Defence`s Feeds

Russian small-arms, boat-building, and unmanned aerial systems group Kalashnikov has become a majority privately owned company after Moscow agreed to the sale of an additional 26% stake to a private consortium. Russian state industrial holding group Rostec announced on 15 February that it now held

The US Army has requested USD161.4 million in fiscal year 2019 (FY 2019) to convert 969 Javelin Block 0 Command Launch Units (CLUs) to the newer Block 1 configuration. The CLU upgrades will be for Javelin systems deployed with armoured brigade combat teams (ABCTs) – these are the only

Veritas Capital has announced the purchase of the US public sector business of corporate consultancy group PricewaterhouseCoopers. Terms of the transaction – announced on 14 February – were not disclosed. The deal will see 1,500 employees transfer from PwC. The division provides

Saab secured SEK3.35 billion (USD420 million) in sales for its airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) systems in 2017, the company disclosed during its annual results briefing on 16 February. The figure was secured across two separate sales announced in January and May of last year, valued

Key Points The outgoing United Nations special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, announced on 9 February that Oman had agreed to host a new round of peace talks, following a meeting with Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi. While Saudi Arabia has been trying to find an exit strategy to

The Royal Swedish Navy (RSwN) is to return the ASW 600 Elma anti-submarine grenade launching system to frontline service as part of efforts to bolster its anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities. According to Sweden’s Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), the ASW-600 Elma systems –

Turkey has deployed upgraded M60T main battle tanks (MBTs) for its Operation ‘Olive Branch’ against Kurdish fighters in the Afrin region of northwest Syria. Images taken on the Turkish side of the border near Afrin in mid-February show a number of M60Ts equipped with laser warning

A Turkish Air Force Aermacchi (SIAI-Marchetti) SF.260 light jet trainer crashed on 16 February 30 minutes after taking off from the 2nd Main Jet Training Base at İzmir Cigli on a scheduled training flight, killing the two pilots on board, according to a statement released by the Turkish General

Two Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots died on 15 February when their Pipistrel Virus SW 80 Garud ultralight aircraft crashed in the northeastern Indian state of Assam during a routine sortie. The incident took place at about 1200 h (local time) after the aircraft took off from Air Force Station Jorhat,

The Indonesian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has signed a contract with Russia to procure the Sukhoi Su-35 ‘Flanker-E’ multirole combat aircraft, it has been confirmed. The contract was signed on 14 February and includes the acquisition of 11 aircraft. The Indonesian MoD has made no

As the US Navy (USN) looks to deploy Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters and develop next-generation missiles, the service is finding ways to stretch the service lives of its existing combat jets and cruise missiles. The USN is extending the lives of its Boeing F/A-18 A-D

Boeing is to be contracted to double the annual production rate of its DSU-38A/B laser guidance kit for the US military. The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has announced in an amended notification posted on 15 February that Boeing is to increase the production capacity for the DSU-38A/B

For the first time since 2012, UNAMA has recorded a year-on-year decrease – of nine per cent – in civilian casualties sustained during the Afghan conflict. This relatively good news still meant that more than ten thousand civilians were killed and injured during 2017. There are glimmers of hope in UNAMA’s report; the Afghan National Security Forces took more precautions, it said, to protect civilians during ground engagements. There were ominous trends, too; almost a quarter of all casualties were killed or injured in suicide or complex attacks, most of them in Kabul, the highest numbers on record. Also, as AAN Co-Director Kate Clark points out, more than a quarter of all civilians killed or injured were deliberately targeted and most casualties were preventable.

UNAMA 2017 Civilian Casualty Figures* (read the full report here).

• 10,453 civilian casualties (3,438 deaths and 7,015 injured), representing a decrease of nine per cent compared to 2016 (with a two per cent reduction in deaths and six per cent in injuries);
• 1,224 women casualties (359 deaths and 865 injured), representing an increase of less than one per cent compared to 2016;
• 3,179 child casualties (861 deaths and 2,318 injured), representing a decrease of ten per cent since the previous year.

Since 2009, the armed conflict in Afghanistan has claimed the lives of 28,291 civilians and injured 52,366 others.

How civilians were killed and injured (in order of magnitude):

Cause of Casualty Total Number of Casualties Total Number of Deaths Total Number of Injured Percentage of all Civilian Casualties Comparison with 2016 Ground Engagements 3,484 823 2,661 33% 19% decrease Complex and Suicide Attacks 2,295 605 1,690 22% (16% of which were in Kabul city) 17% increase Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) 1,856 624 1,232 18% 14% decrease Targeted and Deliberate Killings 1,032 in 570 targeted killings during the year 650 382 11% 8% decrease (although killings were up by 13% and injuries down by 30%) Explosive Remnants of War 639 164 475 6% 12% decrease US and Afghan Forces Air Operations 631 resulting from 139 aerial operations 295 336 6% 7% increase

 

Who is responsible for the casualties:

 Anti-Government Elements (AGEs), most notably the Taleban but also Islamic State Khorasan Province, ISKP (also known as Daesh), and other Afghan and foreign insurgent groups. AGEs were responsible for a total of 6,768 civilian casualties (2,303 deaths and 4,465 injured), representing 65 per cent of all civilian casualties and a three per cent decrease compared to 2016.

Insurgent Actor Total Number of Casualties Total Number of Deaths Total Number of Injured Percentage of all Civilian Casualties Comparison with 2016 Taleban 4,385 1,574 1,574 42 12 per cent decrease ISKP 1000 399 601 15 11 increase Unidentified and other 1389 330 1059 – –

 

The leading causes of civilian casualties by Anti-Government Elements (in order of magnitude):

• suicide and complex attacks
• IEDs
• ground engagements
• targeted and deliberate killings

Pro-Government Forces, including Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), international forces (only the US has a combat mission in Afghanistan) and pro-government armed groups were responsible for a total of 2,108 civilian casualties (745 deaths and 1,363 injured), representing 20 per cent of all civilian casualties and a decrease of 23 per cent since the previous year.*

Pro-Government Actor Total Number of Casualties Total Number of Deaths Total Number of Injured Percentage of all Civilian Casualties ANSF 1693 529 1164 16 Pro-Government armed groups 92 26 66 International military 246 147 99 2 Unidentified 77 43 34 1

*Comparison with 2016 not given.

The leading causes of death by pro-government forces (in order of magnitude):

• ground engagements
• aerial operations
• killings and injuries of those known to be civilian or mistaken for anti-government elements
• casualties resulting from search operations.

Shelling from Pakistan into Afghanistan resulted in 42 civilian casualties (16 deaths and 26 injured) in 23 incidents or one per cent of civilian casualties, a four-fold increase compared to 2016. 

Trends in the conflict: ground engagements

UNAMA’s 2017 Protection of Civilians report presents a complex picture of evolving conflict dynamics and new patterns of civilian casualties. The most significant factor driving down casualty figures is that fewer civilians have been being killed or injured in ground engagements. The number of casualties has fallen below 3,600 for the first time since 2013. Those attributed to pro-government forces fell by 37 per cent and those to the Taleban and other anti-government elements by seven per cent. There was a particularly marked decrease – 29 per cent – in civilians killed or injured by indirect weapons, such as mortars, rockets and grenades, compared with 2016. This reduction translates into almost 800 people who are alive and uninjured today who would have been harmed if the 2016 casualty rate had been sustained. UNAMA reports that this decrease was most notable in the following five provinces: Baghlan, Helmand, Kandahar, Kunduz and Uruzgan. (UNAMA gives a useful table with the three leading causes of civilian casualties in each of Afghanistan’s 32 provinces, on page 67 of the report.)

This fall in numbers came despite the fact that “the levels of fighting,” according to UNAMA, were “only slightly lower than in 2016.” Another indicator of this is that, on 15 November 2017, the United Nations had recorded more than 21,105 security-related incidents for the first 11 months of 2017, an increase of one per cent since 2016. See also AAN’s analysis of the conflict in 2017 which assessed various indicators of insecurity here. One key reason behind the fall in civilian casualties from ground engagements, said UNAMA, were the “significant measures” taken by the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) to protect civilians, including: 

…the adoption of a National Policy for Civilian Casualty Mitigation and Prevention and related training for security forces, together with the adoption of practical measures on the battlefield, including relocation of security bases from civilian areas, and increased constraints on the use of mortars and other indirect fire weapons during ground fighting in civilian-populated areas.  

These measures helped cause a reversal in the trend observed in 2016, of pro-government forces, mainly the ANSF, harming increasing numbers of civilians (46 per cent more than in 2015), especially during ground engagements and especially with the use of indirect fire into civilian-populated areas (see further details here). (1)

Fewer civilians were also harmed during ground engagements in 2017, according to UNAMA, due to the “lack of major [insurgent] attacks against provincial centres and relative reduction in attacks against district centres by insurgent forces compared to 2016.” This was particularly the case in Helmand, Kunduz and Uruzgan provinces. Insurgents instead increased their targeting of stationary ANSF check-posts and convoys. UNAMA further noted that numbers of civilians killed and injured by shooting during ground engagements was up by 12 per cent, “in line” with this increased emphasis by the Taleban on directly attacking police check-posts.

Both sides have also increasingly issued warnings to civilians about forthcoming operations. Furthermore, in areas where frontlines remain static, civilians had already fled, thereby removing themselves from danger. (2)

The changing tactics of the Taleban – fewer attacks on population centres – may be a response to the increased threat of air strikes from both the United States and Afghan air forces. Gathering in large numbers in order to launch such ground offensives is far more risky as a result. (For more analysis, see here. After losing many fighters, killing many civilians and failing to take Tirin Kot, Lashkargah and Kunduz in 2016 (or hold Kunduz in 2015), the Taleban may also have decided to hold their fire and consolidate their control of captured areas. Reports have suggested, for example, that they have been organising their taxation and what is called in economic circles ‘revenue mobilisation’ (see this article, research here and discussion here about 12 minutes into a radio programme discussing the prospects for peace in Afghanistan). Whatever the reasons, the reduction in civilian casualties from ground engagements is a welcome development. Nevertheless, as UNAMA points out, the destruction in 2017 was still horrific and widespread:

… taking mothers, fathers and children away from their families, and displacing nearly half a million civilians in 2017. The conflict also destroyed homes, livelihoods and impeded access to health, education and services. UNAMA also continued to record a strong correlation between the use of weapons such as mortars, rockets and grenades during ground fighting and civilian casualties from unexploded ordnance, with children accounting for most casualties.

Other conflict trends: IED, suicide and complex attacks

Also helping to drive down civilian casualties in 2017 was the decrease in casualties from IEDs (an insurgent tactic only), by 14 per cent compared to 2016. There was a significant decrease (32 per cent) in casualties from remote-controlled IEDs, together with a more minor reduction (eight per cent) in those from pressure-plated IEDs. This is significant because IEDs were, for many years, the main cause of civilian casualties; the decrease in remote-controlled IED caused casualties suggests better targeting by insurgents. Again, though, the damage caused by IEDs cannot be minimised. In 2017, 1,856 civilians lost their lives or were injured by them. Pressure-plated IEDs, which are illegal due to their inherently indiscriminate nature, disproportionately affected civilians in the south, with about half of all those killed and injured living in in Helmand, Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces. Here, insurgents fought to retain territory and “typically placed the devices along roads mainly used by Afghan national security forces, but also frequented by civilians,” according to UNAMA.

Both the reduction in casualties from ground engagements and IEDs were partially offset by a large increase in casualties from suicide and complex attacks. More civilians were killed and injured in this type of attack in 2017 than in any year since 2009 when UNAMA began systematically recording civilian casualties. The Taleban and ISKP both employed this tactic.

Insurgents killed and injured more civilians in suicide and complex attacks than in ground engagements (2,295 compared to 1,368). The disproportion was especially marked with ISKP; 83 per cent of the civilians it killed and injured were in suicide and complex attacks (830 civilian casualties: 308 deaths and 522 injured as a result of 21 attacks). (3)

ISKP claimed 19 of those attacks (UNAMA attributed a further two) and, as in 2016, all were against civilians. More than one third targeted Shia Muslims: five were against Shia places of worship, one a library in Herat and another a political gathering in a predominantly Shia neighbourhood of Kabul. ISKP also attacked the media, government offices, a cricket match and the Iraqi embassy. The civilians killed and injured in attacks claimed by ISKP (781) increased by 18 per cent in 2017 compared to 2016. Civilian casualties from the 27 attacks claimed by the Taleban (782) decreased by 22 per cent compared to 2016. (4) UNAMA’s figures, then, do not bear out the theory that the Taleban, because of the threat from the air, turned from ground engagements against population centres to carrying out suicide and complex attacks.

The city of Kabul bore the brunt of this type of attack with 1,612 civilian casualties (440 deaths and 1,172 injured), 17 per cent more than in 2016, and comprising 70 per cent of all civilian casualties from this tactic in 2017. The 31 May attack alone (which remained ‘unattributed’ by UNAMA ­– see AAN discussion of who might have been behind it here) caused more than one third of all civilian casualties in Kabul city in 2017 (at least 583 civilian casualties, 92 deaths and 491 injured). Paktia and Helmand also suffered suicide and complex attacks, including the targeting of banks where ANSF personnel were drawing out pay.

Sectarian attacks and those on places of worship

One of the most disturbing trends in the conflict in 2017 was the three-fold increase in attacks on places of worship, religious leaders and worshippers. Shia Muslims were especially hard hit, suffering 83 per cent of the resulting casualties. UNAMA attributed 499 civilian casualties (202 deaths and 297 injured) during 38 such attacks last year. The number of deaths doubled, compared to 2016 and injuries were up by a third. ISKP was responsible for the majority of those casualties, but UNAMA notes, the number of attacks both attributed to and claimed by the Taleban against religious figures and places of worship also increased in 2017. (UNAMA attributed one attack to pro-government forces.)

Air Strikes

Causing only six per cent of the total number of civilian casualties in 2017, it could be argued that air strikes, particularly those by the US, receive a disproportionate amount of media and political attention. Nevertheless, attention would seem to be warranted because civilian casualties have increased, by seven per cent compared to 2016 and that made 2017 the worst year on record for civilians to be killed and injured in air strikes. The fast-expanding Afghan Air Force is now carrying out more operations and was responsible for more civilian casualties than the US. (5)

Civilian casualties from airstrikes by the Afghan Air Force occurred throughout the country, in 25 of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, with the highest number in Faryab province. Civilian casualties from US strikes, however, were concentrated in three districts, Chahardara in Kunduz province, Deh Bala in Nangrahar and Sangin in Helmand province. Together, they accounted for over 50 per cent of all civilian casualties from airstrikes from the US Air Force.

An expansion of the Afghan Air Force is a key component in the Afghan and US strategy of trying to hold and re-capture territory (see discussion here and here). The Afghan Air Force made nearly double the number of airstrikes in the first ten months of the Afghan solar calendar (21 March 2017 to 20 January 2018) than the previous ten months – 425 airstrikes, compared to 219. UNAMA attributed 309 civilian casualties (99 deaths and 210 injured) to the Afghan Air Force (49 per cent of the total) in 68 aerial operations.

The US has also seen the numbers of sorties flown and weapons released rise sharply; it released 4,361 weapons in 2017, compared to 1,337 during 2016. UNAMA attributed 246 civilian casualties (154 deaths and 92 injured) to the US Air Force (38 per cent of the total) in 49 aerial operations (while the US caused fewer casualties, it caused more deaths). (6) Four of the 49 operations each resulted in more than ten civilian deaths; they included offensive strikes on narcotics factories (see AAN reporting here and civilians mistaken for insurgents, and defensive strikes in civilian-populated areas.

The increase in sorties and weapons dropped in 2017 was far higher than the increase in civilian casualties, indicating that the quality of safeguards is not falling. As UNAMA put it, “the reduced harm ratio suggests improvements in targeting and civilian protection procedures.” Even so, it said:

…as civilian casualties from aerial operations reached record high levels in 2017, UNAMA once again recommends that both the Afghan Air Force and international military forces review targeting criteria and pre-engagement precautionary measures, including considering the high likelihood of civilian presence in populated areas and starting from a position of considering all persons to be civilians unless determined otherwise.  

Search operations

Search operations became the fourth leading cause of civilian casualties caused by pro-government forces in 2017. There were 123 casualties (79 deaths and 44 injuries) during 33 search operations, mostly in Nangrahar and Kandahar provinces, an increase of 40 per cent compared with 2016. Most involved National Directorate of Security (NDS) Special Forces (86 casualties, 61 deaths and 25 injured, in 23 incidents). They were either acting alone or partnered with international military forces (although UNAMA does not specify, these were likely either CIA paramilitaries or US Special Forces).

NDS Special Forces, says UNAMA, “appear to operate outside of the regular NDS chain of command, resulting in a lack of clear oversight and accountability given the absence of clearly defined jurisdiction for the investigation of any allegations against them.” The geographic concentration – in Nangrahar province, there were 12 search operations involving NDS resulting in 38 casualties and in Kandahar, 37 casualties in seven search operations – suggests no-one is reigning these units in. UNAMA describes NDS Special Forces entering one home in Mohmand Dara district and shooting dead all seven civilian men, all from one family, who were inside. They were IDPs from Achin district who had fled the heavy fighting there.

The Khost Protection Force, a paramilitary pro-government armed group outside any formal tashkil, also continues to operate with impunity, for example, killing a boy and injuring two others (all between 7 and 11 years of age) during a search operation in Sabari district, Khost province. 

Use of Children in the conflict

UNAMA reports on two pre-existing dynamics, now being substantiated, to do with the conflict-related use and abuse of children. It said it had verified 83 boys (under-18s) recruited and being used “as bodyguards, [to] assist in intelligence gathering, plant IEDs, carry out suicide attacks and participate in hostilities.” UNAMA attributed the recruitment and use of 40 boys to the Taleban, 19 boys to ISKP and 23 to the ANSF (mainly to the Afghan National and Local Police). This would appear to be an instance of under-reporting, given that UNAMA said it had also received “credible but unverified reports of 643 children recruited and used by armed groups.”

Also liable to be under-reported is the sexual abuse of children by government and anti-government forces: UNAMA said that, while researching child recruitment, it had verified four cases and received “credible and specific reports of 78 boys potentially victims of sexual abuse by parties to the armed conflict.” Boys were reported to have been forcibly recruited, or recruited under the false premise of an offer of employment, and subsequently sexually abused. The practice of bacha bazi – keeping boys for sex – has now been criminalised under Afghanistan’s new penal code. 

Conclusion

If the reduction in civilian casualties is to become a downward trend, rather than a one-year blip, some of the ways forward are clear. Government forces, UNAMA says, need to cease firing mortars and carrying out air strikes in civilian-populated areas and develop clear rules of engagement and tactical directives for using these weapons. It calls on the international military to support them and to strengthen its own “pre-engagement targeting protocols to prevent civilian casualties,” continue to conduct post-operation reviews and investigations and “ensure transparency, following allegations of civilian casualties from air strikes and search operations.” As for the insurgents, they need to stop targeting civilians and stop carrying out attacks in civilian-populated areas – whether suicide attacks, shooting or firing mortars. As the reduction in those being killed by government mortars and by the Taleban’s use of remote-controlled IEDs in 2017 shows, many lives can be saved from measures to protect civilians.

That the number of civilians killed and injured in the Afghan conflict has finally fallen after years of relentless increase is welcome. Even so, on average, 29 civilians lost their lives or were injured in the war every day last year, more than ten thousand in total. Just over a quarter of them were deliberately targeted, almost all by insurgents. Most of the casualties were preventable.

* As UNAMA says, figures are unlikely to be absolutely final. Reports of casualties from December, especially from remote areas, may still come in after the cut-off date for the annual report (7 January 2018) and those injured may die of their wounds. Some incidents may take months to verify. In previous years, there has been some fluctuation in the casualty figures in quarterly reports, for example, the civilian casualties for January to September 2016 were reported as 8,397 in 2016, revised to 8,531, when reported on in 2017 (a difference of 1.6%). Similarly with the 2016 mid-year report, there was a revision from 5166 (as reported in 2016), revised upwards to 5267 (a difference of 2%). UNAMA told AAN that, “The figures in each annual report are the most accurate.” It said the casualty figures tend to shift somewhat, but not by more than one per cent and usually do not go down.

 

 

(1) In 2016, pro-government forces caused more civilian casualties in ground engagements, reported UNAMA, than anti-government elements, 1,773 compared to 1469.

(2) UNAMA gives this breakdown of those causing civilian casualties in ground engagements in 2017:

Pro-Government Forces Civilian Casualties Afghan National Army 548 (153 deaths and 395 injured) Afghan National Police 111 (25 deaths and 86 injured) Afghan Local Police 42 (10 deaths and 32 injured) Afghan National Security Forces 183 (43 deaths and 140 injured) Pro-Government Armed Groups 70 (12 deaths and 58 injured) Anti-Government Elements Civilian Casualties Taleban 1,286 (284 deaths and 1,002 injured) Daesh/ISIL-KP 23 (10 deaths and 13 injured) Unidentified AGEs 49 (10 deaths and 39 injured) Undetermined 933 (226 deaths and 707 injured)

 

(3) The rest of the ISKP-caused casualties comprised: 104 civilian casualties (45 deaths and 59 injured) from 11 IEDs attacks, and mostly in Nangrahar: 29 civilian casualties (25 deaths and four injured) from 23 targeted killing incidents; 23 civilian casualties (10 deaths and 13 injured) from ground engagements; 13 civilian casualties (10 deaths and three injured) from abductions; and one death from unexploded ordnance.

(4) ISKP suicide and complex attacks resulted in far higher civilian casualty rates than the Taleban’s: 794 civilians were killed and injured in 31 Taleban attacks and 803 in 21 ISKP attacks. UNAMA could not attribute 671 casualties from such attacks, including the 31 May bombing in Kabul.

(5) The Afghan Air Force was responsible for 309 civilian casualties (99 deaths and 210 injured) (49 per cent) in 68 aerial operations; the US Air Force was responsible for 246 civilian casualties (154 deaths and 92 injured) (38 per cent) in 49 aerial operations; 76 civilian casualties (42 deaths and 34 injured) in 21 incidents could not be attributed.

(6) UNAMA could not attribute 76 civilian casualties (42 deaths and 34 injured) in 21 air strikes.

 

 

Americas

• The US Navy has pushed initial operational capability (IOC) of the MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aerial tanker into 2026, rather than the rapid acquisition initially planned for 2020. Service officials told a Fiscal Year 2019 budget briefing on Monday that they plan to spend $719 million on research and development for the MQ-25A and now anticipates purchasing the first four aircraft in 2023. Meanwhile, Boeing has been listed by General Atomics Aeronautical System (GA-ASI) as part of its industry team of suppliers entering the Stingray program. The announcement comes after Boeing’s Phantom Works unit revealed before Christmas, its own fully assembled MQ-25 ground test vehicle at its St Louis facility, and the firm maintained that acting as both a prime bidder and a member of the General Atomics team “is good for our customer and reflects our focus on doing what’s necessary to compete, win and grow.” Other suppliers listed by GA-ASI include: Pratt & Whitney for its engines; UTC to design and build the landing gear; L3 Technologies for communications; BAE Systems for software capabilities, mission planning, and cybersecurity; Rockwell Collins for advanced navigation technologies, a new generation of the TruNet ARC-210 networked communications airborne radio and a comprehensive simulation framework; and GKN Aerospace’s Fokker for landing gear technologies.

• Bell Helicopter’s V-280 Valor tilt-rotor demonstrator has been flown by a US Army pilot for the first time. The February 7 flight was conducted by Chief Warrant Officer 3, Tom Wiggins, of the US Army Special Operations Aviation Command, at the Bell Flight Test Facility in Amarillo, Tex. During the flight, Wiggins performed Hover In Ground Effect repositioning, pattern flight and roll-on landings. The aircraft is being funded under the US Army’s Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstration (JMRTD) program and is led by the service’s Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center (AMRDEC). AMRDEC personnel have been fully involved in the demonstrator effort including integration of experimental test pilots and flight test engineers into the mixed flight test team, and Army pilots will take part in additional flights throughout the test program. The JMRTD is a precursor to the Department of Defense Future Vertical Lift program.

Middle East & Africa

• Raytheon received Monday, February 12, a $23.2 million US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) contract modification for software development and engineering support services for the Army/Navy Transportable Radar (AN/TPY-2) system operated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Work on the foreign military sale (FMS) will take place at Woburn, Mass., with a scheduled completion date of November 2019. This new modification increases the cumulative face value of the award from more than $717.6 million to $740.9 million, the Pentagon said. The AN/TYP-2 is the main radar used on the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system but also cues the AN/MPQ-53 radar of the Patriot system—both of which are deployed by the UAE.

Europe

• High operating costs may cause the Swedish military to ground nine of its NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH) fleet used for ground operations. Speaking on the issue, Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said the procurement had a long history and background of broken expectations, and that life-cycle and operating costs should have been investigated and controlled prior to this. A report by Swedish broadcaster Ekot reported that Defense Force Helicopter 14 costed an average 200,000 kroner (almost $25,000) per hour—by comparison, the US DoD costs UH-60 Black Hawks at about $4,500 per flight hour. Hultqvist added that the helicopter’s high costs will be investigated further before a final decision on whether the nine NH90s will have their flight hours cut or grounded completely. First ordered in 2001 Sweden’s Defense Helicopter Wing operates 18 NH90 TTHs, alongside 16 UH-60Ms, and 20 AW109s (eight of which designated for sea roles).

• Thales Group announced Tuesday that both the Spanish and German armed forces have selected the French firm to provide rockets for their respective Tiger helicopter fleets. The deals will see Germany acquire 10,000 70mm/2.75″ training rockets to further the training of its UH Tiger units, while Spain will receive 1,000 rockets for defensive use by its Tiger HAD-E fleet. Spain operates the latest 70mm NATO standard rocket onboard its Tiger HAD-Es, which come fitted with four light weight composite rocket pods, two of 19 tubes (FZ225) combined with two of 7 tubes (FZ233), able to carry a mixed loading of practice and high explosive warhead. Spain’s Tigers are currently deployed to Mali, where they are serving on an ongoing UN-peacekeeping mission.

Asia-Pacific

• China has put its new generation J-20 stealth fighter into service, the air force announced last Friday. The J-20 will further raise the air force’s combat abilities and help the air force better carry out its “sacred mission” to defend the country’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, the air force said, adding that the fighters had been commissioned into combat units. First put on display at 2016’s Zhuhai airshow, Beijing has been characteristically secretive on the warplane’s development and questions remain on whether the aircraft can match the radar-evading properties of its closest lookalike Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, or the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

• Boeing will upgrade the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft under a $60.9 million US Air Force contract announced by the Pentagon Monday. The agreement will see Boeing provide mission computing upgrade installation and checkout of four Japanese E-767 aircraft and associated ground systems. Work will take place in Oklahoma City, Okla., San Antonio, Texas, and Seattle, Wash., and is scheduled to wrap up by December 2022. Japan’s E-767 fleet uses Boeing’s E-3 Sentry surveillance radar and air control system installed on a Boeing 767-200.

• Executives from Boeing and Saab claim that upcoming elections in India—to take place in May 2019—is likely to push decisions on new fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Indian Navy into late next year. Both firms are currently vying for a contract to supply the navy with 57 carrier-borne aircraft with the F/A-18 Super Hornet and a marine variant concept of the JAS-39 Gripen, however, no formal request for proposal (RFP) has yet been issued with an service official saying work was in progress and he expected an RFP would be issued in the months ahead detailing specific requirements. Dassault’s Rafale M fighter and Russian Aircraft Corporation’s MiG-29K are also believed to have responded to New Delhi’s request for information (RFI). The IAF requirement for 100 conventional fighter, which is at a less advanced stage than the naval fighters and is still waiting to release a RFI, has attracted Saab’s Gripen E and Lockheed Martin Corp with its F-16. As a sweetener to Prime Minister Modi’s “Make in India” initiative, Saab has partnered with Adani to build Gripens in India if it wins either or both of the fighter jet contests, while Lockheed has selected Tata Advanced Systems as its local production partner for the F-16.

Today’s Video

• Bell V-280 Valor first Army test:

UCAS-D/ N-UCAS concept
(click to view full)

The idea of UAVs with full stealth and combat capabilities has come a long way, quickly. Air forces around the world are pursuing R&D programs, but in the USA, progress is being led by the US Navy.

Their interest is well-founded. A May 2007 non-partisan report discussed the lengthening reach of ship-killers. Meanwhile, the US Navy’s carrier fleet sees its strike range shrinking to 1950s distances, and prepares for a future with fewer carrier air wings than operational carriers. Could UCAV/UCAS vehicles with longer ranges, and indefinite flight time limits via aerial refueling, solve these problems? Some people in the Navy seem to think that they might. Hence UCAS-D/ N-UCAS, which received a major push in the FY 2010 defense review. Now, Northrop Grumman is improving its X-47 UCAS-D under contract, even as emerging privately-developed options expand the Navy’s future choices as it works on its new RFP.

N-UCAS: Programs & Potential

X-47B concept
(click to view full)

In early 2006 the future of DARPA’s J-UCAS program seemed uncertain. It aimed to create Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAV) for the USAF and Navy that could approach the capabilities of an F-117 stealth fighter. Boeing’s X-45C was set to face off against Northrop Grumman’s X-47B Pegasus, the program had demonstrated successful tests that included dropping bombs, and aerial refueling tests were envisioned. J-UCAS was eventually canceled when the services failed to take it up, but the technologies have survived, and the US Navy remained interested.

Like the F-117, a UCAV’s self-defense would involve remaining undetected. While UCAVs can theoretically be built to execute maneuvers no human pilot could handle, the pilot’s awareness of surrounding events would be quite limited. The X-47B isn’t being designed to do what the type inherently does poorly, but to do what the type does inherently well: be stealthier than manned aircraft, and fly reliably on station for days using aerial refueling support.

If Northrop Grumman or emerging competitors can overcome their technical and operational challenges, and if UCAV reliability lets them match the 2-3 day long mission profiles of Northrop Grumman’s RQ-4 Global Hawks, the US Navy would receive the equivalent of a carrier-borne F-117 stealth fighter, with improved stealth and no pilot fatigue limits. That would open up entirely new possibilities for American carriers.

If aerial refueling support is present behind the front lines, an N-UCAS wing could easily sally forth to hit targets thousands miles from their host carrier, while pilots inside the ship fly in shifts. The X-47s would fly a much shorter distance back to aerial tankers as needed, and only return to the steaming carrier several days later, or when their weapons had been used up. As a concrete example, in an emergency a carrier could launch UCAVs as it left Gibraltar at the gate of the Mediterranean, then fly them to the Persian Gulf and keep them on patrol using USAF aerial refueling tankers, all the while steaming to catch up. As the carrier got closer to the Arabian Sea off of Oman, the UCAVs would get more and more loiter time over their target area, and the “chainsaw” would get shorter and shorter.

First Step: UCAS-D / X-47B

Concept no more
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N-UCAS (Naval Unmanned Combat Air System) is the US Navy’s broader umbrella initiative to define/develop/produce a fleet of unmanned, carrier based strike and surveillance aircraft. The UCAS-D demonstration program is a subset of that initiative. If the demonstrations go well, the Navy may progress to an Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program.

In July 2007, Northrop Grumman’s X-47B Pegasus beat Boeing’s X-45C to win the UCAS-D development contract. Northrop Grumman’s Aug 3/07 release describes their mission as:

“The UCAS-D effort will mature critical technologies, reduce unmanned air system carrier integration risks and provide information necessary to support a potential follow-on acquisition milestone.”

Translation: show us that this can work, and demonstrate carrier-based launches and recoveries of a tailless, autonomous, “LO-relevant” aircraft. “Low Observable relevant” means that its outer shape must reflect stealth requirements, but without any of the operational stealth coatings and other expensive measures. That makes sense, since UCAS-D is only about aerodynamics and control. Eventually, follow on programs like UCLASS will have to test stealth as well, but UCAS-D will be about the basics.

UCAS-D has 2 big technical challenges. One is safe, reliable flight and landings in carrier-controlled airspace, for a stealth aircraft that may not always be visible on radar. Testing appears to be working, and combined manned/ unmanned evolutions have begun. The other big challenge is successful and safe aerial refueling.

Next Step: UCLASS

Phantom Ray

Northrop Grumman’s UCAS-D team hopes that by completing the UCAS-D funded demonstration phase, they’ll be able to offer an inherently conservative service a proven UCAV option, with a more complete set of advanced capabilities than privately-developed or late-moving competitors.

The USA’s Naval Aviation Master Plan currently includes provisions for a Navy UCAS (N-UCAS) around 2025. If UCAS-D work goes very well, and the US Navy follows through on its shift toward an X-47B-class UCAV that can be used for limited missions, pressure will build for much earlier deployment. There are already indications of pressure along those lines, and the UCLASS RFI sets a goal of fielding a limited capability UCAV on board American carriers by 2018 or so.

Barring continued and substantial pressure from above, however, the level of cultural shift required by the naval aviation community is likely to slow down any deployment of advanced UCAVs on board ships. That is already happening to UCLASS, which has seen its strike role shrink while the Navy publicly talks about making surveillance its main mission. That would be less threatening to future manned aircraft programs, but it may not be the best use of UCAV technology, and the Navy is already finding itself at odds with Congress on this score. A priority on surveillance also shrinks the need for stealth, which would give General Atomics’ conventional airframe design a big advantage over its 3 tailless flying wing competitors.

Predator C
click for video

If and when the US Navy proceeds with a full Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle deployment program, the X-47 will have competitors. The 3 additional recipients of initial UCLASS study contracts include:

General Atomics. They were the first competitor out of the gate, expanding their jet-powered Predator C “Avenger” research program to include a carrier-capable “Sea Avenger” as well.

Boeing. Boeing already makes F/A-18 Super Hornet naval fighters, and their privately-developed X-45 Phantom Ray UCAV stems from the same DARPA J-UCAS program that produced the X-47B UCAS-D. Northrop Grumman designed their X-47B for carrier operations from the outset, but Boeing developed their X-45C without those compromises, so carrier operations will require added work.

Lockheed UCLASS
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Lockheed Martin. This concept comes out of their famed Skunk Works facility, which produced planes like the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter. Their work also builds on internal efforts like Polecat UAV, and classified programs like the RQ-170 UAV. They also seem to be making a push to leverage their strength in back-end command and control systems as a selling point, while partnering with control system specialist DreamHammer.

UCAS-D: Program & Team

The first X-47B Pegasus UCAS-D (AV-1) was scheduled to fly in December 2009, but that was pushed back to Q1 of CY 2010, and finally ended up taking place in February 2011. It conducted series of detailed flight envelope and land-based carrier integration and qualification events at Edwards AFB, CA, then returned to NAS Patuxent River, MD to begin land-based carrier landing trials.

AV-2, which is equipped with full refueling systems, was expected to make its first flight in November 2010, and begin testing autonomous aerial refueling (AAR). Early 2011 saw the AV-2 airframe pass static and dynamic load tests, but AV-2’s flights were delayed until AV-1 finishes its own tests, in late 2011, and didn’t take off until November 2011. It began carrier-related testing in 2012, and launched for the 1st time in May 2013. Full launch and landing circuits, and aerial refueling tests, are still on the horizon.

Its first landing was initially set for late 2011, but the firm now talks about some time in 2013. Once autonomous aerial refueling demonstrations begin, the Navy intends to achieve both probe & drogue (USN style) and boom/receptacle (USAF style) refuelings.

Northrop Grumman’s facility in Palmdale, CA is the final assembly site for the X-47B, and the industrial team also includes:

UCAS-D: Northrop Grumman’s X-47B

X-47B 3-view
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UCAVs currently have no real situational awareness of the airspace around them, which makes them sitting ducks for any attack that doesn’t use radar guidance, and isn’t picked up by their radar warning receivers. Even an alerted UCAV currently has few options but to try and change course. That may work against ground threats, but mobile aerial opponents will simply follow and kill them. Their best defense is not to be found. Their best option if found is to make it hard to keep a radar track on them, or to vector in enemy aircraft. This may be why high-end strike UCAVs like the Boeing X-45 Phantom Ray, European nEUROn, British Taranis, and Russian MiG SKAT all use the maximum stealth configuration of tailless subsonic blended wing bodies with shielded air intakes, and attenuated exhausts.

The X-47B’s modified flying wing design and top-mounted air intake reflect this orientation. By removing the pilot and opting for sub-sonic speeds, Northrop Grumman is able to field a design that looks like a more advanced version of its B-2 bomber. Instead of a straight flying wing like Boeing’s competing X-45C, however, their engineers opted for a cranked wing that improves landing characteristics on carrier decks, and makes it easy to use carrier-borne aircrafts’ classic “folding wing” design for improved storage in tight spaces.

This UCAV may be a short plane, but it’s not a small one. The X-47B’s 62.1 foot wingspan rivals the Navy’s old F-14s, and is wider than a Navy F/A-18 Hornet or even a larger Super Hornet. Because of its foreshortened length, however, its storage “spot factor” relative to an F/A-18C Hornet (“1.0”) is just 0.87.

Target and strike
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Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-5C turbofan engine powered previous X-47 models, but the UCAS-D will adopt Pratt & Whitney’s F100-PW-220U, a modified variant of the engine that powers American F-16 and F-15 fighters. Subsonic requirements and carrier-based employment changed the engine’s imperatives: it will produce less thrust than its F100 counterparts (just 16,000 pounds), in exchange for efficiency improvements and better protection against the corrosive salt-water environment.

Efficiency matters to this platform. Unrefueled X-47B range is expected to be between 1,500 – 2,100 nautical miles, with a maximum payload of 4,500 pounds. The standard payload is expected to be a pair of 2,000 pound JDAMs, but the weapon bay’s ultimate size and shape will determine its ability to carry other options like strike missiles, JSOW glide bombs, a pair of 4-bomb racks for the GPS-guided Small Diameter Bomb, the forthcoming Joint Air-Ground Missile, etc.

Sensors are currently to be determined, as they aren’t really the point of UCAS-D. Any Navy strike platform is expected to have an advanced SAR radar with Ground Moving Target Indicator (SAR/GMTI), conformal electro-optic day/night cameras, and ESM (Electronic Support Measures) equipment that helps it pinpoint and trace back incoming electromagnetic signals. Given the X-47B’s design’s inherent strengths of stealth and long endurance, additional modules or payloads for tasks like signals collection must surely be expected.

Naval UCAVs: Contracts and Key Events

See also “Boeing to Advance UAV Aerial Refueling” for background and updates regarding unmanned aerial refueling test programs in the US military – which now include UCAS-D/ N-UCAS.

Unless otherwise indicated, The Naval Air Systems Command Patuxent River, MD manages these contracts.

FY 2016 – 2018

February 15/18: GA’s Industry Partners—Navy talks FY2019 funding The US Navy has pushed initial operational capability (IOC) of the MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aerial tanker into 2026, rather than the rapid acquisition initially planned for 2020. Service officials told a Fiscal Year 2019 budget briefing on Monday that they plan to spend $719 million on research and development for the MQ-25A and now anticipates purchasing the first four aircraft in 2023. Meanwhile, Boeing has been listed by General Atomics Aeronautical System (GA-ASI) as part of its industry team of suppliers entering the Stingray program. The announcement comes after Boeing’s Phantom Works unit revealed before Christmas, its own fully assembled MQ-25 ground test vehicle at its St Louis facility, and the firm maintained that acting as both a prime bidder and a member of the General Atomics team “is good for our customer and reflects our focus on doing what’s necessary to compete, win and grow.” Other suppliers listed by GA-ASI include: Pratt & Whitney for its engines; UTC to design and build the landing gear; L3 Technologies for communications; BAE Systems for software capabilities, mission planning, and cybersecurity; Rockwell Collins for advanced navigation technologies, a new generation of the TruNet ARC-210 networked communications airborne radio and a comprehensive simulation framework; and GKN Aerospace’s Fokker for landing gear technologies.

January 9/18: Boeing Prototype—FAA Registration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has awarded Boeing’s MQ-25 Stingray demonstrator a US aircraft registration, the firm has told Flight Global. The unmanned carrier-based mission tanker prototype, dubbed T1, was unveiled by Boeing on Twitter onDecember 16, and received the registration number, N234MQ, from the FAA on December 26. However, several details usually included, such as the model of the turbofan engine that powers the aircraft, were omitted from the registration. The deadline for bids to the MQ-25 Stingray program were due on January 3, with General Atomics and Lockheed Martin joining Boeing in the competition. While Boeing have been dripping information on their prototype, Lockheed Martin has released only a fragment of its MQ-25 concept aircraft, showing only part of the underside of a wing and a refueling pod.

December 21/17: Prototype Unveiling After a week of teasing its release, Boeing’s Phantom Works unit revealed Tuesday its prototype that will be entered into the US Navy’s MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aerial tanker program. A photograph of the aircraft facing the camera released by the firm shows that Boeing have incorporated a wing-body-tail design, diverting from the original flying wing design it considered putting forward to the precursor of the MQ-25 program—when the Navy prioritized strike and ISR capabilities over mission-tanking for its first carrier-based drone. Engine runs will be conducted before the end of the year, with deck handling demonstrations to follow in the new year. During the demo, prototype operators will taxi the aircraft via remote control and move it within the confines of the deck, as well as validating that the aircraft will engage the launch bar of a catapult. Boeing said first flight will take place when the engineering and manufacturing development contract is awarded.

October 30/17: Northrop Grumman has pulled out of the US Navy’s MQ-25 Stingray unmanned refueler competition. Despite being the company who developed the test platform that proved a UAV could take off and land from an aircraft carrier, CEO Wes Bush cited the Navy’s requirements in the request for proposal issued earlier this month as the reason for the firm’s forfeiture from the race, noting “if you can’t really execute on it and deliver on it to your customer and your shareholders, then you’ve done the wrong thing.” That leaves Boeing, Lockheed Martin and General Atomics still in the race.

October 12/17: US Naval Air Systems Command has released the final request for proposals (RFP) to industry for the unmanned MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aerial tanker. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Atomics were all issued the RFP to compete for the air segment of what will be the Navy’s first operational carrier-based unmanned aerial vehicle ahead of an anticipated contract award by September of next year. Basic requirements will have the Stingray deliver about 15,000 pounds of fuel 500 nautical miles from the carrier, with a mission of alleviating the strain on the existing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets that are burning through flight hours while serving as a refueling tanker for other aircraft attempting to land on an aircraft carrier.

September 04/17: The US Navy has said that the inclusion of the MQ-25 Stingray unmanned tanker on its aircraft carriers will extend the range of its carrier-borne fighters by 300 to 400 nautical miles. It is expected to be able to carry 15,000 pounds of fuel at 500 nautical miles from the carrier to the air wing’s strike fighters and capable of refueling between four and six aircraft at range. Navy brass expect the first MQ-25 to be flying mission tanking operations as early at 2019.

July 24/17: A new draft request for proposals released by the US Navy has revealed that the service’s plans for the MQ-25 Stingray will be primarily that of a mission tanker. The draft, published on July 19, made no mention on the unmanned platform’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, instead outlining the two key performance parameters (KPP) required for the aircraft’s airframes as having both carrier suitability and mission tanker capacity. As a result, the four competitors – Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and General Atomics – will only have to prove that their aircraft can take-off and land back on a carrier and do mission tanking.

June 15/17: US Navy aircraft carriers, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) and USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), will be the first vessels to carry the MQ-25A Stingray, the service’s upcoming unmanned aerial refueling tanker. Both carriers will receive upgrades to include the control stations and data links needed to control the tanker, and while no date for the upgrades have been set, it is believed that Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson intends to accelerate the deployment of the Stingray and get it on carrier decks as early as 2019. News of the first carriers set for the MQ-25A introduction comes as the Navy decided to reprogram $26.7 million for control systems and data link installation the MQ-25A will need to operate from an aircraft carrier, taking that money from the USS George Washington (CVN-73) during its four-year midlife refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) in the Fiscal Year 2017 budget.

May 31/17: The US Naval Air Systems (NAVAIR) Command will soon issue a solicitation for engineering, manufacturing and development (EMD) to Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. NAVAIR also intends to release a solicitation to those companies for an accompanying contract for studies and analysis supporting the MQ-25 Stingray EMD program. The concepts coming out of the EMD phase are expected to take a stark departure from the preliminary designs, which industry created to support the navy’s original requirement for a stealthy, carrier-launched surveillance and strike aircraft (UCLASS). Such changes include dropping the initial requirement for strike capabilities but will retain surveillance capabilities with the inclusion of a 19-23in-diameter forward looking infrared sensor turret.

March 23/17: The US Navy’s MQ-25A Stingray unmanned aerial tanker is likely to have a wing-body-tail design after Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Work division found that a flying wing design is not the best aerodynamic shape for the service’s latest requirements. While the Navy had initially intended a surveillance and possible strike capability for the aircraft, the current requirements suggest a strong emphasis on a tanking role and less on ISR. As a result, competing firms Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Atomics and Boeing are likely to redesign their bids for the competition.

October 24/16: Four companies have been awarded contracts by the US Navy to conduct risk reduction work on their designs for the MQ-25 Stingray. Boeing, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and Lockheed Martin received contracts for $43 million each while Northrop Grumman received $35.8 million. The risk reduction work will see the companies alter previous designs of the MQ-25 as an unmanned strike bomber to fit its new role as an aerial tanker under the carrier-based air refueling system (CBARS) program.

September 27/16: Contracts worth $43 million each have been doled out to Lockheed Martin and Boeing in order “to conduct risk reduction activities in support of the MQ-25 unmanned carrier aviation air system.” Both companies are expected to complete their work on the UAV by October 2017. Now known as the Stingray program, the UAV integrates the first operational, carrier-based, catapult-launched drone and will provide long-endurance ISR and organic refueling capabilities for the carrier air wing.

August 22/16: Contractors aiming to secure deals in relation to the Navy’s MQ-25A program have been given vague hints at what the service is expecting. Hopefuls looking to secure a slice of the action have been told they need to get that “sweet spot” between supporting mission tanking and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Born out of the scrapped Carrier-Based Aerial Refueling System (CBARS) program, the MQ-25 Stingray looks to include higher endurance for ISR capabilities in addition to just refueling. A lot of food for thought for those looking to get involved, but at least the initial “stealth tanker” concept has been shelved, for now.

July 19/16: While speculation over its name has been floated for some time, the US Navy’s first carrier unmanned aerial vehicle has been officially named. Known as the Carrier Based Aerial Refueling System (CBARS) program, the service’s Material Command has now designated the aircraft MQ-25A with the name “Stingray.” Initially conceived as a low observable lethal, and deep penetrating strike platform, the MQ-25A will now focus on refueling with some ISR capabilities and followed up with later weapons installation.

May 4/16: The US Navy is expected to release a risk-reduction request for proposals (RFP) for its MQ-25 Stingray program this summer. This will help set out the timeline in which the service can realistically expect the tanker system to be deployed on-board its carrier fleet. It is expected that this will be followed by an engineering, manufacturing and design RFP in early FY2017. Boeing, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman all have designs they were going to pitch for UCLASS, and are expected to modify them for the Stingray’s new role.

March 30/16: The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has published its annual report on the the Navy’s Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program, as authorized by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. By analyzing the DOD budget for FY 2017 and speaking to program officials, the GAO found that the U.S. Navy has begun to develop modifications to existing shipboard systems to support the UCLASS’ latest iteration – Carrier Based Aerial Refueling System (CBARS). As with the UCLASS program, CBARS will include an air system segment, an aircraft carrier segment, and a control system and connectivity segment.

March 16/16: The US Navy has announced plans to “descope” the stealth requirement from the development carrier-based aerial system (CBARS). This will allow the tanker to be capable of firing missiles and dropping munitions. Dubbed the MQ-25 Stingray, the descoping marks yet another alteration to the program which had initially started out as the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program before a drastic U-turn took it away from ISR activities to that of refueling role. However, according to Vice Adm Joseph Mulloy, deputy chief of naval operations for integration of capabilities and resources, the addition of greater weapons capabilities will not see the Stingray spying, with destroying targets and refueling remaining its main mission.

March 7/16: The decision to convert the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program to an aerial refueling tanker under the Carrier Based Aerial Refueling System (CBARS) may require a new competition. Michael Novak, the Deputy Director of the Unmanned Maritime Systems Office under the office of the Chief of Naval Operations said that higher ups in the Pentagon were considering the change to allow all four companies that participated in the earlier UCLASS competition to be able to refine their proposals and “hit the mark for the CBARS.” The decision rests with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) on what the next step for the tanker will be.

February 2/16: Initial plans to have the US Navy’s latest unmanned jet weaponized seems less likely, as plans seem to have shifted towards a tanker role. The long deferred Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) program was recently provided enthusiastically with $350 million by Congress. However, this was given on the understanding that the jet would be developed for full integration into carrier air wing operations – including strike operations – and possess the range, payload, and survivability attributes as necessary to complement such integration. No mention had been made about the need for unmanned aerial tanking capability. Instead the jet could be developed under the little known Carrier-Based Aerial-Refueling System (CBARS) aimed at producing an unmanned carrier-based aerial tanker, able to refuel other planes low on gas without risking a pilot. Strike capabilities would feature in a future variant of the aircraft.

October 1/15: Both House and Senate armed forces committees have agreed to fund the development of UCLASS unmanned aircraft in the draft FY2016 NDAA bill, in addition to more Tomahawk cruise missiles, F-35B Joint Strike Fighters for the Marines and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets for the Navy. The draft bill also includes for the provision of a fourth MQ-4C Triton UAV.

FY 2015

 

April 20/15:
The X-47B UCAV currently being developed by Northrop Grumman, has conducted successful aerial refueling from a KC-707, the first time the demonstrator has completed this difficult test set. Additionally, the US Office of Naval Research recently successfully tested the ability of UAVs to “swarm”, sharing information in flight with some autonomy, as part of its LOCUST program.

Feb 4/15: FY 2016 budge shelves UCLASS until 2023.
Even (theoretically) busting through sequestration, the 2016 Administration budget for the Navy opts to push UCLASS off to 2023.

The new schedule has an RFP released in FY 2016, with an award in Q2 2017 and first flight milestone in Q3 2020. Initial capability wouldn’t arrive until 2023. Where UCLASS was to originally get $669 million in FY 2016, the final document allowed it only $135 million.

FY 2014

 

X-47B UCAS-D
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Sept 10/14: UCLASS. The UCLASS team has integrated the latest iteration of Common Control System (CCS) software, which is the 1st to use the latest Navy Interoperability Profile (NIOP). This iteration forms the baseline for all future UCLASS control software, and Cmdr. Wade Harris is the Control System and Connectivity (CS&C) lead. They’re currently testing this software with an air vehicle simulator based on the MQ-4C Triton.

Ron La France is the UCLASS integration lead, and system-level testing of the control station and connectivity segment, carrier segment, and air system segment in the lab is next. That’s hard enough. Meanwhile, the program team is working with 72 programs of record, 22 program offices, 6 program executive offices and 3 systems commands. No wonder this stuff is slow and expensive; in fairness, a carrier deck can’t afford screwups, and there are a lot of moving parts to consider. Sources: US Navy NAVAIR, “Navy integrates ‘common’ software into next-generation unmanned carrier-based system”.

Aug 29/14: UCLASS. So much for that Sept 10/14 DAB meeting. US Navy Cmdr. Thurraya S. Kent now says that:

“Defense officials will be including [Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS)] in its ISR portfolio review to be conducted in conjunction with the normal budget review process this fall… Determination regarding the release of the UCLASS RFP will be made based on the results of this review.”

It appears that the Navy itself is divided between its initial view of UCLASS as an ISR asset with secondary aerial tanker and low-threat light strike capabilities, vs. a stealthy and refuelable high-threat strike platform that’s designed to radically extend the carrier’s offensive reach. Sources: USNI, “UCLASS RFP Delayed Again Following Pentagon Meeting”.

Aug 27/14: Testing. X-47B testing aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt [CVN 71] draws to a close. The UCAV flew with manned aircraft for the first time (q.v. Aug 17/14), continued flying and landing tests, performed a night time shipboard flight deck handling evaluation to see how the sailors dealt with that, and collected flying quality and recovery wind condition data to evaluate how the aircraft responds to wake turbulence during approach and landing. Sources: US Navy NAVAIR, “X-47B achieves new set of firsts aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt”.

Aug 19/14: UCLASS. USNI reports that US NAVAIR is about to release their UCLASS RFP at long last, with a final signoff expected on Sept 10/14 by the Defense Acquisition Board. The specifications are still secret this time, so it’s hard to have an intelligent public discussion beyond the public data of 14 hours ISR endurance, 1,000 pound payload, or 2,000 mile strike mission with 500 pounds payload.

It is interesting that many American sorties over Iraq these days are surveillance missions, though using Navy fighters for that is a fiscally stupid thing to do. Sources: USNI, “NAVAIR ‘On the Precipice’ of Releasing UCLASS RFP, Pentagon Review Set For Sept. 10” | USNI, “Navy: Most Carrier Sorties Over Iraq Are Surveillance Missions”.

X-47B & F/A-18F

Aug 17/14: UCAS-D & F/A-18F. The Navy continues taking next steps, operating an X-47B alongside manned F/A-18C and F/A-18F fighters from the same carrier at the same time:

“The first series of manned/unmanned operations began this morning when the ship launched an F/A-18 and an X-47B. After an eight-minute flight, the X-47B executed an arrested landing, folded its wings and taxied out of the landing area. The deck-based operator used newly developed deck handling control to manually move the aircraft out of the way of other aircraft, allowing the F/A-18 to touch down close behind the X-47B’s recovery.”

This seems easy, but “de-confliction” is really dangerous. Sources: US Navy, “USS Theodore Roosevelt Conducts Combined Manned, Unmanned Operations” | Foxtrot Alpha, “Video Of X-47B & F/A-18 Carrier Ops Shows The Future Of Naval Aviation” | Washington Times, “Navy’s X-47B drone completes ‘key’ carrier tests alongside F/A-18 Hornet”.

July 31/14: UCLASS. USNI reports that the shift in UCLASS requirements wasn’t budget-driven, it was politically driven based on a program that doesn’t exist yet:

“In particular, the change in UCLASS from a deep strike stealthy penetrator into the current lightly armed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) focused aircraft was – in large part – to preserve a manned version of the F/A-XX replacement for the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, several Navy, Pentagon and industry sources confirmed to USNI News.”

It wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened. The usual outcome is the elimination of a useful capability now, without really protecting the future program. Another trap could snap shut if the Washington Business Journal turns out to be correct, and the Navy decides to keep the specifications poorly defined, in order to give themselves more flexibility. What that usually gives you, is more cost. Sources: USNI, “UCLASS Requirements Shifted To Preserve Navy’s Next Generation Fighter” | The Guardian, “Carrier-based drone offers way forward for US navy – subject to squabbling” | Washington Business Journal, “Could UCLASS end up as the Pentagon’s next runaway program?”.

June 26/14: N-UCAS Phase II. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. in San Diego, CA receives a $63.1 million to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification for Phase II of N-UCAS post-demonstration activities. $45.9 million is committed immediately, using US Navy FY 2013 and 2014 RDT&E budgets.

Phase II activities will include continued flights, test bed and flight test support at both shore-based locations and associated carrier detachments, continued development of Fleet Concepts of Operations, X-47B maintenance support, lab and test bed operational support and continued flight test opportunities.

Work will be performed in San Diego, CA (70%) and Patuxent River, MD (30%), and is expected to be complete in March 2015. US Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, MD, is the contracting activity (N00019-07-C-0055).

N-UCAS Phase II

May 6/14: Politics. House Armed Services Committee (HASC) chair Buck McKeon [R-CA] is proposing to add $450 million to fund 5 EA-18Gs and their equipment in the FY 2015 budget, instead of the 22 on the unfunded priorities list. The committee’s proposed changes would also preserve all F-35 funding, while cutting the Navy’s unmanned UCLASS R&D budget in half to $200 million. Sources: Flightglobal, “House bill promotes EA-18G and U-2S, but hits UCLASS” | Reuters, “Boeing, backers to fight for funding for 22 Boeing jets”.

May 4/14: RFP leak? Shawn Brimley of the center-left Center for a New American Security discusses the recent classified UCLASS RFP. Something must have leaked:

“But last month the Navy instead reportedly issued classified requirements for UCLASS to deliver intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Instead of creating a drone that can carry missiles or other strike power into enemy airspace, defense contractors have been told to submit proposals for an aircraft designed to fly around the aircraft carrier for 12 to 14 hours delivering persistent surveillance over uncontested airspace, with a light strike capability to eliminate targets of opportunity.”

Within the known set of contenders, this RFP would give General Atomics a significant advantage, but it would also remove most of the UCAV’s ability to operate in contested environments. Stealth at a level required for contested environments isn’t a bolt-on, it’s a fundamental design choice that affects most other choices. There’s a set of trade-offs between various capabilities and reasonable cost (q.v. Feb 13 – April 2/14), but one can legitimately wonder why the job description Brimley describes requires a new program of any kind. The MQ-4C Triton and RQ-4B Block 40 Global Hawks will already perform that reconnaissance role, and if light strike is also required, the MQ-9 Reaper could just be navalized. Sources: Defense One, “Congress’s Chance to Fix Aircraft Carrier Drones”.

April 30/14: Politics. The House Subcommittee On Seapower And Projection Forces discusses H.R. 4435, the FY 2015 National Defense Authorization Bill. Title II addresses UCLASS directly, and prohibits UCLASS contracts until the Pentagon has produced a review of the report that examines the carrier wing’s capabilities against surveillance-strike complexes by 2025-2035, including both manned and unmanned components. That actually misses one of a UCAV’s biggest benefits, which is the strike range they offer with aerial refueling. The report may not change much, but the committee does say that:

“The committee believes that current UCLASS Air System Segment requirements will not address the emerging anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) challenges to U.S. power projection that originally motivated creation of the Navy Unmanned Combat Air System (N-UCAS) program during the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), and which were reaffirmed in both the 2010 QDR and 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance. In particular, the disproportionate emphasis in the requirements on unrefueled endurance to enable continuous intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) support to the Carrier Strike Group (CSG), a capability need presumably satisfied by the planned acquisition of 68 MQ-4C Tritons…. appears unsupportive of the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance for the United States to “maintain its ability to project power in areas in which our access and freedom to operate are challenged.”

….Finally, the committee is concerned with multiple aspects of the proposed UCLASS acquisition strategy, including: insufficient time and funding for contractors to mature their designs in support of a full-scope Preliminary Design Review, due in part to late-developing and still-evolving air system performance requirements; the additional risk to the program associated with the Navy’s decision to abandon the precision landing system developed and successfully tested during the UCAS-D effort; and the potential risk associated with NAVAIR developing the UCLASS Mission Control System internally.”

April 17/14: RFP. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus signed-off on the draft RFP during an April 16/14 briefing, and the US Navy Navy released a draft UCLASS RFP direct to their existing contractors: Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin & Northrop Grumman. It’s classified, as expected, and the final RFP is due late this year. Sources: USNI, “Navy Issues Restricted UCLASS Draft Request for Proposal”.

UCLASS RFP

April 10/14: UCAS-D Testing. The X-47B conducts its 1st night flight. Sources: US NAVAIR, “Photo Release: X-47B completes night flights”.

April 10/14: UCLASS GA. General Atomics’ modified Sea Avenger UAV appears to have grown larger since initial designs were released, with an internal bay and 4 wing hardpoints, including an option for buddy refueling tanks. The key question for the company will be the UCLASS stealth requirements. If they’re focused on ISR and strike missions in defended airspace, requiring good stealth scores in the C, X, and Ku bands, the Sea Avenger probably can’t compete. If the requirements focus on missions in relatively unthreatened airspace, inherent efficiencies in the Sea Avenger’s design sharply improve its chances. Sources: USNI, “General Atomics Shows Off Company’s UCLASS Option”.

April 9/14: UCAS-D Recognition. The X-47B program is awarded the aerospace industry’s annual Robert Collier trophy for 2013. Sources: US NAVAIR, “Navy’s X-47B program receives aviation honor”.

April 8/14: UCLASS. Speaking at the Sea, Air and Space 2014 expo, NAVAIR PEO unmanned aviation and strike weapons Adm. Mat Winter says that the US Navy expects to release a classified UCLASS draft RFP before the end of April. Sources: USNI, “Classified UCLASS Draft Request for Proposal Due at End of April”.

Feb 13 – April 2/14: UCLASS. Nailing down the UCLASS requirements has been the Navy’s biggest headache throughout, and even at this late date, competing visions are still problematic enough to delay the RFP. One is reminded of legendary Skunk Works chief Kelly Johnson:

“Starve before doing business with the damned Navy. They don’t know what the hell they want and will drive you up a wall before they break either your heart or a more exposed part of your anatomy.”

The core design issues are straightforward. One, more payload = more size = more cost. Two, different UCAV sizes force a choice of specific marinized jet engines, which will have specific fuel consumptions. If gal/nmi isn’t good enough, that means more fuel, which means more payload, and see #1. Engine choice also affects stealth and size directly, since efficient high-bypass turbofans have large diameters, and you have to design around that. Finally, stealth itself costs money, and creates airframe designs that are difficult to change later.

The Navy’s requirements (q.v. June 26/13) effectively impose a $75 million per UCAV cost cap, but “we want it all” letters from House ASC Seapower subcommittee chair Randy Forbes are likely to force costs to $100+ million if its recommendations are adopted. In-air refueling capability is critical for any UCAV, but adding maximum stealth and payload to the request is what breaks the deal. This may be one of those cases where a limited program with a less expensive platform is what’s really called for, in order to allow the Navy to figure out how they can best use the technology first. Sources: Scribd, Rep. Randy Forbes UCLASS Letter || USNI, “Cost Will Drive UCLASS Designs” | “Requirements Debate Continues to Delay UCLASS RFP”.

April 1/14: UCLASS. The Navy has been discussing the potential use of UCLASS as an aerial tanker platform for some time now. They aren’t talking about forward use during strikes. Rather, they’re focused on orbits around the carrier that can top off planes in the landing circle.

The Navy currently uses F/A-18E/F Super Hornets for that job, configured with buddy refueling tanks. Those missions eat up fully 20% of the fighters’ missions, consuming limited airframe flight hours for an expensive asset. All because the Navy foolishly retired its S-3 Vikings when they still had more remaining airframe life than a new Super Hornet. The coming COD carrier cargo aircraft competition may provide a different solution to this problem, via an upgraded C-3 Viking or the V-22’s roll-on refueling pallet. That’s good, because there probably won’t be enough UCLASS drones to do this job and perform their own missions. Sources: USNI, “UCLASS Could Be Used as Tanker for Carrier Air Wing”.

March 31/14: GAO Report. The US GAO tables its “Assessments of Selected Weapon Programs“. Which is actually a review for 2013, plus time to compile and publish. They peg the UCLASS program at $3.7 billion, and express concern about using a “technology development” program as a procurement program, which would bypass formal systems development requirements and move directly into production in 2020. A development contract is expected in FY 2014, but:

“UCLASS is critically dependent on the development and fielding of the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS), a global positioning system that guides aircraft onto an aircraft carrier. Navy officials expect UCLASS to hold a preliminary design review – including the air vehicle, carrier, and control segments – in May 2014 based on JPALS test progress. However, the Navy still considers JPALS one of its top risks for UCLASS.”

March 4-11/14: FY15 Budget. The US military slowly files its budget documents, detailing planned spending from FY 2014 – 2019. The future UCLASS program is slated to consume $2.937 billion through FY 2019, all of which will be R&D money due to the program’s structure.

Feb 13/14: UCLASS Air-to-Air? The Navy is thinking broadly about UCLASS, which is good as long as it doesn’t screw up the specifications. Director of air warfare Rear Adm. Mike Manazir talks about the potential to use the UCLASS’ payload bay as a missile magazine. It wouldn’t have independent targeting capability, but datalinks with fighters like the missile-limited F-35C would allow remote firing, with guidance provided thereafter by manned fighters.

It’s the right kind of thinking, but unlikely to see much use for 3 reasons. One is that the UCLASS will be subsonic, with very limited ability to avoid enemy fighters. That’s a nice way of saying that they’d be expensive sitting ducks if enemy aircraft can get a firing solution on them, even as the number of missiles on board makes them a priority target. Another potential issue is that asking internal launchers to handle a wider variety of weapons (q.v. Nov 21/13) generally drives up costs, and may compromise optimal weapon configurations for the strike role. On a less likely but more catastrophic level, one hopes there’s no software exploit that might allow others to issue those kinds of firing commands. Sources: USNI, “Navy’s UCLASS Could Be Air to Air Fighter”.

Feb 4/14: UCLASS. The FY 2014 defense budget bill added some new demands on the UCLASS program, but they won’t stop the Navy from running it as a technology demonstration project that goes straight into operational production.

Programmatic updates, and annual GAO review of the program, are normal. What will change is the number of UAVs bought during the TD Phase, which is capped at 6 instead of the planned 24. The Navy says that they can handle Milestone B approval with 6, which was never really in doubt. What does change is the ability to field what’s effectively an operational capability straight out of the TD phase. Sources: USNI, “Navy: Congressional Oversight Will Not Slow UCLASS Program”.

Nov 21/13: UCLASS. The UCLASS weapons debate isn’t solved yet, though the Navy seems to be leaning strongly toward a primary surveillance and targeting role, since that would be a new addition to the carrier air wing. UCLASS/UCAS-D requirements officer Cmdr. Pete Yelle says that:

“Weapons requirements will be defined in the final proposals. It is up to the vendors to come back with proposals and leverage what is available”…. The UCLASS will be able to work operations over land and water using EO/IR, or electro-optical/infrared sensors, FMV or full-motion video and eventually a fifth-generation AESA radar, Yelle said.”

Full Motion Video is part of most EO/IR systems these days. As for the AESA radar, that can mean a wide array of solutions, and a significant range of expense. The question is how far one wants to go. Just surface scans? Surface scans plus periscope detection capabilities, to partially replace the retired S-3 Viking’s role? Or a full fighter radar for air and ground surveillance, with specialized capabilities added as software? Each choice leads to different cost ranges, and potential commonalities or divergences with other fleet assets.

On the weapons front, some capability for persistent surveillance and strike seems like an obvious addition. What’s available includes Paveway laser-guidance, JDAM and Small Diameter Bomb GPS, and DAMTC dual-mode laser/GPS bombs. Depending on a given UAV’s internal mechanics, compact anti-ship missiles and even AIM-9X air defense weapons could also become an option, but that tends to add complexity and cost to the system. Sources: Defense Tech, “Navy Plans to Arm UCLASS with JDAMs”.

Nov 10/13: Flying again. The X-47B is back at sea, flying from the decks of the USS Theodore Roosevelt [CVN 71]. US Navy, “X-47B Operates Aboard Theodore Roosevelt”:

“The aircraft performed precise touch and go maneuvers on the ship to generate data that characterizes the environment in close proximity of the carrier flight deck. In addition, the aircraft took part in flight deck handling drills, completed arrested landings and catapult launches. Mission operators monitored the aircraft’s autonomous flight from a portable command and control unit from Theodore Roosevelt’s flight deck during each of its 45-minute flights.”

FY 2013

In-depth carrier ops testing; UCAS-D deck handling, catapult launch, and arrested landing tests; Despite cuts, UCLASS plans are still on.

History made
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Aug 28 – Sept 6/13: AAR. A Calspan Learjet has been modified with a non-functioning aerial refueling probe, and X-47B UCAV hardware and software for navigation, command and control, and vision processing. Its challenge? To fly behind an Omega K-707 tanker, and demonstrate its ability to hold correct positions and operate with the installed systems. Testing went well.

The next step will using the kind of digital messaging and navigation processes that were demonstrated by the UCAV’s recent carrier landings, with Rockwell Collins TTNT datalink, and Precision Relative GPS (PGPS) algorithms. The final goal? A complete autonomous rendezvous, approach, plug, and safe separation. No fuel will be transferred to the Learjet, which isn’t equipped to receive it anyway, but the ability to fly that kind of evolution is enough challenge all by itself. People in the military overuse the phrase “game changer,” but a technology that could allow continuous 72+ hour missions and trans-ocean control from a carrier would indeed justify that description. Sources: US NAVAIR, “Navy autonomous aerial refueling tests underway”.

Aug 14/13: UCLASS. US Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD offers each of the UCLASS study participants another $15 million firm-fixed-price contract for their preliminary design review assessment work. Each firm has $4.75 million committed to it immediately, and work is extended until June 2014. Too bad the core requirements are still in flux. The winners include:

• Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. in El Segundo, CA (N00019-13-C-0140).
  
• Lockheed Martin Corp. in Palmdale, CA (N00019-13-C-0141).
  
• Boeing in St. Louis, MO (N00019-13-C-0142).
  
• General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. in Poway, CA (N00019-13-C-0143).

Aug 12/13: UCLASS. Aviation Week reports that the US Navy is having a hard time with the specifications for their UCLASS program RFP, which will be delayed into September 2013.

The biggest question is how much stealth the drone requires. Despite recent manufacturing advances, like the radar-absorbing materials baked right into the F-35’s composite skin, more stealth tends to make planes more expensive to buy and to maintain, while dropping their endurance and payload. On the other hand, current drones would have a very short life expectancy against advanced air defense systems, which creates a gap outside of the military’s unknown “black” programs.

Aviation Week reports that Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin are emphasizing stealth, while General Atomics and Boeing are willing to raise the radar cross-section somewhat in exchange for payload and endurance. General Atomics’ Sea Avenger, with its winged body and tail, does seem to fit this description. On the other hand, Boeing’s X-45 Phantom Ray is a tailless flying wing design, just like its NGC and Lockheed competitors. If Boeing is really prioritizing range and payload, it means they’re changing their base platform. Aviation Week: “Uclass: How Much LO is Enough?”

Aug 7/13: UCAS-D: Keep flying. It seems that the X-47Bs aren’t done flying yet. Instead of mothballing them as planned, the US Navy wants to keep them flying into 2015, and deploy to carriers 3 more times. Up to 3 more carriers will be fitted with compatible equipment, and Congress may get its wish to have the aerial refueling tests restored and completed by October 2014. The most important test will involve full integration with a 70-plane carrier air wing for several weeks, which would create a different level of comfort within the Navy for unmanned aircraft.

Despite past weapon drops under the J-UCAS program, The Us Navy doesn’t expect to conduct any of those with the X-47 UCAS-D. NAVAIR’s Capt. Jaime Engdahl repeated that refusal a couple of times a week later, at the AUVSI conference.

Continued flying will also give Northrop Grumman additional opportunities to work on its UCLASS design, and ensure that the Navy gets comfortable with its evolution. David Axe correctly points out that the last situation similar to this one involve Lockheed Martin’s X-35 design, which was chosen to become the F-35. DoD Buzz: “Navy: X-47B Drone Won’t Be a Killer” | USNI News: “NAVAIR: X-47B to Fly Again” | War Is Boring: “Navy’s Big Surprise: Carrier Drone to Make a Comeback”.

July 10/13: X-47B “Salty Dog 502” leaves NAS Pax River, MD and flies to USS George H.W. Bush [CVN 77], off the coast of Virginia. The UCAV successfully lands on the aircraft carrier and traps the #3 wire, marking a huge milestone in naval aviation. It then takes off from the carrier and lands again. On the 3rd approach, the drone reported that one of its 3 navigational computers failed. Rear Adm. Mat Winter decides that they had done enough for 1 day, and orders the drone back to Wallops Island, VA to land. Even with that minor glitch, the Secretary of the Navy had an appropriate quote when he said that:

“It isn’t very often you get a glimpse of the future. Today, those of us aboard USS George H.W. Bush got that chance…”

Actually, glimpses of the future are common. What he meant to say was that glimpses of a future that promises big changes in naval warfare are rare. This event is indeed in that class – closer to Billy Mitchell’s sinking of the Ostfriesland than it is to the 1st carrier jet launch. The Navy still needs to demonstrate UCAS aerial refueling in order to complete an airpower revolution, but this is a very big step forward. US Navy | Northrop Grumman | Wind River | Defense Tech | DoD Live.

Carrier landing at sea!

July 2/13: UCLASS. Lockheed Martin touts a recent UCLASS demonstration at NAVAIR, but their focus is on back-end and Common Control systems, rather than the UCAV itself. Lockheed Martin:

“Using an open architecture framework integrated with DreamHammer’s Ballista [DID: link added] drone control software and Navy compliant software protocols, a single operator managed multiple UAS platforms [including Lockheed Martin’s UCLASS concept] simultaneously. The team also used the new Navy Cloud capability to demonstrate control of the ISR sensors and fully integrate the data into one complete mission picture. The team then used this picture to rapidly re-task and re-route the UAS assets. In addition to using DreamHammer’s Ballista drone control software in this UCLASS demonstration, Lockheed Martin is teamed with DreamHammer Government Solutions in pursuit of the upcoming Navy Common Control System contract.”

June 28/13: JPALS/N-UCAS. Engility Corp. in Mount Laurel, NJ receives a $12.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, exercising an option for engineering services in support of the Joint Precision Approach and Landing Systems (JPALS) and the Navy Unmanned Combat Aerial Systems programs. JPALS is a ground or ship-based system that adds extra precision to GPS, and is used to help land aircraft. It’s a critical enabler for naval UAVs like UCAS-D, UCLASS, etc.

$4 million in FY 2013 RDT&E funds are committed immediately. Services to be provided include requirements definition and analysis; prototyping; test and evaluation; technical assistance; system analysis; engineering; software development, integration and maintenance; test data acquisition; reduction and analysis; technical logistic support; configuration management; training support; and program and project management.

Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, MD (95%); Providence, RI (3%); and Chicago, IL (2%); and is expected to be complete by in January 2014 (N00421-12-C-0048).

June 26/13: UCLASS. “The Navy has outlined the specifications for the Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) in a requirements document obtained by USNI News.” the key numbers are:

• Carrier and JALN-M network compatible, with take-off and landing in Sea State 3 (4′ waves) minimum, and SS7 (29′ waves) maximum.
  
• Able to conduct a strike mission at 2,000 nmi.
  
• Able to conduct 2 surveillance orbits at 600 nmi radius around the carrier, or 1 at 1,200 nmi radius.
  
• 3,000 pound payload, including day/night optical surveillance comparable to an MQ-9, plus a surface scanning radar including GMTI moving object tracking.
  
• At least 1,000 pounds of that payload can be existing carrier weapons.
  
• Enough stealth for surveillance missions in lightly contested areas.

Those requirements will be difficult to meet already. Now add a number of added requirement being floated at present, and ongoing disputes about how much stealth etc. is necessary. Sources: USNI, “UCLASS By the Numbers”.

May 17/13: Touch and Go. The X-47B UCAS-D follows its catapult launch with a touch-and-go landing on USS George W. Bush [CVN 77], which tests its ability to fly precision approaches to a moving target.

A touch-and-go doesn’t trap the wire, but throttles the engine to full and takes off again. Carrier-based planes have to be able to do that if they miss the wire and pull a “bolter,” which is a guaranteed way to get harassed by your fellow pilots. Not sure what you do to a UAV. Perhaps the Navy can offer a rotating pool of drone software programmers, available for friendly abuse via secure video conference. US NAVAIR | US Navy.

Carrier launch
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May 14/13: Carrier launch. An X-47B UCAS-D is maneuvered into position on deck, and launched from USS George W. Bush [CVN 77]. The US Navy, Northrop Grumman et. al. hail it as a revolutionary milestone. We’ll grant that launching amidst the busy, complicated, and dangerous goings-on of a carrier deck is unlike any land-based challenge. It’s a difficult task for humans, and a difficult task for computers to do with human help.

Having said that, this isn’t the complete circuit. It’s the next logical step after on-ship deck tests (vid. Nov. 26/12) and land-based catapult launch (vid. Nov 29/12). We’ve said before that they won’t have a revolution on their hands until they can do the complete circuit: maneuver, launch, fly a circuit, and land. The next revolution after that will involve aerial refueling. When they do these things, we’ll join the chorus. US NAVAIR | Northrop Grumman.

May 6/13: Trap. The X-47B UCAS-D demonstrator successfully traps the wire as it lands at NAS Patuxent River, MD’s shore-based catapult and arresting gear complex. Northrop Grumman.

April 12/13: Support. FBO.gov:

“This synopsis provides notice of the Government’s intent to solicit a proposal on a sole source basis from Sierra Nevada Corporation, 444 Salomon Circle, Sparks, NV for work providing support in troubleshooting, problem resolution, and anomaly investigation associated with the Precision Global Positioning System (PGPS) as part of the existing Unmanned Combat Air System-Demonstration (UCAS-D) Program. This request for proposal will be issued in accordance with the terms and conditions of Basic Ordering Agreement (BOA) N00421-10-G-0001.

This acquisition is being pursued on a sole source basis under the statutory authority 10 U.S.C. 2304(c)(1), as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 6.302-1, only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.”

April 7/13: UCLASS. Lockheed Martin finally unveils their Skunk Works’ UCLASS design, which combines elements of their RQ-170 Sentinel stealth reconnaissance UAV with technologies from the F-35C for carrier operations, weapons use, etc. Overall, the design looks quite a bit like Boeing’s X-45C Phantom Ray. LMCO UCLASS Page | YouTube video.

March 26/13: UCLASS. NAVAIR indicates through a presolicitation that it plans to go ahead with follow-on Preliminary Design contracts to all 4 UCLASS study contract vendors (Boeing, General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman – vid. June 23/11), and continue the Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike program.

The contracts are expected by the summer of 2013, supporting up to 2 years of work on the UAVs, datalinks for communications and control, and the carrier operations segment. They’re expected to carry each design to the Preliminary Design Review by Q3 2014, and support post-PDR design maturation and follow-on engineering. The next step after that will be the selection of 1 winner, and UCLASS initial operational capability within 3-6 years. FBO | Defense Update.

Dec 21/12: Aerial Refueling. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. in San Diego, CA receives a $9.7 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification for Autonomous Aerial Refueling (AAR) demonstration activities in support of the N-UCAS program. Services will include completion of Delta Critical Design Review (DCDR), surrogate testing with manned aircraft, preparation for the X-47B demonstration, travel, and support technical data for the AAR demonstration activities.

Work will be performed in Manhattan Beach, CA (70%) and Patuxent River, MD (30%), and is expected to be complete in December 2013. All contract funds are committed immediately (N00019-07-C-0055).

Nov 29/12: Testing. An X-47B is launched using a land-based naval steam catapult, at NAS Patuxent River, MD. The releases are full of words like “historic,” but DID just doesn’t see it. Lots of UAVs have been launched by non-steam catapults, steam catapult technology isn’t new, and this isn’t a launch from an actual ship. It’s just a test to verify that the X-47B’s landing gear, body structure, and software, which were designed from the outset to handle the rigors of a steam catapult launch, can indeed do so. A milestone, yes, but a minor one.

When an X-47B is launched from an actual ship, and recovered aboard, that will be historic. Ditto for successful aerial refueling. US NAVAIR | Northrop Grumman.

X-47B deck tests
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Nov 26/12: Testing. An X-47B air vehicle arrives by barge from Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD, and is craned aboard the USS Harry S. Truman [CVN 75] for deck handling tests aboard the ship.

One suspects that civil airspace certification for high-end drones can’t happen soon enough for NAVAIR and the US military. US NAVAIR.

Nov 15/12: Testing. Northrop Grumman announces that its UCAS-D team has successfully completed initial onshore trials of the Control Display Unit (CDU), a new wireless, handheld controller used for carrier-deck maneuvering. Tests were basic: control engine thrust; roll forward, brake and stop; nose wheel steering; and maneuver the aircraft efficiently into a catapult or out of the landing area following a mock carrier landing.

On-ship deck trials are next.

Nov 6/12: NASIF Testing. US NAVAIR discusses testing at the “N-UCAS Aviation/Ship Integration Facility.” If NASIF didn’t exist, the Navy would have to use an aircraft carrier for this sort of testing, and it can’t afford that. Hence the NASIF building, stocked with Primary Flight Control (PriFly), Landing Signals Officer (LSO), Carrier Air Traffic Control Center (CATCC) and Mission Control Element (MCE) equipment.

The UCAS-D program uses the facility for system integration of new equipment, and UAV/manned surrogate demonstration events. Events like final Human Systems Integration (HSI) modeling and simulation testing for sailors from USS Carl Vinson and USS Abraham Lincoln.

Instead of using the current method of controlling multiple aircraft with radar displays and voice radio, the event tested their ability to send and receive digital instructions to and from aircraft, in addition to using voice instructions. This capability is absolutely required for UAV, but it will also help manned fighters, whose 60-second landing spread includes a final 20 seconds of enforced controller silence. If the controllers can communicate with everyone else by text while a pilot lands, that’s a big step forward.

The controller teams showed they could handle it over about 20 test scenarios, which progressed from relaying UAV commands to a UAV mission operator for entry, to direct communication with the simulated UAV and more automated systems.

FY 2012

Aerial refueling expands to include both boom and drogue; How can it be a UFO, if it’s on a truck?

X-47B, Edwards AFB
(click to view full)

Aug 20/12: UCLASS. NAVAIR awards a small $440,315 firm-fixed-price delivery order to Rockwell Collins, for Phase II of the ARC-210 UCLASS feasibility study with JPALS.

ARC-210 radios are used to communicate with UAVs over UHF, and their software may need fine-tuning to work with UCLASS for all of the Navy’s requirements (N00019-08-G-0016-0076). Contract: FBO.gov.

Aug 13/12: UCLASS. Naval Air Systems Command releases a Request for
Information to evaluate the Draft Mission Effectiveness Analysis (MEA) Tool developed by the UCLASS Program Office. In practice this is a spreadsheet fed with warfare analysis models, where the user can input UAV parameters for comparative assessment (N00019-12-P7-ZD235).

The RFP should come in the fall with a down-select to a single design in 2016 aiming for IOC in 2020. The spreadsheet is classified SECRET/NOFORN. FBO.gov | Flight International.

Early July 2012: Testing. Members from the UCAS-D carrier integration team engage in extensive software testing aboard USS Harry S. Truman [CVN 75], talking to fleet air-traffic controllers and air-department personnel about the usability of the new software, and lessons learned. Land-based X-47B tests will continue at Patuxent River, MD, and the goal is a carrier landing in about a year. US NAVAIR.

June 14/12: UFO-G. US NAVAIR indirectly confirms that the wrapped object spotted on a truck in Kansas was UCAS-D AV-2 (vid. June 6/12 entry), being trucked across the country from Edwards AFB, CA to NAS Patuxent River, MD for the next phase of flight tests. Easier than getting the civil flight waivers, I guess.

June 8/12: JPALS. L-3 Service, Inc. in Mount Laurel, NJ receives a $12.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for engineering services in support of the precision GPS Joint Precision Approach and Landing System, and the Navy’s UCAS-D program. The 2 are highly connected, of course, since UCAVs will need to depend on precision GPS, in order to land on carriers (vid. the July 2/11 test). JPALS will also help manned fighters.

Services to be provided include requirements definition and analysis, prototyping, test and evaluation, technical assistance, system analysis, engineering, software work, test data acquisition, reduction and analysis, technical logistic support, configuration management, training support, and program and project management. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, MD (95%); Providence, RI (3%); and Chicago, IL (2%). Work is expected to be complete in October 2012. This contract was not competitively procured, pursuant to the FAR 6.302-1, by the US Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Patuxent River, MD (N00421-12-C-0048).

June 6/12: UFO-G. From the Augusta (KS) Gazette:

“This morning several Butler County Sheriff officers and KDOT personnel escorted a flatbed trailer entering Augusta from the south on US Highway 77 and headed east out of town on US Highway 54. Traffic was backed up coming in and going out of town. At first glance the strange-shaped cargo cloaked in industrial-strength shrink wrap appeared to be a saucer, but an unidentified KDOT worker advised it was an X-47B Combat Drone coming from Texas and en route to an unknown destination.”

Operating unmanned jets in US civil air space is a bit of a problem, which may help to explain the decision to ship it by road. Kansas is a rather roundabout route from Texas to Patuxent River, MD, but it is more of a straight line from California.

Jan 21/12: Testing. NAVAIR/AFRL’s AAR program completes a series of ground and flight tests that began in November 2011, using a Calspan Learjet surrogate with X-47B hardware and software, and a Omega Air Refueling K-707 aerial tanker. The tests included simulated flight demonstrations of both boom/receptacle (USAF) and probe-and-drogue (Navy & European) aerial refueling techniques, but no fuel was actually transferred, and Calspan’s Learjet wasn’t equipped for that anyway. The tests were all about correct positioning and coordination, beginning at a position 1 nautical mile from the K-707, and allowing autonomous guidance to move the Learjet into the 3 air-air refueling positions: observation, contact, and re-form.

Navy UCAS program manager Capt. Jaime Engdahl says that the next big step will involve using the actual X-47B. The team plans to conduct 2 more surrogate test periods before a planned refueling demonstration with the X-47B in 2014. NAVAIR | Northrop Grumman.

Nov 22/11: AV-2 flies. The fully-equipped UCAS-D demonstrator #AV-2 takes off for the 1st time at Edwards AFB, CA. That’s about a year late, but AV-1’s issues had to be ironed out first.

With 2 flying UCAVs, the program is expected to move AV-2 to NAS Patuxent River, MD by the end of 2011, and begin testing carrier landing technologies in 2012. That will include GPS-guided precision approaches to the carrier, arrested landings and “roll-out” catapult launches at land-based test facilities; and flight testing of new precision navigation computers and guidance/ navigation/ control software recently installed on both aircraft. The new suite of hardware and software is designed to let the X-47B land safely on a moving aircraft carrier deck. AV-1 will continue testing at Edwards AFB, with a focus on finding its flight limits. Northrop Grumman.

Nov 7/11: Aerial refueling. Inside the Navy reports [subscription] that the US Navy will be expanding the X-47B’s planned aerial refueling capability, to autonomously refuel while in flight with both USAF Air Force and USN aerial tankers.

The USAF uses KC-135s and KC-10s, but many of the KC-135s need to place an attachment on the refueling boom, in order to refuel probe-carrying aircraft. The US Navy has KC-130 Hercules aerial tankers, and its F/A-18E/F Super Hornets can become “buddy refuelers” with special wing tanks.

FY 2011

1st UCAS-D flight; 1st carrier landing using a surrogate plane; UCLASS study contracts.

“Look ma, no hands!”
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July 18/11: Northrop Grumman Systems in San Diego, CA receives a $25 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification for UCAS-D autonomous aerial refueling technology maturation and demonstration activities. They’ll provide “air systems, air vehicle segment, and mission management segment requirements definition; integration planning and verification planning; and definition of certification requirements and approach.”

Work will be performed in San Diego, CA, and is expected to be complete in December 2012. US Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD manages the contract (N00019-07-C-0055).

July 2/11: Testing. A contractor/government team lands an F/A-18D test aircraft from Navy squadron VX-23 on the USS Eisenhower in the western Atlantic Ocean, using hardware and software developed for the X-47B UCAS-D. This Hornet had a pilot on board as a safety precaution, but the system landed the plane. A King Air 300 twin-prop plane from Air-Tec, Inc. was also used as a surrogate to test mission management, command and control, communications, air traffic control and navigation, without executing an actual landing. Participating organizations included USN PEO Carriers, NAVSEA PMA-268, and the crew of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower; plus industry partners Northrop Grumman, Rockwell Collins, Honeywell, L-3 Communications, SAIC, ARINC and Sierra Nevada Corporation.

It’s a big step forward for the UCAS-D program, and came after a series of interim steps detailed in the accompanying releases. It could also change the way Navy pilots land manned aircraft. Right now, carrier landings are very manual, and visual. All air traffic control instructions are by voice, and even a good portion of navigation data has to be read out over the air, while visual signals cement the final approach.

Supporting a UAV, and possibly retrofitted manned fighters, in future operations, required some important ship modifications. Eisenhower’s Landing Signal Officer (LSO) equipment was altered to communicate directly with the VX-23 F/A-18D through a digital network, and so were the ship’s primary flight control (“tower”) and Carrier Air Traffic Control Center (CATCC). The UAS operator’s equipment, installed in one of the carrier’s ready rooms, was the other key network node. Precision Global Positioning System (PGPS) capabilities with sub-1 meter accuracy were then added into the ship and the aircraft, to provide constant position awareness. US NAVSEA | Northrop Grumman.

Unmanned carrier landing!

June 23/11: UCLASS US NAVAIR awards a set of UCLASS study contracts to 4 vendors. Boeing publicly touted its own 8-month, $480,000 study contract, which includes developing of a concept of operations, an analysis of alternatives, and an investigation of notional solutions for various components of the Navy’s UCLASS program, which could be fielded for ISR and strike operations by 2018. Boeing’s option would include the X-45C Phantom Ray UCAV, but similar contracts for about $500,000 each were issued to Northrop Grumman (X-47B/ UCAS-D), General Atomics (Sea Avenger, also new EMALS/AAG carrier launch/recovery systems), and Lockheed Martin (unknown, has previously discussed the possibility of an unmanned F-35).

The UCLASS system will consist of an air segment (the UCAV), a connectivity and control segment, a launch and recovery segment, and a systems support segment. FBO.gov announcement | Boeing. See also March 28/11, March 19/10 entries.

UCLASS Studies

May 16/11: Northrop Grumman announces that it has picked up awards from the USAF Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, CA, including Flight Test Team of the Quarter (above candidates like the F-35) for its X-47B/UCAS-D aircraft.

April 25/11: Sub-contractors. ARINC Engineering Services, LLC in Annapolis, MD receives a $9.7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for technical and engineering services in support of the Joint Precision Approach and Landing Systems (JPALS) and Navy Unmanned Combat Aerial Systems (N-UCAS) programs. The 2 are related, as JPALS precision GPS-driven approach is a natural fit with the landing needs of a carrier-borne UCAV.

Work will be performed in Lexington Park, MD (80%), and St. Inigoes, MD (20%), and is expected to be complete in October 2011. This contract was not competitively procured by the US Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Patuxent River, MD (N00421-11-C-0034).

March 28/11: UCLASS. US NAVAIR issues a Broad Agency Announcement regarding UCLASS, in solicitation #N00019-11-R-0031:

“The Naval Air Systems Command seeks proposals which conceptually demonstrate that a UCLASS system can provide a persistent Carrier Vessel-Nuclear (CVN) based Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and strike capability supporting carrier air wing operations in the 2018 timeframe. In order to identify and explore available trade space… The program anticipates leveraging existing, deployed Department of Defense (DoD) systems to launch, recover, and control the air vehicle, transfer data in support of time critical strike operations, and conduct persistence ISR operations. The ongoing Unmanned Combat Air System-Demonstration program will inform UCLASS development and provide technology risk reduction for Unmanned Aircraft (UA) integration into carrier environments.”

March 14/11: Testing. A US Navy/Northrop Grumman Corporation test team issues a report stating that 5 weeks of dynamic load testing on X-47B air vehicle 2 (AV-2) demonstrated its ability to handle the stresses, strains and dynamic loads associated with carrier catapult launches and arrested landings, and air-to-air refueling. AV-2 is the X-47B airframe that will be equipped for air-to-air refueling tests.

The tests themselves finished on Jan 24/11, a week ahead of schedule. NGC AV-2 manager says they included 8 design conditions, including a 3-G symmetrical pull up, a 2.4G rolling pullout, and turbulence during aerial refueling; and 5 conditions expected to occur on the ground, including takeoff and landing tests involving the nose gear and tail hook. To conduct the tests, engineers bonded pads to 200 points on the airframe surface, and then pushed and pulled on those pads using hydraulic jacks to simulate various static and dynamic load conditions. Northrop Grumman.

March 1-4/11: Testing. The X-47B UCAS-D makes its 2nd and 3rd of 49 planned flights at Edwards AFB, CA. Testers are working to expand the flight test envelope in terms of air speeds, altitudes and operating weights, while testing key systems. Major concerns at this point include its flight control system’s ability to handle unpredictable crosswinds and turbulence at all speeds, the accuracy of its flush-mounted air data testing instruments, and engine performance. NGC.

Feb 15/11: UCLASS. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. announces success in wind-tunnel tests of its Sea Avenger model, intended to validate its new wing’s low-speed handling characteristics. a key wind tunnel test on a model of its jet-powered Sea Avenger Predator C variant. The new wing is also designed to increase aircraft dash speeds, which is an interesting engineering combination.

GA-ASI President Frank W. Pace touts the 90-hour, 8-day test at the San Diego Air & Space Technology Center, as a classic example of his firm’ push to invest in early development, ahead of customer requirements for a UCLASS type system. The firm’s past history with the MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper backs up his boast.

Feb 7/11: Sub-contractors. Lockheed Martin touts their own involvement in the X-47B program, which mostly revolves around low observable (stealth) design and aspects of aerodynamic edges, inlet lip and control surfaces, and an all new arresting hook system. Al Romig is the current VP of Advanced Development Programs for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, and the firm completed delivery of its UCAS-D hardware in December 2009. Lockheed Martin will continue to support further UCAS-D flight testing, as well as carrier flight operations.

UCAS-D 1st flight
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Feb 4/11: First UCAS-D flight. The flight took off at 14:09 PST (GMT -0800) at Edwards AFB, and lasted 29 minutes, flying between 180 – 240 kt and climbing to 5,000 feet with landing gear down at all times, while executing racetrack patterns. It provided test data to verify and validate system software for guidance and navigation, and aerodynamic control of the tailless design. The flight follows airframe proof load tests, propulsion system accelerated mission tests, software maturity and reliability simulations, full system taxi tests, and numerous other system test activities that happen before any 1st flight.

Eugene Fly had made the first landing on a stationary ship on Jan 18/1911, but a 100th anniversary flight for X-47B #AV-1 wasn’t possible. Some of items that delayed this flight from original expectations in late 2009 included propulsion acoustic and engine-start sequencing issues, an asymmetric braking issue uncovered during taxi tests, and a last-minute maintenance issue with an auxiliary power generation system.

Testing continues. Aircraft AV-1 will remain at Edwards AFB for flight envelope expansion before transitioning to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, MD, later in 2011, where they will validate its readiness to begin testing in the maritime and carrier environment. Meanwhile, the refueling-ready AV-2 has completed its design limit load tests up to 130% with no test anomalies, showing that it’s able to withstand g-loads encountered during aerial refueling. It won’t begin its own tests until AV-1’s initial tests are done, which is currently planned for late 2011. The program is currently preparing the X-47B for carrier trials in 2013. US Navy | NGC release | Bullet points, images & video | Aviation Week.

1st flight

Feb 2/11: USAF opportunity? Defense news quotes Col. James Gear, director of the USAF’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft Task Force, on the future of its UAV fleet. Despite a big commitment to the MQ-1 Predator, the MQ-9 Reaper caused a major mid-stream shift in plans. Col. Gear cites some existing issues with the MQ-9, which could leave it open to a similar shift.

The Reaper does not fare well in icing conditions, and is also not considered survivable against anti-aircraft systems. The issue of jam and snoop-proof data links, and trace-back and verification of signal origins, has also been a live question during the MQ-1 and MQ-9’s tenure. The “MQ-X” that replaces it will have to do better on all 3 counts, and the USAF also wants it to be easily upgradeable via switch-out modules. The Colonel believes the resulting UAV will end up being common with the US Navy’s carrier-based UCLASS requirement, as the 2 services are cooperating closely. That could give Northrop Grumman’s funded X-47B N-UCAS an edge over Boeing’s privately developed X-45 Phantom Ray. It could also offer a boost to General Atomics’ Predator C/ Sea Avenger.

FY 2010

UCAS-D testing; UCLASS RFI and Navy plans; Does GA’s Predator C have a customer?

Manned and…not
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July 19/10: UCLASS. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. touts its jet-powered Predator C Avenger UAS as “ready for deployment” under programs like the British RAF’s SCAVENGER, or as the MQ-X successor to the USAF’s MQ-9 Reapers. The Avenger family’s avionics are based upon the Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper, and the plane features both radar and optical sensor options, plus a variety of internal weapons loads up to 2,000 pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM).

Ready for deployment” is stretching things a bit. The Predator C series first flew in April 2009, “tail one” is currently averaging 2-3 flights a week, and flight tests were recently transferred from GA-ASI’s Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility in Palmdale, CA, to Naval Air Station (NAS) China Lake, CA. GA-ASI Aircraft Systems Group President Frank Pace does describe some results as “exceeding our expectations,” including excellent agreement between advance engineering and flight tests, and fuel burn rates up to 10% better than predicted models. The UAV reportedly uses a Pratt & Whitney Canada PW545B engine, which also powers the Cessna Citation XLS business jet.

May 3/10: UCLASS. General Atomics announces that it has submitted its “Sea Avenger” as a potential candidate for UCLASS airborne surveillance and strike requirement. Their UCAV is based on their jet-powered, 44-foot long and 66-foot wingspan “Predator C Avenger,” which can fly at 400 knots for up to 20 hours, and operate up to 50,000 feet. Design changes include a highly fuel-efficient engine and inlet design, a Lynx SAR ground-looking radar, retractable electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensors and a 3,000 pound capacity internal weapons bay, and folding wings. The structure can accommodate carrier suitable landing gear, tail hook, drag devices, and other provisions for carrier operations.

Developed on company funds for near-term military use, the base Predator C Avenger is continuing through its planned test program, with a 2nd aircraft currently under development and expected to be complete by the end of 2010. General Atomics.

March 19/10: UCLASS RFI. The US Navy issues a Request for Information for a (UCLASS). The RFI indicates that the Navy is looking to move ahead with full unmanned combat aircraft earlier than its original plans.

“The Navy is interested in information on carrier based, low observable (LO) Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) concepts optimized for Irregular and Hybrid Warfare scenarios, capable of integrating with manned platforms as part of the Carrier Air Wing (CVW) by the end of 2018 to support limited operations in contested scenarios. The UAS should enhance situational awareness and shorten the time it takes to find, fix, track, target, engage, and assess time sensitive targets. This RFI is intended to determine the existence of sources that can provide a limited inventory of systems capable of being operated by fleet Sailors and performing the above mentioned Navy UAS mission.”

The UCLASS concept involves 4-6 UAVs that could perform both intelligence/ surveillance/ reconnaissance (ISR) and strike missions in contested airspace, that are able to fly for 11-14 hours without refuelling. Industry reportedly expected the navy to release a UCLASS RFP in early 2011, and interested parties beyond Northrop Grumman include General Atomics (Sea Avenger), and reportedly Boeing (X-45 Phantom Ray) as well. See: FedBizOpps RFI | Flight International | Jane’s.

March 17/10: Leadership. Janis Pamiljans, previously vice president and program manager of Northrop’s KC-30 aerial refueling tanker bid for the USAF, takes over from Scott Winship as vice president of N-UCAS related efforts. Pamiljans also has worked as a program manager on the F/A-18 and F-35 strike fighter programs.

Aviation Week points out that this is just one of several corporate moves, which seem to be aimed at freeing people up to participate in “black” (classified) programs, and develop a next-generation stealth aircraft for reconnaissance and long-range strike. Aviation Week | Defense News.

March 2/10: Leadership. Capt. Jeff Penfield takes over the Navy’s X-47B program office, replacing Capt. Martin Deppe. Source.

Feb 18/10: Predator C. Don Bolling, a Lockheed Martin senior business development manager, hints that General Atomics’ Predator C has a customer, and isn’t just a privately funded effort. He tells a media source that General Atomics Aeronautical Systems is interested in “Global Hawk-like” payloads for high altitude surveillance on its jet-powered Predator-C Avenger UAV, putting efforts to install the F-35 fighter’s Sniper pod-derived electro-optical targeting system (EOTS) on hold.

The shift was reportedly at the request of a customer, which made the report news because the Predator C wasn’t known to have a customer. The USAF already flies Global Hawks, and export approvals for the EOTS and Predator C would be an involved process. The most likely guess as to the customer would be the CIA, which does operate UAVs of its own, or US Special Operations Command. Flight International.

Feb 13/10: Testing. The US Navy announces that N-UCAS team members are underway with USS Abraham Lincoln [CVN 72] to test the integration of existing ship systems with new systems that will support the X-47B in carrier-controlled airspace. The team is testing X-47B software integration by using a King Air turbo prop “surrogate” aircraft taking off and landing from shore, but approaching the carrier and performing the various procedures associated with systems like Prifly, CATCC, LSO, etc. The digital messages from shipboard controllers receive “wilco” (ACK) responses to verify receipt.

Additional developmental testing later this year, will involve testing the software integration using an F/A-18 surrogate aircraft, to more closely emulate the X-47B’s flight.

Feb 4/10: Navy plans. Defense News reports that the N-UCAS program is slated to receive a $2 billion boost over the next 5 years, and seems set to follow the RQ-4 Global Hawk procurement model, rather than remaining a demonstration aircraft.

The RQ-4 Global Hawk was an advanced development program that was moved to the front lines after the 9/11 attacks, and became a fully operational platform. The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review featured a tilt away from technology demonstrator status, and toward an X-47 UCAV that can perform surveillance and/or strike roles. That would let the Navy field operational UCAVs much sooner, and allow them to field a capability that could be similar but superior to the USAF’s current RQ-170 Sentinel/”Beast of Kandahar” stealth UAV. Those exact capabilities remain a matter for discussion, however, as Navy Undersecretary and UCAV advocate Bob Work points out:

“There is a lively debate over whether or not the N-UCAS demonstrator should result in a penetrating, ISR strike bird, or be more of a strike fighter… That debate has not quite been resolved. Having this extra $2 billion added to the budget is going to help us resolve that debate.”

Jan 26/10: Aerial refueling. Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems Sector in San Diego, CA received an $11 million not-to-exceed modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for autonomous aerial refueling technology maturation and demonstration activities in support of the Navy UCAS-D.

Work will be performed in El Segundo, CA (60%) and Rancho Bernardo, CA (40%), and is expected to be complete in November 2010 (N00019-07-C-0055).

Jan 17/10: Testing. First low-speed taxi test of an X-47 N-UCAS. Source.

Dec 22/10: Delay. Trouble with engine start sequencing and propulsion acoustics will now reportedly delay the X-47B’s December 2009 flight to sometime in the first 3 months of 2010. Gannett’s Navy Times | Defense Update.

Nov 25/09: Aviation Week reports that the X-47 UCAS-D system demonstrator is experiencing “propulsion acoustic and engine-start sequencing” issues, which will require additional testing and push its 1st flight to 2010.

The US Navy reportedly says UCAS-D is still on track for sea trials in 2012, but Northrop Grumman has placed a “moratorium” on press interviews for UCAS-D – never a good sign.

Nov 2/09: Navy plans. The Brookings Institute’s 21st Century Defense Initiative hosts Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead, who discusses the U.S. Navy’s use of new technologies, and its development and integration of unmanned systems. Excerpts:

“I would say that where we can make some significant breakthroughs us just in the organizing principles and in the way that we approach the unmanned systems. The idea of being able to disembark or embark long-range unmanned air systems for example changes the nature in which we can run flight decks, changes the nature of the carrier air wing configurations as we move into the future.

…I would also say that I am often struck that as we talk about unmanned systems we’ve really become enamored with the vehicle itself and there has been very, very little discussion and arguably little work on something that makes it all work together and that’s the network and the architecture of the network, how the information will be moved, what are the redundancies that you would have in place, and what are the common protocols that are going to be required as we move into the future.”

See WIRED Danger Room | Brookings Institute and full transcript [PDF]

Oct 6/09: Sub-contractors. GE Aviation announces that it has delivered the first fully-dressed X-47B UCAS-D landing gear to Northrop Grumman Corporation. “Fully-dressed” landing gear is designed to meet or exceed all U.S. Navy carrier landing requirements for a fully loaded UCAS-D aircraft. GE Aviation says that its combined systems make it the largest non-partner equipment supplier to the X-47B, but the landing gear effort had partners of its own:

“Due to the demanding mission profiles required for this advanced carrier platform, the landing gear system incorporates the latest technology advancements in steering control from Parker Hannifin as well as anti-skid braking systems from Goodrich Corporation.”

FY 2008 – 2009

Aerial refueling will be part of the program; Load testing.

UCAS-D load testing
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Aug 11/09: Updates. AUVSI 2009 event reports indicate progress on several fronts from the UCAS-D program.

Flight International reports that an F/A-18D Hornet test plane with be modified to carry X-47B avionics and software, then used as a test bed to develop a fully integrated aircraft/carrier auto-landing system. The Navy is hoping to perform manned but “hands-off” approaches and landings on an aircraft carrier within 2 years, though that aspect remains to be decided.

Meanwhile, Shephard reports that number of USAF personnel will begin arriving at NAS Patuxent River as observers to PMA-268, the Navy UCAS Program Office. The planned air-air refueling demonstration was apparently the catalyst for USAF interest, and the second test aircraft (AV-2) is being built with full internal refueling systems on board.

July 29/09: Load testing. Northrop Grumman announces a successful series of static and dynamic proof load tests, designed to ensure that the UCAV will be able to stand up to aircraft carrier launches, recoveries, and other associated stresses. For these torture tests, over 200 electro-hydraulic assemblies were attached to the major components of the X-47B, whereupon pressure was applied to simulate desired conditions. The 2-month effort included progressive structural, functional proof and calibration tests to verify the integrity of all flight control surfaces, major structural load paths, main landing gear structure, and the tailhook assembly.

The 2nd aircraft is currently being assembled, and will begin proof load tests later in 2009. UCAS-D aircraft will also undergo parallel engine integration and taxi tests through fall 2009, in preparation for first flight and aircraft carrier trials. Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems VP and UCAS-D program manager, Scott Winship, cited that unforgiving environment, then promised that:

“The X-47B was built for these conditions, and as the results of the rigorous proof test show, the design of the aircraft is structurally sound for all aspects of carrier operations.”

Jan 12/09: Aerial refueling. Jane’s confirms that the X-47 UCAS-D program will begin aerial refueling tests performed in 2010, using surrogate aircraft.

Dec 9/08: Aerial refueling. Aviation Week quotes UCAS program manager Scott Winship, as part of a report that that Northrop Grumman will modify the second X-47B UCAS-D to allow autonomous aerial refueling (AAR) using both U.S. Navy probe-and-drogue and U.S. Air Force boom-and-receptacle methods. The U.S. Navy has announced plans to award the company a sole-source contract to support the demonstration of AAR capability by 2013, under UCAS-D’s parallel technology-maturation phase.

Boeing is currently leading a team including X-47B partners Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin for the 4-year second phase of a parallel Air Force Research Laboratory program. Winship says the X-47B could be used to provide a “graduation exercise” for the AAR effort.

Nov 19/08: Aerial Refueling. Boeing in St Louis, MO received a $49 million cost plus fixed fee contract as the automated aerial refueling Phase II integrator. At this point, $1.2 million has been obligated. The Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH manages this contract (FA8650-09-C-3902). Read “$49M for Boeing to Advance UAV Aerial Refueling” for an explanation of the importance to the UCAS-D and similar programs.

July 14/08: Sub-contractors. Pratt & Whitney announces a $54 million contract from Northrop Grumman to develop and integrate the X-47 UCAS-D’s engine and exhaust system. The Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-220U engine will power the UCAS-D, providing up to 16,000 pounds of thrust while operating in a maritime environment, including carrier deck operations.

FY 2005 – 2007

UCAS-D award; Carrier simulation exercise.

Just another day
at the office…
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August 1/07: UCAS-D. Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems – Western Region in San Diego, CA received a $635.9 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for the Unmanned Combat Air System CV Demonstration Program (UCAS-D). Work will be performed in Rancho Bernardo, CA (38%); El Segundo, CA (29%); Palmdale, CA (13%); East Hartford, CT (7%); Jupiter, FL (2%); Nashville, TN (2%); Hazelwood, MO (1%), and various locations within the United States (8%), and is expected to be complete in September 2013.

The purpose of the UCAS-D is to demonstrate critical CV suitability technologies for a stealthy air vehicle in a relevant environment [DID: i.e naval/ aircraft carriers]. Expected deliverables include trade studies, analyses, software, reports and flight test data. This contract was competitively procured through a request for proposals; 2 firms were solicited [DID: that would be Boeing and NGC] and 2 offers were received (N00019-07-C-0055). See also Northrop Grumman’s Aug 3/07 release.

UCAS-D contract.

Sept 28/05: As part of DARPA’s J-UCAS program, Northrop Grumman Corporation’s X-47B conducted a successful simulated exercise at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division in China Lake, CA. It demonstrated the simultaneous control of 4 of its X-47B unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) during U.S. Navy aircraft carrier operations. See Dec 9/05 NGC release.

Using a surrogate aircraft which represented one X-47B, 3 additional simulated X-47B aircraft were successfully controlled during several flights using advanced mission-management software and air traffic control procedures currently used by Navy aircraft carriers. The air traffic controller provided standard commands to a single mission operator, who in turn ensured all four aircraft safely operated within the simulated carrier’s airspace. The controller had to demonstrate the ability to guide all 4 aircraft through approach, wave-off and traffic pattern procedures, while accomplishing proper spacing and air traffic de-confliction. The mission operator had to be able to monitor the entire process to ensure proper command response, and advise the controller on aircraft response or performance limitations.

This was one of many tests undertaken as part of J-UCAS. It is reproduced here for its ongoing relevance to the UCAS-D program.

Additional UCAV Readings UCAS-D/ N-UCAS

• Air Force Technology – X-47 Pegasus Naval Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV-N), USA.

• Northrop Grumman – X-47B UCAS.

• Northrop Grumman Review Online (2007) – The United States Navy’s Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) Program.

• Rockwell Collins, via SLDINFO – Tactical Targeting Network Technology and Connectivity [PDF]. TTNT’s very low latency, join on the fly networking is important for UCAV safety-of-flight, especially around carrier decks.

• DID – Game-Changer: USA Developing UAV Aerial Refueling. Automated Aerial Refueling is the key to unlocking the UCAV’s full potential.

• Center for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments (June 18/08) – Range, Persistence, Stealth, and Networking: The Case for a Carrier-Based Unmanned Combat Air System [PDF].

News & Views

• USNI (Aug 21/14) – Essay: The Legal and Moral Problems of Autonomous Strike Aircraft. Technically, the UCLASS is not autonomous, its human operator has to trigger the attack. The question is whether that’s ultimately feasible in an anti-access, high-jamming environment.

• Washington Business Journal (Aug 19/14) – Could UCLASS end up as the Pentagon’s next runaway program?

• Breaking Defense (Aug 5/14) – Crunch Time For UCLASS: USD Kendall, Rep. Forbes, & The Requirements Fight.

• James Hasik (Dec 3/13) – Manning the Unmanned: Cultural Experimentation for the Coming Drone Fleet.

• James Hasik (Aug 15/13) – Range and payload: further thoughts on the US Navy’s approach to the UCLASS program.

• James Hasik (Aug 13/13) – Just how ambitious should be the requirements for the US Navy’s new drone?.

• NDIA National Defense (July 2013) – Fight Begins Over Navy’s Armed Drone Program .

• WIRED Danger Room (April 11/11) – Navy Wants Its Drone to Land on a Carrier With a Mouse Click.

• Military.com (Aug 14/07) – Will Drones Work on Carriers? Describes the process of launching and landing UCAVs on a carrier. You may be surprised to learn how much of this is already automated in America’s manned fighters.

• Center for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) Backgrounder (May 10/07) – The Unmanned Combat Air System Carrier Demonstration Program: A New Dawn For Naval Aviation? [PDF].

• AFA Air Force Magazine (November 2005) – Will We Have an Unmanned Armada.

• AFA Air Force Magazine (June 2005) – Toward an Unmanned Bomber.

UCAV Programs

• DID FOCUS Article – nEUROn UCAV Project Rolling Down the Runway (updated). nEUROn is a 6-nation European project that aims to create a UCAV with capabilities that resemble J-UCAS, but do not currently include carrier operations. It has moved into Phase 2.

• Air Force Technology – Taranis Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) Demonstrator, United Kingdom. Not tackling carrier operations at this point.

• DARPA – J-UCAS program. J-UCAS died shortly after being transferred to the Air Force and Navy.

• Air Force Technology – X-45 J-UCAV Joint Unmanned Combat Air System, USA. The X-47B’s competitor for the UCAS-D follow-on program, and fellow J-UCAS participant.

• DID – Ride on the Ray: Boeing’s X-45 UCAVs. Boeing has restarted it with corporate funding.

• AIN (May 17/13) – China’s ‘Sharp Sword’ UCAV is Spotted Taxiing .

• Northrop Grumman Analysis Center, presentation to the 3rd Joint-Industry Forum (Feb 16/05) – Joint Unmanned Combat Air System and US Military Transformation shows [PDF].

AN/TPY-2
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The THAAD Ground-Based Radar (GBR), now known as the AN/TPY-2, is an X-Band, phased array, solid-state, long-range air defense radar. It was developed and built by Raytheon at its Andover, MA Integrated Air Defense Facility, as the main radar for the US Army’s THAAD late midcourse ballistic missile defense system.

For THAAD, targeting information from the TPY-2 is uploaded to the missile immediately before launch, and continuously updated in flight via datalinks. The TPY-2 is always deployed with THAAD, but it can also be used independently as part of any ABM (anti ballistic missile) infrastructure. That flexibility, and ease of deployment, is carving out an expanding role for the TPY-2/ “FBX” that reaches beyond THAAD. If a recent NRC report is adopted, that role will expand again to include national-scale ballistic missile defense. Hence this separate article to cover its ongoing development.

The TPY-2/ FBX System

AN/TPY-2 system
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The radar uses a trailer-mounted, single-faced 9.2 square meter wideband phased-array antenna. In the antenna there are 72 transceiver modules in semiconductor technology, which supply a total of 25,344 antenna elements. In “forward-based” or volume search mode, the TPY-2’s high power output and beam/waveform agility lets it perform air surveillance to very high altitudes at ranges of up to 1,000 km (600 miles). In “terminal” (targeting) mode, it performs aerial target identification and tracking.

Those targets can include incoming ballistic missiles. While they’re adapted for end to end use against short range ballistic missiles, TPY-2 radars can be used against longer-range missiles as well. Their X-band frequency and narrow beam widths add the additional advantage of being able to tell the difference between smaller objects, such as a warhead vs. space debris (“range resolution”). The penalty is that they’re not as good as the huge SSPARS/UEWR radars at searching wide volumes of space, and of course they have a much shorter range. At present, their best use against long-range attacks is to observe the early stage of missile launches from a forward base, and relay that information to the national command to cue larger radars.

The entire AN/TPY-2 radar system includes:

• The phased-array Antenna Equipment Unit (AEU)
  
• A Cooling Equipment Unit (CEU) for use with the antenna array
  
• The Electronic Equipment Unit (EEU)
  
• A 1.3 MW Prime Power Unit (PPU)
  
• An Operator Control Unit (OCU) which lets soldiers see the radar’s results, monitor the system, and communicate. It has its own built-in power unit.

The FBX (Forward Based X-band) is a stand-alone AN/TPY-2 radar, with some additional communications for independent meshing with other missile defense elements. Normally, the THAAD system would handle that, but FBX deploys on its own, without the THAAD missile system.

Future proposals for FBX could field a much more powerful version.

The USA’s National Research Council submitted a 2012 report that recommended an improved FBX, as part of an enhanced GMD-E mid-course defense system for the continental USA. On the ground, 5 “GBX” twin-stacked and integrated, rotatable TPY-2 radars would be added, with X-band uplink and downlink modes. Four would be co-located with current SPSS ballistic missile early warning sites at Clear AFS, AK; Cape Cod, MA; Thule, Greenland; and Fylingdales, United Kingdom. The 5th would be placed at Grand Forks, ND, which currently houses the 10th Space Warning Squadron.

See “Ballistic Missile Defense: Why the Current GMD System’s Radars Can’t Discriminate” for an in-depth technical explanation of why even the huge UEWR radars aren’t suitable for discriminating between warheads and the decoys used by more advanced missiles, and why TPY-2’s X-band wavelength is a much better fit. Each GBX would have a 20 degree x 90 degree field of view, rotatable through an azimuth sector of 270 degrees, while providing electronic scan coverage from the horizon to the zenith over a traverse angle sector of 45 degrees from broadside. Output from the stacked TPY-2 radars would be combined coherently through a time-delay device that permits full instantaneous signal bandwidth to be used for range Doppler imaging, creating an elevation beam width half that of the AN/TPY-2 radar, with 2x the gain (4x times the 2-way gain) and 2x the peak and average power. Duplicate power supply and cooling units would be required, and an upload/download link would need to be added.

Contracts & Key Events

Note that some TPY-2 contracts will not appear here, because they were simply bundled within THAAD missile system development and purchases, without segregating TPY-2 components.

FY 2014-2018

12th radar bought; 2nd TPY-2 to deploy in Japan.

EPAA/TPY-2 scenario

February 15/18: UAE FMS Modification-Dev & Eng Support Raytheon received Monday, February 12, a $23.2 million US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) contract modification for software development and engineering support services for the Army/Navy Transportable Radar (AN/TPY-2) system operated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Work on the foreign military sale (FMS) will take place at Woburn, Mass., with a scheduled completion date of November 2019. This new modification increases the cumulative face value of the award from more than $717.6 million to $740.9 million, the Pentagon said. The AN/TYP-2 is the main radar used on the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system but also cues the AN/MPQ-53 radar of the Patriot system—both of which are deployed by the UAE.

October 31/17: Support. Raytheon received Friday a US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) contract, with a ceiling of $1.5 billion, for Army Navy Transportable Radar Surveillance Model 2 (AN/TPY-2) and Sea-Based X-Band (SBX) radar support services.. The follow-on agreement includes AN/TPY-2 radar logistics support, AN/TPY-2 sustaining engineering, AN/TPY-2 transition and transfer, AN/TPY-2 depot transition, SBX logistics support, and SBX sustaining engineering. Work will take place at Raytheon’s Woburn, Massachusetts facility, and several stateside and overseas locations. The contract’s ordering period runs from November 1, 2017, through October 31, 2020, with four successive one year option periods provided in the contract.

Sept 2/14: Support. Raytheon IDS in Woburn, Massachusetts is being awarded a $53.2 million firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification. This contract modification is for the production of an AN/TPY-2 Cooling Equipment Unit #2 and Electronic Equipment Unit #2 as general fleet “float” spares, plus other spares, reliability improvements, and mission assurance support. All funds are committed immediately, using FY 2014 MDA procurement budgets.

Work will be performed in Woburn, MA with an expected completion date of December 2016. The US Missile Defense Agency in Huntsville, AL manages this contract (HQ0147-12-C-0006, PO 0023)

April 11/14: GAO Report. The Pentagon has been reluctant to develop a life-cycle cost estimate for BMD in Europe, on the dubious grounds that it isn’t a separate program. that’s why GAO-14-314 concerns itself with EPAA’s costs and implementation issues. PATRIOT and AN/TPY-2 deployments have already shown weaknesses. The TPY-2 radar deployments to Turkey (2011) and CENTCOM (2013) still can’t share information and work together, because that process hasn’t been worked out.

On the cost side, US Army is estimating $61 million to support the Turkish TPY-2 radar, rising to a total of $1.2 billion over 20 years. This assumes contractor support throughout, but different arrangements might be better and cheaper. Indeed, the Army has already made changes to reduce TPY-2 operating and support costs, which aren’t reflected in the $1.2 billion estimate.

An assessment of alternatives to contractor-provided support is required, and US Army and MDA officials met in November 2013 to begin developing the business-case analysis for delivery in FY 2015. THAAD battery costs, which include their own TPY-2 radar, are even murkier.

March 19/14: #9. Raytheon delivers their 9th AN/TPY-2 radar to the US military, 6 months ahead of schedule. It will act as THAAD battery #4’s radar. There are another 5 radars in the pipeline: 3 for the USA (q.v. Dec 17/13), and 2 for “a U.S. ally in the Arabian Gulf” which presumably means the UAE (q.v. Dec 30/11, June 18/13). Qatar could add orders for another 2 (q.v. Nov 5/12), if they sign a THAAD contract. Qatar actually has a TPY-2 radar on its territory already, but it belongs to the US military (q.v. July 17/12). Sources: Raytheon, “U.S. Gains Additional Protection Against Ballistic Missiles”.

March 14/14: GAO report. The GAO releases GAO-14-248R, regarding the USA’s EPAA plans for defending Europe from ballistic missiles. The TPY-2 forward-based stand-alone mode has a few bumps in the road coming, thanks to its dependence on other systems. Forward-based mode integrates TPY-2 into missile defense systems via C2BMC software, which directs the sensors and is responsible for maintaining and handing off the incoming missile’s track. While the radar is available in “terminal” mode as part of a THAAD battery, it has been forward-based in Turkey since 2011 as part of the EPAA.

GAO says that “key capabilities” under the existing deployment won’t be available until 2015, at which point the Romanian Aegis Ashore site is expected to go live and Phase 2 will start. At present, they’re working on controlling more than 1 TPY-2 radar using C2BMD S6.4 MR2 software.

For EPAA Phase 2, the TPY-2 radar was expected to improve identification of an incoming missile among debris or decoys, and refine integration with satellites and with C2BMC S8.2 in order to speed up target acquisition and improve overall tracking quality. The radar software is expected on time, but C2BMC S8.2 isn’t, which means this capability level won’t happen until 2017.

Another set of radar software improvements for Phase 3 in 2018 will offer further C2BMC integration, allowing SM-3 interceptor missiles to use TPY-2 tracks as full guidance. Those TPY-2 improvements won’t be ready until after Phase 3 risk integration testing begins. If anything goes wrong in testing, the new improvements probably won’t be ready when the Polish site opens for business. That may be OK, because Phase 3’s C2BMC S8.4 won’t be ready until 2020 “or later”.

March 4/14: MDA Budget. The MDA finally releases its FY15 budget request, with information spanning from FY 2014 – 2019. The TPY-2 has a deployment budget line ($15 million in FY14), an O&M budget line, and a Procurement budget line. From a total of $211 million in FY14, MDA expects $231.2 million in 2015, $272.2 million in FY16, $251.1 million in FY17, $204.6 million in FY18, and $235.3 million in FY19.

There may be more. Recall the September 2012 US NRC report, which proposed a twin-stacked GBX variant of the TPY-2 as a mobile mid-course tracking radar. The MDA isn’t talking, but:

“The budget also requests $79.5 million to begin development of a Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR). The new LRDR is a mid-course tracking radar that will provide persistent sensor coverage and improve discrimination capabilities against threats to the homeland from the Pacific theater. This new radar also will give the Sea-Based X-band (SBX) radar more geographic deployment flexibility for contingency and test use.”

Dec 19/13: UAE. Raytheon IDS in Woburn, MA receives a $27.2 million sole source, firm-fixed-price modification, to provide initial spares for the UAE THAAD fleet’s AN/TPY-2 radars. This brings the total contract value to $651.8 million so far. All funds are committed immediately.

Work will be performed in Woburn, MA, and UAE through March 30/15. The US Missile Defense Agency in Huntsville, AL acts as the UAE’s agent (HQ0147-12-C-0005, PO 0017).

Dec 17/13: #12. Raytheon IDS in Woburn, MA receives $172.7 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for AN/TPY-2 Radar #12, with associated spares. This raises the current contract’s committed value from $580.8 to $753.4 million. All funds are committed immediately, using MDA FY 2013 procurement budgets.

Work will be performed in Woburn, MA from December 2013 through March 2016. The Missile Defense Agency in Huntsville, AL manages the contract (HQ0147-12-C-0006, PO 0019 under CLIN 0018 & 0019).

Radar #12

Oct 3/13: Japan. In a joint announcement, the US and Japanese governments declare where that a 2nd TPY-2 radar will be stationed in Japan (q.v. Sept 17/12). The 1st is located in Shariki on the northern part of the main island of Honshu. The 2nd radar will be located at the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force base of Kyogamisaki, on the west side around the middle of the country. It will also be oriented differently, in order to cover off some gaps in coverage. The goal is to have it deployed within a year.

This is just one piece of a much larger agreement, revising the defense guidelines that define the U.S-Japan relationship. Other components include finalization of an agreement to relocate American forces currently in Okinawa, regional cooperation, and cooperation in areas like cyber-defense. The USA will also be introducing more of its newest weapons, including P-8A maritime patrol planes, Global Hawk UAVs, and USMC F-35Bs by 2017. Sources: Pentagon release | Pentagon transcript.

FY 2013

Qatar; UAE; Japan. 11th radar.

AN/TPY-2 changes
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July 17/13: UAE. Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, Woburn, MA receives an $83.8 million sole-source, cost-plus-incentive-fee, and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They’ll provide software updates, contractor logistic support, radar repair and return, and technical services for the AN/TPY-2 radars in the UAE’s THAAD missile defense batteries.

Work will be performed in Woburn, MA, White Sands Missile Range, NM, and the UAE through Sept 30/18. The US Missile Defense Agency in Huntsville, AL acts as the UAE’s FMS agent (HQ0147-12-C-0005).

June 18/13: UAE upgrade. Raytheon touts improvements to “a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) AN/TPY-2 radar”. So far, the only publicly-announced sale has been to the UAE, who will get a TPY-2 radar with 8 redesigned circuit card assemblies that improve the radar’s capabilities, while incorporating technologies and processes that weren’t available when Raytheon delivered the first AN/TPY-2 in 2004.

The new cards will be inserted into all new AN/TPY-2 radars Raytheon produces, but the USA is just about done with planned orders. The good news is, a swap-in upgrade shouldn’t be too expensive. Raytheon.

April 26/13: The GAO looks at the Missile Defense Agency’s full array of programs in report #GAO-13-342, “Missile Defense: Opportunity To Refocus On Strengthening Acquisition Management.” With respect to the AN/TPY-2 system, there have been a few slips, but those mostly come from shifts by the MDA and the THAAD program. One delay that was intrinsic involved the Production Readiness Risk Assessment, which was delayed for 2 years because of an obsolete radar processor that was hard to replace.

THAAD reductions from 9 batteries to 6 also hit the TPY-2 program, as the MDA cut its planned TPY-2 buy from 18 to 11. That’s a greater than proportional reduction, for an asset that’s also in wide demand without THAAD. The reduction means that the last American TPY-2 was ordered in December 2012, and the line will shut down in FY 2015 without export orders. Which do appear to be forthcoming. The reported average cost in the 2012 BAR to buy one more AN/TPY-2 is FY11$ 187 million, though foreign buyers will also have to pay for the support infrastructure, training, etc.

March 19/13: #8 delivered. Raytheon announces that they’ve delivered their 8th AN/TPY-2 radar to the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA).

March 15/13: Japan. Following North Korea’s 3rd nuclear test attempt, the new US Secretary of Defense announces that the USA will add 14 more ground-based interceptor missiles at Fort Greely, AK and Vandenberg AFB, CA. They’re paying for this by “restructuring” the SM-3 Block 2B Next Generation Aegis Missile program. In reality, they’re cancelling SM-3-2B.

Japan will continue to collaborate with the USA on the SM-3 Block 2A program, and will get a 2nd AN/TPY-2 radar on its territory in addition to the one at Shariki Air Base, per the Sept 27/12 announcement. Pentagon AFPS | Full Speech Transcript.

Dec 13/12: Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems in Woburn, MA received a $207.9 million firm-fixed price contract modification to manufacture and deliver AN/TPY-2 Radar #11, plus 3 forward-based Prime Power Units with associated spares, and associated radar spares. This raises the base contract’s committed value from $364 million to $571.9 million.

Work will be performed in Woburn, MA from Jan 1/13 through May 30/15. The Missile Defense Agency in Huntsville, AL manages the contract (HQ0147-12-C-0006, PZ0003). See also Raytheon.

Radar #11

Nov 5/12: Qatar. The US DSCA announces [PDF] that Qatar wants to join its neighbor the UAE, and field 2 THAAD batteries of its own.

Their request is worth up to $6.5 billion, and includes up to 12 THAAD Launchers, 150 THAAD missiles, 2 THAAD Fire Control and Communications units, 2 AN/TPY-2 THAAD Radars, and 1 Early Warning Radar (EWR). The USA would also sell them the required trucks, generators, electrical power units, trailers, communications equipment, fire unit test & maintenance equipment, system integration and checkout, repair and return, training, and other support.

The principal contractor is Lockheed Martin Space Systems Corporation in Sunnyvale, CaA, and the sub-contractor is Raytheon Corporation in Andover, MA. Implementation of this proposed sale will require undetermined but periodic travel of up to 13 U.S. Government and contractor representatives for delivery, system checkout, and training.

Qatar request

FY 2012

UAE; Qatar; Japan. 10th US radar.

AN/TPY-2, guarded
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Sept 17/12: 2nd TPY-2 to Japan. The US military and Japan agree to strengthen anti-missile defenses by placing a 2nd TPY-2 radar in Japan. Japan’s BMD system relies on ship-based SM-3 missiles for area defense, with PATRIOT PAC-3 missiles for land-based point defense. TPY-2s have been tested with AEGIS ships before against enemy missiles. US DoD:

“A defense official traveling with Panetta told reporters on background the radar, a second Army Navy Transportable Radar Surveillance system, or AN-TPY-2, will augment one previously set up in Shariki on the northern part of Honshu island. A team from the United States arrived in Japan this week to work with Japanese officials in determining a site for the new radar, the official added.”

2nd deployment to Japan

Clear AFS, AK:
EWR upper right
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September 2012: NRC recommends stacked “GBX”. The US National Research Council publishes “Making Sense of Ballistic Missile Defense: An Assessment of Concepts and Systems for U.S. Boost-Phase Missile Defense in Comparison to Other Alternatives.” The report staff have deeply impressive backgrounds related to missile defense, and their main conclusion is that very fundamental reasons of geography and physics make boost-phase defense systems a waste of time. On the other hand, they propose an important upgrade to the USA’s midcourse defense sensors, by substituting sets of stacked AN/TPY-2 radars (GBX) for the proposed PTSS satellite constellation. First, the core problem:

“…the midcourse discrimination problem must be addressed far more seriously if reasonable confidence is to be achieved… While the current GMD may be effective against the near-term threat… the committee disagrees with the statement… that this capability can be maintained “for the foreseeable future.”1… The signal bandwidth of the [EWR/ SPSS] UHF radars is limited to a few megahertz… range resolution is measured in tens of meters. While all these radars can be used to commit midcourse interceptors that have sufficient onboard sensing, autonomy, and divert capability to acquire and parse the threat complex during fly-out, they offer little help in discrimination of decoys or other countermeasures.”

The affordable sensor fix involves 5 TPY-2 FBX derivatives. Four would be co-located with current SPSS ballistic missile early warning sites at Clear AFS, AK; Cape Cod, MA; Thule, Greenland; and Fylingdales, United Kingdom. The 5th would be placed at Grand Forks, ND, which currently houses the 10th Space Warning Squadron:

“To avoid the need for developing a new radar capable of detecting and tracking threat objects in excess of 3,000 km, it is recommended that… (2) a new variant we call “GBX” be created by stacking two TPY-2 radar arrays one on top of the other and integrating their coherent-beam-forming electronics and software to provide twice the power and twice the aperture X-band radar with a 120 degree by 90 degree field of view… [GBX] radars would be mounted on azimuth turntables… that could be mechanically reoriented (not scanned) through an azimuth sector of 270 degrees… [while providing] electronic scan coverage from the horizon to the zenith over a traverse angle sector of 45 degrees from broadside… The output of this… GBX system would be combined coherently through a time-delay device that permits the full instantaneous signal bandwidth to be used for range Doppler imaging. The coherent combination produces an elevation beam width half that of the AN/TPY-2 radar, with twice the gain (four times the twoway gain) and twice the peak and average power. Duplicate power supply and cooling units would be required, but a single electronic equipment unit should suffice, with minimal added electronics… An uplink/downlink function should be included as a new radar mode.”

See also NY Times | “Ballistic Missile Defense: Why the Current GMD System’s Radars Can’t Discriminate” for an in-depth technical explanation of why even the huge UEWR radars aren’t suitable for discriminating between warheads and the decoys used by more advanced missiles.

July 17/12: To Qatar. The Wall Street Journal reports that an AN/TPY-2 radar is headed to Al Uedid Air Base in Qatar, across the Persian Gulf from Iran. Al Uedid is used extensively by the US military as a stopover and base.

Qatar would eventually issue a formal export request for the full THAAD system. Mostly Missile Defense.

Deployment to Qatar

Feb 18/12: Turkey(s). During meetings with NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu states the TPY-2 radar based at Diyarbakir (vid. Sept 3/11) must not have any of its data sets shared beyond NATO, with a specific reference to Israel. The radar is positioned in a way that makes it easy to see into Iran, for early detection of ballistic missile launches. Voice of America | UPI.

Dec 30/11: +2. Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems in Woburn, MA receives a sole-source, maximum $363.9 million letter contract for 2 AN/TPY-2 radars. The contract will be finalized later. Work will be performed in Woburn, MA, and the period of performance is Dec 30/11 through March 30/15 (HQ0147-12-C-0006).

Raytheon’s release specifically identifies them as going “…to the U.S. Army as the radar component to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system”. Some TPY-2 radars have also been deployed independently.

2 more TPY-2s: #9-10

Dec 30/11: UAE order. A series of contracts kick off the UAE’s THAAD deal, which is estimated at $3.48 billion. It’s the 1st export sale for the THAAD system.

With respect to the TPY-2, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems in Woburn, MA receives an unfinalized sole-source letter contract, with a not-to-exceed value of $582.5 million (UCA) to provide 2 AN/TPY-2 radars, spares, and training services to the United Arab Emirates. Work will be performed in Woburn, MA, and the period of performance is Dec 30/11 through Sept 30/18. This contract will be finalized in June 2012. The US Missile Defense Agency in Huntsville, AL manages the contract, on behalf of its FMS client (HQ0147-12-C-0005). See also Lockheed Martin | Raytheon | Bloomberg | AP | Reuters | Voice of America.TEXT

UAE order

Nov 1/11: Software & analysis. The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) awards Raytheon IDS of Woburn, MA a maximum $307.6 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract. Under this new contract, Raytheon will maintain software required to operate “the X-band family of radars,” and perform and Ballistic Missile Defense System test planning, execution and analysis. Discussions with Raytheon personnel confirmed that the funding applies to the XBR radar on the SBX naval platform, as well as their AN/TPY-2 radars (THAAD, European missile defense, deployed in Israel & Japan), and a “Ground Based Radar Prototype” that they’re working on as a technology demonstrator.

Work will be performed in Woburn, MA from Nov 1/11 through Oct 31/13, and the MDA’s FY 2012 research, development, test and evaluation funds will be used to fund initial orders. The MDA at Redstone Arsenal, AL manages the contract (HQ0147-12-D-0005).

FY 2010 – 2011

8th radar. Turkey.

Sept 2/11: Turkey. Turkey has agreed to emplace an AN/TPY-2 early warning radar, as part of the European Phased Adaptive Array system. The radar will be deployed facing Iran, and linked to US Navy systems via Cooperative Engagement Capability. EPAA is based on naval and land-based SM-3 missiles, not on THAAD.

Turkish reports place the radar near Diyarbakir in SE Turkey, which also hosts PATRIOT missile batteries. Col. David Lapan tells Stars & Stripes that the agreement has some further required approvals to clear, but “The hope is to have it deployed by the end of this year.” Zaman Dis Haberler [in Turkish] | Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance | Stars & Stripes | Russia’s RIA Novosti.

Deployment to Turkey

April 7/11: Software. Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems in Woburn, MA receives a $14 million sole-source cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification to maintain and improve the AN/TPY-2 radar’s software. Work will be performed in Woburn, MA from April 2011 through June 2011, and $4 million in FY 2011 research, development, test and evaluation funds will be used to incrementally fund this effort.

This award beings total contract awards so far under (HQ0006-03-C-0047) to $1.936 billion.

Nov 10/10: Refurb. A sole-source $25.2 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification to Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems in Woburn, MA, to refurbish AN/TPY-2 radar #4.

Work will be performed in Woburn, MA through August 2011, funded by FY 2010 – 2011 Research, Development, Test & Evaluation funds (HQ0006-03-C-0047).

Sept 24/10: Order. A sole-source fixed-price-incentive-fee modification to Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems in Woburn, MA for AN/TPY-2 radar #8. The target price is $189.8 million. Work will take place from September 2010 through October 2012, and FY 2010 procurement funds will be used to fund it (HQ0006-03-C-0047).

Raytheon’s release adds that the firm delivered the 7th radar earlier in 2010, on cost and ahead of schedule.

Radar #8

Sept 1/10: Support. A $22.6 million sole-source cost-plus-award-fee contract modification to Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems in Woburn, MA will continue support services for the AN/TPY-2 radar’s flight and ground testing.

Work will be performed in Woburn, MA from September 2010 through June 2011. $1,443,793 in FY 2010 research, development, test and evaluation funds will be used to incrementally fund this effort (HQ0006-03-C-0047).

Aug 24/10: Software. Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems in Woburn, MA received a sole-source contract modification for $43 million continue software maintenance in support of the AN/TPY-2 radar. The modification includes both fixed-price and cost-plus-award-fee line items, and work will be performed in Woburn, MA. The performance period is through March 2011. FY 2010 & 2011 Research, Development, Test and Evaluation funds will be used, and the US Missile Defense Agency manages the contract (HQ0006-03-C-0047). See also Raytheon release.

July 29/10: Test. A THAAD system successfully intercepts its target during a low-endo-atmospheric MDA test at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii. Soldiers of the 6th Air Defense Artillery Brigade of Fort Bliss, Texas, conducted launcher, fire control and radar operations, and were not informed of the exact launch time for the unitary missile target.

The AN/TPY-2 radar was a particular focus, and it achieved all test objectives: acquiring the target, discriminating the lethal object, providing track and discrimination data to the fire control, and communicating with the in-flight THAAD interceptor. The fire control software, jointly developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, also performed successfully. This was the 7th successful intercept in 7 attempts for the operationally-configured THAAD system.

Several missile defense assets and emerging technologies observed the launch and gathered data for future analysis. Participants included the Command and Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) system, and elements of the U.S. Army’s PATRIOT system which conducted engagement coordination with THAAD, and conducted upper tier debris mitigation exercises during the intercept engagement. US MDA: release | MDA photos and video | Raytheon.

March 16/10: Support. Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems of Woburn, MA receives a $17.4 million sole-source contract modification that includes both fixed-price and cost-plus-award-fee line items. Under this contract modification, Raytheon will continue Phase II of concurrent test, training, and operations support unit integration for AN/TPY-2 X-Band radar.

Work will be performed in Woburn, MA through November 2010. Fiscal year 2010 research, development, test and evaluation funds will be used for this effort (HQ0006-03-C-0047).

FY 2008 – 2009

UAE request. Israel.

July 9/09: Power unit. Raytheon announces successful integration and acceptance testing the AN/TPY-2 X-band radar’s Prime Power Unit (PPU), a trailer-mounted 1.3 megawatt Generator Set. Following this success at White Sands Missile Range, NM, the PPU will undergo extensive user evaluations as the next stage in its fielding process.

Sept 28/08: Israel. The U.S. Army’s European Command has deployed an TPY-2 radar system to Israel’s Nevatim Air Force Base in the Negev desert, along with a 120-member support team. More than a dozen transport aircraft were required to deliver all of the personnel and equipment involved.

The move marks the first permanent presence in Israel of American military personnel. Ha’aretz | WIRED Danger Room.

Deployment to Israel

Sept 9/08: UAE request. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announces [PDF] the United Arab Emirates’ request for 3 Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) Fire Units with 147 THAAD anti-ballistic missiles, 4 THAAD Radar Sets (3 tactical and one maintenance float), 6 THAAD Fire and Control Communication stations, and 9 THAAD Launchers. This would represent the first foreign sale of the THAAD system.

The UAE is also requesting fire unit maintenance equipment, the heavy trucks that carry the THAAD components, generators, electrical power units, trailers, communications equipment, tools, test and maintenance equipment, repair and return, system integration and checkout, spare/repair parts, publications, documentation, personnel training, training equipment, contractor technical and logistics personnel services, and other related support elements. The estimated cost is $6.95 billion.

The principal contractor is Lockheed Martin Space Systems Corporation in Sunnyvale, CA (THAAD), and the sub-contractor is Raytheon Corporation in Andover, MA (radar).

The UAE will be requesting industrial offsets, which will be negotiated with these contractors. On the other hand, the UAE “does not desire a government support presence in its country on an extended basis.” A total of 66 contractor logistic support personnel could be stationed in United Arab Emirates for extended periods, and additional training and major defense equipment personnel may be in the United Arab Emirates for short periods of time, not to exceed 24 months.

UAE request

June 13/08: AEGIS Test. A non-firing test involves THAAD TPY-2 X-band radars in conjunction with the SPY-1 Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system aboard the USS Lake Erie [CG 70], as 2 medium-range target missiles are launched near-simultaneously from the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) at Barking Sands, Hawaii. Lake Erie’s crew used their own radars, and also received data from 2 APY-2 THAAD radars at PMRF via secure links. All equipment performed as designed, and the cruiser was able to get launch solutions on both targets. MDA release [PDF].

Oct 8/07: Japan. Community relations take on an interesting dimension in Shariki, Japan, where a TPY-2 radar is based. Locals were worried about the radar’s potential to disrupt cell phones, and were worried that living near it might be a health hazard. Building a housing complex near the radar for the Raytheon technicians who operate the radar, and Blackwater security contractors who protect the site, helped ease those concerns. Stars & Stripes.

FY 2006 – 2007

EMD contract. Factory acceptance.

July 11/07: Upgrade. Raytheon announces a $304 million contract from the US Missile Defense Agency to develop advanced tracking and discrimination capabilities for the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) forward based AN/TPY-2 radar. As noted above, the TPY-2 is also the THAAD system’s component radar.

Under the contract, Raytheon is responsible for the development and test of radar software, various engineering tasks, maintenance and support, infrastructure upgrades, and deployment mission planning. Work will be performed at the company’s Missile Defense Center in Woburn, MA and the Warfighter Protection Center in Huntsville, AL.

The first forward-based capability spiral was released on schedule in October 2006 and is operational. Raytheon IDS is developing the second forward-based capability spiral, with release planned in early 2008. As the prime contractor for this program, Raytheon IDS has delivered the first 2 of 5 planned AN/TPY-2 radars to the Missile Defense Agency. The first radar, delivered in November 2004, is currently deployed in Japan. The second AN/TPY-2 radar recently completed acceptance testing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA. Raytheon is also responsible for whole-life engineering support for AN/TPY-2 radars under a contract awarded in June 2005. Raytheon release.

TPY-2 upgrade

June 26/07: Radar ready. Raytheon announces completion of all factory acceptance testing on its 2nd THAAD radar, which was shipped ahead of schedule and under budget to the Missile Defense Agency at White Sands Missile Range, NM, for final testing and acceptance. Raytheon release.

Factory testing done

June 22/07: AEGIS Test. Missile defense Flight Test Maritime-12 took place, launching an SM-3 Block 1A missile from the destroyer USS Decatur [DDG 73]. The Spanish Navy’s Alvaro de Bazan Class AEGIS frigate Mendez Nunez [F-104] also participated in the test “as a training event to assess the future capabilities of the F-100 Class.” So, too, did the US Navy’s Ticonderoga Class AEGIS cruiser USS Port Royal [CG 73], which successfully used its SPY-1B radar augmented by a prototype AEGIS BMD Signal Processor (BSP) to detect and track the separating warhead in real time, and to tell the difference between the simulated warhead and the rest of the missile. The final variant of that processor is expected to be deployed in 2010.

USS Port Royal also exchanged tracking data with a ground-based Terminal High Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) system ashore, in order to verify compatibility. Video from the test | US MDA release [PDF] | Raytheon release | Boeing release | Lockheed Martin release.

Feb 9/07: Order. Raytheon Company in Woburn, MA received a $20 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification contract that could soar to $212.2 million to manufacture, deliver, and integrate the AN/TPY-2 radar component of the THAAD ABM system. Fiscal Year 2007 R&D funds worth $20 million will be used. Work will be performed at Woburn, MA and is expected to be complete by May 2010. The Missile Defense Agency in Washington, DC issued the contract (HQ0006-03-C-0047). See also Raytheon release.

May 11/06: Test. Successful launch was achieved of a THAAD interceptor missile marks the 1st fully integrated flight test. This is not an not intercept test, which would take place in 2007. Instead, it tests all THAAD components, including the mobile launcher, radar, fire control and communications element, and the interceptor missile.

A Raytheon release touts the performance of its THAAD Ground-Based Radar in the test. The THAAD radar, developed by Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS), accomplished all test objectives, including communicating with the in-flight THAAD missile. Track and discrimination reports were successfully transmitted between the THAAD radar and fire control. Performance of the fire control software, jointly developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, was also successful. See also Lockheed Martin MFC release.

June 28/2000: THAAD EMD contract. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Missiles & Space Operations in Sunnyvale, CA received a $77.5 million increment as part of a $3.97 billion (cumulative total includes options) cost-plus-award-fee contract for the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) of the initial Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) tactical ballistic missile defense system. “During the EMD program, the system design will evolve to satisfy the Army’s key operational requirements while developing weapon system components that are not only effective but are affordable, ready for production, and available to the U.S. Army soldiers for a first unit equipped in FY 2007.”

Work will be performed in Sunnyvale, CA (68%); Huntsville, AL (30%), and Courtland, AL (2%), and is expected to be complete by May 3, 2008. This is a sole source contract initiated on Oct. 29, 1999 by the U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command in Huntsville, AL (DASG60-00-C-0072).

EMD contract

Additional Readings

• Raytheon – Army Navy/Transportable Radar Surveillance (AN/TPY-2).

• RadarTutorial.EU – AN/TPY-2.

• DID – THAAD: Reach Out and Touch Ballistic Missiles. TPY-2 serves as its GBR component.

• Wikipedia – IAI EL/M-2080 Green Pine. Israel’s “Green Pine” radar works with its Arrow missile system in the same role as the TPY-2, and competes with it on the international market. Green Pine has a shorter range, though: just 500 km. It has been exported to India as the Swordfish, and a Green Pine radar is also believed to be in Azerbaijan. A follow-on “Super Green Pine/ Great Pine” radar with ranges to 800-900 km will be exported to South Korea.

Official Reports

• US NRC – Making Sense of Ballistic Missile Defense: An Assessment of Concepts and Systems for U.S. Boost-Phase Missile Defense in Comparison to Other Alternatives. Outstanding overview, from September 2012.

• US GAO (April 11/14, #GAO-14-314) Ballistic Missile Defense: Actions Needed to Address Implementation Issues and Estimate Long-Term Costs for European Capabilities.

• Mostly Missile Defense (July 28/12) – Ballistic Missile Defense: Why the Current GMD System’s Radars Can’t Discriminate. But big X-band radars could.

NH90: TTH & NFH
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The NH90 emerged from a requirement that created a NATO helicopter development and procurement agency in 1992 and, at almost the same time, established NH Industries (62.5% EADS Eurocopter, 32.5% AgustaWestland, and 5% Stork Fokker) to build the hardware. The NATO Frigate Helicopter was originally developed to fit between light naval helicopters like AW’s Lynx or Eurocopter’s Panther, and medium-heavy naval helicopters like the European EH101. A quick look at the NFH design showed definite possibilities as a troop transport helicopter, however, and soon the NH90 project had branched into 2 versions, with more to follow.

The nearest equivalent would be Sikorsky’s popular H-60 Seahawk/ Black Hawk family, but the NH90 includes a set of innovative features that give it some distinguishing selling points. Its combination of corrosion-proofing, lower maintenance, greater troop or load capacity, and the flexibility offered by that rear ramp have made the NH90 a popular global competitor.

As many business people discover the hard way, however, success can be almost as dangerous as failure. NH Industries has had great difficulty ramping up production fast enough to meet promised deliveries, which has left several buyers upset. Certification and acceptance have also been slow, with very few NH90s in service over a decade after the first contracts were signed. Booked orders have actually been sliding backward over the last year, and currently stand at around 500 machines, on behalf of 14 nations.

Program Summary

NH90: TTH & NFH

The NH90 began life as a leap-ahead competitor that would create a compelling alternative to Sikorsky’s 1980-era H-60 family airframe designs, as a European joint venture involving Airbus, AgustaWestland, and Stork Fokker. Their design has achieved respectable sales success, especially in Europe, but a bevy of technical and industrial issues have blunted its potential.

Orders as of late 2014 stood at 513 machines, in an array of structural and equipment customizations that reach beyond the simple division of naval NFH vs. army TTH. Customers to date include Australia, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, Netherlands, Oman, Norway, Portugal, Qatar, Spain, and Sweden. Customer charts and timelines can be found below.

On the flip side, the NH90 has lost competitions in existing customer countries (Australia naval, Norway SAR, Sweden CSAR), and has received several cancellation threats to go with Portugal’s withdrawal from the program in 2012. Orders and certifications have often been years behind promises, full functionality wasn’t always present in delivered helicopters, and a number of performance complaints trace back to the helicopter’s specifications, which makes them hard to fix. Experience in the field has added engine issues, the TopOwl helmet-mounted display, and unexpected corrosion to the list of concerns. The NH Industries consortium needs to address these issues, and rack up convincing customer testimonials. Otherwise, the NH90 will struggle in the export marketplace against America’s Sikorsky, Russian Helicopters Company, and rival offerings from some NHI member firms.

The NH90 Platform(s)

NH90 cockpit
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NH Industries’ design makes extensive use of composite materials instead of riveted metal alloy plates, which makes the helicopter lighter and was supposed to reduce routine maintenance and corrosion issues. On the other hand, it also creates potential issues with damage in the field, and with durability. Germany in particular has complained that the composite body is essentially too flimsy for normal infantry use, or the carriage of heavy items. Time will tell if these issues can be fixed.

Electronic fly-by-wire systems also contribute to the NH0’s lift capacity, by saving the weight of heavy power-boosted hydraulic control systems. This allows the NH90 to remain within the 10-tonne weight class, while carrying about 50% more troops or stretchers than its American UH-60 counterpart. A pair of Rolls-Royce Turbomeca RTM322 engines delivering 2,412 – 2,544 shp, GE T700-T6Es delivering 2,269 – 2,380 shp, or GE CT7-8F5s delivering up to 2,520 shp at sea level, power the aircraft. At present, RTM322-powered NH90s have been sold to Australia, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal and Sweden; Oman uses a special RTM322 variant certified for very hot and high altitude conditions, where engine power must compensate for thinner air. Spain (CT7-8F5) and Italy (T700-T6E) use GE’s engines instead.

The NH90’s physical dimensions were intended to take advantage of that extra power. Removal of the C-130 air-portability requirement that constrained the H-60 family’s height let NH Industries expand the NH90’s cargo area size. Features like dual-side exits and an optional rear ramp let the 10-tonne helicopter carry light vehicles or small boats internally, load MEDEVAC stretchers smoothly, drop search-and-rescue swimmers out back, etc.

Built for what NH Industrie calls “extreme adverse weather” operations, the NH90 can start up and fly, land, and shut down in winds gusting up to around 110 km/h without losing rotor control, flying day and night in heavy icing conditions down to temperatures of -30 C/ -22 F. Normal maximum range is approximately 200 nautical miles/ 370 km, or up to 300 nm/ 555 km using internal and/or external auxiliary tanks.

Advanced avionics and other standard features round out these helicopters, with frequent local customization in the electronics area. Accompanying surveillance and/or targeting turrets are standard features, and Thales’ TopOwl helmet-mounted display helps pilots take full advantage, though some complaints have been reported about its weight. An EADS Defence Electronics/Thales partnership will deliver a standard Electronic Warfare Suite comprising a missile approach warning system, laser warning receiver, radar warner, central processing unit, and chaff/flare dispenser. This EWS has been selected by Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, and Portugal, at minimum. Sweden is known to have their own Saab suite instead, and Norway uses ITT’s popular AN/ALQ-211.

NH90 Variants

NH90 NFH
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The NH90 is produced in 2 main variants: Tactical Transport Helicopter for troops (NH90 TTH), and the NATO Frigate Helicopter for naval utility and anti-submarine (NH90 NFH). One problem for NHI is that national customizations have created a tremendous number of sub-variants, impacting production and modernization. This article will only look at the broad variants and major kits.

NH90 TTH. The base variant for land and air forces. It can carry 12-20 troops (depending on equipment level), and normal load is up to 2.5 tonnes/ 5,500 pounds inside.

An optional High Cabin Version (HCV) raises the cabin height from 1.58m to 1.82m, increasing volume from 15 to 17.5 cubic meters. The high cabin is especially helpful for long search and rescue operations, or MEDEVAC flights where medical personnel need to be able to stand up and move freely.

Equipment can be added to create the NH90 Special Operations configuration (NH90 SOF, generally based on NH90 TTH), and MEDEVAC and CSAR (combat search and rescue) fit-out kits are also available. The NH90 FAME MEDEVAC variant adds 2 intensive care bays for treating wounded personnel, on-board equipment, and seats for the medical team. Options for the NH90 CSAR kit include up to 3 machine guns (each side door and the tail ramp), extra ballistic protection, a rappel system, a double rescue hoist, an emergency flotation system, sand filters, an obstacle warning system, and improved self-protection electronics.

The NH90 NFH. The naval variant can be used as a utility helicopter like the TTH, or as an anti-submarine helicopter, depending on how they’re built. ASW helicopters will add a naval radar (Thales ENR or Telephonics Ocean Eye), a dipping sonar (Thales FLASH or L-3’s HELRAS), sonobuoys, a magnetic anomaly detector, and up to 2 MBDA Marte Mk.2/S light anti-ship missiles or torpedoes (Eurotorp MU90, Raytheon Mk.46, or BAE Stingray) on side pylons. The Franco-British Sea Venom/ ANL light anti-ship missile may join the Marte around 2020, and work is already underway to add MBDA’s longer-range Marte-ER anti-ship missile as a nearer-term addition.

NH90: The Competition

UH-60, Iraq
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The NH90’s nearest comparable serving helicopter is probably the American H-60 Black Hawk/ Seahawk family, a 10-tonne helicopter flying since 1979 that remains America’s current and future mainstay helicopter for its Army (UH-60M, S-70i) and Navy (MH-60R/S, S-70B). Within its 10 tonnes of maximum takeoff weight, the Black Hawk normally carries 11 equipped troops to a normal maximum range of around 550 km/ 330 miles. Unlike the NH90, the H-60 family has no rear ramp, which means vehicles must be attached using a hook and sling system that sharply cuts the helicopter’s range, maneuverability, and maximum speed.

While the H-60 family remains popular, Sikorsky has felt the pressure of the implicit comparisons. Their new UH-60 derived H-92 Superhawk, a heavier aircraft that makes heavy use of composite materials, features a rear ramp, and has a higher cargo capacity than the smaller H-60 series. It has been selected by Canada’s Navy (28 helicopters), and is in use a civilian and VIP transport helicopter.

Mi-17
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Even within the NH Industries consortium, competition is emerging for the NH90. Airbus Helicopters’ EC725 offers a slightly larger machine with links to existing fleets of AS332 and AS552 Puma Family machines in service around the world. Meanwhile, AgustaWestland has several customers for its medium-heavy AW101, including NH90 customer Norway’s new search-and-rescue fleet.

Beyond the West, Russia Helicopter Company competes all over the world, and its Mi-17 family remains very popular in the NH90-TTH’s market class.

The NH90 Production Program

NH90 manufacture
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The first NH90 series production helicopter made its maiden flight in May 2004, but the first acceptance by a customer didn’t take place until 3 NH90 TTH were accepted by Germany on Dec 13/06. Even so, it would be many years before Germany could declare Full Operational Capability, and other countries that ordered early have been faced with even longer waits. Portugal ordered NH90s in 2001, and canceled in 2012 without a single machine delivered. Customer acceptances for the NH90 NFH naval variant were expected to begin in the second half of 2009, but actually began in mid-2010, and Final Operational Capability wasn’t present until late 2013.

The NH90’s NAHEMO international program organization consists of 5 countries: France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, and Belgium (2007). Portugal dropped out in 2012. Others may be customers, but they aren’t full program partners. Other key players include:

NAHEMA. NATO Helicopter Management Agency represents the national customers, just as NAHEMO represents the national producers. NAHEMA acts as the single contact with NH Industries for the negotiation, attribution and execution of the primary contracts. They also handle qualification of all weapon systems.

NHIndustries. The Eurocopter/ AgustaWestland/ Stork Fokker joint venture. It acts as the prime contractor, responsible for the design, development, industrialization and production of the NH90, including program management, order sub-contracting, marketing, sales, and support for helicopters in service worldwide. It’s also the owner of the helicopter’s type certification. The NH90’s 3 main assembly lines, and their general work share items, are:

Base workshare
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Eurocopter France in Marignane, France: Powerplant & section, rotors, electrical systems, flight controls, central avionics.

Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH in Donauworth, Germany: Central sections, fuel, communications, avionics control. Lead for TTH tactical transport, and makes nose sections until Spain’s plant reaches full production.

AgustaWestland in Cascina Costa, Italy: Tail cone and drive shaft, main gearbox, automatic flight control, hydraulics, electric system, rear ramp, rear fuselage, installation monitoring systems. They are alternates for engine installation, and the lead for NFH mission packages & installation and the construction and flight testing of the naval prototype. AgustaWestland has final assembly line responsibility for all TTH and NFH helicopters to be procured by the Italian Army and Navy, and for the Dutch and Norwegian NH90 NFH helicopters as well, for a grand total of 150 helicopters so far.

Stork Fokker, the Netherlands: This isn’t a main assembly line, but they’re a founding partner with responsibility for the tail boom, doors, flotation boxes, landing gear, and intermediate tail gearbox.

The Nordic countries ordered 52 NH90 helicopters with an option for 17, and Patria Oyj runs the final assembly line in Halli, Jamsa, Finland as a subcontractor to Airbus Helicopters in Marignane. The Finnish assembly line was the 4th operational assembling line for the NH90, handling final assembly for all Finnish and Swedish NH90s. Per subsequent agreements, there have also been assembly lines in Albacete, Spain (Eurocopter Espana, will manufacture nose sections for all NH90s) and Brisbane, Australia (Eurocopter subsidiary Australian Aerospace), fir a total of 6.

At present, NH Industries’ orders total 513, with around 40 live options available as possible future orders. The breakdown is:

Over the past year or so, Portugal has canceled its buy of 10 helicopters, Germany cut its orders by 40 machines, and Spain decided to reduce its contract by half to 22. Greece’s contract for 20 has also been in question, with just 4 helicopters delivered nearly 9 years after the order was placed. On the bright side, Qatar became the first new customer in a long time, with a mixed order for 22 in 2014.

A timeline of NH90 customers and their key decisions follows:

Contracts & Key Events 2016 – 2018

February 15/18: Sweden-High Costs Cause Shock! High operating costs may cause the Swedish military to ground nine of its NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH) fleet used for ground operations. Speaking on the issue, Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist said the procurement had a long history and background of broken expectations, and that life-cycle and operating costs should have been investigated and controlled prior to this. A report by Swedish broadcaster Ekot reported that Defense Force Helicopter 14 costed an average 200,000 kroner (almost $25,000) per hour—by comparison, the US DoD costs UH-60 Black Hawks at about $4,500 per flight hour. Hultqvist added that the helicopter’s high costs will be investigated further before a final decision on whether the nine NH90s will have their flight hours cut or grounded completely. First ordered in 2001 Sweden’s Defense Helicopter Wing operates 18 NH90 TTHs, alongside 16 UH-60Ms, and 20 AW109s (eight of which designated for sea roles).

February 6/18: Norway-FMS A report published by Norway’s defence research institute has found that Norway’s planned procurement of 12 NH90 naval helicopters will not meet its flight hours requirements to fulfil both frigate-based anti-submarine warfare (ASW) missions for the navy, as well as search and rescue (S&R) and fisheries and border protection missions for the coastguard. The report found that in order to fill both the needs of the navy and coastguard, Oslo requires 5,400 flight hours a year from the entire fleet, however, an analysis performed by the armed forces suggests that availability is only 2,100h a year. Instead, it has been recommended that all 12 NH90s—seven of which have already been delivered—should now be used for the navy’s ASW mission, while the coastguard requirement is filled by a procurement of civilian operators or unmanned platforms.

February 2/18: Qatar-FMS NH Industries is expecting firm orders from Qatar for both the TTH troop transport and NFH maritime variants of the NH90 helicopter, Flight Global reports. Back in 2014, Qatar signed a tentative agreement for 22 examples of the helicopter, however, despite finalizing multi-billion purchases for fighter aircraft, Doha has shied away from inking the NH90 deal. But with Qatar’s biennial Dimdex defence exhibition coming up in March, the firm is confident that the order will come to fruition. “We are still working with the Qatari customer to close the contract,” says NHI president Vincent Dubrule, “it is still very active.”

January 16/18: Radar Issues-Belgium Three of the four NH90 NATO frigate helicopter (NFH) delivered to Belgium have reported defective radars, the Belgian Air Force has revealed. Purchased in 2015 at a cost of €35 million each, the helicopters were scheduled to replace the older Sea King helicopters for sea-rescue operations once the Sea Kings went out of service in 2019. The replacement of the defective radars is expected to take between three and six months, however, some reports suggest that each helicopter could be out for as long as 18 months, leaving only one model operational for four helicopter teams.

November 30/17: Milestone NH Industries announced the successful maiden flight of its second NH90 Sea Lion platform, a naval variant of the medium-size multi-role helicopter being developed for the German Navy. The November 24 test comes roughly one year on from when model one took off from the Donauwörth facility of NHI consortium member Airbus Helicopters. Next up, NHI will undertake a several-month period of development testing that will focus on avionics and software, followed by further modifications to the aircraft throughout 2018. The initial serial production aircraft is now in final assembly, ahead of first delivery scheduled for late 2019. Berlin will acquire 18 Sea Lions to replace its navy’s fleet of aged Westland Sea King 41s.

2015 – 2016

New order to Germany; Belgium fleet achieves IOC

May 12/16: Airbus Helicopters is being kept busy with its Australian customers as it rushes to complete specifications of NH Industries NH90, in which Airbus Helicopters is the largest shareholder. Requirements by the Australian government include a weapons system and fast-roping and rappelling capability, as well as limitations to maritime deployment. Australia is also looking to replace its fleet of Airbus Tiger helicopters which have not met service standards.

January 22/16: France and Australia may look to collaborate on investing in a special forces variant of the NH90 attack helicopter. A common version and shared financial expenditure for the limited amounts of the helicopter required would help slash development costs for both countries. Both France and Australia have made substantial orders of the NH90 with seventy-four and forty-seven to be delivered respectively. A small portion of these orders will be developed to carry out special missions with requirements likely to encompass a central trapdoor for fast roping, a rear door gun, and changes to the communications suite.

January 11/16: After extensive use in operations in Mali, France is to procure seven more NH90 military helicopters. The latest addition brings their total order to seventy-four. Two variants of the helicopter are to be used; the Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH), for use by the French Army, and the navalized NATO Frigate Helicopter (NFH) for the French Navy. Forty-four TTH and twenty-seven NFH will be delivered and operational by 2019. At $31 million per chopper, the latest to be ordered will all see service across five partner nations in Africa’s Sahel region.

December 21/15: The first of Sweden’s NHIndustries’ NH-90 Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) variant helicopter has been delivered. The Swedish Air Force hopes to have nine out of a total eighteen NH-90s ordered to have ASW capabilities. The delivery coincides with the the Swedish procurement agency, FMW, signing an agreement with NHI to convert four existing NH-90 Search and Rescue variants to have ASW capabilities.

October 7/15: Egypt and France are reportedly engaged in talks over a potential acquisition of NH90 helicopters. With Egypt recently purchasing a significant quantity of French naval hardware with Saudi funding – including Gowind corvettes and a FREMM frigate – with which the NH90 would be compatible, the precise model being discussed could be the naval NFH variant, or a mix of NFH and TTH troop transport variants. Egypt signed a contract to buy the two Mistral LHDs formerly destined for Russia, with reports indicating that the country had also ordered Ka-52 navalized attack helicopters from Russia to equip the new vessels; however, these reports now appear to have been erroneous, with Russian officials now denying that an order has been placed.

August 25/15: Belgium’s four NH90 NFH naval helicopter fleet have achieved Initial Operating Capability, eight years after they were ordered in May 2007 through a mixed order for ten NH90 helicopters. Three of the country’s four helicopters have now entered service, with a fourth scheduled to join them in early 2016.

June 22/15: Belgium’s fleet of NH90 tactical transport helicopters has achieved Initial Operating Capability, following a procurement contract in 2007. The fourth and final NH90 helicopter was handed to the Belgian military last November. The country has also ordered four naval variants of the helicopter. France announced last week that it intends to modify some of its NH90s for Special Forces use, including installing electro-optic/infrared (EO/IR) systems and data links.

March 6/15: New order to Germany. Despite the spontaneous combustion issue, Germany remains committed to the NH90, signing a deal for 18 new helicopters for its navy.

Feb 8/15: Germany is no longer putting happy face on NH90 issues; demanding Airbus fix the mess, which apparently involves a manufacturer-admitted “design flaw.” A February 6 statement(German): “The MoD now expects soon as possible the elimination of the problem by the manufacturer.” Analysts and the press are griping that the Bundeswehr didn’t play it straight.

2014

Qatar orders 22; New Zealand completes 2006 order; Finalist in India; Dutch, Germans, French have a problems with NH90 corrosion; Dutch suspend deliveries; German engine explosion suggests a troubling flaw; Marte-ER integration work would give the NH90-NFH a full anti-ship missile.

Nov. 26/14: Fluganst doesn’t stop deal. Germany’s defense ministry came to an agreement with NHI, following cuts announced in March 2013 whose structure didn’t fully satisfy defense minister Ursula von der Leyen and had been put on ice. The new master contract, worth about €8.5B ($10.5B) settles on 80 NH90s for the Army, 18 for the Navy, and 22 options that the Germans are now pitching to NATO countries as a Germany-based pooled resource. A previous order for 80 Tigers is cut down under this same deal, with a final operational fleet of only 40 Tigers. This still needs to be approved in Parliament, and get traction among alliance partners.

Earlier in November the Bundeswehr had lifted a flight ban on NH90s after concluding that the June incident in Uzbekistan was an isolated problem. But the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports that pilots are afraid safety issues are glossed over for political reasons. Fluganst (flight fear) is a more dangerous condition than Schadenfreude when your job is to fly helicopters.

Sources: Der Spiegel: Von der Leyen beendet Hubschrauber-Chaos | FAZ: Flugangst [both in German].

German cuts formalized

NH90 & Marte 2/S
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Oct 31/14: New Zealand. More than 8 years after New Zealand’s order for 9
NH90-TTH helicopters (q.v. July 31/06), the last NH90 arrives at RNZAF Base Ohakea on North Island. Sources: IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, “New Zealand receives final NH90 helo”.

Final NZ delivery

Oct 31/14: Netherlands. Defence minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert report to the legislature that delays caused by late NH90-NFH deliveries and corrosion issues will cost the Dutch another EUR 105.8 million to keep the existing Eurocopter AS532 Super Puma fleet flying, on top of EUR 1.2 billion for the 20 NH90s. Neighboring Belgium has had a similar experience with its H-3s (q.v. June 6/13).

So far, the Dutch have accepted 13 NH90-NFHs, but deliveries remain suspended (q.v. June 27/14) until the corrosion problem is fixed. The Dutch MvD now expects to have a solution and finish negotiations over who should pay for this by the end of 2014 – a bit of slip from the June forecast of September 2014. The last Dutch NH90 is now scheduled for delivery in 2016. Sources: Flightglobal, “Dutch NH90 delays cost government more than €100 million”.

Oct 24/14: Germany. German media report that a June 2014 NH90 MEDEVAC flight from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan had to make an emergency landing in Termes, Uzbekistan after an engine exploded shortly after takeoff. Most electronic systems immediately failed, and the landing was a narrow escape for the pilots. The NH90 remains in place, until it can be repaired well enough for a short flight to Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, and be transported out in a leased SALIS AN-124 heavy-lift aircraft.

Engineers later found that a drive shaft in the engine was bent, and a report from engineering firm P3 says that a temporary flight ban may be needed. Analysis of numerous machines has raised concerns about engines that had been started too many times in one day, which is a serious limitation for a combat helicopter. P3’s conclusion was that the NH90s wouldn’t be able to support foreign deployments effectively until at least 2016. Sources: Die Welt, “Motor des NH90-Helikopters zu sensibel für Einsatze” | The Local – Germany, “German helicopter fleet ‘not fit for Nato'” | Eurasia.NET, “Helicopter Crash Complicates Germany-Uzbekistan Base Negotiations”.

German accident

Oct 15/14: HMD. A 1,500 page from international audit firm KPMG has lots of criticism for the Bundeswehr, and some of its details pertains especially to the NH90.

The Thales TopOwl helmet mounted display comes in for special mention, as its weight is causing pilot injuries that make them unavailable for flying. Co-pilots, who spend their time monitoring the various instruments and screens, are especially hard-hit. The helicopter also gets dinged for not having enough reliable seating, and for corrosion issues (q.v. June 27/14). Sources: Der Spiegel, “Mangel bei der Bundeswehr: Schwere Helme machen Piloten krank”.

HMD problems

July 28-29/14: India. The investigation into India’s AW101 VVIP helicopter buy, which became a full-blown legal dispute between India and Finmeccanica in 2013, continues to stall India’s maritime helicopter buy. The introduction of a new BJP government doesn’t seem to have changed that yet, but Italy’s decision to end its investigation seems likely to leave India’s CBI without a case.

India’s MRH finalists are reportedly Sikorsky’s S-70/ MH-60R, and the NH90 NFH which is led by Finmeccanica. Meanwhile, India’s Navy can only provision 20% of its capable ships with helicopters, and its anti-submarine capabilities are crumbling. For a full account, read “Anti-Submarine Weakness: India Has a Problem“.

July 18/14: Weapons. Navy Recognition reports that NH Industries and MBDA have started integration of the 100+ km Marte-ER anti-ship missile on the NH90 NFH. The Marte Mk.2/S light anti-ship missile gives the helicopter a 30 km reach, but naval defenses are quickly making it difficult to survive at that distance. Meanwhile, the longer-range AM39 Exocet is ineligible; it apparently creates too much turbulence, and messes with the NH90’s center of gravity. The Marte-ER is much more compact, and Italy has reportedly expressed interest. Navy Recognition doesn’t mention this, but India’s maritime helicopter competition may be the larger driver, since it demands an anti-ship missile with 100+ km range. At present, neither finalist has an integrated missile with this performance; adding Marte-ER first could give the NH90-NFH an edge against Sikorsky’s S-70B.

Marte-ER fitting trials began in June 2014, and while flight and separation tests are planned for the fall of 2014. Sources: Navy Recognition, “NHIndustries and MBDA started integration of MARTE ER missile on NH90 maritime helicopter”.

June 27/14: Corrosion. The Dutch will suspend NH90 deliveries until corrosion problems are solved, after the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory found 92 corrosion issues in their NH90-NFH helicopters. That’s a somewhat surprising problem, given that the NH90’s composite construction was supposed to minimize corrosion. The problem is apparently due to combination of combining materials without isolating them, the wrong choice of materials in some cases, and other design and assembly faults. France is reportedly having similar problems, albeit on a smaller scale.

The Dutch Ministry of Defense says that they informed NHIndustries of this problem in March 2013 through the program managers at NAHEMO (NATO Helicopter Management Agency),; so far, NHI’s engineering task force has found technical solutions for around 60% of the problems. The rest are expected to be solved by September 2014, which will need to be followed by a refit and remediation program. Unsurprisingly, the MvD wants NHI to pay for the fixes, which remains an unsettled contract issue. Meanwhile, the Dutch are working on a corrosion prevention program with NHI that will add some overhead, and the problem is expected to delay the overall delivery schedule by about 6 months. Sources: Dutch MvD, Full brief [PDF] and “Minister van Defensie schort afname Nederlandse NH90-helikopters op” | Aviation Week, “Corrosion Delays Dutch NH90 Acquisition” | War is boring, “Uh Oh—A Crappy Italian Company Might Build The Netherlands’ New Stealth Fighters”.

NFH corrosion issue

March 27/14: Qatar. The Gulf Emirate orders 22 NH90s, at a reported purchase price of around QAR 8.9 billion (about $2.446 billion). The order is for 12 NH90-TTH utility helicopters, and 10 NH90-NFH naval helicopters. It’s just one part of a $23 billion weapon shopping spree announced at DIMDEX 2014 in Doha, Qatar.

The helicopters will replace Qatar’s 12-13 old Westland Commando (Sea King) maritime utility and patrol helicopters, and at least some of its Lynx and/or Puma family helicopters. With this buy, Qatar joins their near neighbor Oman as an NH90 customer. No word yet re: their delivery schedule.

Other Qatari buys at DIMDEX included 24 attack helicopters, air defense and anti-tank missiles, fast attack boats, 2 A330 aerial refueling planes, and 3 E-737 AWACS aircraft. Sources: Al Defaiya, “Qatar Announces Big Defense Deals at DIMDEX 2014” | Arabian Aerospace, “Qatar in $23bn arms order including Apache and NH90 helicopters” | Reuters, “Qatar buys helicopters, missiles in $23 billion arms deals”.

Qatar: 22 mixed

2013

France orders 34 TTH; Germany cuts its contract by 40, but will fly NH90-NFH too; Spain wants to cut from 45 – 22; NH90 loses SAR Australia settles contract issues; Dutch are 1st NH90-NFH foreign deployment.

German NH90 & Tiger
(click to view full)

Nov 29/13: Dutch. The Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) has taken delivery of the Final Operative Configuration for their NH90 NFH Mission Planning & Analysis System (MPAS), following operational feedback from more than a year of RNLN service experience. The initial version, based on AgustaWestland’s multi-helicopter SkyFlight system, was released into service in 2011. Sources: Shephard Rotorhub, “RNLN takes delivery of NH90 NFH MPAS”.

Nov 8/13: Italy. The Navy’s 5th Helicopter Sqn at Sarzana-Luni NB receives its 6th helicopter, and its 1st fully operational “Step B” NH90-NFH. The new configuration adds mission systems integration for Marte MK/2S anti-ship missiles and torpedoes, advanced satellite and encrypted communications, and radar and avionics enhancements. Italy’s first 5 NH90-NFHs will be retrofitted to this status in 2014. Sources: NH Industries, “Delivery Of The First NH90 Step B To Italian Navy”.

Aug 1/13: Belgium. Eurocopter delivers Belgium’s 1st NH90 NFH, which is also is the first one built at Eurocopter’s Donauworth, Germany facility. Its configuration is identical to the Dutch NH90-NFH, and the helicopter was delivered at the Full Operational Capability rating. Belgium becomes the sub-type’s 5th customer, after France, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway.

Training of Belgian Navy flight and maintenance crews will begin next month, and operational capability will begin in 2014 using 2 of the 4 contracted helicopters. The NH90s are replacing Belgium’s H-3 Sea Kings. EADS.

July 26/13: Spain. The Spanish government approves an extra EUR 877.33 million (about $1.165 billion) in their 2013 budget, in order to finance payments that have come due on several major weapons programs. At the same time, in order to finance investments in their troubled S-80 submarine program, and purchases of their Pizarro (ASCOD) tracked IFVs, they will look to cut other programs.

The NH90 will see the sharpest cuts, as Spain looks for a way to reduce their planned buy of 45 NH90-TTH to just 22. That has been rumored for a little while, but the decision is now confirmed. The next step will involve negotiations with NH Industries around issues like cancellation fees, potential resale, etc.

The A400M aerial transport contract doesn’t allow Spain to cancel deliveries, but the government has officially decided to take delivery of the last 13 planes in “austere” condition, with few to no options, and then sell them on the second-hand market. They also intend to sell 6 of their 24 Tiger HAD/HAD-E attack helicopters, and reduce the number of serving Leopard 2A6E tanks from 190 – 116. Sources: Defense-Aerospace | Publico [in Spanish].

Spain wants to halve their order

July 9/13: Norway loss. Norway’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security announces the finalists for their NAWSARH search and rescue helicopter competition. The program had started with the NH90-NFH as the assumed platform, with 10 options built into Norway’s initial NH90 contract, but now the NH90 is out. Sikorsky, who forced the buy into a competition, is also out.

Further negotiations will now take place with AgustaWestland (AW101) and Eurocopter (EC725). Norway aims to sign a contract by the end of 2013, and aims to phase out the last H-3 Sea King by 2020. For full coverage, see “AW101 Flies off With Norway’s SAR Helicopter Competition“.

Norway loss

June 23/13: German FAME. The German army declares its NH90 FAME MEDEVAC helicopters “operationally capable.” The Germans have 4 helicopters in Afghanistan at Mazar-e-Sharif, and Aviation Week reports that a MEDEVAC mission will use both operational helicopters in a pickup-escort arrangement, while the other 2 are held back as “technical reserve”. The German contingent’s 4 EC665 Tiger Asgard-T attack helicopters are also available as escorts, if needed. Aviation Week.

June 18/13: Industrial. Aviation Week reports that NH90 partners have been delivering around 30 per year year, but are looking to continue ramping up production to 40-50 in 2013, and 60 per year beyond that. The problem is budget crunches among participating governments, which are likely to create renegotiated and extended delivery schedules. Even at 60 per year, existing orders would keep the consortium busy for another 6 years just clearing the backlog.

Portugal continues to negotiate the cancellation of its 10-helicopter order, and Spain is reportedly looking to cut its 45-helicopter order in half, to 22. Eurocopter EVP Dominique Maudet is more optimistic about Norway, which is reportedly satisfied with its initial models and will make its SAR helicopter decision in 2014. India and Qatar have also reportedly expressed interest. Aviation Week.

May 29/13: France. La Tribune reports that France has ordered their final tranche of 34 NH90 TTH Army helicopter options from Eurocopter, in a contract that was said to approach EUR 1 billion. Defense-Aerospace points out that the order had been described as “imminent” back in January 2012. La Tribune [in French] | Defense-Aerospace | Lloyd’s.

France: 34 TTH

June 6/13: Belgium. A delay in the delivery of Belgium’s 4 NH90-NFH helicopters means that they can’t retire their fleet of aged H-3 Sea Kings on-schedule. Which means more money, and availability problems. Add Belgium to the list of unhappy customers, especially since they placed their order 6 years ago, in 2007 (q.v. June 19/07). Shephard Rotorhub.

May 9/13: Australia. Australia’s Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) signs a Deed of undertaking with Eurocopter subsidiary Australian Aerospace and their industry partners to re-baseline the “MRH90” army helicopter project’s schedule, settle a number of disputed program issues, and change some contract terms. The biggest change is free delivery of a 47th helicopter for maintenance training at the Army’s Aviation Maintenance school at Oakey, Queensland.

The MRH90 program is 3 years behind, and currently sits on the government’s notorious “Projects of Concern” list. Australian Aerospace agreed on a number of technical fixes back in 2012, and this contract aims to settle the remaining issues and get the MRH90 removed from the Projects of Concern list by the end of 2013. Meanwhile, the MRH90’s problems appear to have cost the NH90 a role as Australia’s future naval helicopter, which was awarded to Sikorsky’s MH-60R Seahawk instead (vid. June 16/11 entry). Australia DoD | Australian Aerospace | Projects of Concern.

Australia MRH90 settlement & changes

May 2/13: Italy. The Italian Army gets its 21st of 60 NH90-TTH machines, but it’s the 1st in Full Operational Configuration. Meanwhile, the Italian Army has now flown 5 Initial Operational Configuration NH90s in Afghanistan’s demanding conditions for 470 combat flight hours.

Note that Italy’s order total in DID’s table shows 70 NH90 TTH helicopters, because the Italian Navy ordered 10 of its own. NH Industries.

April 8/13: Belgium. NH Industries announces the first flight of Belgium’s NH90-NFH, part of Belgium’s 8-helicopter, evenly split order. It’s being delivered:

“…in its full operational capability standard, already known as the “Step B.” This aircraft is very close to the Dutch NH90 NFH Step B currently operationally deployed with the Royal Netherland’s [sic] Navy.”

March 15/13: German cuts. Germany and Eurocopter sign an agreement that substantially cuts its NH90-TTH and Tiger UHT buys, while adjusting their mix of helicopters and ending any hope of a naval helicopter competition.

Under the agreement, Germany’s total buy of NH90s shrinks from 122 to 82, and its purchase of Army & Air Force helicopters shrinks even further. As part of the agreement, Germany will buy 18 NH90-NFH naval helicopters, down from its original requirement of 30. This removes any potential competition for that order, and marks a reduction of 58 NH90-TTH helicopters (47.5%) for the Army and Air Force.

At the same time, Germany is cutting its order for EC665 Tiger UHT scout/attack helicopters from 80 to 57 – a cut that will require them to return 11 helicopters to Eurocopter for resale. Financial savings have not been disclosed yet. German Ministry of Defence [in German].

Germany cuts its order

Jan 21/13: Netherlands. A Dutch NH90 NFH becomes the 1st of its type to deploy abroad, embarked aboard HRMS De Ruyter for anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden. Rotorhub.

1st NFH deployment

2012

Portugal cancels its 10 NH90s; 1st NH90 combat deployment; Norway threatens cancellation; 100th NH90 delivered – took a while.

FS Aquitaine & Caiman
(click to view full)

Nov 28/12: Norway. NHIndustries delivers Norway’s 2nd NH90 NFH at AgustaWestland’s Tessera, Italy facility, where it was assembled. The Norwegians have been getting antsy (vid. Aug 2/12 entry), so every little bit helps. Note that delivery is not the same as “ready for operations.” NH Industries.

Sept 18/12: Belgium. Belgium’s 1st of 4 NH90 TTH helicopters begins flight testing from Eurocopter’s facility in Marignane, France. NH Industries adds that:

“The Belgian NH90 TTH is a Full Operational Capability standard helicopter. This aircraft is very close to the french [sic] NH90 Caiman TTH for which deliveries started in the end of 2011 in Full Operational Capability Standard. This commonality brings to the Belgian customer all the return of experience collected during the development of the French NH90 TTH.”

The same may not be true of Belgium’s 4 NH90 NFH naval helicopters, as that variant isn’t finished development yet. The helicopters were ordered in July 2007. NH Industries.

Aug 31/12: Deployed. Italy deploys the 1st NH90 helicopters abroad.

The 5 helicopters were airlifted into Afghanistan aboard C-17s (either NATO SAC or USAF), and the plan is to have 6 NH90s in Herat for 6 months. They will serve alongside heavier Italian CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters, and A129 Mongoose attack helicopters, to help Italy cover ISAF’s large northwestern sector near Iran. NH Industries and follow-on.

1st deployment abroad

Aug 2/12: Norway out? Flight International reports that Norway, which ordered 8 NH90-NFH utility helicopters in 2001 and has received just 1 so far (vid. Nov 30/11 entry), is threatening to cancel its order and buy a different helicopter.

“Speaking last month on a tour with the coastguard in northern Norway, secretary of state for defence Roger Ingebrigtsen said: “NH90 is greatly delayed and I am very concerned about this situation. We therefore have to consider what the options are to ensure the coastguard has the helicopter capacity we depend on.”

The defence ministry adds: “If the manufacturer doesn’t manage to deliver the helicopters [to deadline] we are considering cancelling the contract… There are several helicopters on the market that are combat-proven and in use by other nations,”

If Norway canceled its entire order, it would also be canceling its 6 NH90-NFH anti-submarine helicopters. There are alternatives. Sikorsky’s comparable S-92 is already in use by other Coast Guards, and their smaller MH-60R is a proven anti-submarine helicopter. AgustaWestland’s larger AW101 has Coast Guard credentials, and its naval helicopter variant is in service with Britain and Italy. A few days later, an article in AftenPosten [in Norwegian] states that an Air Force report recommends asking a quote from Sikorsky for MH-60Rs, as a plan B in case NH Industries continues to fail. Back in 2007 their neighbor Finland settled its differences with the manufacturer for a relatively modest penalty, but that was a short delay on a smaller order.

July 3/12: Portugal out. Jane’s reports that Portugal has chosen to cancel its Puma replacement effort, and suspend its participation in the NH90 program. This means the country will abandon the monies paid to date, as well as all 10 helicopters they were to have received. Savings are estimated at EUR 420 million (about $530 million).

Portugal is also said to be renegotiating other contracts, such as its 2005 order with General Dynamics for 260 Pandur II 8×8 wheeled armored personnel carriers.

Portugal quits

June 29/12: Oman. NH Industries delivers another 2 NH90-TTH to Oman, bringing their total deliveries to 10 of 20 ordered. The contract was signed on July 24/04.

May 27/12: Flight International reports that the NH90’s orders from Greece, Portugal, and Spain are all in peril of cancellation or reduction.

To date, Greece is the only one of the 3 that has received any helicopters, despite orders that began in 2001. Only 1 of Greece’s 4 delivered NH90s is even in the process of conversion to the full operational version, out of a 2003 order for up to 34 (16 TTH, 4 Special Ops variants, 14 options). Portugal has yet to accept any of its 10 TTH machines ordered in 2001, while Spain is reportedly looking to cut up to 8 helicopters from its 2006 order for 45.

March 8/12: Writedown. EADS reports its 2011 financial results, and Eurocopter results were generally good. The firm finished its 100th NH90 in 2011, but:

“A net charge of around [EUR] 115 million was booked in 2011. This mainly relates to governmental programmes [i.e. NH90 and Tiger] as well as to SHAPE [the firm’s restructuring plan]. The 2010 figure included a net charge of [EUR] 120 million.”

Aviation Week adds that:

“Departing EADS CFO Hans-Peter Ring says he “cannot guarantee” that there won’t be further charges . He blames the NH90 problems on the companies’ willingness to allow too much customization, with almost every buyer having a near-bespoke configuration.”

March 8/12: France. DCNS, the French Navy, and the French DGA procurement agency successfully complete a series of deck landing trials with the new NH90 NFH (“Caiman Marine”), on board the new FREMM frigate FS Aquitaine. DCNS.

Jan 30/12: France. An official unveiling ceremony is held for the 1st French Army NH90 TTH, which will also be referred to as “Caiman” in French service, alongside the NH90 NFH utility variant. The helicopter will go to GAMSTAT in Valencia to begin its technical and operational testing. French DGA [in French].

Jan 3/12: #100. NH Industries announces delivery of the 100th NH90 variant, about 11.5 years after the initial base contract was signed.

2011

Germany will upgrade 12 NH90s for MEDEVAC; Final Operational Configuration for NH90-TTH; French NH90 naval helicopters enter service; Problems in Australia force a diagnostic review of the program; Australia buys MH-60R naval helicopters, instead of more NH90s; Sweden buys UH-60Ms for MEDEVAC, instead of more NH90s.

Australian MRH-90
(click to view full)

Dec 8/11: France’s “Caiman”. French NH90 NFHs operational. A ceremony marks the official entry of France’s NH90 NFH “Caiman” naval helicopters into service with Flotille 33F. So far, 5 helicopters have been delivered in utility configuration, of the 27 total. The name “Caiman” was chosen in conjunction with the French Army, who has ordered 34 NH90 TTH helicopters of its own.

The Marine Nationale’s eventual mix will be 13 utility models with a rear ramp, and 14 full anti-submarine models without the rear ramp. They’ll be based at BAN (NAS) Hyeres on the French Riviera and BAN Lanveoc in Brittany, plus 1 detached to Cherbourg in Normandy. From there, they’ll deploy aboard France’s high-end frigates: the 2 Horizon Class air defense ships, and its forthcoming Aquitaine Class FRMM multi-role ships. They may also deploy to France’s amphibious ships like the Mistral Class, but the number of NH90 NFH helicopters ordered will make that an occasional posting. Besides a door gunner, their initial armament will be MU90 Eurotorp lightweight torpedoes, with light anti-ship missiles to follow around 2021. Navy Recognition.

French “Caimans” operational

Nov 30/11: Norway. Norway holds a delivery ceremony at AgustaWestland in Verigate, Italy, for their 1st NH90 NFH naval helicopter. Their 14 NH90s will replace the Coast Guard’s AgustaWestland’s Lynx helicopters (8 NH90s), and serve as the new Nansen Class AEGIS frigates’ ASW helicopters (6 NH90s). They will be based at Bardufoss Air Station. AgustaWestland.

Nov 8/11: Germany. Reuters reports that Eurocopter and HN Industries are looking to compensate for Germany’s NH90 TTH cut by pushing the country to buy the naval NH90-NFH, to replace 21 H-3 Sea King and 22 AgustaWestland Sea Lynx helicopters. Reuters adds that the German Navy hasn’t been impressed with the NH90-NFH so far, and has concerns about its upgradeability.

Even if that’s true, Eurocopter has a card to play. Eurocopter CEO Lutz Bertling said that talks over the proposed contract changes would begin in mid-December 2011, with the goal of an agreement in principle by March 2012. The implication is that Eurocopter would forego some or all cancellation fees on existing EC665 Tiger UHT and NH90-TTH contracts, if Germany agreed to buy the NH90-NFH instead of competitors like Sikorsky’s MH-92/CH-148 or MH-60R/S; or AgustaWestland’s EH101 or AW159 Wildcat.

Another possibility involves agreement to fund development of a joint FTH heavy-lift helicopter with France and/or the USA, in which Eurocopter would likely partner with Boeing or Sikorsky.

Nov 8/11: NH90-TTH final configuration. NAHEMA issues the NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopter’s Final Operational Configuration certification, stating that it fully meets customer specifications. With this go-ahead, the French Army will receive their initial FOC NH90 TTH before 2011 ends, and deliveries to Italy, Belgium and Germany will begin in 2012.

The announcement also implies the start of retrofit programs, among customers who have already received early model NH90 TTHs for training use. NH Industries | EADS.

NH90 TTH FOC cert

Oct 21/11: German cuts? As German austerity measures cut further into an already weak defense budget, the government announces changes to its NH90 TTH plans. They’ll be cutting 42 NH90s from the 112 helicopter procurement plan, capping the total buy at 80. The final split between the Army and Air Force, who were going to fly slightly different versions of the TTH model, remains unclear. Also unclear: potential termination costs under the contract with NH Industries.

Eurocopter will actually be taking 2 hits. One from its share of NH90 work, another from Germany halving its buy of Tiger HAC/UHT scout/attack helicopters, to just 40. Aviation Week.

Aug 31/11: Finland. Patria announces an agreement with the Finnish Defence Forces, to design and manufacture NH90 ballistic protection plates that will protect both pilots and transported personnel. The project will be implemented during 2012-2014. Patria Oy | Rotorhub.

June 23/11: Italy. The Italian Navy formally takes delivery of its first NH90-NFH naval helicopter. they’re the 2nd NFH customer to take delivery, after the Dutch (vid. April 21/10 entry). AgustaWestland.

June 20/11: NH90 FAME MEDEVAC. Eurocopter signs an agreement with Germany to upgrade 12 German NH90-TTH helicopters to NH90 FAME (Forward Air Medical Evacuation/ MEDEVAC) configuration, using upgrade kits that can be installed in 30 minutes (vid. June 4/10 entry). NH90 FAME helicopters will be equipped with 2 intensive care stations for treating wounded personnel, along with a defibrillator, a transport ventilator, a surveillance monitor, and seats for the medical team. the helicopters are expected to enter service in July 2012.

Germany: 12 MEDEVAC upgrades

June 16/11: Australia. The MH-60R beats the NH90-NFH for Australia’s 24-helicopter, A$3+ billion (over $3.16 billion) AIR 9000, Phase 8 helicopter competition, even though Australia had switched from H-60/S-70 Army helicopters to the NH90-TTH several years ago. A combination of problems with its “MRH-90s,” slow NH90 TTH development, MH-60R naval interoperability benefits, and the MH-60R’s low-risk operational status tipped the balance. Read “MH-60R Wins Australia’s Maritime Helicopter Competition” for full coverage.

Loss in Australia

May 9/11: Sonar. Marport C-Tech Ltd. receives “a multi-million dollar contract” From SELEX Galileo to manufacture OTS-90 helicopter dipping sonar modules. The firm is a specialist in software-defined sonar, and work will be carried out at its facilities in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.

The OTS-90 system is derived from L-3 Ocean Systems’ HELRAS(Helicopter Long Range Active Sonar), and some component units are manufactured under license by SELEX Galileo. Marport manufactures some HELRAS modules as well, which gives it links to a broad array of maritime helicopters: HELRAS-equipped SH-60 Seahawks, AW101s, and Canada’s CH-148/H-92 program; as well as NH90 NFH helicopters belonging to Italy and The Netherlands (OTS-90).

May 5/11: Netherlands. AgustaWestland announces that the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) has taken delivery of the firm’s Skyflight Mission Planning & Analysis System (MPAS) for their NH90 NFH naval helicopters, following successful completion of installation and Site Acceptance Tests.

The system will be fully operational on Dutch NH90s by the end of 2012 (vid. Dec 23/09 entry, looks like they’ll miss the Q3 2011 date for full capability), and Skyflight also serves aboard a number of other helicopter types around the world.

April 29/11: Australia. Australia completes its “full diagnostic review” of the MRH-90 program, after engine failures, transmission oil cooler fan failures and the poor availability of spares ground the fleet. To date, 13 of 46 MRH-90 helicopters have been accepted by Australia’s DoD and are being used for testing and initial crew training. They aren’t operational yet, and so far, the Army helicopters are 12 months behind schedule and the Navy helicopters, 18 months.

The review doesn’t consign the program to the infamous “Projects of Concern” list – yet. It does ask for a remediation plan, before a follow-up diagnostic review later in 2011 looks at the project again. With the Australian naval helicopter contract looming, a good follow-on review is important to Eurocopter. Australian DoD.

April 2011: Sweden. Sweden ordered its NH90s in 2001, and has received 7 helicopters, but their fleet won’t be fully operational until 2020 or later. Those delays have created a opening for Sikorsky’s H-60M, as Sweden pursues final negotiations for 15 Black Hawk helicopters to perform combat search and rescue and MEDEVAC roles in Afghanistan and beyond, beginning in 2013. The contracts will reportedly be worth $550-750 million. See full DID coverage.

Loss in Sweden

Feb 1/11: Australia. The Australian DoD makes an announcement concerning its MRH-90s:

“Mr Smith and Mr Clare also announced that a high-level comprehensive diagnostic review of the MRH-90 helicopter project would occur this month. As reported in both the Defence Annual Report and the ANAO Major Project Report released last year, the project has suffered delays of 12 months for the Navy’s helicopters and 18 months for the Army’s helicopters. Delays are due to a series of key issues, including engine failure, transmission oil cooler fan failures and the poor availability of spares… 13 MRH-90 helicopters have been accepted by Defence to date and are currently being used for testing and initial crew training. Minister Smith said that the full diagnostic review would be supported by external specialists. It will provide recommendations to Government on the actions necessary to fully implement this important project.”

The timing here is poor, as the NH90 is competing with Sikorsky’s proven MH-60R to replace Sikorsky’s S-70s as Australia’s next naval/ASW helicopter.

2010

German complains of deficiencies made public; MEDEVAC variant unveiled; 1st NH90-NFH delivered; Naval opportunities in Germany & Australia.

Dutch NH-90 NFH
(click to view full)

Dec 17/10: Spain. NHI announces the 1st flight of a Spanish NH90 TTH, at Eurcopter’s facilities in Marignane, France. This event marks also the first flight of a GE CT7-8F5 powered NH90, instead of the RTM322.

Spain ordered 45 of the medium utility helicopters in December 2006, with the first 2 built in France and the other 43 assembled in Albacete, Spain. The initial NH90 TTH will be transferred to Albacete in 2011 in order to complete the development flights, leading to a full qualification by the Spanish Ministry of Defence and expected induction in 2012.

Dec 16/10: France. NHI announces the maiden flight of the first French NH90 TTH medium utility helicopter for French Army Aviation (ALAT), at the Eurocopter facilities in Marignane, France. The flight follows the December 2007 order for 34 NH90 TTH machines.

Oct 23/10: Australia. The Australian reports on the Project AIR 9000, Phase 8 helicopter competition. A navy evaluation team reportedly test-flew the MH-60R in early October 2010, and wants to fly the NH90 NFH as well, even though its mission systems software won’t be ready until mid-2011, and the helicopter won’t be operational until late 2011 – well after Australia’s decision deadline.

In the end, the NH90 lost. Read “MH-60R Wins Australia’s Maritime Helicopter Competition” for full coverage.

Sept 30/10: Swedish switch. The US DSCA announces Sweden’s request to buy 15 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters for combat search &and rescue & MEDEVAC duties in Afghanistan. Sweden already flies the NH90 TTH in a “high cabin” configuration that’s especially well suited to combat search and rescue and MEDEVAC operations, and Eurocopter unveiled a German NH90-TTH MEDEVAC kit on June 4/10.

Even so, the NH90’s slow delivery and certification times end up shifting the additional order to the NH90’s main competitor instead, as the contract goes through. See full DID coverage.

June 28/10: Oman. The Royal Air Force of Oman takes delivery of its first 2 NH90-TTH helicopters, out of an order of 20 that was placed on July 24/04. It will be followed in July 2010, by the acceptance process for the second batch of NH90s. These helicopters are supported by an integrated NHI/ RAFO maintenance team who will inaugurate the NH90’s GLIMS (Ground Logistic Information Management System). NH Industries.

June 14/10: New Zealand. News 3 quotes New Zealand Defence Minister Wayne Mapp of the National Party, who says that despite German reports citing issues with the NH90 (vid. Feb 23/10 and March 31/10 entries), he won’t be canceling New Zealand’s order.

June 7/10: Germany naval. Sikorsky is looking to pursue a 30-helicopter bid to replace Germany’s H-3 Sea Kings with their MH-92 Cyclone instead of the NH90 NFH, and also wants to compete for an 8-19 helicopter Combat Search And Rescue (CSAR) opportunity to replace German UH-1Ds. A decision is expected in late 2010, if proposed budget cuts don’t derail the programs.

At the ILA 2010 airshow in Berlin, Sikorsky signed a Memorandum of Understanding “to explore opportunities” in aftermarket support involves their long-standing partner ZF Luftfahrttechnik GmbH (ZF Aviation Technology), while the other involves Switzerland’s RUAG, and will explore “Maintenance and Repair Operation as well as integrated logistics support and completion capabilities.” Rheinmetall and MTU are also reputed to be involved in discussions.

The Cyclone might be operational in a maritime role before the NH90 NFH, and the firm has some HH-92 CSAR design experience from its participation in the aborted American CSAR-X competition. Their bid remains something of a long shot, but Sikorsky representatives are quoted as saying that the partnerships and experience will stand them in good stead to bid the future CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter for the Franco-German HTH program. Sikorsky has reportedly secured American export approval for the Cyclone, and would conduct final assembly in Germany. Aviation Week | Flight International | Shephard Group.

June 4/10: NH90 MEDEVAC. Eurocopter unveils an NH90-TTH MEDEVAC variant for the German Army, which does not consider any of its 14 delivered NH90s operational yet. A total of 12 helicopters will be modified to this MEDEVAC configuration. The 20-month expedited buy led Eurocopter to move Final Operational Configuration (FOC) NH90 features forward, including the MG-3 machine gun parts kit and ballistic protection. Existing NH90 systems such as electronic countermeasures, TopOwl helmet-mounted display for low-altitude night flight, and secure voice communications received adaptations, and the MEDEVAC helicopters install seats for the medical team and 2 intensive care bays for treating wounded personnel.

The MEDEVAC helicopters will also have some combat search and rescue related capabilities, but Eurocopter plans to offer a separate refit kit for that role. Options for the CSAR kit include up to 3 machine guns (each side door and the tail ramp), anti-ballistic protection, a rappel system, a double rescue hoist, an emergency flotation system, sand filters, an obstacle warning system, and improved self-protection electronics. EADS Eurocopter.

MEDEVAC/ FAME

May 18/10: Australia. Australia’s government announces that specialists from Turbomeca and Rolls Royce have been brought to Australia to help investigate an MRH90 engine failure that took place on April 20/10, about 30 minutes north east of Adelaide. The helicopter returned to RAAF base Edinburgh without further incident or injuries to personnel, but the incident resulted in a fleet-wide grounding.

May 14/10: Finland. Finland announces that it will retire its last 2 Mi-8 helicopters. The Finnish Army is reportedly flying 7 of its eventual 20 NH90 TTHs at Utti, and has amassed over 1,400 fleet flight hours, with deliveries from local assembly partner Patria to be completed in 2012.

Local commanders expect the NH90s to reach full operational status by 2013-14, but believes that could be moved forward to 2012 on an emergency basis, if required for an international deployment or sudden circumstances. Flight International.

April 28/10: Australia. Australia issues its formal solicitation for “AIR 9000, Phase 8” to buy naval helicopters: either the NH90 NFH or the MH-60R, decision in 2011. Ministerial release

April 23/10: France. The French Navy receives its first NH90 NFH naval helicopter. Following operational testing and training, the helicopter is expected to enter French Navy service near the end of 2011. France has ordered 27 NH90 NFH helicopters: 13 in support configuration, and 14 in naval combat/ ASW configuration. The NH90s will embark on its modern Lafayette, Horizon, and Aquitaine Class frigates, and on its Mistral Class amphibious ships. France DGA [in French] | NH Industries.

April 21/10: Netherlands is 1st NFH delivery. AgustaWestland announces that The Royal Netherlands Navy received its 1st of 20 NH90 NFH naval helicopter during an official ceremony held at AgustaWestland’s Vergiate plant in Italy. See also Dec 23/09 entry for background.

Today’s event marks the first delivery of a naval NH90 NFH variant to any customer. AgustaWestland | NH Industries.

1st NH90 NFH delivery

March 31/10: Defects? On the occasion of a visit to Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH, defpro.com [ed.: link no longer working] asks for Eurocopter’s response to BILD’s report, and receives a response from Eurocopter Vice President & NAHEMA Programme Coordination Manager Dr Clive Schley.

As a quick rundown, the answer to most of these is “contractual specifications.” Dr. Schley says the ground clearance is to specifications, as is the winch’s 270 kg load. Other customers have done fast-roping from the NH90, but Germany did not buy that ancillary equipment. The approved internal 110 kg seat load is not the maximum load, and first results of tests for stretcher loading procedures when a machine gun is installed in the door are “promising.” Trials of the NH90 MedEvac demonstrator are scheduled for Q2 2010.

March 1/10: Defects? The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Australia’s military is aware of the German report, but is making no commitments:

“A defence spokesman said Australia was seeking an English translation of the German Army trial report on its NH-90 helicopters. He said all matters of operational effectiveness and airworthiness were taken seriously and the German report would be reviewed in detail.”

Australia operates the same model helicopter, but designates it as MRH90.

Feb 23/10: Defects? The German Army is concerned over several deficiencies with the NH90 TTH helicopter as fielded, and says so in an official report. Germany’s Bild daily says the army has tried out 13 test helicopters, and concluded they were not fully battle-ready. Key complaints reportedly include:

• Seats with weight capacities of just 110 kg, very low in an era where soldiers routinely carry 20-30 kg of protective gear;
  
• Helicopter winch that can’t handle the needs of fast-roping commando teams or boarding parties;
  
• No defensive machine gun and door-gunner, due to limited cabin space;
  
• An infantry team can be carried only if team members leave their personal weapons and kit on the floor, slowing offloading; worse, there are no floor straps to secure those weapons;
  
• The lack of floor straps means that heavier weapons like shoulder-fired missiles can’t be transported at all;
  
• The composite floor is too prone to damage, and the rear ramp can’t support fully equipped soldiers. Note that the Bild report refers to a floor that can’t handle soldiers with dirty boots, which makes little sense. If the rear ramp can’t support the banging weight of fully-equipped troops, however, the floor may also have issues.
  
• The Bild report refers to difficulties with soldiers exiting the helicopter on ground with obstacles over 16 cm tall, due to low ground clearance, which makes little sense on its face. If there’s a problem with low clearance and damage-prone composites, however, it could create problems landing the helicopters on obstacle-strewn ground. That might in turn force slower methods of exit, like hover-and-rope, but the connection isn’t intuitive.

See Bild [in German] | Defense News | UPI.

Performance issues?

Jan 6/10: Australia. Australia’s Daily Telegraph reports that Australia’s Labor Party government has rejected a DoD request to approve a $4 billion “rapid acquisition” of 24 MH-60R Seahawk helicopters and related equipment. The buy would have been an emergency replacement for the long-running, ill-starred, and canceled SH-2G Super Seasprite program.

Instead, successful lobbying by Eurocopter will force a competition between Sikorsky’s MH-60R, in service with the US Navy, and the European NH90 NFH variant, which is expected to be ready for service sometime around 2011-2012.

2009

Orders: France (22); Germany reporting defects and problems.

MRH90 w. 105mm Hamel
(click to view full)

Dec 23/09: Netherlands. The Netherlands gets its 1st NH90-NFH naval helicopter at AgustaWestland’s Italian facility, but the machine will not be officially accepted until after a series of inspections and tests. Once accepted and formally delivered, however, the helicopters will only be suitable for crew training and basic coastal patrols.

This “meaningful operationally capable” standard is the consequence of technical issues involving weight gain, the helicopter’s maritime radar and tactical navigation, etc. In order to minimize delays and begin delivering helicopters, which was supposed to happen in mid-2009 for the Dutch, NH Industries and its customers agreed to a phased fielding program. That allows basic acceptance trials and familiarization to begin earlier, which mitigates normal post-delivery service delays, but does not provide fully operational helicopters. Per the July 10/09 entry, NHIndustries believes they can deliver NH90-NFHs that fully meet Dutch specifications by Q3 2011.Dutch MvD [in Dutch] | Aviation Week | Europe Aviation News.

November 2009: Australia. Australia conducts naval trials of its MRH90s, which are closely derived from the NH90-TTH Army variant. The month long testing regime on board the LST amphibious ship HMAS Manoora gauged the MRH90’s capabilities at sea through takeoffs, landings, munitions transfers and weight load carries.

This month, the Army also conducts “lift trials” for various vehicles and loads with the MRH90’s external sling system. Australian DoD LST release and image gallery | Lift Trials release & gallery.

Oct 23/09: Australia. The Australian reports that the country’s military chiefs have recommended the MH-60R as Australia’s next anti-submarine helicopter, citing it as a cheaper and lower risk solution compared with the NH90 NFH, with better allied interoperability. Australia would be looking to buy 24 helicopters for service by 2014, per the 2009 Defence White Paper.

In the end, the MH-60R did win. Read “MH-60R Wins Australia’s Maritime Helicopter Competition” for full coverage.

Oct 14/09: Norway. A NH90-NFH naval test helicopter lands on Norway’s North Cape Class coast guard vessel Nordkap, at Helligvaer, in Vestfjorden. Nordkap will be used as the platform for operational testing of maritime landings, including landings under Norway’s famously difficult conditions. Mother Nature didn’t disappoint, as weather during the initial trials went from fair, to southwest winds gusting up to 60 knots.

Even though Norway was one of the NH90’s early export orders in 2001, deliveries of operational Norwegian aircraft are expected to begin during the second half of 2010. The Navy will then require additional time to test and qualify the helicopters before they can see operational use. Forsvaret [in Norwegian] | NH Industries.

Aug 4/09: Defects? Germany’s Der Spiegel runs “German Army Angry over EADS Delays and Technical Glitches,” which is critical of several EADS products including the NH90. Relevant excerpt:

“The NH90 transport helicopter is also regarded as a flop by the military… The Bundeswehr had ordered 80 of the helicopters for a total of [EUR] 1.7 billion. However, the first sample aircraft only arrived at the end of 2006. Admittedly, the army is now in possession of eight of them. However, they are only 26 percent fit for service. That means that on average only two of the helicopters are ready to start at any given time.

And the helicopters cannot be deployed in the way the military had originally planned. The NH90 is supposed to accommodate 16 fully-armed soldiers. It’s not yet clear if this can be achieved. Recently a somewhat heavy passenger was told that the maximum weight per seat was 100 kilograms. However, even a slim soldier with a combat pack would easily make that weight – after all, a bullet-proof vest alone weighs around 15 kilograms.”

July 10/09: Netherlands. The Dutch MvD expects to receive their first “Meaningful Operational Capabilities” NH90 NFH naval helicopters for acceptance testing by the end of 2009. Mid-2009 was supposed to mark induction of Full Operational Capability (FOC) helicopters, but he NH90 NFH weight growth has affected some operational capabilities, and so have technical delays. Instead, NHIndustries ‘believes’ they can deliver the first FOC NH-90s by Q3 2011. MvD release [in Dutch].

The Dutch eventually take delivery of their first partially-capable NH90 helicopter on Dec 23/09.

Jan 8/09: French order. France’s DGA announces that it is picking up a EUR 600 million (about $820 million) option for 22 more NH90-TTH battlefield transport helicopters. The purchase was planned as part of France’s multi-year military budget. The NH90-TTH helicopters are scheduled for delivery from 2011 onward, and will be assembled at Eurocopter’s facility in Marignane, France.

EADs release states that to date, 25 NH90 helicopters have been delivered to customers and another 50 are under construction, out of total orders of 529. DGA [Français] | EADS.

France: 22 TTH

2008

Germany continues developing mission planning system; RTM322 cements hold on NH90 market; Finnish reports.

Italian NH90-TTH
(click to view full)

July 16/08: RTM322 Engine Wins. The Rolls-Royce Turbomeca partnership announces that its RTM322 engine has been selected over GE competitors to power new NH90 fleets in France (61 + 34 options), Belgium (8 + 2), and New Zealand (9).

RTM322-powered NH90s will now be flown by Australia, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Oman, Portugal and Sweden. Spain and Italy will use GE’s engines instead.

March 11/08: Finland. Finnish Army Aviation officially takes delivery of its first NH90. The ceremony took place at Eurocopter in Marignane, France where the helicopter was assembled. Most of Finland’s subsequent helicopters will be assembled locally by Patria. NHIndustries release.

March 4/08: Finland. Suila’s NH90 program report is released to the Finnish public, and a summary is posted by the MoD. Key takeaways include a finding that both parties to the contract have been acting in good faith, that Finland received acceptable compensation of the delay in delivery, and that the choice of helicopter suits both Finland’s needs and interoperability requirements for deployments abroad.

With respect to areas for improvement, the Finnish Ministry of Defence release had an appropriate quote from the report: “The haste of the initial phase is usually a setback.” Risk assessment needs to be more fully developed, rules for communication need to be improved since this became a bottleneck at times, other areas of procurement policy also need to be streamlined, and more commonality in national aircraft certification processes needs to be developed in Europe. Ministry of Defence release | The full Suila report [PDF]

Jan 29/08: German EUA Planning System. The German BWB procurement agency has placed a EUR 40+ million 3rd tranche order with EADS Defence & Security (DS) for the EUA Operations Support System. In its final configuration, the EUA OSS will cover the entire process cycle of a helicopter squadron – from receipt of command through complete tactical and technical mission planning up to evaluation and logistics – using one single planning system. The EUA system also includes voice radio and radio data transmission with military command and control systems, as well as the ability to establish a connection with other information systems for weather, maps, aeronautical information and air-traffic monitoring, and other useful real-time updates.

The EUA is planned for deployment with the Fritzlar Army Air Corps in Spring 2008. Eventually, the system will prepare, plan and execute missions for Germany’s NH90-TTH medium transport, Tiger HAP attack, and CH-53G heavy transport helicopters. EADS release. See also May 16/06 entry.

Jan 8/08: Italy. AgustaWestland announces that the Italian Army’s Aviation Unit officially took delivery of its first NH90 TTH helicopter in “late December, 2007.”

Italian Army NH90s will be operated by Friuli Airmobile Brigade, replacing older models currently operated by the service in various utility roles. AgustaWestland will also provide a complete product support and training package through a Phased Logistic Support program, with an initial commitment of 3 years.

2007

Orders: Belgium (10), France (12), Germany (42); Nordic RTM322 engine support agreement; GE’s CT7-8F5 to power Spain’s helos; Dutch and Finland very unhappy with lateness, but stay in the program; Sweden passes on 7 options; Norway drops 10 options, opens SAR competition.

MRH90 arrives
(click to view full)

Dec 18/07: Australia. The first 2 Australian Defence Force MRH-90s are accepted into service during a ceremony at Australian Aerospace facilities in Brisbane.

Dec 12/07: Finnish settlement. The Finnish Ministry of Defence announces a satisfactory agreement with NH Industries re: its NH90 order, which was supposed to begin delivery in 2004 and end in 2007. An adjusted contract was signed on Dec 14/07.

Published reports vary re: the delivery schedule, but Jyrki iivonen of Finland’s MoD informs DID that it will be: 5 in 2008, 4 in 2009, and the remaining 11 in 2010-2011. The 9 helicopters delivered in 2008-2009 will not be fully operational, however, and will be used for training and development of concepts of operations. They will be upgraded to full capability by Patria in Finland during 2010-2011. This still leaves NH Industries at least 3 years late in fulfilling its commitments, so the firm will pay a penalty of just under EUR 20 million on the EUR 343 million order. Finnish Ministry of Defence | YLE News | STT | Helsingin Sanomat | Forbes re: penalty | Reuters.

Dec 12/07: Finland. In a move that may not be coincidence, Patria and NHI sign an agreement to give Patria an extended NHI Service Centre for Finland, which NHI and Patria will jointly offer to the other Nordic NH90 customers. There had already been some level of cooperation involving RTM322 engines, but this new agreement expands Patria’s capabilities considerably. In the Patria release, Executive Vice President Eukka Holkeri said:

“We are very pleased with the co-operation agreement. This agreement further strengthens the unique skills and competencies of Patria in helicopter support and repair technologies as well as represents an opportunity to gain even more in-depth knowledge of the NH90 helicopters. For Patria the agreement will bring further increased competencies and an opportunity to win a major role in the Nordic NH90 maintenance. This supports our strategy to strengthen Patria’s position as the leading helicopter maintenance provider in the Nordic countries.”

Dec 3/07: Australia ancillaries. Thales Australia announces a contract from Eurocopter subsidiary Australian Aerospace worth A$ 100M (about $88.2 million) for “MRH90” related services helicopters under Project AIR9000 Phases 4 & 6. Thales will add the responsibility to provide aircraft equipment and spares, incl. TopOwl helmet-mounted displays with night vision capabilities, other cockpit avionics including navigation, internal secure communications, identification systems, and tactical systems for the 34 new MRH90s, bringing the total number of helicopters they’re responsible for to 46. The delivery of this equipment will be scheduled from 2008 – 2013.

As an A$ 20 million portion of that contract, Thales will also supply the Australian developed Ground Mission Management System (GMMS) to fulfill Army Aviation Training & Operation requirements. DID coverage.

Nov 30/07: More for France. France’s DGA procurement agency turns its selection of the NH90 as its next battlefield helicopter into a contract worth up to EUR 1.8 billion (currently $2.64 billion), a rate of about EUR 26.5 million (currently $38.9 million) per helicopter.

The initial buy is 12 NH90 TTH helicopters, with options for another 56, to total 68. The current plan is to exercise 22 of the options in 2008, and another 34 in 2010. Even so, the current Puma battlefield helicopter fleet won’t begin to see replacements until 2011. As one might imagine, these helicopters will be manufactured at Eurocopter France’s Marignane site. DGA release | NHI release.

France: 12 TTH

Nov 14/07: Sweden passes on options. NH Industries informs DID that Sweden has chosen not to exercise its additional 7 helicopter options, due to budgetary constraints.

Swedish options

Nov 13/07: Australia. The 1st two MRH90 helicopters arrive at the Australian Aerospace facility in Brisbane inside a leased Antonov aircraft. They are celebrated by a small ceremony at the Australian Aerospace facility involving Industry, DMO and Defence representatives.

The MRH90 aircraft will be returned to flying condition after the transit, and test flown by Australian Aerospace flight test crews in preparation for delivery to the Commonwealth. Australia’s contract calls for the first 4 NH90s to be delivered from Eurocopter in Marignane, France, with final assembly of the other 42 performed by Eurocopter subsidiary Australian Aerospace in Brisbane under the co-production agreement. Australian MoD release.

Nov 11/07: Finland. Finnish News Agency STT covers a report from national daily Helsingin Sanomat that Finalnd is looking into “Plan B” options, including buying or leasing UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters. Puolustsministerio Forsvarsministeriet spokesman Jyrki Iivonen downplayed those reports, however, stressing their interest in concluding negotiations and adding that Finland’s point of departure was that compensation for the delay had to be paid in full, but not necessarily in cash.

“We have built our own systems on the premise that it will be this specific type of aircraft… And we must also bear in mind that there is no oversupply of helicopters at the moment.” STT report | PF release.

Oct 19/07: Finland unhappy. With Finland’s initial NH90 delivery and acceptance over 2 1/2 years behind schedule, Defense Minister Jyri Hakamies appoints former Finnair CEO Keijo Suila to lead a working group that will assess their $790 million NH90 program. The 2001 Nordic Group contract was intended to replace Finland’s 4 Russian Mi-8 medium helicopters and 8 MD500 light utility helicopters with 20 NH90s that would enter service from April 2005 – October 2008, allowing a reorganized helicopter battalion to stand up in 2010. The common procurement action was directly linked to the establishment of the European Union’s Nordic Battle Group (NBG), which also driving other defense buys in the area.

Patria has assembled 3 Finnish NH90s so far, but Finland’s Military Aviation Authority is still securing supplementary technical data from NH Industries before it issues a type certification that would allow them to enter service. This process has been cited as part of Finland’s problem, but as in the Netherlands, there are also complaints that Germany and France’s demands for delivery from the delayed NH90 program are pushing out other customers. There are reports that about $30 million equivalent in compensation was offered when serious production delays made it clear that the planned 2005 delivery was impossible – and the 2 year delay at that time has only grown. NIH officials believe deliveries may begin around mid-2008.

Suila’s report is expected to be in by that time. It will focus on a detailed assessment of exactly what went wrong, and then recommend changes to future procurement processes. Depending on how things go with NH90 delivery, of course, it could also form a very handy basis for quantified compensation claims from the Finnish government. Finnish MoD | Defense News | Newsroom Finland.

NH90-TTH HCV
(click to view full)

Sept 6/07: Sweden. The 1st Patria-assembled Swedish NH90-TTH High-Cabin Version (HCV) helicopter is flown to Sweden. This helicopter is Sweden’s 2nd delivery (vid. June 20/07), but it will be the first NH90 to be operated in Sweden by the Swedish Defence Forces. It will initially be used for training purposes. Patria release | NHI release | EADS release.

Aug 10/07: Netherlands. The 1st serial production NH90-NFH for the Royal Netherlands Navy performs its maiden flight at AgustaWestland’s Vergiate facility in Italy. Final Assembly of the 20 Dutch helicopters takes place at that facility, which is also responsible also for the assembly of the NH90-NFH variant for the Italian (46) and Norwegian (14) navies, and the Italian Army’s NH90-TTH (70).NHI release.

Aug 9/07: Sonar. Thales announces that its FLASH (Folding Light Acoustic System for Helicopters) SONICS have been successfully integrated into a French NH90 NFH naval helicopter, and that flight testing is going well. The first system was delivered to Agusta in July 2005 for platform integration, completing its first test flight on board the NH90 in December 2006. Additional test with the helicopter manufacturer are planned later this year and official testing is scheduled for early 2008.

The FLASH system is a low frequency sonar for helicopters, which is incorporated into the ALFS system on board American Sea Hawk helicopters, and also serves on British EH101 naval helicopters and the UAE’s Cougars. This sonar will be installed on 14 French NH90 NFHs that will be used for anti-submarine missions, while another 13 will be used primarily for naval transport missions and other roles. Norway has also picked FLASH for its NH90 NFHs. Thales release.

June 21/07: GE CT7 Engine win. GE Aviation announces that Spain’s Ministry of Defense has selected GE’s CT7-8F5 engines to power its 45 NH90 helicopters. The engine generates slightly more power than the T700s installed in Italian NH90 helicopters, and is compatible with the upper range of the Rolls Royce/ Turbomeca RTM332’s performance.

As part of the deal, GE will “implement an industrial plan that will focus on the development and diversification of the Spanish aeronautical industry.”

June 20/07: Sweden. The first delivery of the Swedish serial production NH90-TTH High Cabin Version takes place from the Marignane, France facility to the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) during the 2007 Paris Air Show. Delivery of Sweden’s Hkp 14 helicopters had originally been scheduled for “early 2005,” per the Sept 26/01 contract announcement. During this ceremony Gala Gonçalves, General Manager of NHIndustries, underlined the importance of this event since it is “the first serial NH90 transfer of ownership to an Export Customer” (i.e. outside the original French, German, Italian & Dutch consortium).

This particular helicopter will support the Swedish instructors’ training program in France until 2008. FMV release [English] | NHI release.

June 19/07: More for Germany. Germany signs a formal order for 42 additional NH90-TTH helicopters, drawn from its 54 options. German Army (Heer) Aviation will operate 30 of them, and the other 12 will be operated by the German Air Force. The 12 for the Air Force will feature the NH90’s optional rear ramp, plus provisions for armor protection and a machine gun. A total of 8 NH90-TTH from their previous order of 80 are scheduled to be in service with the German Armed Forces by the end of 2007, down from the 14 promised by Eurocopter’s president in the Dec 13/06 release.

See “Germany Exercises Option for 42 More NH90s.” By 2012, however, cuts threaten to erase the buy.

Germany: 42 TTH

June 19/07: NHIndustries signs the Belgian contract for up to 10 NH90 helicopters at the Cercle Militaire Saint-Augustin in Paris, during the Paris Air Show 2007. See “Belgium Orders up to 10 NH90s as Netherlands Complains.”

Belgium: 10 mixed

June 19/07: Nordic engine support agreement. Rolls-Royce Turbomeca signs a “Repair Co-operation Agreement” with Patria Oyj and Norwegian Air Depot Kjeller (ADK). This extends the current arrangements which cover over 110 RTM322 engines that have been built jointly by Patria and ADK, and are jointly supported by their respective facilities in Linnavuori, Finland (Patria) and Kjeller, Norway (ADK).

Initially, this additional “Repair Co-operation Agreement” covers the engines powering NH90s which form part of the Nordic Standard Helicopter Procurement Program, “but this could be extended to cover future requirements” if and when more helicopters powered by RTM322 engine are bought in the region. The engines power helicopters flown by Norway (EH101), Finland and Sweden (NH90). Patria release.

Nordic engine support

May 9/07: Oman. The first Omani NH90 takes to the air from Eurocopter’s Marignane facility. It represents the 9th country out of 14 to achieve the maiden flight of NH90 serial production aircraft after Germany, Italy, Finland, Sweden, Greece, France, Norway and Australia. NHI release | EADS release.

Given this timing, and other production issues, the likelihood of meeting the contracted delivery schedule of 20 helicopters arriving “from the end of 2008 to the end of 2010” would appear to be remote.

Dutch NH90-NFH
(click to view full)

April 28/07: Netherlands. Dutch Defence State Secretary Cees van der Knaap openly expresses anger at the delayed supply of new NH90 helicopters, which has forced the Netherlands to invest EUR 6.5 million to extend the operational lives of 10 AgustaWestland Lynx helicopters as a stopgap measure. He expresses especial annoyance at France, whom he believes to be largely responsible.

The NH90 cockpits have also been a source of complaint; the Christian Democrat party (CDA) proposed to fit Dutch NH90s with American avionics, but this was quashed on regulatory grounds: it would apparently require changing aviation authority regulations. NIS News bulletin.

April 28/07: Belgium. The Belgian government’s Council of Ministers officially decides to procure up to 10 NH90 helicopters, consisting of 8 firm orders (4 TTH and 4 NFH) plus 2 optional aircraft. See “Belgium Orders up to 10 NH90s as Netherlands Complains” for more, including the associated political controversy and the NH90s’ likely deployments.

April 5/07: Finland. Patria Oyj announces that the first Patria-assembled NH90 destined for the Swedish Defence Forces has been successful in its test flights The helicopter in question is the 3rd Swedish NH90 to take off, with 2 others assembled by Eurocopter in Marignane, France. Of the remaining 16 Swedish helicopters, 14 will be assembled in Finland and 2 in France.

MRH90: first flight
(click to view full)

March 29/07: Australia. The first of Australia’s 46 MRH-90 helicopters conducts its maiden flight in Marignane, France. The Australian DoD release adds that: “The first 4 MRH-90 are on schedule for delivery into Australia by the end of 2007, and the first fuselage of the 42 aircraft to be assembled in Australia arrived in Brisbane on 27 March.”

Feb 1/07: Norway SAR. Norway decides to open up its search-and-rescue helicopter choice to a full competition rather than just exercising its 10 NH90 options, following political controversy and a pair of lawsuits. The existing contract’s options remain open if the NH90 should win.

Likely competitors are all larger, and include AgustaWestland’s EH101, Sikorsky’s S-92 Superhawk, and possibly Boeing’s HH-47 Chinook. See “Norway Opens Up SAR Helicopter Competition.”

2006

Orders: Australia (34); New Zealand (9), Spain (45); German certifications.

NH90 TTH, Heer
(click to view full)

Dec 22/06: Spain order. Spain orders 45 NH90-TTH helicopters, as part of a larger Eurocopter order. They will pay EUR 1.26 billion (about $1.66 billion) for the NH90s, to be distributed over 19 annuities from 2007-2025, and the contract comes with a technological and industrial development agreement that makes Eurocopter Espana S.A.’s new plant in Albacete, Spain the site for the assembly of Spain’s NH 90 helicopters, as well as manufacturing the front NH90 fuselage for all customers. Spain’s Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade will contribute to the funding of the program via a grant “of returnable lendings to type of interest zero,” up to EUR 990.6 million (currently about $1.3 billion), “depending on his budgetary availabilities.” See “Spain Orders Civil & Military Helicopters from Eurocopter.”

Spain: 45 TTH

Dec 20/06: Norway. The first Norwegian NH90-NFH, wearing the Customer designation NNWN #01, takes off for a successful test flight from AgustaWestland’s facility in Vergiate, Italy. NHI release.

Dec 13/06: Germany. The first 3 NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopters (TTH) are handed over to the German Army at Eurocopter’s Donauworth facility. The press release [EADS | NH Industrie] states that “The German Army is the first customer to take delivery of the NH90. The aircraft with the serial numbers TGEA02 and TGEA03 will be used for flight training at the German Army Air Corps Weapons School in Bückeburg, while serial number TGEA05 will be used to train maintenance staff…” Eurocopter President Dr. Lutz Bertling adds:

“Following a period of complex evaluation and comprehensive qualification processes we are proud to now be able to officially launch the NH90 for training purposes. Until the end of 2007, we plan to deliver 14 aircraft to Bückeburg.”

Dec 1/06: Germany. German type certification is granted, clearing the way for initial deliveries and for respective NH90-TTH national certifications by other NAHEMA and export customers. Source.

Sept 14/06: Australia. The Australian Army’s 5th Aviation Regiment based at RAAF Townsville has received parliamentary approval for A$ 20 million in new facilities for one of the key bases supporting its expanded NH90 helicopter fleet. The first NH90s are scheduled for delivery in late 2007, and the “Facilities for Troop Lift Helicopter” project combines the reconfiguration and refurbishment of a number of existing facilities and construction of some new ones. An advanced mission planning and computer-based training facility, a new Army Aviation Training Facility to provide transition training on the MRH90, a composites material workshop, and upgrades to some existing facilities for the S-70 Black Hawk fleet are all envisaged as part of this project.

NH90-TTH, SAR
(click to view full)

July 31/06: New Zealand’s order. New Zealand’s NZ$ 771 million (then about $475 million) contract for 9 NH90-TTH helicopters is signed in Wellington, NZ, after a 2-week final negotiation round up. Read “New Zealand Selects NH90, A109 Helicopters as its new Fleet“.

New Zealand: 9 TTH

June 19/06: Australia adds. Australia approves the acquisition plan for 34 more NH90-TTH helicopters plus 3 MRH90 simulators at A$2 billion (about $1.475 billion) under the Australian AIR9000 Programme. Commonality of operational, training and logistic systems and personnel played a role, as this order will be added to the first batch of 12 “MRH90s” ordered by the Australian Defence Materiel Organisation (vid. June 2/05). Final assembly will be performed by fully-owned Eurocopter subsidiary Australian Aerospace in Brisbane.

The lifetime real dollars project value for the total acquisition of all 46 aircraft is around A$ 4.2 billion. This includes an A$ 1.2 billion Australian Industry Capability package that focuses on development of the skill base required to support the MRH 90 into the future. Initial deliveries are slated for December 2007, with 3 more MRH 90 delivered in 2008 and then 7-8 per year until 2014. Deliveries of Australian Assembled helicopters will commence in December 2008. As these new helicopters are delivered, Australia’s old Sea Kings will be retired in 2010, followed by progressive replacement of the smaller S-70A-9 Black Hawks between 2011-2015. See “Australia Tightens Eurocopter Ties With A$ 2B Buy of 34 NH90s” for full coverage and ongoing updates.

Australia: 34 TTH

May 16/06: Germany EUA. EADS announces that Germany’s Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB) has awarded EADS Defence Electronics an additional contract portion worth approx. EUR 12 million to develop the Operations Support System (in German: Einsatzunterstutzungsanlage – EUA) for the German NH90 helicopters.

In its final configuration, the Operations Support System EUA is due to cover the entire process cycle of a helicopter squadron – from receipt of command through complete tactical and technical mission planning up to evaluation and logistics – using one single planning system. As an integral part of network-centric operations, the EUA/OSS makes it possible to connect the helicopter with its own command and control structures (C3I) via voice radio and radio data transmission, or establish a connection with specialist information systems for weather, maps, aeronautical information and air-traffic monitoring, et. al. The system can also be used for operations support of other types of aircraft, such as Tornado or A400M.

March 31/06: Germany. Qualification of the German NH90-TTH variant is completed by NATO’s NAHEMA. It is the first Qualification to a NH90 TTH Variant, an essential milestone that, through a process of delta qualification [DID: qualifying the differences rather than requalifying the whole aircraft], will lead to the Qualification of the others NH90 national Variants. The NH90 German Army TGEA Variant includes a few specific National Operational Customizations, mainly in the communications field. EADS release.

FY 2005

Orders from Australia (12); Picked by Belgium, New Zealand, Spain; German long-term training contract.

NH90 NFH
(click to view full)

Dec 15/05: Italy. The first Italian Navy serial production NH90-NFH has a successful initial test flight. Under the NH90 program work-share, AgustaWestland will build 150 helicopters for 3 of the 4 initial NH90-NFH customers (Italy, the Netherlands and Norway), and is responsible of the overall integration of the naval mission system for all NH90-NFH variants. NHI release.

Dec 14/05: Belgium pick. Belgium becomes the 14th Country to select the NH90, though no contract is signed. “…following the proposition of the Belgian Ministry of Defence Mr. Andre Flahaut, the Council Minister authorised today the launching of the procedure for the acquisition of 10 NH90 multirole helicopters by entering into the International Programme Organisation NAHEMO.” NHI release.

Nov 21/05: Trials. Eurocopter announces the completion of high-altitude NH90 trials at the 9,191 foot/ 2,801 m high airfield at Latacunga, Ecuador. It was chosen because of its facilities, safety equipment, 3,700 m long runway, and other advantages. The 21 flights representing 20 hours 35 minutes of testing were mainly devoted to performance (hover, level flight, climb, Cat B, Cat A), engine operation (transients, one engine inoperative power), simulated autorotations, maneuverability in and out of ground effect, altitude-speed envelope, and fly-away characteristics. EADS release.

Sept 17-30/05: Trials. The NH90 undergoes French Army trials in the hands of the Gamstat (Airmobile Group of the French Army Engineering Branch), using the PT4 test aircraft with German Army markings and a team of ground mechanics from Eurocopter Deutschland. France has selected the NH90-TTH, and stated plans to order up to 68, but hasn’t yet placed a contract.

The main aims of the trials were to verify that the mission system operated as intended in an operational environment, validate the Thales TopOwl helmet-mounted display, and study work sharing between crew members. The majority of the missions took place at night to successively test the utilization of the standard ALAT night vision goggles (NVG) and then the Topowl helmet coupled to the piloting FLIR. The pilots did report that a short period of adaptation was necessary, but tests completed successfully.

The nighttime NOE flights were made in the Valence area at heights of 0-400 ft at 130-140 kts. NOE observation flights were also flown by Gazelles equipped with the Viviane sight or Mistral missiles to measure the NH90’s infrared signature. The engineering trials finished with a final 90-minute flight involving a complex scenario: after taking off at night, the NH90 performed an IFR penetration, followed by a visual NOE flight, before picking up a commando and returning to its base with its autopilot in simulated degraded mode. EADS release.

July 13/05: Finland. KH-202, the first Patria-assembled NH90 helicopter, makes its successful maiden flight in Halli, Jamsa, Finland. The main modules were supplied to Patria from NHI Partner Companies: Eurocopter France, Eurocopter Germany, Agusta Italy and Fokker the Netherlands. The splicing Phase of KH-202 was completed in October 2003, Installations during 2004 and System tests were started in January 2005. For its inaugural flight, the helicopter was piloted by Eurocopter’s flight test crew, and lasted 1 hour and 5 minutes.

This effort follows the Sept 15/04 first flight of the first Finnish NH90-TTH, which was produced in France. NHI release. As the Patria release notes:

“This first helicopter from Patria assembly line will be delivered to the Finnish Defence Forces.”

July 13/05: Greece. The first Hellenic Army NH90 takes to the air for a successful test flight at the Eurocopter Marignane facility in France. This is the 6th serial production NH90 leaving the ground, following NH90s for Germany (the first), Finland, Italy and Sweden. At the time, NHI’s release adds that:

“The delivery of the whole series of 20 Hellenic NH90 will be achieved by the beginning of 2009 as planned, by the beginning of 2011 if the 14 options are confirmed.”

NH90 TTH
(click to view full)

June 2/05: Australian order. Australia signs an Acquisition Contract for 12 NH90-TTH helicopters. The A$1 billion contract is signed in Canberra between the Australian Defence Materiel Organisation and Australian Aerospace, the local fully-owned subsidiary of Eurocopter. According to the Australian AIR9000 programme, the 12 NH90 ordered are identified under the designation “MRH90,” standing for “Multi Role Helicopter.” project to provide the Australian Army with 12 new troop lift helicopters and associated equipment has taken a significant step forward with the signing of a contract with Australian Aerospace, a subsidiary of Eurocopter. Defence Minister Robert Hill said in total more than $500 million worth of Australian Industry participation will arise from the project:

“The new squadron will increase Army’s troop lift capability by more than half and give the Army the ability to move more soldiers further and faster from our amphibious lift ships. In addition to providing the 12 helicopters and associated equipment, Australian Aerospace will also provide a significant element of through-life-support under a performance-based contract.”

Australia is the 11th nation to order the NH90. Australian DoD release | NHI release.

Australia: 12 TTH

May 20/05: Spain pick. Spain selects the NH90 as its next-generation troop transport helicopter, with an anticipated buy of 45 helicopters, but no contract has been signed yet. EADS release.

April 5/05: New Zealand pick. New Zealand selects the NH90 as its next troop transport helicopter, replacing the current UH-1H Iroquois (aka. Hueys). No contract has been signed yet, and final number are not confirmed. New Zealand becomes the 12th country to have chosen the NH90. See “New Zealand Selects NH90 Helicopter” for more details, and ongoing coverage.

March 18/05: Sweden. First flight of the Swedish NH90-TTH-HCV variant. The first Swedish NH90 will now stay in Marignane, France to qualify the High Cabin version and perform the integration of the Saab mission system requested by Sweden’s government. NHI release.

January 2005: German training PPF contract. The German government approves a major private-finance initiative, awarding a EUR 488 million (about $642 million) contract to Helicopter Flying Training Services GmbH (HFTS, a consortium owned equally by CAE, Eurocopter, Rheinmetall Defence Electronics and Thales) to provide training at industry-owned training centers. The consortium will design, build and operate all 3 training centers at Bückeburg, Fassberg and Holzdorf , plus 4 NH90 full-mission simulators, followed by a 14.5-year period of operational service beginning in mid-2008 and continuing through 2022. During operational service, HFTS will deliver turnkey training services to the Bundeswehr, which will pay an agreed hourly rate. Source.

Germany: training

FY 2003 – 2004

Orders from Greece (20), Oman (20); Australia picks NH90 for Army; 1st all fly-by-wire helicopter flight.

Finnish 1st flight
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Sept 15/04: Finland. The 1st NH90 destined for the Finnish Armed Forces takes off for a successful maiden flight at Eurocopter’s production site and headquarter in Marignane, France. The aircraft is the first NH90 serial produced in France. EADS release.

Sept 16/04: Sub-contracts. Patria announces a EUR 30 million order from AgustaWestland subsidiary Agusta SpA for the manufacture of about 150 NH90 helicopter rear fuselages, with the first is to be delivered by the end of 2005. Patria’s Aerostructures Business Unit has been manufacturing the sponsons for the NH90 helicopter since 2003 as a single source manufacturer for the Dutch NIH partner Stork Fokker, and is responsible for an NH90 Nordic final assembly line in Jamsa, Finland. Patria release.

Aug 31/04: Australia pick. The Australian Government Prime Minister John Howard and Defence Minister Robert Hill confirmed the selection of the NH90 as a future troop transport helicopter. The intended order is 12 NH90-TTH helicopters for the Army, but no contract is signed. Sen. Hill said that “This will bolster Australia’s counter-terrorism capabilities by releasing a Black Hawk squadron to provide dedicated support to our Special Forces on the east coast.” Australian DoD release | NHI release.

Omani NH90 TTH
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July 24/04: Oman’s order. The Sultanate of Oman orders 20 NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH) battlefield helicopters for the Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO), to be delivered from the end of 2008 to the end of 2010. Amounts are not disclosed, but EADS adds that “The contract also foresees a comprehensive support package and services with a contractor’s field assistance on several bases, training aids and mission preparation stations.” This would tend to push the contract’s price up.

The NH90 RAFO Variant is tailored to the extreme environmental conditions of the Middle-East region, with enhanced Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca RTM 322-01/9A engines in order to maintain performance in Oman’s hot weather and high altitudes. This specific engine version installation is scheduled to be validated in Oman in July 2007 during the “Hot Weather Campaign.” NHI release | EADS release.

Oman: 20 TTH

May 11/04: NHIndustries and its partners companies, Eurocopter, Agusta and Stork Fokker are proud to announce that the first serial NH90 helicopter to come off the Eurocopter production line in Germany, is publicly presented today at the ILA Berlin Air Show. The event comes 4 years after the official production go-ahead was given at ILA 2000. NHI release.

May 4/04: Germany. First flight of the first production NH90-TTH aircraft for the German Armed Forces. Source.

March 15/04: Sub-contracts. EADS Defence Electronics announces that it will deliver EUR 200 million worth of advanced self-protection systems to the Eurocopter Tiger and NH90 helicopter programs in Germany, France, Italy, Australia, Portugal and Finland. Deliveries will take place through to 2012.

EADS Defence Electronics in a consortium with Thales will deliver an Electronic Warfare Suite comprising a missile approach warning system and a laser warning receiver developed by EADS DE in combination with a radar warner and the central processing unit developed and integrated by Thales as well as a chaff/flare dispenser from MBDA.

NH90 TTH
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Dec 12/03: FBW FTW. The NH90 becomes the first medium-sized transport helicopter to fly with full fly-by-wire controls, with no mechanical back-up. NHI release adds that:

“On this occasion NHIndustries is very pleased to mark the concurrence with the Centennial commemoration of the first sustained controlled powered flight of the history of the Wright brothers in Kitty Hawk (12-17 December 1903).”

Sikorsky’s H-92 Superhawk competitor wouldn’t duplicate that feat until December 2007; the firm’s new UH-60M Black Hawk model will also feature fly by wire.

1st fly by wire only helicopter flight

Oct 30/03: Finland. Finnish state partnership Patria Oyj (75% state/ 25% EADS) officially inaugurates its new facilities for NH90 final assembly in Halli, Jamsa, Finland, which add 2,800 square meters of additional area. The Halli facility had previously been the site for , by merging an F/A-18C with a Canadian F/A-18B section. Patria release:

“Patria has already started the final assembly in the new facilities in September 2003 and will deliver 50 NH90 helicopters during 2005-2011. The first NH90 assembled in Finland will be delivered to the Finnish Defence Forces in 2005… The Nordic countries ordered 52 NH90 helicopters with an option for 17, from NHIndustries, owned by Agusta, Eurocopter and Fokker. Patria signed contracts on helicopter and engine assembly with Eurocopter and Rolls-Royce Turbomeca in October 2001. The value of these contracts is more than EUR 40 million.

Employment effect of the NH90 final assembly at Patria is approximately 750 man-years. Eurocopter S.A.S. has subcontracted the final assembly to Patria having also technical personnel working at Patria. One of Patria’s strategic focus areas is the helicopter life cycle support in the Baltic sea area.”

Aug 29/03: Greece’s order. Greece orders 20 NH90s plus logistics support (spares et. al.), together with a corresponding industrial offset agreement involving Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI). Part of this agreement is the creation of a Composite Facility at Tanagra, to be operated by the Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI), which broke ground in February 2006. An Oct 3/06 EADS release places the contract value as “close to 657 million euros.”

The 16 NH90-TTH and 4 NH90 Special Operations helicopters will be operated by Greek Army Aviation. All Hellenic NH90s can also be converted into a MEDEVAC variant, thanks to 4 role change kits included in the order. Another 14 NH90s are on option, consisting of up to 12 NH90-TTH and 2 NH90-SOF variants with “state-of-the-art Special Operation suite to enhance the capability of the user to support diverse military scenarios.” The NHI release adds that:

“First NH90 Tactical Transport will be delivered to Greece by late 2005 and the whole firm series will be completed within the year 2010 (including option).”

Greece: 20 mixed

2002 and Earlier

From initial development to 242-helicopter core partner order; Orders from Finland (20), Norway (14), Portugal (10), Sweden (18).

NH90 NFH
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Nov 30/01: Norway’s order. Royal Norwegian Air Force Material Command signs the contract for up to 24 NH90 helicopters: 14 NFH helicopters (6 naval, 8 Coast Guard), with an option for another 10 to perform search-and rescue. The NHI release adds that:

“The customised configuration of the 14 Norwegian NH90 helicopters (6 ASW and 8 Coast Guard), derived from the NAHEMA NFH version, features nationalised avionics, and dedicated equipment, such as a dual rescue winch, digital map generator, survival raft, additional fuel tanks, to be easily fitted to both the Coast Guard and ASW mission… First NH90 CG helicopter will be delivered to the Norway in late 2005 and the remaining series will be completed in 2008.”

Norway: 14 mixed

Oct 19/01: Finland’s order. The Finnish Defence Minister signs a EUR 343 million contract [direct MoD answer] for 20 NH90 TTH helicopters. The NHI release adds that:

“Besides the Acquisition Contract the Finnish MOD and NHI signed the Side Agreement concerning the allocation of a NH90 final assembly line to Finland, as well as the Agreement on Industrial Participation giving Finnish defence industry the opportunity to participate in the manufacturing of parts and the assembly of purchased equipment… First NH90 TTT helicopter will be delivered to Finnish Defence Forces in late 2004, and the series will be completed at the Finnish assembly line specifically arranged in Patria Finavitec, in collaboration with NHIndustries, within the year 2008.”

Finland: 20 TTH

Sept 26/01: Sweden’s order. The Swedish procurement department (FMV) signs the contract for 18 NH90s, plus another 7 on option (subsequently declined – see Nov 14/07). In Sweden, they will be known as Hkp 14/ Type 14 helicopters. The 18 machines on firm order include 13 TTH high-cabin variant and 5 naval variants; they will be operated by the Swedish Air Force.

Of the 18 ordered NH90s, 14 are to undergo final assembly in Finland. All will be equipped with a new Tactical Mission System (TMS) developed by Saab in cooperation with NHIndustries. The NHI release adds that:

“First NH90 TTT helicopter will be delivered to Swedish Air Force early 2005, and the series will be completed within the year 2009.”

Sweden: 18 mixed

Sept 13-18/01: Nordic pick. NH90 selected by NSHP committee for Finland, Norway, and Sweden.

June 21/01: Portugal added. The Armament Directors of France, Germany, Italy, and The Netherlands and the State Secretary of Portugal sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Le Bourget (Paris Air Show 2001) to include Portugal as 5th European Nation in the NH90 Programme. This was based on the go-ahead and the Parliamentary approval of the 5 Participating Nations.

Portugal will purchase 10 NH90 helicopters for Tactical Transport missions and will become a member of NAHEMO (NATO Helicopter Management Organisation, comprising the Steering Committee and NAHEMA, the NATO Helicopter Management Agency), the government authority which controls the programme. NHI release.

Portugal: 10 TTH

NH90
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June 30/2000: Base order. The initial EUR 6.6 billion, 298 helicopter NH90 production order is signed. This 1st batch of 298 NH90 helicopters is part of the immediate Production Investment and Production (PI/P) commitment for a 1st batch of 366 helicopters [DID: when the 98 “selected” french & German helicopters are added], within the stated eventual requirement of 595 NH90s among the 4 founders.

Under this agreement, Italy orders 60 TTH (Tactical Transport Helicopter) for the Army, 46 NFH (NATO Frigate Helicopter) and 10 TTH for the Navy, and 1 TTH as an option for the Italian Air Force; France will receive 27 NFH for their naval forces; Germany receives 50 TTH + 30 options for the Army and 30 TTH +24 options for the Air Force, of which 23 are foreseen for Combat Search and Rescue missions following a dedicated further contracted development; The Netherlands will receive 20 NFH helicopters. Germany also “selects” 30 NFH but signs no contract, and France does the same for 68 TTH.

The total value of the signed contract amounts to EUR 6.6 billion, and, in addition, national industries are participating with a self financing for the 25% amount of the Production Investment. This makes the NH90 the biggest helicopter programme ever launched in Europe, by a wide margin. The release cites continuous design to cost analysis and control of the technical configuration as key reasons they were able to meet their earlier cost estimates. Production shares among the 4 founding countries will be 31.25% for France (Eurocopter), 32% for Italy (Agusta), 31.25% for Germany (Eurocopter Deutschland) and 5.5% for The Netherlands (Stork Fokker).

NHIndustries is responsible for the programme management, marketing, sales, and after sales support. The release adds that “Deliveries will start on 2003 for the Tactical Transport version,” and says that “This commercial approach, to achieve the PI/P 1st batch contract ensures the customer: World market competitive prices; Guaranteed performance backed by stiff penalties…”

If true, that last bit will eventually come back to haunt them. NHI release.

Base Order:
France 27 NFH
German 80 TTH
Italy 116 mixed
Dutch 20 NFH
Country options

June 8/2000: Go-ahead. The governments of France, Italy, Germany, and The Netherlands gave their go-ahead for the production launch of the NH90 helicopter during the ILA 2000 airshow in Berlin. During an official ceremony at ILA, a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) covering a global intention of acquiring 595 helicopters and a global commitment for the industrialisation and the production of 366 NH90 helicopters was signed by Jean-Yves Helmer, Delegation General pour l’Armement (France), State Secretary Dr. Walther Stützle (Germany), Onorevole Dott. Domenico Minniti, Sottosegretario alla Difesa (Italy) and Dr. Jan Fledderus, Directeur Generaal Materieel (The Netherlands). This will be followed by the signature of a contract for the Production Investment and the Production (PI/P) of a 1st batch of helicopters. NHI release.

Go!

Dec 22/99: The maiden flight of the 5th and last prototype of the NH90 (PT5) takes place successfully at Agusta’s facilities in Italy. NHI release.

(click to visit)

Jan 13/98: ISO 9001. NHIndustries, the Prime Contractor for the quadrinational NH90 Helicopter Programme (launched by France, Italy, Germany and The Netherlands), announces that it has just received the ISO 9001 certification by Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI). NHI release.

June 26/96: Trials. Following the scheduled inspection and ground test activity, the NH90 is resuming intensive flight trials. The first prototype of NH90 helicopter (PT1) logged 35 flight hours, and preliminary evaluation flights have been already performed by the Test Pilots and Flight Engineers of the Armed Forces of France, Italy and Germany. NHI release.

Dec 18/95: 1st flight. 3 years after the signature of the Design & Development Contract, the first prototype of the NH90 (PT1) was successfully flown, as scheduled, from the Eurocopter plant in Marignane, France. NHI release.

1st flight

Oct 6/95: Contract. A ECU (Euro) 58.23 million “contract for the Additional Work and National Customisation” addendum to the general Memorandum of Understanding is signed by the 4 founding nations (France, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands), NAHEMA (NATO Helicopter Management Agency), and NHIndustries.

The “Additional work” groups items that “could be commonly utilised.” They will be developed within the main contract, and include a second engine option (from GE/Alfa Romeo, to become Avio SpA), a rear ramp for the Tactical Transport version, and second missile reinforcement for installation of heavy stores up to 700kg. The “National Customisation” work includes a command post study, a cannon pod installation study, sand filter, a radiameter, a second VHF/FM for the Tactical Transport version and a sonobuoy data relay study, a Tacan and the rear ramp for the Naval version.

The activities will be carried out by the four industrial partners, Agusta S.p.A (Italy), Eurocopter Deutschland GmbH, Eurocopter France S.A. and Fokker (The Netherlands) according to the design responsibility defined in the contract. The global contract value creates a slight adjustment of the national shares in the Programme (at the time, 41.6 % for France, 28.2 % for Italy, 23.7 % for Germany, 6.5 % for The Netherlands). NHI release.

Final development contract

Sept 28/95: The first run of the NH90 “Iron Bird” Ground Test Vehicle takes place at Agusta’s Cascina Costa, Italy plant. About 300 aircraft parameters are presently installed, with the main modules, groups and components arrived from the plants of the 4 European companies sharing the development work for NHIndustries: Agusta, Eurocopter Deutschland, Eurocopter France and Fokker. All of this is necessary preparation for the first flight. NHI release:

“On a tie-down metal structure solidly attached to the ground, the NH90 upper-deck, the rear fuselage and the tail unit are installed. The whole dynamic system is the same as the one installed on the first NH90 prototype, including the two engines, the main gear box, the tail drive system, the flight controls, the main and tail rotors. The installation of the vehicle subsystems have been supported by on-site working teams of the four Partner Companies according to their System Design Responsibility and have given excellent results.”

Additional Readings & Sources Background: NH90 – core equipment.

• NH Industries – NH90 Official Site.

• Airbus Helicopters – NH90.

• AgustaWestland – NH90. They’re the lead for the NFH ASW model.

• Army Technology – NH90 Tactical Transport Helicopter, France.

• Naval Technology – NH90 NFH.

• Rolls Royce – RTM322 engine. This collaboration of Rolls Royce and Snecma subsidiary Turbomeca powers about 85% of NH90s ordered, offering between 2,412 (01/9) – 2,544 shp (01/9A). Interestingly, it is the H-92 Superhawk’s alternate engine, and is being promoted as a drop-in upgrade to replace the GE T700s that power Sikorsky’s H-60 family.

• GE – T700-T6E engine. A collaboration of GE & FiatAvio. Offers 2,269 (T6E) – 2,380 (T6E1) shp at sea level. Powers Italian NH90s.

• GE – CT7-8 engine. The CT7-8F5 powers Spanish NH90s, with a rating of about 2,520 shp at sea level. The CT7-8 was co-developed with Avio SpA, but is considered a commercial engine as opposed to the military T700 counterpart from which it was derived. Other CT7-8 variants power the S-92 Superhawk, and will power the VXX (H-92) US Presidential helicopter as well.

• Thales – TopOwl® helmet-mounted sight and display for helicopters. The helmet has attracted weight complaints from pilots.

News & Views

• DID – Anti-Submarine Weakness: India Has a Problem. The NH90 is a finalist, but there’s also a larger context addressed in this article.

• Der Spiegel (Oct 15/14) – Mangel bei der Bundeswehr: Schwere Helme machen Piloten krank. In English: the TopOwl helmet is so heavy that it’s taking pilots out of action due to injuries, with co-pilots especially hard-hit.

• Flightglobal DEW Line (Oct 17/13) – NH90 variants: a surprise total. “In fact, 20 individual variants exist, with this sprawling further down to comprise some 38 sub-variants. Not bad going, when you consider that NHI has so far delivered 161 of the twin-engined type to 12 operator nations.” TTH, High-cabin, and NFH are structurally very different variants. Is a different engine a variant? FAME MEDEVAC kit a variant, or just a sub-variant? Rear ramp vs. none a variant? Different EW system? The lack of standardization has been a problem for NHI, but you can also go overboard with this point.

• Training & Simulation Journal (April 30/07) – NH90 training pact draws attention. “A complex private-finance initiative involving four companies to provide NH90 helicopter training services at three locations in Germany is now in its third year and is drawing interest from other countries…”

• DID (Oct 26/06) – F&S on Europe’s Military Helicopter Market: 2006-2015. The NH90 is seen as fitting into a market sweet spot, and a successful future is predicted.

Japanese E-767
(click to view full)

In May 2006, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Japan of four sets of Airborne Early Warning (AEW) and Command, Control and Communications (C3) mission equipment/Radar System Improvement Program (RSIP) Group A and B kits, plus spares and services to ensure complete AWACS mission equipment supportability, for subsequent installation and checkout in 4 previously procured E-767 Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) aircraft.

Boeing delivered the 4 AWACS E-767s to Japan between 1998-1999; they have been in service since 2000.

AWACS RSIP Comes to the E-767

JASDF E-767
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The E-767 AWACS (Airborne early Warning And Control System) aircraft entered service in 1999, which is young for an aircraft, but very old indeed for a computer. Physically, it offers 50% more floor space, and nearly twice the volume, of the 707-based E-3 AWACS in service with other countries. While this volume is put to good use by the JASDF, improvements to key systems as are necessary as technology marches inexorably forward.

RSIP increases the AWACS aircraft’s radar sensitivity, allowing it to detect and track smaller targets. It also improves the radar’s electronic counter-countermeasures, upgrades the existing computer with a new high-reliability multi-processor, and rewrites the software to improve the interface and facilitate future maintenance and enhancements.

E-767 interior
(click to view full)

The kit is built principally by Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems in Baltimore, MD under a subcontract to Boeing. It consists of a new radar computer, a radar control maintenance panel, and software upgrades to the radar and mission system programs. RSIP kits have been installed on the American, British, NATO and French 707-based E-3 AWACS fleets; as of December 2006, Northrop Grumman has completed delivery of 60 RSIP radar systems to the U.S. Air Force, United Kingdom, NATO, and France.

A follow-on program begun in 2013 rounded out those improvements by improving the core mission computer and cryptography, adding the most up-to-date Identification Friend-or-Foe systems, and upgrading the Electronic Support Measures (ESM) system that detects and geo-locates radars and communications emitters.

Contracts & Key Events 2013 – 2018

 

Japanese E-767
(click to view full)

February 15/18: FMS-Upgrades Boeing will upgrade the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft under a $60.9 million US Air Force contract announced by the Pentagon Monday. The agreement will see Boeing provide mission computing upgrade installation and checkout of four Japanese E-767 aircraft and associated ground systems. Work will take place in Oklahoma City, Okla., San Antonio, Texas, and Seattle, Wash., and is scheduled to wrap up by December 2022. Japan’s E-767 fleet uses Boeing’s E-3 Sentry surveillance radar and air control system installed on a Boeing 767-200.

Oct 28/14: Boeing Defense Space and Security division in Kent, WA receives a maximum $25.6 million firm-fixed-price, fixed-price-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee to design and produce the E-767’s new mission control unit for 4 E-767 aircraft and 3 ground support facilities. It will include mission computing, electronic support easures, traffic alert and collision avoidance system, interrogator friend or foe transponder and next generation IFF, automatic identification system, and data link upgrades.

Work will be performed at Kent, WA and is expected to be completed by Feb 28/15. USAF Life Cycle Management Center in Hanscom AFB, MA (FA8730-15-C-0003).

March 11/14: Boeing Defense, Space and Security in Kent, WA receives a $10.8 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract modification for trade studies and analysis related to Japan’s DMS 3.X AWACS mission computing upgrade. Work will include requirements planning, and buying enough mission computing hardware to keep the planes going until their scheduled retirement. Good idea – it’s probably best not to be buying that stuff on the Chinese grey market.

The contract falls under Japan’s basic AWACS modernization and sustainment contract, and work will be performed at Kent, WA, and is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2014. USAF Life Cycle Management Center/HBSK at Hanscom AFB, MA manages the contract on behalf of Japan (F19628-01-D-0016, #0097 mod 001).

Sept 26/13: The US DSCA announces Japan’s official export request to upgraded its 4-plane E-767 AWACS fleet’s command and control capability. The Mission Computing Upgrade (MCU) would include 4 Electronic Support Measure (ESM) Systems for registering and locating enemy radar and communication emitters, 8 AN/UPX-40 Next Generation Identify Friend or Foe (NGIFF) systems, 8 AN/APX-119 IFF Transponders, and 4 KIV-77 Cryptographic Computers. It also includes various kinds of support equipment, plus US Government and contractor support. The estimated cost is up to $950 million.

This upgrade would make Japan’s AWACS fleet more compatible with the USAF’s E-3G Block 40/45 fleet baseline. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems in Seattle, WA is the principal contractor, and implementation of this proposed sale would require multiple installation, testing, technical reviews/support, and training trips to Japan over a period of 8 years. Source: US DSCA, Sept 26/13.

DSCA: Computing/ ESM/ IFF upgrades

2006 – 2012

 

JASDF flybys

April 6/11: Boeing in Seattle, WA receives a $35.7 million fixed-price contract modification to perform the upgrades to 4 Japanese E-767 AWACS aircraft.

Work will be performed at Kent, WA. The Aerial Air Surveillance Systems Division at Hanscom AFB, MA manages the contract (F19628-01-D-0016).

Dec 17/10: Boeing in Seattle, WA receives an $88 million contract to buy the RSIP and mission navigation system upgrade installation and checkout for the JASDF’s 4 E-767s. At this time, $47 million has been committed by the ESC/HBSKI at Hanscom Air Force Base, MA on behalf of its Foreign Military Sale customer (F19628-01-D-0016; Delivery Order 0072).

Nov 30/10: The US DSCA announces [PDF] a formal request from Japan to buy installation and checkout for both the 4 E-767 Radar System Improvement Program (RSIP) extended Airborne Early Warning (AEW) Group A and B kits it has purchased, and their accompanying enhanced command, control and communications (C3). The request also includes transportation of the E-767s to/from Japan, spare and repair parts, support and test equipment, publications and technical documentation, and other forms of U.S. Government and contractor support.

The estimated cost is $119 million. The prime contractor will be Boeing in Seattle, WA. There are no known offset agreements proposed, and implementation of this proposed sale will not require the assignment of any additional U.S. Government and contractor representatives to Japan.

DSCA: install & test

July 23/10: Boeing Integrated Defense Systems in Seattle, WA received a $6 million contract for mission navigation systems upgrades to the JASDF’s 4 E-767s. At this time, all funds have been committed. The ESC/HBSKI at Hanscom Air Force Base, MA manages this contract (F19628-01-D-0016; Delivery Order 0065).

Aug 8/07: Boeing Co. in Kent, WA receives an indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price contract modification for $110.2 million to exercise a software option for Japan’s E-767 AWACS Radar System Improvement Program (J-RSIP). At this time, $6.6 million has been obligated. This work will be complete in January 2009. The Airborne Early Warning & Control Systems Group at Hanscom Air Force Base, MA issued the contract (F19628-01-D-0016-0050/Mod #05).

Dec 18/06: Northrop Grumman Corporation received a contract from The Boeing Company to provide 4 Radar System Improvement Program (RSIP) kits for Japan’s E-767 fleet, spares and repair parts, support equipment, technical publications and documentation, services and other related program elements to ensure complete AWACS mission equipment supportability. A follow-on installation and check-out contract is planned to begin in 2010.

The total value could be as high as $73 million if the additional option is exercised. See Northrop Grumman release.

Nov 15/06: Boeing announces a $108 million Radar System Improvement Program (RSIP) contract for Japan’s AWACS fleet. Boeing is the original supplier of the E-767.

May 2/06: The US DSCA announces [PDF] Japan’s request for E-767 C3/RSIP upgrades. The Foreign Military Sale was contracted through the Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, MA, and also includes spare and repair parts, support equipment and technical documentation. Installation of the kits will occur during a follow-on contract. There are no known offset agreements proposed in connection with this potential sale, and implementation does not require the assignment of any U.S. Government and contractor representatives to Japan.

The announcement placed the total purchase value as high as $147 million if all options are exercised, but subsequent developments seem to have pushed that total higher.

DSCA: radar upgrades

Additional Readings

• JASDF – E-767.

• Boeing – Airborne Early Warning Systems.

US Military Payment Chart

Belgium today became the 5th country to join the Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet (MMF). 

Belgium’s accession to the MMF was celebrated during a signing ceremony at NATO headquarters in Brussels also attended by EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq. 

The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany and Norway are already members of this multinational defence cooperation project which aims to fill the serious capability gap European nations have in the field of Air-to-Air refuelling (AAR). 

The MMF project was initiated by the European Defence Agency (EDA) in 2011. Europe’s organization for the management of cooperative armament programmes - OCCAR - manages the MMF acquisition phase. Following the acquisition phase, the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) will be responsible for the complete life-cycle management of the fleet (A330 MRTT). With Belgium joining, the number of MRTT aircraft ordered will increase from 7 to 8. Delivery of the first aircraft is planned for 2020.  

The fleet is funded by the participating nations who will also have the exclusive right to use these NATO–owned aircraft which will operate in a pooling arrangement. The aircraft will be configured for inflight refuelling, the transport of passengers and cargo, and medical evacuation flights.

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq welcomed the further expansion of the fleet: “We are delighted to see that the MMF, which is a good example of European defence cooperation kick-started by the European Defence Agency, is further expanding. It shows that once a capability shortfall has been jointly identified, European nations can pull together, work on a common project aimed at filling the gap, and eventually deliver. It’s Pooling & Sharing at its best”.
 

More information: 

• Air-to-Air Refueling (EDA project page)
• Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet (MMF) expands significantly (EDA webnews, September 2017)
• Germany and Norway formally join Netherlands and Luxembourg to operate pooled fleet of NATO-owned Airbus A330 MRTT tankers (EDA webnews, June 2017)