Defence`s Feeds

Americas

• The US Navy has awarded Raytheon a $14.7 million contract for maintenance and support of the AN/AQS-20 sonar mine detection system. Under the agreement, the company will work to improve the system’s performance and sustainability with work to include hardware and software upgrades, technology development, engineering and spare parts. Options available in the contract could bring the total value of the program to $77.1 million. The AN/AQS-20 towed mine hunting and identification array is deployed on the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).

• Lockheed Martin has joined Boeing in pulling out of the US Navy’s Over-the-Horizon Weapon System (OTH-WS) competition for its fleet of littoral combat ships and frigates. The aerospace and missile manufacturer had initially intended to offer its Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) and comes just a month after Boeing withdrew its RGM-84 Harpoon. Both firms had expressed frustration with the Navy’s lack of consideration to the networked capability of the weapons. This leaves just the Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile (NSM) in the competition.

• General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems has received a $40.8 million modification to an existing contract for production of the MK 82/MK 200 Missile Fire Control System director controller equipment. The Navy contract calls for the delivery of fully functional systems with testing and engineering support and covers systems scheduled to be delivered as part of the Aegis Weapon System for the Republic of Korea and Japan under the Foreign Military Sales Program. The work is not expected to affect current ship deployment or operational use and is expected to be completed by December 2021.

Middle East & North Africa

• The Libyan Coast Guard has received four refurbished Bigliani-class fast patrol boats from Italy as part of efforts to boost the government’s ability to curb people smuggling operations based out of the country. Six more vessels are expected in the coming weeks and follows the training of approximately 90 coast guard personnel by the EU. However, Libyan officials have requested additional support, adding that the quantity and quality of equipment already provided has not been sufficient.

• A recent report by Amnesty International that cites a 2016 US government audit has found that the US army had failed to monitor over $1 billion worth of arms and other military equipment transfers to Kuwait and Iraq. The now declassified DoD document found that the service “did not have accurate, up-to-date records on the quantity and location” of a vast amount of equipment on hand in Kuwait and Iraq, with the report adding that its own research “consistently documented” lax controls and record-keeping within the Iraqi chain of command which resulted in arms and equipment winding up in the hands of groups like the Islamic State. The arms, which included small and heavy weapons, machine guns, mortar rounds and assault rifles, had been transferred under the Iraq Train and Equip Fund (ITEF), a $1.06 billion assistance program aimed at providing Iraqi security forces, including Iraqi Kurdish forces and tribal militias, with military assistance and equipment.

Europe

• Russia’s government has announced schedules for the delivery of several upcoming defense platforms. Speaking to the parliament’s upper house, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the Sukhoi PAK-FA stealth fighter will enter service with the Russian Air Force in 2019, while the S-500 air defense system will be deployed the following year. Moscow is also planning to commence serial production of the Tupolev Tu-160M2 strategic bomber in 2021.

• Nexter and the Danish government have agreed to a $45 million sale of 15 Caesar 155mm truck-mounted artillery with options for six more units. The sale is the first of the French land weapons company’s eight-wheel drive version, mounted on a Tatra truck chassis, and the sale to a fellow NATO ally is being considered a significant achievement. The French Army has deployed the six-wheel version of the Caesar to Iraq, where an artillery unit is assisting Iraqi security forces as part of the US-led Operation Inherent Resolve.

Asia Pacific

• The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) has completed the development of an air-cooled active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar that it will now propose as a possible solution to the Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) JF-17 Block-III’s AESA fighter requirement. Design and development of the radar was conducted by AVIC’s 607 Institute, officially known as the China Leihua Electronic Technology Research Institute (LETRI), and have already developed the SD-10 beyond visual-range active radar-homing air-to-air missile for the PAF. The institute’s announcement on the Chinese micro-blogging site WeChat, stated that the AESA radar will help offset the internal space and power limitations of many in-service fighters, providing these aircraft with an AESA radar that is easier to integrate than liquid-cooled systems, such as the competing KLJ-7A offered by the Nanjing Research Institute of Electronics Technology (NRIET).

Today’s Video

• Boeing to develop and produce DARPA’s next spaceplane:

The US-led coalition fighting confirmed on 25 May that over 100 civilians were killed when it bombed a building in the Iraqi city of Mosul on 17 March, but blamed the Islamic State fighters who had rigged it with explosives and were using it as a sniper position. Brigadier General Matthew Isler,

The South African Department of Defence has released for comment a draft defence industry strategy that flows from the Defence Review of 2015. The strategy has been drafted by the National Defence Industry Council (NDIC) that was established in March 2016 in terms of recommendations made by the

 

In what seems to have become an annual tradition, I was on the Blog Talk Radio show Midrats this week, talking about the Russian military, Russian political developments, Russian relations with the United States and China, and the like. The recording is now available on the show’s website. The show description is as follows:

Episode 385: Springtime for Russia?

To say that the profile of Russia since the American elections last fall has increased in the minds of Americans would be an understatement.

Outside the 24-hr news cycle, there have been significant developments in Russia internally and externally. From the Baltics, to nuclear weapons, to her growing influence in the Middle East following her involvement in the Syrian conflict.

What should people be focused on with regards to Russia on the global stage this year?

Key Points IHS Markit data shows a significant reduction in the level of fighting in the four areas designated as de-escalation zones, but an increase in fighting in eastern provinces bordering Iraq. Despite the Astana de-escalation plan, a political settlement to end the war remains very

The unit cost of 140 Russian Kamov Ka-226T ‘Hoodlum’ light multirole helicopters that India plans on building indigenously for its military is nearly double that of 60 similar platforms it proposes to acquire alongside in flyaway condition. Industry officials estimate the cost of each

British defence research and technology company QinetiQ published its preliminary financial results for 2017 on 25 May, showing operating profit of GBP132.7 million (USD170.6 million), a rise of 76.2% year on year. The company’s revenue also rose to GBP783.1 million, although this growth of

Safran Helicopter Engines (Safran HE) has decided to wind up its 51% held South African company, Turbomeca Africa, with effect from June. The decision is based on projections of reduced demand for helicopter engines coupled with a reduced demand for helicopter engine maintenance, repair, and

The US Navy (USN) has begun the process of upgrading its F/A-18E/F Super Hornet to the latest Block 3 standard, with a contract award to Boeing to incorporate the Block 2 Infrared Search and Track System (IRST) onto the combat aircraft. The cost-plus-incentive-fee contract, which was announced by

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has found the wreckage of the Sukhoi Su-30MKI multirole fighter that went missing in northeastern India with two pilots on board on 23 May while on a routine training flight. The wreckage was located by a search party in thick forests around 60 km north of Tezpur Air

BAE Systems Australia has been awarded a four-year AUD30 million (USD22.3 million) contract to upgrade the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN's) maritime satellite communications terminals. The upgrade, which will focus on the maritime element of the Advanced SATCOM Terrestrial Infrastructure System

Denmark's Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organization (DALO) signed a USD15.3 million contract with Austrian company ESL Advanced Information Technology (ESLAIT) on 18 May for the delivery of 15 automatic floor-mounted 120 mm heavy mortar systems (with an option for an additional six systems at

Indra has announced a new head of its defence and security division as part of a general restructuring at the 20% state-owned Spanish IT and systems group. Manuel Escalante, who will continue the new job with his former role as head of the cybersecurity unit, was confirmed as the division’s

Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, said on 25 May that a third underground missile factory has been built in recent years, the Fars News Agency reported. Brig Gen Hajizadeh also said that the force is working on a

Lockheed Martin performed the first flight of its new LM-100J Hercules airlifter on 25 May. The latest civil variant of the military C-130J departed the company's Marietta production facility in Georgia for a maiden flight that its test pilot described as 'flawless'. This milestone, which follows

Invoking the bomb attack in Manchester and the implacable need to fight terrorism, US president Donald Trump upbraided most of NATO's European nations for "not paying what they should be paying" as they all headed into their first meeting with the US leader on 25 May. "The attack on

Key Points The new variable depth sonar system will form part of the ASW escort mission module to equip USN LCSs A full pre-production test article is expected to complete in late 2018 Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems has been selected to provide a new variable depth sonar (VDS) system to form

Seiler Instrument and Manufacturing has secured a USD15.5 million Foreign Military Sales contract from the US Army to supply 145 optical fire control kits and associated spare parts in support of Indian Army (IA) M777A2 155 mm/39-calibre lightweight howitzers. Work will be performed in St Louis,

A policy planning committee set up by new South Korean president Moon Jae-in is reportedly looking at ways to eradicate corruption within the country’s defence industry. In a press conference in Seoul on 23 May, Kim Jin-pyo, the chief of the presidential policy planning advisory panel, said

The Algerian military confirmed on 22 May that it has taken delivery of Chinese-made 155 mm PLZ45 self-propelled howitzers when it released imagery showing them being used during an exercise. A photograph and video of six PLZ45s firing were released during a visit by chief-of staff Lieutenant