Defence`s Feeds

Swedish Gripen supported the firefighting efforts in Sweden dropping a GBU-12 bomb on a forest fire. Several large forest fires are burning in Sweden in Gävleborg, Jämtland and Dalarna areas. Among the aircraft supporting the firefighting operations there are also some Swedish Air Force JAS-39 Gripen C multirole combat aircraft. In fact, on Jul. 25, […]

Do you feel lucky…?
(click to view full)

The T-45 Training System includes T-45 Goshawk aircraft, advanced flight simulators, computer-assisted instructional programs, a computerized training integration system, and a contractor logistics support package. The integration of all 5 elements is designed to produce a superior pilot in less time and at lower cost than previous training systems.

The US Navy uses the Hawk-based T-45TS system to train its pilots for the transition from T-6A Texan II/ JPATS aircraft to modern jet fighters – and carrier landings. This is not a risk-free assignment, by any means. Nevertheless, it is a critical link in the naval aviation chain. This DID FOCUS article covers the T-45TS, and associated contracts to buy and maintain these systems, from 2006 to the end of FY 2014.

T-45 History & Background T-45: The Platform

T45TS Simulator
(click to view full)

In 1981, the T45TS beat out the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet in a bid to replace two US Navy training aircraft: the TA-4J Skyhawk and T-2C Buckeye. The new system trains U.S. Navy and Marine Corps pilots for conversion into the F/A-18A-D Hornet, the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet family, the AV-8B Harrier II Plus, and the EA-6B Prowler. It will also serve as a lead-in fighter trainer (LIFT) aircraft to future platforms like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter variants.

The T-45 Training System, or T45TS, is more integrated than past systems. The system includes the T-45 Goshawk aircraft, advanced flight simulators, computer-assisted instructional programs, a computerized training integration system, and a contractor logistics support package. The combined value of all five integrated elements produces a superior pilot in less time and at lower cost than previous training systems.

Goshawks come in two variants: the T-45A and T-45C. What distinguishes them is the “Cockpit 21″ digital avionics in the C variant. The cockpits are equipped with two monochrome 5” multifunction displays supplied by Israel’s Elbit, which provide navigation, weapon delivery, aircraft performance and communications data. In addition, the aircraft have been equipped with a new open systems design MDP that manages the avionics and the displays in the aircraft. Approximately 80% of the MDP’s software and circuit card assemblies were reused from the F/A-18E/F Advanced Mission Computer, making project development faster and less expensive, and improving commonality with the advanced aircraft the Goshawks train their pilots to fly.

A number of air forces around the world choose to use BAE Systems’ Hawk trainer in a reserve or even front-line role as a light attack aircraft. The US Navy could do so, but haven’t chosen to. The do plan to keep the Goshawks flying until 2035, however, training the next several generations of US Navy pilots.

T-45: Basing & Industrial

T-45 Goshawks
(click to view full)

T-45s are currently based at NAS Kingsville, TX and NAS Meridian, MS. The aircraft are permanently based ashore, and are flown out to the training carrier for deck landings.

Since the transition to the T-45, performance has indeed improved. The training task has been accomplished with 25% fewer flying hours, using 42% fewer aircraft and 46% fewer personnel. Overall, the T45TS has enabled the US Navy to reduce student flight time by 13% for each student pilot, and the average training time by 17 weeks. Even so, with the current T-45 training demand the U.S. Navy has been able to average more than 60 hours per month per airframe – one of the highest utilization rates in the world.

While the core Hawk aircraft is British, the prime contractor is Boeing Aircraft Company, St. Louis, MO.

British Aerospace (BAE Systems) of Kingston, England provides the center and aft fuselage; and Rolls Royce, Ltd. of Bristol, England provides the F405-RR-401 Adour engines, along with its trademark Power By The Hour(R) support based on availability. Tests have been conducted using the more advanced F405-RR-402 as well.

Smiths Industries supplies the head-up display (HUD) with its video camera system for post-mission analysis, along with primary and secondary air data indicators and a weapon aiming computer and display.

L-3 Vertex provides contractor logistics support for the fleet as a whole, under 2 similar contracts.

T45TS Contracts and Key Events, 2006 – 2017

Flight’s end
(click to view full)

This article began coverage as the T-45 was fading from production. Pentagon budget documents note that the FY 2005 budget covered 10 systems for $301 million, but FY 2006 production dropped to 6 systems and $278.8 million. The FY 2007 figures rose again to 12 systems and $410.6 million total, and were the last T-45s ordered.

The FY 2008 budget request of $90.7 million was aimed at modifications to correct discrepancies and deficiencies, address critical avionics obsolescence and diminishing manufacturing source issues, and fund upgrades to the aircraft cockpit and navigation systems. Those tasks have continued beyond 2008, but by FY 2010, the T-45 was no longer listed in Pentagon budget reports for major weapons systems.

Unless otherwise specified, all contracts are issued by US Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD; and Boeing subsidiary McDonnell Douglas is the recipient. Maintenance and support contracts tend to go to L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, and engine manufacturer Rolls Royce; they will be specifically noted where appropriate. Note that Rolls Royce’s trademarked Power By the Hour approach is designed to charge a fixed price per flight hour.

FY 2018

T-45s over CVN 77
(click to view full)

July 25/18: Oxygen nedded Boeing is being contracted to support the Navy’s fleet of T-45 training aircraft. The cost-plus-fixed-fee order has a value of $12.2 million and provides for non-recurring engineering efforts to support the integration of an Automatic Backup Oxygen system into the aircraft. The T-45 Goshawk is used by the US Navy to train its pilots for the transition to modern fighter jets and carrier landings. Last year the Navy decided to equip the trainers with new oxygen monitoring systems following a rash of incidents during which pilots appeared to suffer from oxygen deprivation. Work will be performed at the company’s location in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed in August 2019.

FY 2017

October 04/17: Following a five-month grounding, the US Navy has allowed the resumption of flights of its T-45 Goshawk fleet after issues arose with the system that generates and supplies oxygen to the trainer aircraft. Under the new flight regime, student pilots can continue training only on aircraft outfitted with a digital upgrade to the CRU-99 oxygen monitor, called the solid-state oxygen monitor (CRU-123), which provides information on temperature and oxygen pressure. The Navy plans to have all of its T-45 aircraft to be fitted with the CRU-123 by the end of the second quarter of 2018.

April 18/17: A US Navy ban on T-45 flights has been lifted, although lower altitude restrictions have been put in place. The trainers were barred from flying late last month after instructor pilots reported incidents of physiological problems by pilots while in the cockpit. The pilot trainer will now fly below 10,000 feet to avoid the use of the aircraft’s On Board Oxygen Generator System as authorities continue to investigate the causes of physiological episodes experienced in the cockpit by aircrew. Air crew will also wear a modified mask that circumvents the OBOGS system.

FY 2014

L-3 retains new support contract.

July 31/14: L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC in Madison, MS receives a $29.8 million indefinite-delivery requirements contract modification to provide organizational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance and logistics support for T-45 aircraft based at NAS Meridian, MS; NAS Kingsville, TX; and NAS Pensacola, FL. This requirement also includes the support and maintenance of the T-45 aircraft at all operational sites, numerous outlying fields, and various detachment sites. Individual delivery orders will be placed as needed.

Work will be performed in Kingsville, TX (58%); Meridian, MS (36%); and Pensacola, FL (6%), and is expected to be complete in September 2014. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-14-D-0019).

July 7/14: No T-X Goshawk. Boeing’s partnership with BAE didn’t transfer to the USAF’s huge T-X trainer replacement program, which is expected to begin in 2016. Boeing made some moves to ally with Alenia and its M-346 trainer in May 2008, but decided not to extend that alliance to the USA; they finally signed an agreement with Saab for a joint clean-sheet trainer design in December 2013.

BAE partnered with Northrop Grumman to offer their standard Hawk trainer for T-X (q.v. Sept 19/11), and Northrop Grumman has just shifted to the same lead contractor role that Boeing enjoyed for the T-45 Goshawk. Meanwhile, Boeing will have a very tough competitive row to hoe with an unproven clean sheet design. One wonders if they have any regrets right now about letting a productive Hawk partnership lapse. Sources: Breaking Defense, “Northrop Takes The Lead From BAE On $11B T-X Trainer”.

July 1/14: Support. L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC in Madison, MS wins a $151.4 million indefinite-delivery requirements contract to provide organizational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance and logistics services in support of “approximately 200” T-45 aircraft based at Naval Air Station Meridian, MS; NAS Kingsville, TX; NAS Pensacola, FL; and NAS Patuxent River, MD.

This is a new contract, issued after the previous multi-year deal expired (q.v. Sept 30/13, Jan 24/12).

Work on the base contract will be performed in Kingsville, TX (48%); Meridian, MS (44%); Pensacola, FL (7%); and Patuxent River, MD (1%), and is expected to be complete in September 2015. Funds will be committed in individual delivery orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals, with 4 offers received by US NAVAIR (N00019-14-D-0011). See also FBO.gov, “USN T-45 Aircraft Maintenance and Logistics Support, Solicitation Number: N00019-12-R-0001”.

Multi-year support deal

March 28/14: Engines. Rolls-Royce Corp. in Indianapolis, IN receives a $107 million unfinalized contract action to provide intermediate, depot level maintenance and related logistics support for approximately 223 in-service T-45 F405-RR-401 Adour engines.

Funds will be committed as delivery orders are placed. Work will be performed at US Naval Air Station (NAS) Meridian, MS (47%); NAS Kingsville, TX (46%); NAS Pensacola, FL (6%); and NAS Patuxent River, MD (1%), and is expected to be complete in March 2015. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-1, and seems to be either an extension at the end of the current multi-year contract, or the beginning of something new (N00019-14-D-0016).

March 26/14: Support. L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC in Madison, MS receives a maximum $58.5 million indefinite-delivery, requirements contract to support T45TS aircraft based at Naval Air Station (NAS) Meridian, MS; NAS Kingsville, TX; and NAS Pensacola, FL. They’ll provide logistics services and materials for organizational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance, while supporting T-45s at all operational sites, numerous outlying fields, and various detachment sites.

Work will be performed in Kingsville, TX (58%); Meridian, MS (36%); and Pensacola, FL (6%), and is expected to be complete in July 2014. Funds will be committed as individual delivery orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured, pursuant to FAR 6.302-1, by US NAVAIR in Patuxent River, MD (N00019-14-D-0019).

FY 2012 – 2013

Engine troubles. Draft RFP for support.

T-45Cs: Navy & Marines
(click to view full)

Sept 30/13: FY14 Fleet. L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC in Madison, MS wins a $65 million indefinite-delivery, requirements contract modification, exercising the annual option for organizational, intermediate, and depot level support for the Goshawk fleet: 36 T-45A and 168 T-45C aircraft based at Naval Air Station (NAS) Meridian, MS; NAS Kingsville, TX; NAS Pensacola, FL, and Patuxent River, MD.

The type splits correspond to the FY 2012 fleet contract rather than the FY 2013 contract, which posited the retirement of some T-45As and 3 more conversions to T-45C status. As always, the fleet contract also includes organizational level maintenance for the Rolls Royce Adour engine.

This represents the final contract of a multi-year fleet deal. Announced contracts total $663.8 million, for a contract whose maximum figure was $569 million. Note, however, that each year’s announcement is a maximum, not an amount that must be spent.

Work will be performed in Kingsville, TX (57%); Meridian, MS (36%); Pensacola, FL (6%); and Patuxent River, MD (1%), and will run to March 2014, at which point new multi-year contracts will be needed for the aircraft and engine. Contract funds will not be obligated at time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued (N00019-08-D-0014).

Sept 25/13: FY14 Engines. Rolls-Royce Defense Services Inc. in Indianapolis, IN receives a maximum $50.7 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery option to support about 223 of its F405-RR-401 Adour engines with intermediate and depot level maintenance, using the Power-By-the-Hour arrangement.

This is the last option in a 5-year contract (q.v. Oct 1/08), and as usual, funds will be obligated for individual task orders as they are issued. All together, announced awards under this contract total $524.2 million.

Work will be performed at NAS Meridian, MS (47%); NAS Kingsville, TX (46%), NAS Pensacola, FL (6%), and NAS Patuxent River, MD (1%), and is expected to be complete in March 2014 (N00019-09-D-0002).

Sept 25/13: R&D. Boeing in St. Louis, MO is being awarded $9.7 million for cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order for supplies and services in support of the T-45 Subsystems Service Life Assessment Program. It involves systems other than avionics and engines, and work required to required to meet full service life through 2035. $4 million in R&D funds are committed immediately.

Work will be performed in St. Louis, MO (58.5%) and Brough, United Kingdom (41.5%) and is expected to be complete in July 2016. US Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, MD, is the contracting activity (N00019-11-G-0001, #1509).

Jan 24/12: Draft RFP. Following a presolicitation process initiated in November 2011, NAVAIR posts the full draft RFP (N00019-12-R-0001) on T-45 Aircraft Maintenance and Logistics Support. A presolicitation conference is scheduled for Feb. 5, with a final RFP expected at the end of February.

As it is currently laid out, the contract would span a maximum of 8 years with all options exercised.

Jan 14/13: Engines. US NAVAIR throws a light on recent T-45 engine problems, which hadn’t been discussed in previous DOT&E reports:

“Safety problems with the Low Pressure Turbine blades in the F405 engine… forced a redesign of the old blades, which ended production [in early 2012]…. problem was that the newly redesigned blades were not yet fully qualified by U.S. Navy standards and could not be used immediately and the stockpile of old blades was forecast to be depleted by April [2012]…”

Poor planning, that, and the Navy had to grant a temporary relaxation of the lifetime wear “1,000-hour Accelerated Simulated Mission Endurance Test (ASMET)” requirement. Even at a 100 hour threshold, however, the 4-6 months normally needed for test preparation would have blown the stockpile’s deadline. Instead, the team met the 100-hour deadline between Jan 20/12 – April 11/12. ASMET testing continued at the NAS Patuxent River Aircraft Test & Evaluation Facility, and was fully done by Oct 23/12, ahead of schedule and “several million dollars” under budget. Hopefully, the Navy will pass on some of the things it learned to other programs. US NAVAIR.

Engine problems & blade redesign

Oct 15/12: Training. An $8.5 million firm-fixed-price delivery order for 12 T-45 Virtual Mission Training System kits and spares.

Work will be performed in Hazelwood, MO (96%), El Paso, TX (3%), and Mesa, AZ (1%), and is expected to be complete in April 2014 (N00019-11-G-0001).

Sept 25/12: FY13 Fleet Support. L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC in Madison, MS receives a $126.5 million indefinite-delivery, requirements type contract option to support 28 T-45A and 171 T-45C aircraft based at Naval Air Station (NAS) Kingsville, TX; NAS Meridian, MS; and NAS Pensacola, FL. That’s 8 fewer T-54As than last year, and 3 more T-45Cs. L-3 Vertex will continue providing logistics support, and the materials for organizational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance.

Taken together, FY 2013 support costs for the 223 plane fleet will run up to $237.9 million. Taken together, announced fleet support orders under this 5-year contract amount to $598.8 million, which is slightly higher than the contract’s announced $569 million maximum (q.v. Aug 28/08). They could still be congruent, however, because each year’s award is a maximum that could leave unspent dollars for future years.

Orders will be placed, and funds will be released, as needed. Work will be performed in Kingsville, TX (57%); Meridian, MS (36%); and Pensacola, FL (7%), and the option will finish in September 2013 (N00019-08-D-0014).

Sept 20/12: FY13 Engine Support. Rolls-Royce Defense Services, Inc. in Indianapolis, IN receives a $103.3 million firm-fixed-price; indefinite-delivery option to support the T-45 Goshawk’s F405-RR-401 Adour engines with intermediate and depot level maintenance, using the Power-By-the-Hour arrangement. They’ll also provide inventory control, sustaining engineering and configuration management, as well as integrated logistics support and required engineering for organizational-level sustainment.

Work will be performed at NAS Meridian, MS (48%); NAS Kingsville, TX (47%), NAS Pensacola, FL (4%), and NAS Patuxent River, MD (1%), and is expected to be complete in September 2013. Funds will be obligated for individual task orders as they are issued (N00019-09-D-0002).

Dec 12/11: Boeing in St. Louis, MO receives an $8.1 firm-fixed-price delivery order modification, exercising an option to support the integration testing of engineering changes to the T-45 aircraft. Work will be performed at NAS Patuxent River, MD, and is expected to run to December 2012 (N00019-11-G-0001).

FY 2010 – 2011

Final delivery; 1 million flight hours.

Landed.
(click to view full)

Sept 27/11: FY12 Fleet Support. L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, LLC in Madison, MS receives a $123.2 million indefinite-delivery, requirements contract modification, exercising an option for logistics services and materials for organizational, intermediate, and depot-level maintenance required to support 36 T-45A and 168 T-45C aircraft. This requirement also includes organizational level maintenance for the engine.

No funding will be obligated at time of award. Work will be performed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Meridian, MS (36%); NAS Kingsville, TX (54%); NAS Pensacola, FL (6%); and NAS Patuxent River, MD (1%), and is expected to be complete in September 2012 (N00019-08-D-0014).

Sept 27/11: FY12 Engine Support. Rolls-Royce Defense Services, Inc. in Indianapolis, IN receives a $99.9 million firm-fixed-price requirements contract modification, exercising an option for intermediate and depot-level maintenance and related support for in-service T-45 F405-RR-401 Adour engines, under their Power-by-the-Hour arrangement. In addition, this modification provides for inventory control, sustaining engineering and configuration management. finally, Rolls Royce will handle integrated logistics support and required engineering elements necessary to support the F405-RR-401 engine at the organization level – though that support will be performed by L-3 Vertex.

No funding is being obligated at time of award; it will be called on as necessary. Work will be performed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Kingsville, TX (48%); NAS Meridian, MS (47%); NAS Pensacola, FL (4%); and NAS Patuxent River, MD (1%), and is expected to be complete in September 2012 (N00019-09-D-0002).

Sept 19/11: T-X. BAE won’t be partnering with Boeing to offer its Hawk trainer to the US Air Force – they’ve signed an agreement with Northrop Grumman instead. The USAF’s current T-38 Talon supersonic trainer is a Northrop product.

Boeing teamed up with Alenia in May 2008, and pledged to act as a marketing partner for Alenia’s M-311 and new M-346 trainer jets beyond Italy and the USA. They still haven’t committed to any trainer partnerships within the USA, but they clearly weren’t focused on extending their partnership with BAE. Sources: Northrop Grumman, “BAE Systems, Inc. and Northrop Grumman Partner to Pursue U.S. Air Force T-X Contract”.

Partner switch for T-X

April 29/11: Avionics. A $10.4 million firm-fixed-price contract modification, exercising an option for hardware and support associated with the T-45 Required Avionics Modernization Program: 30 T-45 retrofit kits, 1 additional spare mission display processor, and associated engineering support efforts.

T-45 RAMP converts T-45As into T-45Cs, swapping out the analog instruments for a “glass cockpit” of digital display screens, inertial navigation, and other improvements that make them more like the systems found in the Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. Work will be performed in St. Louis, MO, and is expected to be complete in September 2014 (N00019-09-C-0020).

Sept 27/10: FY11 Fleet Support. L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC in Madison, MS received a $125 million option against its indefinite-delivery, requirements type contract to support the T-45 fleet. They’ll provide services and materials to provide organizational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance for 47 T-45As and 158 T-45Cs, plus organizational maintenance support for their engines.

Work will take place where the planes are based, at Naval Air Station (NAS) Kingsville, TX (54%); NAS Meridian, MS (41%); NAS Pensacola, FL (4%), and Patuxent River, MD (1%); and the contract option runs into September 2011 (N00019-08-D-0014).

Sept 27/10: FY11 Engine Support. Rolls-Royce Defense Services, Inc. in Indianapolis, IN receives an $89.1 million option under a firm-fixed-price requirements contract for the 2nd option year of intermediate and depot level maintenance and related support for in-service T-45 F405-RR-401 Adour engines. Work will take place under the firm’s MissionCare/ “power-by-the-hour” arrangement, which pays Rolls Royce for engine hours flown, not hours of maintenance done. Work will include the aforementioned maintenance for the engines and the aircraft’s gas turbine starting system, as well as inventory control, parts supply, sustaining engineering and configuration management, and other required engineering.

The initial Adour engine MissionCare contract was awarded to Rolls-Royce in October 2003, and has been renewed annually. The US Navy’s T-45 fleet reached 1 million flight hours in August 2010, and in September 2010, Rolls-Royce completed 500,000 flight hours of MissionCare support for the fleet.

Work will take place where the planes are based, at Naval Air Station (NAS) Kingsville, TX (54%); NAS Meridian, MS (41%); NAS Pensacola, FL (4%), and Patuxent River, MD (1%); and the contract option runs into September 2011 (N00019-09-D-0002). This would appear to be the 2nd of 4 option years under the Oct 1/08 contract. See also Rolls Royce release.

Aug 26/10: Boeing and the U.S. Navy celebrate the Naval Air Training Command’s 1 millionth flight hour with the T-45 Goshawk, after 18 years of service. The ceremony is held at at Cecil Field in Jacksonville, FL. Boeing.

1,000,000 flight hours

Oct 20/09: The 221st, and last, T-45C Goshawk is delivered to the U.S. Navy, during a ceremony at the Boeing production facilities in St. Louis, MO. NAVAIR release.

Final delivery

FY 2008 – 2009

Simulator improvements; Engine improvements get recognition; USN’s T-2 Buckeyes retired.

T-45 Goshawks
from NAS Kingsville
(click to view full)

Sept 28/09: Avionics. A $10.1 million firm-fixed-price contract for retrofit kits and associated engineering services in support of the T-45’s avionics modernization program, which is part of the T-45C upgrade. Work will be performed in St. Louis, MO, and is expected to be complete in September 2014. This contract was not competitively procured (N00019-09-C-0020).

Sept 28/09: Avionics. A $7.6 million firm-fixed-price delivery order against a previously issued Basic Ordering Agreement for 36 mission display processor aircraft retrofit kits for the T-45-TS. Work will be performed in St. Louis, MO, and is expected to be complete in November 2011. Contract funds in the amount of $2.5 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, which is Sept 30/09 (N00019-05-G-0026).

Sept 25/09: FY10 Fleet Support. L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC in Madison, MS received a $112.7 million option against its indefinite-delivery, requirements type contract to support the T-45 fleet. They’ll provide services and materials to provide organizational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance for 49 T-45As and 151 T-45Cs, plus organizational maintenance support for their engines.

Work will take place where the planes are based, at Naval Air Station (NAS) Kingsville, TX (54%); NAS Meridian, MS (41%); NAS Pensacola, FL (4%), and Patuxent River, MD (1%); and the contract option runs into September 2010 (N00019-08-D-0014).

Sept 25/09: FY10 Engine Support. Rolls-Royce Defense Services, Inc. in Indianapolis, IN receives a $90.7 million option under a firm-fixed-price requirements contract for intermediate and depot level maintenance and related support for in-service T-45 F405-RR-401 Adour engines that power the T-45 Goshawks. MissionCare is the defense analogue to commercial Power By The Hour(R) contracts, which offer fixed-price maintenance based on hours flown.

Work will include the aforementioned maintenance for the engines and the aircraft’s gas turbine starting system, as well as inventory control, parts supply, sustaining engineering and configuration management, and other required engineering. It will take place where the planes are based, at Naval Air Station (NAS) Kingsville, TX (48%); NAS Meridian, MS (47%); NAS Pensacola, FL (4%), and Patuxent River, MD (1%); and the contract option runs into September 2011 (N00019-09-D-0002). This contract exercises the 1st of 4 option years to the base contract noted in the Oct 1/08 entry.

Sept 10/09: HSRIP Recognition. The T-45 Goshawk Hot Section Reliability Improvement (HSRIP) team here is presented with the Society of Flight Test Engineers (SFTE) 2009 James S. McDonnell Flight Test Team Award at the SFTE’s 40th Annual Symposium Award Banquet in Stockholm, Sweden. HSRIP is composed of personnel from NAVAIR, Boeing, Rolls Royce and Wyle, as well as Navy, Marine Corps and Boeing test pilots. It falls under the Naval Undergraduate Flight Training Systems Program Office (PMA-273).

The HSRIP team is responsible for the US Navy’s incorporation of the F405-RR-402 (Rolls-Royce MK 951 Adour derivative) engine into the T-45, including a Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC), an improved backup Manual Fuel Control (MFC) system, and a new hot section that should provide longer life. Operationally, the FADEC provides automatic surge detection and recovery logic, an improved airstart envelope and the potential to optimize the engine’s performance and the plane’s handling qualities.

The program conducted its first HSRIP test flight on Dec 18/07, and has since completed more than 100 flight test missions. The trophy will eventually be on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Annex at Washington-Dulles International Airport. US NAVAIR release.

Dec 10/08: Israel. The Goshawk production line might be saved. After more than 40 years of service, Israel is finally looking to replace its versatile A-4 Skyhawk fleet. The T-45TS is reportedly one of the 4 contenders. Read “Israel’s Skyhawk Scandal Leads to End of an Era” – but salvation doesn’t come for the Goshawk. Israel picks the M346 in 2012, after the Goshawk production line has already shut down.

Oct 31/08: Shutdown. The Grim Reaper issues a Halloween reminder, via a $5.8 million order against Basic Ordering Agreement N00019-05-G-0026. The order is for “near and long term requirements to continue the analysis required for an efficient and orderly shutdown of the T-45 production line transition Phase II and the associated post-production support efforts for the T-45 A/C aircraft series.”

Work will be performed in St. Louis, MO (77%) and Warton, Lancashire, UK (23%), and is expected to be complete in March 2010. Contract funds in the amount of $1.7 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

Oct 1/08: Engine Support. Rolls-Royce Defense Services, Inc. in Indianapolis, IN received a $90.5 million firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract to provide FY 2009 intermediate and depot level maintenance and related support for in-service T-45 F405-RR-401 Adour engines. The contract is for 1 year with options for 4 additional years, and builds upon a successful 5-year contract established in 2003.

As Rolls Royce reminds us, support is every more important than engine sales. “MissionCare solutions, along with other aftermarket services provided to global customers by Rolls-Royce, account for more than 50 percent of the company’s annual sales.”

These services will be provided under their trademark Power-By-the-Hour (PBTH) arrangement, which pays for flight hours rather than maintenance hours. PBTH services include inventory control, sustaining engineering and configuration management, integrated logistics support and required engineering to support the F405-RR-401 engine beyond the flightline.

Work will be performed on over 200 aircraft at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Kingsville, TX (48%), NAS Meridian, MS (47%); NAS Pensacola, FL (4%), and NAS Patuxent River, MD (1%), and is expected to be completed in September 2013. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant FAR 6.302-1, “Only one responsible source.” (N00019-09-D-0002). See also Rolls Royce release.

5-year Engine Support contract

Aug 28/08: Fleet Support. L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC in Madison, MS continues its status as the T-45’s support contractor. An $111.4 million indefinite-delivery, requirements type contract will have L-3 provide all logistics services and materials for the FY 2009 maintenance and support of 71 T-45A and 108 T-45C aircraft at Naval Air Station Meridian, MS, NAS Kingsville, TX; and NAS Pensacola, FL. The contract also includes organizational level maintenance for the Adour engines, and has 4 one-year option periods that could boost its value to $569 million.

Work will be performed in Kingsville, TX (58%); Meridian, MS, (36%); and Pensacola, FL (6%), and is expected to be complete in September 2009. This contract was competitively procured via electronic RFP, and 2 offers were received by the Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD (N00019-08-D-0014). See also: L-3 Vertex, Oct 27/08 release.

5-year Fleet Support contract

Aug 22/08: The historic 50-year service record of the T-2 Buckeye training aircraft comes to a close with a sundown ceremony and fly-by at the Mustin Beach Officers’ Club aboard Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola.

The T-2C was the US Navy’s intermediate and advanced trainer before the T-45 entered service, and the twin-engined T-2C entered service in 1968. Some of these jets had remained in the fleet, but this ceremony marks their final retirement from service. US Navy release | Navy Fact File: T-2C

T-2 Buckeye retires

June 25/08: Training. Boeing announces a contract with Elbit Systems for a Virtual Mission Training System (VMTS) that will help students prepare for carrier strike-fighter and electronic-attack duty at lower cost. Boeing is currently under contract to develop this capability, and is due to provide 2 test aircraft and then retrofit 18 existing Goshawks by 2012.

“VMTS simulates via data link an unclassified, mechanically scanned tactical radar that provides air-to-air and air-to-ground modes as well as simulated weapons and simulated electronic warfare. These functions can be networked between the participating aircraft and instructor ground stations that control the mission presentation. The current phase of VMTS work will provide flight officers with in-flight training in the use of radar and weapons against virtual enemy aircraft, including cooperative training with friendly real and virtual aircraft.”

April 30/08: L3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC in Madison, MS received an $11.3 million modification to a previously awarded fixed-price, cost-reimbursable contract (N00019-03-D-0010) adjusting for the effects of union contracts on the T-45 trainer system contractor logistics support effort.

Specifically, this modification covers the fiscal 2007 and 2008 cost impact for wages and fringe benefit adjustments as a result of the collective bargaining agreement, dated Oct 1/06 through Aug 1/09, and area wage determinations No. 05-2300 (Rev-4), 05-2300 (Rev-5), 94-2300 and 05-2508. All this is in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act and Service Contract Act – price adjustment clause and notification of changes clause. Work will be performed at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Kingsville, TX (51%) and NAS Meridian, MS (49%).

FY 2006 – 2007

Final T-45s ordered; Production line shutdown contract.

Learning to fly
(click to view full)

Sept 26/07: FY08 Fleet Support. L3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC in Madison, Miss. received a $95.8 million estimated value modification to a previously awarded fixed-price, cost-reimbursable, time and materials requirements contract (N00019-03-D-0010). It exercises a contractor logistics support option for approximately 189 T-45 Training Systems. Work will be performed at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Kingsville, Texas (51%) and NAS Meridian, Miss. (49%), and is expected to be complete in September 2008.

Sept 26/07: FY08 Engine Support. Rolls-Royce Defense Services, Inc. in Indianapolis, IN received a $66.4 million modification to a previously awarded fixed-price, requirements contract. The option covers Power-By-the-Hour (PBTH) logistics support for approximately 188 of the Adour F405-RR-401 jet engines installed in the T-45 aircraft. Work will be performed at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Meridian, Miss. (50%); NAS Kingsville, Texas (48.94%); and NAS Patuxent River, Md. (1.06%), and is expected to be complete in September 2008.

The contract has been developed in line with commercial PBTH agreements under a fixed price per engine flight hours. Rolls-Royce provides all engine maintenance, support, trouble-shooting, parts supply and logistics coverage; work is split between Meridian and Kingsville, TX, along with some functions at Patuxent River, MD. Rolls-Royce employs 110 maintenance, supply and management personnel across five locations in support of this program (N00019-03-D-0012). Rolls Royce release.

Sept 19/07: Boeing subsidiary McDonnell Douglas Corp. in St. Louis, Mo. received a $13.3 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract to exercise an option for the procurement of 10 T-45 Training System Airframes, including logistic support analysis, technical manuals, and technical support of support equipment, production integration testing support and flight test instrumentation, system equipment and repair.

This modification brings the total for these items to $278.5 million. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Mo., and is expected to be completed in September 2009 (N00019-06-C-0309).

June 11/07: A $265.2 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-06-C-0309) for 10 FY 2007 production T-45 airframes, logistic support analysis, technical manuals and technical support of support equipment, production integration testing support, and flight test instrumentation systems equipment and repair.

Work will be performed in St. Louis, MO (58%) and Warton, Lancashire, England (42%), and is expected to be complete in September 2009.

10 T-45s

May 31/07: Engine R&D. A $7.2 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-06-C-0309) for Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) for Phase II of the T-45 Hot Section Reliability Improvement Program.

This effort is in support of flight test, including carrier suitability testing aboard ship, as well as identification of required changes to T-45 publications and retrofit activities. Work will be performed in St. Louis, MO and is expected to be complete in November 2008.

Feb 5/07: Production line shutdown. A $7.6 million cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-05-G-0001) provides for T-45 production line transition efforts for orderly shut down. Specific efforts will include technical assessment of parts and tooling to identify areas to reduce post-production parts manufacturing costs.

Work will be performed in St. Louis, MO (59%) and Manchester, England (41%), and is expected to be complete in December 2007.

Production line shutdown contract

Arrested landing
(click to view full)

Sept 28/06: FY07 Fleet Support. L3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC in Madison, MS received a $94 million estimated value modification to exercise an option for contractor logistics support for the T-45 Training System. This is a modification to a previously awarded fixed-price, cost-reimbursable, time and materials requirements contract (N00019-03-D-0010); work will be performed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Kingsville, TX (51%) and NAS Meridian, MS (49%), and is expected to be complete in September 2007.

Sept 27/06: FY07 Engine Support. Rolls-Royce Defense Services, Inc. in Indianapolis, IN received a $65.3 million fixed-price modification to a previously awarded requirements contract, exercising an option for power-by-the-hour logistics support for approximately 188 F405-RR-401 Adour engines. Under this arrangement, a single contract line item number is used to pay a fixed price per aircraft flight hours; contract performance is measured almost exclusively against the fleet-driven performance metric of “ready for issue engine availability.”

Work will be performed at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Meridian, MS (50%); NAS Kingsville, TX (48.94%); and NAS Patuxent River, Md. (1.06%), and is expected to be complete in September 2007 (N00019-03-D-0012). See also Rolls Royce release.

April 6/06: Engine R&D. Boeing subsidiary McDonnell Douglas Corp. in St. Louis, MO received a $5 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-priced contract (N00019-04-C-0013). This contract is part of the Hot Section Reliability Improvement Program for integration of the F405-RR-402 engine into the T-45 airframe, and involves nonrecurring engineering effort for Phase 1. Work will be performed in St. Louis, MO and is expected to be complete in August 2007. The Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD issued the contract.

March 31/06: Avionics. $14.4 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-05-C-0025) for non-recurring engineering services associated with, and the production of, 12 T-45 required avionics modernization program retrofit kits and two simulator avionics retrofit kits. In addition, this contract provides for technical data, integrated logistics support, and approximately 12 spare kit components. Work will be performed in St. Louis, MO (77%); Mesa, AZ (15%) and Albuquerque, NM (8%), and is expected to be complete in August 2009.

March 30/06: A $139 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract for six FY 2006 T-45 Goshawk training system airframes, plus support to build/specific sustaining engineering, ground based training support, and planning and integration. Work will be performed in St. Louis, MO (52%) and Warton, Brough, England (48%), and is expected to be complete in September 2008 (N00019-06-C-0309).

6 T-45s

March 30/06: $5.7 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-priced contract (N00019-04-C-0013) provides nonrecurring engineering effort required to incorporate an embedded Terrain Awareness Warning System (eTAWS) and associated digital video recorder (DVR) replacement for the current airborne video cassette recorders (AVCR) into the T-45C aircraft, flight simulators located at the T-45’s bases in Naval Air Station Meridian and Naval Air Station Kingsville, and manned flight simulators located at Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Patuxent River. In addition, this contract is for the production of up to seven pre-production DVRs in support of development, integration, simulator tests, and flight test. Work will be performed in St. Louis, MO (60%) and Germantown, MD (40%), and is expected to be complete in February 2008.

March 17/06: $12.5 million firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide integrated logistics support for the T-45 training system for calendar year 2006. Support to be provided includes acquisition logistics, logistics analysis, technical manuals and technical support of support equipment, production integration testing, and flight test instrumentation system equipment and repair. Work will be performed in St. Louis, MO (80%); Warton, Lancashire, England (13%); and Filton, Bristol, England (7%), and is expected to be complete in December 2006. This contract was not competitively procured (N00019-06-C-0309).

Ghazni is one province where the Taleban have long-established significant influence. Actually, they dominate it militarily, with the exception of the provincial capital, all but one of the 18 district centres and some larger areas in three districts. Over the spring of 2018, the Taleban – although not capturing more territory –, have significantly expanded their threat to so far secure districts and other areas. AAN’s Ehsan Qaane looks at the reasons and assessed the overall security situation of Ghazni with its significant shifts in this last spring.

Spring 2018 ended with three days of a genuine ceasefire between Afghan government and the Taleban forces. From 15 to 17 June, over the Islamic festival of Eid al-Fitr, the two sides’ independent and different long truces overlapped. Over the three Eid days, Ghazni city hosted dozens of Taleban militants who entered the city to celebrate the holiday with their families. They freely walked in public places and fraternised with members of Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) (AAN reporting here).

This was a positive, but short exception from their usual behaviour. Before the ceasefire, the Taleban had carried out a whole series of large attacks in 14 of the 18 districts of the province and in villages nearby its capital. The attacks started on 12 April 2018 in the district centre of Khwaja Omari. Apart from this, Muqur, Jaghatu, Andar, Deh Yak, Ajrestan, Gilan, Waghaz, Khugyani, Ab Band, Giro, Qarabagh and Rashidan, as well as the villages of Spandi, Shahbaz, Qala-ye Qazi and Arzo that belong to the provincial capital’s district, were also assaulted. The New York Times reported in May “the central government in Kabul expressed fear that the Taliban had made it a priority to overrun Ghazni [city].”

Taleban attacks on Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) checkpoints or district centres are not new with a long list of attacks with a growing number in 2017. In September 2014, the Taleban almost captured of Ajrestan (a media report here and AAN reporting here), which is far from the provincial capital and badly staffed. In 2017, there were near falls of Waghaz, Giro and Gilan; a series of attacks in Deh Yak in the same year and various sieges of Andar, just outside Ghazni city, the last time in autumn 2017; see also AAN reporting about the failure of local uprising forces here).

This year the Taleban, for the first time in 17 years, managed to seize centres of relatively safe districts close to the provincial capital. This occurred in Khwaja Omari and Jaghatu on 12 April and 21 May 2018. In both cases, the Taleban left these centres within hours following their capture. This retreat was without any further clashes with the ANSF so as to keep their casualty figures low.

On 3 May, they also blocked the Ghazni-Paktika highway to civilian and military traffic for more than two months. This was a unique development since the Taleban’s re-emerged as an insurgent group in south-eastern Afghanistan. This highway is crucial for Ghazni’s defence, as it connects the city to the base of the Tandar Corps, the Afghan National Army Corps 203 based in Gardez in Paktia, further east of Paktika. This corps is the command centre of the Afghan National Army for south-eastern Afghanistan, ie the three provinces of Loya Paktia, Logar and Ghazni.

In addition to their attacks, the Taleban have created problems for the residents of Ghazni city by carrying out assassinations and collecting taxes. The residents of the three secure districts, particularly Jaghori, have suffered after mines were planted and temporary checkpoints were erected on the roads that connect them to Ghazni city. Previously, the Taleban occasionally had blocked this road and the Kabul-Ghazni highway, but only for a few hours each time.

In April and May 2018 alone, the Taleban killed at least four high-ranking local officials, including Ali Dost Shams, the district governor of Khwaja Omari, Faiz Muhammad Tufan, the chief of police of Deh Yak, Haji Barakatullah Rasuli, the commander of the reserve police unit of Ghazni province and Baryalai Rezai, the district head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) of Khwaja Omari.

It looks as though the Taleban new military strategy for Ghazni is to expand their threat to secure districts, while the closure of the Ghazni-Paktika highway is a further step to put pressure on the provincial capital.

The Taleban’s Ghazni surge

The new surge of insecurity in Ghazni started at the beginning of 2015. This followed the withdrawal by mid-2013, first of the Polish troops who had provided the majority of the local Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), and then, by the end of 2014, also the US troops. This left the war against the Taleban in this large, multi-ethnic province – the population of which has been estimated at 1.3 million in 2018 by the Afghan Central Statistic Organization; more data here) – on the shoulders of the ANSF. However, the ANSF’s tashkil(number of personnel allocated) has been too small to cope, at least in the eyes of local officials. The current tashkil for Ghazni is 2,500 ANP and 4,200 ANA, according to provincial council member Hamidullah, talking to AAN. This has opened space for the Taleban since to expand their territory and power in the province.

Currently, a number of US troops have returned to the provinces, according to provincial officials quoted in Afghan media. However, their number – as with the overall number of extra troops sent to Afghanistan under the Trump strategy – has not been made public.

Even by 2015, the Taleban controlled more of Ghazni province than the Afghan government (see this map). This equation has since further changed in their favour. This trend did not continue in 2018 but, as the result of their spring offensive, the local the government’s grip on the so far relatively secure areas, such as Jaghatu and Khwaja Omari has become shaky. Since April 2018, control over some of their areas, including their centres, has changed hands between the ANSF and the Taleban – Jaghatu twice and Khwaja Omari once. Across the province, the government currently only controls the city of Ghazni, the three Hazara-dominated districts of Nawur, Malestan and Jaghori, and the district centres of the remaining districts, except Nawa where, exceptfor one week in May 2015, had been under Taleban control ever since 2001.

Case studies of some significant attacks

1. Muqur: mining gold

At midnight of 12 June 2018, the Taleban’s Red Unit (Pashto: Sra Qeta, read more about it in this AAN analysis) attacked the headquarters of the district governor of Muqur. Muqur is located on the Ghazni-Kandahar highway and contain Zarkashan gold mine, one of the biggest gold mines in the country. They began their assault by detonating a Humvee full of explosive material at the main entrance of the compound and then entered into the building. As the result, Afghan media reported, five ANSF members were killed and 25 others, including the district governor, Habibullah Muquri, and head of NDS unit in Muqur, injured (see here and here; these reports do not mention the Red Unit, this information comes from a local journalist). However, the Taleban failed to seize the whole building and withdrew from the area in the morning.

This attack occurred on the first day of the government’s unilateral nine days truce. Presumably, the Taleban had apparently hoped to find the ANSF with their guard down (AAN reports about the ceasefire here and here).

On 7 February 2018, a group of Muqur residents, including some from Zarkashan, came to Ghazni city and complained that the Taleban were mining in Zarkashan with the support of Pakistani engineers and that the government was not preventing this from happening, as Afghan media reported. The report quoted a protester and an elder from Muqur, who said, “if the Taleban did not attack the district centre of Muqur so far, it was because of the mining.”

2. The temporary capture of Jaghatu and Deh Yak

On 21 May 2018, the Taleban captured Gul Bawri, the district centre of Jaghatu, and Deh Yak’s district centre, which has the same name as the district. (Notice that two districts are named Jaghatu: one in Ghazni, one in Maidan Wardak province; both have a joint border.) They killed the district chief of police of Deh Yak, together with five other ANSF members. The Taleban also burned down the district governor’s office, as Nasir Ahmad Faqiri, a member of the Ghazni provincial council, told AAN on 23 May.

Another member of Ghazni provincial council, Hamidullah Nawruz, told AAN on 22 May 2018 that Gul Bawri was seized by the Taleban even twice in one week. The first time was 16 May. Both times, the Taleban assaulted at midnight, using night-vision equipment and heavy weapons, and captured the police district headquarters. During the first attack, the Taleban cut off the road that connects Gul Bawri and Ghazni city by planting mines to prevent government support forces reaching the town. According to him, these reinforcements, including from Unit 333, an elite unit of the national police, Afghan National Army (ANA) commandos and regular ANA forces only arrived at the district centre at 9am, after the Taleban had left the area. Yasin Joya, the district governor of Jaghatu, in an interview with AAN on 20 May, stated that the Taleban are provided with safe haven in the villages of Zamankhel, Safarkhel and Mirokhel, which are only one kilometre distant from Gul Bawri, in Khugyani district. According to him, Khugyani, and Waghaz districts – Pashtun majority areas – as well as mixed Tajik-Pashtun Rashidan, were split from the mixed Hazara-Pashtun Jaghatu as new administrative units during the mujahedin and Taleban eras. As Gul Bawri was the district centre of the former ‘greater Jaghatu’, as Joya called it, after the division, it found itself located at the border of these insecure districts, whilst their Taleban dominance made it particularly vulnerable. He said it would better to shift the district police office to Sarab, where the district governor’s office had already been moved three years ago, and name Sarab as the new district centre for Jaghatu. He added that moving of the district governor’s office to Sarab had not been decided upon due to insecurity, but rather to bad communication: “It was difficult for locals to travel to Gul Bawri as it is located in a [distant] corner of the district.”

When the Taleban attacked Jaghatu district centre for the second time, the reinforcements were already present there. However, they withdrew after heavy fighting with the Taleban, Faqiri told AAN on 23 May.

3. Ajrestan, isolated and deserted

On 20 May 2018, the Taleban took two key villages of this remote district at the border with equally unruly Uruzgan. In Muhammadkhel, where district governor, Hamdullah Hasibzai, was living and working, and Adrakey, where the district chief of police, Obaidullah was working and living, they looted all houses – both villages are outside the district centre, but not far away. Only by the ANA military base that the Taleban have failed to capture uses the official premises of the district governor in the district centre.

“The attack was started on 17 May 2018 by the local Taleban together with Taleban militants from Uruzgan, Helmand and Kandahar,” Hasibzai told AAN on 16 July 2018. After the Taleban took all the local check-points; three on the second day of their attack, two on the third day and the last one on the fourth day, all civilian government and military personnel – except the ANA in the nominal district centre further away – escaped to Mir Amur district in neighbouring Daikundi; 105 people in total, including 50 ANA soldiers, the district governor and the district chief of police. On their way, they were ambushed again. As a result, five of them were injured and 22 others, including five civilians, captured by the Taleban. The Taleban later released the civilians, but kept the 17 ANSF personnel. All who managed to escape, including the district chief of police and the district governor, are living in Ghazni city now. Around 50 families of Afghan National Police and Afghan Local Police also came and joined their men. The Taleban sent a message to the Ajrestan personnel saying, “if you want to live, don’t return to your homes.”

Hasibzai told AAN that he resigned from his position because working in Ajrestan without the full support from the government was “suicide.” He added that all four roads connecting it to its neighbouring districts – to Malestan and Nawur in Ghazni, Mir Amur in Daikundi and Khas Uruzgan in Uruzgan – were closed by the Taleban to government employees ever since the Taleban re-emerged in the area again years ago. As a result, military supplies are impossible to bring in by road. He added that, over the last 15 years, the government employees were only able to travel to and from the Ghazni city, 200 kilometers away, by air. According to Hasibzai, the Taleban now control almost 90 per cent of Ajrestan.

Compared to the attacks on Khawja Omari, Jaghatu and Deh Yak, this was the heaviest attack of this last spring. Lasting three days, it constitutes an exception to the strategy of ‘quick assault and withdraw’ usually employed at other places. This approach is favoured given the extreme isolation of Ajrestan district. The conflicting reports whether (by the Taleban) or not (by the government) the district centre was taken during this attack relate to the fact that the district centre proper, with the ANA base, was not taken, but the two resident villages of the district governor and police chief, which function as the de facto district centre.

4. Khawja Omari, safe so far

On 13 April, the Taleban attacked the district centre of Khwaja Omari, only 16 kilometers to the north of Ghazni city. Thus far, it had been one of the relatively safest districts of the province. The Taleban killed the district governor, Ali Dost Shams, and 20 ANSF members, including the head of National Directorate of Security (NDS) for the district, Baryalai Rezai, son of a mixed Hazara-Pashtun family native to Khawja Omari.

On 16 May, AAN interviewed a commander of Afghan Local Police (ALP) who was there on the night of assault (he requested AAN not to be named). According to him, the attacks started around 1am from two directions in the same time. One group attacked the checkpoints close to the district police HQ and the other group attacked the residence of the district governor. Within one and a half hours, the Taleban seized the control of the district centre. He added: “Only we – eight members of ANSF – remained in the building of district police HQ and resisted.”

The Taleban stayed in the district centre for two hours only and left the area before sunrise when support forces from the provincial centre arrived.” The ALP commander told AAN that a small group of forces headed from Ghazni city to Khwaja Omari soon after the attack started. However, they first had to return to the city after they hit mines at the Ziarat-e Kushk area, six kilometers outside Ghazni city. As the result, one of their Humvees was destroyed and eight of their personnel killed or injured. He added: “Until 9am no more support forces arrived on the ground.”.

The ALP commander told AAN that the Taleban in Khwaja Omari also used night-vision goggles. He gave an example to prove his claim: “When eight policemen left the district police HQ to support the governor, four of them were shot immediately at the gate. Each of them was killed only by one bullet in the head.” Referring to the intelligent reports, he told AAN that 120 Taleban militants from Paktia, Logar and Maidan Wardak provinces participated in the attack. Before the attack, they had gathered in Jaghatu district of Maidan Wardak, which shares a border with Khawja Omari. He also said that Jaghatu’s local Taleban were not involved in this onslaught. It can only be speculated why this was the case: as their numbers are relatively small, they might have been afraid of the revenge from those attacked.

Media reported that 59 of the Taleban attackers were killed by an airstrike in the same morning of 13 April in Maidan-Wardak’s Jaghatu where they celebrated their victory.

5. Attacks on the security belt of Ghazni city

On 21 May 2018, the Taleban raided ANSF checkpoints in villages that are administratively part of the provincial capital, Spandi and Shahbaz. They also ambushed Haji Barakatullah Rasuli, the commander of the reserve police of Ghazni in Spandi. Rasuli and his four bodyguards were killed.

Ghazni city has been partially under Taleban siege to the west and south since 2015. It also has been the target of a series of spectacular attacks. In 2014, the Taleban blew up the local NDS office and other installations with a massive truck bomb, in September 2015, when their fighters broke into Ghazni provincial jail and freed 355 prisoners, including high-ranking commanders, they also captured the NDS office and obtained important files (AAN’s report on breaking jail here) and, in 2016, when they stormed the Ghazni courthouse.

Qala-ye Qazi, located two kilometres to the west of Ghazni city, and Spandi, four kilometres to the south, demarcates the frontline between the government and them. Mangur village, some seven kilometers to the south of Ghazni city, is the centre for the Taleban, who are in charge of the city and its surrounding rural areas, which together are one administrative unit. According to a local journalist (who talked with AAN on condition he was not named), Hanafi Muhammadi, the head of Taleban’s military commission for Ghazni’s provincial capital, and Mullah Shams Wadood, who is in charge of collecting ushr(Islamic tax) there, are living in this village. In early May 2018, the New York Times reported how the Taleban systematically collect taxes in Ghazni city and were openly living in some parts of it, quoting a senior police officer as saying “They have their homes here and can do whatever they want to.”

Wahidullah, the local journalist confirmed this to AAN. According to him, Taleban have issued death threats to Ghazni residents, including the local media, if they do not pay taxes to them. For their safety, the residents obey the Taleban. Hamidullah Nawruz, a member of the Ghazni Provincial Council, told AAN the Taleban collect ushr from residents of Ghazni city and in all places they have control over. In the city, they contact the wakil guzar (neighborhood representative) and representatives of professional associations, asking them to collect specific amounts from the residents or members of their guzaror associations on behalf of the Taleban and to hand it over to the representatives of the Taleban’s economy commission. The venue for handing it over, which is usually in Mangur village, is set via the phone.

Nawruz also told AAN on 16 July 2018 “seven months ago, my colleagues and I did a rough estimation based on documents we obtained. We found that the Taleban’s revenue from tax collection is around 25 million Afghanis per year only in Ghazni province.”

In addition to this, the neighbouring district of Ghazni city, including Deh Yak, Zana Khan, Khugyani, Waghaz and Andar districts, are almost fully controlled by the Taleban. From there, they can launch attacks and assassinations, and easily retreat back afterwards. Only in April 2018, nine people were reportedly assassinated in Ghazni city. (There were 18 in 2017, according to Afghan 1TV (source BBC monitoring, 10 November 2017).) The assassins use ordinary pistols with silencers and, after their assaults, escaped riding motorbikes out of the city. Local officials said that they arrested five people accused of involvment in these assassinations. Wahidullah, the local journalist, told AAN on 12 July, though assassinations have declined after the Eid ceasefire, the previous incidents have poisoned the atmosphere and people are really scared.

Hasht-e Sobh (8am), an Afghan daily newspaper, quoted Aref Nuri, the spokesman of the Ghazni provincial governor admitting that the local officials knew about the Taleban tax collection, but, apparently, they cannot do much about it. Instead, as Nuri said in this interview, they arrested two people for paying tax to the Taleban. Noori added that these two people were released after elders intervened on their behalf.”

What messages do these attacks convey?

1. Tactical issues

Almost all these attacks occurred during the night. According to local sources, the Taleban used night-vision equipmentand sniper rifles, while the ANP and ALP, who tried to beat back these attacks, do not possess such technology. According to an ALP commander in Khwaja Omari, the members of ANSF have two options to face this problem: stay in their check-points to be killed from short range or escape and be shot while doing so over a longer distance. Aref Rahmani, an MP from Ghazni, in his interview with AAN on 14 June 2018, criticised the National Unity Government (NUG) and said, despite ALP and ANP guarding parts of the country which are insecure or bordering Taleban territory, it has not provided them with heavy and modern weapons. He believes that, because the ALP and ANP have lighter weapons and less personnel than the Taleban, their casualty figures are higher in comparison to the ANA. (Although the ANA, and particularly their commandos and the Air Force, are also involved in combatting the Taleban, most of the brunt of this fight is borne by the police and auxiliary police forces.)

There are also communication problems. During the night, most high-ranking officials switch off their phones, so that it is harder to contact them in the provincial centre or in Kabul for help. For example, when the Taleban attacked Khwaja Omari disctrict centre, the district governor was only able to contact the deputy governor of Ghazni, Aref Wahidi. According to Shams’ brother, the cell phone of the provincial governor, Abdul Karim Matin, was out of the coverage area and the cell phone of the provincial chief of police, Mohammad Zaman, was switched off. The Taleban, of course, understand this. Furthermore, the ANSF limit their patrols in the evenings. In addition, the Taleban plant mines along the routes that reinforcements have to take to get to the target areas.

As a result, their night assault tactic gives them two advantages: better vision and fewer threats by reinforcements.

2. Threatening or conquering?

These assaults on districts centres and Ghazni’s suburban villages also indicate that the Taleban are looking to increase their pressure on the areas in Ghazni province still under government control, rather than to necessarily expand their territory in Ghazni. Although they are theoretically able to easily gain control of at least the centres of Andar, Giro and Ab Band, where their presence is the strongest and where they easily can bring in reinforcements from neighbouring Paktika and Paktia, they still prefer to carry out sudden attacks, followed by quickly withdraw. They also used this tactic in their attacks on Khawja Omari and Jaghatu on 13 April and 22 May. While avoiding casualties for themselves (and the local population) from counter air strikes, this allows the Taleban to keep the initiative, while the – often outnumbered and qualitatively outgunned – government forces remain on the defensive. It also inflicts more casualties on the ANSF. In addition, the Taleban benefit from the situation that the government has to supply its forces in often besieged district centres with weapons and ammunition by breaking through their siege. This inevitably allows some supplies to fall into their hands. Also, their attacks on ANSF checkpoints provide them with extra hardware.

The Taleban attacks on Khwaja Omari and Ajrestan revealed that the Taleban gather militants from neighbouring locations for these assaults. This needs pre-planning. The fact that the attacks happened means, the Afghan (and other) intelligence services were unable to discover them in advance, or there were simply insufficient forces available to send to help the defenders. On the other hand, collectively, such attacks make sure the local ANSF are outnumbered and ensure relatively easy, if only temporary, victories for the Taleban. The ALP commander from Khwaja Omari told AAN that the Taleban who attacked on Khwaja Omari were 120 armed men, while ANSF were only 28-30. The Taleban used this advantage and defeated ANSF. Attacking, briefly capturing and then withdrawing are classical guerrilla-style pin prick operations to force the more static enemy to be constantly on the watch and to shift around its best forces too often (see this AAN analysis).

The Taleban’s attacks also reveal that they are able to strike in various districts at the same time. For example, when they attacked Jaghatu (the first and second time) and Ajrestan, they also assaulted Giro, Andar, Deh Yak, Waghaz, Rashidan and Khugyani districts, as well as the security belt around Ghazni city, in order to split the ANSF and hide their main target areas. This is a tactic the Taleban had already employed in 2014 when they attacked the local NDS office and other installations.

3. Government shortcomings

On 22 May 2018, while the district centre of Ajrestan was being besieged and the district centres of Jaghatu and Deh Yak captured by the Taleban, President Ashraf Ghani held an emergency meeting in Kabul. He talked via video call with Ghazni provincial governor, Abdul Karim Matin (he dismissed him from his position some days later), and Sho’ur Gul, the commander of Tandar Corps. According to the president’s website both officials gave a report about the Ghazni security situation and the problems there. In response, as it was put on the website, “the President ordered them to prioritise their works and to do comprehensive efforts.”

Although the website does not give more details on what the president exactly meant, Ghazni MPs have usually criticised local officials in the province for their lack of cooperation and gaps in their war strategy. For example, Aref Rahmani mentioned to AAN on 14 June 2018 the lack of cooperation among the civilian and the military leadership of Ghazni as one of the main gaps in fighting the Taleban in that province. This point was illustrated by Hamidullah, a member of the Ghazni Provincial Council, who told AAN on 15 July that the provincial chief of police usually took orders directly from Kabul, and not from the provincial governor. He said this is “a bad practice in Ghazni regardless who the provincial governor or provincial chief of police is.” (This is a problem in the other provinces, too.) Therefore, he was pessimistic that Ghani’s changes to the province’s leadership would alter the situation, as it does not integrate the chain of command.

The NUG has renewed the civil and military leadership of Ghazni various times in May, June and July 2018. On 12 May, after the Taleban attack on Khwaja Omari, Muhammad Zaman was dismissed and Farid Mashal appointed in his place as the provincial chief of police. Instead of Abdul Karim Matin, Wahidullah Kalimzai, originally from Wardak province and former provincial governor of Kunar, was appointed as provincial governor on 2 June. Finally, on 9 July, Muhammad Amin Mobalegh, former deputy to the provincial governor of Wardak, was made deputy provincial governor.

In the emergency meeting, President Ghani also ordered the related institutions “to provide resources of a first-grade province [to Ghazni] as it is a first-grade province”. (Afghanistan’s provinces are divided into three categories, according to their population.) So far, Ghazni has received resources only as a third-grade province with military personnel, leading – among other issues – to the above-mentioned current ANSF tashkil of 6,700 ANP and ANA. This allows the government forces to retake lost territory, but they are insufficient to hold it permanently. When, in May 2015, ANSF recaptured Nawa, it failed to keep it safe for more than one week. Ghazni centre did not have enough personnel to deploy there, so the ANA had to leave again. Similarily, Hamdullah Hasibzai, the former district governor of Ajrestan, told AAN on 15 July 2018, that, although Afghan commando and ANA are in the district centre of Ajrestan since 22 May 2018, they have not ventured to retake those villages the Taleban have taken in May. He argued also that there the number of local security personnel is too low to safeguard the villages after a withdrawal of the ANA and Afghan commandos.

These are obviously meaningless expenditures of human and financial resources without any long-term security impact. This explains why the ANSF remains on the defensive in Ghazni – and probably in many parts of the country.

Conclusion

Although Ghazni city and some districts are considered part of government-controlled territory, the Taleban are exercising sovereignty by collecting taxes there. It looks as if the government cannot stop the Taleban.Its resources seem too weak, and there are grave shortcomings in coordination and general governance.

The Taleban may not want, or may be unable, to extend their territorial grip in Ghazni in the near future. Already, they have control over those parts of the province where they can recruit militants among the locals most easily. This is mainly in the Pashtun areas (although not all locals support them). The Hazara majority areas – often isolated from the Ring Road – are under pressure by the Taleban dominance and their frequently closing the roads connecting them with Ghazni city. Therefore, the Taleban occasionally are able to coerce local communities into mutual non-aggression deals.

In the current situation, the Taleban would only be able to capture the remaining parts of Ghazni, including Ghazni city,if at all, for a short time. The Taleban do not have much local support in the three Hazara districts and in Hazara-dominated areas in mixed ones, such as Jaghatu, Khwaja Omari and Qarabagh. In Ghazni city, the government is still much stronger than the Taleban, despite the Taleban’s ability to threaten and pressure its residents by assassinations and taxation. The Taleban presence in districts nearby, however, keeps up a serious threat for Ghazni’s centre and its residents. Militarily, the initiative remains on their side, while the government forces often only can react.

Due to this constellation of factors, the areas under Taleban control even appear more secure when compared to those in government-controlled territory. The local populations in the territory of the Taleban may not be happy with their rule, but at least they enjoy a degree of security. It looks like the situation favours the Taleban, until such time that the government can increase its military personnel (which seems to be the case with the expansion of the ANA ‘territorial’ forces, see AAN analysis here) and increase its offensive position operations after which territory can be held.

The Taleban’s approach and the government’s shortcoming – although they might differ in detail and due to different geographic circumstances – echo those reported by AAN from Helmand, Kunduz, Baghlan, Jowzjan and Farah.

Edited by Thomas Ruttig