Defence`s Feeds

An industry-research group will soon begin selecting an assemblage of additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, systems on behalf of the European Defence Agency (EDA) to test their ability to deliver customised spare parts on demand in the field for military transport aircraft. The experiment will

The Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA) has outlined plans to upgrade a number of its armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) in order to extend their operational lives and enhance capabilities. Details were given by Colonel Eric Molenaar, Head of Material, Army Staff of the RNLA, at the IQPC International

The UK Royal Navy is set to take delivery of its first Tide-class tanker, Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Tidespring, from South Korean shipbuilding company Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME).

Raytheon Company has received a $235m contract from the US Navy to produce Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) all-up round production missiles and spares, which are to be installed on their Aegis combat system-equipped destroyers and cruisers.

Engineers from the US Fleet Readiness Center Southwest (FRCSW) have successfully demonstrated the use of cold-spray additive technology for naval aviation as a new approach to aircraft repair.

The UK has enhanced its maritime patrol capability by signing a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) declaration with the US, in a move set to strengthen defence relations between the two nations.

The Austrian Army will field a common remote weapon station (RWS) across a significant part of its fleet of armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs). Details of this and other Austrian Army AFV upgrades were revealed by Brigadier General Norbert Huber, director of armament and procurement at the Austrian

Bolivia appears to be leaning more heavily on its military forces for a variety of policy goals, as the minister of defence has been ratified to stay on and the defence budget increased for 2017. During a cabinet reshuffling that removed 10 ministers - including two of the longest-serving -

Canada has extended its contract with CAE for the NATO Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) programme to now run through at least 2023, the government announced on 25 January. A previous 21-year contract with CAE - a Canada-headquartered provider of modelling, simulation, and training services for

The Colombian Navy commissioned and took into service its new multipurpose hydrographic vessel, ARC Roncador (153), in a ceremony held at Naval Base Bolivar on 25 January. The vessel was constructed by the Spanish shipyard Armon Vigo with co-operation from Colombia's state-run COTECMAR. Roncador

Raytheon Missile Systems has been selected by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to execute the next phase of the Multi Azimuth Defense Fast Intercept Round Engagement System (MAD-FIRES) programme. Designed to improve ship survivability in high threat environments, the

The United Kingdom's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) will award a technology demonstration programme (TDP) contract for its Icarus modular active protection system (APS) development programme next month, IHS Jane's understands. Intended to provide the UK with a modular integrated

The first Chilean Navy Lockheed Martin P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft departed Naval Air Base Concon and arrived in Canada on 22 January to start a structural midlife upgrade (SMU) under a USD37 million contract to IMP Aerospace of Halifax, Nova Scotia. The contract comprises SMUs for two

US land systems specialist and owner of Bath Iron Works General Dynamics Corporation released its 2016 financial results on 27 January, showing a healthy growth of pre-tax profit, despite a slight drop in sales. The company reported sales of USD31.4 billion, a slight fall of 0.4% year on year, and

The Islamic State released a video on 24 January that for the first time displayed the group's use of commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to carry out attacks. The UAV segment of the video began with two militants launching a fixed-wing Skywalker X7/8 UAV carrying an improvised explosive

Key Points Satellite imagery and Islamic State video footage show what appears to be a significant defeat for the Turkish military in Syria Turkey lost around 12 armoured vehicles during a push to capture the Islamic State-held city of Al-Bab in December The Islamic State released a video on 20

The Italian Navy's 5th Helicopter Group received the service's first navalised NH Industries NH90TTH (known as the MH90 in Italian service) on 23 January. The MH90 was specifically modified to support the San Marco amphibious brigade and special forces operations, but retains the basic capabilities

Americas

• The USAF’s T-X Trainer competition has taken a sudden turn, with Raytheon and Leonardo announcing that they will no longer be collaborating on the program. As a result, Leonardo now has to decide whether to go it alone with the T-100 variant of its Aermacchi M-346 advanced trainer without a US partner, find another US collaborator, or pull out of the $16.3 billion competition altogether. Whatever will happen next?

• A US Army Stryker armored vehicle fitted with a 30mm cannon has been tested for the first time. Testing of the cannon, part of a series of upgrades designed to increase the mission capabilities of US Stryker vehicles, was undertaken in order to verify its combat abilities and make future determinations on the vehicle’s armament. The Pentagon’s decision to upgun a number of its Stryker’s – nicknamed the Dragoon – was taken in response to Russia’s 2015 invasion of Ukraine to close a ground vehicle capability gap, according to service leaders. The Army plans to field first of 83 Dragoons by the end of Fiscal 2018.

• Missile giant Raytheon has revealed a 1.4 percent fall in quarterly revenue, sparked by a drop in sales by its units in charge of missile systems and tracking and navigation sensors. Speaking on the slump, CEO Tom Kennedy said that a renewed campaign against militants of the Islamic State by the Trump administration could boost sales of its precision guided munitions. Meanwhile, Northrop Grumman has forecast lower 2017 earnings per share below Wall Street estimates due to lower segment operating margins, which some analysts attributed to costs related to some of its new programs.

Middle East & North Africa

• Textron Systems has been contracted by the USAF to provide maintenance training for the Afghan Air Force. The $9.3 million deal orders the provision of maintenance training to Afghan crew and includes logistics support for 24 aircraft operated by Kabul. Work will be performed in Afghanistan and is expected to be completed by the end of January, 2018.

Europe

• Romania has made an additional order with General Dynamics European Land Systems for its Piranha III wheeled armored vehicles. This is the country’s fifth order with GDEL for the vehicle, which has been in service with its armed forces since 2006. Announcing the order, GDEL did not give any further information on the procurement in relation to unit numbers or cost.

• The Croatian government has laid out their defense spending plans for 2017, with a focus on coastal patrol vessels, new howitzers, as well as continuing procurement of second-hand OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed reconnaissance helicopters from the US. An additional $57 million has been added over last year’s figures, representing a 7% increase on funds in 2016. Other defense projects for this year include medium-lift helicopter overhauls, ordnance procurement, and M-84 main battle tank upgrades.

Asia Pacific

• Taiwan’s Minister of National Defense has announced his government’s ambition to pursue an indigenous stealth fighter once Taipei completes work on its advanced jet trainer. Feng Shih-kua, a former Air Force pilot, said that the Rep. China Air Force’s new aerospace research center will play an important role in the development of the fighter. Military officials later added that the jet will rely on its TFE-1042-70 afterburning turbofan as its power plant.

• A state-run Chinese newspaper has reported that Beijing is testing a new long-range air-to-air missile capable of downing early warning aircraft and aerial refueling aircraft. The munition’s development runs alongside what is described as an “ambitious modernization program” led by President Xi Jinping, including stealth fighters, aircraft carriers and the testing of anti-satellite missiles. While the air force has yet to comment on this new missile, pictures posted on the service’s website, showed a J-11B fighter carrying a large, unidentified missile during drills last year.

Today’s Video

What could have been for the USAF: The M-346:

Security Sector Reform in Conflict-Affected Countries: The Evolution of A Model

By Mark Sedra

KITCHENER, CANADA – The Centre for Security Governance (CSG) is pleased to announce the publication by Routledge of a new book written by CSG Executive Director Mark Sedra. The book examines the evolution, impact, and future prospects of the security sector reform model in conflict-affected countries in the context of the wider debate over the liberal peace project. It is part of the series “Routledge Studies in Conflict, Security and Development”.

Learn More at Routledge Store Summary

This book examines the evolution, impact, and future prospects of the Security Sector Reform (SSR) model in conflict-affected countries in the context of the wider debate over the liberal peace project.

Since its emergence as a concept in the late 1990s, SSR has represented a paradigm shift in security assistance, from the realist, regime-centric, train-and-equip approach of the Cold War to a new liberal, holistic and people-centred model. The rapid rise of this model, however, belied its rather meagre impact on the ground. This book critically examines the concept and its record of achievement over the past two decades, putting it into the broader context of peace-building and state-building theory and practice. It focuses attention on the most common, celebrated and complex setting for SSR, conflict-affected environments, and comparatively examines the application and impacts of donor-supported SSR programing in a series of conflict-affected countries over the past two decades, including Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, East Timor and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The broader aim of the book is to better understand how the contemporary SSR model has coalesced over the past two decades and become mainstreamed in international development and security policy and practice. This provides a solid foundation to investigate the reasons for the poor performance of the model and to assess its prospects for the future.

This book will be of much interest to practitioners, analysts, academics and students of international security, peacebuilding, statebuilding, development studies and IR in general.

Speaking before the Security and Defence (SEDE) subcommittee of the European Parliament on 25 January, Denis Roger, the EDA’s Director for European Synergies and Innovation (ESI), hailed the good and effective cooperation between the European Commission and the European Defence Agency on preparing the upcoming Preparatory Action (PA) on defence research which is close to its official launch. “The EDA now stands ready to sign a new Delegation Agreement with the Commission relating to the PA and building on the positive experience of the Pilot Project”, he said. Philippe Brunet, the Commission’s Director for Space Policy and Defence within DG GROW, who also participated in the SEDE debate, indicated that the delegation agreement should be signed quickly, if possible in March 2017.

Mr Roger recalled the importance of the Pilot Project (PP) on defence research which is currently being implemented through a delegation agreement signed in November 2015 between the Commission and the EDA, has proved a great opportunity to test the interface between the Commission and the EDA in the implementation of a centrally-funded defence research scheme at EU level.

Several ‘lessons learned’ from the PP are being applied in the preparation for the PA, for instance the need to have some more innovative and adapted to defence specificities Intellectual Property Rules (IPR) or to have a wider pool of evaluation experts available. “For the Preparatory Action, the basic rule should be to draw the lessons already learnt from the Pilot Project, to keep the way of working when it demonstrated to be satisfactory and to improve what needs to be improved, while adapting to the increased scale”, Mr Roger said. In particular, he referred to the key ‘upstream role’ the EDA has in consulting all stakeholders (government, industry and RTOs) about key research priorities and consolidating them with Member States. He also mentioned the execution and exploitation (‘downstream’) roles the Agency played in the PP and which it would also have to play in the PA implementation.

Focusing on priority military needs

Mr Roger stressed the need to make sure that collaborative defence research undertaken under the Preparatory Action will be linked to priority military capability needs of Member States: “I must insist on this point, which is a key specificity of Defence Research. Since the market is a monopsony, the only buyer being the Ministries of Defence, it is absolutely essential to make sure that the technical requirements of the projects match the future Capability needs defined by Member States and reflected in the Capability Development Plan endorsed at the level of the Ministers of Defence”. “In accordance with article 45 of the Treaty on the European Union, EDA has a key role to play in guaranteeing this consistency between Capability and Research priorities”, he stated.

EDA prepares for PA implementation role

Implementing the PA means that the EDA will also have to adapt its own structures because compared to managing a relatively small Pilot Project (three projects with a total budget of €1.4 million), the task of managing a substantially bigger Preparatory Action (€90 million budget over three years with probably more than a dozen projects in total) will be much more of a challenge.

That’s why the EDA has already set up a dedicated PA Unit in order to manage EDA’s ‘upstream role’ and its forthcoming implementation role. It already includes four people and additional growth is anticipated once the delegation agreement is signed. The first short term task of that new unit will be the practical implementation of the Preparatory Action Work Programme: launch of the calls, organisation of the evaluation and signing of the grant agreements. “But we also need to have a longer term vision: a key success indicator of the preparatory Action will be the usefulness of the results for Member States’ future Capability Development Programmes”, Mr Roger said.

EDA’s existing structures (CapTechs, Project Teams, Working Groups) will contribute to make sure that the PA results are fully taken into account and to promote follow-on projects and programmes.
The PA unit could also have a key role, in permanent coordination with the European Commission, to draw, in real time, the lessons learnt from the Preparatory Action that can benefit to the setting up of a potential wider future European Defence Research Programme (EDRP) after 2020.

 

More information:

• Full speech of Roger Denis at SEDE committee (25 January 2017)
• Preparatory Action on defence research (EDA factsheet)
• First EU Pilot Project in the field of defence research sees grant agreements signed for €1.4 million