Defence`s Feeds

As time plays tricks on the mind, not long ago it was a nothing more than a futuristic theme in a Hollywood movie. This is no longer the case. Today, “artificial intelligence empowered, war fighting drones” teamed with manned command and control are shaping up as the path forward. The last few years have seen […]

Ukrainian RPV-16 Thermobaric Rocket Launcher

Americas

The Naval Air Systems Command is procuring system components for its F-35 Lightning fighter jets. Lockheed Martin will provide the service with essential Aircraft Management System (AMS) and Panoramic Cockpit Display (PCD) components at a cost of $19.3 million. The company will also be responsible for mitigating hardware risks as part of the program’s technical Refresh Phase 3 development. The F-35 is an advanced 5th generation fighter jet that that comes with a broad range of integrated missions systems and sensor fusion. The Aircraft Management System is the brain of the aircraft and integrates with the Automated Information Logistics System, or ALIS, a centralized fleet management system developed to reduce the F-35’s sustainment cost. The Panoramic Cockpit Display was designed by pilots for pilots. The 20 inch by 8 inch PCD incorporates an integral touchscreen that dominates the cockpit. The fly by wire system is controlled via an active side-stick on the right and an active throttle on the left. Active means these inceptors are under complete computer control and can be programmed on the fly. Work will be performed at the company’s location in Forth Worth, Texas and is expected to be completed by September 2019.

UAS manufacturer Insitu is being tapped to support the US Marine Corps. The awarded firm-fixed-price delivery order has a value of $9 million and provides for the procurement of spare and sustainment parts needed to maintain the RQ-21A Blackjack unmanned aircraft system. Insitu’s ScanEagle family combines versatility, endurance and small size. The RQ-21A system is modular, flexible and multi-mission capable, providing roll-on, roll-off transitions between land and maritime environments. The drone is a bigger, heavier and more capable version of the ScanEagle unmanned aircraft that has logged thousands of hours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The United States Marine Corps has ordered 32 systems each consisting of five air vehicles. Work will be performed at the company’s location in Bingen, Washington and is scheduled for completion by January 2019.

The US Special Operations Command is determined to keep its incumbent MEUAS II-B program running. Insitu is being awarded a $5000 minimum, $232 million maximum additional task order for maintaining its mid-endurance unmanned aircraft systems intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services. MEUAS II-B is a fee-for-service or “power by the hour” contractor-owned and operated UAV network deployed in support of SOCOM operations. The catapult-launched mid-sized ScanEagle provides SOF units on the ground with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information.

The Canadian Armed Forces are increasing their numbers of ‘smart’ soldiers. Rheinmetall will deliver 1,256 additional sets of the Argus Soldier System at a cost of $16.9 million. The order is part of the Canadian Army’s Integrated Soldier System, with 1,632 sets of the same equipment expected to be delivered this year. Argus provides soldiers with an enhanced situational awareness and enables them to perform functions such as navigation, detect, locate, identify and engage targets, and several other command and control functions. The system comprises of a hand-held Tactical User Interface with Battle Management Software (BMS), tactical soldier radio, connection hub, control unit, head set, active noise reduction earphones, and high capacity batteries. The system’s tactical radio provides simultaneous communication for voice and data between soldiers and their commander on multiple nets. The Argus Soldier System is a modular data display provider ranging from a light version to a medium and extended command-and-control version. Argus has been developed to assist the soldier to operate in the future battlefield. Being networked give troops a tactical advangtage in urban areas and when facing a number of asymmetric threats and attacks by irregular forces.

Middle East & Africa

The US Army is awarding a PAE Government Services with a contract modification for sustained vehicle support work. The $10.8 million modification enables the company to continue its efforts as part of the US National Maintenance Strategy – Ground Vehicle Support program in Afghanistan. Under NMS, PAE will provide training and mentoring to the Afghanistan National Defense Security Forces (ANDSF) in maintenance, supply chain management and warehouse support across 25 locations in Afghanistan. PAE will also provide Contractor Logistics Support to the ANDSF, which will include maintenance, supply chain management and parts support for vehicles and ground equipment. The ANA’s inventory consists of approximately 23.000 types of vehicles, that include Soviet-era T-55 tanks and MT-LB armored personell carriers, 150 rather new T-72 tanks and about 2.500 US-made Humvees. A key outcome of the NMS in Afghanistan is to develop a long-term capacity and a near-term readiness to ensure that the country is self sufficient. The strategy aims to bridge the gap between the dependence on US logistics support and the transition of all responsibility of the ANDSF. Work will be performed in Hkia, Afghanistan and is scheduled for completion by August 30th 2022.

Europe

The German Naval Yards (GNY) shipyard group joins forces with former competitor ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems as means to land the contract for the German Navy’s future MKS 180 multirole combat ship program. MKS180 ships are expected to be capable of tackling targets above and below water in addition to supporting land missions. Armament should feature a 127 mm naval gun while surface to air missiles should be capable of hitting targets at a distance of 15 miles thereby enabling protection from air threats. The ships will be equipped with towed sonars for anti-submarine warfare and include sick bays or detention rooms for counter-piracy missions. The German Navy wants to acquire four MKS180s for $4.5 billion and wants them to enter service by the beginning of 2023. The newly formed German partnership will compete against Blohm + Voss, which is bidding with Dutch shipyard Damen.

Swedish defense manufacturer Saab will deliver its Integrated Defensive Aids Suite-2 (IDAS-2) to India. The order is being placed by India’s state-owned defense contractor Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at a cost of $39 million. According to the company IDAS-2 is an EW system designed to provide self-defence in sophisticated, diverse and dense threat environments. It integrates with a platform’s radar and provides the aircrew with radar-warning, lasar-warning and missile-approach warning funtion. IDAS-2 is also fully integrated with with the BOP-L countermeasures dispenser, which automatically dispenses countermeasures under the control of the EWC upon threat-identification. The system will be produced at Saab’s facility on Centurion, South Africa. IDAS-2 will protect India’s fleet of Dhruv light attack helicopter. First deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2019.

Asia-Pacific

Taiwan wants to procure Phalanx style systems to protect its air force bases. The government’s public solicitation for the “Near Force Air Defense Fast Propeller System” requires the air-defense weapon to have high-precision, a high rate of fire, to be mobile and to operate automatically. It must be able to counter a number of airborne threats ranging from subsonic missiles to UAVs. The US military has used the Phalanx Centurion in Iraq to protect FOB Kalsu from incoming rockets, artillery shells and mortars. The Centurion can reach beyond its own array and use other target acquisition sensors to detect and track fired rounds. The Air Force plans to install the land-based Phalanx Centurion at the Jiashan, the Hualienjia and the Taidong Zhihang bases where large stockpiles of AMRAAM missiles are stored.

Today’s Video

Watch: RAAF timelapse of medical facility deployed at Pitch Black 2018.

The US Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, in Alabama has awarded Lockheed Martin a USD218 million Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract for the first 18 M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers for Romania, the US Department of Defense announced on 9 August. The

Israeli defence company Rafael has made a bid for unmanned systems developer Aeronautics, it has been revealed. In a disclosure to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) on 9 August, Aeronautics said it had received an offer valuing the company at ILS430 million (USD116.6 million) from Rafael and

Saudi tankers are again moving through the Bab al-Mandab strait into the Red Sea after a 10-day suspension of transits, IHS Markit maritime data has confirmed. Saudi Arabia announced that it was temporarily suspending oil shipments through the strait on 25 July after two tankers were attacked by

Key Points IHS Markit data indicates that non-state armed groups that we have classified as ‘jihadist opposition’ have been contained by Turkey and its proxies in a pocket of control around Idlib. Turkey is likely to yield to pressure from Russia, which effectively controls airspace

The Turkish Defence Industry Directorate (SSB) signed a contract with Aselsan on 9 August for the local development of the HavaSOJ airborne stand-off jammer electronic support/electronic warfare system for the Turkish Air Force Command (TAFC). The contract covers the development and production of

Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for 20 October this year, three and a half years late. They were delayed so that the electoral system could be reformed – although what that delay achieved in terms of reforms, is questionable. The country’s first district elections are also still scheduled for the same day, although the Independent Election Commission (IEC) has proposed a delay to them and to the Wolesi Jirga elections in Ghazni province. In general, multiple, serious problems are emerging ahead of October’s planned elections, to do with, among other things, insecurity, voter registration, controversies over the two institutions charged with overseeing the vote and, less than three months before the poll, a call by some major political parties to change the election system. Not surprisingly, given the uncertainty over so many aspects of the parliamentary elections, doubts are increasing as to how good and inclusive they can be. To (hopefully) aid understanding, we have gathered together all our reporting on electoral reform and preparations for the 2018 elections since the establishment of the National Unity Government in September 2014 – here the introduction to this new thematic dossier by Ali Yawar Adili (with input from Thomas Ruttig).

With October’s Wolesi Jirga elections, Afghanistan’s third electoral cycle will be completed for three important institutions (the presidency, parliament and provincial councils). The third presidential (together with provincial council) elections were held on 5 April 2014. This poll revealed problems in the election-related institutions and the overall electoral framework, including related legislation.

The 2001 Bonn agreement on Afghanistan had stipulated that presidential and parliamentary elections be held simultaneously, “if possible.” It turned out to be impossible to do so during the very first electoral cycle, planned for 2004 and the presidential election went ahead separately, so there would at least be one achievement the then-United States president George Bush could point to going into his second term election. The first parliamentary elections were delayed for one year, to 2005.

The first-ever district council elections are still scheduled to be held simultaneously with the 2018 parliamentary polls, but now the Independent Election Commission (IEC) has proposed a delay to them and to the Wolesi Jirga elections in Ghazni province. The election of district councillors was supposed to close some of the gaps in the implementation of various election-related requirements in the country’s constitution. These probably will not happen: sufficient candidates have nominated themselves in less than a tenth of Afghanistan’s districts and the IEC has proposed a delay. This would move the district council elections to April 2019 when presidential and provincial council elections are scheduled, further complicated what should be the start of Afghanistan’s fourth electoral cycle.

The three and half year delay of the parliamentary elections means that, for the first time since the overthrow of the Taleban regime in 2001 and Afghanistan’s embarking on a road toward democracy, the country is completing one electoral cycle (its third) while the next, (the fourth) is about to start. The next presidential elections have been scheduled for 20 April 2019, and it is foreseeable that the aftermath of the parliamentary poll – counting, adjudication and dealing with complaints – will crash into the start of preparations for the presidential and other elections. The delays and the problems resulting from this will likely mirror a significant drop in the quality of the Afghan elections and flag severe shortcomings in Afghanistan’s aspiring democracy.

69 days ahead of elections day, there are any number of unresolved issues to do with the parliamentary elections.

The 20 October 2018 elections

Voter registration and electoral system

Thehead of IEC field operations, Zmarai Qalamyar, on 8 August, gave AAN a precise breakdown of voter registration. He said 9,072,208 had registered – 5,783,037 (63.7%) men, 3,114,942 (34.3%) women and, as separately registered groups, 173,646 (1.9%) Kuchi (nomads) and 583 (0.006%) Hindu and Sikh voters. As of 8 August, the details of more than 3.5 million registered voters have been entered into the IEC’s database, according to IEC chairman Gula Jan Abdul Badi Sayyad. The IEC is currently working to input the remaining registered voters into its central database, before it verifies and approves the final voter list.

AAN’s conversations with national and international election experts show that the IEC’s database can only detect two types of fraudulent voter registration: underage voter registration and multiple or duplicate registration using the same tazkera (national ID) with the same serial number. However, it cannot discover multiple registrations with fake tazkeras which have different serial numbers; these can only be identified by cross-checking with the database of the Afghanistan Central Civil Registration Authority (ACCRA). This understanding was confirmed by Sayed Ibrahim Sadat, the head of the IEC’s IT department, on 6 August, as reported by Tolonews (see here).

To achieve this goal, Sayyad said that the IEC planned to establish a technical joint committee with ACCRA to identify fake tazkeras used in the voter registration. This means that the committee will cross-check the tazkeras used for registration with the ACCRA database. However, the question is whether ACCRA has a credible database for the paper tazkeras and whether there is enough time to ascertain more than the nine million tazkeras. Therefore, it is likely that that many instances of fraudulent voter registration using fake tazkiras may not be unearthed.

Many political parties (1) are questioning the voter registration and said that biometric voter registration should have been undertaken from the start. In addition to this, they have two additional demands: changing the current electoral system, Single Non-Transferable Vote (SNTV), into a system called Multi-Dimensional Representation (MDR) and allowing parties to have an observation room within the IEC to observe preparations for the elections. A joint committee of representatives of political parties, the government and the IEC led by second Vice-President Sarwar Danesh have been discussing these demands in five rounds of meetings, with the first one held on 28 July (see here). On 1 August, the committee held a technical meeting (see here) in which, according to a source from Danesh’s office, a German company called Dermalog had a presentation on the use of “biometric technology,” this less than three months ahead of the poll.

In its last meeting on 5 August, the committee could not agree to the parties’ demands. According to Danesh’s media office, the committee concluded that the government “had stressed the use of biometric technology in elections more than any other organisation in the past.  Now if the IEC agrees, the government does not have any problem [with it] and the government also calls on the IEC to pave the way for using this technology in the [next] presidential elections.”

With respect to the parties’ demand to change SNTV into MDR, the vice-president’s media office reported that the committee had concluded that this proposal “in addition to the time constraints, has its own complexity and, thus, requires a broad national debate. Even if this proposal could be passed through a presidential legislative decree, it might still be rejected by the parliament. Therefore, the best way is that the [next] Afghan parliament [should] decide about changing the electoral system.”Since then, the political groups have been saying they will not accept the results of the elections held using the current manual voter registration and in the absence of any change to the electoral system (see this Khabarnama report quoting Anwarul Haq Ahadi, head of the New National Front of Afghanistan). Jamiat-e Islami member Nur Rahman Akhlaqi also told AAN on 9 August that the parties were considering not allowing the elections to be held using the manual voter registration. Any hardening of positions by these political parties could, of course, adversely impact the poll.

Electoral calendar

The IEC is lagging behind in the 2018 elections’ electoral calendar which sets specific deadlines for various important activities. The calendar specified 30 June to 2 July as the timeframe for addressing the complaints against the preliminary candidates’ list; the IEC should have published the final list on 3 August. However, it was only on 4 August that the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) announced it had disqualified 25 candidates for having links to illegal armed groups. It gave two days, as per the electoral law, to these candidates to appeal against the ECC decision. That meant that, on 8 August, the ECC was still holding an open session to address the appeals of the disqualified candidates (see here).

The Ghazni problem

In late July, the IEC proposed a postponement of both the Wolesi Jirga and district council elections in Ghazni as well as district council elections in the entire country. The IEC reasoned that “serious security situation and other problems” in Ghazni could prevent fair and inclusive representation from the entire province (media report here). It also argued that as only 40 out of Afghanistan’s 387 districts had an adequate number of candidates standing, this render district elections pointless (see media reporting here). In accordance with the electoral law,both proposals have been submitted to a high-ranking committee that has yet to convene. The National Security Council (NSC), whose members are part of the committee, discussed the IEC proposal concerning both district council elections and elections in Ghazni in its 7 August meeting. According to a report on the website on the presidential palace, the NSC, after “detailed discussions, decided that technical and practical studies and consultation were needed in this regard and asked the IEC to present a report on specific and practical alternatives in this regard for the necessary decision-making.”

The presidential election

During the 1 August press conference, the IEC also announced 31 Hamal 1398 (20 April 2019) as the date for the next presidential and provincial council elections. A day before, on 31 July, the IEC held a consultative meeting with the ECC leadership, representatives of political parties, civil society and international organisations where they discussed this date in terms of “operational, financial and administrative, security as well as climate aspects.” The IEC reported that a “majority” of the participants had agreed with the 20 April 2019 date.

The announcement of the presidential election date has been made well ahead of the legal deadline. The presidential term expires on 22 May 2019. According to the electoral law, the election for a new president should be held 30 to 60 days before the expiry date. This means that the next election should be held between 22 March and 22 April 2019. Article 71 of the electoral law stipulates that the IEC should announce the election date at least 180 days in advance, and publish the electoral calendar at least 120 days before the election day. This means that the respective deadlines are 22 September to 22 November to announce the date and 22 October 2018 to 22 December 2018 to publish the election calendar.

However, the early announcement of the date by the IEC was made in response to a call by the President Ghani. On 22 July, during a meeting in the Palace with the IEC members, the United Nations and the European Union special representatives and a number of ambassadors of countries supporting the elections, the president asked the IEC to “set thepresidential election date and share it with the people as soon as possible.” UNAMA welcomed the announcement as “an important moment for democracy in Afghanistan.” However, some election observers called the IEC’s announcement of the date “a rush.” Executive director of Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA) Yusuf Rashid told the media on 1 August that either the date would be missed or the elections would be held [on 20 April 2019] [but with] a myriad of problems. “We are worried about the consequences of the next [presidential] elections,” he said.

The IEC during its 1 August press conference called for the “cooperation of the international community and the government in funding the next presidential election and ensuring its security.” This call for cooperation came a few days after UNAMA had announced on 25 July that “at the third project board meeting to support the upcoming parliamentary and district council elections, a new agreement was signed to enable enhanced contributions to Afghanistan’s electoral budget” and “[d]onors pledged to fund an additional US$57 million to the elections budget, in addition to pledging ongoing assistance to the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC).” (UNAMA press release here) and media reporting here.)

More than three years for reform

AAN has covered attempts at and discussions of electoral reform extensively. There was an opportunity of more than three years for reform, but little was done. During this period, AAN’s reporting particularly featured the NUG leaders’ wrangling over the establishment of the Special Electoral Reform Commission (SERC), which had been envisaged in the NUG’s 2014 political deal; the SERC’s discussions and recommendations for electoral reform; parliament’s rejection of presidential legislative decrees that had adopted some of SERC’s recommendations and finally; changes to the electoral law which were endorsed by legislative decree and the appointment of new electoral commissioners for the IEC and the ECC. All of this is covered by AAN’s dispatches under section B.

Go to the dossier here.

 

(1) Following is a list of 21 parties that first coalesced around the demand in February 2018. Since then, they claim that the number has increased up to 35 (see here).

• [Hezb-e] Eqtedar-e Melli
• Afghan Mellat
• [Hezb-e] Paiwand-e Melli
• Jabha-ye Nawin-e Melli Afghanistan
• Jabha-ye Nejat-e Melli Afghanistan
• Jamiat-e Islami Afghanistan
• Jombesh-e Melli Islami Afghanistan
• Herasat-e Islami Afghanistan [previously known as Hezb-e Wahdat-e Melli Islami-ye Afghanistan]
• Harakat-e Islami Afghanistan
• Harakat-e Islami-ye Mutahed Afghanistan
• Harakat-e Enqelab-e Islami Mardom-e Afghanistan
• Hezb-e Islami Afghanistan [both Hekmatyar and Arghanidwal factions]
• Hezb-e Islami-ye Mutahed Afghanistan
• Hezb-e Etedal-e Afghanistan
• [Hezb-e] Haq wa Adalat
• Rawand-e Hefazat az Arzeshha-ye Jihad wa Muqawamat
• Hezb-e Qeyam-e Melli Afghanistan
• Mahaz-e Melli Islami Afghanistan
• Nahzat-e Hambastagi-ye Melli Afghanistan
• [Hezb-e] Wahdat-e Islami Afghanistan
• [Hezb-e] Wahdat-e Islami Mardom-e Afghanistan

The Command of the 8th Naval District (Com8DN) of the Brazilian Navy took delivery in July of its first DGS 888 Raptor fast attack multi-mission armoured craft, called Poraquê , from local firm DGS Defense. The boat, the first heavily armoured craft of its size for Brazil, primarily reinforces

The China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (CAAA), the flight technology development arm of state-owned space and defence technology prime China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), announced on 3 August that it has successfully developed and tested China’s first experimental

The Croatian Ministry of Defence (MoD) invited the Israeli Air Force (IAF) to visit Croatia on 2-5 August as it negotiated the purchase of F-16 combat aircraft from Israel. The potential deal reflected Croatia’s growing sign of support and friendship with Israel, with the arrival of three

The Italian Parliament approved the transfer of 12 patrol boats to Libya on 7 August. The vessels will be operated by the Libyan Coast Guard and the Ministry of Interior, and are intended to support efforts to stem the flow of illegal migrants through the Mediterranean. The boats are being donated

Systematic’s Sitaware Frontline command-and-control (C2) software is to be integrated onto the Lithuanian Land Force’s future armoured combat vehicles, the company announced on 8 August. Sitaware Frontline will be installed aboard the Land Force’s 8x8 Boxer infantry fighting

Event On 6 August, students – including school children – protested in Dhaka for a ninth consecutive day to demand improved road safety regulations. The protests were initially triggered by the death of two children in a road accident on 29 July but quickly spread across the capital,

Thales announced on 10 August that it has extended its acceptance period for the acquisition of digital security company Gemalto due to delays in receiving regulatory approval. Thales’ offer to Gemalto shareholders of EUR51 (USD59) per share was originally due to expire on 6 June but was

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) should complete a national maritime strategy to sustain the US-flagged commercial cargo ships on which the Pentagon relies to ship Defense Department cargo, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has said. The DOT has drafted but not issued the national

Key Points President Kabila likely intends to use the announcement of Ramazani Shadary’s candidacy to retain power, either as a disguise for his own upcoming presidential candidacy or de facto through parallel channels while out of office. However, the ascension of Ramazani Shadary to the

The Australian Department of Defence (DoD) has re-contracted state-owned company ASC to deliver the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN’s) Collins-class submarine training programme. Services that will be delivered in the contract include operator, maintainer, and operational training for all

More than 1,000 Australian businesses have formally registered interest in becoming part of the supply chain in support of Australia’s programme to build 12 next-generation submarines, the Department of Defence (DoD) in Canberra has announced. In a statement on 9 August, Australian Minister