When the WALRUS super-heavy cargo airship was canceled, combat commanders complained that front-line airfields were often too short for the C-130 Hercules that make up the USAF’s tactical transport fleet. Delays in buying a small cargo aircraft to fill that role were making that problem worse. Starved of useful help due to USAF-sponsored delays, and the lack of appropriate aircraft in the USAF, the Army carried on with its aging C-23 Sherpas, and repurposed aircraft like the unprotected C-12 Hurons, in order to ferry troops, supplies, and/or very small vehicles within its theaters of operations.
The Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) could have been worth up to $6 billion before all was said and done, and the finalists were a familiar duo. After EADS-CASA’s CN-235 and a shortened version of Lockheed Martin’s C-130J were disqualified for failing to meet requirements, JCA became yet another international competition between EADS-CASA’s C-295M & Alenia’s C-27J. The C-27J team eventually won the delayed decision in June 2007, and prevailed in the subsequent contract protests from their rivals. What remained unclear was exactly what they had won. The joint-service decision and contract announcement didn’t end the inter-service and Congressional politicking, and the contractor side was equally fractious. This FOCUS article covers the JCA competition, and subsequent developments – including the Pentagon’s 2012 push to end the program, and sell its planes.
EADS-CASA partnered with Raytheon for the JCA competition. Their finalist the C-295M has a longer fuselage that can carry more cargo pallets than the C-27J, comes with a nifty pallet loading system, and is cheaper to maintain and fly. On the other hand, it lacks the internal dimensions and/or floor strength required for tactical loads like Humvees, small helicopters, et. al. C295 transport wins have included Spain, Algeria, Brazil, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, Ghana, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Poland, and Portugal; and special mission versions serve with other countries beyond that list.
Alenia partnered with L-3 Communications and Boeing to offer the C-27J Spartan, aka. “Baby Herc” due to its profile, engine, and avionics commonality with the C-130J Hercules. EADS-CASA claims the C-27J’s fuel and maintenance needs give it operational costs that are over 50% more expensive than the C-295’s; but C-130J commonality may bring those numbers down slightly, and the C-27J’s internal dimensions and floor strength give it the flexibility to carry light tactical loads. C-27J wins as of August 2011 include Italy (12), Bulgaria (now 3 + 2 options), Greece (12, had some issues but appears to have resolved them [PDF]), Lithuania (3), Mexico (4), Romania (7), Morocco (4), and Slovakia (selected, no contract yet).
Surprisingly, word was that the US Army originally wanted the C-295 despite its tactical limitations, and the USAF originally wanted the C-27J despite is operating and maintenance costs. If the rumors about service preferences were true, testing pointed to the USAF’s choice – and the Army got more tactical flexibility.
That would come in handy later.
Hello, My Baby, Hello, My Honey… C-27J SpartanThe C-27J team is led by GMAS (Global Military Aircraft Systems), a company owned 51% by Alenia Aeronautica and 49% by L-3 Communications. L-3 is formally the prime contractor within the USA, and Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is also a partner. Rolls Royce will supply the same AE2100 engines, and Dowty propellers, used by the 4-engined C-130J. Honeywell will enhance that commonality by offering the same avionics suite.
The GMAS team’s C-27J “Baby Herc” was set to replace the U.S. Army’s 43 C-23 Sherpas, and fill some roles currently flown by a handful of C-12 (based on the Beechcraft King Air twin turboprop) and C-26 Metroliner (based on the Fairchild Metro 23 twin turboprop) aircraft. In practice, it will also augment the U.S. Air Forces’ aging and partly-grounded fleet of C-130E/H intratheater airlifters, and replace a number of missions that are using very expensive-to-operate CH-47 helicopters as in-theater supply aircraft. The USAF has been making extensive use of intra-theater transports, and even C-17s with their short-field landing capabilities, in order to reduce the number of road supply convoys in Iraq. The C-27J’s ability to use even shorter runways will expand the number of sites available for use in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other fronts of the war.
Maj. Gen. Marshall K. Sabol, Air Force deputy chief of staff for Air, Space and Information Operations, Plans and Requirements, adds that the under-utilization of the C-130 is another reason the JCA program makes sense:
“The Air Force flew C-130 Hercules aircraft many times in Iraq, carrying just a few passengers or a single pallet of medical goods, because that is what the warfighters needed at that moment, he said. This is not a very efficient use of an aircraft, but the warfighters’ needs come first.”
Despite these testimonials, the USAF did exactly what their detractors expected them to do: scrap the fleet as soon as possible, using cost justifications that many people didn’t find credible. US Special Operations Command got 7 of the 21 ordered planes, for training use. The US Coast Guard got the other 14, for use as medium range maritime patrol and rescue aircraft alongside their HC-144 (CN-235) fleet.
Room And Bird: The National Guard Angle C-27J cockpitUnder the joint Memorandum of Understanding signed in June 2006, JCA could have grown into a $6 billion program. Initial plans contemplated 145 aircraft – 75 USAF and 70 Army, and Finmeccanica projected a possible total of 207 JCA aircraft over the next 10 years. By 2009, however, consolidation under the US Air Force, which greatly prefers the larger C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster transports, came with a sharp cut in the total program, to just 38 planes, all of which would serve with the USAF Air National Guard.
Meanwhile, state National Guard forces have seen their air transport assets dwindle as C-130s are based elsewhere in realignments, or just not flyable. They clamored to host C-27Js, whose short-field landing capabilities will be very welcome in the at-home disaster relief role.
The Army National Guard originally expected to receive the C-27J in 12 states, with each state hosting 4 aircraft: California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Alaska/Guam (shared), and Washington State. USAF Air National Guard deployments were also discussed for Connecticut, Michigan, Maryland, North Dakota, Ohio and Mississippi. As things stand now, however, many of these states will not get any planes. The C-27Js were set to base with Air National Guard detachments in groups of 4 at:
Plus 2 bases to be named later. The cancellation decision was not well received in these locales.
A Great Big Bunch of You: Contracts and Key Events FY 2013 – 2017MC-27J tests; Fleet goes directly to storage; USCG stands up project office, begin receiving C-27Js.
HC-27 conceptApril 27/18: Greece Spartans get guns Greek media reports that the country’s Governmental Council for Foreign Affairs and Defense decided on Monday, April 23, to weaponize its fleet of C-27J Spartan aircraft. While Athens operates eight vanilla versions of the Leonardo-manufactured transporter, other specialized variants in use by various militaries have been developed for maritime patrol, search and rescue, C3 ISR (command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance), fire support and electronic warfare and ground-attack missions. No details were given on what the Syriza-led government plans to arm its own Spartans with. Despite news of the armament sub-program, the government did not make any final decisions on its F-16 modernization program—for which $1.1 billion has been earmarked—or on the planned lease of two FREMM frigates from France this summer.
October 31/17: After a year’s delay, Slovakia received the first of two ordered C-27J Spartan military transporters. It landed at an airbase in Kuchyna, Záhorie region, on October 24 ahead of the official handover ceremony scheduled for tomorrow, October 31. Delivery of the second aircraft is expected for early next year. Manufactured by Italian aircraft-builder Leonardo, a Slovak government spokesperson said that the possibility of imposed penalties on the firm for the delayed delivery will only be announced once negotiations have been completed. The Spartans will fill Slovakia’s capability gap left by the phasing out of its Soviet-era An-24 transport planes—one of which crashed in 2006 resulting in 42 deaths, including a contingent of peacekeeping troops returning from duty in Kosovo.
November 16/16: Italy’s Leonardo-Finmeccanica has commenced a whistle-stop tour of Latin America with their C-27J Spartan tactical airlifter. Bolivia, Panama, and Argentina will be included on the tour following earlier displays of the the aircraft’s multimission capabilities in Mexico and Peru. According to the company, 82 units are already under contract with 14 operators.
Nov 13/14: USCG. The Coast Guard takes delivery of its first post-restoration C-27J Spartan, at the C-27J Asset Project Office (APO) in Elizabeth City, NC. It will be used to train and qualify Coast Guard aircrew and maintenance personnel, and to develop flight and maintenance procedures for Coast Guard-specific mission profiles.
While the aircraft was being restored by AMARG in Arizona, initial APO postings to Italy took place for training to be rated as C-27 pilots, and a hangar was prepped at the Aviation Logistics Center in Elizabeth City. A second C-27J should complete regeneration before the end of 2014, and 2 others are expected to finish by mid-2015. At some point, these planes must go through modification to become HC-27A maritime patrol and transport aircraft. Sources: USCG, “Acquisition Update: First Coast Guard C-27J Arrives At Elizabeth City” | Seapower, “Coast Guard Receives First C-27J for Modification”.
July 18/14: USCG. The Coast Guard stands up its C-27J Asset Project Office in Elizabeth City, NC. The APO will eventually consist of 56 civilian and uniformed personnel, and will be responsible for working with both the USAF and the original manufacturer to ensure restoration and certification of the stored USAF C-27Js. They’ll also prepare a plan to bring the aircraft into the USCG and ensure that all training, spares, etc. are in place. The same process will take place for “missionization,” where sensors are added to make the aircraft useful for land and maritime surveillance and rescue roles. Sources: USCG, “Acquisition Update: C-27J Asset Project Office Commissioned”.
Dec 26/13: USCG. The 2014 National Defense Authorization Act is signed into law, locking in the transfer of the USAF’s 14 remaining C-27Js to the Coast Guard. Initial flight operations are scheduled to begin within 6-12 months, but a Jan 6/14 Alenia North America release shows that there’s more expense to come:
“The company also anticipates the USCG will immediately begin the process for expanding the C-27J’s capabilities with tailored mission kits to include surface-search radars, electro-optical sensors and mission suites installed on all 14 planes.”
The other good news for Alenia is that the conversions will give it another tested market offering for the C-27J line. Canada’s semi-serious Search & Rescue competition is the most obvious opportunity, as Canada reportedly values the C-27J’s speed advantage over the C295, and its tactical airlift convertibility. Alenia improves their odds of winning by having the USCG use their solution as a lead customer, giving them parity with the fully integrated C295 MPA. It’s also better to have the USCG pay to integrate all of the required equipment, instead of adding that cost to their bid in Canada. Sources: Govtrack, “H.R. 1960: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014” | Alenia NA, “14 Alenia Aermacchi C-27Js transferred to U.S. Coast Guard”.
Dec 11/13: 14 for USCG? USCG Vice-Commandant Vice Adm. John Currier testifies that the Coast Guard will halt its HC-144 Ocean Sentry (CN-235MP) buys at 18 planes. Instead of buying another 18 integrated HC-144s, they’ll integrate the equipment they want on a 2nd fleet of 14 C-27Js, which will be transferred free from the USAF.
This will save procurement costs for each base airframe, but the final savings could be a lot smaller than meets the eye. For starters, onboard sensors and equipment need to be bought, no matter which aircraft is used. Second, unless the MC-27J Praetorian gunship’s sensor fit-out and core architecture also meets the USCG’s needs, the USCG will also have to pay to integrate the new combination of plane and equipment. Once operational, the C-27J’s operating costs will be noticeably higher; it was designed for short take-off performance, tactical transport, and cruise speed, rather than for efficient flight and endurance. Finally, having a 2nd aircraft type adds costs for training infrastructure, spares, maintenance training, etc. Sources: US House Transportation Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, “Coast Guard Mission Execution: How is the Coast Guard Meeting Its Mission Goals?” | Examiner Science & Space, “Air Force to transfer aircraft to Coast Guard”.
Dec 9/13: Defense News conducts an interview with Finmeccanica North America CEO William Lynn. An excerpt:
“On the C-27 [cargo plane], I think most of the direct conversation is between the receiving entities in the Pentagon, the Coast Guard, the Forest Service and the special operations community. Right now, two-thirds of them will go to the Coast Guard and the other third will go to the special operations community. The Forest Service will get some Coast Guard C-130s. That is the way I understand. That seems to fit everyone, in that the C-27 is a very well positioned airplane for the Coast Guard mission. It is less well for the Forest Service, which could use a bigger airplane, hence the C-130.”
Sources: Defense News, “Finmeccanica Reworks To Strengthen US Presence” | Fire Aviation, “Legislation introduced to transfer 7 C-130Hs to US Forest Service”.
Nov 1/13: 7 to SOCOM. Defense News reports that SOCOM will receive 7 C-27Js for training purposes. None are being taken from “Type 1000” near-ready storage; 3 will go to JFK Special Warfare Center as training aircraft, instead of the boneyeard, and another 4 are still under construction. That leaves 13 in storage right now, with 1 more set to join them. The C-27Js need to be declared “excess defense articles” before they can be assigned outside the military, and that hasn’t happened yet. The Coast Guard and Forestry Service will need to wait. Sources: Defense News, “US SOCOM To Get 7 C-27Js From USAF”.
Oct 14/13: What’s up? Military.com runs down the various American service branches and agencies interested in the USAF’s 21 discarded C-27Js. Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Frank Kendall will make the final decision. Until then, they’re just being shipped from the factory to storage at the AMARG “boneyard” in Tucson, AZ.
The US Coast Guard wants all 21, to serve as medium range maritime surveillance planes alongside the existing CN235/HC-144 fleet. They estimate $1 billion in savings, which is more than the foregone airframe costs involved in buying more HC-144s. The C-27J is more expensive to operate than the CN235, so the math is a bit puzzling.
US special Operations Command wants 8, to replace aged C212 training aircraft at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. SOCOM is a past operator of the C-27A.
The US Forestry Service wants 7 to serve as firefighting planes, and cites their excellent experiences with C-130s in this role. Then again, if the USAF gets its way, they may be able to pick up retired C-130s instead. Source: DoD Buzz, “Agencies Await Decision on C-27J’s Fate”.
Oct 7/13: Boneyard. Fox News:
“A dozen nearly new Italian-built C-27J Spartans have been shipped to an Air Force facility in Arizona dubbed “the boneyard,” and five more currently under construction are likely headed for the same fate, according to an investigation by the Dayton Daily News. The Air Force has spent $567 million on 21 of the planes since 2007, according to purchasing officials at Dayton’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Of those, 16 have been delivered – with almost all sent directly to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson…”
June 17/13: MC-27J. ATK and Alenia Aermacchi have made some progress on their armed variant, successfully completing Phase 1 with ground and flight tests of the GAU-23 Roll-On/Roll-Off 30mm Gun System pallet at Eglin AFB, FL. Interestingly, the test events were designed and certified by the USAF, and deemed successful by Air Force Special Operations Command.
SOCOM is the logical agency for this work, and had considered an AC-27J Stinger variant some time ago. One wonders if there’s any more to it than that, given the opportunity to pick up the airframes. Alenia.
May 10/13: The USAF issues a non-binding request to industry about buying more C-27Js, but it’s almost certainly an empty diversion. In response to a question from Military.com, USAF spokesperson Ann Stefanek writes that it’s:
“… in accordance with Congressional language that states “the Secretary of the Air Force shall obligate and expend funds previously appropriated for the procurement of C-27J Spartan aircraft for the purposes for which such funds were originally appropriated,”
The most likely outcome for the 21-plane fleet is conveyance to “The Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ for storage – unless some other service claims them. FBO.gov | Military.com.
FY 2012MC-27J armed variant. Clashing over costs, control, and doctrine. JCA to end?
C-27J 3-viewJuly 9/12: MC-27J. Alenia Aermacchi is going ahead with an armed MC-27J variant, creating a competition with EADS’ CN-235 gunship for countries that want a less expensive alternative to the C-130. The MC-27J is a collaboration with ATK, who was involved in Jordan’s CN-235 gunship conversion.
The MC-27J is designed to be a flexible special missions aircraft that can perform surveillance, gunship, command and control, or transport roles. Its RO-RO palletized system integrates enhanced electro-optical/infrared targeting sensors, a trainable 30mm cannon, precision guided munitions, advanced communications, and a networked mission management and fire control system. ATK will integrate precision weapons onto the platform, and developed a roll-on/ roll-off (RO-RO) GAU-23 30mm gun pallet that can be installed or removed in 4 hours.
Alenia has reportedly claimed interest from Australia (who is buying C-27Js) and Britain, and hopes this will add pressure to reverse the cancellation of American C-27J orders. Alenia Aermacchi | ATK | DoD Buzz.
March 13-17/12: Costs & Control Clash. Ohio Air National Guard Capt. Dave Lohrer publicly disputes the USAF’s operating cost figures for the C-27J. His brief argues that early analysis pegged the C-27J’s 25-year lifecycle costs at just $111 million, rather than the final $308 million figures used by the USAF in its justifications, and argues that the USAF both overstated flight-hour costs, and added 53 more airmen to staff and service the planes, pushing the cost up by over $100 million.
The USAF says the personnel numbers came from the Guard, and the Pentagon’s Cost Analysis and Program Evaluation (CAPE) group’s analysis suggests that the difference could stem from the basing of small 4-plane units at so many sites, instead of running much larger units from one base. The difference, if the C-27Js were based like C-130s? Just over $100 million, according to CAPE.
The more fundamental question is one of control. The USAF prefers to have pooled airlift assets, run from a central base, with scheduling several days in advance. That’s efficient from one perspective, but it loses both responsiveness, and the ability to substitute airlift for less efficient helicopter assets. The C-27J was based around a concept that gave control to the ground commander, a concept that was tried with both the C-130 test concept deployment, and the 2 C-27Js subsequently sent to Afghanistan. According to an Army briefing, 52% of planned C-27J sorties in Afghanistan changed within the 96-hour scheduling cycle. Naturally, the USAF doesn’t like this, and wants its go-forward understanding with the Army to give them the option of retaining control. Defense News | DoD Buzz | Gannett’s Air Force Times | Military.com.
March 11/12: USCG? Gannett’s Navy Times reports that Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Robert Papp maybe interested in the C-27Js, and has ordered a business case analysis for a mixed fleet of CN-235s (HC-144), HC-130Js, and C-27Js for maritime patrol. The Spartan’s C-130J commonality will help, but if it wants to mount the Coast Guard’s sensors, integration must be paid for. Still:
“[S]ometimes things fall in your laps and if we can get… basically free from the Air Force, we might be able to come up with the plan that would allow us a mix of the [CN-235s], a mix of the C-27s, and, oh by the way, that might put some extra money in our budget that we could devote to some of these other projects.”
Would the C-27J’s higher operating costs and shorter endurance than the HC-144 allow that happy financial outcome?
Feb 29/12: Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz are grilled at Congressional hearings over the C-27J and RQ-4B Block 30 Global Hawk cuts. While the Global Hawks are going into “recoverable storage”, the C-27J cancellation and potential sale receives criticism from both sides of the political aisle. The general thrust: the planes are new, they’re capable, why not just use them?
This is likely to become a familiar refrain, given pressures from state delegations to keep their National Guard airlift in state. That pressure would only intensify, if Alenia’s embargo makes it impossible for the USAF to recover costs by selling the planes abroad. A second possibility might involve reassignment to US Special Operations Command, as a free platform for conversion to AC-27J Stinger light gunships, or a combat transport role similar to the MC-130J. Aviation Week.
Feb 27/12: We’re not gonna take it. Alenia Aermacchi CEO Giuseppi Giordo gives an interview at Singapore’s air show, which throws a major wrench in American plans to re-sell the C-27J fleet. The contract itself reportedly has clauses that given Alenia discretion over resales, and if the USAF doesn’t reassign or store the Spartans:
“In fact, we will do our best – not only us, but the Italian government – not to support those planes. They can sell, but as the original equipment manufacturer, I will not give spares, not guarantee configuration control, and so on… First of all, the price that we have with the U.S. government is a very, very, low, low price because to win the competition we had to reduce the price. Second, the volume at the beginning was 145, then 78, then 38, now 21 with firm, fixed price. We are losing money. So, how can I allow the U.S. government to sell 21 airplanes they have in their inventory where I lose money and they also kill my international marketing?”
Alenia is perfectly within its rights here, on all points. It may be possible for a customer to get support anyway, via separate deal with Rolls Royce for the engines, a similar direct relationship approach for avionics, and a combination of locally-engineered and gray market parts. On the other hand, it would be expensive and risky. Giordo mentions South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana (bought C295s), Taiwan, Egypt, Oman, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia (makes CN-235s bought C-295s), Qatar and the UAE as potential markets for the C-27J. Of this list, only Taiwan seems plausible as a willing customer for a manufacturer-embargoed plane, and then only if a direct sale ran into political difficulties involving Italy and China.
The USAF’s delay of its T-X trainer competition to 2016 weakens its position further, and Giordo explicitly denies any concern about linkage between future M-346 sales and the C-27J dispute. Whether or not this is true, it clearly shows that Alenia has decided to proceed as if that linkage did not exist. Defense News | Lexington Institute.
Feb 23/12: USAF Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz discusses the C-27J cut, at an AFA conference:
“The C-27 decision was a particularly difficult one for me, because Gen. George Casey, when he was chief of staff of the Army, and I agreed that we would migrate the C-27 to the Air Force and I assured him that I wouldn’t back out… But that was $487 billion dollars ago… In the interim, we have demonstrated, I think convincingly, that the C-130 can do virtually all of the direct, time-sensitive mission critical support that the Army needs… We are committed to doing that or we will die trying… depend instead on the remarkable capability of 318 C-130s and an abundance of airdrop capability and other means to provide time-sensitive, mission-critical support…”
The issue for the Army has always been the USAF’s lower priority given to timely front-line support, which had made planes like the Caribou early targets for USAF budget cuts in the past. Whether the USAF wanted to cut the C-27J’s capability is one question. Faced with the same financial straitjacket, would the Army have made that same cut? DoD Buzz.
Jan 26/12: JCA to End? Preliminary FY 2013 budget materials discuss coming shifts in Pentagon priorities, as the US defense department moves to make future cuts. The USAF’s 38-plane C-27 fleet will now be eliminated entirely, and sold:
“The new strategic guidance emphasizes flexibility and adaptability. The C-27J was developed and procured to provide a niche capability to directly support Army urgent needs in difficult environments such as Afghanistan where we thought the C?130 might not be able to operate effectively. However, in practice, we did not experience the anticipated airfield constraints for C-130 operations in Afghanistan and expect these constraints to be marginal in future scenarios. Since we have ample inventory of C-130s and the current cost to own and operate them is lower, we no longer need – nor can we afford – a niche capability like the C-?27J aircraft. The Air Force and the Army will establish joint doctrine relating to direct support.”
The USAF will also retire 27 of its oldest C-5A Galaxy planes, and 65 old C-130 Hercules. As for the C-27Js, Australia has a formal sales request for 10 C-27Js, and had wanted to interoperate with the USAF’s JCA. A second-hand sale could guarantee that. Canada has also been touted as an export destination, for its search and rescue needs.
Then again, Congress could look at their states’ National Guards, and decide that they want the local airlift capabilities kept, come hell or high water. The final budget will tell the tale. Pentagon release | “Defense Budget Priorities and Choices” [PDF]
Jan 17/12: DOT&E The Pentagon releases the FY2011 Annual Report from its Office of the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E). The C-27J is included. DOT&E deems the C-27J operationally effective, and it can operate from short (2,000 feet) unimproved or austere runways as promised. It isn’t “operationally suitable” yet, because required reliability and mission availability levels hadn’t been met yet. “Shortfalls in availability and in several subsystems adversely affect safety, situational awareness, or workload,” though correction had been implemented for the Heads-Up Display, and pallet jamming that was happening in the cargo handling system.
As of the report’s last collection date, which is a number of months ago, 10 C-27Js had been delivered, 20 crews had been trained, and 2 deployed to Afghanistan in August 2011.
Nov 8/11: At US Senate Armed Services Committee hearings on Counterfeit Electronic Parts in the DOD Supply Chain, it’s revealed that suspect electronic parts from China have been installed on a variety of military systems and subsystems, including C-27Js. This is, in part, a natural consequences of electronics life cycles vs. military life cycles, which forces the military to purchase parts from independent distributors or brokers. On the other hand, L-3 has a non-trivial problem:
“The Committee traced the counterfeit [display video memory] chips to Hong Dark Electronic Trade in Shenzhen, China, who sold the parts to Global IC Trading Group… which, in turn, sold them to L-3 Displays for use in display units. More than 500 display units containing suspect parts were sold to the Air Force, the Navy, and to defense contractors, intended for installation on the C-27J, C-130J, and C-17 aircraft, as well as on the CH-46… In total, the Committee identified nearly 30 shipments, totaling more than 28,000 electronic parts from Hong Dark to Global IC Trading Group that were subsequently sold to L-3. At least 14,000 of those parts have been identified as suspect counterfeit. Neither the Committee nor L-3 knows the status of the remaining 14,000 parts. L-3 has not yet identified what military systems they might be in.”
See: SASC hearing page | Testimony of L-3’s VP Corporate Procurement, Ralph L. DeNino | Sen. Levin Backgrounder | Boomberg.
FY 2011Basing hot topic.
C-27J, Monument ValleySept 19/11: L-3 Integrated Systems notifies the USAF that 38 suspect counterfeit Samsung video memory chips were installed in the display units on 8 of the first 11 C-27J aircraft delivered. L-3 Display Systems had notified Alenia in November 2010, but L-3 IS didn’t get the memo until September 2011. The suspect part is a commercial-grade Samsung video memory chip, whose failure could cause a display unit to show a degraded image, lose data, or even go blank. L-3’s VP Corporate Procurement, Ralph L. DeNino later says:
“L-3 IS will take whatever corrective action its customer requests, and the current remedy is to replace the VRAM chips during normal scheduled depot maintenance unless a failure occurs for any reason that would necessitate immediate repairs… The C-27J program tracks avionics performance and failures by means of a Failure Reporting And Corrective Action System (FRACAS). After analyzing the FRACAS history through this past summer, there have been no abnormal failures attributed or noticed for the affected Mission Computers, CMDUs, BAUs or CMDS Test Sets. No degradation to performance has been observed due to these parts.”
August 15/11: Inauguration in Baltimore, MD of the 1st C-27J (of an expected 4, as per the above) in the 175th Wing. The Air National Guard in Maryland had lost its C-130Js in the BRAC process. 175th Wing.
August 5/11: Pending the results of an environmental review, the 120th Fighter Wing of the Montana Air National Guard (MANG) in Great Falls should be the location for a new Target Production Intelligence Group, where 4 C-27s are also scheduled to be transferred. See also Oct. 13/10 entry. Great Falls Tribune.
August 4/11: 2 C-27Js from the Ohio ANG’s 164th Airlift Squadron (part of 179th Airlift Wing) take off from Kandahar for their maiden combat flight. These planes operate within the new 702nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron (EAS), a joint unit of the Air Force and Army. 451st Air Expeditionary Wing, Flight International | Mansfield News Journal.
July 20/11: L-3 Communications Integrated Systems in Greenville, TX receives a $16.9 million firm-fixed-price delivery order to “incorporate the purchase of deployment labor required to support the deployment of C-27J aircraft to Afghanistan.” The ASC/WLNJ at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH manages the contract (W58RGZ-07-D-0099).
June 27/11: Basing continues to be a hot topic, as Senators and state National Guard Adjutant Generals push to revise the Pentagon’s plans for buying and basing the C-27J.
The current plan is for 38 planes at 9 bases, with 4 planes at 8 Air National Guard bases, and 6 planes in the operational and training base in Meridian, MS. The argument is that 2 of the planes in each state are likely to be overseas, and 1 in maintenance assuming a pretty good 75% readiness rate. That would leave just 1 operational plane in each state to respond to state emergencies, or conduct training.
The Adjutants General in the 7 states named to host C-27Js so far want the USAF to change to 42 C-27Js, basing 5 each in 7 states, with 7 in Mississippi. That would leave one unassigned spare airframe, while 2 states that were to be named for C-27J bases would go without. Great Falls Tribune | Mansfield News Journal.
Dec 6/10: Aviation Week reports that some Italian C-27Js will be fitted with jamming equipment and ground-penetrating radar for the anti land-mine role. The USA’s larger EC-130H “Compass Call” Hercules aircraft can act in a similar jamming role, but lack the accompanying radar. Could a similar equipment set be in America’s future plans as well?
Oct 13/10: The USAF picks Great Falls International Airport, MT, as its preferred alternative to be the 7th operational location for C-27Js, holding 4 aircraft. This final basing decision for the 7th operational base is pending completion of environmental impact analysis, expected by May 2011. A final announcement is expected in June 2011, with aircraft delivery to the airport expected in mid-2014. USAF.
FY 2010Effect of cutting units ordered.
C-27J unloads HMMWVAug 14-15/10: The 179th Airlift wing, based at Mansfield Lahm Airport in Ohio, becomes the first unit to formally convert to C-27J operations. The 179th previously flew C-130s. WMFD.
June 8-9/10: A group of airmen at Scott AB test C-27J aeromedical evacuation capabilities. The effort builds on a February 2010 exercise that tested several patient-carrying configurations, and standardized on 4. Work this time included electromagnetic interference evaluation of the aeromedical evacuation equipment, and timed evacuations of all patients and aircrew through all doors, including one of the emergency escape hatches, and other exercises. The goal was twofold: finishing C-27J MEDEVAC training regulations and operating instructions, and preparing for the C-27J’s Multi-Service Operational Test and Evaluation in summer 2010.
The C-27J’s short field capabilities mean that MEDEVAC shuttle roles may fall on it more heavily, since it can land on smaller strips and get closer to the front lines than a C-130 or C-17, while offering almost 3 times the speed of a helicopter. USAF.
June 7/10: Alenia North America announces a $319 million additional order for 8 C-27J JCAs. These aircraft are scheduled for delivery to Finmeccanica’s US partner L-3 Communications in 2012.
Finmeccanica marks US orders to date at $812 million for 21 C-27Js. The FY 2011 budget, as passed by the House, would include $351 million for another 8 planes. It must still be reconciled with any Senate bill, however, and then signed into law. Finmeccanica [PDF] | L-3 Communications
April 23/10: USAF officials release their C-27J basing choice criteria. After the release of the candidate bases, site surveys will be conducted and the formal environmental impact analysis process will begin. USAF officials expect to announce the candidate bases for C-27J formal training units in May 2010, and C-27J operations in June 2010. USAF | National Guard.
April 1/10: The Pentagon releases its April 2010 Selected Acquisitions Report, covering major program changes up to December 2009. It sketches out the effects of the sharp cut in the C-27J buy:
“JCA (Joint Cargo Aircraft) – Program costs decreased $2,077.3 million (-50.8%) from $4,087.8 million to $2,010.5 million, due primarily to a quantity decrease of 40 aircraft from 78 to 38 aircraft (-$1,370.0 million), and lower support costs associated with the quantity decrease (-$196.3 million). There were additional decreases due to a reduction in the estimate for maintenance training and depot standup costs (-$241.8 million), a reduction in estimated support costs based on a change to a firm-fixed price contract (-$155.1 million), and the application of revised escalation indices (-$89.6 million).”
Dec 9/09: The C-27J Joint Cargo Aircraft Schoolhouse formally opens at Warner Robbins AFB, GA. It will be used to train USAF and US Army pilots and loadmasters. The school actually transferred from Waco, TX and began operations here on Sept 9/10, when the first of 2 C-27J planes arrived, but the school will be under development through 2011. A mockup cockpit has already been installed, but not an operational flight trainer or a fuselage trainer.
Development of the school is a $1.8 million project, which includes $300,000 from the state of Georgia, $125,000 from the city of Warner Robins, GA and the Houston County Development Authority, and $50,000 from the Macon-Bibb Development Authority. At the ceremony, Army Col. Anthony Potts, the project manager for aviation systems, outlines the plane’s core rationale. In reality, the distinction is usually closer to 250 miles vs. 50 miles, but…
“This aircraft will provide the capability to fly in Afghanistan where they do not have the infrastructure to handle our larger aircraft… It will have the capability to get supplies not within 50 miles of our forces but within the last tactical mile.”
Nov 5/09: The front line “direct support” mission CONOP (CONcept of OPerations) test begins, using 2 USANG C-130s as C-27J surrogates since the C-27J won’t be operational until 2010. The concept gives the Senior Army Aviation Authority, or SAAA, tactical control of C-27J Air Force assets, which will be embedded with the SAAA.
According to Col. Gary McCue, the air liaison officer with the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq, the direct support “squadron” flies 1 aircraft daily, with the 2nd aircraft on standby for immediate response, if necessary. Efforts will continue through December 2009. USAF.
Nov 2/09: A USAF article notes that the Air Force will fund the Army’s completion of the Multi-Service Operational Test and Evaluation, or MOT&E, since the Army lost its FY 2010 monies due to the RMD 802 memo. The MOT&E is scheduled for April 2010.
Air National Guard pilots and loadmasters from the 179th Airlift Wing in Mansfield, OH, and the 175th Wing in Baltimore, MD, will be the first operational C-27J crews to be trained and deployed. Another 2 Army National Guard units, Company H, 171st Aviation Regiment from Georgia and 1st Battalion, 245th Airfield Operations Battalion from Oklahoma, also will participate in the MOT&E.
Air Force officials expect to field 24 C-27Js at Air National Guard units in the following locations: Baltimore, MD; Mansfield, OH; Fargo, ND; Bradley Air Field, CT; Battle Creek, MI; and Meridian, MS.
Oct 26/09: A USAF article offers assurances that despite the program’s transfer to the USAF through the Pentagon’s April 2009 Resource Management Decision 802, work to get the aircraft ready for deployment continues, and expectations for the plane remain positive. Lt. Col. Gene Capone, AMC’s C-27J test manager at the Joint Program Office:
“The program is in transition from an Army-led joint program to a sole Air Force program… Making a switch like this is no small affair, especially at this phase in the acquisition process.”
Oct 19/09: Flight International has a video of 2 USAF Colonels who are answering questions regarding a number of C-130-related programs, including potential future gunships like the AC-27J, programs to add weapons to C-130s beyond the USMC’s KC-130Js, SOCOM programs, etc.
FY 2009In budget crosshairs for no good reason?
C-27J: takeoff begins…Sept 29/09: Flight International reports that 2 Ohio National Guard C-130s will deploy to Iraq in October to pose as surrogate platforms for the C-27J’s “direct support” mission. They will be assigned to a US Army brigade commander, rather than scheduled through a centrally planned transportation network, allowing them to move small amounts of cargo at will like the existing C-23B Sherpas.
Sept 16/09: Georgia’s adjutant general Maj. Gen. Terry Nesbitt isn’t happy with the JCA program cuts:
“If there has ever been a joint program that’s been done right, it’s this one. It went through several years of work. Now, somebody with the stroke of a pen decided to change all of that… [This kind of shift] has been tried a number of times, most notably in Vietnam. There they took the C-7 Caribous the Army was using and transferred them to the Air Force and it did not have a very good outcome. At least one division commander said he lost lives because he could not move troops, equipment and supplies around the battlefield the way he could when he managed that fixed-wing asset.”
Aug 11/09: Lt. Gen. Harry Wyatt III, director of the US Air National Guard, comments on the effects that the reduced C-27J buy will have on ANG units. Issues include more rotation of crews through overseas duties, 4 crews per plane rather than 2, heavier usage to keep al of those crews flight-ready, and higher maintenance and operating costs per plane:
“The concept of employment is that a rather large percentage of the 38 will be employed to theatre… (With 78 aircraft it) allows you to have a lower crew ratio because you have more aircraft to rotate through theatre and you have more crews… Because you’re going to be required to fly more hours, we’re probably going to have to look at increasing the amount of maintenance.”
May 15/09:. Gannett’s Air Force times reports that Air Force Special Operations Command’s plan to buy 16 C-27Js under the Joint Cargo Aircraft program, for conversion to AC-27J Stinger II gunships, has fallen apart with the removal of Army C-27J funding in the FY 2010 budget.
In response, they’re investigating a “Plan B” that would add roll-on, roll-off kits to its MC-130W Combat Spear fleet. The MC-130W program began in 2006 to replace combat losses of the MC-130E/H Combat Talon, but it is converted from older C-130H aircraft rather than the new “J” version of the Hercules. Read “The Right to Bear Arms: Gunship Kits for America’s C-130s” for the full report.
April 21/08: The Hill reports that the JCA program may become a quiet victim of the FY 2010 budget process:
“The Army, and in particular the Army National Guard, likely will no longer receive the C-27J Spartan, also known as the Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA), under a new Pentagon plan, according to multiple sources at the Defense Department, in Congress and the defense industry… Instead of purchasing 78 or more C-27Js, the Pentagon could end up buying only 38 [and putting the USAF in charge of them], the sources told The Hill. Those who spoke asked for anonymity because details about the fate of the program have not been made public. Those details will be revealed when the Pentagon submits its budget request for fiscal 2010 in early May.”
Those rumors turn out to be true, via Resource Memorandum Decision 802. This is a somewhat puzzling move for a Secretary of Defense who has killed other programs by arguing that the Pentagon is shortchanging the current needs of troops on the ground. Those comments may be turned around and thrown back during a strong fight from affected state Congressional delegations – especially those whose state Air National Guard detachments have limited or no flying hours left in their C-130E/H aircraft.
April 20/09: L-3 Communications announces a $203 million order from the JCA Joint Program Office for 7 more C-27Js, bringing the current order total to 13. The original $2.04 billion contract included 3 Low-Rate Initial Production years; according to L-3 representatives, this would be the 3rd and final LRIP lot. After that, the 2007 contract for up to 78 planes is supposed to transition into 2 Full-Rate Production years before it ends in June 2012. L-3’s release adds that:
“With the first two C-27J aircraft delivered and crew training under way, the program continues to progress on schedule and on budget. Following the on-time delivery of the first aircraft in 2008, the first C-27J JCA training class commenced in November 2008, preparing pilots and loadmasters to perform multiple mission roles and serve as instructors.”
On the other hand, manufacturing is still taking place in Europe. Defense News reports that Alenia’s on-again, off-again talks with Boeing to run a final assembly line in Jacksonville, FL broke off again in February 2009. Alenia is reportedly prepared to go it alone if necessary, and now plans to have a Jacksonville final assembly plant operational in April 2010 – just in time for the full-rate production orders.
Whether this trans-Atlantic arrangement would immediately be able to handle full-rate production volumes that would have to produce 32 aircraft per year, in order to deliver all 78 C-27Js envisaged under the 2007 contract, is less clear.
Oct 16/08: Florida Governor Charlie Crist witnesses the official signing of an agreement between Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton and executives from Alenia North America. In it, Alenia commits to a C-27J final assembly and delivery center at Cecil Commerce Center in Jacksonville. Alenia plans to add 300 new jobs, and invest about $42 million in manufacturing equipment, technology, infrastructure and furniture, along with $65 million in construction costs.
The project received $1.9 million in state incentives, as well as economic incentives from the city and the Jacksonville Airport Authority (JAA). Local Congressman Ander Crenshaw [R-FL]:
“I worked hard with my colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee to ensure full funding for this vital national security program in the recent Department of Defense spending bill. It was a tough fight, but in the end the needs of our men and women in uniform prevailed… This announcement continues to solidify Jacksonville’s reputation as a military aviation center of excellence and I look forward to working with this team in Jacksonville and Washington.”
Oct 16/08: The first of 78 C-27Js Spartans ordered under the JCA program is delivered in a formal ceremony held in Waco, TX. The aircraft had been presented to the joint program office, on time and on budget, on Sept 25/08. L-3 presentation release | Finmeccanica ceremony release.
Oct 13/08: Gannett’s Air Force Times reports that:
“Two conflicting congressional estimates on the cost of the C-130J and hearty endorsements from the Air Force Chief of Staff are blunting the impact of a congressional recommendation that the Air Force stop buying the JCA…”
FY 2008Milestone C. Not so joint in spirit.
JCA C-27J: first flightSept 9/08: DoD Buzz reports that Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command, reiterated his strong support for the C-27J “Stinger II” gunship at the US Air Force Association’s annual meeting. During his presentation, Wurster said AFSOC is looking to field about 16 of these aircraft.
Read “AC-XX Gunship Lite: A C-27J ‘Baby Spooky’ ” for more.
Aug 18/08: The US DoD releases its current Selected Acquisition Reports, and the JCA is included as a new program, adding that “The USD (AT&L) approved the Milestone C Decision in an Acquisition Program Baseline dated April 17, 2008.”
Baseline funding is set at $4.088 billion, which at least establishes the base program as a full joint endeavor for the initially contemplated 145 aircraft. The long-term question is whether that status will last.
July 25/08: Aviation Week’s aerospace daily and defense report notes that the Pentagon’s 2008 budget reprogramming request includes $32 million to turn a C-27J into a small prototype gunship, using “proven/known” weapons and systems. Aviation Week also asserts that negotiations with Boeing to build an American C-27J plant in Jacksonville, FL have restarted.
July 13/08: EADS North America COO John Young is quoted pre-Farnborough, and says that his firm has no plans to assemble the C-27J at the planned Mobile, AL factory. He also says that to his knowledge, no conversations have taken place with Alenia. A Defense News report adds that impromptu talks could still be held at Farnborough, but observes that internal politics and EADS-CASA’s likely objections would make this a difficult sell within EADS. Meanwhile, Finmecanica does need to arrive at a solution:
“The decision has to be made very soon, because if it’s Jacksonville, work must start on building the line by year end,” the Alenia spokesman said.”
July 7/08: Defense News floats rumors that Alenia may seek a partnership with EADS and Northrop Grumman, in order to begin building the C-27J at the Mobile, AL facility that is slated to assemble the A330F and the USA’s KC-45 aerial tanker. This would give the Mobile, AL facility a solid block of orders that would let it staff up and gain experience, while the USA’s tanker selection process is delayed in a renewed selection process and political infighting.
June 16/08: The first C-27J for the Army’s JCA program makes its maiden flight in “poor” weather conditions near turn, Italy. JCA #1 took off from Alenia’s Caselle plant, marking the beginning of a flight test campaign including approximately 70 hours of flight and 180 hours of ground tests. Alenia release [PDF]
June 5/08: Reports indicate that Boeing has pulled out of its partnership with Alenia, after failing to reach agreement on sub-contracting arrangements that would have created a new production facility in Jacksonville, FL. An Alenia official said the C-27J would still be assembled in Jacksonville, and reiterated their commitment to delivering the aircraft on time. The Hill | Forbes
Feb 14/08: Perhaps the forced conversion of the C-27J to a joint program was a serious mistake. Aviation Week reports that studies contend the USAF will have little use for the C-27J, though the US Army needs it. Key excerpts:
“…the reports – including a study by Rand Corp. and the separate Joint Intra-theater Airlift Fleet Analysis Mix – are complete… all the reports contend that the U.S. Air Force should not acquire the two-engine Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA)… “We operated C-27s in Panama for years and the [benefit] doesn’t justify the cost,” says a long-time airlift commander and acquisition official. “And we know that the Rand report pooh-poohs JCA for the Air Force. The Army needs it, but the Air Force has no business with a two-engine aircraft…
By comparison, the Army vice chief of staff, Gen. Richard Cody, told JCA briefers that he cared far less about efficient airlift, according to a participant in the discussion. “Instead, he wanted effective airlift that is available when he needs it…”
Meanwhile, Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) wants to turn the C-27J into a light gunship that can get in and out of small landing strips, and has placed $74.8 million for 2 C-27Bs in its FY 2008 unfunded requirements list. Gunships can be huge difference-makers in counterinsurgency firefights, and the request would see AFSOC gain new light transports 2 years ahead of schedule. Aviation Week: “Pentagon Withholding Airlift Info.”
Oct 15/07: US Air Force Association’s Daily Report has a blurb about JCA:
“JCA Face-off Coming: Apparently the Army vice chief of staff, Gen. Richard Cody, has made at least one call to further the Army’s push to retain control of its own fixed-wing tactical airlift capability, specifically the new Joint Cargo Aircraft. One call went to Sen. Carl Levin, who responded with some questions in a letter to Cody, a copy of which we obtained. The Army and Air Force jointly have pursued the JCA program, but lawmakers have been at odds over the role of the Army in tactical airlift. Some say the Army should continue to fly its own fixed wing airlifters, while others believe the issue is part of a larger roles and missions creep that has led to duplication of effort. The matter, writes Levin, will be subject of discussion in the conference over the 2008 defense authorization bill. He asked Cody to respond to eight questions by Oct. 12. Levin questions whether the Pentagon will gain greater effectiveness and efficiency from two services performing the same mission and why the Army believes the Air National Guard would provide “reduced support” compared to the Army National Guard if ANG flies the tactical airlift missions for homeland defense and disaster relief. (We’ve reproduced the letter here [PDF].)”
“[The C-27J] a rugged, reliable airplane, and it’ll do wonders for short-range airlift. That is, if the services can stop fighting over the plane and focus on getting it into service. You see, no sooner had the so-called “Joint Cargo Aircraft” program picked up steam than the Air Force started calling into question the very notion of the Army having its own fixed-wing planes. Now Congress has entered the fray, slicing one of the first four C-27s from the budget and asking for more “roles and missions” studies…”
Oct 10/07: GAO decisions may not be released to the public until weeks after the decision date. Aviation Week’s Aerospace Daily & Defense Report says that the U.S. Army picked the C-27J for the Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) program, despite its higher cost, because of concerns about the C-295’s ability to meet certain performance requirements. Evaluators decided that the C-27J had a “superior military operational envelope,” and provided superior military utility, demonstrating an ability to exceed many of basic performance requirements by significant margins. The C-295 was able to demonstrate the required performance during the program’s Early User Survey (EUS), but only with caveats, the details of which were withheld by GAO.
One hint from the GAO decision is that the C-295 reportedly raised concerns about its ability to meet the “threshold” requirement to fly at 25,000 feet pressure altitude while carrying a crew of 4, a 12,000-pound payload, and enough fuel for a 1,200-nautical mile mission plus 45 minutes reserve. GAO did disclose that the C-295 could only meet that and certain other JCA requirements through the use of a “new operational mode,” which was not described but was confirmed as not yet certified by the FAA(Federal Aviation Administration). Aviation Week report | Full GAO decision [PDF]
FY 2007GAO protest from losers dismissed.
Sept 27/07: The Congressional Government Accountability Office (GAO) dismisses the Raytheon/EADS protest (see June 22/07 item), and reconfirms the selection of the C-27J Spartan for the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force Joint Cargo Aircraft program. Alenia North America release [PDF format] | Finmeccanica release [PDF].
June 26/07: Stephen Trimble of Flight International Magazine says JCA should stand for “Just Confusing Aircraft”:
“The plot continues to thicken on the mystery of the Joint Cargo Aircraft contract. As I reported in Flight International magazine this week, I have received three different official estimates for cost and aircraft quantity, The joint programme office says the contract will cost $2 billion to buy 78 aircraft [DID: $26.15M each]. L-3 Communications, the selected prime contractor, claims the $2 billion will buy 55 aircraft [DID: $37.1M each]. The US Air Force, meanwhile, tells me that they’re both wrong and that the whole $2 billion figure is a “misprint”. According to the USAF, the actual cost is $1.5 billion and it’s going to buy 40 aircraft [DID: $37.5M each]. I have not seen a more confusing post-contract award scenario yet.”
June 22/07: The Team JCA partnership led by Raytheon Company and EADS CASA North America files an award protest with the US Congress’ Government Accountability Office.
The protest centers on 3 key claims: (1) That the JCA source selection board rated Team JCA equal to its competitor on all non-price factors in its criteria, including technical, logistics, management/production and past performance. (2) That they beat its competition’s price by more than 15% (3) That there were errors in the specific evaluation of data and the application of the evaluation criteria. Raytheon release.
C-23B SherpaJune 12/07: L-3 Communications Integrated Systems, LP of Greenville, TX received a firm-fixed price contract estimated at $2.04 billion for up to 78 Joint Cargo Aircraft (C-27J Spartan). This includes pilot and loadmaster training, and contractor logistics support for the United States Army and Air Force. A total of 4 bids were received under the full and open competition in response to the March 17/06, request for proposals (Team L-3/Alenia’s C-27J; Team Raytheon/EADS-CASA C-295M and C-235; Lockheed Martin’s shortened C-130J).
The contract consists of three 12-month ordering periods for Low-Rate Initial Production, plus two 12-month options for Full-Rate Production. Work in the United States will be performed at Waco, TX. Aircraft manufacture will occur in Pomigliano (near Naples) and Turin-Caselle in Italy; and in The Czech Republic). Work is to be complete by June 30/12. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal, AL issued the contract (W58RGZ-07-0099). GMAS release [PDF] | Finmeccanica release [PDF format] | L-3 release [PDF format]
March 7/07: In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee Air & Land Forces Subcommittee, Congressional Research Service defense specialist Christopher Bolkcom says, inter alia [PDF format]:
“The C-130 may be too big to adequately support these operations as it generally requires 3,500 – 5,000 feet of runway to operate. In South America and Central America, for instance, only 5% of all airstrips are 5,000 feet or longer. In Africa, only 15% of all airstrips meet this criterion. While the Air Force C-130 community is rightly proud of its ability to operate from unprepared surfaces such as roads or even fields, such operations are the exception, and not the norm.”
His testimony also looks into the issues involved in operating from unprepared runways, the difficulties that can be involved in supplying these remote air bases, UAVs’ potential for very light remote resupply (something SOCOM is already doing), and the tentative nature of the JCA program owing to the USAF’s lack of commitment.
Earlier developments… For an examination of the different levels of urgency and priority in the US Army and US Air Force and the resulting Congressional SNAFUs, and covered early-stage developments leading up to the award, see: “The JCA Program: Key West Sabotage?”
Additional Readings Background: JCAIn late June 2011, the US Army gave Aerovironment a contract to begin fielding Switchblade UAV. Aerovironment’s new tube-launched, man-portable UAV will work for surveillance, and transmits live color video. It also functions as a kamikaze missile, however, which can be armed and locked on target by operator control. This makes it extremely useful against dug-in or fortified infantry positions, enemy missile teams, mortars, etc. After a set of 2011 trials, the US Marines added a contract of their own, even as the US Army moved to deploy the system to Afghanistan by summer 2012.
The US military’s interest is understandable. One of the key lessons of Israel’s 2006 war in Lebanon involved infantry use of guided anti-tank weapons as immediately-available precision artillery fire. Iran’s Hezbollah legionnaires frequently used Russia’s 1960s era 9K11/AT-3 missile designs for this purpose, while Israeli forces used the higher-tech Spike. Similar trends have been observed among American and British forces in Afghanistan, who use expensive $75,000 – 100,000 per shot Javelin missiles. With Switchblade, the US military has taken a step toward fielding a lower cost platoon level surveillance/strike weapon. The economics involved, and the clear global trend at work, mean that the US Army won’t be alone.
AeroVironment’s Switchblade is carried and operated by a single soldier. The UAV, launcher and transport bag together weigh about 5.5 pounds / 2.5 kg.
The warhead is made by ATK, and is roughly equal to a 40mm grenade.
It uses the same Ground Control Station as the firm’s RQ-11 Raven, RQ-20 Puma, and Wasp UAVs, and uses its video camera and GPS to find targets.
Switchblade has about 10 minutes of flight time at 55 – 85 knots, with an effective range of up to 10 km/ 6 miles. It can be a loitering munition within those limits, and the operator can halt or resume its attack sequence.
Contracts & Key EventsUnless otherwise noted, all contracts are placed by US Army Contracting Command (Missile) at Redstone Arsenal, AL, to Aerovironment Inc. in Monrovia, CA.
FY 2013-2018(click to view full)
April 25/18: Block 10C upgrade orders The US Army has contracted AeroVironment to provide upgraded hardware and parts for the Switchblade precision strike munition. Valued at $44.6 million, the agreement will task the firm, based out of Simi Valley, California, with providing Block10C inert training vehicles and Block10C all up rounds, multi pack launchers and modular battery payloads to the service, with a scheduled completion date set for September 19, 2019. AeroVironment first rolled out its Block 10C upgrades—which give soldiers more stable and secure encrypted communications—on the Switchblade tactical missile system after the Army awarded the company a $22.8 million contract in September 2016. Capable of being stored and carried in a soldier’s backpack, the system has a strike range of more than six miles with a flight endurance of around 15 minutes, and can strike targets beyond line of sight, meaning the munition can maneuver on targets beyond covered positions or around mountain ridges.
Sept 5/13: US Army. A $29 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for more Switchblade Agile Munitions Systems and support. An AeroVironment release places the recent total at $36.7 million, implying an Aug 20/13 contract size of $1.1 million.
Discussions with Aerovironment confirm that all of these awards are separate from the set announced on Aug 28/13, raising the total to 8 awards worth $52.5 million. AeroVironment is investigating whether or not the 3 recent awards are related to the March 2013 notice of intent, or if those additional orders are still pending.
Work will be performed in Simi Valley, CA. The contract’s importance can be inferred from the fact that the Army is using FY 2013 operations and maintenance funds, rather than procurement funds, to pay for it. This was a sole-source contract, with 1 bid solicited and 1 received (W31P4Q-12-C-0263, PO 0015). Sources: Pentagon | AeroVironment, Sept 10/13 release.
Sept 4/13: US Army. A $6.6 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for more Switchblade Agile Munitions Systems and support.
Work will be performed in Simi Valley, CA. The contract’s importance can be inferred from the fact that the Army is using FY 2013 operations and maintenance funds, rather than procurement funds, to pay for it. This was a sole-source contract, with 1 bid solicited and 1 received (W31P4Q-12-C-0263, PO 0014).
Aug 28/13: US Army option. AeroVironment discusses an August 30/12 Switchblade contract, which hadn’t been announced by the company or the Pentagon until now. It has now grown to $15.8 million under 5 successive orders for Switchblade tactical missile systems, ancillary equipment and support. The release cites a February 2013 news article that quoted the REF’s director as saying, “Theater came in and said, ‘We need dramatically more'” Switchblade systems than the 75 supplied in late 2012. Hence the continued orders.
The US Army’s Close Combat Weapons Systems, PEO Missiles and Space (PEO MS) manages this contract, in support of the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force (REF). Subsequent discussion with AeroVironment confirms that this is the W31P4Q-12-C-0263 contract vehicle.
The firm says that these awards aren’t related to FBO.gov’s March 2013 announcement of intent to award a new sole source contract for Switchblade systems – a date that doesn’t fit the timeline they gave, anyway. Despite their caveat, and despite growing competition from sources like Textron (Battlehawk) and Prioria (Maveric), AeroVironment seems to have a strong position in this niche. Sources: AeroVironment Aug 28/13 release.
New Army REF contracts
FY 2010 – 2012
Aug 15/12: LMAMS. An FBO.gov pre-solicitation for the Lethal Miniature Aerial Munition System (LMAMS) is looking for a 5 pound killer UAV with 15-30 minute flight time and 5-6 mile range. The UAV will have day/ night capabilities and image stabilization, with the ability to automatically track a designated target. A secure digital data link will connect the UAV to its soldier, and once the UAV is sent in to kill, the laser height-of-burst sensor will automatically detonate the warhead at the right time. They want to kill troops 4 meters away in the open, but not kill people 10 meters away. The UAV will also be usable against light vehicles, via direct hits. The Army wants TRL 7 or higher by FY 2014-16, which means a prototype that has been tested in an operationally realistic environment.
Interested vendors are being invited to present on Oct 16/12 in Huntsville, AL, and Switchblade is already very close to those specifications. Its range is already at the specification, but it needs 50% more flight time. Day/night stabilized sensors are getting much smaller, too, which means all the pieces of the puzzle could be in place well before 2014.
The real question may be “why gold plate the specifications in the first place?” Simple GPS guidance would allow night use against designated targets, and the growing presence of mini-UAVs in the US Army means that loitering and searching for/ geo-locating targets can easily be done by other assets. Rather than adding cost and development time by trying to make LMAMS a day/night UAV too, why not just field something that’s much cheaper and more portable than a $100,000 Javelin missile, can take a geo-location feed, and relies on standard video + GPS to find and kill targets that are currently taking Javelin shots? Then add new capabilities as they emerge.
The US military rarely does things this way, and budget realities will eat their operational capabilities alive unless they begin changing their mindset. RFIs can indeed help by giving the military a better sense of what’s out there. Having said that, “see-more” specs have a nasty habit of persisting past their point of usefulness. The best place to fight gold-plating is the beginning of the process, via sharp distinctions between mandatory vs. wish-list (“objective”) requirements. Sources: FBO #W31P4Q-12-R-0157 | WIRED Danger Room.
LMAMS RFI
May 23/12: US Army option. AeroVironment, Inc. announces a $5.1 million contract finalization from US Army PEO MS, CCWS, bringing the June 2011 contract’s full value to $10 million. The modification includes engineering services, operational Switchblade systems and operator training. AeroVironment will work with ATK, its munition subcontractor, to produce and deliver the systems.
May 16/12: USMC Buy. The Marines join the Army in buying Switchblade UAVs. Aerovironment’s Steve Gitlin:
“Think about it – pairing switchblade aerial munitions with a Raven, Wasp or Puma [mini-UAV] – a small team with those tools can know what is going on around them within about 15 klicks. Once they identify a threat, Switchblade lets them engage that threat immediately.”
Unless that threat is something like a tank, of course. Gannett’s Marine Corps Times.
USMC buy
May 5/12: Training. The Fort Riley Post reports that training is underway, but suggests that hitting the target is going to take a fair bit of practice:
“As the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, prepares for deployment later in the spring… 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment; 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment; and the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment have been training on the new back-pack sized lethal miniature aerial munitions system, or LMAMS, – the Switchblade… Normally used by Special Forces units, the 4th IBCT is one of only two brigades being fielded this weapons system for its deployment this year… “it’s a complicated system on the cutting edge of technology, and it requires a lot of training to get the effects on target,” said Maj. Robert Brown, assistant project manager, LMAMS, PEO Missiles and Space… “We not only are giving the Soldiers simulator time, but also a lot of flying time on the ranges of Fort Riley. They will also receive more training in theater.”
Dec 22/11: Sub launch. Aviation Week reports that Raytheon has received a contract to deploy the Switchblade UAV from a submarine during RIMPAC 2012 exercises, using the launch vehicle it developed under the Submarine Over-The-Horizon Organic Capabilities (SOTHOC) program.
Switchblade’s super-short range and 40mm warhead punch make actual deployment from a $2.5 billion capital asset with limited stowage space sound ridiculous. On the other hand, it makes for an easy concept demonstration. Sources: Aviation Week Ares, “U.S. Navy Subs to Deploy Switchblade UAV”.
Aug 16/11: USMC. The Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory has bought 5 Switchblade systems from Aerovironment for testing, and plans to conduct some demonstrations. There’s no official program yet, just initial interest. UK Umanned Vehicles.
June 2011: The US Army’s Close Combat Weapons Systems (CCWS), PEO MS gave Aerovironment a $4.9 million contract to provide engineering support and operational Switchblade UAVs for rapid fielding with the US Army. Sources: AeroVironment Sept 1/11 release.
US Army buy
Fall 2010: The prototype Switchblade system receives Safety Confirmation, and undergoes Military Utility Assessment with the US Army. Source.
Additional ReadingsIraq may be on track to become the first export customer for South Korea’s T-50 Golden Eagle family of supersonic jet trainers and lightweight fighters. But the KAI/Lockheed Martin plane ran into a familiar set of international competitors, plus one dark horse contender. In the end, the dark horse won. Iraq will begin flying Czech L-159s in 2013, and begin receiving the main body of the order in 2014.
Iraq’s basic trainer purchase was Hawker Beechcraft’s T-6 Texan II, but a jet trainer is required as an interim step between the T-6 and more advanced planes like the F-16s that Iraq is buying. DJ Elliott of ISF Order of Battle says that South Korea’s TA-50 was suggested in fall 2007 to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, by MNSTC-I’s Coalition Air Force Transition Team. Other contenders can also be equipped as light attack jets, albeit without the same loaded supersonic capabilities. Iraq evidently decided that was good enough.
L-159T and L-159A
April 20/18: Delivery schedules & KAI HQ visit Iraq’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement this week that it expects delivery of a further six T-50IQ advanced jet trainer aircraft from Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) by the end of the year. So far, Baghdad has received 12 T-50s in two batches since contracts were signed for a total of 24 aircraft in 2013. The news comes following the recent visit of Iraq’s ambassador to South Korea, Haider Shayya al-Barak, to KAI’s South Korean headquarters, where he received updates on the program.
January 31/18: Deliveries-First Look Pictures have surfaced of six FA-50 aircraft—the fighter attack variant of the T-50 Golden Eagle advanced trainer—recently delivered to the Iraq Air Force. Designated the T-50IQ, Baghdad looks to add a further 18 units to make up two squadrons over the coming years, as part of a 2013 order with Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI). The aircraft can be armed with air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles, machine guns and precision-guided bombs.
September 18/17: An investigation by South Korean prosecutors into corruption at Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has been widened to include a $2.65 billion sale of T-50IQ light attack aircraft to Iraq. According to prosecutors, officials at KAI inflated the value of the proceeds of the 2013 sale, which saw 24 of the advanced trainer aircraft sold as part of Baghdad’s air force modernisation. They have also uncovered circumstantial evidence of corruption in the KF-X indigenous fighter contract. The fraud allegations at KAI were first raised in 2015 when the state auditor’s inspection found that KAI pocketed some 24 billion won in illicit profits by manipulating development costs in the Surion helicopter project.
June 20/14: L-159s. The Czech Republic’s Defense Minister Martin Stropnicky says that they are in talks to sell 7 of their 17 Russian-built Mil Mi-24 attack helicopters to the Iraqi Defense Ministry. The Czechs, keen to push an advantage, are also pushing Iraq to buy L-159 light attack jets. Aero Vodochody had lost (q.v. Dec 12/13) that contract to Korea’s KAI, but the FA-50s won’t even begin arriving until 2015 – 2016.
The Iraqi government has already lost Kirkuk to the Kurds, and most of the northern and eastern Sunni areas to hard-line Islamist forces that are backed (for now) by local Sunni tribes. Attacks are now intensifying near Baghdad. If the Mi-28s were ever delivered in late 2013, there haven’t been any announcements, nor have there been battlefield reports of their use. At this point, Iraq needs any flying attack platform that can be delivered quickly.
The Czechs have about 8 jets in storage that they could deliver fairly quickly, and that may be enough for Iraq’s immediate needs. If Iraq wants more, restarting the L-159 production line won’t solve their problem in time. If the Czechs divert L-159 planes directly from their own air force, on the other hand, they could offer almost-immediate as part of a helicopter/jet package deal. The Czechs would then be able to choose whether to refurbish the 8 stored L-159s for their own use, and/or backfill CzAF stocks with the new L-169 that’s in development. We’ll have to see what gets negotiated, if anything. Sources: Defense News, “Iraq Eyes Czech Mi 24 helos To Combat ISIL Militants”.
Dec 12/13: FA-50. Iraq signs a $1.1 billion deal to buy 24 T-50IQ light fighters, which Korean news agencies cite as an FA-50 variant. The price works out to about $46 million per plane, but it necessarily includes added costs like initial training infrastructure. If the Iraqis have learned anything from their other programs, it will also include a solid initial supply of spare parts. KAI expects a 25-year, $1 billion T-50IQ support deal to follow shortly.
These “T-50IQs” will apparently serve double duty: as the IqAF’s advanced jet trainers once pilots graduate from T-6B turboprops, and as a backup fighter force. The deal is a big save for KAI, as Iraqi interest in the TA-50 armed trainer had apparently waned in favor of the Czech L-159T. Increased instability in the region may have helped revive their interest, as it will take more than the IqAF’s 36 ordered F-16IQs to provide even reasonable airspace control. A supersonic “F-16 lite” provides Iraq with better air defense, though it may come at the cost of some counterinsurgency strike performance relative to the L-159. KAI is quoted giving a delivery window of 2015 – 2016, while Reuters cites April 2016 – 2017.
Note that the Yonhap article has a key error. The plane exported to Indonesia, Peru & Turkey is KAI’s KO-1/KT-1 turboprop trainer and counterinsurgency aircraft, not the T-50 family. The T-50 family has been exported to Indonesia, and the Philippines is negotiating. KAI hopes that the breakthrough in Iraq may trigger interest elsewhere in the Middle East. Perhaps it will re-open the UAE’s 48-plane armed trainer pick, which has been stalled since 2009. Sources: KAI, “KAI has signed the contract with Iraq for exporting T-50 supersonic advanced jet trainer & light attack” | Korea Times, “Korea exports 24 attack jets to Iraq” | Reuters, “S.Korea’s KAI sells fighter jets worth $1.1 billion to Iraq” | Yonhap, “S. Korea to export 24 FA-50 light attackers to Iraq “.
FA-50 contract
Feb 22/13: No finalization. Czech media are saying that the Iraqi L-159 deal has failed, implying that Aero Vodochody doesn’t want to invest in an entire production line for 24 planes. That’s an odd explanation, since the company presumably understood the contract it signed.
Aero CEO Ladislav Simek has conformed that the contract hasn’t taken effect yet, though some preparatory steps have been taken within the supply chain. Meanwhile, they’re negotiating “some commercial and technical details,” and a new contract might be expected, including the accompanying weapon deals.
Talk of a new contract is a significant setback. Former Czech defense minister Alexandr Vondra makes a point about needing “patience, patience and patience again… [with Arabs, who] have a different notion of time than we in Europe.” Even so, Iraq needs to grow its air force, and delaying too long will create a problem. Prague Monitor.
Oct 12/12: Iraq. Iraq signs a $1 billion deal with the Czech Republic to deliver 28 L-159 trainers and light attack aircraft, and train Iraq’s pilots. Local Iraqi TV says that they’ll also set up a T-72 tank upgrade facility within Iraq, which may have been the decisive edge that helped them clinch the L-159 deal.
Aero Vodochody has confirmed that all of Iraq’s planes will be 2-seaters. The initial 4 will be converted from stored L-159As to L-159T trainers, retaining their previous attack and air policing capabilities. Those 4 are scheduled to arrive within 7 months. Another 24 new 2-seat L-159BQ jets will be delivered later, built to Iraq’s full specifications. They’re expected to begin arriving within 26 months, which is to say by December 2014.
Iraq is beginning to have obvious trouble with its airspace, as flights from Iran to Syria are taking place without any ability to stop them. It’s a convenient excuse for buying the jets, anyway. Iraq’s government, and its Shi’ite majority, both remember the Sunni Muslim terrorists who infiltrated Iraq from Syria, and caused so much trouble during the civil war. A government of those people next door is seen as an even worse outcome than Assad, though other factions within Iraq will see this situation differently. Meanwhile, Iraq needs advanced jet trainers, and also needs aircraft that can back up its handful of F-16s in basic air policing and ground attack roles after 2014. Aero Vodochody pre-announcement | Ceske Noviny in Czech and English | Agence France Presse | AP | Lebanon’s Daily Star | Russia’s RIA Novosti.
Contract: 28 L-159s
May 23/11: L-159. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says that a deal for Czech L-159s is close after a meeting with his Czech counterpart Petr Necas. This is the first trip to Iraq by a Czech prime minister since Saddam Hussein’s government fell in 2003, and the delegation also includes Czech Defence Minister Vondra. L-159 negotiations were described as “intensive” but not final in Czech newspapers.
The Czech delegation is busy with a range of initiatives, and one noteworthy non-defense deal involves Czech-made Zetor tractors, once known in Iraq under the Antar trademark, and license-built in Iskandariya, Iraq. A deal appears set to re-open that asesembly line, and the size of Iraq’s agriculture sector makes it an attractive opportunity on its own merits – even if Zetor/Antar isn’t done as a defense deal industrial offset. Ceska Pozike | Ceske Noviny || Russia’s RIA Novosti.
2009 – 2010T-50 cockpit
Oct 25/10: L-159. Prague Monitor and Iraq Business report that the Czech Republic might sell up to 25 used Aero L-159s to Iraq. Iraq had been holding a competition for 24 jet trainers between Korea’s T-50, the UK’s Hawk, and Italy’s M-346. The L-159 offers a competitive entry from the same manufacturer as the L-39s they used to fly, all in a package that’s fully compatible with NATO standards, and capable of carrying precision guided weapons and air-air missiles.
If the L-159 has become a focus, rather than just a competitor, it’s likely that the price of new aircraft proved prohibitive, and that Iraq is now looking at value over newness. Time will tell.
April 29/10: Competition. A report in the Times of London notes that the Iraqi trainer purchase has become a full-fledged competition. Officials from the Iraqi Air Force will reportedly be in Britain in May and June 2010 to test BAE Systems’ Hawk, which would compete with KAI/Lockheed’s T-50 and Alenia’s M-346.
The T-50 is being delivered to South Korea’s air force, while Italy and Iraq’s neighbor the UAE have ordered the M-346. The Hawk trainer has been available for decades, and variants fly for regional owners Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
The Times says that the expected 24-plane Iraqi deal could be worth GBP 500 million initially (currently about $760 million), rising to GBP 1 billion over the life of the aircraft once servicing and maintenance contracts are included.
Competition
Feb 24/09: T-50. Iraq officially requests T-50 trainer jets during the Korea-Iraq summit in Seoul. The Korea Times reports:
“When the MOU was signed in late February, Talabani asked Lee to sell T-50 trainer jets and other advanced communication equipment to the Middle Eastern country,” a source close to the deal told The Korea Times, asking not to be named… “Once the terms and conditions of the sale, including prices, are met, they agreed to include them in a binding contract,” he added.”
The 2 countries also struck a $3.55-billion deal to develop oil reserves in southern Iraq near Basra, a move that could double or even triple the amount of oil to which South Korea has assured access. At the same time, ROK President Lee Myung-bak and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to give South Korean firms the right to participate in rebuilding projects inside Iraq. The Korea Times reports that Iraq plans to spend $150 billion on power plants and other forms of public infrastructure over the next 8 years.
Jan 15/09: T-50. Yonhap news agency and the World Tribune both file reports concerning Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul-Qader al-Obeidi’s ongoing visit to South Korea. The minister was briefed concerning South Korea’s ongoing projects with Turkey, which include the K9/K10 Thunder mobile howitzer and the new XM2/Altay main battle tank.
Minister al-Obeidi also inspected the KAI/ Lockheed Martin T-50, and said that a defense expert in his entourage had recently test-flown the jet in Korea and expressed satisfaction. The Yonhap News Agency translation quotes him as saying that “The T-50 proved to us that South Korea has modern technology of an international standard.” Al-Obeidi added that more review would be required before the T-50 could be added to Iraq’s air force. Yonhap report | World Tribune.
Appendix A: TA-50s and the Region Iranian SaeghehThe T-50 family comes in a number of variants, from pure T-50 jet trainers, to a T/A-50 trainer that can act as a secondary fighter, to the full F/A-50 version that began serious development in late 2008.
A purchase of T/A-50s with their APG-67v4 radars, advanced Sidewinder missiles, and ability to carry precision guided weapons would effectively offer Iraq its first jet fighters. A T/A-50 would have to depend on superior situational awareness and piloting if confronted by Syrian or Iranian MiG-29s, but their induction would give Iraq qualitative parity or better versus many of the fighters currently flown by its semi-hostile neighbors: Syria’s MiG-21/ MiG-23/ Su-22s, and Iran’s F-4E/ F-5 variants/ F-7 MiG-21 variants. In a volatile region where hayba counts, those kinds of perceptions matter.
So, too, do personal ties. South Korea sent a 3,600-strong contingent to the northern Iraqi city of Irbil in September 2004 as part of the U.S.-led coalition, and a total of 18,000 South Korean troops served in rotation around northern Iraq until the end of their deployment in 2008.
That work was apparently valuable in establishing ties, and the countries are now discussing ways to broaden their economic relationship as well as their defense relationship. A February 2009 agreement that opens Iraqi public infrastructure contracts to Korean firms, while securing ROK investment to develop some of the oil fields near Basra in southern Iraq, appears to have set that process in motion.
Additional ReadingsDID thanks Iraq Order of Battle author DJ Elliott for his assistance.
Britain’s Royal Navy currently uses Seawolf missiles as the primary air defense system for its Type 23 frigates. They’re updated versions of a missile that was used during the 1982 Falklands War, but modern threats demand more. Britain also needs to equip its Type 26/27 Global Combat Ship frigate replacements, and could use an option that raises the number of air defense missiles carried by its Type 45 air defense destroyers.
The answer to all of these problems is being developed as one component of Britain’s GBP 4 billion, 10-year “Team Complex Weapons” partnership with MBDA. It’s a quad-packable, intermediate-range air defense missile with its own active radar guidance, which re-uses a number of features and technologies from British fighter jets’ AIM-132 ASRAAM short-range air-to-air missile. Not only will it serve on British ships, but it’s set to field as an Army air defense missile, and may even fly on future British fighters.
A quick terminology note: FLAADS, the Future Low-Altitude Air Defense System, is the British designation for the program as a whole, which is projected to involve FLAADS (M) at sea, and FLAADS (L) on land. CAMM is the missile, which MBDA uses as a general base reference, but they sometimes mention “CAMM-M” and “CAMM-L” specifically. The naval CAMM-M version and its integration with ship systems is marketed globally under the name “Sea Ceptor”.
CAMM: Performance and Positioning CAMM-M launchThe CAMM missile’s range remains vague. Reports have cited 500 square nautical mile coverage, which amounts to a 12.6 nmi circle. That’s acceptable for a point defense replacement, but MBDA refers to air defense at ranges “greater than 25 km”, as well as effectiveness against threats riding on the water. That would give it more versatility than the Seawolf missiles it will replace, and a range that compares very favorably with short-range peers like IAI/RAFAEL’s Barak-1, Denel’s Umkhonto, and MBDA’s Crotale NG that sit in the 15 km/ 8 nmi or less range.
MBDA’s response to the saturation threat was to use active homing radar guidance and a 2-way datalink for the missile, removing any strain on limited radar illuminators. It’s similar to Raytheon’s approach with the much longer-range and more sophisticated SM-6, but in a simpler, more limited, and cheaper design. The SM-6 will be able to use the ship’s more powerful radar as an option, and be cued by other vessels over the horizon, but Sea Ceptor can’t do those things. The ship’s radar sees the incoming threat, the CAMM missile is fired, the datalink updates the missile with the current location of the threat, and CAMM’s own seeker takes over once it’s close enough.
A wide variety of ships could make good use of a missile like that, especially a missile that doesn’t need ultra-sophisticated ship radars and illuminators/ trackers in order to be effective. MBDA’s use of a piston-driven “soft launch” approach removes another big obstacle to integration on small ships like corvettes or FAC (Fast Attack Craft), widening the potential market even further. On the software and hardware end, MBDA is reportedly re-using a number of elements from the high-end PAAMS system that equips advanced British, French and Italian anti-aircraft destroyers.
Within the global market, CAMM-M/ Sea Ceptor seems to fit somewhere in between short-range bolt-on naval defense systems like MBDA’s Crotale or Raytheon’s RAM; and medium-range vertical-launch missiles like MBDA’s Aster-15 or Raytheon’s RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow. That’s actually a pretty useful niche. It encompasses the main danger zone for saturation anti-ship missile attacks, which threaten to overwhelm the targeting (illuminator) capabilities of ships that rely on older radar designs and/or semi-active radar homing missiles.
There will always be a temptation for navies to choose medium-range missiles for their superior protection of other ships, and smaller ships in particular create a temptation to default to bolt-on defenses. If budgets don’t allow more expensive missiles, or navies decide that a smaller ship needs to do better than point defenses, Sea Ceptor’s main competitor will be MBDA’s own VL-MICA IIR/ARH missile family.
CAMM Platforms: Sea, Land, and Air VL SeawolfIn 2013, Britain confirmed its Type 23 Duke Class frigates, its forthcoming Type 26 frigates, and its Type 45 Daring Class air defense destroyers as the missile’s initial platforms. The Type 23 Duke Class will be the 1st in-service platform, with refits taking place from 2015 – 2021.
MBDA has confirmed to DID that the naval Sea Ceptor will be packed into Type 23 Seawolf vertical launch tubes as a 1 for 1 replacement. Reports also indicate that the missile is designed to be quad-packed into DCNS SYLVER A50/A70 launchers on ships like Britain’s Type 45 destroyers, or in American Mk.41 tactical/strike length cells in common use by navies around the world.
That capability will be an especial help to the Type 45 Daring Class air defense destroyers, whose single-packed SYLVER A50 VLS cells left them with a low number of carried anti-aircraft missiles compared to their global peers. Giving up 12 Aster-15/30 missiles to get 36 Asters and 48 CAMM-Ms is a good trade. Fortunately, heavy FLAADS (M) re-use of elements from the Type 45’s PAAMS combat & launch system should make integration relatively simple.
Compatibility with the globally popular Mk.41 Vertical Launch System under an MBDA/Lockheed Martin MoU opens an even wider market for Sea Ceptor. New Zealand’s ANZAC Class frigates are the first example, with refits beginning in 2016. Britain’s Type 26 frigates haven’t officially settled on their vertical launch system, so they’re also a potential beneficiary.
Typhoon fires ASRAAMOn land, FLAADS (L) would use the CAMM missile packed onto a truck mounted container, plus a containerized command and control cabin. Because the missile carries its own radar, FLAADS fire units aren’t sold with their own radars, just a secure MBDA-developed datalink. Fielding requires integration of the FLAADS (L) command module with existing air defense systems for cueing. This may seem like a limitation, but it actually makes the system quite dangerous. The fire units don’t have an emitting radar to give their location away and attract enemy attacks, and cueing from a variety of radar and non-radar assets makes it very difficult to silence the missile battery.
A FLAADS (L) prototype was rolled out in the summer of 2009, and is still under development. CAMM-L is cued as the future replacement for Britain’s Rapier missile batteries, but it will be a few years before it’s ready to be exported.
Future years may also see a CAMM-A successor to the AIM-132 ASRAAM, flying on British fighters. ASRAAM is currently guided by imaging infrared, but there are already air-to-air missiles, like the medium-range Russian AA-10 and French MICA, that come in both radar and IR versions. Short-range missiles haven’t used radar guidance over the last couple of decades, but giant strides in fighter radar capabilities, and the CAMM design’s long range for its class, make this a thinkable future option.
Contracts & Key Events 2015-2018Sea Ceptor hardware delivered to Royal Navy for HMS Argyll;(L).
CAMM conceptApril 16/18: Potential Sale-Finland Missile consortium MBDA is looking to sell its Sea Ceptor naval air defense system to Finland as part of efforts to help arm the latter’s fleet of Squadron 2020 corvettes. The firm’s offer is based on its Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM), and is being made through the three companies—Atlas Elektronik, Lockheed Martin Canada and Saab—currently on the short list to supply the combat management system to the Finnish authorities. Speaking to Defense News, Paul Stanley, MBDA vice president for northern Europe, said that bidders for the CMS deal will propose an “air defense system as part of a package, with recommendations,” after which Finnish authorities will then “make a selection.” That indirect approach in the tender leaves the missile maker relying on the combat systems integrator, which is expected to offer Raytheon’s Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) and Barak from Israel, he said. The Sea Ceptor system has already been certified and installed on three of the British Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigates and will be installed on the service’s next generation Type 26 and Type 31 frigates. Exports have also been secured for new Zealand, Chile, and Brazil, while Spain is also looking to conduct a study for its own Sea Ceptor package. MBDA has also teamed with Lockheed Martin to develop a lightweight version of the MK41 launcher for CAMM, known as the extensible lightweight launcher (ExLS), which is intended to fit on smaller naval vessels.
April 13/18: Qualification Testing-ExLS European missile consortium MBDA and Lockheed Martin have successfully completed qualification testing of the Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM) from Lockheed’s Extensible Launching System (ExLS) 3-Cell Stand Alone Launcher. MBDA’s Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM) is a highly compact missile that enables multiple weapons to be fitted in limited spaces. It is the most modern air defence missile of its class on the market and has recently completed a highly successful series of firings by the British Royal Navy. The ExLS allows CAMM to come in a quad-pack arrangement which allows to store and fire 4 missiles from a single cell and is specifically designed for use on smaller naval platforms that are unable to accommodate the larger 8-cell MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS). A MBDA press release said the qualification tests took place in the UK towards the end of 2017.
December 22/17: Milestone-FoC Firing Trials Missile consortium MBDA announced Wednesday, the successful completion by the British Royal Navy of the final First of Class firing trials of the new Sea Ceptor air defence system. Testing was conducted onboard the HMS Argyll where the system was tested against more complex scenarios, including rapidly engaging multiple simultaneous threats. Sea Ceptor will now be rolled out on other Type 23 Frigates, and the first of a series of installation test firings have already been completed on HMS Westminster. The system will take over from the legacy Sea Wolf system, and will allow for frigates installed with the platform to protect other vessels in conjunction with itself. It utilizes the Common Anti-air Modular Missile (CAMM), which doubles the range of Sea Wolf, and its active radar-seeker allows the missile to engage targets without the need for complex and costly target illuminators.
September 21/15: MBDA has completed a final set of qualification firings of the company’s Common Anti-air Module Munition (CAMM) missile in Sweden, ahead of planned testing next year by Lockheed Martin for the 3-Cell ExLS Stand Alone Launcher designed to fire the missile. The European missile manufacturer has also begun delivering Sea Ceptor hardware to the Royal Navy for installation on HMS Argyll, with the air defense system intended to modernize the aging Type 23 frigate by replacing the Seawolf system currently fitted. The CAMM missile forms part of the Sea Ceptor system, along with advanced targeting sensors. The system is also capable of receiving targeting data from a third party, allowing it to form part of a comprehensive air defense network.
2014New Zealand, Brazil buy Sea Ceptor; Another development contract for FLAADS (L).
Nov. 28/14: Brazil. MBDA announces that the Brazilian Navy has become its 2nd export customer. The missiles will equip the next generation Tamandare (CV03) corvettes. This class is derived from the homegrown Barroso class, with 4 ships planned for delivery starting in 2019. Brazil’s Navy is also handling coast guard duties, and during peacetime one of the corvettes’ missions is to control and protect offshore oil platforms. Vard’s site in Niteroi was selected in early 2014 to work on preliminary design, even though the yard was known to face problems in recruiting qualified personnel and was working on several delayed deliveries. The contract’s value or timetable were not disclosed. Sources: MBDA; Brazilian Navy; MarineLog.
Brazil
May 29 – June 5/14: Testing. Sea Ceptor’s 1st full live fire tests are successful. The firings are conducted at Sweden’s land-based Vidsel range, using the 2-way datalink and the missile’s active seeker head to intercept both targets. Sources: MBDA, “MBDA’s First Sea Ceptor Firings Are A Double Success”.
May 21/14: New Zealand. The New Zealand Ministry of Defence signs a contract with MBDA for Sea Ceptor missiles (q.v. Oct 7/13), as part of Royal New Zealand Navy’s ANZAC Frigate Systems Upgrade (FSU) project. The missiles will replace obsolete semi-active guidance RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles in the frigates’ Mk.41 Vertical Launch Systems. Sources: MBDA, “New Zealand Contract Signed for MBDA’s Sea Ceptor”.
New Zealand Contract
May 1/14: Land. MBDA receives a GBP 36 million contract from the UK Ministry of Defence for FLAADS-Land’s Assessment Phase. It will demonstrate the adaptation and evolution of core command & control systems for the land environment, while integrating the missile into truck-mounted and fixed defensive options to replace Britain’s Rapiers.
FLAADS – Land Assessment Phase
2012 – 2013UK Demonstration phase & Production phase contracts; New Zealand picks CAMM to upgrade ANZAC frigates; UK to begin Type 23 frigate refits in 2015; Mk.41 VLS test-launch succeeds.
ExLS/Mk.41 launchOct 28/13: UK. UK secretary of state for defence Philip Dunne answers a Parliamentary question by saying that Sea Ceptor refits on the Type 23 frigates will be installed as part of their long-term refit program. That program will also outfit the ships with new Artisan 3D radars and other equipment, and refits are scheduled to run from 2015 – 2021. Sources: Portsmouth’s The News, “Frigates to be fitted with new missiles from 2015”.
Oct 7/13: New Zealand. The Royal New Zealand Navy will upgrade its 2 ANZAC Class frigates with MBDA’s CAMM/ Sea Ceptor for air defense, rather than following Australia’s ANZAC upgrade and replacing the ship’s RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles with Raytheon’s RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow.
New Zealand is the 1st Sea Ceptor export customer, and they’re also the 1st customer to benefit from MBDA and Lockheed Martin’s MoU (q.v. May 15/13) around the Mark 41 Vertical Launch System.
New Zealand’s air defense upgrade is expected to be cheaper than Australia’s, and is also expected to be cheaper per missile, while providing a different set of performance advantages in the short term. CAMM’s active guidance is currently an advantage compared to the RIM-162 ESSM missiles aboard upgraded Australian ANZACs, in exchange for shorter range. Both missile types can be quad-packed, giving their 8-cell Mk.41 vertical launchers a maximum load of 32 air defense missiles. The trade-off is that Australia’s ESSMs can use the ship’s more powerful radar for guidance, in exchange for additional work tying the missile into the frigate’s combat system. ESSM Block 2 will probably add an active guidance option, erasing CAMM’s edge and retaining longer range, but that isn’t even in the design stage yet. Sources: MBDA, Oct 7/13 release.
RNZN picks Sea Ceptor
Sept 10/13: Testing. CAMM has a successful launch test from a Lockheed Martin ExLS vertical launcher, using MBDA’s piston-driven cold launch approach. This is the first test under the May 2013 MoU between the 2 firms.
ExLS is a quad-pack insert for Mk.41 Vertical Launch System cells, but the release also describes a “3-cell stand-alone ExLS CAMM launcher” that can be used on smaller ships. MBDA’s cold launch technology is a big plus in that market. The missile’s is launched high by piston, then pitched toward horizontal by small mid-body maneuvering thrusters before the main rocket motor ignites. That allows for bolt-on naval solutions, without worrying about about launch flames damaging surrounding equipment. Sources: MBDA, Sept 12/13 release.
Sept 10/13: Production. The UK Ministry of Defence announces the 1st CAMM production contract: GBP 250 million (about $393 million) for the Sea Ceptor/ CAMM-M. Final assembly will take place at MBDA’s Lostock facility, with 9 Tier-1 subcontractors distributed across sites in England and Scotland.
Sea Ceptor is being delivered under the Team Complex Weapons Portfolio Management Agreement, which will create a common missile stockpile for a future planned land system.
The UK’s announcement of the missile’s platforms is equally significant. Sea Ceptor will be retrofitted to Type 23 Duke Class frigates beginning in 2016, serve aboard the forthcoming Type 26 frigate as its primary air defense system – and complement the Aster missiles on the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers. Sources: UK MoD, Sept 10/13 release | MBDA, Sept 9/13 release.
Production contract & Platforms
Sept 10/13: IMU. MBDA is working with United Technologies’ UTC Aerospace to create a MEMS-based Inertial Measurement Unit for use in its missiles guidance, navigation & control system. Current IMU technologies use higher-cost options like fiber optics, and a Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems unit has the potential to be smaller, weigh less, and cost less. The joint project will be backward-compatible with an existing UTC Aerospace Systems MEMS IMU, which may make upgrades simpler.
A CAMM Missile picture is shown on MBDA’s release, and it would be a logical platform for the new technology. Sources: MBDA, Sept 10/13 release.
May 15/13: MBDA MoU. MBDA signs an MoU with Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin that has the potential to shake up the naval missile industry. It sounds innocuous: both companies agree to jointly explore the market for the integration of MBDA naval missile systems into Lockheed Martin’s MK-41 Vertical Launch System, and ExLS VLS/cell insert. They’ll begin with a late 2013 demonstration involving Britain’s new CAMM-M Sea Ceptor missile.
The implications reach far beyond CAMM. Britain has already been considering adding a set of Mk-41 cells to the Type 45 destroyer, in order to hold SM-3 ballistic missile defense missiles. Adding CAMM to those cells would make the drop-in even more attractive, by giving the Type 45s two things they don’t currently have: snap-launch anti-submarine defenses (VL-ASROC), and a larger array of air defense missiles (quad-packed CAMM). Beyond Britain, MBDA has a wide array of naval missiles, and adding those missiles to the Mk-41 would give that VLS overwhelming dominance in the global naval market. Read “CAMM Opener for the Naval Missile Market: MBDA & LMCO’s MoU” for full coverage.
April 5/13: Sub-contractors. MBDA and Thales tout growing cooperation with lead firm MBDA on CAMM-related projects. Thales Belfast, which works on other missiles like the RB57 NLAW, is working on assessing and modeling heat management within the CAMM missile, structural analysis, and precision manufacturing of some missile components. It’s just GBP 1 million in business so far, but could become GBP 8 million of manufacturing work in the next phase. Meanwhile, Thales’ Basingstroke site is working on missile safety design, arming units, and intelligent fuzes.
The larger goal is a single overall enabling contract between the 2 firms, which will make it easier to place work with Thales. The 2 firms are also looking at the support opportunity created by the British Army’s decision to bring all of its current air defense assets together at Thorney Island. Thales | MBDA.
January 2012: Sub-contractors. MBDA picks Thales Basingstoke to supply the CAMM laser proximity fuze, under a GBP 11 million contract. Source.
Jan 30/12: Sea Ceptor. The UK MoD issues MBDA a GBP 483 million FLAADS (Future Local Area Air Defence System) Demonstration Phase Contract, which would develop the newly-named “Sea Ceptor” to replace the Vertical Launch Seawolf, and serve on the forthcoming Type 26 frigates. UK MoD | MBDA | British Forces News (incl. video) | Aviation Week.
Sea Ceptor demonstration phase
2006 – 2011Team Complex Weapons partnership launched, CAMM development included.
FLAADS-L CAMM testSept 13/11: MBDA provides a progress report on early FLAADS-M development:
“Significant achievements are being made in all areas, notably with the development of the FLAADS Command and Control system (featuring greater than 75% re-use of Sea Viper C2 software) and the development of the FLAADS Platform Data Link, both of which are already undergoing trials in MBDA development facilities… The maturity of the CAMM missile design has been shown in a number of important trials in recent months. The novel Soft Vertical Launch concept has been conclusively proven in a number of trials, culminating in a successful ejection and turnover trial that took place on 20th May at MBDA’s Bedfordshire facility… from a truck platform, providing direct read-across to the FLAADS-L programme. Significant progress has also been made with the CAMM RF seeker development, with a series of successful air carry trials having taken place earlier this year.”
March 29/10: The UK and MBDA sign an initial GBP 330 million “Team Complex Weapons Interim Main Gate 1 Partnering Agreement.” One of its items is “Assessment Phase work on… Future Local Area Air Defence System (FLAADS) to equip the Royal Navy’s Future Surface Combatant.” MBDA.
TCW Main Gate 1
Aug 7/09: FLAADS (L). MBDA rolls out its first land-based prototype of the UK’s nascent Future Local Area Air Defence System (FLAADS) at a demonstration to its British Army customer. Janes.
FLAADS(L) prototype
June 2008: Team Complex Weapons is launched as a partnership between the UK Ministry of Defence, MBDA UK, Thales UK, QinetiQ and Roxel UK Ltd. A GBP 250 million Assessment Phase sees its first contract, as GBP 74 million first-year deal for 6 projects, including FLAAD. MBDA [PDF] | QinetiQ.
Team Complex Weapons
July 2006: The UK MoD signals a new approach to fulfilling the UK’s military requirement for Complex Weapons in response to the 2005 Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS). The DIS states that missile design is one of the technology elements that Britain must keep in-country. Raytheon makes overtures through its Raytheon UK subsidiary, but it eventually becomes clear that the UK MoD is only interested in MBDA.
Additional ReadingsCompetitors are listed alphabetically by missile name. All are radar-guided, except for Denel’s Umkhonto wich uses Imaging Infrared (IIR), and VL MICA which has the option of IIR or Active Radar Homing.
Special Operations Command’s AC-130H/U gunships can lay down withering hails of accurate fire, up to and including 105mm howitzer shells, in order to support ground troops.
The Marines also wanted heavy aircraft that could support their Leathernecks on the ground. The bad news was that the Corps could field about 45 KC-130J aerial tankers for the price of a 12-plane AC-130J squadron. Lighter options like the AC-27J “Stinger II” would probably tally similar costs, once R&D dollars were distributed among such a small fleet. Could the Marines change tack, and offer a modular weapon package that would let them arm their existing tankers as needed? Could armed KC-130Js offer limited fire support, while loitering over the battlefield and using their unique speed envelope to refuel helicopters and fast jets alike? The Harvest Hercules Airborne Weapons Kit (HAWK) program aims to do just that. It gives the USMC a far less capable convertible gunship option in Afghanistan, but the cost is about 2 orders of magnitude below a dedicated gunship fleet. Unsurprisingly, the next service to show interest in this concept was SOCOM itself.
The Marines’ initial Harvest HAWK plan is to field 3 kits, but the eventual plan is to have 3 roll-on/ roll-off kits per squadron. That would mean about 9 kits by 2011, and 12 kits when the last KC-130T aerial refueling squadron converts to KC-130Js after 2012. All USMC KC-130Js are expected to receive the wiring needed to carry the kits, which will be improved and refined over time.
Harvest HAWK Capability I involves a roll-on/roll-off set of surveillance displays and fire control electronics, plus “Blue Force Tracker” to keep tabs on friendly troops, and ROVER to communicate with them. Outside the cabin, a modular surveillance and targeting unit takes up the rear portion of the inboard left external fuel tank, or may simply be mounted below that tank as a surveillance turret. The sensor choice was said to involve 2 candidates. Lockheed Martin’s AN/AAQ-30 TSS, which is also used in the Marines’ AH-1Z attack helicopter and has been installed in some SOCOM AC-130s, won. L-3 Wescam’s popular MX-15 surveillance and targeting turret was the competitor, but competing against the Harvest Hawk’s integrator is not a promising position.
Harvest HAWK Capability II involves mounting an M299 missile rack for 4 AGM-114P Hellfires and/or up to 16 DAGR laser-guided 70mm rockets to the left wing, in place of the left-hand outboard aerial refueling pod. This leaves the left wing carrying the weapons and some fuel, while the right wing retains full aerial refueling capabilities. Capability IV (see below) was also moved up, and the 10-tube rear ramp “Gunslinger” system and precision weapons were effectively added to this increment.
After early testing for Capabilities I & II took place, initial orders and testing followed. Deployment to Afghanistan started in summer 2010.
M230 30mmHarvest HAWK Capability III involves a modular 30mm cannon linked to the fire control, which is expected to be rolled in and mounted in the troop door. Daniel Watters of The Gun Zone writes to say that the Marines’ choice of 30mm gun is interesting, and explains the tradeoffs:
“While the Mk 44 Bushmaster II [30x173mm] and M230 Chain Gun [30x113mm] are both nominally 30mm, their cartridges are very different…There is a major difference in size, power, and range. The Mk 44 Bushmaster II has already been adopted by the US Navy and USMC for other applications… The 30x173mm uses a heavier projectile with a larger explosive filling, and is fired at a higher velocity [which] should have a noticeable maximum range advantage. Perhaps it would be easier to fabricate a stable mount for the less powerful M230 than the Mk 44… M230 and its ammunition are also lighter and more compact.”
US Special Forces tried fitting 30mm cannon to their AC-130U “Spooky” gunships, but found that the gun’s accuracy level wasn’t suited to their missions. In response, they implemented a “retrograde” to their earlier 25mm and 40mm weapons. The Marines say that the 30mm cannon will suit their objectives. Time will tell, but either way, the lack of pinpoint-accurate, extreme-volume gunfire will be one of the principal differences between SOCOM’s AC-130s, and kit gunships like the KC-130Js or MC-130Ws.
Capability III has yet to even select a gun at this point, much less test and integrate one. According to US Navy NAVAIR: “…capability III [will begin] when funding becomes available.” ATK finalized a roll-on/off palletized kit for the GAU-23 cannon in mid-2012, which may help funding become available.
Viper StrikeCapability IV originally involved adding additional Standoff Precision Guided Munitions (SOPGMs) to the Harvest HAWK, but that got moved ahead to Capability II. They’re dropped out of a 10-tube “Gunslinger” launcher that fits on the rear ramp, but their future involves a new pressurized “Derringer Door”. That 10-tube launcher switches in for the regular paratroop door, allowing Harvest HAWK planes to drop weapons without depressurizing the cabin, and/or asking those inside to don oxygen masks.
Efforts were already underway to incorporate and test Northrop Grumman’s (now MBDA’s) GBU-44 Viper Strike laser/GPS-guided weapons on the KC-130Js, and they were under consideration by SOCOM for its AC-130s. Raytheon’s small “Griffin” missiles were also added. The rocket-powered Griffin B can replace Hellfires on an M299 launcher, on 3 for 1 basis. For the C-130 fleet, however, the unpowered, gravity-dropped Griffin A seems to be the mainstay. Other weapons are likely, especially from US SOCOM. One weapon they have confirmed funding for is Textron’s cylindrical 64-pound C-LAW, whose airburst devastates soft ground targets over an area the size of a football field.
Specifics regarding additional weapon plans are thin at the moment, but other options could conceivably include 81mm or larger mortars, using General Dynamics’ RCFC GPS guidance kits; tiny missiles like the NAVAIR/DRS Spike; and spinoffs from the explosion of small precision-guided bombs entering the market: Lockheed Martin’s Scorpion, MBDA’s Saber, etc. Later Harvest HAWK phases will reportedly add stations for Hellfire laser-guided missiles on both wings, instead of just the port wing. The M299 launchers would be mounted on the outside of the plane’s outboard aerial refueling pods.
US AFSOC: MC-130W Combat Spear/ Stinger II MC-130W Combat SpearA similar effort is emerging from US Special Operations Command.
US Navy NAVAIR PMA-207 has been working with US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) to share information on Harvest Hawk, and a US SOCOM program is now converting its MC-130W Combat Spear aircraft along Harvest Hawk lines. Similar kits could also be fielded for SOCOM’s forthcoming HC-130J Combat King II and MC-130J Combat Shadow IIs, and they may even spread beyond that.
MC-130W. In the near term, their MC-130Ws are newly-converted C-130H aircraft, with 12 delivered as combat replacements from 2006-2011. MC-130W base roles include infiltration/ exfiltration of special operations teams, aerial refueling including combat search-and-rescue support, and psychological operations. Key additions above the based C-130H include a strengthened tail to cope with low-level drops; improved avionics and navigation that integrates GPS, AN/APN-241 radar, and AN/AAQ-38 Infrared systems; a full suite of top-of-the-line threat detection and countermeasures gear; and a communication suite that includes satellite communications with data burst, making it hard for enemies to locate the plane by tracking its transmissions. A UARRSI dorsal receptacle lets any boom-equipped aerial tanker refuel it in the air, while the MC-130W can itself act as a refueler for hose-and-drogue equipped aircraft or helicopters, using its Mk 32B-902E refueling pods.
The other difference from previous AFSOC gunships involved precision ranged weapons. MC-130Ws will have a 4-rail wing-mount for laser-guided AGM-114P Hellfire missiles or 70mm laser-guided DAGR rockets, and a 10-tube “Gunslinger” system that can launch small precision-guided weapons.
“Gunslinger”All 12 MC-130Ws will soon be converting to “Project Dragon Spear” aircraft, which add roll-on, roll-off kits featuring added sensors, communications systems, the Adaptive Carriage Environment (ACE), and weapons. Some sources refer to those as “AC-130W,” but the official USAF designation remains MC-130W.
Dragon Spear weapons will include a GAU-23 dual-feed 30mm gun with about 500 rounds, with the assembly bolted to the floor of the plane. It fires single shots or short bursts, instead of the “wall of lead” that’s associated with an AC-130H/U gunship, or the Vietnam-era C-47 “Puff the Magic Dragon” whose upgraded descendants still serve in Colombia and Indonesia.
The MC-130W represents an acquisition departure for SOCOM, who stood up its 1st Joint Acquisition Task Force in June 2009 to handle the initial MC-130W conversion and buy. The project had a minimum capability model in less than 90 days, and deployed a working aircraft within 18 months. The experience has gone well enough that SOCOM is reportedly considering using JATFs on other projects.
It has also led to a shift in mindset, wherein a government-owned “Precision Strike Package” will sit at the core of SOCOM’s new gunships.
AC-130J. Up to 32 new AC-130Js are now expected to serve alongside the 12 new AC-130W Dragon Spears, replacing existing AC-130H/Us. Initially, the AC-130Js will use roll on/off kits from the Dragon Spear project in an HC-130J airframe. Eventually, they’ll install their own “Precision Strike Package” that includes a side-firing 30mm GAU-23A chain gun, wing-mounted GBU-39 GPS-guided SDB-I bombs, and laser-guided AGM-176 Griffin missiles launched from a “Gunslinger” attachment on the read cargo door. It may eventually add a side-firing 105mm howitzer like existing AC-130H/Us, and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles like the Marines’ KC-130J Harvest Hawks, but those aren’t currently funded. These weapons will be controlled from a dual-console Mission Operator Pallet in the cargo bay, which will include multiple video, data, and communication links.
Contracts & Key EventsUnless otherwise indicated, these contracts are managed by US Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD.
FY 2015 – 2018KC-130J Harvest Hawk upgrade plans.
KC-130J-HH, Kandahar
April 16/18: More money needed for lasers Speaking at a hearing of the US Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging threats, Air Force Lt. Gen. Marshall Webb told lawmakers that the service still lacks adequate funds for a program to add a laser to the AC-130J gunship. The Head of Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC), Webb was answering a question from Sen. Martin Heinrich on why the service is moving slowly from testing a four-kilowatt laser to a 30-kilowatt version and now directly to a 60-kilowatt laser. “We’re $58 million short of having a full program that would get us a 60-kilowatt laser flying on an AC-130 by 2022,” Webb stated. In February, Webb told a roundtable discussion with reporters at the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Florida, that the “challenge on having the laser is funding.”
March 23/18: Logistics support Sierra Nevada has been contracted by the US Air Force to provide logistics support for two USAF aircraft precision strike packages of weapons and sensors. Nearing a value just shy of $20 million, the order exercises options on a previous contract to provide additional services to AC-130J and AC-130W aircraft, bringing the total value of the contract to $72.3 million. Work will be carried out at Canon Air Force Base, in Curry County, New Mexico, and Hurlburt Air Force Base in Okaloosa County, Florida. Work is expected to wrap up by March 31, 2019. The AC-130J Ghostrider is a gunship that gained its initial operational capability (IOC) in September 2017 and will replace the AC-130H once enough crews are trained to operate them, while the AC-130W, AKA the Stinger II, has been flying since 2010 and is a highly modified C-130H.
July 4/17: Dynetics has been contracted by the USAF to deliver 70 GBU-69/B Small Glide Munitions (SGMs), with options to buy 30 more. With a value of $10.9 million, the missiles are reportedly scheduled to be installed on AC-130 aircraft operated by the service. Dynetics’ Stand-Off Precision Guided Munition (SOPGM) beat out competition from Textron’s G-CLAW, Raytheon’s Griffin and Northrop Grumman’s Viper Strike munition, as is was the only one of the competitors to satisfy the competition’s full requirements.
December 7/15: The US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) and US Navy are to collaborate on the development of a laser mounted weapon for the AC-130 aircraft. The move comes as the Navy has been developing and researching energy directed weapons with their Laser Weapon System, which saw deployment aboard the Afloat Forward Staging Base USS Ponce last year. The lasers success will be the basis for a cooperation between the two branches, and how this can aid the development of a similar system for aircraft. The AC-130 will conceivably see a miniaturized version of the one used on the USS Ponce, and possess both offensive and defensive capabilities. It is hoped the lasers will help gunships disable enemy systems and improve identification of targets on the ground. This would avoid incidents such as the bombing of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan in October.
Nov 3/14: KC-130J USMC Plan. The USMC’s Aviation Plan to 2030 [PDF] has its own entry for the KC-130J Harvest Hawk, which currently uses AGM-114P2A Hellfire, AGM-176B Griffin, and GBU-44 Viper Strike precision weapons:
“MROC Decision 19-2012 reduced the total kit inventory objective from 9 kits to 6 kits with 3 kits each going to 2d MAW and 3d MAW. A total of 10 aircraft are modified to employ the Harvest Hawk kits with 5 modified aircraft in 2d MAW and 5 modified aircraft in 3d MAW. Beginning in 2015, the mission kit will receive sensor and fire control system upgrades to address system obsolescence and eliminate deficiencies, while sustaining relevancy through transition from P2A hellfire to the P4 Hellfire.”
2017 will kick off a slew of improvements, from the Software Reprogrammable Payload (SRP) radio replacement; to Hellfire missile upgrades as noted above; to a switch from the AAQ-30 TSS surveillance and targeting turret used on USMC AH-1Zs, to the MX-20 used on Navy P-8A sea control aircraft. It will also begin to replace the Fire Control Station with a Mission Operator Pallet like the AC-130J’s. Blue Force Tracker battlefield management is already on board the Harvest Hawks, and its Link-16 aerial counterpart will begin retrofits in FY 2018, along with other fleet-wide C-130J Block 7.0/8.1 upgrades like Mode 5 IFF, GPS approach capability, ADS-B (out), RNP/RNAV, and a new flight management system. FY 2019 will see the beginning of JAGM missile integration, offering a dual-mode radar/laser-guided option beside the laser-only AGM-114P4 Hellfire.
FY 2013 – 2014AC-130J flies; AC-130J details; Hellfires for AC-130W; DOT&E report re: SOCOM’s fleet highlights an armoring problem.
AC-130JMay 22/14: AC-130 Upgrades. At the annual SOFIC conference, SOCOM’s systems acquisition manager for standoff precision-guided munitions, Erich Borgstede, says that they are just beginning to fit AGM-114 Hellfire missiles on the AC-130W/Js. They’ve also developed a laser-guided small diameter bomb [SDB-I is a 250 pound GPS-only weapon] that will be fielded this summer.
“According to slides presented at the briefing, SOCOM is also looking at the potential of using helmet mounted displays, digital map upgrades, and using mobile devices to help do mission planning in the near future.”
Those changes would also apply to their HC/MC-130 fleet. Sources: Defense News, “SOCOM soon getting more capable, deadlier Ospreys and C-130s”.
March 28/14: AC-130W support. Sierra Nevada Corp. in Sparks, NV receives a sole-source $14 million firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for contractor logistics support of the AC-130W’s precision strike package. Contractor logistics support employees also deploy with aircraft in support of special operations Missions.
$10.9 million is committed immediately, using FY 2014 O&M funds. Work will be performed at Cannon Air Force Base, NM, and is expected to be complete March 31/15. The USAF Life Cycle Management Center’s Special Operation Forces Contracting Division, at Robins AFB, GA manages the contract (FA8509-14-C-0001).
Jan 31/14: AC-130J. The USAF flies a fully-converted AC-130J gunship for the 1st time, at Eglin AFB, FL. They also appear to have scaled the program back a bit:
“A total of 32 MC-130J aircraft will be modified for AFSOC as part of a $2.4 billion AC-130J program to grow the future fleet, according to Capt. Greg Sullivan, the USSOCOM AC-130J on-site program manager at Det. 1.”
The Pentagon’s recently-released DOT&E report for FY 2013 had placed the AC-130J program at 37 aircraft. Sources: USAF, “New AC-130J completes first test flight”.
AC-130J flies
Jan 28/14: DOT&E Testing Report. The Pentagon releases the FY 2013 Annual Report from its Office of the Director, Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E). Their focus is on US SOCOM’s variants: HC-130J/MC-130J Combat King II CSAR/ Commando II transports, and AC-130J “Ghostrider” gunships. The USAF intends to field 37 HC-130J Combat King IIs developed to Increment 2 capability, 57 MC-130J Commando IIs developed to Increment 3 capability, and 37 AC-130J Ghostrider gunships that will be converted from MC-103Js (TL: 94 MC-130Js produced).
The AC-130J program conducted a Preliminary Design Review in March 2013 and a Critical Design Review in August 2013, and 1st flight was expected in January 2014. The PSP weapon set is planned in 3 increments, and both development and the Live Fire Alternative Test Plan (ATP) will leverage some data from the C-130H-based AC-130W. The core problem across this fleet involves the enhanced electrical system and in 400 Amp power supply, which is required for Increment 3 upgrades and AC-130J gunship conversions. At present, the fleet is limited to a 200 Amp system. This was also concerning:
“Armor requirements and the amount of armor differ significantly between the AC-130U and AC-130J aircraft. The AC-130U armor was designed to provide protection to the aircrew stations, personnel, ammunition, and critical systems against a single 37 mm high-explosive incendiary round at a range of 10,000 feet, while the AC-130J’s primary crewmember positions and oxygen supplies should be protected against single 7.62 mm ball projectile at 100 meters [DID: just 330 feet, where bullet velocity is higher] …. The planned armor layout on the AC-130J does not include the Mission Operator Pallet, which should be considered a “primary crewmember” position and protected in accordance with the associated Force Protection Key Performance Parameter (KPP).”
The 37mm criterion isn’t random: most AC-130 kills over Vietnam involved 37mm guns. It isn’t rare for gunships to face enemies that can deploy 14.5mm – 23mm guns, to say nothing of the common .50 cal/ 12.7mm caliber. Even an unarmored C-130J would be a difficult kill for a 12.7mm machine gun. With that said, it sounds like they’ve left the crew nearly unprotected, in an aircraft that’s designed to go where the enemy is shooting. That does require an explanation.
June 4/13: AC-130J Sub-contractors. The AC-130J Ghostrider will be equipped with a configuration of QinetiQ’s enhanced LAST lightweight composite armor. Protection will depend on how much they use, and LAST’s aerial density is 37 kg/m2. Protection up to 7.62mm armor piercing is the minimum useful level, and seems to be the AC-130J’s standard. SOCOM could certainly justify higher levels, especially in critical areas, but they’d rather make the weight tradeoffs in an airplane that’s already packed with heavy gear. Jane’s adds that:
“A total of 37 AC-130J aircraft will replace AFSOC’s eight ageing AC-130H platforms, a significant increase from the 16 originally planned. It is understood that the procurement of the additional platforms will allow the 12 AC-130W Dragon Spear/Stinger II platforms currently performing gunship duties to revert back to their baseline MC-130W Combat Spear [multi-role] configuration.”
Sources: QinetiQ NA, “QinetiQ North America’s LAST Armor to Protect C-130 Aircraft” | IHS Jane’s, “New armour for AC-130J gunships”.
March 20/13: Hellfire? US SOCOM fixed-wing PEO Col. Michael Schmidt (USAF) confirms that they’re looking to add AGM-114 Hellfire II missiles to the AC-130W’s “Precision Strike Package,” using F-15 racks mounted on the AC-130W’s hard points. Money has to be found in the budget, but he’s confident that it will happen at some point.
Since the AC-130J Ghostrider will initially be fielded with the same Precision Strike Package, AC-130W integration could end up extending to the new fleet. Sources: Defense Tech, “Air Force set to arm AC-130W with Hellfire missiles”.
Dec 20/12: AC-130W Support. Sierra Nevada Corp. in Sparks, NV receives a $7.9 million contract modification for “logistics support of the Precision Strike Package on the AC-130W aircraft, Stinger II Program.”
The location of the performance is Cannon Air Force Base, NM. Work is expected to be completed by Dec 31/13. The AFLCMC/WIKAA at Robins AFB, GA manages the contract (FA8509-12-C-0001, PO 0006).
FY 2012AC-130J production begins; Griffin, G-CLAW, and GAU-23 weapons; Derringer Door introduced; MC-130W to become Dragon Spear.
“Derringer Door”Aug 27/12: G-CLAW. Textron Defense Systems announces a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with U.S. Special Operations Command’s Program Executive Office – Fixed Wing, focused on Textron Defense Systems’ Guided Clean Area Weapon (G-CLAW). The GPS-guided cylinder will be integrated into SOPGM launch tube dispensers, and receive flight and weapon safety certifications. From there, Textron Defense Systems and USSOCOM will conduct inert and live-fire demonstrations from a tactical carrier aircraft such as the MC-130W Dragon Spear. Integration activities will culminate in an end-to-end, live-fire demonstration.
The 64-pound CLAW was actually designed as a safe sub-munition for cluster bombs, like the GPS-guided CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon. Instead of releasing hockey-puck shaped guided explosives to take out tanks, the entire tube is a weapon, whose air-burst is lethal to troops and unarmored vehicles over an area the size of a football field. A number of safety features ensure that it never becomes an unexploded ordnance hazard.
July 23/12: AC-130J. Production begins in Marietta, GA, but the gunship is actually built as an MC-130J Commando II. It will become an “AC-130J” (vid. Feb 19/12 contract) when it’s equipped with a “Precision Strike Package.” When queried, Lockheed Martin representatives said that:
“The initial contract is to cross-deck the current MC-130W equipment to the new AC-130Js. The PSP referenced here is a new package.”
AC-130J Initial Operating Capability is scheduled for 2015, and AFSOC expects to order 16. Lockheed Martin.
July 9/12: MC-130W. ATK announces that a rapid prototyping effort has created a modified variant of their Mk44 Bushmaster Automatic Cannon for MC-130W Combat Spear aircraft. The 30mm gun is now officially known as the GAU-23, and uses ATK’s PGU-46/B High Explosive Incendiary (HEI) ammunition for its missions.
ATK adds that in June 2011, the U.S. Air Force announced the conversion of 12 of its MC-130W Combat Spear aircraft to the Dragon Spear configuration.
The US Marines may also be interested, now that the technology is mature (vid. Aug 17/11). The MC-130W Dragon Spear will bolt the GAU-23 in, but ATK has developed a Roll-On/Roll-Off (RO/RO) pallet and weapons mount for use on other aircraft, like the USMC’s KC-130Js.
May 2012: Naming. The MC-130W Dragon Spear is renamed the AC-130W Stinger II, while the AC-130J picks up the designation “Ghostrider”. Sources: USAF Fact Sheets.
May 14/12: Lockheed Martin in Marietta, GA receives an $18.4 million firm-fixed-price contract that buys 3 Harvest HAWK sets, and pays to modify 7 KC-130Js with Harvest HAWK installations.
Work will be performed in Palmdale, CA (90%), and Marietta, GA (10%), and is expected to be complete in June 2014. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/12. This contract was not competitively procured, pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 2304c1. US Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00019-12-C-0094).
April 16/12: Viper Strike. MBDA announces that its GBU-44/E Viper Strike scored “multiple direct hits”, after being launched from the KC-130J’s new “Derringer Door” during developmental testing at China Lake, CA. Viper Strike also proved out its new fast attack software load, designed to improve performance against time sensitive targets.
Feb 23/12: Derringer Door. US NAVAIR announces successful testing and fielding of a Harvest HAWK “Derringer Door” pressurized launcher, which will be used instead of the “Gunslinger” system on future aircraft. The 10-round set replaces the plane’s paratrooper door, and lets the plane launch small precision-guided munitions like Griffin, without depressurizing the cabin and forcing the crew to use oxygen gear. By freeing up the cargo ramp, it also lets KC-130J Harvest HAWKs continue to perform cargo missions, while keeping the weapon launcher on board.
Like the rest of the Harvest HAWK kit, the Derringer Door system is removable.
Nov 7/11: KC-130J-HH stats. Inside the Navy reports [subscription] on Griffin usage in Afghanistan:
“Less than a year after first introducing it to the fleet, the Marine Corps has already used the Harvest Hawk… to fire 74 Hellfire and 13 Griffin missiles… while also providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, a Marine aviation official said here recently.”
FY 2011KC-130J Harvest Hawk deployment & reports; Scorpion tested; Viper Strike precision munitions bought.
KC-130J Harvest HAWKAug 22/11: Viper Strike. Northrop Grumman announces an unspecified additional contract to deliver “multiple” GBU-44 Viper Strike GPS/laser guided mini glide bombs to the Joint Attack Munition Systems (JAMS) Project Office at Redstone Arsenal, AL. Deliveries will begin in 2011, for eventual integration onto the KC-130J Harvest Hawk. See also June 2/10 entry.
All the Viper Strike munitions on Harvest Hawk will now carry the latest software load, which greatly enhances the weapon’s effectiveness against moving targets. In recent testing at China Lake, CA, Viper Strike scored multiple hits against moving vehicles in various scenarios.
Aug 17/11: KC-130J-HH. The USMC is looking at upgrading its KC-130Js for better close-air support to address known limitations (vid. July 28/11 entry). Maj. Richard Roberts told National Defense magazine the addition of a 30mm GAU-23 cannon to Harvest Hawk is again under consideration, which if confirmed would let the program meet its Capability III milestone. The possibility of this graft was reviewed back in 2009, but the integration tech was deemed too immature back then.
According to National Defense, as of last month the 1 Harvest Hawk deployed in Afghanistan had fired 42 Hellfire and 11 Griffin missiles and identified 8 IEDs. A 2nd unit will soon be rotated in so that the 1st one can be used for training purposes.
July 28/11: KC-130J-HH. The USMC discusses Harvest Hawk operations, noting that the Harvest Hawk contingents don’t yet have close-air support experience, so the Marines are drawing fire-control officers from its F/A-18 Hornet fighter, AV-8B Harrier II fighter, and AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter units. With respect to the aircraft’s usage:
“One Harvest HAWK flew for about 10 hours and fired its entire compliment of Hellfire missiles during combat operations in Afghanistan, March 14. An F/A-18 Hornet can only fly for an hour and thirty minutes without tanker support, according to [VMGR-252 fire control officer Capt. Thane A.] Norman. “Currently, we have a Harvest HAWK temporarily assigned to our detachment with 2nd MAW (Fwd.),” said [VMGR-252 commander Lt. Col. Charles J.] Moses. “It provides coverage for eight to 10 percent of joint tactical air requests in their area of operations, which is a significant number considering it’s only a single aircraft.”
Feb 25/11: MC-130W. Sierra Nevada Corp. in Sparks, NV receives a $22.3 million contract modification for interim contract support under the Dragon Spear program, to help provide and install precision strike packages in 12 MC-130W Combat Spear aircraft. At this time, $10.4 million has been committed by the WRALC/GRUKA at Robins AFB, GA (FA8509-10-C-0013; PO0003).
Feb 8/11: MC-130W & lasers. Defense News quotes SOCOM chief Adm. Eric Olson, who says the MC-130W Dragon Spear went from concept to flying with a minimum capability in less than 90 days, and deployed in 18 months. It has already deployed to Iraq, and is now flying in Afghanistan. Defense News adds that:
“The four-star admiral also touted a system used in Afghanistan that involves an “airborne-mounted overt laser that projects a beam that illuminates a spot on the ground.” Commanders “are finding more and more uses for an illuminated spot on the ground,” he said. “It can prevent fratricide, it can cause people to muster against a target, it can have a powerful psychological effect if you are standing in the beam.” SOCOM officials are currently building tactics, techniques and procedures for the system.”
While Adm. Olson was not specific, C-130s are certainly natural platforms for that kind of system.
Feb 4/11: KC-130J-HH stats. Marines of Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 352, Detachment A, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward), are preparing to return from a 6-month deployment at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan to their home at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, CA. VMGR-352’s KC-130J Super Hercules aircraft performed a number of transport and aerial refueling missions, while pioneering the “Harvest HAWK” kit’s use on the front lines.
Overall VMGR-352 crews completed 7,852 sorties and reached 7,897 flight hours. They also tracked 25,190 assault support requests, 65,815 additional passengers and 23,629,371 pounds of cargo. The Harvest Hawk completed 93 sorties, flew more than 565 hours and completed 191 joint tactical airstrike requests. USMC.
Nov 23/10: KC-130J-HH Action Report. Official report of a USMC KC-130J Harvest HAWK supporting 2 squads of Marines with India Company, 3rd Bn., 5th Marines. The squads ran into an attempted ambush, and the USMC explains what happened after that:
“The Marines immediately began firing at the enemy and gained superior firepower. The fight intensified as Marines were under fire from medium-machine-gun and small-arms fire. The Marines then played their trump card, calling in 60 mm and 120 mm mortars and close air support. An UH-1 Huey and an AH-1W Super Cobra fired hundreds of rounds, and a KC-130J ‘Harvest Hawk’ fired a Hell-Fire Missile. Artillery Marines played their part as well, firing multiple GPS-guided shells. The firefight lasted about two hours and killed an estimated 8-10 enemy fighters, said 1st Lt. Stephen Cooney, the executive officer with India Company, 3rd Bn., 5th Marines.”
October 2010: KC-130J-HH deploys. The lone production KC-130J Harvest Hawk deploys to Afghanistan, with the USMC’s VMGR-352.
Harvest Hawk deploys
FY 2010MC-130W operational; Contracts from SOCOM and USMC.
MC-130WSept 24/10: MC-130W. L-3 Communications TCS, Inc. in Warner Robins, GA receives a $29.4 million contract which would modify up to 4 MC-130Ws to install a precision strike package. At this time, no funds have been committed by the WR-ALC/GRUKA at Robins Air Force Base, GA (FA8509-20-C-0027).
Sept 21/10: MC-130W. L-3 Communications TCS, Inc. in Warner Robins, GA adds $15.8 million to a previous contract to install the Precision Strike package in 8 MC-130Ws. That’s on top of $45.2 million that had been committed before, raising the contract to $61 million. The WR-ALC/GRUKA at Robins Air Force Base, GA manages this contract (FA8509-09-C-0037; Action Under PZ0001).
Sept 14/10: MC-130W. Sierra Nevada Corp. in Sparks, NV receives a $12.5 million contract which will provide consoles for integration onto MC-130W aircraft. At this time, all funds have been committed by the ASC/WISS at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (FA8629-09-C-2445).
June 17/10: Scorpion drop. One of Lockheed Martin’s Scorpion precision glide-bombs is successfully flight tested in a 5,000 foot drop from a C-130. The small glide bomb uses a combination of GPS/INS and semi-active laser (SAL) guidance to hit a target 1.65 miles away, at Yuma Proving Ground, AZ. These Scorpion weapons have already been used in combat by CIA drones, but the C-130 test is new.
Scorpion was developed under the Small Smart Weapon program, which began in 2006. It’s just 21.5″ long and 4.5″ wide, with a range of up to 10 miles if it can glide from altitude. The system is modular, and the front guidance section will be switchable between a human-directed laser seeker, self-guiding imaging infrared (IIR) matched to pre-programmed target sets, or semi-autonomous millimeter wave radar. The warhead section is also a module, with multiple options. Overall weight is under 35 pounds. The weapon is carried by fitting up to 3 Scorpions on a conventional Hellfire rail, or up to 2 in a tube launcher. Lockheed Martin release | Scorpion product page | CBS News | Tactical Life | Washington Post | Comparison with Hellfire II.
June 3/10: MC-130W. Sierra Nevada Corp. in Sparks, NV receives a $20.9 million contract to provide interim contractor support of MC-130W modifications to install “a precision strike package” in support of US SOCOM’s “Project Dragon Spear.” At this time, $10 million has been committed by the 580th ACSG/GFKAA at Robins Air Force Base, GA (FA8509-10-C-0013).
June 2/10: Viper Strike. Northrop Grumman announces a contract to deliver 65 SOPGM/ GBU-44 Viper Strike munitions to the Joint Attack Munition Systems (JAMS) Project Office, within the Program Executive Office Missiles and Space at Redstone Arsenal, AL. The Viper Strikes will be delivered in 2010, for integration onto the KC-130J Harvest Hawk.
April 10/10: KC-130J-HH Phase 1 Done. Harvest Hawk completes Phase 1 testing at Pax River, MD, and leaves for required maintenance and continued testing at NAVAIR’s China Lake, CA range. The Patuxent River, MD Test Team included personnel from Air Test and Evaluation Squadrons VX-20 and VX-23, Operational Test Squadron 1 VX-1, Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 352 (VMGR-352), Lockheed Martin, the Joint Attack Munitions Systems (JAMS) project office, NAVAIR’s AIR 4.6 Human Systems department, and NAVAIR’s AIR-5.1 Integrated Systems Evaluation, Experimentation, and Test (ISEET) department.
NAVAIR says that it is working a complimentary effort to test and deploy the Standoff Precision Guided Munition (SOPGM, aka. “Viper Strike“) as a stand alone capability for Harvest HAWK, and that the first aircraft is scheduled to deploy by summer 2010 equipped with the AN/AAQ-30 TSS, AGM-114 Hellfire II missiles, and SOPGM. The 30 mm cannon, which will be mounted in the left side troop door, has been deferred to a later block upgrade. NAVAIR release.
End Harvest Hawk Phase 1
March 25/10: SOCOM Plans. Aviation Week DTI reports that U.S. Special Operations Command will base its future AC-130J gunship on the government-owned “Precision Strike Package” design used in the MC-130W. The February 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review will replace 8 AC-130H Spectre gunships with 8 new “AC?130Js,” based on the C-130J, instead of the earlier model C-130H that forms the core of the MC-130W. Another 8 AC-130Js will be added on top, giving SOCOM 17 AC-130U Spookys, 12 MC-130W Combat/Dragon Spears, and 16 AC-130Js.
SOCOM officials also hope that a modular design will let them easily add new capabilities to the fleet in future, creating what US SOCOM Deputy Acquisition Director James Geurts describes as “a family of precision strike capabilities that we can port onto different [Special Operations Forces] platforms.” The difference between SOCOM’s approach and the USMC’s Harvest Hawk will involve a greater emphasis on precision strike, instead of suppression.
Specific AC-130J requirements are still in flux, but FY 2011’s budget asks for $9.9 million in initial funding. The first serious funding is reportedly slated for FY 2012.
March 17/10: KC-130J-HH. A Harvest HAWK equipped KC-130J from USMC VMGR-352 squadron “The Raiders” arrives at NAVAIR’s Patuxent River, MD facilities from Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, CA for testing. Source.
Jan 29/10: MC-130W. Sierra Nevada Corp. in Sparks, NV receives a $32.7 million contract to provide consoles for integration onto the MC-130W “Combat Spear” aircraft. At this time, the entire amount has been committed by the 667th AESS/SYKA at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH (FA8629-09-C-2445).
Jan 13/10: MC-130W. The 27th Special Operations Wing deploys 2 MC-130W Combat Spear aircraft from the 73rd Special Operations Squadron in support of humanitarian operations in Haiti. The deployment is a reminder that these multi-role aircraft can be deployed in unarmed roles, with or without their advanced sensors and weapons.
The release does not mention specifics, but advanced thermal sensors can be used for tasks like to seeing heat sources in disaster situations, as well as pinpointing armed enemies on a battlefield. Canon AFB release | Canon AFB picture | Clovis News Journal
MC-130W deployed
Nov 17/09: MC-130W Gun. ATK announces a $20 million contract to:
“…provide 30mm PGU-46/B High Explosive Incendiary (HEI) ammunition for the ATK-produced Mk44 30mm cannon on the multi-role, MC-130W Combat Spear gunship, which will support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command (SOCOM) Contracting Office at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio awarded the contract.”
It would seem that AFSOCOM has made its 30mm gun choice. ATK will produce the ammunition at the company’s facilities in Radford, VA and Rocket Center, WVA. Deliveries will be complete in December 2010.
FY 2009Concept definitions; Initial contracts; Testing begins.
M299 on KC-130JSept 30/09: KC-130J-HH. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Marietta, GA receives a $21.3 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-09-C-0053) for 2 Harvest HAWK capability I and II kits for the Marine Corps KC-130J aircraft. Work will be performed in Palmdale, CA, and is expected to be complete in December 2010. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, which is technically this very day.
Aug 29/09: KC-130J-HH. Harvest HAWK testing begins, to verify that changes to the KC-130J’s flight characteristics are either entirely absent, or known and compensated.
The retrofitted KC-130J used an AN/AAQ-30 Targeting Sight System, and a 4-weapon Hellfire II weapons rack in place of the left-hand aerial refueling pod. The right wing can still carry fuel for aerial refueling, while the left wing carries the kit. There is no discussion of a direct fire gun, but the release does add that Lockheed Martin plans to retrofit the Marine Corps’ fleet of KC-130J aircraft with the necessary wiring to carry Harvest Hawk, so that any aircraft could be quickly converted for use. USMC release.
Harvest Hawk testing begins
June 4/09: Gunslinger. An AFSOCOM pre-solicitation notice [FedBizOpps MS Word format | WIRED Danger Zone] discusses one option for mounting precision guided weapons on the MC-130Ws:
“The goal for Gunslinger is to have 10 or more Standoff Precision Guided Munitions (SOPGMs) loaded and ready to fire in rapid succession, reload in flight, and not modify the SOPGMs or their Common Launch Tube (CLT). The Gunslinger system must be interoperable with the Government’s SOPGM Battle Management System (BMS)… If only one qualified source responds the Government reserves the right to issue a sole source contract to that qualified source.
The Air Armament Center Capabilities Integration Directorate (AAC/XR) proposes to procure Gunslinger System Engineering which will include; design and ground demonstration of the Gunslinger system using a surrogate aircraft provided by the Government or a contractor provided mock up representative of the MC-130W. The design is allowed to include both permanent and removable portions. The installation as designed shall not prevent the aircraft from performing the cargo/transport mission when the removable portion is not in place. The permanent portion shall maintain cabin pressure when the removable portion is installed as well as when it is not installed. The time to install and uninstall the removable portions shall be minimized. The goal is less than five (5) minutes. The contractor shall develop an aircraft modification package with drawings and supporting data for installing the Gunslinger system and submit it to the aircraft OSS&E authority for approval to proceed with the aircraft modification.”
May 15/09: AFSOCOM’s analogues. Gannett’s Air Force times reports that Air Force Special Operations Command’s plan to buy 16 C-27Js under the Joint Cargo Aircraft program, for conversion to AC-27J Stinger II gunships, has fallen apart with the removal of Army C-27J funding in the FY 2010 budget.
In response, they’re investigating a “Plan B” that would add roll-on, roll-off kits to its MC-130W Combat Spear fleet. The MC-130W program began in 2006 to replace combat losses of the MC-130E/H Combat Talon, but it’s based on converted C-130H models, rather than new “J” version of the Hercules.
May 8/09: HH R&D. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Marietta, GA received a $22.8 million firm-fixed-price contract to develop a roll-on, roll-off armed targeting capability for the Marine Corps’ KC-130J.
Work will be performed in Palmdale, CA and is expected to be complete in December 2009. Contract funds in the amount of $15.5 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured (N00019-09-C-0053).
May 4/09: SOCOM PSP 360. The USAF is also interested in this concept, and issues a PIXS solicitation for a “Precision Strike Pkg 360 Degree Situational Awareness Camera System.” The solicitation adds that:
“This system would operate at altitudes at or above 10,000 feet and act as a hostile fire indicator system to provide aircrew with the ability to virtually scan the outside of the aircraft for hostile ground threats that would possibly target them. This system is part of a broader Persistence Strike Package (PSP). The purpose of the PSP program is to add a modular PSP to a medium lift cargo aircraft, to include a medium caliber gun and Stand-Off Precision Guided Munitions (SOPGM).”
Additional Readings and Sources Background: Projects & Aircraft