Defense Industry Daily

Arrow test concept
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In a dawning age of rogue states, ballistic missile defenses are steadily become a widely accepted necessity. Iran is widely believed to be developing nuclear capabilities, and Israeli concerns were heightened after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged that Israel be “wiped off the map” (the fact that America was also placed in that category went largely uncovered).

Because missile defenses are so important, states like India and Israel have taken steps to ensure that they have the ability to build many of the key pieces. The Arrow project is a collaboration between Boeing and IAI to produce the missile interceptors that accompany the required radars, satellites, command and control systems.

NOTE: Article capped and coverage suspended in 2011.

The Arrow System

Arrow launch
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In general, the Israeli Arrow is a more advanced weapon than the Patriot and possesses far more range, undertaking high altitude interceptions and covering a wide area (est. 90km/ 54 mile range, maximum altitude 30 miles/ 50 km for Arrow 2) as a Theater Missile Defense (TMD) system. Unlike the USA’s THAAD, PAC-3, or SM-3 which all use “hit to kill” technology, Israel’s Arrow relies on a directed fragmentation warhead to destroy enemy missiles. It can work in conjunction with a number of systems, but its main Israeli partner is the Green Pine long-range, ground-based fire control radar. The system and its engagements are controlled by the mobile Citron Tree battle management center. Since the launchers are also mobile, and the radars are semi-mobile, the system is resistant to pre-emptive strikes if good discipline is maintained.

The exoatmospheric, 2-stage Arrow-3 will use pivoting optical sensors and its own upper-stage kick motor, instead of separate control rockets for final steering. The goal is a highly maneuverable missile that can reach more than double the height of existing Arrow-2 interceptors, using a lower-weight missile. This will also have the effect of extending the missile’s range.

In contrast, Israel’s Patriot PAC-2s are more of a local point defense system with a range of about 40km/ 24 miles. They were all Israel had during the 1991 Gulf War, but these days, Israel’s Patriot PAC-2 GEM+ missiles will only be launched if the Arrow missile fails, or the target is outside the Arrow’s protective umbrella. In that respect, the Arrow/Homa system will play a role similar to the longer-range naval SM-3 Standard missile that forms the high end of Japan’s planned ABM shield (and seems destined for Europe and other states in a land-based role), or the US Army’s THAAD.

Overall responsibility for Arrow lies with the U.S. Missile Defense Organization (MDA) in Washington, DC, and the Israel Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, Israel. The program is executed by the Israel Missile Defense Organization in Tel Aviv, and the US Army Program Executive Office for Air and Missile Defense’s Arrow Product Office in Huntsville, AL. Key contractors include:

• Israel Aircraft Industries (prime contractor, Arrow missile, Green Pine fire control radar)
  
• Tadiran Electronics in Holon, Israel (Citron Tree battle management center)
  
• Boeing (about 35% of the Arrow missile, manages many US subcontractors)
  
• Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control in Orlando, FL (radar seeker)
  
• Raytheon in Santa Barbara, CA (Infrared seeker)
  
• Other American subcontractors include ATK in Iuka, MS and Clearfield, UT; Manes Machine, in Fort Collins, CO; Ceradyne Thermo-Materials, Inc., in Scottsdale, GA; and Sanmina SCI, in Huntsville, AL.
  
• Rafael Armament Development Authority, Haifa, Israel (Black Sparrow air-launched target; joint U.S./Israel effort).

EL/M-2080 “Green Pine”
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Israel deployed the first battery of Arrow-1 missiles on March 14/2000, and has continued to upgrade the system. The summer of 2005 marked delivery of the first co-produced Boeing/IAI missiles. Israeli and US troops engaged in pre-training for the biennial Juniper Cobra exercise in 2007, and part of that process includes working out interoperability issues between the Patriot PAC-3 system (ad PAC-2 GEM+ that Israel deploys) and Arrow.

On July 29/04 Israel and the USA carried out joint experiment in the USA, in which the Arrow was launched against a real Scud missile. The experiment was a success, as the Arrow destroyed the Scud with a direct hit. In December 2005 the system was successfully deployed in a test against a replicated Shahab-3 missile. This feat was repeated on February 11/07.

Despite some international interest in the Arrow, the USA has blocked export initiatives so far. Although India purchased an Arrow-capable “Green Pine” radar from Elta in 2001, and has expressed interest in deploying its own battery of Arrow interceptor missiles, U.S. concerns regarding compliance with the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR, an international agreement limiting the proliferation of ballistic missile technology) have effectively halted such plans for the time being. This did not stop India from using the Green Pine technology in its own November 2006 anti-missile test, using a modified Prithvi short-range ballistic missile with an exo-atmospheric kill vehicle and a hit to kill warhead.

Contracts & Key Events, 2004-Present

Arrow-3 development
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The section is still being updated.

January 20/17: The Israeli Air Force has received delivery of their first Arrow-3 missile defense battery. A joint-development effort by Boeing and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the Arrow-3 interceptor will form the upper-tier layer of Israel’s multi-tiered Arrow Weapons System (AWS), and is designed to fly nearly twice as high at half the weight of the Arrow-2 interceptor, which covers the lower-tier segment of the network. Arrow-3 missiles will allow the IAF to shoot twice against a single ballistic target, assess for battle damage and, if needed, divert to other approaching threats, with the Arrow-2 operating as a back-up.

June 16/15: Joint US-Israel missile programs may benefit from additional funding under a Defense Appropriations Bill, following a vote in the House. The programs covered by the increase in funds include the Iron Dome, Arrow, Arrow 3 and David’s Sling systems. The last of these will receive the most significant boost, with an additional $286.5 million allocation.

Feb 22/11: An Arrow System successfully intercepts a ballistic target missile during a flight test conducted at Pt. Mugu Sea Range, CA. This test is part of the Arrow System Improvement Program (ASIP) and was conducted jointly by the Israel Missile Defense Organization and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

The test represented a realistic scenario, and all the elements (Arrow, Green Pine radar, Citron Tree BMC) performed in their operational configurations, using new Block 4 software designed to improve their ability to discriminate targets. US MDA release | video || Defense News.

July 27/10: The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense votes to fund Israel’s missile defense programs at $422.7 million for 2011, nearly $96 million above the original White House funding request. This represents a doubling of aid for missile defense from 2010, in the wake of an emerging consensus that the CIA’s 2007 estimate of Iran’s nuclear weapons program was wrong, and underestimated Iranian progress.

On the other hand, the structure of that funding is less good for the Arrow program. While the HASD added $58 million to the administration’s original FY 2011 Arrow-3 request, that provisional $108.8 million is actually less than FY 2010 funding of $157.4 million ($60M request + $97.4M Congress added). Likewise, the complementary medium range RAFAEL/Raytheon David’s Sling/Magic Wand dropped from $134.7 million in FY 2010 to $84.7 million requested in 2011. The net increase comes from a one-time, $205 million grant for the procurement of 10 RAFAEL Iron Dome batteries for defense against short-range missiles. HASD Chair statement [ PDF] | HASD Table [PDF] | AllGov | Jerusalem Post | Israel’s Globes business news.

July 26/10: Israel and the United States sign a deal to develop and field the Arrow 3 system. It will be capable of tracking and shooting down ballistic missiles at a higher altitudes, including fully exoatmospheric threats. US MDA | China’s Xinhua.

March 22/10: Defense News reports that U.S. and Israeli government and industrial partners will press ahead with Arrow 3 work through good faith understandings, until formalized government-to-government accords catch up. The goal is to deploy the new missile by 2014.

Production of the Arrow-2 is winding down, and final deliveries are planned by the end of 2010. Government and industrial partners have apparently been working together on Arrow-3 for nearly 2 years, moving the program through at least 4 of the US Missile Defense Agency’s required technology “knowledge points, and validate critical subsystems. A first fly-out is planned for 2011.

Manufacturing
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April 7/09: The Israeli Ministry of Defense and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency conduct a successful test of the Arrow ballistic missile defense system. The operationally realistic test was conducted in Israel, using an ASIP interceptor co-produced by Boeing and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The event marked the co-produced Arrow II’s 2nd intercept in 2 attempts, as well as its 3rd successful flight test. Boeing.

Jan 4/09: Israel’s Arutz Sheva news service reports that the Arrow missile defense system has been deployed near Ashkelon, in part because IAI has worked with American firms and developed an updated radar system named MC4. The new radar can also deal with smaller missiles, such as the Hamas government’s Kassam or Grad rockets being launched from Gaza. Using GPS and camera sensors, the MC4 system tracks the flight path, and within a minute of launch, it can determine both the launch site and projected landing site of the missile.

At the same time, pressure is building to add Northrop Grumman’s SkyGuard laser system to Israel’s defenses, a system whose technology is based on joint US-Israeli research:

“Supporters claim that the Skyguard laser based system is more suited to Israel’s needs than the rocket-based Rafael solution. Firstly, the laser can intercept short range missiles such as the Kassam rocket which hit their targets in less than 10 seconds. The rocket-based Rafael system can only hit medium-range rockets which reach their targets in more than 20 seconds. In addition, each laser round fired costs approximately $3,000. In contrast, defensive rockets for the Iron Dome system are estimated to cost over $100,000. Supporters also claim that the Skyguard system could be deployed in a short amount of time, whereas the completion of the Iron Dome rocket system is not foreseen in the near future.”

Sept 29/08: The USA has deployed an unspecified X-band radar system in Israel, manned by around 120 American personnel. Reports hint that the system may be similar to the radars deployed to Japan, or the AN/TPY-2 used as part of the THAAD system. The Guardian:

“One key feature of the system is that information from early-warning satellites – which greatly increases the radar’s ability to pinpoint launches – would remain in US hands. The satellite ground station would be in Europe and transmit data to Israel.

…The high-powered X-Band system, manufactured by Raytheon Company, would allow Israel’s Arrow II ballistic shield to engage an Iranian Shehab-3 missile about halfway through its 11-minute flight to Israel, six times sooner than Israel’s existing Green Pine radar can. The X-Band can track an object the size of a baseball from 2,900 miles away.”

Feb 14/08: IAI announces that The Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD) / Missile Defense Organization (IMDO) has awarded a follow-on production contract to Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)’s MLM Division for an undisclosed number of additional Arrow 2 Anti-Tactical Ballistic Missile (ATBM) system interceptors. The interceptors will be assembled in Israel at IAI’s MLM Division, the Arrow prime contractor, with major portions coming from Boeing IDS, the U.S. prime contractor in Huntsville, AL., ATK in Luka, MS., and various other subcontractors across the U.S.

Aug 23/07: The Jerusalem Post publishes “IDF modifying Arrow deployment in the North.” Key quote:

“Following this past summer’s war and the recognition that the next war will involve Syrian and Iranian missile barrages, the Air Defense Forces decided to adopt a “wide deployment” for its Arrow missile batteries.”

Aug 6/07: Jane’s Defence Weekly: “Israel is leaning towards upgrading its own anti-ballistic missile Arrow Weapon System (AWS) rather than acquiring the US Theatre High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system. While no formal decision has yet been taken, Jane’s has learned that officials from the Israel Ballistic Missile Defence Organisation (BMDO) have informed the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) about potential complications with integrating THAAD into the country’s missile-defence alignment.”

March 26/07: An improved Arrow II missile, with modifications to its hardware and electronics under the Arrow System Improvement Program, is successfully test-fired this afternoon at Palmahim Air Force Base. The interceptor performed successfully according to design specifications, meeting all expectations and objectives. This is the 1st successful test of the improved configuration, and the 2nd test overall of a co-produced interceptor. Testing is managed by the Israeli Missile Defense Organization, in close cooperation with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

Test objectives were to collect flight engineering data for future test events, and to test the capabilities of the improved Arrow interceptor. This test marks the U.S./Israeli Arrow II program’s 14th success in 16 attempts. US MDA [PDF].

Feb 12/07: A successful ballistic missile intercept test by the Arrow missile defense system, conducted at night over the Mediterranean Sea. It’s the 1st test of a co-produced Arrow intercept missile fired from an improved launcher, using 2 Arrow batteries separated from each other. The target, called “Black Sparrow,” was launched from an F-15 fighter aircraft at which point the Fire Control Radar acquired the target and notified the Battle Management Center. A defense plan was issued and a mission command was sent to the Launch Control Center to fire the interceptor missile. This test marks the U.S./Israeli Arrow II program’s 13th success in 15 attempts. US MDA [PDF].

Spring 2005: The 1st co-produced Arrow 2 interceptor is delivered by IAI to the MoD. Source [PDF].

Feb 2/05: Israel Defense Forces carry out a successful test of the IAI/Boeing Arrow anti-missile system at a secret location in the center of the country. The Jerusalem Post reports that “an F-15 fighter jet flying over the Mediterranean dropped a Black Sparrow test missile specially designed to simulate an incoming Iranian Shihab 3 missile headed toward the Israeli shore.” The successful interception occurred at a higher altitude than previous efforts, and tested recent improvements made to the Arrow 2 system.

Israeli Air Force Patriot missile batteries also participated passively in the test, following the incoming missile with their radars. The Times of India notes that this was the 14th test of the system, which has included joint tests in the USA and advanced tests simulating advanced separating warheads. As evidenced by the Patriot batteries’ participation in this latest test, Israel is working to integrate all of its key assets and connections to US data into one national system, rather than relying on fragmented local control. Jerusalem Post | copy at United Jerusalem.

Pt. Mugu launch
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Aug 26/04: US Missile Defense Agency [PDF]:

“The Arrow anti-ballistic missile system was used today in a joint Israel/United States test exercise as part of the ongoing Arrow System Improvement Program (ASIP). The test was the second in a series conducted at the Point Mugu Sea Range in California. It was the thirteenth Arrow intercept test and the eighth test of the complete weapon system. The Arrow interceptor was launched toward the target but no intercept was achieved. Many of the test objectives were successfully completed, and the test data is being analyzed by test engineers to determine why an intercept did not occur.”

July 29/04: A modified Arrow System Improvement Program anti-ballistic missile successfully intercepts and destroys a ballistic missile target today, west of San Nicolas Island on the Pt. Mugu Sea Range in California. Point Mugu was used, in order to offer a realistic scenario that could not have been tested in Israel due to test-field safety restrictions.

The objective of the test was to demonstrate the Arrow system’s improved performance against a target that represents a threat to Israel. This was the 12th Arrow intercept test, and the 7th test of the complete Arrow system. US MDA [PDF]

April 1/04: Boeing announces a $78 million contract from Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) to produce Arrow II interceptor components. The contract, effective immediately, runs through 2006 with options for additional production until Q2 2008. The total contract value could exceed $225 million if all options are exercised.

Boeing and IAI signed a teaming agreement in 2002 to co-produce the interceptor for the Arrow weapon system. The firm is responsible for production of the electronics section, the radome, motorcases for the booster and sustainer, and the canister that holds the interceptor in the missile launcher. Boeing production and program management will be conducted in Huntsville, AL. IAI, the prime contractor of the Arrow system, is responsible for system integration and final interceptor assembly in Israel.

Boeing will manage several major subcontracts to support the Arrow interceptor production including Alliant-Techsystems in Iuka, MS and Clearfield, UT; Manes Machine, in Fort Collins, CO; Ceradyne Thermo-Materials, Inc., in Scottsdale, GA; and Sanmina SCI, in Huntsville, AL.

Sept 14/2000: The Israel Ministry of Defense, in cooperation with the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and the U.S. Army, conduct the 2nd successful intercept of a target ballistic missile by the Arrow Weapon System (AWS) in Israel. This was the 8th overall Arrow-2 flight test, but the 1st intercept for the against a new air-launched, in-bound target called the Black Sparrow.

The Arrow interceptor took off and flew in a nominal trajectory, acquired the Black Sparrow target, then locked on and homed on the designated threat. The warhead was fused at the proper range and the Arrow interceptor destroyed the target. The Green Pine fire control radar and Citron Tree battle management center participated fully in the test, performing battle planning, launch operations, and up link/down link message applications, as well as post intercept verifications. Both assets worked according to plan and fulfilled all test objectives. Analysis of all data is underway to evaluate and confirm results. US MDA [PDF]

Additional Readings & Sources

• Israeli MoD – Arrow Weapon System site.

• US MDA – Arrow gallery. Covers joint tests to 2004.

• Boeing – Arrow Interceptor

• Israeli-Weapons.com – Arrow. Profiles the entire Homa system, including Green Pine and Lemon Tree.

• Claremont Institute MissileThreat.com – Arrow Missile

• Claremont Institute MissileThreat.com – Shabab-3

• Wikipedia – Arrow Missile

• yNet News – Iran: We will build 20 new nuclear plants. also discusses the Arrow system test, and the larger efforts underway on the international front.

• BBC News (Feb 11/07) – Israeli missile test ‘successful’

• Jerusalem Post (Dec 2/05) – ‘Arrow’ Scud buster test a success

• India Times (Dec 2/04) – Israel successfully tests Arrow missile system

• Claremont Institute MissileThreat.com (Nov 17/04) – Aegis Test Successful: Marks First Attempt Against More Advanced Separating Target. This had been a key concern re: the system.

• Globes Online (Nov 7/05) – Jane’s: First IAI-Boeing “Arrow 2” missile delivered to IAF

• US Army News Service (Nov 2/05) – Air defenders train with Israeli counterparts

• A Daily Briefing on Iran (Oct 29/04) – Why Haven’t We Seen This? Sometimes a picture really is worth 1,000 words, and it’s worth looking at this one from Ahmadinejad’s infamous speech… but the thousand words in documents like Hassan Abbassi’s “War Preparation Plan” can be at least as chilling.

• MEMRI Translation Special Dispatch Series (Oct 28/05) – Translated excerpts from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech

• UPI (Aug 27/04) – Arrow anti-ballistic missile test fails. It was tested against a separating warhead. The articles gives details re: what happened – but the most fascinating part to me was the difference between American and Israeli weapons testing philosophies.

• JINSA (Aug 4/04) – First U.S. Test of Arrow Missile Defense System Goes ‘Beautifully’. Adds useful background re: the overall US-Israeli program.

• Israeli IDF (Aug 2/04) – The ‘Arrow’ System Test- A Strategic Accomplishment

Americas

• Tuesday saw Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg sit down with soon-to-be-President Donald Trump, to discuss matters including Air Force One and the F-18 Super Hornet. In relation to AF1, Muilenburg cited “great progress” on the simplifying of requirements, process, and certification for the new presidential aircraft. Talk surrounding the Super Hornet stemmed from suggestions made by Trump that extra procurements of an upgraded version of the fighter could compete with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

• A 62-page report by the Pentagon’s chief weapons tester has released sort of good news in relation to the F-35: that there has been progress toward fixing a safety issue with the aircraft’s ejection seat. The Martin-Baker manufactured US16E seat and escape system was found to pose a significant risk of neck damage or death during ejection of pilots in the lowest weight range, resulting in pilots weighing under 136 lb being barred from flying the aircraft. But a three-part solution posed by the company to protect a lightweight pilot’s head and neck during ejection is currently being tested with light-weight pilots. This includes a lighter helmet to ease strain on the neck during the first phase of an ejection, a lightweight switch on the seat to delay deployment of the main parachute, and a fabric panel sewn between the parachute risers that will protect the pilot’s head from moving backward during the parachute opening, called a “head support panel” or HSP.

Middle East North Africa

• C-130 aircraft operated by Egypt will be fitted with electronic intelligence (ELINT) systems. Sierra Nevada Corp. won a Pentagon contract to provide the capability on one of the Egyptian Air Force’s 22 C-130H or three C-130H-30 Hercules aircraft, and could do so by either fitting integrated mission equipment or with a roll-on/roll-off (RO/RO) mission compartment. It is possible that some C-130 aircraft have already been fitted with similar ELINT equipment following a US DSCA notification to Congress in 2003, however it remains unknown whether the plan was officially implemented.

• The Israeli Air Force has tested a new self-protection system on its Lockheed Martin C-130Js to protect from surface-to-air missiles. Once equipped with the updated self-protection package, the air force’s new transporters will be able to operate in areas where terrorist groups have ready access to shoulder-launched heat-seeking missiles. At present, Israel operates four C-130Js, with plans to purchase three more.

Europe

• Airbus announced the successful refueling of an H225M Caracel helicopter with the help of two C295W medium transports. Contacts during the test were executed at speeds of 105 to 115 knots, with the company reporting that all crews reported a smooth operation. Air-to-air refueling of the multi-role combat helicopter can be performed during forward flight or while hovering.

• Russia has test-fired a Topol-M ICBM, one of the first ballistic missiles to be developed after the fall of the Soviet Union. Capable of being deployed from missile silos or APU launchers mounted on the 16-wheeled MZKT-79221 universal transporter-erector-launcher, the test was carried out to confirm the weapon’s stability. The weapon’s developers claim their product is able to bypass any current or planned US missile defense system, and can make evasive maneuvers to avoid missile interceptors during flight.

• Leonardo has been contracted to provide new jet trainer aircraft to the Italian Air Force as well as develop a new helicopter for the Italian Army. The company stated that the two contracts with the Italian National Armaments Directorate of the Italian Defense Ministry have a combined value of more than $530 million. Under the first award, Leonardo is to deliver five M-345A trainers to the air force and will work alongside the fleet of 18 twin-engine M-346s already ordered and currently used by the Italian air force for the advanced phase of pilot training. The second contract is for the development, production and testing of three reconnaissance and escort helicopter prototypes, of which 48 units will be eventually produced to replace the current fleet of AW129s.

Asia Pacific

• South Korea is shopping for 12 new naval helicopters as its Defense Acquisition Program Administration earmarks $768 million for the acquisition. A decision will be made by the end of 2018 with AgustaWestland’s AW-159, the Sikorsky MH-60R, and NHIndustries’ NH-90 are all in the running. Deliveries will take place between 2020-2022 and the choppers will be deployed on next-generation frigates to counter North Korean submarines and surface vessels.

Today’s Video

Refueling the C295:

Making a comeback?
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The Russian Ministry of Defense plans to replace nearly half of the Russian Army’s hardware by 2015, according to Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. Ivanov said military spending over the next 8 years was planned at $189 billion, and that official Russian military spending had quadrupled from 2001 to reach $31 billion this year.

Ivanov said weapons purchases would include “17 intercontinental ballistic missiles, 4 military spacecraft with the same number of launch rockets for them,” as well as new bombers, ships, and other heavy equipment. The ICBMs are believed to be the new SS-27 Topol-M, and other plans reportedly include 50 new bombers, 31 ships of varying sizes, and fully re-arming 40 tank, 97 infantry and 50 parachute battalions. Some outside observers doubt Russia’s ability to fulfill these plans, however, given a closed military procurement system, that’s very resistant to scrutiny, in a country with a record of corruption. See Defense-Aerospace: “Russia to Spend $189bn on Weapons by 2015” | “Russia’s Defense Minister Unveils Plans to Overhaul Military.”

Update

January 19/17: Russia has test-fired a Topol-M ICBM, one of the first ballistic missiles to be developed after the fall of the Soviet Union. Capable of being deployed from missile silos or APU launchers mounted on the 16-wheeled MZKT-79221 universal transporter-erector-launcher, the test was carried out to confirm the weapon’s stability. The weapon’s developers claim their product is able to bypass any current or planned US missile defense system, and can make evasive maneuvers to avoid missile interceptors during flight.

Americas

• US Navy fleet pilots have expressed concerns over the safety of catapult launching the F-35C from aircraft carriers. Recent sea testing of the naval variant of the Joint Strike Fighter exposed an issue of excessive vertical oscillations, or a bouncing effect, during takeoff with the aid of a steam-driven catapult. However the program’s manager, Lt. Christopher Bogdan, downplayed the concerns stating that the oscillations only occur at very light gross takeoff weights and no F-35C going into combat would be taking off at such a light weight. “At medium weights and heavy weights you don’t see this problem at all,” Bogdan was quoted as saying.

• BAE Systems has been selected by Lockheed Martin to modernize the head-up display (HUD) for USAF F-22s. The existing HUD will be replaced with an all-digital version, based on BAE’s Digital Light Engine (DLE) technology to produce a form, fit, and function HUD that will fit seamlessly into the F-22’s existing HUD space. Work includes the replacement of the current conventional cathode ray tube image source on the current HUD with a digital version that offers increased reliability, eliminates high-maintenance and obsolete items.

Middle East North Africa

• Israel’s Defense Ministry has contracted Oshkosh Defense to provide 200 FMTV tactical trucks. Valued at $200 million, the deal comes after vigorous field testing by Israel of six trucks to ensure the firm’s Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) meets Israeli requirements. It’s expected that this order will be added too, as Tel Aviv begins the replacement of the nearly 60-year old tactical trucks currently used by its logistics branch.

Europe

• Rolls Royce has announced that they have reached a number of settlements with authorities in the UK, US and Brazil, following evidence of bribery and corruption involving company intermediaries on a number of defense deals. The total cost of the settlements is believed to be approximately $809 million, with the UK’s Serious Fraud Office set to earn the bulk of the funds, a national record, at nearly $500 million. Other payments to the US Dept. of Justice and Brazil’s Ministerio Publico Federal are set to receive $170 million and $25.58 million respectively. In the first year, Rolls is expected to hand over about $352.2 million to authorities.

• Eurofighter will provide a five-year support deal for four NATO countries operating the Typhoon fighter. Two contracts were signed between NETMA, the NATO Eurofighter & Tornado Management Organization on behalf of core Eurofighter nations, and Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH on behalf of aircraft makers Airbus Defense and Space, BAE Systems and Leonardo. The deals cover the sustainment of engineering capabilities and program management, and for logistics, repairs, and the provision of spare parts for the Eurofighter fleet.

Asia Pacific

• An inquest into the third launch failure of India’s Nirbhay cruise missile has found that the missile’s wings failed to deploy properly during its flight. Following take-off, the wings became stuck at 60 degrees position for about 1.5 seconds, causing the missile to roll rapidly and overwhelming its Inertial Navigation System (INS). Engineers then needed to abandon the test as the missile had veered off its flight path.

• Taiwan’s military has laid out a timeline for their indigenous advanced jet trainer program, with the aircraft slated to make its flying debut in June 2020. State-owned Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) is currently on a hiring spree, looking to recruit additional engineers in order to get blueprints completed by the middle of this year. Taipei expects to have a working prototype rolled out by September 2019 and into production by 2021. AIDC has also begun work on the Republic of China Air Force’s F-16V upgrade program. Under the Phoenix Rising Project, the team will upgrade Taiwan’s F-16A/B fleet by 2023.

• A British-Japanese technical feasibility study for the Joint New Air-to-Air Missile (JNAAM) is expected to be completed by this year. Preliminary research into the missile has already found that if both countries were to continue with the project’s development, it potentially could be the world’s top air-to-air missile on the market. The JNAAM is an attempt by London and Tokyo to merge the AESA missile seeker from Japan’s AAM4B missile on the MBDA Meteor body.

Today’s Video

Iranian air-defense shoots at rogue quadcopter in Tehran:

FMTV Family
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The 14 variants in the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) form the core of the USA’s new state-of-the-art medium military transport truck fleet. Which in turn forms the core of the “mature logistics capability” seen in the Iraqi theater and elsewhere. FMTV trucks are all automatic transmission, and range from 2.5-ton cargo and van models to 5-ton cargo, tractor, van, wrecker, tanker, specialty, and dump-truck models in various 4×4 and 6×6 configurations. Some models also have attached trailers that increase their carrying capacity. Even so, the use of common engines, transmissions, drivelines, power trains, tires, cabs, etc. create over 80% parts commonality between FMTV models. Where possible, commercial components are used for added savings.

There have been 3 main phases of the FMTV program, including the last “SO23” open competition in 2003. All told, more than 50,000 FMTV trucks in various models have been delivered to the US Army. A bridging order to BAE continued production in Sealy, TX from 2008 through 2010, but the 4th phase re-compete saw a new firm begin FMTV production – alongside heavy truck production for the Army (FHTV) and Marines (LVSR), and medium trucks for the US Marine Corps (MTVR).

FMTV Program & Production

FMTV 8×8 ILHS
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Under the new contract, Oshkosh Corp. has been awarded a competitive, 5-year requirements contract to build up to 12,415 trucks and 10,926 trailers, and provide associated support and engineering services. The total estimated contract value at award was $3.023 billion.

BAE Systems subsidiary Stewart & Stevenson won the initial FMTV competition to begin producing these trucks, and has retained the manufacturing contract through previous rebuy competitions, a merger with Armor Holdings, and Armor Holding’s absorption into BAE. The current FMTV rebuy program is a 5-year requirements contract award for up to 23,000 vehicles and trailers, as well as support services and engineering. The addition of support services is significant, and can amount to a notable portion of the contract’s full value over time.

Subsequent reports indicate that for this re-buy program, BAE Systems submitted a bid 20% lower than the current FMTV price, despite a supply chain for FMTV that is 60% directed source (i.e. sub-contractors and parts specified by the government). Oshkosh’s bid was reportedly 33% below the current FMTV price.

In addition to their role as the backbone of the US Army’s truck fleet, FMTV trucks serve as the base for key weapons systems like the future MEADS air-defense system and the new HIMARS air-portable multiple rocket launchers, and as the base for some blast-resistant vehicles like BAE’s Caiman. These designs are excluded from the FMTV re-buy.

Even without these specialty variants, FMTV production has ramped up sharply over the last few years. Initial rates of production were approximately 2,400 trucks per year, but that rate has now accelerated to 7,200 (about 32/day) and was expected to reach over 8,000 per year (about 42/day) at BAE’s plant in Sealy, TX during FY 2009.

Heavy use in theater and casualties of chance or battle have contributed somewhat to this production ramp-up, but other factors also play a major role. One is the desire to grow the US Army by over 60,000 soldiers. The importance of logistics means that more soldiers will need more trucks, especially as the regular army focuses on assuming more of the sustainment role that has traditionally been assigned to the National Guard and Reserves. Meanwhile, those military reserve forces are driving 30 and even 40 year old trucks that are reaching the end of any useful life cycle, and must be replaced quickly.

These factors mean that the FMTV’s production pace is unlikely to abate much, creating high hurdles for Oshkosh to meet. Fortunately, intellectual property rights are not an issue, as the government owns the blueprints. On the other hand, even “build-to-print” contracts usually end up accommodating contractor-specific systems and improvements. FMTV design had been frozen at the A1P2 version prior to this recompete, in order to ensure a level playing field, but a successful award opens the door to a new development and enhancement schedule. That was part of initial and ongoing discussions with the US Army, as Oshkosh prepared to ramp up its own FMTV production. So far, the transition is going well.

Budgets and production orders under this new contract include:

• FY 2010: $1.438 billion ($5.5M RDT&E, $1.344 billion procurement for 8,637).
  
• FY 2011 request: $1.438 billion ($3.7M RDT&E, $1.435 billion procurement for 4,652).
  
• FY 2012 request: $ 448 million ($4.0M RDT&E, $ 432.9M procurement for 2,390, $11.1M supplemental funding for 32 more to make 2,442).

Contracts and Key Events

Oshkosh FMTV
(click to view full)

The current FMTV rebuy program is a 5-year firm-fixed-price requirements contract award that was originally intended for up to 23,000 vehicles and trailers, as well as support services and engineering. It has now surpassed those totals. Unless otherwise noted, US Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command in Warren, MI, manages the contracts, and Oshkosh Corp. in Oshkosh, WI is the contractor. Bids for the original contract were solicited on the World Wide Web, with 3 bids received.

FY 2015-2017

January 18/17: Israel’s Defense Ministry has contracted Oshkosh Defense to provide 200 FMTV tactical trucks. Valued at $200 million, the deal comes after vigorous field testing by Israel of six trucks to ensure the firm’s Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) meets Israeli requirements. It’s expected that this order will be added too, as Tel Aviv begins the replacement of the nearly 60-year old tactical trucks currently used by its logistics branch.

September 24/15: Oshkosh Defense has been handed a $47 million modification to add an additional 184 medium tactical vehicles to a $4.7 billion Foreign Military Sales order in 2009, with the new vehicles headed for Iraq. The vehicles are scheduled for delivery by February 2017.

FY 2012

April 13/12: A $60.1 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for FMTVs. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with an estimated completion date of Sept 30/14 (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

April 2/12: A $294.7 million firm-fixed-price contract for FMTV support services. Oshkosh, on the other hand, says the contract will buy “more than 2,500” FMTV trucks and trailers for the U.S. Army, and adds that the US Army has now ordered “more than 29,000” FMTV trucks and trailers from them. From a program standpoint, that would be on top of previous orders to Armor Holdings and its eventual buyer, BAE Systems.

Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with an estimated completion date of Sept 30/14 (W56HAV-09-D-0159). See also Oshkosh release.

March 30/12: The Pentagon’s Selected Acquisitions Report ending Dec 31/11 includes FMTV, and isn’t good news for Oshkosh:

“Program costs decreased $1,965.7 million (-10.5%) from $18,731.4 million to $16,765.7 million, due primarily to a quantity decrease of 7,463 trucks from 87,839 to 80,376 trucks (-$1,266.1 million) and associated schedule, engineering, and estimating allocations

• (-$504.1 million). The quantity decrease also lowered estimates for non-recurring engineering, specifically, program management, non-recurring testing, and in-house and contractor engineering costs (-$135.2 million). There were additional decreases for unit cost savings from Engineering Change Proposal (ECP) definitization (-$146.8 million). These decreases were partially offset by the application of revised escalation indices (+$80.4 million).”

Feb 23/12: Oshkosh Defense unveils its “FMTV Enhanced Protection & Mobility Demonstrator” (EPMD) at AUSA Winter. The prototype vehicle utilizes the same Oshkosh TAK-4 independent suspension system that equips USMC trucks, and which is retrofitting many Army MRAPs. That change will improve mobility, while a custom-fitted Oshkosh Underbody Improvement Kit (UIK) improves protection against land mines.

These changes are important on a business level, because Oshkosh was depending on sales of upgrades and improved versions, in order to offset its unprofitable base bid (vid. Jan 9/12). Now the question becomes whether the US Army will bite.

Feb 3/12: Proxy battle win. Oshkosh’s 8-K/A filing says that all 13 of the corporation’s nominated Board members were elected, and all 6 of the Icahn Group’s nominees were defeated.

Icahn came close to getting a seat on the Board for his group, and that 13th seat had to wait for the full count, but overall, it’s a pretty stinging rebuff. The company nominee with the fewest share votes was Harvey N. Medvin, at 40,619,097; 5 of his 12 colleagues received over 79 million share votes. The Icahn nominee with the most share votes was Samuel Merksamer, at 39,016,262; 3 of his 5 colleagues received less than 15.5 million share votes, and those 3 were the only nominees to have more “withheld” votes than affirmative votes.

Jan 17/12: A $17.1 million firm-fixed-price contract modification to buy FMTV air conditioning install kits. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with an estimated completion date of Oct 31/13 (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

Jan 17/12: Oshkosh touts endorsements of its Board of Directors slate from independent proxy advisory firms Glass Lewis & Co. (Glass Lewis) and Egan-Jones Proxy Services (Egan-Jones). Voting is Jan 27/12.

Jan 9/12: Proxy battle – I choose you, Pikachu! The proxy skirmish with Icahn turns into a war – and the FMTV contract is a prominent feature. Icahn’s SEC DFAN14A materials express concern about the coming FHTV re-bid, and identify Oshkosh’s FMTV win strategy as 1 of 2 devastating strategic mistakes (the 2006 JLG acquisition being the other) that have consumed management’s attention and driven down profitability, even as other business segments have floundered and need focus:

“We believe that the FMTV represents the single largest problem with the future of this company… We believe this unprofitable contract represents management’s unrealistic attitude and poor planning, as well as the board’s lack of oversight on a product that represents over half of segment revenue.”

Oshkosh management’s filing points to the JLG acquisition as key to its M-ATV MRAP win, cites growing market share in defense, and asks for shareholders to wait for its markets to pick up. It directly attacks Icahn’s Board candidates as, in effect, a bunch of dependent puppets with little relevant experience in its key segments of defense or construction, and poor records with other companies. Management adds that Mr. Icahn has tried to circumvent Wisconsin’s business combination statute for shareholder protection, alleges that he had offered no substantive ideas to Oshkosh management when asked (though his DFAN14A has clear positions), and states that he refused to discuss his analysis behind the Navistar merger recommendation. In its 8-K filing, however, Oshkosh management make a concession, by pledging to “report profit on its Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles contract for the first quarter of fiscal 2012.”

The facts of the matter do make it appear that the Army played its FMTV hand well, and Oshkosh chose a strategy that failed at every point. As BAE surmised at the time, given the value of Army-specified sub-contracts, Oshkosh’s bid could not be profitable, and has not been. Worse, the Army chose not to be interested in enhancements, which would have restored some profit for Oshkosh; they also front-loaded FMTV purchases, before price-escalation clauses in the contract could kick in. Though this acquisition approach drove down short-term costs, in the long term, it could actually backfire on the Army by destroying 2 key suppliers. With BAE’s Sealy, TX truck plant largely emptied of work and staff, an analysis from the Lexington Institute sounds a cautionary note for the US Army, and wonders if its procurement victory will prove as pyrrhic as Oshkosh’s:

“[Oshkosh] finds itself in this predicament because it made some ill-timed acquisitions at the top of the sub-prime real estate boom (most notable lift-maker JLG), and then sought to compensate for its error by bidding very aggressively on Army truck contracts… workers would not be the only victims of the [proposed Navistar merger]… [A commercial suppliers strategy] ignores the loss of control implied for the Army customer. When you are by far the biggest source of demand for a company’s products, then you can pretty much dictate the terms of the relationship. When you are only one of many customers, you have less influence… The fact that submerging Oshkosh into the Navistar culture will give the Army fewer competitive options in the future is fine with [Icahn]; that’s how you get pricing power.”

It all comes to a head on Jan 27/12. See: Oshkosh 8-K | Oshkosh management’s SEC DEFA14A filing (see esp. pp. 38-44) | Icahn Group DFAN14A arguments | The Street | Reuters | Lexington Institute analysis.

Jan 5/12: A $27.3 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for more FMTVs. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with an estimated completion date of June 30/13. The original bid was solicited through the Internet, with 3 bids received by US Army Contracting Command in Warren, MI (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

Jan 5/12: A $7.6 million firm-fixed-price contract modification to support FMTVs. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with an estimated completion date of Oct 13/13. The original bid was solicited through the Internet, with 3 bids received by US Army Contracting Command in Warren, MI (W58HZV-09-D-0159).

Dec 6/11: Navistar/Oshkosh merger? Billionaire Carl Icahn owns 10% of Navistar, and 9.51% of Oshkosh, so his comments that the 2 companies should merge draws a lot of attention. He tells CNBC:

“I definitely think it would be a good merger. I think there would be a lot of synergy. I own stock in both and I think shareholders of both companies would benefit.”

Both Boards of Directors are maneuvering defensively around Icahn. Navistar agreed to put its Board up for election each year, but agreed not to propose his own slate of directors at the annual meeting. Things are a bit more open at Oshkosh, where Icahn is proposing Board slates, and has been increasingly critical of existing management.

Nov 10/11: A $19.1 million firm-fixed-price contract for 129 FMTVs; 11 armor B-Kits; 20 FMTVs; and 20 FMTV “High Mobility Artillery Rocket System B-Kits; with install for United Arab Emirates.” Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with an estimated completion date of June 30/13 (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

The wording above is somewhat unclear, but Oshkosh has now confirmed that the UAE order is just 20 trailers and armoring B-kits. The UAE has an active HIMARS program, which began with their September 2006 DSCA request. As a Feb 3/09 announcement from BAE suggested, the UAE had already bought its FMTV chassis.

FY 2011

Sept 29/11: A $30 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for 452 FMTV family trucks, and 86 up-armoring B-kits. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with an estimated completion date of June 30/13 (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

According to DID’s records, based on announced contracts, this brings the total number of FMTV trucks ordered under this new contract to 23,665, plus 2,806 trailers, and 127 up-armoring B-kits, at a cost of about $3.69 billion.

Aug 1/11: A $904.2 million firm-fixed-price contract modification to procure 6,963 FMTV truck variants. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with an estimated completion date of June 30/13 (W56HZV-09-D-0159). See also Oshkosh release.

Aug 1/11: James Hasik’s new research service offers a timely memorandum, asking how much money Oshkosh is losing on its FMTV contract: “Just how much money is Oshkosh losing on the FMTV contract? And should the customer care?.”

That has long been suspected, as over 60% of the FMTV truck’s cost is fixed-price, mandatory “directed source” items from subcontractors, and Oshkosh’s bid was reportedly 33% below the SO23 contract’s FMTV price. Using information from past orders, such as those listed here, he gets average current contract costs of $181,000 per truck and $71,000 per trailer, which seems to match up with order totals so far. Further estimates involving relative truck production rates, relative value, and announced margin rates for the defense division:

“…give us estimates of -21% as the FMTV margin in Q2 2011, -15% as the FMVT [sic] margin in Q3 2011… with some slightly different assumptions, I got margins of -10% and -6%.1 As the FMTV contract will account for at least $150 million of Oshkosh Defense’s business over the next five years, taking losses can’t be shrugged off… as Charlie Szews has taken personal control at Defense, the problem has clearly been recognized. And indeed, if the overall margin is improving with increasing volume, then they’re not losing money on every truck. It’s not as though the value of the bill of material exceeds the sale price. There’s a positive contribution margin, so there’s hope that things might work out… Today, we have the beginnings of ex post measures – actual, if inferred, performance on the contract. Losing 15 percent on a $295 million gig means that you’re spending $347 million to get that 295; in short, that’s a $52 million quarterly loss. Yet quite apart from the commercial business, Defense is still grossing about a billion dollars quarterly, and the bonanza of the M-ATV work is almost at an end. So that bid on the FMTV contract, which now seems to have been hazardous, should still not prove fatal. Oshkosh may yet turn it around, but even if it doesn’t, only Oshkosh’s shareholders will suffer.”

While Hasik’s concern is focused on whether the contract would endanger Oshkosh as a company, there’s also an industrial base issue, wherein a supplier bids below cost, in order to drive a competitor out of business and secure a monopoly or near monopoly position with respect to American production facilities. That’s precisely the situation in the Boeing/Airbus tanker competition, which will also cost taxpayers above and beyond the bid price. It’s likely that as the defense business contracts under spending cuts, we’ll see more of this behavior. It isn’t clear that the US DoD has thought about this issue, and determined the best guidelines for responding.

July 25/11: A $30.5 million firm-fixed-price contract for 185 FMTV trucks and 1 armor B-kit. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with an estimated completion date of April 3/13 (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

June 14/11: A $7 million firm-fixed-price contract for 44 FMTVs. The contract runs until March 31/12 (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

April 20/11: A $71.8 million firm-fixed-price contract for 417 FMTVs of different types. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with an estimated completion date of March 31/12 (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

April 15/11: The Pentagon’s Selected Acquisitions Report ending Dec 30/10 includes FMTV program changes – but they cost adjustments are downward:

“Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) – Program costs decreased $1,895.2 million (-9.2 percent) from $20,626.6 million to $18,731.4 million, due primarily to reductions in costs resulting from the award of a new competitive re-buy contract (-$2,308.6 million), acceleration of the procurement buy profile (-$328.9 million), and a change in the model mix (-$230.4 million). There are additional decreases for fielding and non-recurring costs (-$236.7 million) and other support (-$149.1 million) due to early completion of the program. These decreases are partially offset by a quantity increase of 4,654 trucks from 83,185 to 87,839 trucks (+$786.5 million) and associated schedule, engineering, and estimating allocations

• (+$588.8 million).”

• Note: Quantity changes are estimated based on the original SAR baseline cost-quantity relationship. Cost changes since the original baseline are separately categorized as schedule, engineering, or estimating “allocations.” The total impact of a quantity change is the identified “quantity” change plus all associated “allocations.”

Feb 28/11: A $25.2 million firm-fixed-price contract for 315 FMTV medium trucks, 3 B-Kits, and program support. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with an estimated completion date of March 31/12 (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

According to DID’s records, based on announced contracts, this brings the total number of FMTV trucks ordered under this new contract to 15,604.

Feb 14/11: The Pentagon issues its FY 2012 budget request, even as the new 112th Congress is forced to debate a FY 2011 budget, in order to repair the failure of the 111th Congress to pass one. The FY 2010-2011 requests were around $1.4 billion, but FY 2012’s request drops sharpy to $448 million for a total of 2,442 more FMTV trucks).

Dec 3/10: A $413.2 million firm-fixed-price contract for 1,800 family of medium tactical vehicles for the US Army National Guard. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI with an estimated completion date of March 12/13 (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

Dec 3/10: A $100.1 million firm-fixed-price contract for 1,800 family of medium tactical vehicles for the US Army National Guard. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI with an estimated completion date of March 12/13 (W56HZV-09-D-0159). DID is investigating the discrepancy in these figures.

Nov 19/10: As final deliveries from BAE Systems continue, and initial deliveries from Oshkosh begin, the U.S. Army is busy testing the new FMTV trucks at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, and Yuma Proving Ground, AZ. Lt. Col. Shane Fullmer, the Army’s product manager for medium tactical vehicles:

“Testing is going very well. The process involves 20,000 miles of reliability and durability testing – plus performance testing which is everything from [performance on] slopes to speed, endurance and payload capability… Given what we’ve seen to date, we are in good shape to easily meet our reliability requirements.”

The trucks are also subject to live fire blast testing, and performance testing including fording, hill grade/ payload tests, pull capability for tractors, etc. Testing is expected to conclude in the spring of 2011. US Army.

Nov 19/10: A $797.9 million firm-fixed-price contract for 4,773 FMTV trucks – though the Oshkosh release says that 590 trailers are part of that total, meaning truck orders are just 4,183. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with an estimated completion date of March 31/12. Oshkosh is more exact: deliveries are scheduled to begin in September 2011, and finish in August 2012. (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

Based on announced contracts listed in this article, the current rebuy program has issued $2.1 billion in contracts so far, to buy 13,239 trucks, 1,156 trailers, and 37 armoring b-Kits.

FY 2010

Sept 10/10: A $260.1 million firm-fixed-price contract for the production of 2,060 FMTVs. Work is to be performed in Oshkosh, WI with an estimated completion date of March 31/12. (W56HZV-09-D-0159). Oshkosh release

Sept 3/10: A $20.5 million firm-fixed-price contract for 122 FMTV vehicles by March 31/12, with work to be performed at Oshkosh, WI (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

Aug 16/10: A $201.5 million firm-fixed-price contract for 1,288 FMTV trucks. Work is to be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with an estimated completion date of March 31/12 (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

July 2/10: A $105.6 million firm-fixed-price contract for 621 FMTV trucks, and 43 trailers. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with an estimated completion date of March 31/12 (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

July 2/10: A $30.9 million firm-fixed-price contract for 167 FMTV trucks, 37 armor b-kits, and 119 trailers. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with an estimated completion date of March 31/12 (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

May 27/10: Oshkosh Defense ships its first FMTV trucks and trailers to the U.S. Army, including a Long-Term Armor Strategy (LTAS)-compliant cab. The 2 trucks represent 2 different FMTV variants and their trailers, and were shipped ahead of schedule. The original timeline had Oshkosh Defense beginning to deliver full production units in October 2010. Oshkosh Defense.

May 10/10: Oshkosh Corp. in Oshkosh, WI receives a $410.1 million firm-fixed-price contract for 2,230 FMTV family trucks, and 404 trailers, for deliveries scheduled between March and December 2011. To date, Oshkosh Corporation has received orders valued at more than $690 million under the new FMTV contract, and the company will begin supplying initial trucks to the Army this month for performance and durability testing. Production deliveries will begin in October 2010, and the contract’s formal completion date is March 31/12. (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

As part of its efforts, Oshkosh Corporation has also broken ground on a new 150,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art electrocoat (E-coat) facility in Oshkosh, WI, to support the FMTV program, and possibly other programs. The E-coat facility will help ensure corrosion protection, one of the FMTV fleet’s key attributes in order to meet its demanding time-of-service requirements; competitor BAE Systems had an operational E-coat facility of its own in Sealy, TX, but that may now be closed. Start-up of Oshkosh’s facility will begin in late summer 2010, and the firm is also moving into a new building in Warren, MI for FMTV System Technical Support (STS) work. The firm expects to hire up to 190 new employees. See also Oshkosh Defense release.

April 27/10: The Oshkosh award may end up complicating life for the M142 HIMARS rocket launcher program, fielded by the US Army and Marines, and by several foreign militaries. The Army has 2 more years of buying HIMARS, but there’s a 14-month lag from contract award to delivery. The Army planned to procure its last 44 BAE chassis for the HIMARS system in FY 2011 under its bridging contract, but BAE is expected to discontinue FMTV production during the period of time it would take to build the chassis.

Col. Dave Rice, program manager for precision fires, rocket and missile systems, added that BAE’s Increased Crew Protection (ICP) cab for the HIMARS is a proprietary design. The Army will “have to see if the cab changes are militarily significant,” and then decide what to do. Gannett’s Army Times.

April 23/10: A bnet columnist criticizes Michigan for awarding Oshkosh a tax break, in order to do what it had to do anyway:

“As part of the contract, Oshkosh Defense agreed to establish a technical center in Michigan that will eventually employ up to 200 people. The office will be located on the site of the closed Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant. The Army office that manages vehicle acquisition is located in the area, so it makes sense for Oshkosh to have people nearby.

And there’s the rub. The state gave Oshkosh a $6.4 million tax credit to help build the facility. This is part of a “renaissance zone” program to revitalize older, existing industrial sites. Oshkosh won’t pay taxes until 2011 at the earliest and then it might well be at a reduced rate.

The question is: Does Oshkosh need the help? The company would have needed an office, anyway, to manage both the MRAP-ATV and the FMTV contracts. So it appears that Michigan is essentially paying some of Oshkosh’s costs. Considering that the state is running a $1 billion budget deficit (after $1 billion in spending cuts), it’s hard to justify giving Oshkosh tax breaks to do something it was already planning to do.”

New / Old kid in town

Feb 12/10: Oshkosh keeps the award. US Department of Defense:

“The Department of the Army announced today that it has re-evaluated the contract award decision for its Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) originally made on Aug. 26, 2009. This change was based on Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) recommendations. Accordingly, Oshkosh Corp. has been awarded a competitive, five-year requirements contract for production of up to 12,415 trucks, 10,926 trailers, and associated support and engineering services. The total estimated contract value at award was $3.023 billion… From Dec. 21, 2009, to Jan. 22, 2010, the Army re-evaluated the proposals in accordance with the GAO’s recommendation. Subsequently, there was an Office of the Secretary of Defense peer review affirming the Army’s reevaluation process.”

Oshkosh celebrated the award in a corporate release, while BAE Systems was forced to notify its investors:

“…the Group will include in its 2009 accounts an impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets amounting to [GBP] 592 million relating to the Armor Holdings Inc. transaction and specifically the FMTV product line.”

The news is a major blow to BAE Systems’ $4.53 billion acquisition of Armor Holdings. With its core FMTV business about to end, MRAP production finished, and the M-ATV competition lost to Oshkosh, much now rides on the JLTV competition. At the same time, BAE Systems’ UK facilities recently announced potential job losses in its submarine business, and a minor trimming of its Nimrod-related workforce.

Dec 14/09: Congress’ Government Accountability Office issues its decision, recommending that the Army reevaluate the offerors’ capability evaluation factor, and make a new selection decision. GAO managing associate general Michael Golden said that:

“Our review of the record led us to conclude that the Army’s evaluation was flawed with regard to the evaluation of Oshkosh’s proposal under the capability evaluation factor, and the evaluation of Navistar’s past performance… We also denied a number of Navistar’s and BAE’s challenges to the award to Oshkosh, including challenges to the evaluation of Oshkosh’s price.”

By statute, the Army now has 60 days to inform the GAO of its response to the GAO’s recommendations. BAE Systems welcomes the decision, while looking forward “to reviewing the full GAO report and its recommendations so we can fully consider the implications for our business and our options…” Oshkosh Corporation Chairman and CEO Robert G. Bohn said in their corporate release that challenges to the evaluation of the Oshkosh Corporation price had been denied, adding that:

“It is important to realize that today’s decision did not recommend proposal revisions nor did it recommend termination of our contract… We believe that when these narrow issues are reconsidered, the Army’s decision to award Oshkosh Corporation the FMTV contract will be maintained.”

See: Redacted GAO decision [PDF] | Navistar release | Oshkosh release | The Hill.

Nov 19/09: Oshkosh discusses its efforts to secure tax breaks from the city of Oshkosh, as it plans to expand its manufacturing facilities by adding a new 150,000-square-foot electrocoat (E-coat) painting facility for FMTV production. The company plans to break ground on the new E-coat facility in December 2009, with start up beginning late summer 2010. Oshkosh | The Northwestern.

The financing package would have the city provide up to $5 million in tax incremental financing (TIF), while the state would provide $35 million in tax credits and other assistance for the plant. The TIF district is pending approval by the Oshkosh Common Council. BAE Systems promptly weighs in, of course:

“BAE Systems has two electrostatic E-Coat stations at our Sealy, Texas facility, one for large parts and one for small parts. As outlined on p. 41 of the redacted second supplemental protest document, the Army’s FMTV re-buy solicitation provided that: “An offeror that currently has existing facilities that can be utilized, or modified to build FMTV vehicles may be determined to be less risky than an offeror that has to acquire facilities to produce vehicles on the contract.” E-Coat is a requirement to build FMTV and is at the heart of its corrosion protection. Parts must be completely immersed in electrophoretic paint emulsion, at which point an electrical charge is run through both and then the parts are drained entirely.

As we read of our competitor seeking taxpayer assistance to build a new E-coat facility – in a very short time frame – to meet the requirements of the FMTV contract, we find it totally inconsistent with the source selection criteria to believe that BAE Systems, with two E-coat facilities in current operation, is considered equal in risk with a company that doesn’t have this essential capability and is looking for the taxpayers to pay for it.”

Nov 18/09: BAE Systems holds a teleconference to discuss their protest, and the recent GAO hearings. A GAO decision is expected by Dec 14/09, which is the 100th day, in conformance with GAO rules.

One clarification up front is that FMTV variants used as part of other weapons system, such as HIMARS rocket launchers, SLAMRAAM air defense systems, MEADS air defense systems, and the FMTV Low-Velocity Airdrop version used by airborne forces, were all removed from the re-buy competition in February 2009. Program managers for those systems will apparently make those decisions, but BAE does have some unique intellectual property in those vehicles’ current designs. If lack of production orders causes BAE to shutter their Sealy, TX facility, the firm would have to begin production of those variants elsewhere at added cost; alternatively, any competitor selected instead would have to replicate and test the vehicles’ mission-specific design features, either at its own expense or at the government’s. The derivative Caiman MRAP was never part of the FMTV re-buy, and remains BAE’s intellectual property.

In response to questions from DID regarding the applicability of Oshkosh’s rapidly fielded and produced M-ATV MRAP as a risk-evaluation precedent, BAE representatives made several points. The core of those points was that M-ATV was an internally-held design, whereas FMTV is a government-held TDP (technical documentation), which does not include all of the know-how needed to build the vehicle, and has a much longer and more involved process for changes. In conjunction with a production schedule that resembles M-ATV’s aggressiveness, and the production of only 1 FMTV prototype from Oshkosh to date, BAE believes this represents added risk.

BAE Systems also believes there’s a question around the FMTV A1 LTAS-compliant (Long Term Armoring Strategy) cab design, which is currently BAE’s design. Competitors must re-design that cab, and replicate and test the A1P2 cab’s level of protection, which is just being fielded now. An Aug 13/09 Oshkosh release says that Oshkosh has done this design work at its own expense, but the release does not mention testing; BAE’s protest includes their observation that a design which requires testing and verification adds production and design risk.

Finally, with respect to reports from sources like the Lexington Institute (vid. Nov 4/09 entry), BAE representatives confirmed that Oshkosh’s $3 billion total evaluated price bid underbid the current FMTV price in the neighborhood of 30%, but add that BAE’s re-buy bid price was lower, too. The government, “for whatever reason,” published Oshkosh’s contract bid on their web site, down to variant level pricing. BAE systems knows the trucks very well, and fully 60% of the trucks’ value is directed source, which means the winning contractor must use those suppliers. BAE representatives do not believe that Oshkosh’s prices are realistic, and display similar skepticism regarding some of the elements of Oshkosh’s insourcing claims.

Oshkosh Defense was contacted regarding BAE claims, but chose not to respond.

Nov 18/09: The Greater Houston Partnership business advocacy umbrella organization releases the results of their study, which claims that the region would lose 3,400 direct jobs and 6,766 indirect jobs if Oshkosh retains the contract, with other effect spreading beyond to the state of Texas. The Partnership is joining other Sealy FMTV Task Force members in calling on the Army to put the contract out for a re-bid – in effect, a do-over. PR Newswire release.

Nov 17/09: BAE Systems releases a redacted version of its protest to the public, following agreement from the GAO and even Oshkosh. Its core allegation is that the buy was not best value, but became a solely price-based competition that disregarded risk factors. The protest also cites other past GAO cases that it believes to be analogous. Redacted FMTV Protest [PDF, 6.5 MB].

Nov 9-10/09: The GAO holds hearings regarding the FMTV protest. GAO hearings usually held when there are conflicting factual issues, and the dispute cannot be resolved merely from submissions. This is longer than usual for such hearings, but reports indicate that an array of Army witnesses were called.

Nov 4/09: Loren Thompson of The Lexington Institute predicts that the GAO will overturn the Army’s decision:

“Let’s revisit what happened in that competition, and ask whether a protest seems warranted…[The Army] made the award after concluding that incumbent BAE Systems and Oshkosh were essentially equal in all non-cost selection criteria, but that Oshkosh offered a more attractive price… On price, the Army accepted a bid from Oshkosh that is 30% below the price BAE Systems is currently charging for the vehicle – even though Oshkosh, with no direct experience in manufacturing the product, must turn out a vehicle with the same performance specifications and features, using many of the same suppliers. When challengers to an established producer offer such huge price reductions to win a contract, it is standard procedure to conduct a rigorous analysis of how realistic the challenger’s price is. Yet there is little evidence the Army made any such effort… leveling of non-cost factors… allowed… a “best value” award solely on the basis of price. But unlike BAE, Oshkosh did not have all production facilities or tooling in place; its workforce was not experienced in building FMTV trucks; it did not have established relationships with all suppliers; and it did not have a validated design for the required armored cab in the vehicle. So to say the rivals represented equivalent risk is simply not believable – especially given the very aggressive price targets Oshkosh’s bid required it to meet. GAO will see this award for what it was, and act accordingly.”

See: Issue Brief | Subsequent elaboration.

Oct 16/09: BAE Systems files another supplemental protest to the GAO:

“…after finding additional concerns with the source selection process during the U.S. Army’s Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) rebuy competition… BAE Systems is increasingly convinced the service’s source selection evaluation was flawed and that the Army did not follow its own stated objective to conduct a best-value FMTV competition based on a clear-cut set of criteria… BAE Systems is requesting that a redacted version of the supplemental protest be made available publicly. In order for release of a redacted supplemental protest, all parties involved in the matter must agree to its release.”

FY 2009

Sept 11/09: BAE Systems files a supplemental protest.

Sept 4/09: Both BAE Systems and Navistar Defense file GAO protests (file# 401865.2, 401865.1) regarding the FMTV award to Oshkosh. BAE:

“BAE Systems has filed a protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), asking the agency to review the decision by the U.S. Army to award a contract to a competitor for the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) rebuy program. After a detailed analysis of the information provided by the Army, before and during the formal competition debrief, the Company believes that the Army did not properly evaluate the proposals, consistent with the Government’s stated requirements, and the Army failed accurately to assess the various risks associated with the different proposals.”

The GAO protests will put the FMTV re-buy contract on hold until a decision is rendered. A decision is expected by Dec 14/09.

Aug 26/09: Oshkosh wins the FMTV production re-compete, and an initial $280.9 million order for 2,568 trucks and trailers, plus OY 01 data, additional care and storage, component first article test, first production vehicle inspection test, production verification test, live test family medium tactical vehicles winch, armor B-kits, and federal retail tax. Work is to be performed in Oshkosh, WI, with initial test vehicle deliveries are planned for mid-2010, followed by production vehicle deliveries later in that year. With an estimated completion date of April 30/10 for this order. Bids were solicited on the World Wide Web with 3 bids received by TACOM LCMC Warren, AMSCC-TAC-ATB in Warren, MI (W56HZV-09-D-0159).

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle is quoted as saying that the total contract could be worth up to $2.6 billion and create 2,000 production jobs in the state. That’s definitely conservative, with other analysts placing the value closer to $4.5 billion, plus maintenance. Through the state’s Enterprise Zone program, Wisconsin will provide up to $35 million in tax credits over the next 12 years to support the project. In response to the win, Oshkosh CEO Robert Bohn reportedly said that “We’ve been known for a long, long time as a manufacturer that delivers on time and I think that helped us.” While it certainly didn’t hurt, BAE Systems had its own strong delivery record, including the top ranking among MRAP vehicle suppliers. It is very likely that the key differentiators lay elsewhere; tellingly, Oshkosh would not comment on pricing.

Over the past 17 years, Armor Holdings/BAE Systems has delivered more than 56,000 FMTV trucks and trailers, which have maintained a 94% average operational readiness rate in both Iraq and Afghanistan. BAE’s financial planning assumed FMTV-related sales and maintenance activities of about $2 billion in each of 2009 and 2010, dropping to less than $1 billion per year from 2011 onward. BAE announced that it “will continue to fulfill these commitments and consider its options as it carefully reviews the Army’s latest decision.” Translation: a protest is possible. Its absence would be surprising in the current climate, given the contract’s potential value.

FMTV bridge buys and maintenance efforts will continue using BAE Systems on Sealy, TX over 2009 and 2010, per the existing bridge-buy contract and partnership with Red River Army Depot. During this period, Oshkosh will make preparations, discuss final design details with the US Army, and ramp up production.

The long-term earnings hit, and implicit questions regarding the current value of its $4.5 billion Armor Holdings acquisition in 2007, sent BAE’s stock sliding. With MRAP production ended, MRAP-ATV going to Oshkosh, and its FMTV mainstay removed, BAE Systems’ American land vehicle strategy has taken a series of body blows that make the future JLTV competition even more important to the firm. Oshkosh stock has gone in a different direction, in the wake of a sole-source award to continue producing the US Army’s FHTV heavy trucks, its status as the ongoing manufacturer of the US Marines’ medium (MTVR) and heavy (LVSR) truck fleets, and a recent multi-billion win in the blast-resistant M-ATV competition that will also make them a contender for the larger JLTV Hummer replacement buy. See: Oshkosh Defense | BAE Systems | Milwaukee Business Journal | Bloomberg | UK’s Financial Times | Reuters.

May 27/09: BAE Systems submits its bid for the FMTV re-compete. Their corporate release touts over 17 years of experience, during which their 2,700 person facility in Sealy, TX has manufactured more than 53,000 FMTV trucks and trailers in 21 variants.

BAE is touting the strength of its workforce and its embedded knowledge that goes beyond the blueprints, and into production processes, efficiency, and proven flexibility. The delivery record for FMTV and its derivative Caimin MRAP vehicles has been excellent; indeed, Caimin was the #1 MRAP vehicle in its ratio of on-time to promised deliveries. Then, too, there is the specialized infrastructure like BAE’s Sealy e-coat facility, and privately developed off-blueprint additions like “miles to go on this tank” indicators and other enhancements.

May 27/09: Oshkosh submits its bid for the FMTV A1P2 re-buy contract. Their main competitor is a Sealy, TX incumbent with a formidable performance record of its own. In that situation, Oshkosh’s required priorities are twofold: (1) Avoid anything that might tip the scales against them, even slightly. That means driving perceived performance risk as close to zero as possible, and creating a net zero for political risks; and (2) produce a proposal that offers credible improvements in price and/or performance, against a very strong competitor.

In discussions with DID, the firm outlined the core of its case. Assuming a level playing field, the key criteria for this contract are price and past performance. Oshkosh believes they have a very credible, fact-based price derived from their own experiences building about 10,000 MTVR medium trucks for the Marines, and the fact that almost 90% of FMTV suppliers are already Oshkosh suppliers.

In terms of past performance risk, they pointed to the fact that their integrated production line has conducted simultaneous production of 10 models, totaling 29 variants – a record that matches well with the FMTV re-buy’s high mix/ low individual volume schedule. Oshkosh also touts its performance in the area of engineering and logistics support, which has become an integral aspect of the FMTV program. Their work with MTVR and the Army’s FHTV heavy truck family gives them a very wide field support network, and the firm cites its fast delivery and fielding of up-armored heavy trucks after the Army confirmed its LTAS armoring strategy. They’re building on that record with their FMTV related risk-reduction investments, which include an internally-financed design for an LTAS-compatible FMTV cab.

If Oshkosh wins, production would mostly take place on the firm’s existing campus in Oshkosh, WI, with some sub-contracting to current subcontractors. That kind of concentration generally improves price and efficiency numbers, but lowers political leverage. The other potential political strike is the “industry consolidation” card, which notes the risks of placing all medium and heavy truck production (Army’s FMTV & FHTV, USMC’s MTVR & LVSR) with one supplier and, for the most part, one campus. Oshkosh’s response is to cite the number and range of large firms involved in the MRAP and JLTV programs, and to state their belief that there has been a fundamental industry change over the past few years. Oshkosh Defense release.

Additional Readings

• Global Security – FMTV

Americas

• The USAF and Army have tasked Raytheon with adapting their Coyote UAV into a suicide drone to take out quadcopters. The program will see the UAV given features in order to operate as an intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) asset, as well as being fitted with a counter unmanned air system (C-UAS) capability in order to defend itself against small quad-copter UAVs by using a kinetic payload. Completion of the C-UAS is expected by the end of the year. Coyotes currently form the backbone the Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) Low-Cost UAV Swarming Technology (LOCUST) program.

• Costs associated with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program could drop, according to Lockheed Martin’s CEO Marillyn Hewson. Hewson met with US President-elect Donald Trump for a second meeting last week, later telling reporters that her company is “close to a deal” to bring down the cost of the F-35 program. In addition to the fighter’s costs, Hewson committed the firm to increasing jobs at their Fort Worth, Texas, facility by 1,800.

• Ethical conflicts at Pratt & Whitney have resulted in the ousting of the head of the company’s F135 engine program alongside nine other employees. The dismissals come after the completion of an internal audit which uncovered an ethics issue linked to a visit by South Korean military officials several years ago. During the trip, the Korean delegation paid a visit to the company’s West Palm Beach facility in Florida, and Pratt & Whitney paid for a rental van to fetch them there. While certainly not the most outrageous form of graft in the industry’s history, causing no violation of US export control or anti-bribery laws, the engine company deemed the move as a breach of their strict ethics laws, amounting to “inappropriate entertainment.”

Africa

• An ex-USAF WC-130H Hercules aircraft has been offered to the government of Niger under the Pentagon’s Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program. Currently collecting dust at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, the plane was offered to Niger in November 2015, but this offer has yet to be accepted. The WC-130H was used in weather reconnaissance and aerial sampling, and has been modified to penetrate hurricanes and typhoons to collect meteorological data that make advanced warnings of such storms possible. In a separate EDA transfer, Washington is sending a C-130 wing set to Niger, although it is unknown if the set would be used on the offered WC-130H, or an older C-130H first delivered in Niger in 1979.

Europe

• Leonardo will develop the replacement for the Italian Army’s A129 gunship, following the awarding of contracts by the Italian National Armaments Directorate of the Italian Defense Ministry. Under the contract, Leonardo will design and produce one prototype of the new exploration and escort helicopter (NEES) as well as three production examples. Rome could buy as many as 48 NEES as part of the replacement program. The company has also consolidated their UK operations under a single entity, Leonardo MW Ltd, comprised of AgustaWestland Ltd, Selex ES Ltd, Finmeccanica UK Ltd, and DRS Technologies UK Ltd.

• The Slovakian government has received a number of offers to buy or lease fighter planes that will replace their aging MiG-29s. Those offered include Saab’s JAS-39 Gripen fighter, currently operated by neighboring Czech Republic. Last December, both governments signed a “Joint Sky” agreement, aimed at collaborating on joint airspace defense, and if Bratislava selects the Gripen, both countries could potentially share maintenance and pilot training.

• EUROSAM has officially welcomed Italy’s participation in the development of their Aster 30 Block 1 NT program. A consortium led by MBDA and Thales, EUROSAM’s B1NT program is an effort supported by the French and Italian defense ministries to develop new technology for the Aster missile in addition to modernizing SAMP/T systems currently in service. Currently used to counter ballistic missile threats, improvements made to the Aster 30 Block 1 NT will allow operators to extend this capability to more complex threats and will also deal with the emerging threat of Anti-Ship Ballistic Missiles.

Asia Pacific

• Pakistan is hoping that a Donald Trump presidency may restart a plan to procure F-16 jets through a foreign military financial aid scheme. US Congress downed the plan last year following concerns by some lawmakers over Islamabad’s allegiances in regards to counter-terrorism operations in the region. It was decided that if Pakistan wanted the F-16s, they would have to pay for them out of their own pocket.

Today’s Video

Aster 30 Block 1 NT:

Americas

• Lockheed Martin will design a new Electronic Warfare (EW) pod for US Navy MH-60 helicopters. Known as the Advanced Off-board Electronic Warfare (AOEW) system, the pod will relay the signals it picked up back to the ship’s existing SLQ-32 system without any input from the helicopter crew. Company officials said the new capability will allow the fleet to respond to threats beyond the horizon, however declined to comment on whether the technology would come with any offensive capacity.

• Flight testing of the Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile has been completed. A Raytheon announcement stated that the launches were conducted to demonstrate the missile’s ability to engage time-sensitive targets. The first test saw personnel onboard the USS Pinckney utilize the Launch Platform Mission Planning capability while during the second test, crew members fired the weapon for a longer duration, and also conducted a terminal dive maneuver to strike the intended target. The company said the performance confirms the Tomahawk’s ability to attack heavily defended targets.

• The US Navy plans to test-fire Boeing’s AGM-84 Harpoon Block II+ER extended range anti-ship missile this year. Upgrades to the missile can fit inside the existing Block 1C airframe, providing for easier integration as well as a cheaper separation testing process. Navy F/A-18 and P-8A Increment III aircraft will be fitted with the missile, and will give the platforms a doubling in target range alongside a new warhead.

Middle East North Africa

• Moroccan F-16s will be fitted with new EW gear thanks to a $91 million deal with Harris Corp. The company will provide a number of the AN/ALQ-211 Advanced Integrated Defensive Electronic Warfare Suites (AIDEWS) to the Royal Moroccan Air Force in an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract issued by the US Air Force’s Warner Robins Air Logistics Center. AIDEWS is the only combat-ready electronic warfare system available to allied countries flying F-16 aircraft.

Europe

• Poland’s military modernization marches on as Warsaw is reported to be exploring the possibility of more F-16 fighters. A plan by the Defense Ministry looks to purchase 96 second-hand A/B models from the US, and have the overhaul and upgrade work carried out by local industry. At present, the Polish Air Force operates 48 F-16 C/D variants alongside soon to be phased out MiG-29 and Su-22 fighters.

Asia Pacific

• Reports that the New Zealand government are in talks with Japan over a deal for maritime patrol and cargo aircraft have been downplayed by Wellington. A Defence Ministry spokesperson said that no offers had been made by Tokyo to sell Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrol aircraft and C-2 cargo planes to the Royal New Zealand Air Force, in a deal that would exceed $1 billion. The statement also reiterated that the ministry will not release a new competition to replace its existing fleet of six P-3 Orion, five C-130 Hercules, and two Boeing 757s this year.

• The Chinese Air Force has taken delivery of its first four Su-35 fighters. Beijing has ordered 24 models in total following a negotiation process that has dragged on for several years. Chinese brass have commented that Moscow was eager to complete the deal due to concerns about the rolling out of the People’s Liberation Air Force’s new Chengdu J-20 fighter. The J-20 made its debut last year, although much of its capabilities have yet to be demonstrated publicly, and it is believed to have already entered low-rate production.

• Early work on Tiger Mk III helicopter upgrades by the European defense procurement agency, the OCCAR, has commenced, although there is uncertainty over Australia’s participation in the project. Set up by Germany, the UK, France, and Italy, the OCCAR is in charge of the Tiger modernization program, and while Australia is not one of its members, it was hoped that Canberra, with a 22 Tiger fleet, would commit to the effort.  Canberra, however, has expressed frustration with the rotorcraft, even hinting that they may ditch the Tiger in the mid-2020s. France, Germany and Spain are currently heavily involved in the program’s definition phase, which includes avionics and weapons overhauls, including the Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire and Rafael Spike, used by the Tiger’s European operators.

Today’s Video

US Army demonstrates 3-D printed drones:

Tiger HAP & HAC
(click to view full)

Eurocopter’s Tiger had always had a very odd setup in that it came in two seemingly incomplete versions (HAP scout and HAC/UHT anti-tank), whose respective deficiencies severely limited multi-role flexibility and hence exports. The new Tiger HAD (Helicoptere Appui Destruction) variant fixes those deficiencies, and looks set to become the default version for new-build EC665 Tiger exports.

The HAD project began in December 2005, as the EU’s OCCAR organization for armament cooperation signed a formal contract in Bonn, Germany and set out initial procurement numbers for Spain. This was followed by the French DGA’s announcing the restructuring of its own 80-helicopter order, and each customer has made its own choices as the new variant has gone from concept to initial delivery.

EC665 Tiger Species

MTR390 maintenance
(click to view full)

The Tiger is the first all-composite helicopter developed in Europe, with a fuselage made from 80% carbon fibre-reinforced polymer and kevlar, 11% aluminium, and 6% titanium. The helicopter comes in different versions, however, and it was the shortcomings of the initial versions that pushed Eurocopter toward Tiger HAD.

All Tiger helicopters use a common airframe, which can be mistaken for AgustaWestland’s A129 at first glance. Tiger helicopters lack the A129’s nose-mounted sensors (sometimes substituting a gun in their place) or the 5-bladed rotor of the A129I, however, and feature a “hunchback” over the engines and winglets on the tail stabilizer.

A pair of compact Rolls Royce/ Turbomeca MTR390 engines deliver 1,285shp each, driving the Tiger to 124 knot (142 mph/ 237 kph) cruise speed and a 145 knot (167mph/ 277 kph) speed when armed. The cockpit is the digital “glass cockpit” one expects in modern aircraft, displaying instrument information, pictures from the sensors, moving digital maps, GPS navigation, et. al. Thales TopOwl helmet-mounted sights project most critical information right onto the pilot’s field of view, however, including weapon and sighting controls. Defensively, EADS electronic warfare suite, which also equips the NH90 medium helicopter, is used for most Tiger variants. It includes a radar warning receiver, laser warner, MILDS AN/AAR-60 missile launch detector, and MBDA’s SAPHIR-M chaff / flare dispenser, all tied together through a Thales central processing unit.

The French Tiger HAP

Tiger HAP
(click to view full)

The French HAP version is intended to be a scout and escort helicopter. It incorporates Mistral anti-aircraft missiles, a 30mm chin turret from Nexter, and 68mm SNEB unguided rockets. Unlike the Franco-German HAC/UHT version, however, the HAP lacked Sagem’s Osiris mast-mounted sight/designator that could be so useful to a scout helicopter, substituting a roof-mounted Sagem Strix sight instead.

The other thing it lacks is laser-designation capability for guided rockets, or the ability to fire anti-tank missiles. While the HAP has an extra 10 knots of full speed when armed, and better climb and hover characteristics than its HAC/UHT counterpart, its configuration sharply limits the helicopter’s usefulness. The HAP variant has since become an orphan with a cut-down buy from France, and no exports.

It is built in Eurocopter’s Marignane, France facility.

The German Tiger UHT

Tiger HAC/ UHT
(click to view full)

The HAC/UHT anti-tank version has the improved Osiris mast-mounted sights and can fire HOT-3 or Trigat/PARS-3 anti-tank missiles, American FIM-92 Stinger air-to-air missiles, 70mm Hydra rockets, or 12.7mm gun pods. An improved Tiger ASGARD variant was fielded as part of ISAF operations in Afghanistan as of December 2012. It incorporates sand filters, additional defensive systems, a mission data recorder, satellite communications, and upgraded 1,467 shp MTR390-E engines for operation in Afghanistan’s lift-sapping high altitudes and heat.

What the German Tiger lacks is a chin turret and cannon, with its obvious applications against trucks and light armored vehicles. That’s a strange omission for an anti-tank helicopter, and Germany is the only customer for this variant. It is built at Eurocopter’s facility in Donauworth, Germany.

The bottom line? The national requirements of France and Germany left each country with a variant whose basic deficiencies made them unexportable. It wasn’t until export customers demanded a fully multi-role scout and attack helicopter that Eurocopter began to field competitive platforms.

Fixing the Tiger: From ARH to HAD

Tiger ARH
(click to view full)

Australia’s Tiger ARH (Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter) version is a modified Tiger HAP with a Nexter 30mm cannon, and a laser designator incorporated in the roof-mounted Sagem Strix sight. That allows the firing of Hellfire II laser-guided anti-armor missiles, and gives Australia the option of adding laser-guided rockets as well. The helicopter carries the Hellfire’s M299 “smart” launchers, and adds the ability to carry 70mm rockets and American Stinger anti-aircraft missiles. Finally, Tiger ARH contains various changes to incorporate equipment that’s compatible with Australian communications, and items that come from Australian manufacturers.

The first Tiger ARH took its maiden flight in February 2004, and deliveries on the 22-helicopter order began in December 2004. Tiger ARH has entered service with Australia’s military, but it has experienced issues. It will not be covered in this article.

Tiger HAD test
(click to view full)

Tiger HAD was the next step, and seems likely to form the basis for all subsequent exports.

Tiger HAD builds on ARH advances, adding upgraded MTR390-E engines rated at 1,467shp each, ban IFF interrogator function, and improved ballistic protection. The Spanish version substitutes an electronic warfare/warning system from Indra, in place of EADS’ EWS.

Weapon carriage is also broadened, and includes a Nexter 30M781 30mm turret, 68mm or 70mm rockets, MBDA Mistral air-to-air missiles, and RAFAEL/Eurospike Spike-ER or Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire II anti-armor missiles.

The 2005 contract modification that created Tiger HAD involved the Spanish DGAM (Direccion General de Armamento y Material), French DGA (Direction Generale de l’Armement) and German BWB (Bundesamt fur Wehrtechnik und Beschaffung). The agreement covers the development and production investments in Tiger HAD for both Spain and France, helicopter production for Spain and France, and the retrofit of Tiger HAPs to HAD status for Spain.

French trials

France’s fleet will include 40 earlier-model HAP escort and support versions and 40 HAD versions. Alex Youngs of Rolls Royce (who make the Tiger’s MTR390 engines) confirmed that this was just a restructuring of their existing order from 70 HAP escort/scout + 10 HAC/UHT attack helicopters to 40 HAP escort/scout + 40 HAD multi-role helicopters. The 1st French Tiger HAD was scheduled for delivery in late 2010, and was actually delivered early, in March 2010.

Spain has ordered 24 Tiger HAD/E helicopters: 18 new, and 6 Tiger HAP-to-HAD/E upgrades. A 2013 decision by the Spanish government will put 6 of the helicopters up for sale on the global market, as a way to cut the military’s budget without paying contract cancellation fees.

France’s Tiger HADs are built in Marignane, France. Spain’s Tiger HAD/Es are built in Albacete, Spain.

These contracts bring the total number of Tiger helicopters ordered through the EU’s OCCAR armament cooperation agency to 172: 68 helicopters for Germany (UHT, cut from 80), 80 for France (40 HAP, 40 HAD) and 24 for Spain (HAD/E). A total of 17 EC665 helicopters are designated for the resale pool: 11 Tiger UHTs from Germany (so 57 operational), and 6 Tiger HAD/E from Spain (so 18 operational).

Australia’s 22 Tiger ARH helicopters weren’t ordered through OCCAR, and subsequent exports are also likely to be beyond OCCAR’s ambit.

Contracts & Related Events 2014 – 2017

HAD Block 2.

French Tiger HAD

January 13/17: Early work on Tiger Mk III helicopter upgrades by the European defense procurement agency, the OCCAR, has commenced, although there is uncertainty over Australia’s participation in the project. Set up by Germany, the UK, France, and Italy, the OCCAR is in charge of the Tiger modernization program, and while Australia is not one of its members, it was hoped that Canberra, with a 22 Tiger fleet, would commit to the effort. Canberra, however, has expressed frustration with the rotorcraft, even hinting that they may ditch the Tiger in the mid-2020s. France, Germany and Spain are currently heavily involved in the program’s definition phase, which includes avionics and weapons overhauls, including the Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire and Rafael Spike, used by the Tiger’s European operators.

February 29/16: Australia is to replace its fleet of Tiger helicopters by the mid-2020s which could include a mix of manned and unmanned rotorcraft. The troubled history of the Tiger and the essential upgrades required to retain combat effectiveness was highlighted in the government’s recently released 2016 defense whitepaper. Canberra plans to acquire systems equipped with effective armed reconnaissance abilities, and capable of integration with joint forces. Other plans include obtaining “light helicopters” that can be easily transported aboard the Boeing C-17 strategic transport for use supporting Special Forces operations.

Dec 10/14: France. Airbus delivers the first 2 HAD Block 2 Tigers that will be operated by the French Army’s GAMSTAT aero-mobility group, then assigned to the 1st Army Combat Helicopter Regiment located at the Phalsbourg-Bourscheid Air Base in Eastern France.

Nov 21/14: France. The DGA procurement agency qualified the HAD Block 2 Tiger for the French Army. So far they have received 46 Tiger helos, 40 of which are in HAP version to be converted to HAD over time. Block 2 qualification improves rocket targeting, and adds external fuel tanks, support for Spike and Hellfire anti-tank missiles, and digital communications. Airbus says these helos are also be navalized. Source: DGA, “Qualification finale du Tigre en version appui-destruction (HAD).”

March 6/14: Germany. The German Army receives the last of 12 Tiger UHT helicopters modified to the ASGARD (Afghanistan Stabilization German Army Rapid Deployment) configuration.

2011 – 2013

Export opportunities; Delivered and Certified in France; Spain looking to sell 8 of 24 helicopters.

July 30/13: The initial Tiger HAD/E variant assembled at Eurocopter’s Spanish facilities in Albacete, Spain, makes its 1st flight. Albacete makes the Tiger’s rear fuselage sections, but full assembly is a new step – Spain’s HAD/E testing prototype had been assembled in Marignane, France, as were all 6 of Spain’s Tiger HAP/E helicopters.

HAD/E-5002 will be the first machine to enter service with the Spanish Army’s FAMET, with delivery planned by the end of 2013.

EADS’ release cites other partners, including ITP/MTRI consortium (MRT390-E engine), Indra, Amper, ELIMCO, Aernnova, TECHNOBIT, DMP (Desarrollos Mecanicos de Precision), Sacesa, and Celestica. EADS.

July 26/13: Spain. The Spanish government approves an extra EUR 877.33 million (about $1.165 billion) in their 2013 budget, in order to finance payments that have come due on several major weapons programs. The Tiger HAD/E is one of them, and will receive EUR 88.26 million. Spain’s Spike missile programs will receive another EUR 34.5 million.

At the same time, in order to finance investments in their troubled S-80 submarine program, and purchases of their Pizarro (ASCOD) tracked IFVs, Spain will look to cut other programs – and the Tiger is also one of those. The contract is already signed, penalties make pull-out too expensive, so 6 of the 24 are now designated for second-hand sale. Other cuts include selling 13 of 27 A400M aerial transports, and reducing the number of serving Leopard 2A6E tanks from 190 – 116. Sources: Defense-Aerospace | Publico [in Spanish].

Jan 25/13: Certified. France’s DGA bestows military type certification on the Tiger HAD. Certification is an often-overlooked aspect of delivering combat ready gear, and several helicopters (incl. the NH90 and Mh-92) have seen multi-year delays while that get sorted out. French DGA [in French].

French military certification

Dec 5/11: Malaysia. Eurocopter includes the Tiger in its LIMA 2011 presence, including a flying display. Malaysia is expected to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for attack helicopters, and Eurocopter has a local subsidiary. EADS.

June 4/12: Korea. South Korea announces the finalists for its AH-X attack helicopter program, but the Tiger isn’t on their list. Eurocopter is KAI’s partner for South Korea’s Surion medium helicopter program, but that didn’t seem to help them here.

The finalists are AgustaWestland/TAI’s T-129, Bell Helicopter’s AH-1Z, and Boeing’s AH-64. In the end, the ROK picks the AH-64E Apache Guardian. Defense Update.

Oct 19/11: Korea. Eurocopter indicates its interest in participating in South Korea’s planned 2012 RFPs for helicopters. They’re proposing the AS565 Panther platform for the Light Attack Helicopter (LAH) program and the EC665 Tiger for the Heavy Attack Helicopter (AH-X) program. EADS.

2008 – 2010

Missile orders; Tiger HAD testing.

Tiger HAD w. Spike
(click to view full)

Dec 17/10: France. The first pre-serial Tiger HAD (fire support and destruction) for France makes its maiden flight from Eurocopter’s plant in Marignane, France. During the next several months, Eurocopter will conduct joint testing and development flights of the French and Spanish Tiger HAD. EADS.

Sept 16/10: Testing. The first Tiger HAD begins its 15 month flight test program at Eurocopter’s Albacete, Spain facility. This is the first time that Eurocopter Spain has taken on the responsibility for testing a helicopter prototype.

Block 1 qualification is scheduled for December 2011, and includes Mistral and Spike missile firings. The first production Tiger HAD helicopters are scheduled for delivery early 2012. EADS | Eurocopter.

April 10-19/10: Delivery. The Tiger HAD variant is qualified by the French DGA procurement agency on April 10th, and officially delivered on April 19th. EADS.

1st delivery

June 30/09: Engines. A Tiger helicopter powered by 2 of the new MTR390-E prototype engines successfully completes its maiden flight. The MTR390-E is being developed by MTRI GmbH, a German joint venture that includes MTU Aero Engines, Safran Group’s Turbomeca, Rolls-Royce and ITP. In the Turbomeca release, MTRI Managing Director Clemens Linden says that:

“The MTR390-E engine will further enhance the performances of the Tiger under demanding flight conditions, providing power growth of 14 per cent for missions in ‘hot and high’ environmental conditions in which the new HAD helicopter will be operated. All of this is possible using the same engine architecture, envelope and installation interfaces.”

Sept 11/08: Testing. EADS Eurocopter announces that it successfully completed a firing campaign using the Spike air-to-ground missile, at the Spanish National Institute for Aerospace Technology’s (INTA El Arenosillo firing range in Spain. EADS reports that Spain is still on track to receive its first helicopters from 2011 onward.

During the Spike tests in El Arenosillo, 7 missiles were fired: 5 without their main propulsion units, and the other 2 in lock on before launch (LOBL) mode and then lock on after launch (LOAL) modes at targets 6-8 km away. The first 5 firings validated integration with the Tiger HAD, and safe separation with the booster in hover and in forward flight. The 2 full firings hit their targets.

Feb 6/08: Sensors. The SAFRAN Group’s Sagem Defense Securité received an order from OCCAR for roof-mounted STRIX surveillance and targeting systems that will equip all 64 Tiger HAD helicopters ordered by France and Spain. The first deliveries will take place in 2009. The Strix also equips Tiger HAP and ARH helicopters, but Germany’s Tiger UHT/HAC uses Sagem’s Osiris mast-mounted sight instead. Sagem release.

Feb 6/08: Weapons. Spain announces a series of Tiger-related contracts:

Sas Tda Armements of France received EUR 3.7 million for 68 mm rockets.

Nexter received a small EUR 765,000 contract for 30mm ammunition to equip the Tiger HAD’s gun.

MBDA France receives a EUR 27.7 million contract for Mistral II ATAM anti-aircraft missiles to equip Spain’s 24 Tiger HADs. See also Sept 7/07 entry.

Feb 4/08: Weapons. France and Lockheed Martin sign a Letter of Offer and Acceptance for Hellfire II missiles, which will equip France’s Tiger HAD helicopters. Numbers and costs are not disclosed, but Defense News reports that the French received identical pricing to the USA’s Hellfire II Buy 13 contract, which bought 4,622 missiles for $305.9 million on behalf of the USA and Britain. That’s about $66,200 per missile. The contract covers “multiple warhead variants,” and the semi-active laser homing Hellfire II has 4 warhead options: AGM-114K high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT); AGM-114M blast fragmentation; AGM-114K-A HEAT and blast fragmentation; and the AGM-114N metal augmented charge (thermobaric) warhead.

As an interesting side note, Defense News adds that France is also running a competition for its next long-range infantry missile, between the American Javelin, Israel’s Spike-LR, and MBDA’s Milan-ER. A winner is expected in 2009. Lockheed Martin release | Defense News report.

Jan 28/08: Weapons. General Dynamics Santa Barbara Sistemas operations in Spain signs a EUR 40 million (about $64 million) contract with the Spanish Army for the supply of 44 Air Land Spike-ER Missile System launchers and 200 missiles for Spain’s Tiger HAD helicopters. In addition, General Dynamics Santa Barbara Sistemas will provide integrated logistics support (ILS). Work is expected to be complete by 2012. GD release.

2005 – 2007

Tiger HAD contract; France (Hellfire) & Spain (Spike-ER) pick different anti-armor missiles; 1st flight.

Spanish testing
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Dec 14/07: The first flight of the HAD version of the Tiger (HAD S/N 5001) takes place at Eurocopter’s Marignane, France headquarters on schedule. This flight enables the start of the flight test period. HAD S/N 5001 is the first serial HAD for Spain, and will be transferred to Eurocopter España in 2009. The HAD version will be qualified end 2010, and deliveries to France and Spain are expected to begin in 2010. Eurocopter release.

1st flight

Nov 30/07: Weapons. The Spanish Council of Ministers sets aside EUR 44 million over 6 years (2007-2012) to buy Spike-ER missiles as their Tiger HAD helicopters’ primary anti-armor weapon. See DID coverage.

Spain picks Spike-ER missiles

Sept 7/07: Weapons. The Spanish Council of Ministers sets aside EUR 27.7 million over 5 years (2007-2011) to buy MBDA Mistral ATAM anti-aircraft missiles for its Tiger helicopters. Mistral is already in service with Spanish Army, airborne, and Marines units as a man-portable air defense missile, and equips earlier Tiger versions. See DID coverage.

June 4/07: Weapons. Lockheed announces that the French have selected their Hellfire II missile to equip French Tiger HAD helicopters. The European Trigat missile was originally supposed to fill that role, but Germany’s withdrawal from the program killed it.

The Australian Tiger ARH is another Tiger variant equipped with the Hellfire II missile; for the French competition, Lockheed Martin is teamed with MBDA, which will integrate the Hellfire missile launcher onto the Tiger and provide technical support. Original semi-cryptic announcement | June 18th Paris Air Show announcement.

France picks Hellfire missiles

Naval trials
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May 21 – June 7/07: Testing. Under the supervision of Eurocopter and the French DGA procurement agency, a Tiger HAP helicopter takes part in navalization trials on a Siroco Class LSD amphibious ship and a Lafayette Class frigate, in extremely severe weather that includes 6-meter (19 foot) swells, winds close to 100 km/h, and deck angles up to 12 degrees. Eurocopter Australian Aerospace release

The trials are successful, with strong implications for French and Spanish employment of their Tiger HAD helicopters – and for Australia’s Tiger ARH, now that Australia has ordered 2 new Canberra Class LHDs based on Spain’s BPE ship.

Jan 10/07: Spain. RAFAEL and General Dynamics Santa Barbara Systems of Spain announce a $424.5 million contract with the Spanish Army for 2,600 SPIKE-LR missiles and 260 launchers. This decision makes an accompanying air-launched buy much more likely – which is exactly what happens in November 2007. RAFAEL release [MS Word format] | General Dynamics release.

Dec 15/06: Weapons. France’s DGA procurement agency has wrapped up testing of the Tiger ARH and Hellfire II missile at the Woomera Testing Range in South Australia. Successful testing will confirm a template for adding Hellfire capability to the new Tiger HAD. Gizmag.

June 30/06: Turkey loss. Turkey shortlists 2 helicopters for their attack helicopter competition: AgustaWestland’s A129, and Denel’s Rooivalk. The Tiger was reportedly eliminated on cost grounds, and Kamov/IAI’s Ka-50/52 Erdogan also failed to make the shortlist.

Turkey eventually chooses the A129, whose production line is moved entirely to Turkey. Read “Turkey Finally Lands Its Attack Helicopters” for full coverage.

Loss in Turkey

Dec 5/05: The inaugural Tiger HAD contract is signed between Eurocopter and the EU’s OCCAR armament cooperation organization in Bonn, Germany. This inaugural Tiger HAD contract involves the Spanish DGAM (Direccion General de Armamento y Material), French DGA (Direction Generale de l’Armement) and German BWB (Bundesamt fur Wehrtechnik und Beschaffung). It covers the development and production of Tiger HAD for both Spain (18) and France (40), and the retrofit of 6 Spanish Tiger HAPs to HAD status.

This agreement supersedes the ITP (instruction to proceed) signed on Dec 8/04, which had officially launched the HAD (Helicoptere Appui Destruction) version of the Tiger. EADS.

Contract: 40 France,
24 Spain

Additional Readings

• OCCAR – Tiger – A New Generation of Helicopters

• Eurocopter – Tiger

• Rolls Royce – MTR390. Engine.

• Sagem – Optronic Sights. Covers both Osiris and Strix.

• Thales – TopOwl. Helmet-Mounted Sights. They also serve on American AH-1Z and South African Rooivalk attack helicopters, on armed USMC UH-1Y utility helicopters, and on the V-22 Osprey.

• WIRED Beyond the Beyond (June 22/11) – Augmented Reality: Thales TopOwl helmet. AR is a new feature.

Americas

• The US Army is looking to shoot green, releasing a solicitation for biodegradable ammunition to be used during training exercises. Biodegradable alternatives for low-velocity 40mm grenades, various mortar shells, shoulder-launched munitions, 120mm tank rounds and 155mm artillery rounds are all being sought, with the Army stating that “materials identified can be utilized by private industry to manufacture biodegradable water bottles, plastic containers, or any other composite or plastic product(s) on the market today.” Current training rounds can often take 100 years or more to biodegrade with long-term effects including the pollution and corrosion of soil and nearby water.

• Raytheon’s SM-6 missile has been cleared for international export by the US DoD. At present, the missile is in use by the US Navy, providing anti-aircraft and anti-ship defenses for its fleet. First deployed in 2013, testing of different variants of the SM-6 have progressed over the last several years, the most recent in December 2016, which confirmed the missile’s ability to be used against ocean surface targets. During the trials, the SM-6 set a record for the longest range surface-to-air interceptor.

• UAV manufacturers are off to a busy 2017, with branches of the US Armed forces commissioning new orders and sustainment works. Washington firm Insitu has been contracted $70 million for the provision of six additional Lot I RQ-21A Blackjack unmanned aircraft systems to the Navy, comprised of unmanned aircraft, ground control stations, multi-mission plug-and-play payloads, and additional supporting equipment. The Army, meanwhile, has contracted Textron to perform sustainment services for the Army’s RQ-7 Shadow tactical unmanned aircraft system. Valued at $ 206 million, Textron will provide engineering, logistics, field service operations, depot materiel repair and post-production software support to the Army’s fleet of 117 Shadow aircraft.

Africa

• Joint exercises between the militaries of the UK and Sierra Leone will take place for the first time. Speaking on the announcement, UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said the exercises are “the latest example of the UK stepping up globally to tackle international threats that put Britain at risk.” 90 soldiers from the Queen’s Dragoon Guards will partner with 25 soldiers from Sierra Leone, with a focus on learning to fight and survive in a jungle environment.

• Germany will send troops and attack helicopters to Mali to support the current UN peace mission in the country. 150 personnel alongside eight attack helicopters will join existing troop numbers as part of efforts to tackle an Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist insurgency that had previously co-opted an ethnic Tuareg uprising in the north of the country. The four attack helicopters and a similar number of transport machines will stay in Mali until mid-2018.

Europe

• France’s procurement agency has contracted Safran to develop and build an improved version of the global navigation system currently used on French Triomphant-class nuclear submarines. The system will incorporate new technologies for higher performance to eliminate the need for electrostatically suspended gyroscopes, which are traditionally used for navigation on strategic platforms. Safran’s navigation systems are used on more than 500 surface ships from around the world as well more than 70 nuclear-powered and diesel-electric submarines.

• Leonardo helicopters has been commissioned to provide support for UK AW159 Wildcat helicopters. The five-year Wildcat Integrated Support and Training contract, worth $333 million, will see Leonardo provide a range of support and training services for Wildcat variants operated by the Royal Navy and Army and will preserve some 500 jobs at its UK facilities. Navy Wildcats act as the core of the service’s aviation capability, tackling ASW roles, force protection, transport and information, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance, while the Army variant performs reconnaissance, command and control, force protection, and transport missions.

Asia Pacific

• A $5 billion plan to build 12 mine counter-measure vessels (MCMVs) for the Indian Navy has run aground following the refusal by South Korea’s Kangnam Corporation to provide a performance guarantee for supervision of construction of the vessels by state-owned Goa Shipyard Ltd. As a result, both parties are no where near signing the $1 billion design and technology transfer agreement required for the program to go much further. According to India’s MoD, “the real bone of contention is that we want full intellectual property rights of the MCMVs which is not acceptable to the selected design and technology partner.” Discussions continue.

Today’s Video

A recap of US SM-6 and SM-2 Block IV interceptor tests:

Future Lynx naval
(click to view full)

In 2006, Finmeccanica subsidiary AgustaWestland received a GBP 1 billion (about $1.9 billion at 02/07 rates) contract from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) for 70 Future Lynx helicopters, and began a new chapter in a long-running success story. The Lynx is an extremely fast helicopter that entered service in the 1970s, and quickly carved out a niche for itself in the global land and naval markets. The base design has evolved into a number of upgrades and versions, which have been been widely exported around the world.

In Britain, Lynx helicopters are used in a number of British Army (AH7 & AH9) and Fleet Air Arm (Mk 8) roles: reconnaissance, attack, casualty evacuation & troop transport, ferrying supplies, anti-submarine operations, and even command post functions. The Future Lynx program reflects that, and British government and industry are both hoping that its versatility will help it keep or improve the Lynx family’s global market share. This is DID’s FOCUS Article for the AW159 Lynx Wildcat Program, describing its technical and industrial features, schedules, related contracts, and exports.

The AW159 Wildcats

Mk8: everyone retires…
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Britain originally referred to the 2 variants as Future Lynx Battlefield Reconnaissance Helicopters (BRH, now AW159 Wildcat Mk.1) for the British Army, and Future Lynx Surface Combatant Maritime Rotorcraft (SCMR, now AW159 Wildcat HMA Mk.2) for the Navy.

Both AW159 versions will share a common fully-marinized airframe, with provisions for a range of mission and role-based equipment but an estimated 90% commonality. The new helicopter features a range of improvements, including human factors design improvements to the airframe, a new British Experimental Rotor Programme (BERP) main rotor for improved performance, a new 4-blade tail rotor to give improved yaw control at high weights, plus crashworthiness improvements, armoring improvements, and built-in infrared signature suppression to maximize survivability.

Communications equipment will be compatible with the new BOWMAN systems used by British ground forces, but can be changed for export orders.

The cockpit includes a fully integrated display system of 4 primary 10″x8″ inch displays. Sensors include a nose mounted Wescam MX-15Di surveillance turret with IR/TV imaging and laser ranging/targeting, and the naval variant will also carry the 360-degree Selex Galileo 7400E active array radar. Britain decided to confine dipping sonars to its larger AW101 Merlin naval helicopters, but Wildcat export models have the option of using the long-range detection capabilities of Thales’ Compact FLASH.

Defensive protection is provided by a comprehensive integrated defensive aids suite from Selex Galileo that includes missile warning, radar warning, and countermeasures dispensing systems.

Spike-NLOS

AW159 helicopters will be able to carry rockets and gun pods, and the naval version adds BAE’s Sting Ray light torpedoes. Beyond that, integration of Thales’ beam-riding LMM missile (FASGW-L program) is underway, and Wildcat is the initial platform for Sea Skua’s small anti-ship missile successor (FASGW-H/ ANL).

Given Britain’s cramped defense budgets, expansion beyond that weapon set depend on the stated requirements and desires of export customers. If local reports are correct, South Korea is adding the Spike-NLOS missile and its 25km range. That missile would out-range short-range air defense systems, and give the helicopters a very long reach against enemy hovercraft, speedboats, or coastal artillery.

The AW159’s projected Maximum All-Up Mass (MAUM) is 5,790 kg, but can grow to 6,250 kg if necessary during its service life. New nose and tail structures, and an up-rated undercarriage ensure that the helicopter can handle these weights. A pair of LHTEC CTS800-4N engines rated at 1015 kW (1,361 shp) add extra power, and their 36% power increase over previous GEM engines will help maintain the Lynx’s reputation as a speedster. Despite the added mass, therefore, these changes translate into greatly improved hot and high performance, load-carrying ability, and single engine performance overall. All without significantly increasing fuel consumption.

Other enhancements to Future Lynx include a new 12,000-hour fatigue life airframe. The original goal was a 30% parts reduction, but a successful design-to-cost process managed to reduce the number of airframe parts by 80%, using improved design techniques and machined monolithic components.

Future Lynx: The Program

Lynx BRH & Longbows
(click to view full)

The Future Lynx program aims to replace both British Army’s 100 or so AH7s & AH9s, and Fleet Air Arm’s set of about 60 Lynx Mk 8 helicopters.

The original goal was 40 Battlefield Reconnaissance Helicopters (BRH) for the British Army, and 30 Surface Combatant Maritime Rotorcraft (SCMR) for the Royal Navy, with an option for another 10 helicopters that could be split in any way desired. At present, contracts have been issued for 34 AW159 BRH/ Mk.1 Army helicopters, and 28 naval AW159 SCMR/ HMA Mk.2s. Barring future expansion, that will constitute the entire program.

By 2013, there was some question regarding whether the AW159 Mk.1 helicopters would be armed. The Royal Navy’s AW159 HMA Mk.2s will be armed, carrying Sting Ray torpedoes, FASGW-L LMM direct fire missiles, and FASGW-H anti-ship missiles. What they won’t carry is sonar capabilities, though a full ASW version with a SONICS/FLASH Compact dipping sonar system is being delivered for export.

Program & Industrial Structure

In April 2005, the UK Government announced the selection of Future Lynx for the British Army’s and Royal Navy’s requirements, with detailed technical and commercial discussions subsequently taking place that led to a contract award in June 2006. Both EADS’ Eurocopter Unit and Boeing had wanted to compete for the helicopter contract, but the MoD declined to put the contract out for competition.

Instead, Future Lynx was the launch program for a new Strategic Partnering Arrangement between the MoD and AgustaWestland. The UK MoD hailed it as “a major milestone in the implementation of the new Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS),” helping them to meet the objective of sustaining critical helicopter design and engineering skills in the UK by supporting over 800 high technology jobs across the UK.

The public-private partnering arrangements are enshrined within a formal Business Transformation Incentivisation Agreement, and a formal Strategic Partnering Arrangement. The MoD adds that partnering is already delivering significant improvements in spares delivery and technical support for Sea King and EH101 Merlin helicopters operated by the MoD.

An integral requirement of the SPA has been the back to back signature by AgustaWestland of the Future Lynx Contract and Partnering Charters with the 6 major suppliers to the Future Lynx Program. Major industrial partners include:

• GKN Aerospace (helicopter airframes)
  
• LHTEC partnership between Rolls-Royce and Honeywell (engines)
  
• Finmeccanica’s Selex Galileo (defensive suite, SCMR Seaspray 7400E radar)
  
• GE Aviation
  
• General Dynamics UK
  
• Thales UK (avionics, COMPACT FLASH dipping sonar and SONICS processing system for SCMR exports)

Other suppliers of note include:

• L-3 Wescam (MX-15Di surveillance & targeting turret)

So far, the timeline looks like this:

Future Lynx: Contracts & Key Events 2015 – 2017

Bringing her in
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January 12/17: Leonardo helicopters has been commissioned to provide support for UK AW159 Wildcat helicopters. The five-year Wildcat Integrated Support and Training contract, worth $333 million, will see Leonardo provide a range of support and training services for Wildcat variants operated by the Royal Navy and Army and will preserve some 500 jobs at its UK facilities. Navy Wildcats act as the core of the service’s aviation capability, tackling ASW roles, force protection, transport and information, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance, while the Army variant performs reconnaissance, command and control, force protection, and transport missions.

January 11/17: Production of a Laser Directed Energy Weapon demonstrator has been ordered by the UK government, with MBDA and industry partners from the UK Dragonfire consortium winning a $36 million contract to carry out the work. It is hoped that the weapon will be demonstrated by 2019, eventually entering service by the mid-2020s. London also signed a $303 million Integrated Support and Training contract with Leonardo Helicopters in a five year deal for the provision of support work of Royal Navy AW159 Wildcat ASW helicopters.

March 25/16: Jane’s has reported that the Philippines have decided on the purchase of two AW159 Lynx Wildcat naval helicopters for their navy. At $114 million, the helicopters will give the Philippine Navy a long sought after anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability, carrying active dipping sonar (ADS), sonobuoys, and torpedoes, while for the anti-surface warfare role it can be armed with anti-ship missiles, rockets, and guns. Manilla had been searching for a helicopter to fill an ASW hole since 2014, with Augusta Westland beating off offers from Airbus, Bell, Sikorsky and NHIndustries.

September 21/15: The Royal Navy’s AW159 Wildcat helicopter has completed heat trials in the Middle East, with these taking place aboard Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan, following dispatch of the helicopter to Bahrain.

2013 – 2014

South Korea buys; From 1st HMA Mark 2 flight to standup of 825 NAS training squadron.

Oct 10/14: Re-commissioning. 825 Naval Air “Channel Dash” Squadron is formally re-commissioned into the Royal Navy with its AW159s, and receives the “Falkland Islands 1982” battle honors that were denied it when the squadron was disbanded after that conflict.

The squadron gets its name from Operation Fuller, which attempted to halt the breakout of 66 German ships from Best, France through the English Channel, and back to their German home ports. A sortie of 6 825 Sqn. Swordfish biplanes from RAF Manston near Kent attacked with torpedoes in broad daylight, with only 10 Spitfires for air cover against a vastly larger Luftwaffe force, plus the guns of the German ships. All of the planes were shot down, with only 5 of 18 survivors, and a posthumous Victoria Cross was awarded to Lt. Cdr. Esmonde. All 66 German ships made it. Operation Fuller failed dismally – but 825 Squadron did not. Sources: Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Museum, “The Channel Dash – Operation Fuller” | Royal Navy, “New Navy Wildcat Helicopter Squadron commissions at RNAS Yeovilton”.

July 30/14: De-commissioning. 700W Naval Air Squadron at Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Yeovilton is decommissioned, after 4 years of work bringing the AW159 into the fleet and a flyby ceremony with all 7-helicopters. The Wildcat HMA2s will stand up again on Aug 1/14 as 825 NAS, which will train both aircrew and maintenance engineers, and get the first deployable Wildcat flights ready to go. Sources: UK Royal Navy, “Wildcat pride as they take to the sky”.

700W NAS disbands, 825 NAS begins

July 17/14: Weapons. AgustaWestland signs a EUR 113 million (about GBP 89.3M / $153.1M) contract with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to integrate, test, and install ANL anti-ship missile and LMM light strike missile system compatibility onto 28 Royal Navy AW159 Wildcat HMA2 helicopters.

Note that the UK MoD has also signed a EUR 60.2 million contract with LMM missile maker Thales regarding broader integration of their missile onto the Wildcat fleet. Sources: Finmeccanica, “Finmeccanica – AgustaWestland signed a contract worth EUR 113 million with the UK Ministry of Defence”.

June 17/14: Exercises. The AW159’s 700W Naval Air Squadron dropped in on the former aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious during the big Deep Blue Anti-Submarine exercise off of the Cornish coast. It didn’t perform any anti-submarine work, however, just dropped off some supplies while the ship’s 9 Merlin Mk.2 naval helicopters hunted a Dutch Walrus Class SSK and a British SSN.

The Wildcat will continue training and trials with 700W until the end of July 2014, before disbanding. It will be replaced by the operational 825 Naval Air Sqn, which will be the parent unit for training all air and ground crew working on the AW159 HMA Mk.2. Sources: Royal Navy, “New Wildcat debuts aboard Illustrious”.

June 16/14: Weapons. The Ministry of Defence awards Thales a GBP 48 million (EUR 60.2 M / $81.5 M) contract, covering the Light Modular Missile’s final development, qualification and integration on AW159 Wildcat helicopters, plus deployable test equipment.

The chosen configuration involves a 5-missile launcher on each hardpoint, rather than the 7-missile sets shown in previous mock-ups. Read “Direct Sting: Thales’ Small LMM / FASGW-L Missiles” for full coverage.

Jan 6/14: Weapons. South Korea will be adding RAFAEL’s Spike-NLOS missile to its AW159s, giving them a 25+ km reach:

“…the new lot will be mounted on Wildcat maritime choppers to be purchased over the next two years, an official with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said Friday. “We’ve recently struck a deal with the Israeli manufacturer of the missile…. The missiles cost about W300 million (US$1=W1,056) each, approximately 100 times the price of a shell for the K-9 self-propelled howitzer.”

Well, yes, but K9 armored vehicles can’t fly, K9 shells aren’t guided, and they can’t hit moving targets. Other than that, it’s a great comparison. South Korea already operates land-based versions of the Spike-NLOS light strike missile, whose primary mission from land-based platforms is to kill North Korean artillery. A naval helicopter that became the first aircraft to mount it would add speedboats and hovercraft to the target list, and gain a much longer reach than the 15 km Hellfire missiles aboard AH-64E attack helicopters and US Navy MH-60Rs. In fact, it would be long enough to out-range short-range air defense systems. The Hellfire-range Spike-LR is more commonly mounted on helicopters, but subsequent reports indicate that this isn’t a reporting mistake – they’ve really picked the NLOS variant. Sources: Chosun Ilbo, “Korean Choppers to Be Armed with Israeli Missiles” | Defense Update, “Seoul to Equip its New Maritime Helicopters with Israeli SPIKE Missiles”.

Feb 6/13: Sonar. AgustaWestland picks the compact version of Thales FLASH dipping sonar as their standard offering for naval Lynx exports. The FLASH Compact sonar features an optimized, lightweight architecture, as well as a fully electric reeling machine so that smaller helicopters can deploy it. Thales’ SONICS system will act as an on-board real-time data processing system, with a VHF receiver to pick up sonobuoy data.

This equipment has been offered with their Super Lynx 300s before, so the announcement seems to be directly targeted at the AW159. Note that Britain’s AW159 Wildcat HMA Mark 2 helicopters don’t have a dipping sonar on board, but South Korea has said that their AW159s will. This appears to nail down the type.

They’ll be in good company. FLASH platforms include America and Australia’s MH-60R Seahawks; Britain’s AW101 Merlins; NH90 helicopters ordered by France, Norway & Sweden; and the UAE’s EC525 Cougars. All of these other machines are medium helicopters or larger. Thales.

Jan 28/13: HMA Mk.2. The Royal Navy refers to its “Wildcat HMA Mark 2”, as they discuss their 1st delivered helicopter’s inaugural flight at Yeovil in Somerset. HMA stands for Helicopter Maritime Attack, and is part of the operational designation. SCMR is the Future Lynx program’s reference, which is a separate thing.

British Army helicopters will be Wildcat Mark 1s, and the first 2 were officially handed over on July 11/12. MoD | Royal Navy | Defense Update.

1st Naval AW159 delivered

Jan 16/13: ROK on. South Korea’s DAPA spokesperson Baek Yun-hyung announces that the naval AW159 is South Korea’s preferred choice for its MH-X competition, with a planned initial buy of 8 helicopters. Finkeccanica’s Jan 17/12 release places the overall contract value at EUR 560 million (about $744 million), with AgustaWestland’s share at EUR 270 million. It’s the new helicopter type’s 1st export order, with deliveries planned from 2015-2016. DAPA’s Baek:

“The Wildcat was deemed superior in three of four fields: cost, operational suitability, and contractual arrangements…. The overall consensus is that the Wildcat is the better option…. In joint operations the US model is superior but both models meet our performance requirements.”

The ROKN’s AW159s will have the full complement of dipping sonar, radar, surveillance & targeting turret, rescue hoist, provision for anti-ship missiles and torpedoes, door gun, etc. Media descriptions involve using the helicopters with the ROKN’s 2,200t Ulsan Class light frigates, which are designed to serve as high-end coastal patrol vessels with a mix of anti-ship and anti-submarine capabilities, plus low-end air defense. A smaller helicopter will serve them better (“operational suitability”), but the class doesn’t have much service time left. The ROKN’s new 2,300t FFX Incheon Class light frigates will also need helicopters, and the ROK’s 24 Super Lynx 300s and 8 AW159s should give them good options. AgustaWestland | Finmeccanica | Hankoryeh.

South Korea orders AW159

Jan 13/13: NAO Report. Britain’s NAO releases its 2012 Major Projects Report. The overall Future Lynx program remains GBP 140 million under its original GBP 1.803 billion approval estimate, in part because it has reduced to number of helicopters from 80 (at GBP 23.1 million each) to the current order set of 62 (at GBP 26.8 million each).

The program is 7 months behind schedule, which will push the Army’s AW159 BRH in-service date from January to July 2014, but won’t affect the naval SCMR’s January 215 schedule. Meanwhile, bureaucracy is getting in the way. “Significant unanticipated activity has been undertaken to satisfy the emerging Regulatory Instructions issued by the recently formed Military Aviation Authority (MAA).”

2012

1st delivery. Support contract. Denmark loss.

AW159 BRH
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Nov 21/12: Denmark. Denmark’s Forsvarsministeriet announces that it has picked the MH-60R for a 9-helicopter buy, to replace their existing fleet of 7 AgustaWestland Lynx 90B machines. Danish MH-60Rs will be missing their sonobuoy launchers and ALFS FLASH dipping sonar, which will increase their available internal cabin space for transport missions.

The DKR 4 billion (about $686 million) choice must next be approved by the Finance Ministry, and then passed in a budget by Parliament. That’s expected to happen, and it would be followed by deliveries from 2016 – 2018. Danish Forsvarsministeriet [in Danish] | Sikorsky | Flight International | Jane’s .

Denmark loss to MH-60R Lite

July 11/12: Support. At Farnborough, the MoD takes the opportunity to announce that their GBP 250 million Wildcat in-service support and training contract is up and running with AgustaWestland, who will outfit a specialist training centre at RNAS Yeovilton. This deal builds on the earlier GBP 76 million March 8/11 contract, and will include flight simulators and a wide range of other equipment to train pilots, ground crew and engineers.

The initial period of the availability-based Wildcat Integrated Support and Training (WIST) contract will run to March 2017, but the framework as a whole stretches to the Wildcat’s planned out of service date in 2044. It builds on the contracting-for-availability approach pioneered with the firm’s Sea King (SKIOS), Apache, and AW101 Merlin helicopter fleets, where money is paid for levels of fleet availability rather than parts and hours worked. Regular price and value for money reviews are designed to ensure performance targets are being met, and help to price successive WIST phases.

WIST includes aircrew, maintainer and ground crew training as well, and it actually started in early 2012 so the April delivery could go smoothly. AgustaWestland and its suppliers are now delivering a complete spares provisioning service, enhanced technical support services including aircraft safety management and full systems integration rig support, and simulator and ground based training for both aircrew and maintainers. The contract will sustain over 300 industry jobs, mainly in the South West of England at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton. Its Wildcat Training Centre will include 2 Full Mission Simulators, a Flight Training Device, and a Cockpit Procedures Trainer. AgustaWestland will be responsible for delivering over 60 different training courses for ab-initio Army aircrew, ground crew and maintainers starting in July 2013, as well as for Royal Navy ab-initio aircrew and maintainers starting in January 2014. Once the helicopters are in service, operational currency and continuation training will also be supported at RNAS Yeovilton. UK MoD | AgustaWestland.

1st SCMR delivered, WIST through-life support contract

July 11/12: Official delivery. The first 2 of 62 AW159 Wildcat helicopters are officially unveiled and delivered by AgustaWestland at the Farnborough International Airshow. Both are Army BRH variants, which will come into service in 2014. Royal Navy AW159 SCMR Wildcats are due to be delivered for training later in 2012.

Technically, AgustaWestland says the 1st AW159 was accepted in April 2012, ensuring on-schedule and on-budget delivery. To date, a total of 5 production Wildcat helicopters have been finished. UK MoD | AgustaWestland.

BRH Delivery

Feb 17/12: Testing. The UK MoD announces that an AW159 SCMR prototype has completed 2 sets of 10-day sea trials aboard the Type 23 frigate HMS Iron Duke. The helicopter landed on the ship’s deck nearly 400 times by day and night, in “various weather conditions” off the coasts of southern England and northern Scotland, and in the Irish Sea. It sounds miserable this time of year, and probably was, but that’s what it takes in order to write the new machine’s “ship-helicopter operating limits” manual.

Prototype ZZ402 also tested its mission systems, night-vision cockpit and navigation systems. The Navy will continue toward the type’s 2015 fielding goal by performing future tests of its radar, electro-optics, navigational kit, and compatible missiles. UK MoD.

Jan 23/12: Denmark. AgustaWestland signs a Heads of Agreement (HoA) with Denmark’s Systematic A/S to jointly explore business opportunities worldwide, including integration of the SitaWare range of systems with AgustaWestland’s helicopters

They’ll also cooperate on the Danish Maritime Helicopter Programme. AgustaWestland is proposing the AW159 helicopter to replace Denmark’s earlier-generation Lynxes, but they will face competition from Sikorsky’s MH-60R, and probably from the European NH90-NFH. Both competitors are larger helicopters. AgustaWestland.

2011

Testing; training.

LMMs/FASGW-L on
AW159 SCMR, Apache
(click to view full)

Nov 7/11: Testing. The AW159’s first at-sea landing on a ship begins 4 weeks of ‘operating limit trials.’that will include ground scenarios, as well as RFA Argus. UK MoD.

June 21/11: Denmark. AgustaWestland signs a cooperation agreement with Denmark’s Terma A/S to jointly explore business opportunities in the fields of aircraft survivability equipment, 3D-Audio, advanced aero structures and other equipment.

The two companies already have cooperated successfully on the AW101 helicopter, which Denmark has bought. They’re hoping that the Danish Maritime Helicopter Programme will also buy the AW159 Wildcat, to replace earlier generation Lynx maritime helicopters. AgustaWestland.

June 20/11: The AW159 Lynx Wildcat flies at the Paris Air Show, and the firm offers a progress report.

The 3 test helicopters have completed over 250 of 600 flying hours. Wildcat #1 will start hot and high trials in the USA in June 2011, and Wildcat #3 will undertake Shipborne Helicopter Operating Limit (SHOL) trials in October 2011. Wildcat #2 recently completed chaff and flare firing trials, and is focused on integration of the avionics and mission sensors. A production helicopter has begun flying, and 6 more are undergoing final assembly.

AgustaWestland is currently negotiating with the UK MoD on a comprehensive IOS through-life support contract. AgustaWestland.

April 20/11: Testing. The 1st production AW159 performs its maiden flight at AgustaWestland’s Yeovil facility. Source.

April 5/11: FASGW-L. Thales receives a contract for 1,000 Lightweight Multi-role Missiles (LMM), to equip the UK’s AW159 helicopters as their “Future Anti-Surface Guided Weapon – Light” (FASGW-L). The parties offer no details regarding contract costs, as they’re re-routing funding from an existing project, in order to finalize LMM development and produce the initial set of weapons. The casualty is believed to be Thales’ laser beam-riding, Mach 3.5 Starstreak portable anti-aircraft missile, which reportedly had some of its technology re-used in the less costly LMM.

March 8/11: Training. AgustaWestland announces a GBP 76 million ($122.2 million) contract with the UK Ministry of Defence to design and develop an integrated Lynx Wildcat training solution, including building and equipping a new modern training center at RNAS Yeovilton in South West England, where both Royal Navy and British Army AW159 squadrons will train. The facility will provide training courses for Army aircrew and maintainers starting in January 2013, with training for Royal Navy aircrew and maintainers starting January 2014.

The Wildcat Training Centre will be equipped with a suite of briefing rooms, integrated electronic classrooms and a learning management system, a Full Mission Simulator (FMS), Flight Training Device (FTD) and Cockpit Procedures Trainer (CPT) simulators, any of which will be capable of delivering Army or Royal Navy conversion and mission training. Each of the Full Mission Simulators has 6 degrees of freedom to provide acceleration sensations, and a visual system that complies with JAR-FSTD-H Level D standard. Other synthetic training devices will cover mechanical, avionic and weapon systems. Key suppliers include Indra (Full Motion Simulators and other aircrew training equipment), and Pennant Training Systems (suite of maintenance training aids). The contract for construction of the facility will be awarded later in 2011, but all other work will start immediately.

2009 – 2010

Maiden flight. Export promotion.

Maiden flight
(click to play video)

Nov 19/10: Testing. TI3, the 3rd and final AW159 test helicopter, successfully completes its maiden flight at AgustaWestland’s Yeovil facility in the UK. TI3’s main tasks include load survey trials and naval development, including ship helicopter operating limit trials. AgustaWestland.

Nov 19/10: Exports. Shephard’s Rotorhub reports that Britain is already promoting the AW159 Wildcat on the international market:

“Sheehan said the main targets for the aircraft were existing operators of earlier Lynx variants, identifying six in Europe and seven across the rest of the world. In addition, the DSO has been in discussion with the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) about the capabilities of the Wildcat naval variant and Sheehan is meeting with RNZN representatives in early 2011. New Zealand is considering whether to proceed with an upgrade of its SH-2G Super Seasprite helicopters when they are due for one in 2015 or replace the aircraft outright.

…Any export aircraft could mirror the Royal Navy’s equipment package and be fitted with the Selex Galileo Seaspray 7000E active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, L3 Wescam MX-15D EO/IR imaging system MBDA Sea Skua missiles and Thales LMM missiles. The aircraft could also be fitted with the Thales FLASH (Folding Light Acoustic System for Helicopters) dipping sonar if required. Sheehan was also bullish about the Wildcat having seemingly emerged unscathed from the [SDSR], suggesting the requirement may even increase from the current order of 62 once the wider effects of the SDSR are digested by the MoD.”

Oct 14/10: Testing. TI2, the 2nd AW159 test helicopter successfully completed its maiden flight at AgustaWestland’s Yeovil, UK facility. TI1 continues to perform air vehicle and flight envelope testing, while TI2 will undertake the flight testing of the aircraft’s core avionics and mission systems, following testing on AgustaWestland’s Full Systems Integration Rig (FSIR).

AgustaWestland has now also established a new AW159 production facility at its Yeovil plant that introduces a pulse line production system. They hope to make big efficiency improvements in the final assembly process. AgustaWestland.

Nov 11/09: Testing. The 1st AW159 successfully completes its maiden flight at AgustaWestland’s Yeovil facility, with AgustaWestland Chief Test Pilot Donald Maclaine at the controls. Another 2 test aircraft will join this machine in 2010, in order to complete the AW159 and mission equipment flight testing.

To date, AgustaWestland says the program has remained on time and on budget for all of its major milestones. The first operational aircraft is still scheduled for delivery in 2011, and the Lynx Wildcat is still slated to reach full operational capability with the Army in 2014 and the Royal Navy in 2015. AgustaWestland release.

Maiden flight

April 24/09: Renamed – and Reduced. During a ceremony at AgustaWestland’s Yeovil facility, the Future Lynx is officially renamed the AW159 Lynx Wildcat. UK MoD | The AgustaWestland release states that:

“62 AW159s will be initially procured by the UK MoD, 34 for the British Army and 28 for the Royal Navy… continues to be on time and on budget and was the first major project to be awarded under the Strategic Partnering Arrangement signed by the UK Ministry of Defence and AgustaWestland in June 2006. AgustaWestland has also signed partnering agreements with a number of key supplier on the Future Lynx programme including Selex Galileo, a Finmeccanica company; GKN Aerospace, LHTEC – a partnership between Rolls-Royce and Honeywell, General Dynamics UK, Thales UK and GE Aviation. The first flight of the aircraft is on schedule to take place in November 2009 with the first airframe having entered final assembly in November 2008, ahead of schedule. AW159 deliveries will commence in 2011 and it will enter operational service with the British Army in 2014 and the Royal Navy in 2015.”

“AW159 Wildcat”

2007 – 2008

Subcontractors.

BRH concept
(click to view full)

Dec 14/08: The unofficial British Navy Matters site offers its year in review for 2008. It highlights a number of negative trends, and has this to say about the Future Lynx program:

“The Future Lynx helicopter project finally seems to secure, but the order announced in 2006 of 30 helicopters plus 5 options for the Royal Navy has been reduced to 28 aircraft. Back in 2001 the RN was hoping for 60 new helicopters.”

Nov 13/08: Sub-contractors. GKN Aerospace delivers the first complete Future Lynx Airframe to AgustaWestland on schedule. The firm reports that it has achieved challenging an 80% reduction in parts count when compared with the existing Super Lynx airframe. GKN release.

July 14/08: Sub-contractors. GE Aviation announces a contract from AgustaWestland to provide the Integrated Cockpit Display System on 70 Future Lynx and 30 Merlin Capability Sustainment Plus (MCSP) helicopters for the UK Ministry of Defence. The contact is valued at more than $55 million over the next 10 years, with production deliveries commencing in early 2009.

The integrated cockpit display system includes a smart 10″ x 8″ Integrated Display Unit (IDU), flexible & adaptable Remote Interface Unit (RIU) and 2nd Generation Integrated Standby Instrument System (ISIS).

May 21/08: Sub-contractors. GKN Aerospace announces that they have commenced Super Lynx airframe assembly on schedule at the Company’s Yeovil, UK facility, following a design-to-cost program. In order to meet these goals, the new design makes extensive use of monolithic machined components instead of a traditional fabricated detail structure; overall, the airframe’s parts count has been reduced by 80%, instead of the originally forecast 30%.

During production, digital assembly instructions developed by GKN Aerospace directly from CATIA v5 will be presented to each individual on a stand alone wireless IT workstation, while state-of-the-art assembly tooling improves production mechanics.

Nov 1/07: Sub-contractors. BAE Mobility & Protection Systems announces a contract from AgustaWestland to design, develop, and provide 140 S5000 crew seats, plus 340 S3000 troop seats and interface frames, for use on the UK’s Future Lynx helicopters. Deliveries are slated tp run from 2011-2016.

The crashworthy Armor Holdings S5000 crew seat has mission adaptive armor for the seat pan and backrest, and incorporates a state-of-the-art 5-point harness with a dual action rotary buckle, armrest, headrest, adjustable thigh and lumbar support, and a folding armored wing panel to increase the lateral protective area. The S5000 crew seat features field installation of less than one hour and provides maximum ballistic protection.

The S3000 rear cabin troop seats include state-of-the-art 4-point lightweight restraints with a rotary buckle. The modular seat frame system features quick installation and removal of interface fittings from frames through the use of 4 quick release pins. The cabin seat can be installed in aft, forward, and side facing locations, allowing flexibility for different cabin layouts. BAE Systems release.

Oct 30/07: Sub-contractors. AgustaWestland announces that the first monolithic machined panel for the first Future Lynx (a BRH Army variant) was manufactured last week at Oldland CNC’s facility in Bristol, United Kingdom. The manufacture of the first component, a lower fuselage bulkhead, was witnessed by representatives from the UK Ministry of Defence Integrated Project Team and AgustaWestland.

Oldland CNC is manufacturing 83 of the 147 Future Lynx primary structure monolithic machined components and supplying them to GKN Aerospace for incorporation into the airframe prior to delivery to AgustaWestland. The first Army variant remains on target to fly late 2009.

Feb 19/07: SCMR radar. Finmeccanica subsidiary Selex Sensors and Airborne Systems (Selex S&AS) received a contract from AgustaWestland to provide the multi-mode e-scan surveillance radar for the Royal Navy’s variant of the Future Lynx helicopter.

The GBP 20 million (currently about $39 million) contract will see the Selex S&AS Seaspray 7000E AESA (Active Electronically Scanned Array) radar installed as the scan and targeting radar for the Navy’s Surface Combatant Maritime Rotorcraft (SCMR) as it monitors the sea lanes, launches missiles, et. al. The Seaspray 7000E combines a state of the art active electronically scanned array with a commercial off the shelf processor, and covers both air-to-air and air-to-surface scanning. AESA radars feature improved range and capabilities, while requiring less maintenance. See SELEX release | Seaspray 7000E datasheet [PDF].

2005 – 2006

Future Lynx contract. Subcontractors.

SCMR concept
(click to view full)

July 27/06: Sub-contractors. GKN Aerospace will supply the complete, assembled airframe for all 70 Future Lynx helicopters. They will be responsible for managing the entire supply chain for this work and will assemble the airframe at Yeovil, prior to delivery to AgustaWestland. This contract is valued at approximately GBP 50 million (roughly $80 million) through to 2016.

GKN Aerospace has been supplying assemblies for the Lynx airframe for over 20 years, and for the last 5 years it has supplied all Lynx airframes to AgustaWestland. The new Super Lynx airframe will continue to be manufactured in aluminum, but will incorporate monolithic machined components to reduce the component count by some 30%. See release.

July 17/06: Sub-contractors. AgustaWestland awards Thales a 10-year, GBP 60 million contract for Future Lynx avionics. Thales UK will provide core elements of the avionics management, communications, and navigation systems, as well as taking responsibility for the integration of some of the Commercial Off The Shelf equipment within the Navigation and Communications sub-systems. The Thales Secure Communications Control System (SCCS), which is at the heart of the communications system, is from the family of TopSIS products. It is already selected and fitted on a number of aircraft including the UK’s Chinook Mk2/2A helicopters and ASTOR Sentinel R1 reconnaissance aircraft, as well as the Australian MRH-90 transport and Tiger reconnaissance/ attack helicopters, and its Airbus 330-derivative Multi-Role Transport and Tanker aircraft. See release.

July 17/06: Sub-contractors. AgustaWestland has awarded Smiths Aerospace a contract to supply the new SDS-5000 large area cockpit display system for the new Future Lynx helicopter. The Smiths Aerospace 10″ x 8″/ 25 cm x 20 cm liquid crystal displays provide more than 70% additional display area compared to the existing Smiths’ SDS-4000 display system which it replaces. Design and development has commenced, manufacture will take place in Cheltenham, UK, and deliveries to AgustaWestland will begin in 2008. The contract value was not announced in the release.

July 5/06: Sub-contractors. Smiths Aerospace has been awarded a $21 million contract for the development and supply of its comprehensive HUMS technology for the Future Lynx. The contract involves the implementation of the Smiths combined Health & Usage Monitoring System and Cockpit Voice & Flight Data Recorder (HUMS/CVFDR) capability on all 70 of Britain’s Future Lynx aircraft. Development is due to commence this year at Smiths’ facilities in Southampton, UK and in Michigan, USA, with deliveries scheduled to commence in 2011.

The Future Lynx HUMS will continuously monitor the fleet wide health and performance of safety-critical components, providing advance warning of potential equipment failures and collecting valuable data for routine maintenance of each aircraft. HUMS sensors monitor the health and usage of the engines, transmission, drive-train system, rotor system and airframe by detecting and diagnosing potential failures, recording usage, automating test procedures and providing alerts for potential maintenance actions. The HUMS also provides continuous Rotor Track and Balance (RTB) capability, negating the requirement for the installation of carry aboard equipment and the overhead for dedicated RTB check flights. This feature will be operational in advance of the UK’s operational use of the aircraft, in time for the Super Lynx flight trials phase.

June 22/06: Sub-contractors. General Dynamics UK Limited announces a GBP 24 million (about $44 million) contract from AgustaWestland for the design, development and manufacture of an Advanced Tactical Processor for the UK’s Future Lynx Programme.

The Tactical Processor will be based on GDUK’s combat proven family of open systems computers, and will host software applications that interface to the hardware using an Allied Standard Avionics Architecture Council (ASAAC) standard based 3-layer software stack. It will also provide a sophisticated video processing and distribution function, embedded mission recording and playback and a digital map capability that is common to the UK’s Merlin Mk3 support helicopter. The new helicopters ATP will also feature 2-way data communication with the GD designed BOWMAN network.

June 22/06: Strategic Partnering Arrangement for Future Lynx Program signed between the UK MoD and AgustaWestland. This solidifies the GBP 1 billion order for 70 helicopters, which is worth $1.9 billion at the time.

June 13/06: Business Transformation Incentivisation Agreement signed between the UK MoD and AgustaWestland. AgustaWestland release.

Future Lynx contract

March 24/05: Future Lynx selected as the preferred option for UK land and sea helicopter requirements. See DID coverage.

Additional Readings Background: Helicopter

• AgustaWestland – AW159.

• Army Technology – Future Lynx Battlefield Reconnaissance Helicopter, United Kingdom.

• NavalTechnology – AW159 Future Lynx / Lynx Wildcat – Maritime Surveillance and Attack Helicopter, United Kingdom.

• British Army – Wildcat Mk1.

• Royal Navy – Wildcat. Their designation is Wildcat HMA Mk2, where “HMA” stands for “Helicopter Maritime Attack”.

• Naval Technology – Super Lynx – Combat Helicopter, United Kingdom. The Super Lynx 300 fits between the Lynx Mk8 and the AW159 Future Lynx; see also AgustaWestland page.

• Army Technology – Lynx Mk7 / Mk9 Multirole Helicopter, United Kingdom.

Background: Ancillaries

• DID – Light Naval Strike: MBDA’s FASGW-H / ANL Missile.

• BAE Systems – Sting Ray Mod 1 Lightweight Torpedo.

Official Reports

• UK NAO (HC 684-i, 2012-13) – 2012 Major Projects Report.

News & Views

• UK Armed Forces Commentary (Nov 18/13) – The evolving budget situation: helicopters – UPDATE. Explains that Army AW159s may lose their attack capability, and shows a number of internal configuration layouts.

• Defence Review Asia (June 2009) – Evolution Of The Species: AgustaWestland Eyes Regional Opportunities For AW159 [PDF].

• Times Online (March 25/05) – Westland GBP 1bn helicopter deal angers rivals. “Privately, [EADS] is thought to be furious that its offer to allow its helicopters to be built under licence at Yeovil by an AgustaWestland workforce trained by EADS had been overlooked…”.

• Associated Press (March 24/05) – Finmeccania Gets Helicopter Contract.

• BBC (March 24/05) – Helicopter Firm to Get GBP 1bn Boost.

ScanEagle launch
(click to view full)

ScanEagle’s base Insight UAV platform was originally developed by Washington state’s Insitu, Inc. to track dolphins and tuna from fishing boats, in order to ensure that the fish you buy in supermarkets is “dolphin-safe”. It turns out that the same characteristics needed by fishing boats (able to handle salt water environments, low infrastructure launch and recovery, small size, 20-hour long endurance, automated flight patterns) are equally important for naval operations from larger vessels, and for battlefield surveillance. A partnership with Boeing took ScanEagle to market in those fields, and the USMC’s initial buy in 2004 was the beginning of a market-leading position in its niche.

This article covers recent developments with the ScanEagle UAV system, which is quickly evolving into a mainstay with the US Navy and its allies. Incumbency doesn’t last long in the fast-changing world of UAVs, though. Insitu’s own RQ-21 Integrator is looking to push the ScanEagle aside, and new multiple-award contracts in the USA are creating opportunities for other competitors. Can Insitu’s original stay strong?

The ScanEagle Family

ScanEagle BCAS launch
(click for alternate view)

The ScanEagle is solidly based on Insitu’s original “Insight” platform, with different variants distinguished by their payloads and accompanying equipment rather than their aerodynamic design. The UAVs are launched by catapult, and autonomously recovered using a folding “skyhook” and catch-line. These UAVs fill a niche between hand-launched mini-UAVs like Aerovironment’s RQ-11 Raven or Elbit’s Skylark I, and runway-capable tactical UAVs like Textron’s RQ-7 Shadow, Aeronautics DS’ Aerostar, or IAI’s Searcher II. Its long endurance is actually superior to its tactical UAV competitors, but its payload weight limit is significantly smaller.

ScanEagle has been demonstrated or used from a wide variety of ship classes and types, and the family includes a number of specialty variants from sniper locator, to bio-warfare agent detection (BCAS). The base UAV has even been used successfully as a firefighting aid. A NightEagle conversion kit adds a different front end with thermal imaging sensors, and allows field conversion of ScanEagle aircraft in 2-3 hours. More drastic modifications are found in the ScanEagle Compressed Carriage (SECC), whose smaller fold-out wings allow it to be launched from an aircraft pylon, or a submarine.

Setup & use
click for video

In October 2014, Insitu introduced a new model, the ScanEagle 2. Compared to the original ScanEagle, v2.0’s most obvious physical difference is the payload holder at the front, which borrows from the larger NightEagle configuration and can combine day and night sensors with a laser marker. Wingspan is still about 10.2 feet, but the UAV is longer (5.1 feet to 5.6 feet) and heavier (base weight rises, payload beyond the sensor set rises from 7.5 to 7.7 pounds, max. takeoff weight rises from 48.5 to 51.8 pounds). Speed is unaffected (50-60 knot cruise, max. 80 knots), but endurance drops from 24 hours to just 16 hours for ScanEagle 2.

In Exchange, ScanEagle 2 features the first reciprocating internal combustion propulsion system designed and manufactured specifically for small UAVs, with real-time diagnostics built in. Inside, the UAV has an Ethernet-based architecture, a fully digital video system, upgraded navigation systems, and improvements that reduce electromagnetic interference to enable more sensitive payloads. Electric power available to those payloads rises from 60W to 100-150W.

ScanEagle 2 uses the same Mark 4 catapults, SyHook recovery system, and Insitu Common Open-mission Management Command and Control (ICOMC2) as the RQ-21 Integrator/ Blackjack.

Versatility
(click for alternate view)

The ScanEagle family’s combination of versatility, long endurance, and small size appears to be succeeding in the global defense marketplace, without really impairing the market for tactical UAVs.

Boeing has had field representatives in theater for a few years now to support and operate the ScanEagle UAV from ships and ashore, receiving high battlefield praise and a fairly regular stream of contracts from the USA and Australia. Canada and Malaysia have also signed on for battlefield surveillance services, the Colombian, Iraqi, Tunisian, and UK Royal navies are using ScanEagle, and so are the Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Singapore, and Yemen. The Dutch are using ScanEagle as an interim UAV, Japan is testing it, and other customers wait in the wings. Reported interest includes France, Pakistan, Kuwait, and other Gulf States.

Competition from Without – and Within

Aerosonde 4.7
(click to view full)

The UAV field continues to change quickly. The latest US Navy ISR contract will have ScanEagle competing against the Aerosonde-G for naval buys of UAV services, and against both AAI’s Aerosonde G and Arcturus’ T-20 for land-based surveillance missions. SOCOM’s MEUAS contracts have also become a de facto competition with AAI’s Aersonde.

Insitu’s flagship product will also have to contend with an internal competitor. The firm has begun to offer a next-generation “Integrator” platform, which was picked as the US Navy and Marine Corps’ next-generation RQ-21A Blackjack Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS-II). It’s also reported that service contracts with other countries will begin incorporating the RQ-21, either as a main UAV or as a switch-in option.

The RQ-21A Integrator boosts endurance to over 24 hours, and raises maximum payload to about 50 pounds / 23 kg. Wingspan rises to 15.8 feet/ 4.8m, and body length rises to 7 feet/ 2.1m. Its sensor package will be a bit more versatile, too, with TV zoom and mid-wave infrared cameras, plus an infrared marker and a laser rangefinder (but not, yet, a target designator), all in a single package instead of the original ScanEagle’s swap-in options. Launch and recovery methods are the same as the ScanEagle’s, and use the same Mark 4 and ICOMC2 equipment.

Integrator will not be covered in this article except for contracts that shift away from the ScanEagle to the new platform, and equally significant milestones that affect ScanEagle’s future.

Contracts and Key Events: 2008 – Present

Eye in the Sky

Unless otherwise noted, contracts are issued by the Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD. As of July 2008, Insitu Inc. is a Boeing subsidiary. Note that RQ-21A Integrator contracts won’t be covered here, unless they have a substantial impact on the ScanEagle’s future.

FY 2016 – 2017

ScanEagle 2
(click to view full)

January 12/17: UAV manufacturers are off to a busy 2017, with branches of the US Armed forces commissioning new orders and sustainment works. Washington firm Insitu has been contracted $70 million for the provision of six additional Lot I RQ-21A Blackjack unmanned aircraft systems to the Navy, comprised of unmanned aircraft, ground control stations, multi-mission plug-and-play payloads, and additional supporting equipment. The Army, meanwhile, has contracted Textron to perform sustainment services for the Army’s RQ-7 Shadow tactical unmanned aircraft system. Valued at $ 206 million, Textron will provide engineering, logistics, field service operations, depot materiel repair and post-production software support to the Army’s fleet of 117 Shadow aircraft.

July 18/16: Maritime surveillance capabilities of the British Royal Navy are to experience a setback in 2017 due to budget constraints. It’s been reported that the service will lose its ScanEagle capability and Type 23 warships will not have any UAVs on board. It had been hoped that UAVs could have been procured under the Flexible Deployable Unmanned Air System (FDUAS) program but failed to secure funding in this year’s budget cycle.

April 21/16: Afghanistan’s National Army has launched its first ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The first operational site is in the often volatile Helmand province, and there will be a total of eight sites situated across the country. The systems will provide the Afghan National Army with airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities as it conducts security missions against militants operating within its borders.

January 22/16: The USMC has declared that the RQ-21A Blackjack UAV has achieved Initial Operational Capability (IOC) with deployment of the system to commence this summer. Formerly known as the Integrator, the Blackjack has been developed by Boeing as part of a low rate production of a small tactical unmanned air system (STUAS) for the US Navy, and uses the same same launcher and recovery system as the Scan Eagle system. One hundred systems of five vehicles each are planned for the USMC by 2017.

November 30/15: Afghanistan has ordered eight sets of the Insitu ScanEagle UAS from Boeing worth $70 million. The sets contain 65 of the ScanEagle UAVs and work is expected to be completed by 2018. Initially developed to track dolphins and tuna from fishing boats, the ScanEagle is operational in several countries and provides a range of surveillance, tracking and mapping abilities. The purchase comes at a time of increased defense spending from Kabul who has spent $1.8 billion this year. It is expected defense spending will reach $3.4 billion by 2020.

FY 2015

ScanEagle 2 unveiled.

July 27/15: Also announced on Friday, the Navy awarded a $78 million contract modification for six low rate initial production RQ-21A Blackjack UAVs. Also known as the ScanEagle, the Boeing-owned manufacturer Insitu Inc. unveiled a new version of the UAV in October last year, the ScanEagle 2. The first version has seen significant export success, in countries as diverse as Colombia, Yemen, Japan and the Netherlands, with Iran producing an unlicensed version known as the Yasir.

Oct 29/14: ScanEagle 2. Insitu unveils the ScanEagle 2 at Euronaval 2014. It features the first reciprocating internal combustion propulsion system designed and manufactured specifically for small UAVs, with real-time diagnostics built in. Inside, the UAV has an Ethernet-based architecture, a fully digital video system, upgraded navigation systems, and improvements that reduce electromagnetic interference to enable more sensitive payloads. Electric power available to those payloads rises from 60W to 100-150W.

Compared to the original ScanEagle, v2.0’s most obvious physical difference is the payload holder at the front, which standardizes on the larger NightEagle configuration that can combine day/night sensors and a laser marker. Wingspan is still about 10.2 feet, but the UAV is longer (5.1 feet to 5.6 feet) and heavier (base weight rises, payload rises from 7.5 to 7.7 pounds, max. takeoff weight rises from 48.5 to 51.8 pounds). Speed is unaffected (50-60 knot cruise, max. 80 knots), but endurance drops from 24 hours to just 16 hours for ScanEagle 2.

ScanEagle 2 uses the same Mark 4 catapults, SyHook recovery system, and Insitu Common Open-mission Management Command and Control (ICOMC2) as the RQ-21 Integrator/ Blackjack. Sources: Insitu, “Insitu Announces ScanEagle 2 – the Next Generation of the ScanEagle Platform” | Defense News, “Insitu Launches New ScanEagle 2 UAS” (incl. existing customer list).

ScanEagle 2

FY 2014

Buyers: Yemen, Iraq; Opportunities: Japan, UAE partnership, USCG; Fielding in UK Royal Navy; New CEO.

Australian report
click for video

Sept 29/14: Yemen. Insitu Inc. in Bingen, WA receives an $11 million firm-fixed-price delivery order from Yemen for 9 ScanEagle Electro-Optics and 3 NightEagle UAVs. This order also provides for one 12-month/3,600 flight-hour sustainment package with acceptance testing, spares, technical manuals, and training; a site activation team; field service representative; and protection for the support team. All funds are committed immediately.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA (50%), and Sanaa, Yemen (50%), and is expected to be complete in September 2015. The US Navy’s Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Lakehurst, NJ acts as Yemen’s contract agent (N68335-11-G-0009, DO 0007).

Yemen buys

Sept 29/14: Czech. Insitu, Inc. in Bingen, WA receives a $6.8 million firm-fixed-price delivery order from the Czech Republic for 7 ScanEagle electro-optics and 3 NightEagle UAVs, to be used by their troops in Afghanistan. All funds are committed immediately.

Work will be performed at Bingen, WA (50%), and Afghanistan (50%), and is expected to be complete in September 2015. The US Navy’s Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Lakehurst, NJ acts as the Czech Republic’s contract agent (N68335-11-G-0009, DO 0006).

Czech Republic buys

Aug 6/14: Leadership. Insitu CEO Steve Morrow (q.v. April 28/11) is retiring, so Boeing names SVP Insitu Programs Ryan Hartman as the new President and CEO, effective immediately. Sources: Insitu, “Boeing Names Ryan Hartman Insitu President and Chief Executive Officer”.

New CEO

June 22/14: UK. The Royal Navy is now using drones from its ships on operations:

“Just 7 months after the Ministry of Defence ordered the system from Boeing Defence UK, footage released today, 22 June, shows ScanEagle taking flight from [the Type 23 frigate] HMS Somerset in the [Persian] Gulf.”

Sources: UK MoD, “Royal Navy’s new eyes in the sky”.

June 2014: USCG. The ScanEagle’s performance with the US Coast Guard may yet make it the service’s 1st ship-borne UAV, after successful drug busts aboard one of the new frigate-sized National Security Cutters:

“At a joint House Transportation and Foreign Affairs Committee hearing looking at maritime drug interdiction efforts, Adm. Robert Papp, commandant of the Coast Guard prior to his retirement in May, said the service is continuing to test ScanEagles…. The Coast Guard will pursue an acquisition program, he confirmed.”

Sources: NDIA National Defense magazine, “Coast Guard Closer to Acquiring Ship-Based Drones”.

May 13/14: Firefighter. Insitu Pacific touts a successful ScanEagle demonstration for the Australian New South Wales Rural Fire Service over the Wollemi National Park, 150 km northwest of Sydney, where fires have burned more than 35,000 hectares of bushland since December 2013.

The trial was trial a collaborative effort between Insitu Pacific and General Dynamics Mediaware, whose D-VEX next-generation video exploitation system streamed full-motion video imagery alongside geo-location information in near real time. This combination was used to monitor and report on the movement of the fire front at night, which is generally done at low altitudes that are unsafe for manned aircraft. It’s also possible to do this job using more advanced sensors on full-size UAVs like the MQ-9 Reaper, but ScanEagle is a far more affordable option. Sources: Insitu, “Insitu Pacific Demonstrates Fire Management Assistance with ScanEagle Unmanned Aircraft”.

Jan 12/14: Japan. Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force is looking for ways to improve surveillance, in the wake of Chinese provocations and aggressive territorial claims. Their constitution bars aircraft carriers, but they’d like to try small UAVs that can be launched from destroyers. ScanEagle is already being trialed in Japan, which makes it the natural choice if Japan wants to trial live flights during the FY 2014 budget request’s YEN 2 million research (about $23,600) research phase.

If the JMSDF goes ahead, they’ll buy up to 19 systems. Textron’s Aerosonde can offer a competitor, Northrop and Raytheon have BAT UAVs, and even Boeing has a 2nd UAV up their sleeve in the RQ-21 Integrator. Sources: Japan Times: “MSDF looks to deploy drones on destroyers”.

Jan 7/14: Iraq. Now that Prime Minister Maliki’s sectarian approach to governing has produced predictable rebellion and insurgency in Sunni areas, the USA is shipping Iraq some weapons and equipment, even as heavier equipment finds itself blocked by Sen. Menendez [D-NJ], and many other senators are voicing concerns. Army Col. Steven Warren:

“We’re expediting delivery of 10 operational ScanEagles for part of the original purchase, as well as an additional four nonoperational ScanEagles, which will be sent to help facilitate maintenance of the original 10.”

They’ll act as Iraq’s high-end UAV, compared to the 48 Raven mini-UAVs slated for delivery in the spring. Sources: Pentagon, “DOD Speeds Delivery of Surveillance Assets to Iraq” | The Daily Beast, “Congress to Iraq’s Maliki: No Arms for a Civil War”.

Nov 19/13: UAE. Tawazun subsidiary Abu Dhabi Autonomous Systems Investments (ADASI) expands on a previous marketing and training teaming agreements with Boeing Insitu (q.v. Feb 18/13, Nov 15/11), and taken the next step: they’ll be able to operate and maintain Boeing’s ScanEagle and its larger Integrator UAVs as a service for the UAE military, and for “neighbouring allies.” That gives them complete service authority with the UAV, from marketing, to training, to operation.

ADASI aren’t newcomers to the UAV world. Under the UAE’s Al Sabr program, the firm performed final assembly of the country’s Schiebel S-100 Camcopter small helicopter UAVs, have been conducting R&D to expand the VTUAV’s range of carrying platforms, and service the UAE’s fleet. Sources: ADASI release, Nov 19/13.

FY 2013

SOCOM MEUAS contract; UK buys ScanEagle; Japan begins trial; Iran copies it from crashed UAVs; Kestrel agreement solidifies moving target detection; Sensor cueing from land robots; Launch & recovery improvements.

Small boat pickup
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Sept 17/13: Poland. Insitu Inc. in Bingen, WA receives $7.3 million for a firm-fixed-price delivery order covering ScanEagle system hardware repairs and modifications for Poland. It includes spares, operations and maintenance training, and technical UAS publications.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA and is expected to be complete in September 2014. US Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD acts as Poland’s agent within the FMS framework (N00019-12-G-0008, #0016).

Sept 16/13: SOCOM. A maximum $300 million, 3-year firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract for ScanEagle UAVs, operator services, and maintenance services in support of US SOCOM’s naval special warfare operators.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, and the contract will run until September 2016. $85 million in operational and supplemental/OCO funds are committed immediately, and will expire by Sept 30/13. Interestingly, the Pentagon says that the “contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-1,” which is the “only 1 responsible provider” exemption. That significant language, because Textron subsidiary AAI’s Aerosonde 4.7G won the MEAUS-II competition (q.v. March 5/12). ScanEagle pushed back in with a $190 million, 25-month “unusual and compelling urgency” MEAUS contract in February 2013, and this award appears to firmly nail down its position as SOCOM’s go-to UAV (N00019-13-D-0016).

US SOCOM

July 26/13: FAA. The US Federal Aviation Administration issues its 1st UAV Restricted Category Type Certificates, which include the ScanEagle X200. A “major energy company” wants to fly ScanEagle in international waters off of the Alaska coast, surveying ocean ice floes and migrating whale patterns, in order to assess potential Arctic oil exploration areas.

Experimental Airworthiness Certificates have been used for non-government UAV operations in the past, but they don’t allow commercial use. The FAA says that US military acceptance of the ScanEagle and Puma designs was an important factor in granting the new Restricted Category certificates, which do allow commercial operations.

That’s going to be a hotter area for UAV manufacturers over the next few years, and for the FAA as well. The Federal Aviation Administration Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 mandated that the FAA integrate UAVs into domestic airspace by 2015, but a key deadline establishing 6 pilot sites by August 2012 wasn’t met. These type certificates are a small step forward, within a larger framework. Sources: US FAA | NDIA’s National Defense magazine | Seattle Times.

(Restricted) Commercial USA in USA

July 12/13: Industrial. Insitu breaks ground on a new 120,000-square-foot production facility near its headquarters in Bingen, WA. The building is expected to be done in August 2014. Sources: Insitu, July 12/13 release.

July 2/13: USCG. The Coast Guard has been pondering its UAS options and requirements for years (vid. Dec 1/09 entry). They recently completed the 2nd of 3 planned demonstration phases. They used a ScanEagle during a 2-week deployment aboard the Bertholf cutter. That led to 90+ hours of flight time, during which the UAV helped with a the interception of a cocaine-loaded vessel. That gave them the opportunity to test the daytime camera, the combination electro-optical/infrared camera, and auto detection software.

The 3rd phase will gather quantitative data aboard a National Security Cutter in early 2014. USCG.

June 20/13: Britain. The Royal Navy signs a GBP 30 million (about $46.9 million) contract to buy ScanEagle UAVs, for use from Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships like the Bay Class amphibious landing ships, as well as surface combatants like Britain’s frigates, destroyers, and helicopter carriers. This is the Royal Navy’s 1st sea-launched UAV, and it will be a big help to a fleet whose number of ships has dwindled, even as it abandoned maritime patrol aircraft.

ScanEagles can also serve as targeting assets for the Royal Marines, and for Navy ships if Britain buys naval weapons that use laser precision guidance. Raytheon’s new Excalibur laser/GPS guided shell is one such naval option. MBDA’s proposed maritime adaptation of the British Army’s Fire Shadow loitering missile is another. UK MoD.

Britain’s Royal Navy buys in

May 14/13: Japan. Insitu Pacific delivers a ScanEagle Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) to its partner Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) of Japan, for a 12-month operational evaluation by the Japanese Ground Self Defence Forces (JGSDF, see July 11/12 entry). Insitu.

April 24/13: OEF, etc. A $7.8 million firm-fixed-price contract modification to exercise an option for ScanEagle/ Nighteagle services until March 2014, in Afghanistan and around the world. $3.6 million is committed immediately.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, using FY 2013 Navy wartime supplemental operations and maintenance funds (N00019-11-C-0061).

April 24/13: NanoSAR next. ImSAR LLC in Springville, UT receives an $8.8 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification, for “research services in support of the ultra-small aperture radar” (q.v. May 29/12 entry). This brings the contract’s cumulative value to $32.8 million.

ImSAR are the makers of the NanoSAR and Leonardo radars. US Army Contracting Command in Natick, MA manages this contract (W911QY-12-D-0011, 0006).

March 8/13: OEF. Insitu, Inc. in Bingen, WA receives a $7.8 million firm-fixed-price contract modification, exercising an option for ScanEagle operational and maintenance services in Afghanistan, including both day and night operations.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, and is expected to be complete in January 2014. $3.6 million is committed immediately, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year on Sept 30/13 (N00019-11-C-0061).

Feb 18/13: UAE. Boeing broadens their ScanEagle support and sustainment agreement with the UAE’s ADASI (vid. Nov 15/11 entry), adding marketing services within the Middle East and North Africa, training services, and the new Integrator UAV. Boeing VP Debbie Rub reiterated to Gulfnews that this is:

“Not a contract but an agreement to work together. No particular value right now but the region needs this capability so they are working together so that we can grow this sort of business. There are intensions [sic] with Adasi to establish this as the centre in the Middle East for the ScanEagle and Intergrator contracts.”

See: Boeing | Arabian Aerospace | Gulfnews.

Feb 8/13: Iranian copies. The regime’s PressTV is now showing photos of a production line for ScanEagle UAV knock-offs.

Back on Dec 17/12, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi had said that Iran was producing copies of the ScanEagle, based on drones it had captured. The Iranian regime says a lot of things about its military capabilities, most of which are fodder only for comedians and the credulous. This report, on the other hand, was plausible.

Iran has significant aerospace reverse engineering expertise, which it has built up to keep its fleet of American fighters and helicopters in the air. They also have some UAV expertise, and Iranian UAVs launched from Lebanon have been shot down over Israel. Iranian copies may not have the same performance and features as ScanEagle, but it’s reasonable to conclude that for once, Iran is making a military claim in line with its demonstrated capabilities. Iran’s PressTV.

Feb 6/13: MEUAS, Too. Insitu Inc. in Bingen, WA receives a 25-month Mid-Endurance Unmanned Aircraft System (MEUAS) indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract from US SOCOM, worth $1 million – $190 million. MEUAS involves contractor-owned and operated equipment on the front lines. Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, and “overseas.” US Special Operations Command at MacDill AFB, FL manages the contract (H92222-13-D-0005). FBO.gov justifications for the award shed some light on the contract, which is pursued under FAR 6.302-2, “Unusual and Compelling Urgency”:

“Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond the Government’s control, there is an immediate requirement to mitigate a critical ISR services gap. This proposed contract action is to ensure continued operational capability.”

The interesting question is whether this new contract also provides for RQ-21 Integrator services, to match the USMC’s new STUAS-II UAV buys. Insitu was asked, but said that they were unable to comment. Meanwhile, there has also been a steady expansion and extension of Insitu’s original H92222-09-D-0015 MEUAS ScanEagle contract, when it became clear that its $250 million would run out long before April 27/14. FBO.gov announced on Feb 7/13 that:

“Program efforts were initiated in October 2010 to establish the competitive follow-on MEUAS II contract. A Justification and Approval (J&A) document was approved on 10 June 2011 to increase the existing contract ceiling by $50,000,000 for a revised contract maximum of $300,000,000. This allowed for the continuation of mission essential operations during the source selection process of the MEUAS II follow-on requirement. A second J&A was approved and issued on 16 July 2012. This action increased the contract maximum by $35,000,000 for a revised contract maximum of $335,000,000. This was to assure continuous operational capability during the transition from the MEUAS contract to the MEUAS II [won by AAI’s Aerosonde UAV] …. [Now we’re announcing a raised] dollar ceiling of the MEUAS contract (H92222-09-D-0015) by $10,000,000 for a revised contract maximum of $345,000,000.”

Bottom line? MEUAS could end up being worth as much as $535 million to Insitu, more than double its original amount. From the government’s point of view, it now has 2 MEUAS vendors, with contracts that will both expire in March 2015. FBO.gov re: Revised Contract | FBO.gov re: revised contract maximum | Insitu.

US SOCOM MEUAS

Nov 16/12: OEF. Insitu Inc. in Bingen, WA receives a $12.1 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for pre and post deployment operations and services involving ScanEagle UAVs in Afghanistan. The contract mentions both electro-optical and mid-wave infrared imagery, and in 2013 the new MWIR/EO turret will let the company offer both of those options, without requiring the UAV to land and switch (q.v. Aug 7/12 entry).

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, and is expected to be complete in August 2013. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/13 (N00019-11-C-0061).

Nov 16/12: AOL Defense calls attention to Insitu’s business model of providing turnkey services, as the US military prepares to cut in-theater deployments and surveillance, standardize its UAVs, and bring operations and maintenance in house.

Meanwhile, the civilian market isn’t ready yet. That’s partly because of issues around certification in civil air space, and partly because all Insitu UAVs must be sold as weapons through the USA’s ITAR process. As an example, oil companies who want to use ScanEagle are told that they can’t have any non-US citizens aboard the operating platform. Things are going well in Australia with government agencies and civil fight authorities, but that won’t be enough.

Insitu is trying to get a version of the ScanEagle designated as a commercial commodity, and they estimate that the RQ-21A Integrator program will be worth $500 million over 10 years. Even so, AOL Defense is probably right that the Boeing subsidiary is about to take a financial hit.

Oct 30/12: UAV + UGS. Insitu Pacific in Queensland, Australia announces that integration between ScanEagle and McQ’s iScout Unattended Ground Sensor (UGS)/ OmniWatch technologies is complete. McQ’s UGS is in widespread service with the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Energy and “a range of international customers.”

The project enables UGS target detection alerts to be automatically displayed within ScanEagle’s Insitu I-MUSE multiple UAS controller software. The iScout sensor automatically sends a notification to I-MUSE, displaying the target location, detection type (seismic, magnetic, acoustic or infrared) and other relevant information. The operator is then able to automatically focus the ScanEagle’s sensors on the new contact to verify the data provided by iScout and OmniWatch, and to continue to track the target once it has moved beyond the OmniWatch camera range. Insitu.

Oct 23/12: Kestrel agreement. Insitu Inc. announces a long-term licensing agreement with Sentient in Melbourne, Australia, to integrate Kestrel land and maritime automated detection software into Insitu’s ScanEagle and Integrator systems.

Kestrel software is currently deployed as a separate add-on that specializes in detecting moving targets within the field of view of the UAV’s electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) sensors. There are land and maritime versions, which have been used by the U.S. and its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan. Insitu | Sentient.

Kestrel MTI agreement

Oct 10/12: Compact CLRE. The US Office of Naval Research is funding tests of the ScanEagle Compact Launch and Recovery System (CLRE), which combines the Skyhook recovery system with a compressed air launcher for the UAV. The end result is more compact than the traditional piston launcher/ skyhook combination, which is a big advantage for smaller boats and ships. ONR adds that:

“The system currently is trailer mounted for testing and ease of towing behind ground vehicles, but Insitu is exploring modifications of this version for rapid deployments. Its turntable base allows for mounting to a variety of integration structures.”

2012

New USN contract introduces competition, but assures ScanEagle’s future; Key US SOCOM loss; Wins in Singapore & Malaysia; Dutch buy ScanEagle services, but look to Integrator; Japanese evaluation; Integrator gets closer; Research into new tiny ground-scanning radar.

Skyhook recovery
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Sept 26/12: Upgrades. Boeing subsidiary Insitu, Inc. in Bingen, WA receives a $12.4 million delivery order for the hardware required to modernize the ScanEagle and its ancillary equipment. See Aug 7/12 for more details of what the upgrades entail; the hardware contract also includes replacements, using upgraded air vehicles and components.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, and is expected to be complete in May 2013. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, which is almost immediately. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00019-12-G-0008).

Sept 17/12: OEF. Insitu Inc. in Bingen, WA receives a $7.7 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for pre and post deployment operations and services involving ScanEagle UAVs in Afghanistan. The contract mentions both electro-optical and mid-wave infrared imagery, and in 2013 the new MWIR/EO turret will let the company offer both of those options, without requiring the UAV to land and switch (q.v. Aug 7/12 entry).

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, and is expected to be complete in August 2013. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/12 (N00019-11-C-0061).

Aug 21/12: OEF. Insitu in Bingen, WA, is awarded a $23.4 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for additional ScanEagle operations and maintenance in Afghanistan, using both daytime EO and IR night sensors. Work will be performed in Bingen, WA and is expected to be complete in August 2013 (N00019-11-C-0061).

Aug 9/12: Netherlands. A Dutch ScanEagle is launched on its first anti-piracy operation in the Gulf of Aden, from the amphibious ship HNLMS Rotterdam. The LPD embarked the UAVs, catapult, and command station, plus a 19-soldier Army contingent. Dutch MvD [in Dutch].

Aug 8/12: Comms. relay. Boeing touts a smaller, lighter version of its Tactical Compact Communications Relay (TCCR). The 1.6-pound TCCR extends the range of line-of-sight military handheld radios from under 10 nautical miles to more than 150, and has been operating in Afghanistan. The new 1-pound version does the same, and will fit into a 5″ x 5″ x 1″ slot in the ScanEagle’s payload bay.

The new TCCR has been tested on several other UAVs, including the Schiebel Camcopter S-100, and Boeing plans to demonstrate a civilian set that could support emergency response or other commercial applications.

Aug 7/12: Netherlands. Insitu Inc. announces that the Dutch military can now fly the ScanEagle under a limited military aircraft type-classification certificate from the Military Aviation Authority (MAA) of the Netherlands.

The Dutch needed that, because they intend to operate the UAVs over their own country as well as abroad. Both sides were motivated, so the certification milestone was achieved in just 4 months. Note that this isn’t a full civilian certification, but it will definitely help. Insitu.

Aug 7/12: Sensors. Insitu Inc. announces that it’s conducting field evaluations of 2 new turrets for ScanEagle. Both turrets will be available in the first half of 2013, and better power draw will help make switch-ins easier.

The new Hood Technology Corp. Vision MWIR/EO turret means customers won’t have to choose any more between zoom cameras or mid-wave infrared thermal imaging on their ScanEagles. Insitu’s larger RQ-21A Integrator was already offering both modes, and competitive pressure makes it an important advance.

Hood’s SuperEO turret has already been in service for about a year, providing 5x better stabilization than its predecessor. The newest SuperEO Enhanced turret lets operators track, zoom and focus while maintaining positive identification, thanks to a sophisticated gimbal mechanism and a picture-in-picture display. Losing the target of interest when the camera moves has long been an annoying problem for many UAVs, especially small ones.

July 12/12: Australia. The Army’s contract for ScanEagle services has ended, but the Navy is interested. Insitu Pacific in Queensland, Australia is still using the Army’s contract, just extended and expanded to include trials with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). ScanEagle will be installed on a number of RAN vessels, and a first-of-class flight trial from a Frigate is expected in September 2012.

The RAN’s endorsed Aviation vision, NA2020, is to have a UAS dedicated unit by 2020. That’s awfully slow, given the pace of change, but the embarked trials will begin moving them in that direction. As American experiences have shown, UAVs as a service can work as a shipboard offering. If the RAN decides to adopt ScanEagle as an “interim UAV” service, there would be almost no changes from the arrangement it has just signed. Insitu.

RAN extends Army deal

July 11/12: Japan. Insitu Pacific in Queensland, Australia announces a contract from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), to deliver ScanEagle systems for comprehensive operational evaluation by the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (Army).

It’s more than just an evaluation, as the ScanEagles will be operated by the JGSDF during this period to assist in disaster recovery, as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Having said all that, it isn’t a long-term win yet, either.

July 9/12: Singapore. Insitu Pacific in Queensland, Australia announces a contract from the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), to equip its 6 Formidable Class (Lafayette Class derivative) missile frigates with ScanEagle systems. Insitu Pacific will also provide training, logistics and ship installation, as well as specialist in-country maintenance support.

This decision has been a while in coming, vid. the March 2/09 entry detailing ship trials. Insitu.

Singapore

May 29/12: NanoSAR next. ImSAR LLC in Salem, UT receives a $24 million firm-fixed-price and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to build, test, and assess a lightweight ultra wideband Synthetic Aperture Radar for use on small unmanned aerial vehicles. ImSAR makes the NAnoSAR, and this looks like the contract to develop its successor.

Work will be performed in Salem, UT with an estimated completion date of May 31/17. One bid was solicited, with one bid received by US Army Contracting Command in Natick, MA (W911QY-12-D-0011).

May 20/12: Iraq? Reuters confirms that Iraq will be using UAVs to protect its southern port and associated oil platforms. The logical candidate is Insitu’s ScanEagle, which is already operating in this role (vid. Feb 9/12 entry):

“Iraq’s navy has purchased US drones to protect the country’s oil platforms in the south, from where most of Iraq’s oil is shipped,” said an official from the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq, which is part of the US embassy. The OSCI did not give further details of the number or type of unmanned aircraft. But Iraqi security officials confirmed plans to use drones to protect oil infrastructure.”

Iraq?

May 15/12: Insitu, Inc., Bingen, WA receives a $35.5 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for additional ScanEagle and NightEagle services in Afghanistan.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, and will run to December 2012. All Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/12. US Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD manages the contract (N00019-11-C-0061).

May 4/12: Over in Australia. The ScanEagle has made its last flight for Australia, and its leased services are being replaced with Textron’s RQ-7B Shadow UAVs bought under Project JP129.

While Boeing contractors provided assistance and operational services, about 180 Australian Defence Force personnel deployed in support of the ScanEagle, mostly from 20th Surveillance and Target Acquisition Regiment, with elements from 16th Air Defence Regiment, Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation, 1st Topographic Survey Squadron and 16th Aviation Brigade. During its 5 years in operation in Afghanistan, ScanEagles flew about 32,000 hours in more than 6,200 missions. Australian Army | Ottawa Citizen.

April 17/12: Malaysia. Insitu Pacific and Composites Technology Research Malaysia (CTRM) announce a contract for Insitu Pacific to deliver its ScanEagle to CTRM, to be operated by CTRM’s subsidiary Unmanned Systems Technology (UST).

Insitu Pacific has confirmed to DID that “CTRM will utilise the ScanEagle system to augment UAS Services provided to the Malaysian Defence Forces under an existing contract.”

Malaysia

April 4/12: Hydrogen-powered. Boeing’s Insitu announces that the ScanEagle has completed a hydrogen-powered test flight, using a 1,500-watt fuel cell by United Technologies and a hydrogen fueling solution by the US Naval Research Laboratory. They add that this ScanEagle is lighter than the traditional model, which means more room for equipment. On the other hand, the release didn’t discuss the effects on range and endurance, which are more critical traits for this UAV. Earth Techling.

March 19/12: Dutch contract. Insitu announces a contract with the Dutch MvD to use its ScanEagle “both domestically and abroad.” Specifically, they’ll provide:

“…an ISR capability during the second half of 2012, replacing a program [DID: Sperwer UAVs] that ended in the middle of 2011. Looking forward, Netherlands MOD and Insitu plan to continue to explore the potential for multi-mission ISR capabilities using a next-generation Insitu UAS that carries multiple ISR sensors and enables rapid, robust payload integration.”

Which is to say, their RQ-21A Integrator platform. Both of the interim ScanEagle systems (3 UAVs each) are expected to achieve operational capability by late 2012, with 1 available for overseas deployment, and the other used for training and domestic tasks.

The permanent Sperwer replacement will involve 5 systems, by late 2014: 3 for deployment, 1 for missions within The Netherlands, and 1 for training. The RQ-21A has the required integration with ScanEagle ground systems, and has been chosen to enter service with 107 Aerial Systems Battery in 2014. Insitu | Dutch Defence Press.

Netherlands

March 5/12: MEUAS-II loss. Textron’s subsidiary AAI wins the 3-year, maximum $600 million follow-on to US Special Forces’ MEUAS contract, using its Aerosonde 4.7G UAV. Insitu’s MEUAS contract had been slated to expire in 2014, but the somewhat-imprecise wording of public statements and solicitations suggest that MEUAS-II will fully replace the old contract.

With its technology validated by 2 huge American contracts, AAI’s Aerosonde UAVs can be expected to be a much more visible competitor around the globe. Meanwhile, ScanEagle has gone from the sole-source solution in 2 major American contracts, to forced competition in UAS-ISR and an uncertain position in MEUAS. ScanEagle UAV still has important advantages in its array of specialized variants, and the larger RQ-21A Integrator UAV is on tap as a follow-on offering. Even so, the MEUAS-II setback may leave Boeing and Insitu pondering the need for further investment in, and upgrades to, their core ScanEagle platform. Textron’s AAI | UV Online.

US MEAUS-II

Feb 29/12: USN ISR. US NAVAIR issues their 5-year, $864 million UAS ISR contract, which can include services for US military allies, alongside the US Navy and Marines. Insitu submits the ScanEagle instead of the RQ-21A Integrator, and their selection as an eligible bidder for task orders would seem to protect ScanEagle’s near term future.

On the other hand, the umbrella contract introduces competition to an area that ScanEagle used to have to itself. Textron’s Aerosonde G will compete with Insitu’s ScanEagle for naval and land task orders, while Saab’s small Skeldar heli-UAV will become a 3rd competitor on land. Read “ScanEagle, Aerosonde & Skeldar: The USN’s UAS-ISR Contract, 2012-2017” for full coverage.

USN ISR

Feb 9/12: Exports. An AOL Defense report offers an expanded list of ScanEagle operators, as well as 3 more potential export clients:

“Navy leaders are considering foreign military sales of the Scan Eagle to Kuwait, Pakistan and the Netherlands, according to a presentation by Marine Corps Col. James Rector, head of the small tactical unmanned aerial systems division at Naval Air Systems Command. Aside from the U.S. Navy, the Scan Eagle is being flown by naval forces in Colombia, Tunisia, Poland and Iraq, according to PowerPoint slides from Rector’s speech at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International’s annual program review in Washington yesterday.”

The Netherlands is already using ScanEagle as an interim UAV; presumably, Dutch discussions represent long-term lease or purchase options. Previous reports have suggested that Boeing is offering ScanEagle leases with provisions to switch part-way through, and use the larger and more advanced RQ-21 Integrator platform (vid. June 16/10 entry).

Jan 25/12: NightEagle. Insitu, Inc. in Bingen, WA receives an $20 million firm-fixed-price contract modification, exercising an option for ScanEagle operational and maintenance services. These services will provide electro-optical/infrared and mid-wave infrared (NightEagle) imagery in support of Marine Corps operations in Afghanistan. Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, and is expected to be complete in May 2012. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/12 (N00019-11-C-0061).

Jan 22/12: Closing time approaches. First flight of an Early Operational Capability (EOC) RQ-21A STUAS Integrator UAV at the USMC’s Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, CA, 16 months after the contract is awarded. USMC UAV Squadron VMU-3 will deploy the RQ-21A within the USA, while a government-contractor team works with the system, and develops tactics, techniques, and procedures on the way to formal Initial Operational Capability (IOC), and then Full Operational Capability (FOC).

As those milestones are reached, Insitu’s ScanEagle will fade from use. US NAVAIR: “RQ-21A will eventually replace the Navy and Marine ISR services contract in which current ISR missions are conducted in Iraq, Afghanistan and shipboard.”

2011

CEO shift; Dutch pick ScanEagle; Arctic & Libyan operations; Swarm flight; Comm relay test.

Aussie ScanEagle
(click to view full)

Nov 28/11: Insitu, Inc. in Bingen, WA receives an $12 million firm-fixed-price contract modification, exercising an option for ScanEagle operational and maintenance services. These services will provide electro-optical/infrared and mid-wave infrared (NightEagle) imagery in support of Marine Corps operations in Afghanistan. Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, and is expected to be complete in January 2012. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/12 (N00019-11-C-0061).

Nov 15/11: UAE. Insitu Inc. announces a partnership with Abu Dhabi Autonomous Systems Investments Company (ADASI), to perform joint support and sustainment activities on Insitu’s ScanEagle and Integrator UAS.

Oct 6/11: Canada. Insitu Inc. announces that its Canadian clients have successfully used ScanEagle UAVs during Operation Nanook in Canada’s Northwest Passage. The exercise focused around an Arctic major air disaster (MAJAID) simulation, and ScanEagle was deployed by Insitu and its partner ING Engineering to identify traversable ground routes, watch for polar bear threats, and monitor day-to-day iceberg movements. Insitu and ING UAS operators launched and retrieved the aircraft, then handed control over to the Canadian Forces and stood by to provide technical assistance as needed. Commanders in tactical operations centers (TOC) at 74 degrees north and troops on the ground received real-time video.

The exercise itself is not as significant as ScanEagle’s proof of use in polar environments. Insitu | Canada DND on Operation Nanook 11 | Canada DND Nanook 2011 photos.

Sept 30/11: Insitu, Inc. in Bingen, WA received a $7.6 million firm-fixed-price contract for major end items and parts to be used in the ScanEagle system. Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, and is expected to be complete by January 2012. This contract was not competitively procured by the US Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division in Panama City Beach, FL (N61331-11-C-0011).

August 15/11: Libyan operations. Insitu discusses ScanEagle’s performance over Libya, from the Arleigh Burke Flight II Class destroyer USS Mahan [DDG-72]. The operation began shortly after an Insitu team had been aboard Mahan to analyze the way ScanEagles were used, and made recommendation to expand its uses. Mahan put those suggestions into effect once Operation Unified Protector began, flying the ScanEagles in strong winds and forwarded secure imagery transmission to the task force used Boeing’s Secure Video Injection system:

“What happened over that period of time, no one expected,” said ScanEagle Detachment Officer in Charge Lt. Nick Townsend. “ScanEagle was locating contacts of interest that no one else could find. After the dust settled, ScanEagle was credited with locating a host of contacts of interest due to its ability to capture superior image quality and to operate covertly at relatively low altitudes.”… Later coordinating with an AWACS team, the USS Mahan ScanEagle team drew on ScanEagle’s 24-hour endurance to support additional phases of the mission, including battle damage assessment: ScanEagle delivered real-time, full-color imagery… “They (operational commanders) say ‘put the camera here’ and we put the camera there without going through layers of complex coordination. We get essential information directly to the decision makers fast,” said Insitu ScanEagle Site Lead Samuel Young.”

Libya experience

May – August 2011: Comm relay. Boeing announces successful May and August demonstrations of ScanEagle’s new narrowband communications relay, using an Insitu ScanEagle and AeroVironment’s Puma AE mini-UAV. During the multiservice demonstrations, held in California, the UAVs flew at a variety of altitudes while linking handheld military radios dispersed over mountainous regions, extending the radios’ range tenfold.

Larger RQ-7B Shadow UAVs have also been used in this role, but those are generally controlled at the battalion level or above. Narrowband relays small enough to work on mini-UAVs would represent an important step forward, especially for Special Operations forces.

July 7-10/11: UAV Swarm. Boeing conducts successful autonomous UAV swarm missions over the rugged terrain of eastern Oregon, using 2 ScanEagles and a Procerus Unicorn UAV from The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL). Boeing Advanced Autonomous Networks program director and team leader Gabriel Santander described it as “a milestone in UAV flight”; in this case, that’s a reasonable label.

The JHU/APL developed the UAVs’ Mobile Ad Hoc Network and swarm technology, which let them work together to search the test area through self-generating waypoints and terrain mapping, while simultaneously sending information to teams on the ground. A broader demonstration is planned for the end of September. Boeing.

Swarm flight

June 30/11: Netherlands. The Dutch will use ScanEagle UAVs as an interim front-line replacement for Sagem’s much larger Sperwer system, which has just been retired. Dutch MvD | Aviation Week

Dutch pick

May 31/11: Insitu, Inc. in Bingen, WA received a $46 million firm-fixed-price-contract to provide deployment services and flight hours, including electro-optical/infrared and mid-wave infrared imagery in support of Marine Corps operations in Afghanistan. In practice, this means both ScanEagle and NightEagle platforms; looks like the April 9/11 short-term contract went well.

Services will encompass both operation and maintenance of the ScanEagle UAS, to provide real-time imagery and data to USMC personnel. Work will be performed in Bingen, WA and in the field, and is expected to be complete in May 2012. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/11. This contract was not competitively procured, pursuant to FAR 6.302-2 (N00019-11-C-0061).

June 2011: Insitu’s inception. The Smithsonian Institute’s magazine profiles the story behind Insitu and the ScanEagle, as part of a feature describing the evolution of UAVs toward civilian roles. Boeing bought the firm for about $400 million, in July 2008. Read “Drones are Ready for Takeoff“.

May 26/11: Insitu, Inc. in Bingen, WA received an $83.7 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite- quantity contract for operations and maintenance services to support government-owned ScanEagle systems, including: multiple training courses ranging from system pilot training, maintenance and operations, to mission coordinator and payload operator; multiple kits for sustainment, payload and engine module kits; and multiple spare parts.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, and will run until May 2012. $62.7 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/11. There’s only one ScanEagle manufacturer, and this contract was not competitively procured, pursuant to FAR 6.302-2 (N00019-11-C-0012).

April 28/11: CEO shift. Boeing executive Steve Morrow becomes Insitu’s new President and CEO, succeeding co-founder Steve Sliwa, who retired April 1/11. That’s always a big inflection point in a company’s history.

Morrow holds a B.Sc. (electrical) Engineering from the University of South Carolina, and an M.Sc. Aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. He most recently served as Director, Stand-off Strike, leading long-range weapons programs including

• GM-84 Harpoon and SLAM-ER missiles, the USAF’s Tomahawk ALCM, the Next Generation Cruise Missile, and Boeing’s portion of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program. He joined Boeing in 2002 following his retirement as Navy program manager for Tomahawk-related programs. His Navy aviation experience came in P-3 sea control aircraft. Insitu.

New CEO

April 14/11: Insitu awards small business qualifier ArgenTech Solutions a contract to provide field service representative (FSR) services, at locations worldwide. It’s an initial 1-year contract that includes options for 2 additional years.

April 9/11: Boeing receives a $12.3 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for “additional Mid-Wave Infrared Unmanned Aerial Systems, intelligence reconnaissance surveillance services in for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force combat missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.” Sounds like an order for NightEagle services in Afghanistan.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA (65%), and St. Louis, MO (35%), and is expected to be complete in May 2011. The US Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Lakehurst, NJ manages this contract (N00019-08-C-0050).

Feb 22/11: Boeing receives a $5.7 million firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract modification for “additional persistent unmanned aerial vehicle intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services in support of naval maritime missions.” ScanEagles featured prominently in the April 2009 rescue of an American vessel from Somali pirates, for example.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA (65%), and St. Louis, MO (35%), and is expected to be complete in November 2011. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/11 (N00019-08-D-0013).

2010

Polish order; New Integrator UAV for USMC; Weapons for ScanEagle?; FAA test; Heavy fuel; NanoSAR ready; ScanEagle SECC variant.

SECC test
(click to view full)

Dec 30/10: Boeing receives a $14.5 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for additional “persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicle services in support of Marine Corps combat missions.”

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA (97%), and St. Louis, MO (3%), and is expected to be complete in February 2011. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/11 (N00019-09-C-0050).

Dec 28/10: A $68.3 million firm-fixed-price contract for “full-motion video from commercial un-manned air intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms across Iraq. Work will be completed in Baghdad, Iraq, with an estimated completion date of Dec 31/11. The bid was solicited through the Internet with 2 bids received by U.S. Central Command in Baghdad, Iraq (M67854-07-D-2052).

Dec 3/10: Weapons? Aviation Week reports that the US Navy is working on weapons that could give even the ScanEagle UAV hunter-killer capability. The 2 pound next-generation weapon management system (WMS GEN2) has been tested in the lab, and the development team is now looking at using the WMS GEN2 with the 5 pound NAWCAD Spike mini-missile, the Scan Eagle Guided Munition (SEGM), and a GPS-Guided Munition (G2M, likely the RCFC).

Sept 27/10: Boeing in St. Louis, MO receives a $5.7 million not-to-exceed indefinite-delivery /indefinite-quantity contract modification for 2,100 hours of persistent UAV intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services in support of US Navy and USMC missions.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA (94%, Insitu subsidiary) and St. Louis, MO (6%), and the contract will end in September 2011. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 20/10 (N00019-08-D-0013).

Sept 23/10: It took a while, but Boeing subsidiary Insitu, Inc. in Bingen, WA gets a $7.2 million modification to an American firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-09-C-0005), for Poland’s order of 10 ScanEagle systems. ScanEagle would join Aeronautics’ Orbiter mini-UAV and Aerostar tactical UAV, as UAVs available to Polish forces.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, and is expected to be complete in September 2011. $3.5 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. US Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, MD manages the contract on Poland’s behalf. See “Polish Equipment Issues and Consequences” for more in-depth coverage of the issues and pressures behind Poland’s purchase.

Poland

Aug 24/10: NightEagle. Insitu announces that its NightEagle conversion kit is now fully integrated into combat operations after successfully completing fielding of an upgraded mid-wave infrared (MWIR) imager payload. Insitu responded to an urgent, mission-critical request, using its deployed operations representatives to beat the schedule. The new configuration consists of upgrades to ground support equipment, new software, and specialized in-field training.

NightEagle

Integrator platform
(click to view full)

July 29/10: No ScanEagles for STUAS-II. Boeing subsidiary Insitu, Inc. in Bingen, WA wins a $43.7 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to provide its new Integrator UAVs under the USMC’s the small tactical unmanned aircraft system/Tier II unmanned aircraft system III (STUAS-II) competition. But the UAV that beats competitors like Raytheon’s KillerBee 4 is not a ScanEagle. Instead, it’s Insitu’s new Integrator UAV – which may herald the beginning of the end for ScanEagle. Integrator also uses catapult launch, and is recovered using the same Skyhook recovery systems as ScanEagle.

We won’t be covering other Integrator contracts in this article, just milestones that are relevant to ScanEagle’s future.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA (46.7%), Hood River, OR (45.6%), and Melbourne, FL (7.7%). Work is expected to be completed in September 2012, but $788,931 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/10. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals, with 4 proposals received by the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division in Lakehurst, NJ (N68335-10-C-0054). Insitu.

June 16/10: Poland. Reports surface that Poland has joined the customer list for Boeing’s leased ScanEagle UAV services, but details are scarce. At 15-20 hours endurance, ScanEagle offers longer on station time than leased Aeronautics DS’ Aerostars’ 8-12 hours. On the other hand, the Aerostar offers 110 pounds of payload, while ScanEagle offers just 13 pounds.

Shepard Group adds that Insitu has qualified a Mk4 catapult launcher, which will be compatible with both ScanEagle and Integrator, and is “ready to ship the launcher to an undisclosed customer in Afghanistan.” The Insitu spokesperson told them that around 35 ScanEagle systems of 5-10 UAVs each were operational with Australian, Canadian, Polish and US forces.

Aviation Week reports that Boeing is also in talks with a number of European countries to lease ScanEagle UAV services, with the option of an upgrade to their Insitu subsidiary’s slightly larger and more advanced Integrator UAV later on. Aviation Week | Shepard Group | StrategyPage.

June 12/10: Boeing receives a $59.5 million ceiling-priced modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-09-C-0050) to provide 3,300 flight hours of persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance UAV services to the U.S. Marine Corps.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA (97%), and St. Louis, MO (3%); and is expected to be complete in December 2010. $29.75 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/10.

June 8/10: FAA tests. Boeing subsidiary Insitu Inc. signs a cooperative research development agreement with the USA’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in order to guide the development of recommendations for UAV use in civil airspace. The research will be managed by the FAA’s Research and Technology Development Office and conducted at the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ. Insitu | FAA Fact Sheet.

Insitu will provide a ScanEagle system, related support hardware and data, and UAV training for FAA pilots and maintenance staff. Insitu will also supply documentation related to ScanEagle, including an open invitation for FAA personnel to visit Insitu.

June 2/10: Canada. Insitu announces that its ScanEagle has logged more than 17,000 combat flight hours and 1,700 sorties with the Canadian Forces, as part of a “rent a drone” service operated by their Canadian partner ING Engineering. ScanEagle has been deployed with the Canadian Forces in theater since 2008 and has completed a successful maritime flight demonstration aboard the Kingston Class patrol vessel HMCS Glace Bay.

May 13/10: Insitu Inc. announces that it has demonstrated its heavy fuel engine-configured ScanEagle UAS to the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence, in conjunction with the Joint Systems Integration Laboratory (JSIL). The tests at Fort Rucker, AL demonstrated interoperability between ScanEagle video with metadata and the U.S. Army’s One System Remote Video Terminal (OSRVT), a digital video encrypted data feed, a mid-wave infrared (MWIR) sensor for night scans, and Insitu’s stabilized airborne target tracking system.

May 12/10: SECC. Boeing tests its ScanEagle Compressed Carriage (SECC), whose 132-inch wingspan and folding aero surfaces let it be carried in a container and launched from an aircraft pylon, or a submarine. It’s recovered using the same SkyHook system as a regular ScanEagle.

ScanEagle SECC is powered by a 6 hp heavy-fuel engine. The test launched it from a ground vehicle, whereupon it flew an autonomous 75 minute flight plan at various altitudes, and provided streaming video to a nearby ground station. Boeing | Boeing feature w. video.

April 29/10: Insitu Inc. announces that its ScanEagle UAS recently exceeded 300,000 combat flight hours since its 1st operational flight in 2002, and accounted for approximately 22% of the 550,000 hours that American UAVs flew in 2009.

April 14/10: An $11 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-09-C-0050) to provide 6,600 flight hours of persistent ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) unmanned aircraft vehicle services in support of naval maritime missions. Work will be performed in Bingen, WA (97%), and St. Louis, MO (3%), and is expected to be complete in June 2010. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

March 16/10: Boeing subsidiary Insitu, Inc. in Bingen, WA received an $8.6 million firm-fixed-price contract for technical services, to support intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services. In addition, this contract covers 6 critical spare kits and 9 SkyHook recovery system modifications.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, and is expected to be complete in December 2010. Contract funds in the amount of $8.4 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/10. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-2 (N00019-10-C-0045).

Feb 23/10: Sensors – NanoSAR. Insitu Inc. announces that after 4 years of work with ImSAR LLC and 2 years of flight testing, the NanoSAR ground-scanning radar has moved out of development, is now available as a payload for its ScanEagle dual bay and follow on “Integrator” UAVs. See May 28/08, Jan 7/08 entries.

NanoSAR

Feb 19/10: A $6.1 million not-to-exceed modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract (N00019-08-D-0013) to provide 300 hours of persistent UAV intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services in support of naval maritime missions.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA (65%) and St. Louis, MO (35%), and is expected to be complete in July 2010. All contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

2009

US SOCOM MEAUS order; Canada SUAV order; Maersk Alabama rescue; E-737 AEW&C’s UAV control; ASW MagEagle?; Bandit & Enerlink datalinks.

ScanEagle UAV
(click for alternate view)

Dec 18/09: Bandit datalink. Boeing subsidiary Insitu Inc. announces that a flight test with L-3 Communication Systems-West’s Bandit digital data link worked “well in excess of range requirements.” Insitu is integrating the Bandit digital data link into its ScanEagle, NightEagle and Integrator UAVs. Bandit is Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) capable and ROVER 4/ 5 compatible. This test was conducted using the Integrator UAV, but tests also happened on a ScanEagle earlier in 2009.

Dec 1/09: USCG. Aviation Week reports that the US Coast Guard is still considering its UAV options:

“As part of its ongoing analysis, the service has participated in numerous exercises with other platforms [beyond the MQ-8B]… including Boeing’s A160 Hummingbird, an AeroVironment vehicle and ScanEagle tested on board a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ship.”

Nov 25/09: The University of North Dakota (UND) receives its ScanEagle UAS, to be used in Department of Defense (DOD) contracted research providing data for UAS national airspace integration. UND is a designated State Center of Excellence for UAS Research, Education and Training, and funds for this project were provided by a USAF research contract. UND Associate Professor of Aviation and Director of Program Development for the UAS Center of Excellence, Douglas Marshall, in Insitu’s Press release:

“To date, the university’s only fully trained operators and maintenance technicians are UND employees and primarily flight instructors. We hope to integrate a ScanEagle system into our curriculum and allow students to fly the system against a radar test bed, while learning to operate the UAS itself.”

Nov 24/09: Canada. Boeing subsidiary Insitu Inc. announces a successful ScanEagle flight demonstration aboard Canada’s Kingston class coastal patrol vessel HMCS Glace Bay [MM 701]. The demonstration was conducted by the Canadian Forces Maritime Warfare Centre (CFMWC), and included an in-flight handoff of the ScanEagle by Canadian Navy personnel aboard HMCS Glace Bay to a ground control station (GCS) operated by Canadian Army personnel at Naval Base Halifax.

Oct 19/09: ScanEagle wins C4ISR Magazine’s 2009 C4ISR Platforms Category Award. Insitu release | C4ISR Magazine.

Sept 28/09: Sensors – MagEagle? Boeing receives a $275,000 contract from the US Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) to study of the magnetic noise associated with the heavy-fuel propulsion system on Boeing’s MagEagle Compressed Carriage (MECC) ScanEagle variant. The MagEagle is being designed and built to be magnetically quiet, in order to help it locate, track and attack submarines using a magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) system that picks up the changes in earth’s magnetic field caused by large metal objects.

Boeing envisions MECC as another UAV extension of the manned P-8A Poseidon aircraft, launchable from the aircraft itself. They will begin testing the MECC sensor system, vehicle integration, and magnetic noise reduction in 2010. Boeing.

Aug 11/09: Insitu announces that ScanEagle recently surpassed the mark of 200,000 operational flight hours since 2004.

Aug 5/09: Insitu marks more than 2,500 combat flight hours and more than 300 shipboard sorties with its heavy fuel engine (HFE) ScanEagle since flight-testing began in 2006, which. ScanEagle HFE has been deployed aboard the destroyers USS Mahan and USS Milius, and uses the same JP-5 kerosene-based diesel fuel commonly used in jet aircraft engines, as opposed to the more flammable and dangerous auto gas. Other advantages include simple starting and operation, a wider weather envelope, improved reliability and increased endurance.

Insitu developed the engine in partnership with combustion system experts Sonex Research, Inc. in Annapolis, MD.

July 9/09: #1,000. Insitu Inc. marks delivery of its 1,000th ScanEagle, and announces that it is expanding its UAS manufacturing capacity.

May 27/09: Canada. Boeing announces $25 million in contracts to Canadian industry, as part of its $30 million industrial offsets commitment following Canada UAV services order. See also April 6/09 entry.

Winners include: ING Engineering Inc. (field services), MKS (MKS Integrity software and consulting services for program life-cycle management), and NovAtel (ScanEagle GPS).

May 22/09: The SEALs must have really liked what the ScanEagle did for them during the Maersk Alabama incident, and been satisfied with past experiments involving launches from their MkV boats and trials on other Navy ships. Boeing announces a 5-year, $250 million contract from US Special Operations Command for:

“Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) services… Boeing and its subsidiary Insitu Inc. will operate, maintain and support ScanEagle systems for the Special Operations Forces Mid Endurance Unmanned Aircraft System (MEUAS) program….”

Boeing VP of Boeing Defense & Government Services Greg Deiter says that Boeing’s past performance on ScanEagle battlefield surveillance contracts was a significant reason for their win. That kind of record will become a valuable competitive asset as new designs like the blended-wing KillerBee 4 begin competing in ScanEagle’s niche.

US SOCOM MEAUS

April 13/09: The Boeing Co. in St. Louis, MO received a $45.4 million ceiling-priced, unfinalized contract to provide persistent UAV services from land bases on the Afghan front.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA (65%) and St. Louis, MO (35%), and is expected to be complete in December 2009. Contract funds in the amount of $22.7 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured, pursuant to FAR(Federal Acquisition Regulations) 6.302-2 (N00019-09-C-0050).

April 9/09: Maersk Alabama rescue. The US Navy releases some stills from videos of the Maersk Alabama’s 28-foot closed lifeboat, taken by ScanEagle UAVs. The hostage incident ended a couple of days later, when Cmdr. Frank X. Castellano of the USS Bainbridge [DDG-96] ordered Navy sharpshooters to kill the Somali pirates who were holding Capt. Richard Phillips hostage. Photo 1 | Photo 2 | Photo 3.

Maersk Alabama

April 6-12/09: During this week, ScanEagle UAVs flew their 150,000th hour in service with the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Forces, U.S. Navy, U.S. Special Operations Command, Australian Army and Canadian Forces. Boeing release.

April 6/09: Insitu receives an award to provide “small unmanned aerial vehicle (SUAV) services” to support the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan, and elsewhere. See also Nov 6/08 entry. The initial contract is worth US$ 30 million, with options for another US$ 31 million.

As part of the Request for Proposal, Insitu Inc. must provide 100% industrial and regional offset benefits. Its association with Boeing, which has substantial Canadian operations, should make that easy. Canadian government.

Canada

April 1/09: Boeing subsidiary Insitu, Inc. in Bingen, WA received a $20.9 million firm-fixed-price contract to supply ScanEagle hardware for 4 operational sites, 3 spare/operational float packages, and critical spares kits in support of the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, and is expected to be complete in July 2009. This contract was not competitively procured, pursuant to FAR 6.302-2 (N00019-09-C-0005).

March 16/09: Australia – AWACS compatibility. Boeing’s two-fer. Australia’s Project JP129 failure has created an opening for Boeing’s ScanEagle UAV, but its flagship “Wedgetail” E-737 AWACS faces questions. Boeing responded by linking 2 birds with one datalink: a live demonstration in which a not-yet-delivered Wedgetail aircraft flying over Washington State, USA controlled and received sensor data from 3 ScanEagle UAVs.

The 3 ScanEagles were launched from Boeing’s Boardman Test Facility in eastern Oregon, approximately 120 miles/ 190 km away from the airborne Wedgetail. Using the company’s UAS battle-management software, airborne operators issued NATO-standard sensor and air-vehicle commands via a UHF satellite communication link and ground-station relay. Operators tasked the UAVs with area search, reconnaissance, point surveillance and targeting, while the UAVs sent back real-time video imagery of ground targets.

Boeing will conduct a follow-on demonstration for the Australian government in early May 2009 at RAAF Base Williamtown in New South Wales. A Wedgetail will take control of ScanEagles operated by Boeing Defence Australia personnel at Woomera Test Facility in South Australia, approximately 1,080 miles/ 1,730 km from Williamtown.

March 2/09: Singapore. Boeing announces that Singapore has been putting their ScanEagle UAV through ship-based trials, including flight from the helicopter decks of an LST amphibious support ship and a frigate. Boeing Defence Australia provided a complete maritime ScanEagle system for the successful trials, including a ground control station, communication links, launcher and SkyHook recovery system. They were complemented by a Boeing/ Insitu support team that was deployed to Singapore.

Jan 21/09: EnerLinks datalink. Viasat subsidiary Enerdyne Technologies Inc. signs an agreement with Insitu Inc. to supply its EnerLinksII DVA digital data link technology for use in the ScanEagle UAV. The EnerLinksII DVA is a small 3″ x 5″ x 1″ module that’s placed between the ScanEagle’s sensors and the RF transmitter, using less than 8 watts and weighing under 0.5 pounds.

The concept of a DVA (Digital Video over Analog) system involves simple conversion of older FM analog video links to encrypted digital links, without replacing any of the RF equipment in either the aircraft or the ground. EnerLinksII’s improved digital performance improves both UAV video link range and bandwidth use by a factor of 4, and can transmit 2 Mbps of IP data simultaneously with compressed FMV (Full Motion Video). Features include H.264 compression, IP multiplexing, AES encryption, FEC coding, and modulation waveshaping.

Jan 7/09: Boeing subsidiary Insitu announces that its ScanEagle unmanned aircraft system has just completed its 1,500th shipboard sortie in service with the U.S. Navy.

2008

US Navy win; US SOCOM, Canada place initial orders; Australian subsidiary; Shot locator, SWIR camera variants; NanoSAR.

ScanEagle returns
(click to view full)

Nov 26/08: Sensors – shot locator. The US Office of Naval Research and Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division discuss a Navy Expeditionary Overwatch (NEO) program exercise, which involved US Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) sailors deploying a ScanEagle UAV, a manned Humvee with “Gunslinger” shot location and counterfire system, and an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) on a successful mission to detect and engage fictional insurgents over a 10 square mile radius.

The Gunslinger Humvee’s remote-control gun is operated by a gunner who sits at a control panel in the back seat. The Mk 45 weapons system is hooked up to video and infrared cameras connected to a set of sensors designed to detect gunfire, including a device that watches for muzzle flashes and listens for gunshots. It then points the remote-controlled weapons system on the Hummer’s roof at the source of fire.

At the Potomac River NEO demonstration, warfighters in the Humvee used the Gunslinger’s acoustic detection package and infrared sensors to determine the location of hostile fire and automatically move the weapon in the direction of the fire for friendly force response. The 36-foot-long semi-autonomous USV was also equipped with a Gunslinger payload and a range of sensors and communications systems. US Navy release | The Register re: Gunslinger..

Nov 12/08: Boeing receives a $65 million estimated value modification to a previously awarded indefinite delivery indefinite quantity “Interim UAS” contract, exercising an option for “persistent unmanned aerial system intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance services in support of Global War on Terror, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom sea-based deployments and land-based detachments.” That’s milspeak for contractor operation and maintenance of ScanEagle UAVs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA (65%); and St. Louis, MO (35%), and is expected to be complete in November 2009. Contract funds in the amount of $6.8 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year (N00019-08-D-0013).

Nov 6/08: Canada. Canada issues a MERX solicitation (W8486-09MGSL/A) for a leased small UAV service. Canada is already leasing ScanEagle UAVs that can fulfill the MERX requirements: 90% operational availability, 12 hours on station, ability to gather and transmit high quality imagery from a distance of 50km.

Aug 6/08: Sensors – SWIR. Boeing and Goodrich Corporation announce that they have successfully flight-tested a ScanEagle unmanned aircraft equipped for the first time with a short-wave infrared (SWIR) camera. A SWIR camera can see more effectively in fog, rain or when little or no heat is radiated, which makes it especially useful for maritime surveillance. Boeing release.

July 22/08: Merger. Boeing buys its partner Insitu, which will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems’ Military Aircraft division. Subsequent reports place the price at around $400 million:

“Insitu’s key technologies and advanced capabilities in rapid prototyping and manufacturing are driving its revenue to an anticipated $150 million this year, 70 percent higher than in 2007, and have it well positioned for the future… Terms of the cash transaction were not disclosed. This transaction, anticipated to close by the end of September following regulatory approvals, does not affect Boeing’s financial guidance.”

Insitu, Inc. retained investment bankers Houlihan Lokey for the acquisition, and terms of the sale were not disclosed. Insitu’s investors are led by Battery Ventures, Second Avenue Partners, and Pteranodon Ventures. Boeing | Insitu | Wall Street Journal (subscription reqd).

Boeing buyout

June 2/08: Boeing received an estimated $65 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract to “provide persistent Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance services supporting the Global War on Terror, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom sea-based deployments and land-based detachments.” The language above refers to their ScanEagle operation services, which are undertaken in cooperation with Insitu.

Work will be performed in Bingen, WA, (65%); and St. Louis, MO (35%) and is expected to be complete in May 2009. Contract funds in the amount of $7 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured by electronic request for proposals, with 2 offers received (N00019-08-D-0013). Boeing release | Insitu copy.

Interim UAS win

May 28/08: NanoSAR. The NanoSAR test program continues, as Boeing, ImSAR and Insitu Inc. achieve real-time processing of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data aboard a ScanEagle UAV which is also equipped with a standard inertially stabilized electro-optical (EO) camera. The tests marked the first time SAR and EO capabilities have flown together on such a small, lightweight platform, and involved real-time SAR processing with streaming radar images displayed on the ground station. Creating real-time images onboard ScanEagle eliminates the requirement of either processing imagery on the ground after flight or using high-speed data links to a ground station. Insitu release.

May 26/08: Australia. Insitu, Inc.partners with the Queensland state government in Australia to announce the formation of its wholly owned subsidiary, Insitu Pacific Pty Ltd. The release adds that:

“Insitu, along with Boeing Australia, is proud to be part of the experienced team that has delivered more than 13,000 surveillance and reconnaissance flight hours to help protect Australian troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Insitu Pacific

April 29/08: Insitu announces that the ScanEagle has now surpassed 50,000 combat flight hours with the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEF) in Iraq and 1,000 shipboard recoveries with the U.S. Navy.

April 22/08: Testing. Insitu announces that it has flown Heavy Fuel Engine (HFE) equipped ScanEagles in Iraq, in cooperation with the US Navy. Heavy fuel refers to the kerosene-based fuel used in diesel and/or jet aircraft engines such as JP5, JP8, or Jet-A. ScanEagles flying in Iraq are using naval JP5 fuel, which is designed to be safer aboard ships.

The effort involved Insitu, Boeing, and Sonex Research Inc. in Annapolis, MD. The effort took 2 years of development and included over 2000 hours of testing, including a new ScanEagle flight endurance mark of 28 hours, 44 minutes using JP5. Insitu release.

April 18/08: Recall the Feb 7/08 launches from a Navy SEAL MkV boat, and demonstration by AFSOC at Hurlburt Field, FL.

Insitu Group, Inc., of Bingen, WA receives a firm-fixed price contract with a not-to-exceed value of $24 million for unmanned aircraft system information gathering, target surveillance, and reconnaissance services in support of U.S. Special Operations Command. The work will be performed in Bingen, WA and 3 other undisclosed locations using FY 2008 operations and maintenance funds (H92222-08-C-0022).

US SOCOM

March 25/08: Canada stands up an SUAV (Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) Troop. After live flight training in New Mexico, SUAV Troop deploys to Afghanistan to operate leased ScanEagles, which are referred to as “Interim SUAV”. Source: CASR.

Canada

Feb 7/08: US AFSOC. Air Force Special Operations Command, as the lead command for small unmanned aircraft systems, highlights the capabilities of the Scan Eagle during a demonstration at the Eglin Air Force Base test range. AFSOC has been training with the 820th Security Forces Group from Moody Air Force Base, GA since September 2007, to employ the system. AFSOC release.

Feb 7/08: USN SEALs. A Scan Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle is launched from a MK V naval special warfare boat off the coast of San Clemente Island. This is the first time a Scan Eagle, used for various applications such as intelligence gathering and battle damage assessment, has been launched from this kind of platform. Insitu photo links.

Jan 14/08: USN’s Interim UAS. Jane’s reports that:

“Industry rivals are waiting to hear if they have ousted the Boeing/Insitu ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from its role as provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) support for US Navy ships at sea. A decision on the interim UAS contract, which will provide ISR imagery services to warships and to the US Marine Corps into the next decade, is expected in late January or early February 2008.”

Other competitors are thought to include AAI Corporation’s long-endurance Mk 4 Aerosonde, Aurora Flight Sciences’ vertical take-off and landing GoldenEye 80, BAE Systems’ Skylynx II, MTC Technologies’ Spyhawk T-16 and Raytheon/Swift Engineering’s Killer Bee. Insitu link.

UPDATE: the decision took until June 2008, and ScanEagle won.

NanoSAR on ScanEagle
(click to view full)

Jan 7/08: Sensors – NanoSAR. Boeing, Insitu, and ImSAR conduct a successful flight-test for the tiny NanoSAR Synthetic Aperture Radar aboard a ScanEagle UAV. The NanoSAR is a 2-pound system about the size of a shoebox, which is a couple orders of magnitude lighter than most SAR systems. As a sign of the times, “import to Google Earth” is an option for the system.

As a comparison, the I-Master SAR aboard Britain’s new Watchkeeper UAVs is considered small at 65 pounds. SAR radars aren’t an all-purpose replacement for ScanEagle’s existing electro-optical sensors, but they’re a very important complement because of their ability to see through fog, dust, et. al. The issue for NanoSAR will be providing acceptable resolution and coverage despite its tiny size.

Targets for the 1.5 hour test flight at the Boardman, OR test range included vehicles, structures and corner reflectors. Data collection worked as planned, and SAR imagery was later created on the ground. The next step in flight testing will be to create imagery aboard the UA in real time. Boeing release | ImSAR on NanoSAR | Insitu re: NanoSAR.

Additional Readings

• Insitu – ScanEagle System. ScanEagle is closely derived from the “Insight” base platform.

• Insitu – ScanEagle Imagers.

• Insitu – ScanEagle 2 The Limit.

News & Views

• Smithsonian Magazine, via WayBack (June 2011) – Drones are Ready for Takeoff.

• DoD Buzz, via WayBack (Oct 6/09) – FAA Acts or Drones Stop Flying. “Army drones will have to curtail training and operational flights by fiscal 2012 in the United States unless the FAA approves some form of UAS deconfliction, a top Army UAS official says.”

• IEEE Spectrum, via WayBack (January 2009) – Winner: Radio Eye in the Sky. Covers the concept of ultra-small SAR surface-looking radars.

• DID (June 12/07) – Boeing Operating ScanEagle UAVs for Australia. The rent-a-UAV concept gains another customer.

• Flight International, via WayBack (June 6/07) – Evergreen alliance with Insitu for civil UAV market. “Semi-civil” might be a better way of putting it. They will use Insitu’s Insight platform.

• DID (Jan 26/07) – ScanEagle + ShotSpotter = Sniper Spotter.

• Inc. Magazine, via WayBack (June 1/06) – How I Did It: Steven Sliwa, CEO and president, The Insitu Group

• DID (June 8/06) – ScanEagle to Detect Biological Agents. The program is called ScanEagle BCAS.

Americas

• AAI Corporation has secured a contract for a maximum of $475 million for the provision of mid-endurance unmanned aircraft systems intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance services at multiple locations worldwide. An indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity award, the work includes a 54-month period of performance, with four 12-month ordering periods followed by one six-month ordering period. Estimated completion date is July 2022.

• The DoD has announced the successful demonstration of Perdix mini-UAVs, released by three F/A-18 Super Hornets. 103 of the mirco-drones were released during the exercise and were capable of performing advanced swarm behaviors such as collective decision-making, adaptive formation flying, and self-healing. According to the DoD, the October 2016 demonstration represents one of the first examples of the Pentagon using teams of small, inexpensive, autonomous systems to perform missions once achieved only by large, expensive ones.

• A one hundred billion dollar plan for the US Navy to procure 12 new Columbia-class nuclear submarines has moved forward. Outgoing Pentagon acquisition undersecretary Frank Kendall gave his blessing to the program, announcing the Milestone B approval, which will move work on the new subs into the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase. With less than ten days left of the Obama administration, it is expected that President-elect Donald Trump will continue the effort after his inauguration on January 20. Costing $127 billion and expected to stretch into the 2030s, the program will see Ohio-class nuclear submarines replaced in what was originally referred to as the Ohio Class Replacement (ORP).

Middle East & North Africa

• Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) will collaborate with Sierra Nevada Corp. to offer a trainer to the USAF’s T-X competition. Dubbed the SNC-TAI Freedom Trainer, the aircraft is a lightweight twin-engine trainer with an all composite airframe and a fully digital fly-by-wire (FBW) flight control system. The trainer also utilizes a significant amount of existing off-the-shelf subsystems, aimed at keeping procurement and running costs low. Speaking on the collaborator’s offering, Sierra’s president Fatih Ozmen said “In this day of tight budgets and looming operations and sustainment bow waves, it only makes sense for the Air Force to spend less up-front so they can save more over the life cycle, which is why this training system makes so much sense.”

Europe

• Production of a Laser Directed Energy Weapon demonstrator has been ordered by the UK government, with MBDA and industry partners from the UK Dragonfire consortium winning a $36 million contract to carry out the work. It is hoped that the weapon will be demonstrated by 2019, eventually entering service by the mid-2020s. London also signed a $303 million Integrated Support and Training contract with Leonardo Helicopters in a five year deal for the provision of support work of Royal Navy AW159 Wildcat ASW helicopters.

• General Atomics will provide MQ-9 Reaper UAVs to the Spanish government, following a $53 million contract award by the USAF. The order is an adjustment to an existing basic ordering agreement between the United States and Spain. In 2015, Madrid selected the Reaper over the Heron TP to perform homeland security, counter-insurgency, and counter-terrorism operations. The procurement is expected to cost some $181 million over five years.

• The Russian branch in charge of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, the Strategic Missile Troops, plan to switch to an all digital communication network by 2020. Speaking on the plan, Defense Ministry sources said that the last four years have seen the equipping of missile launch centers and command points across the country with new digital telecommunication equipment. “If the current pace of modernization is maintained, by 2020 the Russian Strategic Missile Forces will be 100-percent equipped with digital data transmission technologies,” the statement said.

Asia Pacific

• Discussions are underway between the governments of India and Vietnam over the potential sale of India’s indigenous Akash air defense missile system. Hanoi is keen for negotiations to include a possible technology transfer, while New Delhi is leaning toward promoting an initial off-the-shelf purchase of the system prior to any discussions over technology transfer and joint production. Vietnam represents a growing market for Indian training and gear, with India already set to provide training to Vietnamese Su-30MKI fighter pilots, and they have already trained sailors on operating Kilo-class submarines.

Today’s Video

The release of Perdix mini-UAVs from F/A-18 Super Hornets:

India’s new surface-to-air missile, the Akash, successfully struck an airborne target towed from a remote control aircraft in late November. The weapon is designed to hit aircraft up to 25 km away with a 55 kg warhead. Reuters: India Test-Fires Akash Missile

Update

January 11/2017: Discussions are underway between the governments of India and Vietnam over the potential sale of India’s indigenous Akash air defense missile system. Hanoi is keen for negotiations to include a possible technology transfer, while New Delhi is leaning toward promoting an initial off-the-shelf purchase of the system prior to any discussions over technology transfer and joint production. Vietnam represents a growing market for Indian training and gear, with India already set to provide training to Vietnamese Su-30MKI fighter pilots, and they have already trained sailors on operating Kilo-class submarines.

Basic Nuclear Propulsion
(click to expand)

This DII Spotlight article covers American nuclear propulsion industrial base contracts since the beginning of FY 2006. The USA has had an all-nuclear submarine fleet for over 50 years, a policy that dates back to the visionary Admiral Hyman Rickover. On the surface, America’s aircraft carriers became an all-nuclear fleet with the retirement of the USS Kitty Hawk [CV 63], and FY 2008-09 spending legislation pushed the US Navy to use nuclear power in its future CG (X) cruisers and new amphibious ship classes. At present, however, carriers are the only nuclear-powered American surface ships on the drawing board.

The civilian nuclear sector has seen major advances over the last 2 decades, and so has the military sector. The commitment to a nuclear fleet includes funding for those technical advances, as well as work to maintain both the reactors on board American ships, and the industrial base that supports them.

Nuclear Naval Propulsion Around the World

CVN Charles de Gaulle
(click to view full)

Several navies around the world currently use nuclear propulsion in at least some ships and submarines. Britain’s sale of its SSK Upholder Class to Canada (as the problem-plagued Victoria Class) has made them an all-nuclear submarine fleet, like their American allies. China, France, India, and Russia all use naval nuclear propulsion within mixed submarine fleets, and Brazil has launched an SSN program of its own.

On the surface, America’s aircraft carriers are joined by France’s problem-plagued aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle, and by Russia’s Kirov Class cruisers.

The saga of the Charles de Gaulle serves as a reminder that adapting nuclear power technologies to the small spaces of a submarine, or installing them a surface warship, is no trivial feat. Much can go wrong, even in nations that have considerable naval nuclear propulsion experience.

On the flip side, advances in design can offer significant benefits. The new nuclear plants in America’s Virginia Class and Seawolf Class fast attack subs, and in Britain’s new Astute Class fast attack submarines, offer designs that will save billions of dollars by eliminating the standard mid-life reactor refueling.

American Contracts (FY 2006 – Present)

SSN-774 cutaway:
Virginia Class
(click to view: Large!)

Most contracts noted here are awarded by the US Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) in Washington, DC. The exception is Babcock & Wilcox contracts. They’re issued by the US Department of Energy, rather than the Department of Defense, even though they’re defense-related.

Completion dates or other additional information are not provided for Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program contracts as a matter of official policy. Other contracts related to maintenance, however, may show completion dates.

FY 2017

Over $13 billion in contracts; mPower fails to gain traction.

CVN-71, Indian Ocean
(click to view full)

January 11/17: A one hundred billion dollar plan for the US Navy to procure 12 new Columbia-class nuclear submarines has moved forward. Outgoing Pentagon acquisition undersecretary Frank Kendall gave his blessing to the program, announcing the Milestone B approval, which will move work on the new subs into the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase. With less than ten days left of the Obama administration, it is expected that President-elect Donald Trump will continue the effort after his inauguration on January 20. Costing $127 billion and expected to stretch into the 2030s, the program will see Ohio-class nuclear submarines replaced in what was originally referred to as the Ohio Class Replacement (ORP).

December 29/16: Bechtel Plant Machinery will deliver nuclear propulsion components in a $303 million US Navy contract. The components provide nuclear propulsion capabilities to power a variety of Navy vessels, including submarines and aircraft carriers, by drawing power from a small nuclear power plant installed on the vessel. Bechtel received $205 million in Fiscal 2016 shipbuilding and Fiscal 2017 procurement funding at the time of the award.

FY 2013 – 2014

Over $13 billion in contracts; mPower fails to gain traction.

July 23/14: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $39.4 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification for naval nuclear propulsion components. All funds are committed immediately, and work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (99%), and Schenectady, NY (1%) (N00024-12-C-2106).

May 5/14: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $17.8 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract for naval nuclear propulsion components. All funds are committed immediately, and work will be performed in Schenectady, NY (68%), and Monroeville, PA (32%) (N00024-12-C-2106).

April 30/14: Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group announces 7 orders from the US Naval Reactors Program, worth about $195 million in total.

The first 4 are new, incrementally funded contracts for SSBN-X submarine reactor engineering design, fabrication and development work. They total $76.8 million.

A $23.7 million FY 2014 order will manufacture nuclear components to support US defense programs, including naval nuclear power systems for submarines and aircraft carriers. It’s part of a previously announced $1.3 billion contract.

A $76 million FY 2014 order buys material to be used in the assembly of nuclear propulsion components, as part of a previously announced $366 million contract (q.v. May 15/13).

Finally, a new $18.8 million contract covers FY 2014 disassembly and recovery of highly enriched uranium materials. Sources: B&W NOG, “B&W Announces $195 Million in Naval Reactors Contracts and Orders”.

April 14/14: mPower. B&W had hoped for civilian projects using its small modular mPower reactor design (q.v. July 14/10), which built on US naval nuclear reactor technology to create safer and more compact 3++ generation reactors. Unfortunately, that hasn’t worked out. From “B&W Announces Restructuring of Small Modular Reactor Program”:

“B&W continues to believe in the strength of the mPower technology, but without the ability to secure significant additional investors or customer Engineering, Procurement and Construction contracts to provide the financial support necessary to develop and deploy mPower reactors, the current development pace will be slowed…. B&W notified the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on April 9 of its plans for reduced spending, indicating it would work with the DOE and other stakeholders during the next one to two months to confirm the best path forward to develop a mutually agreeable plan including program milestones for continuing the cost-shared industry partnership program. B&W expects to invest up to $15 million annually, beginning the third quarter of 2014.”

mPower downgraded

March 28/14: Personnel. Babcock & Wilcox restructures its government operations, moving the Nuclear Operations Group, Nuclear Fuel Services, and B&W Technical Services Group, Inc. under President and COO Peyton S. (Sandy) Baker. In parallel, Kenneth R. Camplin is named Government Operations VP and Chief Business Development Officer, and Charles G. (Chuck) Spencer, will serve as COO of the Technical Services Group. Sources: B&W, “B&W Restructures Government Operations; Names Peyton S. Baker to Lead”.

Feb 27/14: Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. receives 2 contract worth about $302 million from the US Department of Energy’s Naval Reactors Laboratory Field Office. Both are 1-year contracts with an added 1-year option.

The 1st contract involves the manufacture and delivery of fuel and support activities for the US Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, as the program’s sole provider since 1964. The 2nd covers development of material for future Naval Reactors programs.

Work under the contracts will be performed at NFS facilities in Erwin, TN from January 2014 through February 2016. Sources: B&W, “B&W Subsidiary Awarded Up to $302 Million in Contracts for Naval Reactors Fuel, Materials Services”.

Nov 5/13: Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corp. in San Francisco, CA receives a $7.07 billion contract modification for naval nuclear propulsion work at the Bettis & Knolls Atomic Power Laboratories. Bechtel says it’s 1 of 2 concurrent 5-year contracts that add up to about $13 billion, split between the US Department of Energy and the US Navy.

Under the two 5-year extensions, Bechtel will continue providing management and operations services at the Bettis and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratories, and will continue its work in support of the US Naval Reactors Program through Sept 30/18. Bechtel has provided management and operation services for the labs since 2009, and their management and operation services at the Bettis Laboratory extend all the way back to 1999.

Work will be performed in Schenectady, NY (58%), Pittsburgh, PA (32%), and Idaho Falls, ID (10%). $82.9 million in FY 2014 funding is committed immediately, and if fully funded, $484.7 million will expire at the end of the fiscal year, on Sept 30/14 (N00024-08-C-2103). Sources: Pentagon | Bechtel, “Bechtel Awarded Contract Extensions for US Naval Reactors Program”.

$13 billion multi-year extensions

Oct 29/13: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $197.6 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification for naval nuclear propulsion components. All funds are committed immediately, using the Navy’s FY 2014 other procurement funds. Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (93%), and Schenectady, NY (7%) (N00024-12-C-2106).

May 21/13: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $7.1 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification for Naval Nuclear Propulsion Components. Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (80.4%), and Schenectady, NY (19.6%) (N00024-12-C-2106).

May 15/13: Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. announces a $366 million contract from the US Naval Reactors Program, for material to be used in the assembly of nuclear propulsion components. An initial $75 million has been released, with the rest available over the next 6 years from 2014 – 2019. Work will take place in B&W NOG’s Lynchburg, VA facility. Sources: B&W NOG, May 15/13 release.

Feb 11/13: Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. announces 2 U.S. Naval Reactors Program contracts totaling approximately $36 million, building nuclear components for Virginia Class submarines. $32 million is for nuclear propulsion components, and $4 million is for long lead-time items. Work began in Q4 2012 and will be performed at B&W’s Lynchburg, VA facility over a 4-year period. Sources: B&W NOG, Feb 11/13 release.

Feb 5/13: Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. announces “more than $510 million” in contracts to make nuclear components over an 8-year to support U.S. defense programs, “…including the manufacture of naval nuclear power systems for submarines and aircraft carriers. The entire amount was appropriated in the fourth quarter of 2012.”

Over $445 million was issued as options under the $2 billion contract awarded in 2010 (q.v. Oct 19/09), while over $65 million is issued under a new FY 2013 agreement. Work will be performed at B&W NOG’s Lynchburg, VA facility; at Barberton and Euclid, OH; and Mt. Vernon, IN facilities, beginning January 2013. Sources: B&W NOG, Feb 5/13 release.

Nov 20/12: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $330.1 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract for naval nuclear propulsion components.

Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (91.09%) and Schenectady, NY (8.91%). $253 million is committed at the time of award, and $1.6 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/12 (N00024-12-C-2106).

Nov 15/12: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $355.9 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for naval nuclear propulsion components.

Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (68.75%), and Schenectady, NY (31.25%). US Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC manages the contract (N00024-13-C-2121).

FY 2012

About $1.5 billion in contracts.

July 12/12: Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. announces 3 US Naval Reactors Program contracts, worth a total of about $73 million. The contracts are for “technology development and nuclear manufacturing in support of US Navy training operations and other naval nuclear-related programs.”

June 28/12: Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. announces 2 US Naval Reactors Program contracts, worth a total of about $82 million. They’ll make steam generating components, and perform disassembly and recovery of highly enriched uranium materials.

May 15/12: Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $20 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification for Naval Nuclear Propulsion components. Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (96.33%), and Schenectady, NY (3.67%), under (N00024-12-C-2106).

May 9/12: Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. (B&W NOG) announces a 5-year, $130 million contract for nuclear reactor components, “based on recent technological advances that will be used on the U.S. Navy’s Virginia-Class submarines.” The release adds that this award is not part of any similar, previously announced contracts, but stands on its own as an added buy.

Work will be performed at B&W NOG’s Lynchburg, VA facility, beginning immediately.

Feb 6/12: Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $583 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (65.9%), and Schenectady, NY (34.1%), under (N00024-12-C-2107).

Feb 1/12: Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corp. in San Francisco, CA receives a $359.7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification for nuclear propulsion work at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. Work will be performed in Norwich, CT (84.9%); Monroeville, PA (12.5%); and Norfolk, VA (2.6%), under (N00024-08-C-2103).

Feb 1/12: Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $12.6 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification to exercise an option for naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (N00024-12-C-2106).

It’s possible that this announcement supersedes an erroneous announcement the day before.

Jan 31/12: Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $12.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification to exercise an option for naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (N00024-12-C-2106).

Nov 17/11: Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $261.6 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for naval nuclear propulsion components. $140.8 million of that is being committed now, with the rest available if and as needed.

Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (97.7%), and Schenectady, NY (2.3%). $1,000,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/12 (N00024-12-C-2106).

Nov 3/11: Babcock & Wilcox subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. (NFS) announces a $114.9 million contract extension to manufacture and deliver fuel and support activities for the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion program.

NFS manufactures nuclear fuel for the U.S. Navy’s fleet of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines, also processes HEU in a highly secure, NRC-licensed Category 1 facility. They’ve been doing that for over 50 years.

FY 2011

About $1.96 billion in contracts so far; $2b contract to B&W from 2011-2013.

May 27/11: Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc., Monroeville, PA receives a $26.8 million contract modification for naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (93.7%), and Schenectady, NY (6.3%) (N00024-07-C-2100).

Feb 11/11: Babcock & Wilcox subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. (NFS) announces a $79 million 2011 contract extension to manufacture and deliver fuel and support activities for the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion program.

Jan 13/11: Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. announces an award of approximately $2 billion for the manufacture of nuclear components to support US defense programs, which includes the manufacture of naval nuclear power systems for submarines and aircraft carriers. The base portion of the contract, which totals $807 million, will be funded in January and March and included in backlog at the end of 2010. The options are expected to be funded in FY 2012 and 2013. The work will be performed over a 10-year period, beginning in January 2011. Babcock & Wilson was spun off from McDermott International in July 2010 (see Jan 27/10 entry re the Nuclear Operations Group). Babcox & Wilcox release.

Nov 29/10: Bechtel Plant Machinery in Monroeville, PA receives a $232.3 million contract modification to for naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (90.2%), and Schenectady, NY (9.8%). $3.6 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, on Sept 30/10 (N00024-07-C-2100).

This brings the firm’s announced FY 2011 contracts to $1.047 billion.

Oct 29/10: Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $303.5 million contract modification for naval nuclear propulsion components.

Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (70.8%), and Schenectady, NY (29.2%). This is a NAVSEA contract (N00024-07-C-2102).

Oct 25/10: Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a new $511.3 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for naval nuclear propulsion components.

Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (70.8%), and Schenectady, NY (29.2%). This is a NAVSEA contract (N00024-11-C-2127).

FY 2010

mPower brings miniaturization to civil tech; $1.39 billion in contracts.

mPower reactor
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July 14/10: mPower. All that work on more compact reactors may be about to start paying civilian dividends as well. Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Energy, Inc. and Bechtel Power Corporation announce a formal alliance to design, license and deploy the world’s first commercially viable Generation III++ small modular nuclear power plant. This is a purely civilian project, but it draws heavily on existing experience in both civilian and military reactor construction, and could have feedback loops into future military design and deployment.

This new “Generation mPower” alliance aims to build on the 125 megawatt B&W mPower SMR(Small Modular Reactor) development program underway for the past 2 years. B&W will focus on designing and testing the nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) and nuclear island, including the design certification application development and submission, and NSSS production. Bechtel will complement these responsibilities with integrated engineering and project management leadership. Depending on regulatory approval and other factors, the alliance believes that the first plant could be deployed as early as 2020. B&W release | B&W feature, incl. video. | Bechtel release | Bechtel feature, incl. video. | Wall St. Journal.

April 29/10: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $37.3 million modification to a previously awarded contract for naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (90%) and Schenectady, NY (10%). Contract funds in the amount of $923,558 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year (N00024-07-C-2100).

Jan 27/10: Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. announces an award of approximately $450 million for the manufacture of nuclear components to support U.S. defense programs, which includes the manufacture of U.S. Naval nuclear power systems for submarines and aircraft carriers.

Babcock & Wilcox is an operating group of McDermott International, Inc., and employs about 4,000 people. B&W NOG is headquartered in Lynchburg, VA, with locations in Barberton, OH; Mount Vernon, IN; and Euclid, OH; as well as at subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. in Erwin, TN. Together, the facilities offer a range of nuclear components and services, from providing nuclear fuel and the manufacture of reactors for U.S. Naval submarines and aircraft carriers to other nuclear and non-nuclear R&D and component production. The company also performs plutonium and uranium decontamination and decommissioning, facility stabilization, and nuclear materials management. Babcock & Wilcox release.

Nov 18/09: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $248.8 million modification to a previously awarded contract for naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (95%) and Schenectady, NY (5%). Contract funds in the amount of $326.7 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year (N00024-07-C-2100).

Nov 10/09: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $110.5 million modification to a previously awarded contract for additional naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Schenectady, NY (86%) and Monroeville, PA (14%) (N00024-07-C-2102).

Oct 19/09: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives a $523.5 million cost-plus-fixed fee contract for naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Monroeville, PA (67%) and Schenectady, NY (33%)

Subsequent releases indicate that this contract actually has a total potential value of over $2 billion (N00024-10-C-2119).

Oct 13/09: General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp. in Groton, CT received an $18.1 million modification to a previously awarded contract for reactor plant planning yard services for nuclear-powered submarines and support yard services for the US Navy’s moored training ships. The contractor will furnish, fabricate, or acquire such materials, supplies and services as may be necessary to perform the functions of the planning yard for reactor plants and associated portions of the propulsion plants for nuclear-powered submarines.

Work will be performed in Groton, CT (95%), Charleston, SC (5%), and is expected to be complete by September 2010. This contract was not competitively procured by the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC (N00024-07-C-2103).

FY 2009

$2.66 billion in contracts, which includes part of a $2.66 billion, 10-year contract to B&W.

May 29/09: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Monroeville, PA receives an $11.7 million modification to a previously awarded contract for Naval Nuclear Propulsion Components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, PA (90.5%) and Schenectady, NY (9.5%). Contract funds in the amount of $233,157 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year (N00024-07-C-2100).

Feb 25/09: Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. announces awards “in excess of $1 billion” for the manufacture of nuclear components to support U.S. defense programs, including the manufacture of U.S. Naval nuclear power systems for submarines and aircraft carriers. This work is part of a previously negotiated and announced set of contracts that, if fully executed, will be worth more than $2.66 billion in revenue over 10 years.

As a result of this increased workload, B&W NOG expects to hire an estimated 250 new salaried and hourly employees throughout 3 of its locations. B&W NOG is headquartered in Lynchburg, VA, with locations in Barberton, OH; Mount Vernon, IN; and Euclid, OH; as well as at subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. in Erwin, TN.

Nov 3/08: Curtiss-Wright Corporation announces a contract from Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc. (BPMI), to provide critical valves for the nuclear propulsion systems in the U.S. Navy’s next 4 Virginia-Class submarines, and the 2nd Ford-Class Aircraft Carrier [CVN 79]. The contract contains options for up to 4 more sets: a submarine ship-set and an aircraft carrier ship-set funded in 2008, and 2 additional submarine ship-sets to be funded in 2009.

The value is over $83 million if all options are exercised, and the initial award is for an initial ship-set of submarine valves and long lead materials valued at approximately $15 million. Curtiss-Wright’s Flow Control segment will perform the work at its facility in East Farmingdale, NY. Delivery is scheduled to commence in 2009 and continue through 2017.

Variants of Curtiss-Wright’s Smart, Leakless Valves are already used in the commercial nuclear power industry. These fully automated, sealed solenoid valves can control the flow of liquids, gas, and steam, withstanding up to 2500 psi pressure and 670F temperatures while requiring little to no maintenance over long periods. The firm is now using the valve beyond nuclear power applications, and has a $62 million contract to retrofit all of the JP-5 jet fuel pumping station valves on the U.S. Navy’s Nimitz class aircraft carriers.

Oct 30/08: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Pittsburgh, PA receives a $605 million modification to previously awarded contract for additional naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, PA (68%) and Schenectady, NY (32%) (N00024-07-C-2102).

Oct 16/08: Babcock & Wilcox announces a new award for the manufacture of nuclear components in support of U.S. defense programs. The contracts employ a multiple-award approach over a number of years, which is designed to give the U.S. government cost predictability, while providing B&W with additional financial incentives based on performance.

Under this award, the contracts for 2008 are valued in excess of $230 million. They are the initial contracts under a negotiated set of orders that, if executed, would total more than $960 million between 2008 – 2010. These awards are in addition to a $1.7 billion series of contracts that B&W previously announced for 2007 – 2009. If all future orders are placed, the total value of the awards for the period of 2007 – 2010 would be approximately $2.66 billion.

Oct 15/08: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Pittsburgh, PA receives a $200.5 million cost plus fixed fee modification to previously awarded contract for Naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, PA (97%) and Schenectady, NY (3%) (N00024-07-C-2100).

Oct 15/08: KAPL Inc. (Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory) in Schenectady, NY receives a $62.2 million cost plus fixed fee modification to previously awarded contract for Naval nuclear propulsion work during FY 2009. This is the contract’s 9th year of performance.

Work will be performed in Schenectady, NY, and funding in the amount of $39.1 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The original contract was competitively procured (N00024-00-C-4011).

Oct 14/08: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Pittsburgh, PA received a $349 million cost plus fixed fee contract for naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, PA (77%) and Schenectady, NY (23%) (N00024-09-C-2108).

Oct 10/08: Bechtel Bettis Inc. in West Mifflin, PA received a $205.3 million cost-plus-fixed fee modification for FY 2009 naval nuclear propulsion work at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. Work will be performed in West Mifflin, PA, and contract funds in the amount of $90 million will expire at the end of FY 2009 (N00024-98-C-4064)

FY 2008

$6-9.7 billion to operate Bettis and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratories; $1.58 billion in other contracts.

Sept 18/08: Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corp. in San Francisco, CA receives a cost plus fixed fee contract for “Naval Nuclear Propulsion work.” What this means is that Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation (BMPC) has been awarded contracts to operate the Bettis and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratories, under a 5-year contract with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). This contract was competitively procured, with 3 offers received via the U.S. Department of Energy’s Industry Interactive Procurement System (N00024-08-C-2103).

The Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory is currently operated by Bechtel Bettis, Inc.; it has facilities in Pittsburgh, PA; Idaho Falls, ID; and Charleston, SC. The Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Schenectady, NY, is currently operated by Lockheed Martin subsidiary KAPL, Inc. BMPC will assume operation of the Bettis and Knolls Atomic Power Laboratories on Feb 1/09, following a 4-month transition period.

Bechtel’s release values this contract at $6 billion, but the Pentagon’s DefenseLINK adds that the contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to an estimated $9.724 billion. Work will be performed in Schenectady, NY (30%); Idaho Falls, ID (15%); and Pittsburgh, PA (55%). See also Bechtel release.

April 16/08: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Pittsburgh, PA received an $80.2 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification to previously awarded contract for Naval Nuclear Propulsion Components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, PA (99%) and Schenectady, NY (1%) (N00024-07-C-2100).

Feb 22/08: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Pittsburgh, PA received a $312.6 million modification to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed fee contract for Naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, PA (68.3%, and Schenectady, NY (31.7%) (N00024-08-C-2118).

Dec 6/07: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Pittsburgh, PA received a $165.7 million modification to previously awarded contract for Naval Nuclear Propulsion Components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, PA (74%), and Schenectady, N.Y. (26%) (N00024-07-C-2100).

Oct 16/07: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Pittsburgh, PA received a $282.3 million cost-plus-fixed fee contract for Naval Nuclear Propulsion Components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, PA (62%) and Schenectady, NY (38%). The contract was not competitively procured (N00024-08-C-2118).

Oct 16/07: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Pittsburgh, PA received a $124.4 million cost-plus-fixed fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-07-C-2102) for additional naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, PA (52%) and Schenectady, NY (48%) (N00024-07-C-2102).

Oct 12/07: Bechtel Bettis Inc., Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, West Mifflin, PA received a $450.7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-98-C-4064) for Naval Nuclear Propulsion work at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. Work will be performed in West Mifflin, PA. Contract funds in the amount of $242.2 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

GlobalSecurity.org notes that:

“Bettis [Atomic Power Laboratory] is engaged solely in the design and development of naval nuclear propulsion plants. The Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program is a joint Navy/DOE program responsible for all matters pertaining to Naval nuclear propulsion. This Program is distinct from the remainder of DOE both by Presidential Executive Order and by statute.

The Lab provides technical support for the safe and reliable operation of existing Naval reactors. Bettis designed reactor plants for the first nuclear-powered submarine (USS Nautilus), the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (USS Enterprise), all of the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, and the USS Seawolf [attack submarines]. …A major new initiative for the Laboratory is design of the nuclear propulsion plants and electrical power systems for the next class of US Navy aircraft carriers.”

The CVN-21 Class super-carriers‘ new reactor is an important part of the effort to slash their lifetime costs by up to $5 billion per ship.

Oct 11/07: KAPL Inc. (Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory) in Schenectady, NY received a $168.9 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-00-C-4011) for Naval nuclear propulsion work at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. Work will be performed in Schenectady, NY. Contract funds in the amount of $109 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

Oct 10/07: General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp. in Groton, CT received an $16.2 million modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-07-C-2103) for reactor plant planning yard services for nuclear-powered submarines and support yard services for the US Navy’s moored training ships. Work will be performed in Groton, CT (95%), Charleston, SC (5%), and is expected to be complete by September 2008. This contract was not competitively procured by the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC.

FY 2007

B&W finishes asbestos-related financial reorganization; Up to $1.7b to BWXT through 2007-2009; $1.62 billion in contracts.

June 6/07: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Schenectady, NY received a $69.9 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-07-C-2100) for Naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, PA (85%) and Schenectady, NY (15%).

April 30/07: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Schenectady, NY received a $13.4 million cost-plus-fixed fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-07-C-2101) for additional naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Schenectady, NY.

March 30/07: McDermott International, Inc. subsidiary, BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT) announces 2 major U.S. Government contracts to manufacture nuclear components in support of U.S. defense programs. Taken together, the awards are worth more than $320 million, and contain options for the anticipated requirements through 2009 that could total up to $1.7 billion. BWXT can improve the contracts’ profitability by achieving certain performance measures.

BWXT, headquartered in Lynchburg, VA, supplies nuclear operations services and products to the US Government and commercial clients. BWXT also manages complex production facilities and advanced energy products. Among its diverse capabilities are decontamination and decommissioning, waste management, engineering, and project management services.

Feb 28/07: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Schenectady, NY received a $7.8 million modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-07-C-2102) for additional naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Schenectady, NY.

Dec 27/06: McDermott International, Inc. and its subsidiaries announce that they have completed remaining financial obligations under The Babcock & Wilcox Company’s (“B&W”) plan of reorganization and settlement agreement. With the completion of these payments, the Company has satisfied all of its financial obligations to the B&W asbestos trust.

On on Dec 1/06, the Company retired the $250 million contingent promissory note utilizing the term loan feature under B&W’s credit facility; and on Dec 21/06, McDermott paid from cash on hand the $355 million contingent payment right. The contingent payment right and contingent note vested on Dec 1/06, as a result of the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of 2005, or other similar legislation, failing to become law by Nov 30/06. The new term debt matures on Feb 22/12, and bears interest at LIBOR plus 3.0%. McDermott may prepay this loan at any time without penalty.

By completing all payments owed to the asbestos trust ahead of schedule and during this calendar year, the Company accelerates the tax benefit associated with these payments. EVP and CFO Frank Kalman says that they expect to receive a cash tax refund of approximately $250 million, most likely in late 2007 or early 2008, subject to the resolution of open IRS tax audits.

Oct 17/06: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Schenectady, NY received a $267.5 million cost-plus-fixed fee contract for naval nuclear propulsion components, raising its contracts awarded to $442.2 million total since Oct 1/06. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, PA (52%) and Schenectady, NY (48%). The contract was not competitively procured (N00024-07-C-2101). DID has covered previous awards to Bechtel Plant Machinery for naval nuclear propulsion components, including the previous 2 entries, plus FY 2006 awards for $166.3 million in December 2005, and another $272.2 million in October 2005. A FY 2006 award for $35.6 million was also made in on May 25, 2006, but not covered by DID at the time.

Oct 16/06: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Schenectady, NY received a $44.8 million cost-plus-fixed fee contract for naval nuclear propulsion components, which can be added to the Oct. 12, 2006 award to get a total of $174.7 million. Work will be performed in Schenectady, NY. The contract was not competitively procured (N00024-07-C-2102).

Oct 12/06: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Schenectady, NY received a $129.9 million cost-plus-fixed fee contract for Naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Schenectady, NY (48%) and Pittsburgh, PA (52%). The contract was not competitively procured (N00024-07-C-2100)

Oct 12/06: Bechtel Bettis Inc., Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in West Mifflin, PA received a $461.1 million cost-plus-fixed fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-98-C-4064 for naval nuclear propulsion work (FY 2006 award: $480.7 million). Work will be performed in West Mifflin, PA. This action represents funding of the contract’s 7th year of effort, and contract funds in the amount of $104.7 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

Oct 12/06: KAPL Inc. (Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory) in Schenectady, NY received a $160.4 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-00-C-4011 for Naval nuclear propulsion work at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory during fiscal year 2007 (FY 2006 award: $138.6 million). Work will be performed in Schenectady, NY. This represents funding for the contract’s 7th year of performance, and funding in the amount of $25.5 million will expire at the end of the current fiscal year (N00024-00-C-4011).

Oct 11/06: General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp. in Groton, CT received an $18.7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee, level of effort contract for reactor plant planning yard services for nuclear-powered submarines and support yard services for Navy moored training ships. This work generally includes engineering services for lifecycle support, maintenance and modernization of the reactor plants and selected propulsion-plant systems of Los Angeles, Trident and Seawolf-class submarines, and the nuclear research submarine NR-1. Additionally, Electric Boat provides similar services for all systems on the Navy’s moored training ships in Charleston, SC.

Work will be performed in Groton, CT (95%) and Charleston, SC (5%), and is expected to be complete by September 2007. This contract was not competitively procured by the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC (N00024-07-C-2103).

FY 2006

B&W out of bankruptcy; $1.54 billion in contracts.

May 25/06: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. Schenectady, N.Y., is being awarded a $35.6 million cost-plus-fixed fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-02-C-2102) for Naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, PA (68%) and Schenectady, NY (32%).

Feb 22/06: McDermott International, Inc. announces that:

“The Babcock & Wilcox Company and certain of its subsidiaries (“B&W”) have now exited from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and entered into its previously announced settlement. Accordingly, B&W’s financial results will be re-consolidated with McDermott’s and its operations managed without Bankruptcy Court supervision.”

The move comes 6 years to the day since its original Chapter 11 filing. McDermott also announces that B&W has finalized and implemented its exit-financing package, and has funded its initial payment of $350 million and $1.15 billion face-amount of insurance to the asbestos-claimants’ trust. Depending on the status of national asbestos legislation at Nov 30/06, either an additional $25 million or $605 million in consideration will be made available to the trust in the time periods required.

B&W’s exit-financing package consists of 3 tranches, for a combined total of $650 million of credit capacity. In December 2005, Moody’s Investors Services and Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services issued newly assigned credit ratings for B&W of B1 and B+, respectively.

B&W out of Chap. 11

Dec 20/05: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Pittsburgh, PA received a $166.3 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-02-C-2102) for naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, PA (73%) and Schenectady, NY (27%).

Dec 19/05: McDermott International, Inc. subsidiary, BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT) announces “several major U.S. government contracts,” valued “in excess of $410 million,” for the manufacture of components in support of U.S. defense programs. BWXT, headquartered in Lynchburg, VA, supplies nuclear power operations services and products to the US government and commercial clients.

Oct 20/05: KAPL Inc. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Schenectady, NY received a $138.6 million cost-plus-fixed fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-00-C-4011) for naval nuclear propulsion work at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. Work will be performed in Schenectady, NY.

Oct 20/05: Bechtel Bettis Inc. at Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in West Mifflin, PA, received a $480.7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-98-C-4064) for naval nuclear Propulsion work at the Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. Work will be performed in West Mifflin, PA.

Oct 18/05: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Pittsburgh, PA received a $279.2 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for Naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Schenectady, NY (50%) and Pittsburgh, PA (50%). Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract was not competitively procured (N00024-06-C-2106).

Oct 14/05: Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. in Pittsburgh, PA received a $30.2 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-04-C-2104) for Naval Nuclear Propulsion Components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, PA.

Additional Readings

• Absolute Astronomy – United States Nuclear Reactor. The USN uses light water reactor designs, mirroring the American civilian nuclear industry.

• US Department of Energy – Nuclear. The US DoE is responsible for a number of military nuclear power contracts.

• Babcock & Wilcox Company.

• Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation.

• Bechtel Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory – Naval Reactors Program.

• Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc.

• Bechtel – Nuclear Power.

Americas

• Israel’s Elbit Systems has been contracted by the Brazilian Army to supply remote controlled weapons stations. Named REMAX, the system will be supplied over a five-year period and an initial production order worth $7.5 million. A REMAX turret is fitted on Brazilian VBTP-MR Guarani APCs, which includes a .50 machine gun, gives soldiers 360° capacity and is equipped with night vision, thermal vision, high resolution camera and zoom.

• The USAF has issued a request for proposals to develop laser protection systems for their fleet of tactical fighter aircraft. Known as the Laser Advancements for Next-generation Compact Environments (LANCE) project, researchers will investigate laser-based solutions for defending pilots from a variety of anti-aircraft threats. The product of LANCE will then be used for integration within an aerodynamic integrating structure for use during flight testing on tactical aircraft for self-defense research during Phase II of the Self-protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHIELD) Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD).

• Harris Corp. has received a $403 million contract to provide spare parts to support various tactical radio systems for the US Defense Logistics Agency. The five-year agreement covers services for radios to be used by both the Defense Logistics Agency and the US Army. Harris has a variety of tactical radio systems in their catalogue, including systems with airborne, vehicular, and handheld applications. According to the company, the products are ideal for delivering high-speed voice, data and full-motion videos.

Middle East & North Africa

• Renewed long-range missile development has been given the go ahead by the Iranian parliament, as part of approval for an increase in wider defense spending. The extra cash, amounting to an increase of 5%, will go toward the development of long range missiles, armed drones and cyber-war capabilities, and could put Tehran on an early collision course with the incoming Trump administration in Washington. Iranian missile development has always been a thorny issue with the US and further advancements may been seen as violations against promises to curb research into nuclear warheads.

Europe

• BTR-3 APCs manufactured by Ukraine’s state-owned Ukroboronprom has been transferred to their military. 50 of the vehicles were produced as part of efforts by Kiev to boost BTR-3-related activities such as maintenance work and the production of new models. The 8×8 fully amphibious armored vehicle is equipped with hydraulically amplified power steering and armed with modernized weapon systems including 30mm guns and additional missile munitions. Since March 2014, the Ukrainian government has been fighting an insurgency against Russian-backed separatists in the country’s eastern Donbass region.

• Safran will develop and manufacture smart bombs for the French government. The new modular ASSM air-to-ground block 4 bomb kits are aimed at cutting procurement costs without scrimping on performance. While details on the contracts value or unit numbers remain unknown, first delivery is due in 2019 and could be followed with further orders at a later date. The ASSM family of kits, used by France and other countries, give precision guidance to standard bombs and come in several versions, depending on the type of guidance: inertial GPS, inertial/GPS + infrared imaging, and inertial/GPS + laser.

Asia Pacific

• The Indian government has given the team behind the Nirbhay cruise missile an 18 month extension in order to fix issues with the munition and finally deliver a successful test-firing. It was expected that the program would be wrapped up by the end of 2016, however most attempts to test-fire the missile have resulted in its veering off course and aborting mid-air. In conjunction with the extra time, New Delhi has also commissioned an inquiry by an independent technical committee in order to identify faults in the system that led to the missile’s failure during its fourth trial on December 21.

• While Indian cruise missile testing stumbles, Pakistan has announced the successful firing of their first submarine-launched cruise missile. The nuclear-capable Babur-3 missile has a range of 450 km (280 miles) and was fired from an undisclosed location in the Indian Ocean on Monday. News of the test may flare long-running tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi, as Pakistan looks to develop “credible minimum deterrence” against Indian missile development.

Today’s Video

A look at PT Sari Bahari’s munitions:

VBTP concept
(click to view full)

In December 2009, Brazil signed a EUR 2.5 billion deal with Italy’s Iveco that aims to renew its wheeled armored personnel carrier fleet, and revive Brazil’s land vehicle defense industry in the bargain. The 6×6 Guarani Viatura Blindada Transporte de Pessoal, Media de Rodas (VBTP-MR) is envisaged as a vehicle family that can replace Engesa’s wheeled vehicles. Their EE-9 and EE-11 have suffered from age-related problems, questionable protection levels, and a shortage of ready spares since Engesa’s 1993 bankruptcy.

Iveco is best known around the world for its trucks, but its Iveco Fiat Oto Melara joint venture has designed and fielded the core of Italy’s tank, wheeled APC, and tracked IFV fleets. The firm already has the new Puma wheeled 6×6/ 4×4 APC in its offering set, but the VBTP will offer them a new market, a new joint venture, and new export opportunities.

VBTP: The Need

EE-11 Urutu
(click to view full)

Brazil’s armored vehicle fleet is currently dominated by a set of Engesa’s vehicles. The EE-11 Urutu wheeled 6×6 APC was popular with a number of foreign clients, as well as Brazil’s own forces. It is named after a local pit viper, per Brazilian tradition (bothrops alternatus, also known as Jararaca and Yarara). The EE-9 Cascavel 6×6 armored vehicle is easily recognizable by its 90mm gun, and was produced for Brazil and for numerous foreign clients. That warning silhouette is replicated in its choice of name, which refers to the South American Rattlesnake (crotalus durissus).

By the early 1990s, however, Engesa’s main client was Iraq under Saddam Hussein. The 1991 Gulf War, and subsequent international embargoes on weapon sales to Iraq, destroyed the firm. With its main client gone, no orders of consequence forthcoming in its home market, and its innovative Osorio medium tank elbowed aside by Saudi Arabia in favor of the American M1, Engesa went bankrupt in 1993. When it did, Brazil’s impressive local defense industry lost the heart of its advanced vehicle capabilities.

It also lost the main source of parts and maintenance for Brazil’s armored vehicle fleet. Brazil continues to operate its vehicles, and despite the EE-11’s weakness against some armor-piercing small arms rounds, it has been used in missions like the UN operation to stabilize Haiti. Even so, it was clear to the Brazilians that a replacement was needed. The combination of a rising resource economy and local threats have also driven 2 key trends in Brazil. One is a very significant increase in Brazil’s defense budgets, which have led to recapitalization programs for fighter jets, helicopters, air transports, and submarines. The other is a determination to restore Brazil’s decayed local defense industry, now that the Cold War’s inherent geo-political advantages for NATO and Warsaw Pact affiliated defense firms have vanished.

VBTP Guarani: The Vehicles

Guarani

The new VBTP-MR is currently envisaged as an 18-tonne (about 20 ton) vehicle at full recommended weight (GVW), with amphibious capacity up to 17.5 tonnes. It will be powered by a FPT diesel engine coupled to an automatic gearbox, and is designed to carry a crew of 10 dismounts plus the driver. Outline specifications include dimensions of 6.9m long x 2.7 m wide x 2.34 m high, which allow its to fit into a C-130 Hercules or forthcoming Brazilian KC-390 transport aircraft dimensionally, as well as by weight.

The vehicle can be fitted with a variety of remote-controlled weapon stations for additional firepower, including Elbit’s ORCWS UT-30BR, with its 30mm cannon and ability to carry anti-tank missiles. Standard UT-30BR armament is a 30mm cannon, 7.62mm co-axial machine gun, and smoke grenades, along with a panoramic commander’s sight and a laser warner.

VBTP-MR concept
(click to view full)

Because the vehicles are currently under development, all figures should be considered provisional. The work is being carried out jointly by the Brazilian Army (through the project Mobility Strategy and the DCT – Department of Science and Technology) and Iveco. By late 2009, around 30 million Brazilian Reals (EUR 12 million) had been invested in vehicle definition with “major specialist Brazilian companies.”

VBTP: Contracts and Key Events 2017

“Tropa de Elite 3” trailer?

January 10/2017: Israel’s Elbit Systems has been contracted by the Brazilian Army to supply remote controlled weapons stations. Named REMAX, the system will be supplied over a five-year period and an initial production order worth $7.5 million. A REMAX turret is fitted on Brazilian VBTP-MR Guarani APCs, which includes a .50 machine gun, gives soldiers 360° capacity and is equipped with night vision, thermal vision, high resolution camera and zoom.

2012 – 2014

1st deliveries, production ramp-up.

Aug/Sept 2014: State of the program. At the end of September Iveco delivered the 100th of a total of 128 vehicles to be delivered by the end of 2014 (16 pilot VBTPs, 86 evaluation vehicles + 26 addons). The 2015 budget sets aside BRL 200M ($82M) for 56 vehicles.

An entry on the Brazilian Army’s weblog explained in August how the Guarani was “finally operational.” The 33º BI Mec (Batalhão de Infantaria Mecanizado – Mechanized Infantry Battalion) received its 1st 13 vehicles back in March 2014 and should have 42 of them by 2015. They are being tested in the southern state of Paraná near Paraguay and seem to meet expectations. The vehicle can cross streams as expected, though it has a slight tendency to sink further on its right due to the engine’s position.

Sources: Defensa.com: “Iveco Latin America construye el blindado VBTP-MR Guaraní número 100” | Exército Brasileiro: “Guarani finalmente operacional” [in Portuguese].

Feb 12/14: Sub-contractors. Brazil picks Thales’ Sotas vehicle communication system as their armored vehicle communications system. Sotas will form the core of all voice and data communications in the Guarani, integrating various sensors, data terminals and radios. This follows a small 2011 purchase for testing purposes.

The Sotas system will also be retrofitted to EE-9 and EE-11 wheeled vehicles, and to tracked M113s, as part of their refurbishment programs. Initial systems under this contract will be delivered in June 2014, and Brazilian firms and depots will be trained to perform most maintenance thereafter. Sources: Thales, “Brazilian Army selects Thales’s intercom systems for vehicles”.

VBTP fires UT30-BR
(click to view full)

Dec 16/13: 26 more. A contract for BRL72 million ($31M) adds 26 Guaranis in Lote de Experimentação Doutrinária (LED – i.e. evaluation) configuration to the 86 ordered in August 2012.

Oct 24/12: REMAX RWS. Elbit’s Brazilian subsidiary Ares Aeroespacial e Defensa Ltda. announces a $25 million contract to supply its stabilized REMAX remote weapon stations to the Brazilian Army. This is the 1st production order, and deliveries will be made from 2012-2014.

REMAX was designed to be part of the VBTP program, and seems to be characterized by a simple and easy to maintain design. The small-caliber RCWS has already completed testing, and can be mounted on a range of suitable vehicles. Elbit Systems.

Sept 13/12: UT-30 RWS. Elbit’s Brazilian subsidiary AEL Sistemas S.A. receives an initial $15 million production order for UT-30BR 30mm remotely operated turrets, to equip VBTP Guarani vehicles. It’s an order under the Jan 6/11 umbrella contract. Elbit Systems | AEL [in Portuguese].

Aug 7/12: +86. Brazil and Iveco sign a BRL 240 million (about $119 million) contract for 86 VBTP MR Guarani evaluation vehicles, for delivery from 2013-2014. The contract allows Iveco to start production beyond the current 16-vehicle pilot batch (vid. Dec 18/09 entry), and get ready to produce the Army’s main order.

The Guaranis will be produced at a dedicated Iveco factory in Sete Lagoas, Mato Grosso state. Large-scale production should begin in early 2013, and the supply chain involves 110 direct and 600 indirect Brazilian firms. The production rate for Brazil alone is expected to reach about 100 units per year over the next 20 years, and exports are likely. Argentina has already indicated interest in about 14 Guaranis as a peace-keeping buy.

Defence Minister Cesar Amorim says that 48 of these 86 vehicles were included in the government’s Growth Acceleration Program (PAC infrastructure/ stimulus) financing, as part of a wider BRL 1.527 billion military program that will also buy 4,170 trucks and 30 Astros 2020 missile launch Vehicles. The transfer of the funds money was authorized in late June 2012, through a Provisional Measure signed by President Rousseff. Now, if only the Army could do something about having enough ammunition for just 1 hour of war… Brazilian MdD [in Portuguese] | Mercopress.

86 evaluation vehicles

June 15/12: Brazil takes delivery of the 1st pre-series Guarani from Italy’s Iveco Defense Vehicles, during a formal ceremony at the Eurosatory 2012 exhibition in France. UPI.

1st delivery

May 10/12: REMAX RWS. ARES light RWS turret is featured in the Independence Day parade, mounted on a Guarani armored vehicle. ARES.

2009 – 2011

Program getting started.

VBTP mockup, LAAD 2009
(click to view full)

Sept 7/11: UT-30 RWS. Elbit Systems announces that the 1st UT-30 unmanned turret has successfully completed VBTP acceptance testing in Brazil.

Aug 18/11: REMAX RWS. Elbit subsidiary ARES announces that the first phase of tests for the REMAX 12.7mm Remote Weapon Station have been successful, with a follow-on round of firing tests beginning later in the year. REMAX was developed by ARES under CTEx requirements, and would become the first Weapon Station manufactured and developed in Brazil.

Jan 6/11: UT-30 RWS. Elbit Systems’ Brazilian subsidiary Aeroeletronica Ltda. (AEL) receives a 440 million Real (about $260 million) framework contract to supply “a few hundred” of their 30 mm Unmanned Turrets to the Brazilian Army’s Guarani Project.

This is the full production follow-on to the April 13/09 award, but the exact number of orders isn’t clear yet. Orders will take place over a number of years, per Brazilian decisions and funding. Elbit Systems.

UT-30BR RCWS contract

Dec 18/09: Contract. The Brazilian Army signs a 6 billion Brazilian Real (about EUR 2.5 billion) umbrella contract to supply up to 2,044 base model VBTP-MR 6×6 wheeled APCs, to replace the old EE-11 Urutu in Brazilian service. The contract will run for over 20 years, and also includes manufacturer support.

The first prototype is under construction in Brazil, and is still scheduled for the first half of 2010. Another 16 units of a pilot batch will be produced by Iveco in Brazil between 2010 – 2011. Full production is planned to run from 2012-2030, and all production, including engines, will take place in Brazil. To that end, Iveco LA supported by Iveco Defence Vehicles will prepare a defense dedicated unit in Brazil, including Research, Sales & marketing, Production, Quality, and Aftersales service groups. The local supply chain is expected to involve more than 100 direct suppliers, and hundreds of indirect suppliers. Iveco release.

Umbrella contract: 2,044

April 7/09: Iveco announces that they will will present a mock-up of the new Brazilian 6×6 VBTP-MR at the April 14th Latin America Aero & Defense (LAAD) Exhibition. The company promises that a prototype will be delivered by the end of 2009, for army testing beginning in April 2010. Another 16 additional units are slated for production and testing up to 2011, when a decision is expected on a final VBTP-MR fleet order for the Brazilian Army.

Iveco’s production plan would produce the initial 16-17 vehicles using imported components, but local content would gradually increase to over 60%. The company already has a growing supplier base in Brazil, where it produces around 15,000 trucks per year plus diesel engines. Iveco release at Defpro | Defense Update LAAD 2009 report.

VBTP with UT30-BR
(click to view full)

April 13/09: UT-30 RWS. Elbit Systems Ltd. announces a contract to supply its UT-30 unmanned turrets to the Brazilian Army, for installation on the VBTP-MR. The company says they were selected as a result of a competition including leading global manufacturers in the field, but adds that the contract amount for the program’s first phase is not material to Elbit Systems overall results. That would change, of course, once orders are confirmed for full-rate VBTP production.

The ORCWS UT-30 unmanned turret is a complete system, incorporating an automatic cannon up to 30mm, a coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun, a Laser Warning System (LWS), commander panoramic sights, and smoke grenade launchers. A fully stabilized dual axes and an automatic target tracker keep weapons on target from the remote weapons station inside the vehicle. The turret does not crowd out space inside the vehicle, and offers light weight and a fold-flat capability for air transport.

Elbit’s ORCWS systems have been sold to a number of customers around the world, and equip several models of wheeled and tracked APCs. The Israeli firm is also an important local supplier to Brazil’s defense force, through its Brazilian subsidiary Aeroelectronica Industria de Componentes Avionicos S.A (AEL). The firm’s avionics equip most of Brazil’s fighter fleet, and it also sells and services a variety of defense-related electronics and optronics.

Elbit’s UT-30 turret picked

December 2007: IVECO L.A. and the Brazilian Ministry of Defense agree to co-develop a wheeled medium APC. The project will be supported by IVECO Defence Vehicles in Northern Italy, but VBTP-MR will be developed and manufactured at IVECO LA’s Sete Lagoas plant in Minas Gerais (Brazil).

Initial agreement

Additional Readings

• Army Guide – UT 30 Remote controlled weapon station

• Elbit Systems – UT-25, UT-30

• AEL – UT30BR – Sistema de Armas Remotamente Controlado

• ARES – REMAX. RCWS for 12.7mm and below.

• Thales – Sotas Vehicle Communications System

• DID (Jan 4/11) – Tracked RESET: Brazil Sticks With its M113s. The tracked fleet will also get some attention, but there will be just 150.

Americas

• While the starting gun has been fired on the USAF T-X trainer competition, Textron AirLand has yet to decide whether they will enter the race. In an email to the Kansas Star, the company stated that they do not “have a decision to share at this time,” when asked if they would respond to the USAF’s request for proposals for a new trainer aircraft. Textron announced the successful maiden flight of their first production-conforming Scorpion tactical jet last month, indicating that it may be submitted as the potential replacement for the USAF’s current trainer fleet of T-38 Talon jets.

• A C-130 transport aircraft operated by the Argentine Air Force has been upgraded by state-owned aircraft manufacturer Fábrica Argentina de Aviones SA (FAdeA). The overhaul is part of a five aircraft modernization program, the first of which was completed by L-3 Communications last April. FAdeA will continue to upgrade the remaining three C-130s, with work slated to be carried out between now and 2019. Argentina plans to add 20 years of service life for all five of their C-130 aircraft.

Middle East & North Africa

• Israel’s Defense Ministry has signed a $450 million 7-year order with IMI Systems for the supply of munitions for infantry and armor units. The deal will commence in 2017 and run through to 2025, averaging annual orders at around $65 million. Announcing the deal, the MoD said the multi-year deal would enable the IDF to complete the resupply of stocks expended in the 2014 Gaza war and support Ground Force live-fire training for the coming decade.

Europe

• General Atomics has been contracted by the US government to provide MQ-9 Reaper UAVs to Spain. The $56 million is an adjustment to an existing basic ordering agreement between Washington and Madrid and work is expected to be complete by January 31, 2019. Last February, Spain ordered four aircraft and associated control stations from General Atomics, in what the company says represents one complete Reaper system. The total value of Spain’s Reaper package, along with associated support and equipment, could reach as much as $243 million.

• An unnamed buyer has ordered services and support for their Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) platform from Saab. The company has kept quiet on particular details of the sale, barring that the order is worth $236 million and deliveries will be made from 2019 through to 2021. AEWC technologies allow aircraft to support military intelligence gathering and reconnaissance operations, and can be used to bolster border security or conduct search-and-rescue missions.

• BAE Systems will test and verify the Iron Fist active protection system (APS) on Dutch CV90 Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFV). The Israeli-made radar has the ability to detect, track and intercept incoming rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank missiles among other threats to the vehicle and its crew. Once the system is integrated by BAE, the Netherlands’ Defence Ministry will decide on whether the systems will be rolled out in full, making it the first NATO country with an APS “of its kind” on combat vehicles.

Asia Pacific

• It’s been reported that a deal is close to being struck for the establishment of a logistic hub in India, providing crucial Su-30 spare parts to the Indian Air Force instead of having them imported from Russia. The agreement, scheduled to be signed in March, will also allow some of the components to be manufactured in India. It is also expected that once the hub is functioning, operational readiness of the IAF Su-30MKI fleet will rise above the current rate of 63 percent.

• Elbit Systems will supply two unknown customers in the Asia/Pacific region with airborne laser designators. Valued at $35 million, the agreement involves two separate contracts to be delivered over a three-year period. The targeting systems being produced are designed to provide operators with precise target designation.

Today’s Video

IMI’s Iron Fist APS:

Americas

• The previously stalled acquisition by Argentina’s Air Force to buy Kfir Block 60 upgraded fighters from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is back on the table. While pricing remains one of several stumbling blocks that still lay ahead in any talks, a successful deal would see IAI assemble and upgrade 12-14 Kfir fighters for Argentina. The most recent upgrade includes J-79 engines, Elta 2032 active electronically scanned array radar, and an open architecture that will allow the customer to install custom systems. Colombia, Ecuador, and Sri Lanka are all current operators.

Middle East & North Africa

• Raytheon has been contracted to provide integrated air and missile defense training for the government of Qatar. The $163 million foreign military sale will see Qatar Emir Air Force personnel receive a series of pre-Patriot and Patriot training classes in addition to English language training, ending in April 2020.

Europe

• A bid by Italy’s Fincantieri for a stake in STX France has been blessed by the French government. The French state owns a 33 percent of STX France, based in Saint Nazaire, and is looking to sell off the company as part of a broader offloading of assets following the demise of the South Korean STX shipbuilding group. Paris was hoping a European firm would become the eventual buyer, and is looking to keep the operation based in western France.

• Pilatus has announced $292 million worth of orders for PC-21 turboprop trainer aircraft, with France being the principle customer. Paris will receive 17 for the French Air Force, while two will be sent to repeat buyer Jordan. Finally, two more will be sent to UK company Qinetiq, for use by the Empire Test Pilots’ School (ETPS). Qinetiq’s acquisition comes as part of their selection of trainer aircraft for modernization of the UK MoD’s provision of test and evaluation services, a contract worth $1.26 billion.

• An unnamed customer has contracted Saab to deliver $36 million worth of M3 and M4 variants of the portable Carl Gustaf weapon system. The shoulder-fired multi-role weapon affords operators the option to choose between a variety of ammunitions while remaining light weight. Over 40 governments operate the system.

Asia Pacific

• India is seeking a foreign single engine fighter as their next major procurement program. The choice of single engine jets rules out fighters like Dassault’s Rafale and the F/A-18 Super Hornet, leaving the two likely options the F-16 and Saab’s Gripen. New Delhi also committed to continue supporting the development of the Tejas’ naval variant, but the current one will be just a technology demonstrator.

• An investigation has commenced into why the Indonesian Air Force procured AugustaWestland AW101 helicopters after AW had been earlier ruled out for being too costly. The helicopters were initially eyed as a potential buy for use as a Presidential and VIP transport, however its $55 million price tag was deemed too flashy by opposition lawmakers. The resulting political pressure resulted in President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo abandoning the deal in December 2015. Since then, the IAF has insisted on buying the same type of chopper by reasoning that it was not for presidential purposes, but for military and search and rescue operations.

• Israel’s RADA has received an order to provide its Multi-mission Hemispheric Radar-based (MHR) RPS-42 radar system to an unnamed East Asia/Pacific customer. The system will be used for the development and testing of the buyer’s High Energy Laser (HEL) ground-based tactical weapon system. Of the ten HEL development programs in the Western world, RADA is involved in four.

Today’s Video

RADA’s HEL System:

ADF training
(click to view full)

Guided, portable anti-tank weapons have become a ubiquitous feature of the modern battlefield, but there’s still a role for good old fashioned panzerfaust rockets. For a soldier who needs to take out light vehicles at close range, blast enemy strongpoints, etc., these systems offer all the capability you can ask for, without all of the extra weight and cost. Less weight means more rounds carried, and less cost translates into more rounds bought. Taken together, they ensure more available firepower when it’s needed most. During 1989 operations in Panama, for instance, the 66mm LAW rocket was used so often as a building entry weapon that it was known as the “Ranger Key.”

Saab’s Carl Gustaf system and its range of 84mm rocket shells have become popular all over the world, with over 40 customers. Australia became one in 2009, and has continued to place orders associated with their LAND 40, Phase 2 project. Their system also has one particular twist…

Updates

January 5/17: An unnamed customer has contracted Saab to deliver $36 million worth of M3 and M4 variants of the portable Carl Gustaf weapon system. The shoulder-fired multi-role weapon affords operators the option to choose between a variety of ammunitions while remaining light weight. Over 40 governments operate the system.

April 27/12: Saab announces a SEK 199 million (USD conversion: $29.6 million) order from Australia for more 84mm Carl Gustaf ammunition, under a standing order laced in early 2011. Deliveries will take place during 2013.

Nov 10/11: Saab announces a SEK 160 million (USD conversion: $24.2 million) contract for more 84mm Carl Gustaf ammunition, under a standing order laced in early 2011. Deliveries will take place over the next 6 months.

Nov. – Dec. 2009: Australia signs a contract with SAAB Bofors Dynamics for 437 M3 Carl Gustaf weapons, followed by a December 2009 contract with BAE Systems Australia for 437 Heavy Weapon Thermal Sights. Australia is the 1st country to use both the weapon and sight as an integrated system, which works equally way by day or by night.

Roll-out to entitled units completed in October 2011. Australia DMO. Note that Saab announced a SEK 192 million (USD conversion: $26.8 million) pair of contracts in December 2009 for Carl Gustaf weapons, but would not specify the customer at the customer’s own request. It may or may not have been Australia; Australia’s DoD did not announce the award at the time.

Kfir C2
(click to view full)

Argentina’s air force is having a hard time maintaining its core Nesher/”Finger” fighters, even as the Kirchner regime seeks to take control of the Falkland Islands and their potential offshore oil reserves. That led Argentina to search for new fighter options, as the most reliable way of projecting power to likely exploration zones. Britain’s defenses are also much more run down than they were in the 1980s, and their complete lack of a carrier force leaves ongoing protection of the islands’ surrounding economic zones to just 2-4 Eurofighter Typhoon fighters, an offshore patrol vessel, and part of a regular navy ship rotation.

Argentina’s window of opportunity will close when Britain’s advanced carrier force enters service in 2020, which has added urgency on both sides as Argentina tries to make a deal. Can Argentina find its partner?

Forces Around the Falklands: Situation Report British Breakdown

Gone.

The islands’ inhabitants voted overwhelmingly to remain part of Britain during the referendum. Unfortunately, Britain has lost more than just its carrier force in the intervening years since the Falklands War. The Vulcan bombers and Victor tankers that staged ultra-long range bombing raids are long gone. The Harriers bought after the war ended, and modernized for use in Afghanistan, were retired. So were the Tornado F3 aircraft that were bought in the 1980s for long-range combat air patrols. The Royal Navy’s number of serious surface combatants has sunk to just 19, only 1 of which patrols the South Atlantic and West Africa at any given time. Worse, it has readiness issues with its attack submarines.

All this creates a window of opportunity for Argentina – one that will slam shut decisively around 2020, once Britain’s new 65,000t HMS Queen Elizabeth and its F-35B fighters steam into service.

RAF C-17
(click to view full)

Until then, an Argentinian force with modern jets and enough anti-ship missiles could conceivably open the door for a repeat invasion, by making recapture too risky and difficult. First, however, they’d have to take the island. Britain has extended and considerably reinforced the Mount Pleasant airfield with radars, air defenses, and a rotating infantry battalion. The addition of long-range C-17 heavy jet transports to the RAF makes fast long-range troop & vehicle reinforcement possible, forcing any invader to capture, destroy, or interdict the airfield in order to succeed. Meanwhile, the mere threat of nuclear submarines will continue to keep Argentina’s surface navy, such as it is, out of the picture as always.

That’s why harassment and access denial attempts are far more likely, as Argentina continues to attempt intimidation of any oil & gas companies that will be working in the Falklands’ Economic Exclusion Zone. That sort of gambit is harder to thwart, requiring the British to commit more forces and incur more expense than they would like.

If Britain wants to protect the Falklands this time, the rag-tag state of Argentina’s military is its biggest asset. Their goal is too keep Argentina from acquiring the tools they need to create even a moderately effective anti-access zone. If Argentina gets any new fighters at all, Britain’s goal becomes much harder and more expensive.

Argentina’s Efforts

FAA Super Etendards

Argentina’s Super Etendard fighters, which were used to launch Exocet missiles in the 1980s and still serve, come from France. Its Mirage III/ V/ “Nesher” fighters were originally bought second-hand from Israel and Peru, but they have deteriorated badly. Its A-4R “Fightinghawk” Skyhawk models were sold to Argentina by the USA, and what’s left of those deliveries make up the bulk of their jet fleet.

Despite steadily-worsening relations with Britain under the Obama administration, the USA is not about to sell Argentina jet fighters. British diplomacy has already worked to delay Argentina’s proposed Super Etendard modernization, and also scuttled a reported deal to buy 16 second-hand Mirage F-1M fighters from Spain.

Cheetahs & Gripens
(click to view full)

That leaves Argentina’s original source for the Neshers. Israel doesn’t have any of those left, but they do have their own Kfir design that made structural changes to the Nesher blueprints, added a more powerful American J-79 turbojet, and received progressive modifications to its radar, electronics, and weapons. Those upgrades continued even after the Kfirs were retired from Israeli service in the late 1990s, on behalf of customers like Colombia, Ecuador, and Sri Lanka. Kfir C.10/ Block 60s carry modern radars and electronics on par with F-16 Block 40/50s, and have the ability to use beyond visual range aerial weapons, advanced short range AAMs, and a variety of precision strike weapons. Their combat radius is a bit short, and it would take a brave Kfir pilot to face a Eurofighter Typhoon in single combat. Even so, they’re capable fighters with aerial refueling capability, which makes them well suited to intimidation and presence patrols. Negotiations for a sale are in an advanced stage.

The good news for Britain, such as it is, is that Argentina still has to hang weapons on any fighters they buy. The FAA must either stick with their existing set of old equipment and forego most of the new fighter’s potential, or buy new weapons from the USA or Israel. Any new weapon sales would be a double escalation, making those sales less likely. The most dangerous Kfir-related sale, of Gabriel 3 anti-ship missiles, would make Britain an outright enemy of Israel’s. That won’t happen. The question is whether Britain can pressure Israel to block the Kfir fighter sale in toto – or have it blocked by the Americans, who control the J-79 engines.

If the Israeli sale falls through for some reason, South Africa has already sold similar Cheetah fighters to Ecuador and Chile. Enough were produced to sell 18 more to Argentina, but the best airframes have presumably been taken already. Cheetahs are powered by French Snecma Atar 9K50 engines, instead of the Kfir’s American J-79. That removes a key American veto, but it also means that South Africa would need some level of French cooperation. Given French delays and demurrals around refurbishing Argentina’s French Super Etendards, that cooperation could become problematic.

Chile’s decommissioned Mirage 50 Pantera fighters are similar to the Cheetahs, but Chile isn’t interested in selling any to Argentina.

JF-17 – note C802!
(click to view full)

If those options fail, Argentina faces a shrinking set of choices.

South Korea’s TA-50 and FA-50 light fighters would be more expensive than the proposed Israeli deal, which already strains Argentina’s finances. They also use American F404 engines, requiring US export approval, and can’t mount anti-ship missiles yet.

Swedish JAS-39 Gripen fighters are the subject of talks with Brazil, but they use American F414 engines and British Martin-Baker ejection seats, to name only the most difficult substitutions. Indeed, about 30% of those planes are traceable to British firms – and Britain has stated that they will block such exports.

The only sources free of American or European influence are Russia and China.

Chinese F-8 “Finback-Bs” would be a very cheap used option, presenting no serious threat, but good for harassment patrols and shows of force at range. The question is whether they could be kept in the air. The JF-17 Thunder from China and Pakistan would be a more advanced option and a definite threat, thanks to its ability to carry C802 subsonic and CM-400AKG supersonic anti-ship missiles. Argentina has expressed interest in the JF-17, and has held discussions directly with China.

Russia is the other potential source. They may have used or used/new-build MiG-29S+ multi-role planes to offer, if Putin wants to stick a finger in Britain’s eye for sanctions over the annexation of Crimea. The problem with the MiGs is that even with the extra fuel tanks in recent variants, the fighters have poor range. That makes them less useful to Argentina. SU-30 family planes have plenty of range, but they’re more expensive, and may be out of Argentina’s reach unless Russia really wants to make a point by offering subsidies.

Contracts & Key Events

Shattered Glass

January 5/17: The previously stalled acquisition by Argentina’s Air Force to buy Kfir Block 60 upgraded fighters from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is back on the table. While pricing remains one of several stumbling blocks that still lay ahead in any talks, a successful deal would see IAI assemble and upgrade 12-14 Kfir fighters for Argentina. The most recent upgrade includes J-79 engines, Elta 2032 active electronically scanned array radar, and an open architecture that will allow the customer to install custom systems. Colombia, Ecuador, and Sri Lanka are all current operators.

March 11/16: After the breaking off of talks between Argentina and Israel over the sale of 14 Kfir Block 60 fighters, both parties are to resume negotiations. The deal had initially been called off in October, just before contracts were to be signed, as a result of elections in Argentina. The fighters had been previously used by the Israeli Air Force, but have been upgraded with the latest systems, including the Elta 2032 active electronically scanned array radar. They will also have an open architecture to allow the Argentinian air force to install other systems.

December 3/15: Argentina has officially said adiós to the last of its serving Dassault Mirage fighters. A large-scale public air show on November 30 saw the fleet decommissioned after over forty years of service. The Mirage had been the jet of choice in Argentina since 1973, after the government was impressed by its capabilities when used by the Israeli Air Force during the Six Day War. The decommissioning will leave a hole in the Argentinian Air Force’s capability as a replacement for the aircraft has not yet been found. An earlier deal to purchase second-hand Kfir Block 60 fighters from Israel has been put on hold indefinitely amid issues over weapons systems and upgrades. The newly elected government of Maurico Macri will be responsible for obtaining replacement fighters subject to available funding.

November 18/15: Argentina’s drive to replace its aging Mirage fighter fleet with second hand Israeli Kfir Block 60 fighters has come under criticism from Argentine Air Force number three, Brigadier Mario Roca. Argentina had planned to purchase fourteen of the fighters (which included two two-seat traners) with the deal to have cost between $220-360 million. The criticisms arose when the first six fighters would arrive within 18 months, but without weapons systems, and all upgrades needed to be completed in Israel. The deal has for now been put on hold indefinitely with Defence Minister Agustin Rossi deciding to leave the deal to be concluded by the next administration. Opposition politicians have stated that if elected, they would look into replacing the fleet independently.

August 20/15: Argentina is formally retiring its fleet of Mirage fighters, which will leave active service in November. The Argentinian Air Force has been looking for a new fighter fleet for a while now, with reports in July indicating that the South American country may be in negotiations to buy second-hand Israeli Kfir Block 60 fighters.

Dec 1/14: What Now? In the aftermath of Argentina’s short-lived, clumsy attempt to procure aircraft with British parts through Brazil, analysts review what both Argentina and Brazil may do next.

On Argentina’s side, a history of failed negotiations to acquire used aircraft with France, Spain and Israel will make it tough to revive talks with these parties. One possibility would have been to buy the 12 used Mirage 2000s acquired by Brazil from France in 2005 and retired by the Brazilian Air Force at the end of 2013. This may buy time for Argentina but they would need to reinvest in these aircraft, and also find more elsewhere. But it is reportedly because of high maintenance costs and problems with parts availability that Brazil decided to retire aircraft that sported 10,000+ flight hours each. Add the fact Brazil would have needed to secure resell rights from Dassault, and that is a long list of hurdles for Argentina to clear even if the seller is a friendly neighbor. See DID’s coverage of Brazil’s FX-2 program, Aug 5/13 entry.

Another option is to procure used or new jets from China or Russia, and even though the Argentinian Air Force would prefer Western aircraft, Both China and Russia are likely to be more flexible on financing and/or payment in kind than Western countries would, especially as long as Argentina’s financial situation has not been fully normalized on global markets. Fabrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) held initial talks with China about the potential local production of FC-1 fighters back in mid-2013. Meanwhile Argentina and Russia have been getting cozy on diplomatic and energy matters. See the “Argentina’s Efforts” section above for a more detailed discussion of the available options.

Meanwhile Embraer is reportedly worried that the Brazilian government’s decision to develop a strategic partnership with Argentina may curtail technology transfers from Saab and even lead to reprisals by Western suppliers. That the alliance was announced as a government-to-government affair may only partly shield the company from consequences. Is getting along with its weaker, chronically ill southern neighbor worth potential diplomatic and business problems for Brazil? Sources: DefesaNet: “Full of uncertainty, strategic alliance with Argentines can bring damage to Brazil” | Defense News: “Argentina’s Jet Fighter Replacement Options Narrow” | FP: “Keeping Putin’s Hands Off Argentina’s Oil”.

Nov 9/14: Gripen NG. Argentina may want to do a deal with Brazil (q.v. Oct 22/14), but Britain has now publicly said “no.” To be more precise, they reiterate the continued existence of a ban. A spokesperson for the UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills:

“We are determined to ensure that no British-licensable exports or trade have the potential to be used by Argentina to impose an economic blockade on the Falkland Islanders or inhibit their legitimate rights to develop their own economy…”

About 30% of the JAS-39E/F will be British, from the ejection seats to the radar, landing gear, and a number of electronic systems. Embraer could try to downgrade and substitute, but Argentina lacks the money to finance such an ambitious effort. Now add the fact that a newly-Republican US Senate and House would block export’s of GE’s F414 engines. As knowledgeable observers expected, Argentina will have to look elsewhere. C4ISR & Networks, “Argentina Buying Gripens? Brits Say ‘No Way'”.

Oct 22/14: Gripen NG. During the Embraer KC-390 medium jet transport’s rollout, Argentina and Brazil sign a formal “Alianca Estrategica em Industria Aeronautica.” Argentina is already making parts for the KC-390, and they need a larger partner for a number of other reasons. The FAB’s releases add that Argentina is also thinking of buying JAS-39E/F Gripens from Embraer, whose Brazilian factory will assemble at least 36 of the advanced Swedish fighters under the pending F-X2 program:

“El Gobierno nacional decidio iniciar una negociacion con la administracion de Dilma Rousseff para la adquisicion de 24 aviones Saab Gripen dentro del programa denominado FX 2…”

Regional export rights are also expected to be part of the $5+ billion deal, which is signed on Oct 24/14. That could get interesting, because the Gripen has systems from the USA and Britain in it. You might be able to replace electronics, but it’s expensive – and ejection seats and engines are a lot tougher. Sources: FAB NOTIMP, “Argentina quiere comprar 24 cazas supersonicos”.

Kfir, improved

March 23/14: Kfir. A high-level Argentine delegation has reportedly visited Israel to finalize the sale of 18 Kfir jets. Most sources mention the “Block 60” version, which is very similar to the Kfir C10 that has been sold to Ecuador and Colombia, and reports also mention the EL/M-2032 radar. Once again, however, this is a proposed deal that comes despite issues with Argentina. Ha’aretz:

“…Kirchner government made [a deal] last year with Iran to jointly investigate the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Buenos Aires Jewish community building that killed 85 people and is widely believed to have been carried out by Hezbollah with Iranian backing.”

That may cause controversy in Israel, and British pressure can be expected as well. On the other hand, Israel was less than pleased by Britain’s recent role in ending sanctions against Iran for its nuclear weapons program. A fighter sale to Argentina would certainly be one way to attach significant consequences to Britain’s actions, without the anti-ship capabilities that would mark a huge escalation. The British do have one big lever left, however: the Kfirs’ J79 turbojets need American approval for re-export. America needs British support regarding Russia right now, so despite past snubs, the Obama administration will find it inconvenient to alienate Britain further.

Finally, note that Ha’aretz is wrong about Kfirs being sold to South Africa. Israeli expertise was likely transferred, but they are not interchangeable in a fleet – Cheetahs use different engines than the Kfirs, and South Africa did modify its Mirages locally. Is basic fact-checking and editorial oversight too much to ask? Sources: Ha’aretz, “Argentina buying 30-year-old Israeli fighter jets” | LU22 Radio Tandil, “Avanzan las negociaciones para la compra de aviones Kfirs Block 60 a Israel”.

March 10/14: Super Etendard. Argentina’s efforts to upgrade 10 of its 11 remaining Super Etendard fighters have hit a bit of a snag in France:

“The Argentine Navy still wants 10 SEM kits for its Super Etendards, but has to date received no indication from France as to how or when this order might be filled.

Moreover, military relations between the two states have cooled due to a deal last year between France and the UK that could create roadblocks to France’s selling the kits, and an updated version of the Exocet missile, to Argentina…”

Sources: IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, “Argentine Super Etendard modernisation hits major snags”.

Super Etendard modernization stalls

Colombian Kfirs
(click to view full)

Jan 23/14: Kfir. Argentina has reportedly opened discussions with Israel about selling up to 18 refurbished Kfir fighters. The proposed deal is reportedly worth about $500 million, with 6 jets to be refurbished in Israel. Another 12 would be shipped to Argentina along with modernization kits, for local assembly under Israeli supervision.

“Brazilian journalist Roberto Lopes, who specializes in defense issues was the first to reveal that Israel/Argentina deal negotiations caused concern in the government of PM David Cameron and allegedly representatives from the UK Defense ministry asked their Israel counterparts “for a detailed description of the electronic systems and avionics” of the 18 Kfir…. London fears the aircraft could be used to track and intimidate vessels involved in the Falklands oil and gas industry development…. Lopes also reveals that “the issue is being monitored since the end of 2013 by Brazil’s Itamaraty (foreign ministry) and defense ministry”.”

IAI’s offer had reportedly been made earlier, but the proposal was reportedly pursued only after Spain declined to pursue the Mirage F1 deal any further. Sources: MercoPress, “Argentina after Israeli fighter planes; concern in London and Brasilia, says defense expert”.

Jan 2/14: Mirage F1. Argentine sources tell IHS Jane’s that the Spanish Mirage deal has stalled and could be cancelled.

“Local media reports indicated that the Argentine Air Force (FAA) has begun analysing other options, including second-hand Dassault Mirage 2000s from France or Brazil, but appears to be leaning towards an Israeli offer of 18 IAI Lahav Kfir Block 60 multi-role fighters for USD500 million, with a possible delivery date some 15 months after a contract signature.”

While Spain’s economic situation made them receptive to Argentina’s request, Spain could lose much more if relations with Britain become problematic. Sources: IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, “Argentine Mirage F1 buy reportedly stalls”.

No Mirage F1s

Oct 6/13: Kfir. IAI and even the Israeli Air Force begin to talk about the new “Block 60” Kfir variant, which is based on Colombia’s refitted C10 aircraft:

“The Kfir Block 60 offers a robust and versatile Mach 2+ multi-role jet fighter, carrying 5.5 tons payloads on nine hard-points under the wings and fuselage. The weaponry is enhanced to include Python 5 and Derby. Kfir Block 60 has also completed the integration of RAFAEL Spice autonomous guided weapon, (second platform offering that capability, after the F-16). Conforming to NATO standards, Kfir Block 60 supports Link-16 datalink protocol. The aircraft has combat radius of 1,000 km (540 nm) unrefueled. With refueling the aircraft can fly to a range of 1,100 nm.”

Whether or not Israeli Kfir C2s could carry Gabriel Mk.III anti-ship missiles, Argentina doesn’t have any, and any sale by Israel would have serious diplomatic repercussions. Refurbished Kfirs are reportedly restored to 8,000 safe flight-hours hours under warranty, meaning the plane can easily serve for 20-30 years. “Sources: Defense Update, “At 40 Years of age, Kfir Turns into a “Networked Fighter”” | Israeli Air Force, “Roaring Back”.

Spanish F1M
(click to view full)

Oct 1/13: Mirage F1. After several months of advance reports, Argentina has reportedly come to an agreement with Spain to buy 16 used Mirage F1s. Iraq’s F1EQ-5 jets were modified to carry the Exocet anti-ship missile, but they required modifications. Spain upgraded their F1Cs to F1Ms, but it isn’t clear whether their planes ever added Exocet capability.

The deal is something of a surprise, given the Argentine government’s 2012 seizure of Spanish oil major Repsol’s majority stake in Argentina’s national YPF oil company. Respol’s international legal claim is for $10 billion, but the Spanish government is facing depression-level economic conditions, and has few other options to sell those planes. Sources: MercoPress, “Argentina buys 16 Mirage F 1 from Spain; half have air-refuelling capacity” | UPI, “Argentina goes for second-hand jets for air force”.

Mirage F1 deal

Aug 5/13: Mirage F1. Spain is reportedly working on a deal with Spain for its recently-decommissioned Mirage F1 fighters, which have been replaced in Spain’s service by the Eurofighter:

“The only real hard news and from Spanish defence media, is that Spain is effectively decommissioning the last eight Mirage F 1 –which have been on service for 35 years–, to be replaced by the Eurofighter, and is looking for buyers and among the countries named are Argentina, Egypt and Ecuador…. The Argentine air force currently has an estimated 25 Mirage 5 and Mirage III with over thirty years in service…. However according to Argentine sources the aircraft are virtually out of use because of lack of spares and an adequate maintenance.”

Depending on how one counts, it has been more like 22 years of service since their deep modernization to F1M status. The RAF won’t give an on-the-record response, but British newspapers are told by unnamed sources that “If the Argentines start playing games and escalate the tension we will see more RAF aircraft being deployed to the Falklands.” That would help prevent a takeover, but unless Britain adds a lot of fighters, it may not quite stop intimidation flights against energy companies working in the Falklands EEZ. MercoPress, “Falklands and the Mirages: playing with the Islanders worst memories” | Daily Express, “Jet fighter threat to the Falkland Islands” | Daily Mirror, “Falklands alert as Argentina strikes £145 million deal for 20 Mirage warplanes” | Israel’s Globes, “IAI selling upgraded Kfir jets for $20m”.

June 27/13: JF-17. Argentina is reportedly in talks with China concerning the FC-1/ JF-17 fighter, a joint project with Pakistan whose performance lies somewhere between a Mirage F1 and an F-16. It can use radar-guided air-to-air missiles, but its most important asset is the CASIC CM-400AKG supersonic anti-ship missile, with a range that’s longer than France’s sub-sonic Exocets. Its is also shown at air shows like Farnborough with China’s C802 sub-sonic anti-ship missile, which is very similar to the American Harpoon.

“Speaking at the Paris Air Show in mid-June, officials from Fabrica Argentina de Aviones (FAdeA) told IHS Jane’s that the company has had multiple discussions with Chinese officials over co-producing the fighter in Argentina. Although the FC-1/JF-17 is already jointly built with Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, FAdeA officials stressed that they are dealing solely with the Chinese…. While discussions are said to be far from over, if realised they will open up a wide panoply of Chinese weapon systems to Argentina…”

Sources: IHS Jane’s Missiles & Rockets, “Fighter talks may afford Argentina advanced Chinese missile systems”.

Additional Readings

Up above, DID asked of Ha’aretz, “Is basic fact-checking and editorial oversight too much to ask?” Sometimes, that comes back to bite. Thanks to readers who wrote in to us about local defensive measures and options in the Falklands that we had not covered. We had good discussions, but the plain fact is that some of the omissions were important items. They have been added to the article, with our thanks – and our apologies.

Readers with corrections, comments, or information to contribute are encouraged to contact DID’s Founding Editor, Joe Katzman. We understand the industry – you will only be publicly recognized if you tell us that it’s OK to do so.

• Wikipedia – Argentine Air Force.

Background: Aircraft

• Airforce Technology – F-21 Kfir Fighter Jet, Israel. F-21 was the American designation for used Kfirs flown by its Aggressor training squadrons. Some private firms, like ATAC, still use it for this purpose.

• ACIG – Kfir C.10. In service with Ecuador and Colombia, and the base for the “Block 60”. Kfir C.12s don’t have the EL/M-2032 radar.

• DID – Cheetahs and Mirage 50s for Ecuador.

• DID – Pakistan & China’s JF-17 Fighter Program. If Britain blocks the Kfir sale, could they be setting themselves up for something worse?

• RAC MiG – MiG-29/MiG-29UB/MiG-29SE.

• Wikipedia – Dassault Mirage F1.

News & Views

• MercoPress (March 22/14) – The Falklands/Malvinas: Brazil’s next regional headache? Stability in the region has been a key goal for Brazil.

• Defense Update (Oct 6/13) – At 40 Years of age, Kfir Turns into a “Networked Fighter”. Kfir Block 60.

• Israeli Air Force (Sept 25/13) – Roaring Back. Includes information about Colombia’s C10/C12 upgrades, and makes vague references to the Block 60.

• Globes (Aug 6/13) – IAI selling upgraded Kfir jets for $20m.