Defence`s Feeds

According to our sources, the Saudi ministry of foreign affairs has chosen the corporate intelligence firm ESL Network to oversee

The AFET/SEDE delegation visited Kyiv, Zaporyzhya, and Mariupol (Ukraine) from 30 January to 1 February 2022. It was the first AFET mission to Ukraine since December 2019 and took place against the backdrop of a massive Russian military build-up on the border between Ukraine and Russia as well as on the border with Belarus.
The main purpose of the mission was to show solidarity with Ukraine, its population and institutions, and gather important factual elements on the security crisis in and around the country.
Location : Ukraine
Mission report
Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

FIRE BLADE 2022 (FB22), the 16th Blade exercise performed under the frame of EDA’s Helicopter Exercise Programme (HEP), was hosted at Pápa Airbase, Hungary, from 7-24 June 2022. The exercise, which marked the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Agency’s HEP, achieved all expected national and multinational objectives, including the preparation of aircrews and units for the challenges of modern military operations.  

The main objective of FB22 was to improve European interoperability and prepare participating Member States’ helicopter crews for joint and combined military operations in complex and congested environments. For this purpose, 8 Composite Air Operations (COMAO) missions were carried out in a realistic, harsh, and complex environment that included live firing at shooting ranges and employing all available assets. 

Furthermore, the participants performed other national and multinational training activities, which included Air Assaults, Special Operation Forces (SOF) training (fast rope and abseiling techniques), Special Patrol Insertion/Extraction (SPIE) training, pick-up and drop off procedures, air-to-surface live firing (helicopter door gunnery and sniper training), combat service support, close air support, convoy/helicopter escorts, reconnaissance and surveillance, combat search and rescue, personnel recovery, medical evacuation and casualty evacuation. In addition, the participants had the opportunity to carry out evasion training against air and ground threats. 

Altogether, the exercise accounted for 730 sorties, 425 flight hours and the shooting of 15.700 rounds of ammunition. 

This exercise involved a total of 25 air assets from Austria (3x OH-58, 2x AB-212 and 3x PC-7), Belgium (3x A-109 and 2x NH-90), Slovakia (1x UH-60), Slovenia (1x AS-532) and Hungary with (5x H145M, 2x Mi-24, 1x Mi-17, 2x JAS-39) and around 1,000 military personnel. Hungary, as the host nation, provided ground troops which were involved in the planning process and performed their own training using the support of the air assets. In addition, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Italy and Switzerland sent observers.  

A multinational Joint Tactical Air Controller (JTAC) team and Electronic Warfare (EW) emulator systems from Austria and Slovenia were also involved. Furthermore, the European Air Group (EAG) successfully delivered a Forward Arming Refuelling Point (FARP) Force Integration Training. 

Additionally, an international Mentor Team involving Helicopter Tactics Instructors (HTI) from Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden, provided expertise, standardisation and mentoring during the planning and execution of all COMAO missions.  

A Distinguished Visitors Day was organized on the 21June, with the participation of military and civilian authorities from the participating countries. It was also an opportunity for media to witness a COMAO mission demonstration, showcasing the capabilities of the assets involved and the outcome of a well-prepared mission. This event was highly appreciated by all the participants, which included several Hungarian and international journalists. 

During the closing ceremony, EDA Project Officer Rotary Wing, José Pablo Romera, highlighted the importance of EDA helicopter training activities, and in particular the “Blade” exercises, to improve the European helicopter capabilities to support building a more capable and stronger Europe. He also thanked the Hungarian Defence Forces, including Pápa Airbase, the Hungarian Exercise Control team, and combat and support elements, for the outstanding organisation and execution of the exercise and to all the participants for their proactive involvement and cooperative mindset which resulted in the achievement of the expected training objectives.  

The next EDA helicopter exercise, the Hot Blade 2023, will take place from 7th to 23rd of June 2023 and will be hosted by Portugal, in Beja Air Base No. 11. 

Background 

Since 2009, 16 Blade exercises have been performed in 8 different European countries (France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Portugal). In addition, 12 helicopter tactics symposiums, 74 Helicopter Tactics Courses, 7 Helicopter Tactics Instructors Courses and several other training activities, as Composite Air Operations (COMAO) planning courses and Electronic Warfare (EW) courses have been carried out under EDA management and involved 15 EDA Member States. 

The outcome is a high level of operational interoperability and helicopter cooperation among a large number of EDA MS, and the increase of readiness of European helicopter units to operate together anywhere in the world. Those activities are part of three long lasting, mature and dynamic programmes (HEP, HTC and HTIC) which will be transferred to the future Multinational Helicopter Training Centre (MHTC) starting by end of 2023. 

On 30 May 2022, the European Medical Command, a Germany-led PESCO project launched in March 2018, reached Full Operational Capability (FOC). Supported by 18 countries, it will benefit the EU and NATO with an enduring medical capability to increase medical operational readiness and interoperability for future joint and combined operations.

Read full news on the PESCO website

The video was captured by personnel on the flight deck, but seemingly never released before. On August 5, 2017, a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey crashed off the coast of Australia while on final approach [...]

The post Terrifying 2017 MV-22 Osprey Crash Video Emerges Online appeared first on The Aviationist.

Intelligence Online can reveal that the legal arm of the French armed forces ministry (DAJ) is working on a new legislative framework for a "government-to-government" (GtoG) arms sales model, based on the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS)'s system.This work is

With the 2024 Paris Olympics approaching fast, the French interior ministry is stepping up its efforts to secure the games.

State-owned Russian shipping group Sovcomflot has little by little concentrated the bulk of its crude oil transport business on India.

At the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum which took place from 15 to 18 June, Boris Nuraliev, the founder and

The publication on 4 July of the annual report of the National Commission for the Supervision of Intelligence Techniques (CNCTR)

The war in Ukraine has triggered divisions in the Kremlin, in which Sergey Kirienko, the first deputy director of the

Hamas is competing in a tight race to gain the support of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, a country in

Just one year after he took charge of the new investigations practice at the JS Held consulting group, industry veteran

American M106 Mortar Carrier

Americas

The US Air Force contracted Boeing with $14.5 million for KC-135 engineering sustainment services. The contract modification provides for recurring engineering services for sustainment of the KC-135 aircraft for one option year. Work will take place in Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama and Florida. Estimated completion date is March 31, 2022.

Tactical Air Support won a $265.3 million deal, which provides non-recurring engineering, inspection, modification, and block upgrade efforts for 16 F-5E and six F-5F Tiger II aircraft from a Swiss Confederation configuration to a Navy/Marine Corps N+/F+ configuration. Additionally, this contract procures eight block upgrade retrofits to existing fleet aircraft. Estimated completion will be in June 2027.

Middle East & Africa

Turkey’s landmark Bayraktar Akinci attack drone successfully fired a new laser-guided missile in a recent trial. During the test, the drone took off from Corlu airfield in northwestern Turkey and flew at an average altitude of 30,000 feet (9.1 kilometers). It struck a floating target laser-marked by another Bayraktar drone flying below cloud-level.

Europe

Slovakia will sign a government-to-government deal to purchase 152 CV90 MkIV tracked infantry fighting vehicles fitted with 35mm cannons by BAE Hägglunds, the country’s ministry of defense has announced. Bratislava plans to acquire the vehicles from Sweden in an “effort to build [a] heavy mechanized brigade, and reinforce its defense and support local industry,” Slovakia’s Defence Minister Jaroslav Na? said in a tweet.

Asia-Pacific

Lockheed Martin won a $192.4 million contract modification for technical engineering and management efforts for the Australia Surface Combatant program. The deal involves Foreign Military Sales to the government of Australia. Work will take place in New Jersey and Australia.

India’s Autonomous Flying Wing Technology Demonstrator unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) has successfully flown for the first time. In a statement, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) said that the UCAV was flown by the Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from its Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) in Chitradurga, in the southern state of Karnataka, the same day.

Today’s Video

WATCH: F5E Tiger II Best of Aviation Documentary

Top Gun, redux
(click to view full)

In the 1980s movie Top Gun, the revolutionary “MiG-28s” operated by the enemy air force were actually painted F-5E Tiger IIs, derived from a family of fighters whose design concept dates back to the mid 1950s. The F-5 family of aircraft were produced in large numbers, as they were an extremely popular export item. Many are still operated by countries around the world, and the US Air Force used them for many years as “aggressor” aircraft in Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT). They remain excellent for simulating similarly small, low profile adversaries like the MiG-21s and MiG-19s that gave American pilots such trouble over Vietnam. Or the IAF MiG-21s that caused trouble in the 2004 – 2005 COPE India exercises, for that matter.

“F-5Ns” are still routinely flown by American Navy and Marines adversary squadrons in training exercises, where they simulate small, low-cross-section (and hence hard to spot) enemies. Keeping them in service requires maintenance contracts – and some timely help from the Swiss also came in handy. This article covers a multi-year maintenance & support contract from 2008 – 2014, as a representative time period.

Contracts and Key Developments

F-5N at Key West
(click to view full)

Unless otherwise noted, The Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD manages the contracts.

March 23/21: Collision Two F-5Es had a mid-air collision off Taiwan’s Pingtung County at around 15:06 local time on March 22. The crash on Monday was the third such incident in the past half-year, at a time when the island’s armed forces are having to intercept Chinese aircraft on an almost daily basis. One of the pilots was found unconscious in the sea but could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead at the hospital. Rescuers were still searching for the remaining pilot.

July 31/19: Logistics Support PAE Aviation and Technical Services won a $50.4 million contract modification for organizational, selected intermediate, and limited depot maintenance and logistics support for the F-5F and F-5N aircraft. The F-5 is a supersonic light fighter. The F-5N is a single seat, twin-engine, tactical fighter and attack aircraft providing simulated air-to-air combat training. The F-5F is a dual-seat version, twin-engine, tactical fighter commonly used for training and adversary combat tactics. The aircraft serves in an aggressor-training role with simulation capability of current threat aircraft in fighter combat mode. The F-5F Tiger II and F-5N Freedom Fighter are used by the Navy and Marine Corps for adversary training purposes. They serve as proxies for third-generation Soviet-era fighters due to their small size, maneuverability and relatively primitive sensor gear compared to modern aircraft like the F/A-18. PAE will perform work in Nevada, Arizona, and Florida. Estimated completion date is in July next year.

July 29/14: Sikorsky Aerospace Maintenance in Stratford, CT receives a $7.9 million firm-fixed-price contract modificatio, exercising an option for organizational, selected intermediate, and limited depot-level maintenance for aircraft operated by adversary squadrons. All funds are committed immediately, using FY 2014 US Navy O&M budgets.

Work will be performed at the NAS Key West, FL (40%); NAS Fallon, NV (30%); and Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma, AZ (30%), and is expected to be complete in October 2014 (N00019-09-C-0024).

April 29/14: Sikorsky Aerospace Maintenance in Stratford, CT receives a $7.9 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract, exercising an option for adversary squadron organizational maintenance, selected intermediate maintenance, and limited depot-level maintenance. Their platforms include the F-5, but also include F-16s.

All funds are committed immediately, using FY 2014 maintenance budgets. Work will be performed at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West, FL (40%); NAS Fallon, NV (30%); and the Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma, AZ (30%), and is expected to be complete in December 2014.

A new contract was started in April 2014 under similar terms as previous F-5 awards. DID will not be covering the new contract, and coverage of this representative period ends as the FY 2009 multi-year contract does (N00019-09-C-0024).

March 20/13: Sikorsky Aerospace Maintenance in Stratford, CT receives an $8.2 million firm-fixed-price contract modification, exercising an option for organizational, selected intermediate, and limited depot-level maintenance for USN adversary squadrons.

Work will be performed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West, FL (40%); NAS Fallon, NV (30%); and Marine Corp Air Station Yuma, AZ (30%), and is expected to be completed in June 2013. $10 million in FY 2013 Operation and Maintenance, Navy Reserve contract funds are committed obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/13 (N00019-09-C-0024).

Dec 28/12: Sikorsky Aerospace Maintenance in Stratford, CT receives a $23.3 million firm-fixed-price contract option for organizational, selected intermediate, and limited depot-level maintenance for 44 F-5 aircraft operated by US Navy adversary squadrons. $10.4 million is committed immediately, and all contract funds in the will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/13.

Work will be performed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West, FL (40%); NAS Fallon, NV (30%); and the Marine Corp Air Station, Yuma, AZ (30%), until December 2013 (N00019-09-C-0024).

Dec 21/11: Sikorsky Aerospace Maintenance in Stratford, CT receives a $23.2 million firm-fixed-price contract modification, to exercise an option for organizational, selected intermediate, and limited depot-level maintenance for 44 F-5 aircraft operated by US Navy adversary squadrons.

Work will be performed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West, FL (40%); NAS Fallon, NV (30%); and the Marine Corp Air Station, Yuma, AZ (30%), until December 2012. All contract funds in the will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/12 (N00019-09-C-0024).

F-5E Aggressors
(click to view full)

July 5/22:Navy/Marine Corps N+/F+ Tactical Air Support won a $265.3 million deal, which provides non-recurring engineering, inspection, modification, and block upgrade efforts for 16 F-5E and six F-5F Tiger II aircraft from a Swiss Confederation configuration to a Navy/Marine Corps N+/F+ configuration. Additionally, this contract procures eight block upgrade retrofits to existing fleet aircraft. Estimated completion will be in June 2027.

Feb 7/11: Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. in St. Augustine, FL receives a $16.7 million contract modification to provide continued life cycle support services for a total of 11 F-5 series aircraft in support of the Commander, Naval Reserve Forces Command, Norfolk, VA.

Life cycle support services include all levels of aircraft maintenance including depot level maintenance; emergency repair; aircraft modification; engineering; logistics; program management support; technical advisor services and associated materials and services as may be required. Work will be performed in St. Augustine, FL, and work is expected to be complete on Jan 31/12. The Fleet and Industrial Supply Center Norfolk’s Contracting Department in Philadelphia, PA manages this contract (N00189-09-D-Z052).

Despite the implied FY 2009 date in that contract number, this is its 1st DefenseLINK announcement.

Dec 22/10: Sikorsky Aerospace Maintenance in Stratford, CT receives a $22.7 million firm-fixed-price contract modification, exercising an option for organizational, selected intermediate, and limited depot-level maintenance for 44 F-5 aircraft operated by USN/USMC adversary squadrons.

Work will be performed at Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West, FL (40%); NAS Fallon, NV (30%); and the Marine Corp Air Station, Yuma, AZ (30%), and is expected to be complete in December 2011. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 20/11 (N00019-09-C-0024).

July 20/10: Competition makes a move. Northrop Grumman Corporation signs an agreement adding Astronautics Corporation of America in Milwaukee, WI to its F-5 Worldwide Sustainment Team, alongside Northrop Grumman Technical Services and RUAG Aviation in Emmen, Switzerland. Under the terms of the agreements, the team will market F-5 aftermarket support, modifications and upgrade programs to countries flying the aircraft. Northrop Grumman.

Jan 11/10: Sikorsky Aerospace Maintenance in Stratford, CT receives a $34.7 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-09-C-0024), exercising an option for organizational, selected intermediate, and limited depot-level maintenance for 44 F-5 aircraft operated by American adversary squadrons.

Work will be performed at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West, FL (40%); NAS Fallon, NV (30%); and the Marine Corp Air Station, Yuma, AZ (30%), and is expected to be complete in December 2010. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/10.

Swiss F-5E
(click to view full)

May-June 2009: US Defense Acquisition University’s Defense AT&L Magazine runs “Sharpening the Spear Through Innovative Acquisition: The F-5 Adversary Program” [PDF]. It describes the US Navy and Marine Corps’ purchase of 44 Swiss F-5s from 2003-2005, in a “reverse Foreign Military Sale.”

Switzerland had originally purchased 70 F-5E/Fs from the USA in the late 1980s, but sharp cuts to the Swiss Air Force had left them with surplus planes. The Swiss aircraft had far lower flight-hours per airframe (average flight hours: 2,500) than American aggressor training squadron F-5Es (average flight hours: 7,000). They also added a number of useful improvements: an improved inertial navigation system, new radar warning receiver capability and chaff /flare capability, added anti-skid capability, improved airborne radar capability, and standardized cockpit configuration.

With Northrop Grumman’s close cooperation, the entire program was accomplished within a $43 million budget, avoiding a situation in which 73% of the Navy and Marines’ F-5 aggressor aircraft were expected to drop out of service by FY 2007 due to spiraling maintenance costs. The ex-Swiss planes can be identified by their new designation: F-5N.

Dec 17/08: Sikorsky Support Services, Inc. in Stratford, CT received a $6.6 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract for organizational, selected intermediate, and limited depot-level maintenance for 44 F-5 aircraft operated by the Adversary Squadrons based at Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West, FL; NAS, Fallon, NV; and Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma, AZ.

Work will be performed in Key West, FL (40%); Fallon, NV (30%); and Yuma, AZ (30%), and is expected to be complete in February 2009. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year (N00019-01-C-0109).

Oct 22/08: NAVAIR’s Support and Commercial Derivative Aircraft program office is upgrading the Navy’s F-5N Adversary aircraft with new avionics, and expects to save an estimated $20 million in future costs. Jay Bolles, Adversary Integrated Product Team lead:

“The cost to repair the older INS and buying a new, more capable system was about the same so the decision was made to go with the newer, more reliable system… The funding for the entire $6.1 million upgrade program was split between the U.S. Navy Reserve, which fly the F-5Ns, and the Support and Commercial Derivative Aircraft program office.”

Northrop Grumman’s new LN-260 inertial navigation system and new display bring a multi-function touch screen capability, a radar display, INS functions, embedded Global Positioning System (GPS) and a new fiber optic gyro. NAVAIR release.

Aug 25/08: Sikorsky Support Services, Inc. in Stratford, CT received a $10.5 million modification to a firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-01-C-0109) that began in 2001, in return for another year of organizational, selected intermediate, and limited depot-level maintenance for 44 F-5 aircraft operated by the USA’s adversary squadrons based at Naval Air Station (NAS) Key West, FL (40%); NAS Fallon, NV (30%); and Marine Corps Air Station, Yuma, AZ (30%).

Maintenance may be marginally easier this year, thanks to a smart NAVAIR program involving the F-5’s internal batteries. Work is expected to be completed in December 2008, and contract funds in the amount of $3 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year on Sept 30/08.

Additional Readings

• US Navy – Fact File: F-5N/F Adversary aircraft

• US Navy NAVAIR – F-5 Tiger II

• Global Security – F-5 Freedom Fighter/ Tiger

• CNIC Naval Air Station Fallon – Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center (NSAWC)

• StrategyPage (Feb 3/11) – Chinese Blue-Army Aggressor Squadrons. Interesting development in the PLAAF.

• San Diego Magazine (October 2009) – Top Gun: 40 Years of Higher Learning

• US Defense Acquisition University’s Defense AT&L Magazine (May/June 2009) – Sharpening the Spear Through Innovative Acquisition: The F-5 Adversary Program [PDF].

• U-T San Diego (April 9/09) – TOPGUN dogfight school had bare-bones beginning

Russian BMP-2M Infantry Fighting Vehicle

The first Energy Technology Solutions (ETS) conference and exhibition were organised last week by EDA, hosted in Bordeaux by the French Ministry of Armed Forces and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).  

 

Both events, the conference and the exhibition, were held in the framework of the Consultation Forum for Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CF SEDSS III) the plenary conference of which also took place this week in Bordeaux (Consultation Forum concludes first round of defence energy deliverables (europa.eu). 

Entitled “Strategic autonomy in the defence energy sector”, the first ETS conference allowed the CF SEDSS community to engage with the industry, academia, and other research and technology organisations to discuss ideas on how to make defence more energy-efficient and robust. The event was opened by Jean-François Ripoche, EDA Director of Research, Technology and Innovation, and Hélène Burlet (CEA). Christophe Poinssot, General Director of the French Geological Survey (BRGM), delivered the keynote speech.  

 

In his address, Mr Ripoche noted in particular that the Agency had already been engaged in collaborative innovation for many years and recently established a Hub for EU Defence Innovation (HEDI), which will act as a platform to stimulate, facilitate and support collaboration on defence innovation, including energy foresight. 

  

 

Ms Hélène Burlet, in her welcome speech, underlined the potential of synergies in research to address the key challenges of the energy transition, both for civil and military applications.  

  

In his keynote speech, Mr Poinssot underlined the increasing need in strategic materials for feeding the energy and numeric transitions and the complexity of the minerals value chains. A national "observatory" dedicated to strategic mineral resources is under development in BRGM (OFREMI) to better know the global mineral value chains and assess/mitigate the potential risk.  

 

The ETS exhibition featured several stands where companies showcased innovative sustainable energy technologies, services and products suitable for the defence sector.  Custom-made photovoltaic solar panels, modular and scalable green hydrogen generators for decentralised energy generation for multiple purposes, electric and hybrid transmission technologies, virtual platforms for the management of defence energy data, energy-efficient and resilient military camps, electricity storage, micro-grids, hybrid and hydrogen solutions for mobility, wind powers and arctic solutions and radar interference mitigation measures were among the applications presented.

Next CF SEDSS III conference in December 

 The 5th CF SEDSS III Conference is scheduled to take place in Prague, Czech Republic, on 30 November and 1 December 2022 under the auspices of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU and hosted by the Czech Ministry of Defence.

More information:

• CF SEDSS website 

• Consultation Forum concludes first round of defence energy deliverables (europa.eu) 

• New Energy Consultation Forum project to promote low carbon military camps (europa.eu) 

• Energy Defence Consultation Forum gains momentum (europa.eu) 

• First High-Level Joint Defence and Energy Meeting (europa.eu)  

• Energy Defence Consultation Forum gains momentum (europa.eu)  

• First Energy Consultation Forum project to receive EU funding 

Ahead of a meeting of the defence and national security council at the Elysee Palace on Wednesday, the defence ministry's intelligence services that are interested by the military appropriations bill are fired up. President Emmanuel Macron's announcement that the 2019-2025 military

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