviet occupation to cricket-loving Pakistan in the 1980s, youngsters growing up there learned to play ‘tape-ball’ cricket. It is a popular Pakistani street version of the game, which uses makeshift cricket bats and covers tennis balls with gaffer tape to take the bounce out of them, so that they more closely resemble the leather ball used by richer players. In the 1990s, Pakistan was one of the dominant cricketing nations, winning the World Cup in 1992 and cricket flourished at the local level in Pakistan. It also became a popular amateur sport for Afghan refugees living around Peshawar and it was refugees, among them Taj Malik and Allah Dad Noori, who set up the Afghanistan Cricket Federation in the 1995 (see here).

Afghan refugees playing cricket at the Royal Brussels Cricket Club in Belgium (May 2016). Photo: Sudhanshu Verma

Kate Clark remembers meeting members of the Afghan cricket team in Kabul in the last years of the Taleban regime when they were playing on what was then open ground in Wazir Akbar Khan near the (current) British Embassy – they competed for space with Kuchis grazing animals and occasional travelling bee keepers. In 1999, the Afghan cricketers also came to the attention of one of the oldest cricket clubs in the world, the Marylebone Cricket Club, the MCC. Once also the sport’s governing body, the MCC still administers the rules of the game and, in 1999, had only recently broken two hundred years of tradition by allowing women into the ground (4). An MCC member, Stuart Bentham, came to Kabul as a shareholder with the mobile telecommunications company, Afghan Wireless and Communications Company (AWCC), then being set up. He saw cricket being played and persuaded the MCC to donate kit – bats, balls, pads and wickets – to the players. The Afghan cricketers played a match in the Kabul stadium – with official blessing from the Taleban, then in power. This was not unusual – football, martial arts and other sports were also played there – but it did lead to a fine opening line in a Reuters report, that two of the most patriarchal organisations in the world, the MCC and the Taleban, had cooperated over the game of cricket.

Afghans playing cricket in Kabul, 1999, in a field in Wazir Akbar Khan, near the roundabout in front of the current British embassy. The field was also used by Kuchis for grazing their animals and by beekeepers. It is now built on. (photo: Stuart Bentham)

The return of millions of refugees after the fall of the Taleban boosted the game on Afghan soil and it began to develop rapidly. If one tries to put together the journey of Afghan cricket since then, some of the major milestones would be:

• May 2003, the Afghan Cricket Federation hosts the very first Afghan national cricket trials, with players coming from across the country to the Chaman-e Huzuri Maidan in Kabul after hearing about the trials by word of mouth. In the opening match of the ‘First Olympia Lube Oil Cricket Tournament’, an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) team lost to that of Malik’s Kabul Academy. The eventual winners of the tournament were the Khost cricket team.
• 2004 Asian Cricket Council Elite Cup, an event in which Associate and Affiliate members of the ICC compete. Afghanistan beat Bahrain – its first international victory – (although they lost all other matches).
• 2007 Afghanistan won its first international trophy (shared with Oman) at the Asian Cricket Council T20 tournament, a tournament for Affiliate and Associate teams (low ranking members).
• In 2008 and 2009, Afghanistan won two more entry-level international cricket tournaments Division Five and Division Three of the World Cricket League. (4) It was then eligible to compete in the qualifiers for the 2011 World Cup. It only finished sixth, meaning it missed out on the World Cup. However, that sixth place meant Afghanistan could now play One Day Internationals for the first time (see here and here). “Today,” one of the players said, in a moment caught on camera by the makers of the documentary film “Out of Ashes, “we bought Afghan cricket from refugee camps to international recognition!”
• 2009, Afghanistan went on to again win the Asian Cricket Council T20 tournament.
• February 2010, Afghanistan defeated Ireland to qualify for the World T20, but could not win any match in the final tournament. In December of that year, Afghanistan won the Intercontinental Cup at its very first attempt; this is a ‘First-Class’ tournament, ie teams play matches of at least three days (see Box 1) organised by the ICC. In the same year, Afghanistan also won the Asian Cricket Council Trophy and in 2011, Asian Cricket Council’s T20 tournament.
• In 2012, Afghanistan played its first ever One Day International, against Pakistan in Sharjah, but lost the game. It was a big moment in Afghan cricket history and even the Taleban’s spokesperson sent a message of support to the Afghan team. That year, Afghanistan finished as runners-up in the World T20 qualifiers and qualified for the World T20. Again, it failed to register any win during the final tournament.
• 2013 Due to their consistently good performance, Afghanistan was promoted from Affiliate (a status it shared with 55 other countries) to Associate member (along with 36 others) of the ICC. That year, Afghanistan came second in the World Cricket League Championship and qualified for the 2015 World Cup. Also in 2013, Afghanistan registered its fourth consecutive victory in the Asian Cricket Council T20 tournament.
• 26 February 2015 Afghanistan registered their first victory in a Cricket World Cup match, defeating Scotland by 14 runs. They lost all other matches, however, and went out in the first round.
• 2016 Afghanistan played in the World T20 in India. This time, Afghanistan won all its group matches and managed to get into the second round of the final tournament but was unable to qualify for the semi-finals. However, they did defeat the eventual champions, the West Indies, during their final match in the second round of the tournament. They also almost wrecked the English batting. A ‘giant killing’ looked to be on the cards until English batsman Moeen Ali rescued his team. Kate describes how, in the AAN office, little work was done by Afghan colleagues during this game. Not being a cricket fan herself, I was not watching, but when the taunts tailed off into silence, I gathered England was asserting itself and indeed they did win.

Defending 123, Afghanistan pulled off one of their greatest victories ever, beating West Indies by 6 runs in the 2016 World T20! #OnThisDay pic.twitter.com/gtvUCx5eKr

— ICC (@ICC) March 27, 2017

Afghanistan’s performance and (when appropriate) post-victory dance of the attan – at the ground made them overnight stars in the world of cricket. During the competition, Muhammad Shahzad, the team’s wicket-keeper batsman, known for his theatrical celebrations, was the fourth highest run scorer in the tournament, ahead of many big names in the game. Muhammad Nabi and Rashid Khan, the two Afghans players who got IPL contracts this year, were the top two wicket takers, ahead of many feared bowlers in the tournament.

This year, the Afghan team has pulled off another stunning feat by soundly beating Ireland (along with Afghanistan, the best team at the Associate level) in their third T20 match on 12 March. Afghanistan scored runs at an unprecedented speed to send T20 International records tumbling. Muhammad Nabi scored a blistering eighty-nine runs at an unheard ‘strike rate’, of 296.66 (5). This enabled Afghanistan to make 104 runs from the final six overs – the highest total ever added from the final 36 balls in T20 International’s history. Afghanistan finished with 233 runs, the highest ever score by an Associate side and the eighth highest score of any team in a T20 International competition. The Afghan onslaught ended particularly badly for Irish bowler Barry McCarthy. He was hit around the ground for sixty-nine runs off four overs; it was the most expensive bowling spell in the history of T20 International competitions (see here). Afghanistan have also just won a One Day International series against Ireland by winning three of a five match series on 24 March 2017.

Congratulations @ACBofficials for wining the championship in the ODI series vs @Irelandcricket pic.twitter.com/iXTmceIvNy

— ارگ (@ARG_AFG) March 24, 2017

While most records in cricket do not last very long, they are an essential element for performance evaluation in this sport. Afghanistan has now won eleven T20 games, surpassing England and Ireland’s joint record for the most consecutive T20 International wins. The ICC currently ranks Afghanistan’s Muhammad Shahzad as the fourth highest scorer in T20 Internationals, and the seventh best batsmen in the world at this level, Rashid Khan as the fifth best bowler and Muhammad Nabi as the fourth best all-rounder.

Afghanistan's remarkable form in T20Is continues! #AfgvIre #howzstat pic.twitter.com/cxzZFi92Xg

— ICC (@ICC) March 12, 2017

Domestic Challenges, passion and international support

The Afghan national team’s rise has been spectacular, an achievement made even more remarkable by the backdrop of the ever-spreading conflict in their homeland, with its heavy cost to lives. Andy Moles, former New Zealand coach, who coached the Afghanistan’s team for the 2015 World Cup, described how:

Sometimes you hear a boom go off somewhere when coaching in the middle. You see Black Hawk helicopters flying over the ground, going on missions and coming back. Like coaching in a war movie. Actually it is a very surreal situation because I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel scared when leaving for work in the morning.

Cricket has flourished in Afghanistan despite not just the insecurity, but the lack of infrastructure. Rather, passion and self-belief has allowed cricketers to thrive in such a hostile environment. There has also been international support. Afghanistan cannot host home games because of the conflict and the lack of good enough facilities. The United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka and India have all stepped in over the years to host its games; currently Afghanistan’s home ground is at Greater Noida, right outside New Delhi in India.

Regional Club Level T20 Tournament – Spenghar Vs Band-E-Amir
Photo Story: https://t.co/MtDi12RjIh pic.twitter.com/tCPGM3ayHB

— Afghan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) December 16, 2016

Afghanistan has also had agreements and received support from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India to develop cricket in the country. Their players have received training in Bangladesh, and technical support from Australia and the MCC in England. They even had an opportunity to train under the Pakistani batting legend Inzamam ul-Haq before the Pakistan Cricket Board recalled him to be the chief selector for the Pakistani national cricket team. To help Afghanistan develop domestic talent, India is funding the building of a stadium in Kandahar. Non-cricketing nations have also helped, with €700,000 funding from Germany to build a stadium in Khost. The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, a non-governmental organisation with a long history in the country, and the UK government have also backed the development of the game, supporting the construction of cricket pitches in 20 schools in Kabul, Kunduz, Laghman, Nangarhar and Wardak. Another NGO, Afghan Connection founded by a British obstetrician, Dr Sarah Fane, and supported by the MCC, has also helped nurture cricketing talent and built local cricket facilities in twenty-two provinces. Cricket is one field where international cooperation has truly worked. At least, it has for the men’s game.

Glittering opening ceremony for new Khost Cricket Stadium, December 30, 2016.https://t.co/wFGfattyFp@ICC @pajhwok @TOLOnews pic.twitter.com/5YfF8lTsK6

— Afghan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) December 27, 2016

In Afghanistan, cricket is still somewhat associated with Pashtuns, particularly easterners ­ who live in close proximity to Pakistan, a traditional cricket nation –, as early members of the team and administrators were from this group and so cricket developed more strongly in the east. (See one commentary here) It is not uncommon to hear arguments about what Afghanistan’s ‘national sport’ is – football or cricket (before the wars it might even have been hockey, forgotten since)? – as if there had to be one sport only, and buzkashi might not be picked if there did have to be choice. Players from Tajik, Uzbek, Hazara, Pashai and Nuristani backgrounds, Afghan journalist Malik Achakzai told The Diplomat, were all now playing and had made their way into the domestic cricket teams, just below the national team. So, the era of an exclusively Pashtun national team may soon be over. Also, if the Afghan national cricket team continues to advance and compete well against the best in the world, the game’s popularity nationwide could well follow.

Men Only?

A more intractable problem may be the dire state of Afghan women’s cricket. Like most of the cricket playing nations, men dominate the Afghan game. Unlike other countries, however, in Afghanistan, women have barely got onto the pitch. Like men’s cricket, the women’s game was brought back from Pakistan by a refugee, Diana Barakzai. She created and captained a women’s team in 2009. The Afghan Cricket Board officially established a women’s division in 2010. Scarcely anything, however, has been done to develop the women’s game, at a domestic or national level, despite support from donors. Afghan women have never represented their country in any official game, although they did play in a local six-team tournament in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, in 2012. The Afghan team, captained by Barakzai, won.

Shafiqullah Stanikzai, chief executive officer of the Afghanistan Cricket Board, claimed to The New York Times that the national women’s cricket programme was operating in secret. “We are not publicizing that due to certain limitations,” he added. “The national team is functioning but at a very basic level, as they are not good enough to compete at an international level.” However, Peter Anderson, an Australian cricket coach who was appointed as the head of Afghanistan’s National Cricket Academy in 2014, told the paper the Board had dismantled the women’s team that emerged during initial progress in 2009-10. Diana Barakzai backed this up: the Afghan women’s team, she said, had not even practiced for years, yet alone played. Social sensitivity is certainly a challenge, especially when, as Barakzai contends, it extends to the Afghan Cricket Board. She resigned from the team in 2014, telling Reuters the Board had obstructed its progress because of a belief that women should not leave home unescorted, or be given the chance to learn the sport. “Afghanistan’s cricket board does not support cricket for women,” she said, “even though I have 3,700 girl cricketers across Afghanistan.”

Cricket workshop organised by the USAID Afghanistan at the foundation stone laying ceremony of Kabul National Cricket Stadium in November, 2010. Photo: USAID

Social conservatism is certainly a barrier for women and girls wanting to play cricket. Sarah Fane, founder of the cricket-promoting NGO, Afghan Connection, told the cricket news website Cricwizz, that they work “in a very culturally sensitive way, only in communities where they want us to be there. Boys and girls are taught separately.” Diana Barakzai, who is now an ICC-certified coach and works with girls at the school level, also says there is no lack of enthusiasm or ambition among Afghan girls to play cricket, just lack of opportunity.

Not having an Afghan women’s game is significant and not just for women cricketers. If Afghanistan wants to become a full member of the ICC and be eligible to play test matches, the five-day version of the game, it will have to have women’s cricket in its cricketing structure. (ICC’s criteria for test status can be found here.) One un-named “leading figure involved in Afghan cricket” told The Independent  in 2014 that the Afghan Cricket Board “wanted a women’s department just as a symbolic thing to show to the ICC.”

Reporting on the game

For those not brought up with cricket, this dispatch may have been a tricky read. Cricket is a game full of specialist vocabulary: runs, innings, overs, wickets, leg spinner, silly mid-on, silly mid-off, googlies, being in and being out. For Afghan sports reporters trying to report on the game, there has also been a linguistic challenge: how to commentate on matches, especially to radio listeners new to the game. In other South Asian nations, people have grown up using the English terms (which do not have obvious meanings even for native speakers), but that hardly helps newcomers to the game. BBC journalist Emal Pasarly has described how his team decided to translate terms (he speaks about Pashto only), where they could. Some were relatively easy:

Runs became ‘manda’, which means ‘running’. Batsman became ‘jorawuankay’ – the run maker. Umpire was ‘lobsar’ – the overseer. ‘Top-achawunkay’ – literally the person who is throwing a ball – replaced bowler.

However, some things, they found, could not be translated:

“For gulley,” said Pasarly, “I used to say in our commentary ’45 degrees from the batsman’… so I had to describe the position on the field’… It was the same for positions like mid-off or mid-on.’”

Some terms proved impenetrable, resistant to both translation and paraphrase. ‘LBW’, for example, is short for ‘leg before wicket’ when the ball would, in the umpire’s judgment, have hit the wicket if the batsman’s leg had not been in the way. If LBW is called by the umpire, the batsman or woman is ‘out’, his time with the bat over. Pasarly said they just decided to keep LBW in English.

The Afghan Cricket Board has officially adopted the wording developed by the BBC team, as have other media, after they started to cover the sport in around 2010.

Towards Test Match status?

Based on the performance of its men’s team and the thriving domestic cricket scene, Afghanistan is starting to mirror most of South Asia where youngsters, using makeshift cricket gears, turn patches of rough, empty land into cricket grounds. Across the country, local teams are also playing matches, and even in remote towns, a carpet thrown over a twenty-two yard patch on the ground serves as a pitch on which to bat. Kabul and Jalalabad are leading the way: both cities host matches that attract huge crowds. Most exciting is the promise young cricketers are showing. The Afghan Under 19 team finished 7th in the Under 19 World Cup in 2014, beating cricketing powerhouse Australia during the tournament.

Afghanistan is now working to achieve Test Match status from the ICC. For many cricket fans, especially the more orthodox, test cricket is still the one true standard to judge a team’s calibre by. In test cricket, national teams play a series of three or five matches, each one lasting five days. The name of this version of the game stems from its long, gruelling nature; it is a test of the relative strengths of the two sides and requires endurance, consistency, tactics and a well-balanced team to win.

Afghanistan’s application for Test status may well hit a wall, however, because of its failure to develop women’s cricket. For now, and unless the situation for women improves, or the ICC changes its guidelines, Afghan cricket fans will have to make do with the short version of the game. They do not have to wait long for this season’s excitement to start, though: the 2017 season of the Indian Premier League ‘kicks off’ in just over a week, on April 5, when defending champions, Sunrisers Hyderabad, the team of Nabi and Rashid, play their first match. Many Afghans will be watching their star players closely.

 

Appendix: What is cricket?

Cricket is played between teams of eleven people, with each team taking it in turn to bat. Three sticks are pushed into the ground, with two shorter pieces of wood positioned on top of them: this is the ‘wicket’. 22 yards away (about 20 metres) at the other end of the ‘pitch’, another wicket is positioned. There are always two batsmen or women playing, each standing at either end of the pitch. A bowler bowls the ball to one of them who is trying to defend his wicket, and hit the ball to make ‘runs’ (the equivalent of points).

If the bowler hits the wicket with the ball, the batsman is ‘out’; his turn with the bat is over and he is replaced by another member of his team (who is ‘in’). If the batsman hits the ball and it is caught by a member of the opposing team, he is also out.

Meanwhile, the batsman or woman is trying to hit the ball. If s/he hits it right to the edge of the field, ‘the boundary’, s/he scores six runs if the ball does not hit the ground, and four runs if it does. The other way of scoring is for the two batsmen / women to run to each other’s wicket, while the other side is retrieving the ball. Each time they run to the other wicket, they score a run. If, however, the attacking team hits one of the wickets with the ball while the batsman is away from it, s/he is out.

All of the eleven members of the team get a chance, in turn, to bat. When ten of them are ‘out’, the whole team is out and the other team get their chance to bat (they are ‘in’).

In T20 games, each team is bowled twenty ‘overs’. An over consists of six valid deliveries of the ball by the bowler. In One Day Internationals, fifty overs are played. In Test matches, there is no such limitation on the number of overs. Rather, teams play until all the members are out (this is known as an ‘innings’). Each side play at least two innings over three, or five days. If the game is not completed within the allotted time (ie some players have not been bowled out), then it is considered drawn, regardless of who has scored the most runs.

 

(1) The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in India contested during April and May of every year by eight teams representing Indian cities. The Board of Control of India founded the league in 2007. A team can acquire players through five ways: the annual auction, signing domestic players, signing uncapped players, trading players, and signing replacements. In the trading window, a player can only be traded with his consent, with the team paying the difference if any, between the old and new contract. If the new contract is worth more than the older one, the difference is shared between the player and the team selling the player. The annual auction is used as a window for signing new players who are not part of any existing team. This is usually the entry window for foreign players into the IPL.

(2) The world cricket governing body the International Cricket Council grades international teams as Affiliate, the lowest rank, Associate and Full Members of the ICC. Currently, ten teams have Full Membership which makes them eligible to play Test cricket. 39 teams are Associate members, six of whom also have One Day International status, which brings them into competition with Full members in major tournaments. These six teams, along with two others, can play in T20 International competitions. There are 56 teams with Affiliate status.

Affiliate members are countries where the ICC recognises that cricket is played according to the rules of cricket, the ICC regulations. An affiliate member must maintain a national governing body with particular administration requirements and follow these criteria

In order for an Affiliate member to be become an Associate member, the national governing body must demonstrate that it has met the criteria for Associate Membership and have met the following playing standards during the previous three years:

• Competed in all relevant Global or Regional ICC international cricket competition for the previous three years
• Be ranked the first, second of third Affiliate team in the region.

It must also have achieve done of the following:

• Two wins against any associate nation in 50-over matches
• Twice been “highly competitive” against one of the top 20 associate nations in 50-over matches
• Once beaten an Associate Member and once been competitive against one of the top 20 associates in 50-over matches
• Won three times against any Associate nation in 20-over matches
• Been “highly competitive” in three matches against one of the top 20 associate nations in 20-over matches
• Twice beaten an Associate Member and once been “highly competitive” against one of the top 20 associates in 20-over matches
• Once beaten an Associate Member and twice been “highly competitive” against one of the top 20 associates in 20-over matches
• Achieved three results in ICC global or regional events that include any mix of wins against Associate Members and/or highly competitive results against one of the top 20 Associate Members from 50 over and/or 20 over matches

Associate Members are countries where cricket is firmly established and organised but do not qualify for Full Membership.

All Associates are eligible to play in the ICC World Cricket League, a series of international one-day cricket tournaments administered by the ICC. There is also an ICC World T20 Qualifier that works as a qualification process for ICC World Twenty20 that occurs every two years. The qualified teams are awarded T20 International status.

An Associate member must maintain the following additional criteria along with other administration requirements of the national governing body:

• Have a minimum of 16 senior teams and 16 junior teams playing in a structured competition or competitions;
• Must have access to at least eight cricket grounds, four of which must have a permanent pitch.

Full Members may be countries or geographical areas (for example, the West Indies which covers more than 20 countries and territories from the Caribbean and the English team which represents both England and Wales). There are ten Full Members and all have the right to send one representative team to play official Test matches. All Full Member nations automatically qualify for One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals (that Associate and Affiliate members have to qualify for).

(3) Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), called by many the home of cricket, is a club in London, England and was founded in 1787. It is based at the famous Lord’s Cricket Ground. The MCC was formerly the governing body of cricket both in England and Wales and worldwide. In 1993, many of its global governing functions were transferred to the International Cricket Council and its English governance was passed to the Test and County Cricket Board at the same time. The MCC issued the Laws of Cricket in 1788, continues to reissue them (from time to time), and remains the copyright holder of those laws.

(4) The World Cricket League has five global divisions, where fifth is the lowest division. Teams that do not have Test status play tournaments in the different divisions with, in each division, two teams promoted, two relegated and two remaining for the next tournament, two years later. The six teams that manage to rise through the divisions to division one get One Day International status, while the top four qualify to play in the Cricket World Cup.

(5) The strike rate is the number of runs a batsman scores per 100 balls. For a bowler, it is the number of deliveries he makes to take his wickets over his career.

 

American M17 Pistol

Americas

• AAR Supply Chain has won a $909 million contract to support the USAF’s Landing Gear Performance Based Logistics One program. Under the deal, the company will purchase, remanufacture, distribute and provide inventory control for the branch’s C-130, KC-135 and E-3 aircraft, and will also include work for foreign military sales. Work will be carried out in Illinois, Florida and Utah and will run until March, 2032.

• A US Government Accountability Office (GAO) report has stated that the USAF’s KC-46 tanker modernization program could face additional delays despite findings that the program needs fewer engineering changes than expected, and the cost has fallen by 14 percent, or $7.3 billion. Lead contractor Boeing, however, has experienced issues with developing the aircraft, and additional flight testing is likely to push back deliveries, which are already 14 months behind schedule, passed the current target of 14 tankers by October 14, 2018. The service plans to operate 179 KC-46s as part of plans to replace a third of their aging KC-135 tanker fleet.

• The US Armament Research, Development and Engineering Centre (ARDEC) has successfully test-fired a 3D printed grenade from a launcher made from the same process. Named RAMBO (Rapid Additively Manufactured Ballistics Ordnance), The launcher was created in a six month development process involving the US Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM), the US Army Manufacturing Technology (ManTech) Program and America Makes, the national accelerator for additive manufacturing and 3-D printing. The project was undertaken in order to demonstrate the utility of AM for the design and production of armament systems. A 40 mm grenade launcher (M203A1) and munitions (M781) were selected as candidate systems.

Europe

• NATO is planning to spend in excess of $3 billion over the next three years in order to bolster satellite and computer defenses against threats from hackers and Iranian missile threats. A senior official at the NATO Communications and Information Agency said the plans include a near $2 billion investment in satellite communications to better support troops and ships deployed across the alliance, as well as aiding the use of UAVs. NATO will present their needs in detail at a conference in Ottawa in April and then begin launching the bidding process.

• Leonardo is planning to unveil the latest addition of their Falco tactical UAV, the Falco 48. While little is known about the new system, it’s believed that the UAV will have an increased flight endurance of approaching 48h. The revelation was made by CEO Mauro Moretti during a presentation of the company’s industrial plan until 2021 to the Italian Senate’s permanent committee for industry, commerce and tourism earlier this month. Moretti also identified the company’s M-345 basic trainer and a light fighter development of the M-346 as current main programs, and the latter will also be capable of performing reconnaissance, attack and air defense tasks.

Asia Pacific

• In response to additional sanctions placed on them by the US, Iran has retaliated by placing sanctions on 15 US companies for alleged human rights violations and cooperating with Israel, according to the state news agency, IRNA. Included on the list were defense giant Raytheon, Oshkosh, and United Technologies, although it remains unclear if any of the firms has had any dealings with Iran or whether they would be affected in any way by Tehran’s action. The move came two days after Washington imposed sanctions on 11 companies or individuals from China, North Korea or the UAE for technology transfers that could boost Tehran’s ballistic missile program.

• South Korea is looking to target the Southeast Asian market with their T-50B advanced trainer after a display of the aircraft at last week’s Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition in Malaysia. Included in the sales push was a demonstration from the South Korea air force’s aerobatic team, the Black Eagles. Potential buyers of the aircraft include Malaysia, looking to replace the near obsolete Aermacchi MB-339CM, and Indonesia, who have partnered with Seoul to help develop the next-gen KF-X fighter.

• India is moving ahead with a $1 billion procurement of Spike anti-tank missiles from Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. The Spike will see New Delhi acquire 275 launchers and 5,500 Spike missiles in completed and kit form along with an undisclosed number of simulators, and also includes a technology transfer to India’s state-owned Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) to build another 1,500 systems and around 30,000 additional missiles. Meanwhile, Israel is considering selling armed Heron TP UAVs, including the technology transfers necessary to meet the “Make in India” requirement. A decision on the Heron deal will be made following Indian Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Israel this July.

Today’s Video

• RAMBO:

Spike firing
(click to view full)

India has been looking for a modern anti-tank/ infantry strike missile to take the place of MBDA Milan missiles that have been produced under license by Bharat Dynamics. The finalists in this competition were the American fire-and-forget Javelin, and Israel’s Spike with its combination of wire guided or fire-and-forget modes. As of October 2014, Spike appears to have won, despite offers from the USA to involve India in developing the next version of Javelin.

The Spike Family

Spike family

The Spike infantry system consists of a missile in its cannister, a tripod, a Command Launch Unit that contains the optics and firing system, and a battery. It can go from “off” to firing in less than 30 seconds, as the operator lays the cross hairs on the aim point using either the 10x day sight, or the clip-on thermal imaging night sight.

Fire-and-forget targeting uses the imaging infrared (IIR) seeker, but there’s also an optional fully guided mode, using a fiber optic wire that spools out from the rear. They can be combined via “fire and forget plus,” which locks a target before launch but can be used to change targets or abort after launch. The missile flies in a lofted trajectory, hitting the target in a terminal dive and detonating a tandem high-explosive warhead that can defeat explosive reactive armor. The lofted trajectory also allows the missile to hit targets that are behind earthen walls, or otherwise not directly visible in line of sight. Reloading takes less than 15 seconds.

Spike-MR/ Gill is designed as an infantry-only weapon, and weighs 26 kg/ 57.2 pounds when fully assembled (13.3 kg missile in cannister, 5 kg CLU, 4 kg Thermal Sight, 1 kg missile, 2.8 kg tripod). Its effective range is 2.5 km. Spike-LR is a vehicle and infantry weapon that uses common systems, and extends effective range to 4 km. Vehicle variants include launch mountings and a control console, and Spike has been integrated into missile-capable Remote Weapons Systems.

Beyond these infantry weapons, Spike-ER is a larger missile that equips a number of helicopter types, and reaches out to 8 km. A special helicopter and vehicle-mounted variant called Spike-NLOS extends range to 25 km, and relies heavily on “fire and forget plus” via optical guidance. Neither appears to be on India’s acquisition radar just yet, but once Indian firms are license-building Spike family weapons, the government can always sign subsequent agreements to broaden its scope.

Contracts & Key Events

Spike components
(click to view full)

March 27/17: India is moving ahead with a $1 billion procurement of Spike anti-tank missiles from Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. The Spike will see New Delhi acquire 275 launchers and 5,500 Spike missiles in completed and kit form along with an undisclosed number of simulators, and also includes a technology transfer to India’s state-owned Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) to build another 1,500 systems and around 30,000 additional missiles. Meanwhile, Israel is considering selling armed Heron TP UAVs, including the technology transfers necessary to meet the “Make in India” requirement. A decision on the Heron deal will be made following Indian Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Israel this July.

August 18/15: The German Army is reportedly buying Spike-LR Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) from Israel’s Rafael Defense Systems. The missile family has found export success with India, with the Bundeswehr planning to equip some Puma IFVs with the weapon. The German Defense Ministry has reportedly already purchased a number of the missiles, with the integration with Puma vehicles scheduled for completion by 2018.

Oct 24/14: Spike picked. India’s top-level Defence Acquisition Council clears INR 900 billion in acquisitions. New submarines are the biggest, but there’s also clearance for up to INR 32 billion to buy and license-build about 300 Spike family launcher systems and 8,000 missiles.

Other DAC clearances include INR 530 billion for 6 submarines; 2 SDV underwater commando delivery vehicles; INR 20 billion to have the state-owned Ordnance Factory Board build about 360 more BMP-2 tracked IFVs under license; and INR 18.5 billion for 12 more license-built Do-228NG short-range transport and maritime surveillance aircraft from HAL. Sources: NDTV, “6 Made-in-India Submarines for Navy for 53,000 Crores” | IANS, “Defence ministry clears Israeli anti-tank missile, six submarines”.

DAC Approval: Spike wins

Nov 11/13: DAC delays. Indian defense minister AK Antony and the Defence Acquisition Council give Javelin an opening in India, by delaying any decision on INR 150 billion project to equip India with 321 Spike family launchers and 8,356 of RAFAEL’s Spike-MR missiles.

Raytheon had received the Indian Army’s 2010 RFP, but only RAFAEL responded. Europe’s MBDA, Russia’s Rosoboronexport, Raytheon, and General Dynamics reportedly balked at India’s technology-transfer requirements, and did not bid. The Lockheed/ Raytheon Javelin needs the competition to be withdrawn and replaced by another RFP that it can enter, at which point India’s own state-run firms might choose to offer a version of their problem-plagued Nag missile. DAC’s non-decision leaves the entire situation very unclear.

Even if RAFAEL does win, Javelin is expected to remain a viable competitor for subsequent infantry buys. Sources: Times of India, “Antony defers decision on critical but controversial missile deals with Israel” | Defense News, “India Again Considers Buying Israeli-made ATGM” | Defense News, “India Pursues Indigenous ATGM Amid Javelin Talks” | Times of India, “Scam-wary Army calls off Israeli missile deal” (March 2013).

Nov 29/12: Competition. The Times of India reports that Israel’s Spike-MR missile may be about to elbow Javelin aside, because the Israelis are willing to transfer enough technology to allow production in India.

The Ministry eventually wants to equip all 356 of its infantry battalions with an estimated 2,000 launchers and 24,000 missiles, produced by state-owned Bharat Dynamics. The Army reportedly wants to complete the induction of these anti-tank guided missiles by the end of the 12th Plan (2017).

Sept 23/12: Javelin issues. India remains interested in the Lockheed/Raytheon Javelin. Their soldiers fired some in 2009 joint exercises with American troops, and Defence Minister AK Antony said in August 2010 that a Letter of Request would be sent. So, why has no DSCA request been approved? India’s PTI explains that conditions regarding the secrecy of certain components are holding up an agreement. This isn’t the first time transfer of technology and proprietary designs have had an impact on US-Indian sales, and it won’t be the last. Raytheon will say only that:

“The Javelin JV stands ready to respond to all requests of the Indian government relating to the evaluation and procurement of the combat-proven missile while ensuring it adheres to a US and Indian governments’ agreement.”

If Javelin continues to hit roadblocks, Israel’s RAFAEL awaits with its popular Spike family.

March 25/11: RFP exclusion. Spike MR was the only bidder in India’s international tender, in part of because of language requiring an “active-passive fire-and-forget guidance system,” which only Spike meets. Most other missiles are either active/ passive guidance that requires crosshairs on target (GBM-71 TOW, AT-14 Kornet, MBDA Milan-ER), or fire and forget (FGM-148 Javelin). Defense Update writes:

“The Indian Army plans to install the missiles on infantry combat vehicles currently carrying locally produced AT-5 or Milan missiles.

The Indian Ministry of Defense plans to order 321 launchers, and 8,356 missiles, plus 15 training simulators in a multi-phase arms package worth over one billion US$. Two options are currently on the table – the U.S. Javelin and the Israeli Spike MR.”

Reports are currently conflicting. Defense Update suggests that both programs are proceeding in parallel channels, and at some point either the RFP (Spike MR) or a government-to-government deal (Javelin) will win out. The challenge for RAFAEL is that India has rules discouraging awards to competitions that wind up with just 1 compliant vendor, so a waiver will be needed. For Javelin, the issue is technology transfer. Sources: Defense Update, “Spike or Javelin? India Still Undecided on a Billion Dollar Missile Buy”.

Additional Readings

• RAFAEL – SPIKE Family of Multi-Purpose, Tactical Missiles.

• RAFAEL – Spike NLOS Electro Optic Guided Missile.

General Atomics has awarded a new $41m contract to QinetiQ North America (QNA) to support delivery of the US Navy's electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) and advanced arresting gear (AAG).

The US Navy’s George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group (CSG) has commenced strike missions against ISIS from the Arabian Gulf in support of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR).

Chief Executive Jorge Domecq welcomed NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller to the EDA today ahead of discussions mainly focused on the implementation of the EU-NATO Joint Declaration. Deputy Secretary General Gottemoeller is the first NATO official of this level to visit the EDA, signalling an important message of strengthening EU-NATO cooperation in the field of defence capabilities.

Ms. Gottemoeller’s visit began with a presentation of selected EDA capability development projects, offering an opportunity to demonstrate the work that the EDA is undertaking, for example in the area of air-to-air refuelling. The briefing provided concrete examples of how the EDA plays a crucial role in enhancing European defence capabilities, which provide also concrete benefits to NATO.

EDA Chief Executive Domecq and Deputy Secretary General Gottemoeller then held fruitful discussions on a range of EU-NATO issues. Mr. Domecq began the meeting by outlining the main developments in European security and defence including the EU Global Strategy and its Security & Defence Implementation Plan with focus on EDA’s role.

Discussions then switched to EDA-NATO relations with the main focus on the EU-NATO Joint Declaration. Mr. Domecq underscored the significance of the EU-NATO Joint Declaration and its implementation to ensure coherence of output between EU and NATO efforts. As the EDA is involved in 6 out of the 7 areas of the Joint Declaration (Resilience, Maritime, Cyber, Defence Capabilities, Defence Industry/Research, Exercises), it is crucial that EDA-NATO capitalise on their existing good interaction. 

Speaking at the conclusion of the visit, Mr. Domecq commented; “I am delighted to have welcomed NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller to the EDA for extremely positive and forward looking discussions. Even before the EU-NATO Joint Declaration the Agency pursues substantive dialogue and cooperation at staff-to-staff level with NATO, from top management to expert level. However, a new culture of EU-NATO interaction was triggered due to the Joint Declaration. It has added new momentum and provides the opportunity to further enhance cooperation and to provide more visibility to the ongoing staff-to-staff talks.”

The starting pistol for the first European Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Course for 2017 (EAATTC 17-1), hosted by the Bulgarian Air force at Plovdiv Airbase, was fired yesterday (26 March). The exercise, initiated by the European Defence Agency (EDA) and run together with the European Air Transport Command (EATC), will last until 7 April 2017. 

The event gathers five aircraft from five different countries (Belgium: C130; Bulgaria: C27J; Czech Republic: C295; Italy: C27J; Netherlands: C130) and over 100 personnel from different countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Italy, Netherlands). 

This edition of EAATTC is dedicated to single-ship flying missions which, as the training goes on, will evolve from an initial low level tactical scenario to more complex air-to-air to and surface-to-air threats environments. Nine flights are planned for the single ship course. At the end of the course, graduating crews will be presented with a certificate based on the training events completed.

 

More information: 

• Factsheet EAATTC 17-1
• Airlift tactics training held in Spain (2016)
• Multi-ship, format flying at the core of airlift tactics course in France (2016)
  
  
  

Americas

• The US has imposed sanctions on 30 foreign individuals and companies for alleged aiding of arms sales to Syria, North Korea and Iran. A State Department statement said that 11 companies or individuals from China, North Korea or the United Arab Emirates were sanctioned for technology transfers that could boost Iran’s ballistic missile program, while 19 others were sanctioned for other violations under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act (INKSNA). INKSNA was passed by the US Congress in 2000 as the Iran Nonproliferation Act, with Syria and North Korea added in 2005 and 2006 respectively.

• Northrop Grumman’s APG-83 AESA fifth-generation radar has been installed on USAF F-16 fighters. The install is part of the F-16 Radar Modernization Program which intends to replace currently used APG-66 and APG-68 radars and provide the F-16 with advanced capabilities similar to fifth-generation fighters like the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. It’s believed that the APG-83 could satisfy a need for F-16 users to counter increasingly sophisticated and technological threats with increased bandwidth that would allow the F-16 to detect, track and identify greater numbers of targets faster, and at greater distances.

• Lockheed Martin has announced that it is to switch the production line of the F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters from Forth Worth, Texas, to their facility in Greenville, South Carolina. The switch will take place in September following the delivery of the last F-16 being built for Iraq, after which the Forth Worth operation will focus on the company’s F-35 production effort. Of the 4,500 F-16s sold to customers since 1976, about 3,600 have been built in Forth Worth.

Middle East & North Africa

• FNSS has been contracted to produce armored amphibious assault vehicles for the Turkish Naval Forces Command. The Turkish company will deliver a total of 27 vehicles — 23 personnel carriers, two command-and-control vehicles, and two recovery vehicles — to Ankara, in a deal thats value remains undisclosed. Meanwhile, the German government has blocked deliveries of defense equipment to its NATO ally, claiming that Turkish President Recep Erdogan may be using imported weapons to oppress his own citizens.

Europe

• The French government has approved key upgrades for the Rafale multi-role fighter which will bring the aircraft up to its F4 standard. Under the program, manufacturer Dassault will modernize legacy F3-R standard jets with updated technological capabilities that will boost their performance in a network and be more effective in combat missions, with Thales and Safran providing subsystems, and MBDA supplying missiles. It is expected that the F4 standard will begin qualification in 2018 and enter service by 2025.

• Poland’s deputy minister for national defence Bartosz Kownacki has stated that his government will not purchase second-hand early F-16 variants, deeming them too expensive and bad value for the money. Citing Romania’s purchase of second-hand F-16A/Bs from Portugal, deputy commander in chief of the Polish armed forces Gen. Jan Sliwka commented that Bucharest had paid more to upgrade the fighters than buying them new. Instead, Warsaw may look at either purchasing brand new F-16s or the F-35.

• New British Royal Navy Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers will not have V-22 tiltrotor aircraft onboard, according to a written parliamentary reply to Lord West. Lord West, a retired Royal Navy officer and former government minister, had asked if the government was considering the Osprey for use by the state’s special forces. In response, the government stated that the aircraft was not part of plans to deliver the UK Carrier Strike capability. However, the MoD will continue to explore a variety of options to augment the capabilities of the carriers.

Asia Pacific

• India is set to commence contract negotiations for the purchase of 56 Airbus C-295 aircraft for the Indian Air Force after New Delhi selected the tactical transporter to replace its aging Avro HS-748 fleet in 2015. The aircraft will be built in partnership between manufacturer Airbus and Tata Advanced Systems Ltd where Airbus will first deliver 16 units in “fly-away” condition from their own final assembly line in Spain, and the remaining 40 aircraft will be produced in India by Tata. The arrangement will see the Indian firm undertake structural assembly, final aircraft assembly, systems integration and testing, and management of the indigenous supply chain. In a separate order, India’s Border Security Force (BSF) is also looking at four additional C-295s for movement of its troopers within the country.

Today’s Video

• Indonesian Jupiter and South Korean Black Eagles friendship flight at LIMA 2017:

French DARD 120 Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher

A new EDA project aimed at the development of a media and technology monitoring system for EDA was launched with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission on March 23rd, 2017. This initiative represents a continuation of previous EDA Technology Watch activities and projects and has the purpose to increase access to high quality defence technology information for the Agency and its stakeholders. 

This new capability will help EDA  provide better support to the activities of Member States as well as those foreseen under the Preparatory Action for Defence Research and the future European Defence Research Programme.  Having a systematic understanding of evolving technical trends and their effect on future European defence capabilities, both long and short term, is of great significance for EDA’s work. The Technology Watch activity is providing one of the inputs for the EDA CapTechs process of technology identification.

The objective of this new project is to develop customized versions of JRC’s monitoring and data analysis tools adapted to the needs of defence. The modules identified in JRC’s tools have been assessed as crucial for understanding the state-of-the-art technologies relevant for the defence sector and their evolution. The new system will provide both media and technology monitoring components, use diverse information sources and offers a combination of search methods. Furthermore, JRC’s instruments give the possibility to identify in real-time tendencies in specific domains. This is especially important in the current context of fast-paced technological development and can represent a strategic advantage for the European defence community. 

The outputs from the monitoring systems can serve as background information to be used in the assessment and prioritization phases of defence R&T planning, essential for the development of the CapTechs Strategic Research Agendas. These activities will also support the dual-use link with the Long-term strand of the Capability Development Plan (CDP), EC Key Enabling Technologies (KETs), for short and medium term applications, and with the EC Future Emerging Technologies (FET), for forward looking technologies and applications.

The kick-off meeting between EDA and JRC took place on 23 March 2017 at the EDA in Brussels. 

 

More information:

• EDA Technology Watch & Horizon Scanning Tool 
• JRC European Media Monitoring 
• JRC Tools for Innovation Monitoring

On 22 March, the SEDE committee welcomed preeminent experts on transatlantic relations to discuss the implications of US security and defence policy for the EU. Ian Lesser, Vice President for Foreign Policy, German Marshall Fund, Steven Blockmans, Senior Research Fellow at CEPS and Jan Joel Andersson, Senior Analyst at the European Union Institute for Security Studies provided Members with their take on the challenges and opportunities created by the Trump administration.
Further information
Draft agenda and meeting documents
Presentation by Jan Joel Andersson, Senior Analyst, European Union Institute for Security Studies
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP