Kevin Kit Parker is not a typical traumatic brain injury (TBI) researcher. As an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Harvard University, his research interest until a few years ago was primarily cardiac cell biology and tissue engineering. But Parker, who is also a reserve officer in the U.S. Army, began to pursue a new area of research between two tours in Afghanistan. There, improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, are the No. 1 killer of U.S. and allied troops, and Parker saw firsthand the effects of TBI.
The economic crisis in the European Union is affecting defense spending, of course, but one way to optimize funding is to expand coordination and integration of program development among partner nations. The European Defense Agency (EDA) and NATO launched initiatives with this in mind—EDA proposes pooling and sharing agreements, while NATO promotes Smart Defense, which stresses joint development of weapons and systems to save money, streamline manufacturing and improve interoperability.
In theory, the plan for the U.K.'s two new aircraft carriers is now set and can proceed. The 2010 Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR) changed the ships, and the aircraft that are to fly off them, from the B-variant, short-takeoff/vertical landing (Stovl) version of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), in favor of the larger, heavier, longer-range F-35C carrier variant. As such, there is now a requirement for catapults and arrester gear.
It has been an interesting 12 months for U.K. defense, and 2012 promises to have as many noteworthy points as 2010-11. The end of 2010 saw publication of the Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR), with consequent cuts in the force structures of all three services. Then there was the budget settlement, which promises only minimal funding to 2015. The Libyan campaign appeared out of nowhere, but ended well, while raising serious questions about the outcome of SDSR.
Recent cabinet discussions called for cuts equivalent to $800 million in Israel's military budget. Defense Minister Ehud Barak objected, but they were approved. The military cautioned that when finalized the cuts could be more—$2.4 billion—and set back production of missile-defense systems, strategic stockpiles and other priorities.
On March 22, 2011, two Bell Boeing MV-22B Osprey tiltrotors launched from the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsage to retrieve two U.S. Air Force F-15E pilots whose aircraft suffered mechanical failure over Libya. The fact that the MV-22Bs reached the pilots faster than a helicopter could have has been the central theme of a Marine Corps public relations offensive to polish the controversial Osprey's image. If it hadn't been for the V-22, Marine Commandant Gen. James Amos said in November, “we'd have been negotiating for the release of those two pilots.”
In November, a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to put the Iranian nuclear issue at the top of his agenda. News reports began claiming that Israeli officials supported an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities and reached fever pitch with publicity over the test launch of a long-range, apparently nuclear-capable, delivery vehicle from a secret base in central Israel.
Early Warning The public face of 2Excel Aviation, a Northamptonshire, England, company, is exciting: The Blades is the only aerobatic display team in the world licensed as an airline. It carries fare-paying passengers on stunt flights in two-seat Extra EA-300 LPs. But what 2Excel Aviation is doing behind the scenes could have an enormous impact on the future of aviation. While unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are an essential part of military fleets, the development of a civil market is hampered by their inability to be legally flown outside restricted airspace.
A $1.7 billion November contract for seven low-rate initial production P-8A Poseidon multimission maritime aircraft, following an earlier batch of six, indicates that Boeing's big maritime patrol aircraft is well underway. Although cancellation of the U.K.'s Nimrod MRA4 leaves it as the last Western program of its kind, aside from the unexportable Kawasaki P-1, Boeing hopes it is the first of a long family.
Much was made of the Bush administration's characterization of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as part of a larger Global War on Terror, Long War, or Era of Persistent Conflict—or as the lawyerly Obama administration prefers, Overseas Contingency Operations. It is a war that knows no real front lines or national boundaries, while lacking any strategic endgame, other than killing as many terrorists as possible.
Paul McLeary (Washington), Bill Sweetman (Washington)
In many respects, the election-year debate over U.S. defense budgets has yet to start, for two reasons: The defense topline over the next decade is unknown, within a very wide range, and Congress, lobbyists and the rest of the Washington defense machine have yet to grasp that unprecedented changes, compromises and even sacrifices may be needed to balance the books without ending up with a “hollow force.”
November's International Atomic Energy Agency report implied that the Stuxnet virus delayed, but didn't derail, Iran's nuclear program. Nevertheless, the worm's precision strike seems to have spawned more advanced cyberattacks. In October, researchers in Budapest announced the discovery of a Stuxnet derivative. Duqu—so named because some files it creates have the prefix “DQ”—may be the work of the same coders, but its mission is different.
It was disclosed last year that AeroVironment's Switchblade man-portable, lethal unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had received a production contract from the U.S. Army, following an operational utility assessment in 2010. AeroVironment has taken the lead with these systems, after launching development under the Army's Project Anubis. Using components from its Wasp mini-UAV, the 2-lb. Switchblade is tube-launched (so the operator can stay under cover) with tandem flip-out wings and electric propulsion.
A tool developed by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) could soon change the way the military understands—and deals with—the exposure of troops to bomb blasts. Darpa's Blast Gauge, which was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011, is a wearable sensor that measures blast exposure. The device could lead to better diagnosis of traumatic brain injury (TBI), dubbed the “signature wound” of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
BMT Defense Services may be one of the most influential defense companies you have never heard of. Naval architecture—the equivalent of preliminary design in the aerospace world—employs only a few people worldwide, and even fewer in the warship business. Part of the BMT Group, a company held in a trust that is formally dedicated to the interests of its staff, BMT Defense Services has a core of 60 engineers and performs much of the Royal Navy's work in naval architecture.
Train Like You Fight Spun off from a movie studio in 2002, Strategic Operations (Stops) provides “hyper-realistic” (its trademarked phrase) training. The San Diego firm has built training facilities modeled along Afghan/Iraqi lines for clients including the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and National Guard. Hollywood-style pyrotechnics ensure that urban combat scenarios do not lack realism, while actors play civilians and insurgents for troops to engage.
The expanding role of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and the electronics revolution have been kind to Flir Systems. Its signature product, the “ball” or sensor turret, is ubiquitous on air, sea and land platforms, and each year the company finds ways to pack more capability, such as high-definition video and laser designators, into smaller and cheaper units. Flir's Government Systems unit is expanding into full security systems and services (DTI June 2011, p. 51).
Bar armor is the usual way to protect transport and patrol vehicles from rocket-propelled grenades (RPG), but it is heavy, cumbersome and loses effectiveness after damage. A U.K. unit of Amsafe—based in Bridport, England, which has a 750-year history of rope and net-making—has teamed with ST Kinetics to develop a net-based protection system, Tarian, initially for the Warthog tracked articulated vehicle. Tarian is a refined version of a system developed for the British Army in 2009. Total weight is 190 lb. versus 1,200 lb.
Cyberspooks In February 2011, hacking collective Anonymous broke into the servers of security company HBGary Federal and published more than 70,000 emails. Among them: confidential correspondence about and by an Atlanta cybersecurity firm called Endgame Systems. Founded in 2008 by former staffers at IBM's X-Force Internet Security Systems division, Endgame set up a subsidiary, ipTrust, in 2010, to analyze computer networks and rank IP addresses by their level of freedom from malware. The activities of the parent follow a similar vein.
Andrew Krepinevich, Jr., is president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, one of Washington's most influential think tanks. He joined CSBA after 21 years in the U.S. Army, from which he retired as a colonel. In the Army, Krepinevich served in the Defense Department's Office of Net Assessment and on the personal staff of three defense secretaries. He was a member of the National Defense Panel and the Defense Science Board Task Force on Joint Experimentation, and serves on the Defense Policy Board. Krepinevich discussed the changes and challenges of U.S.
The U.K.'s Team Complex Weapons initiative, a partnership between government and industry designed to structure and stabilize the development of guided weapon systems, got a lukewarm reception when announced at the Farnborough air show in 2008, but some of the thinking behind it is becoming clearer as one of its first products takes shape. MBDA unveiled the land-based launcher for its new Common Anti-Air Modular Missile (CAMM) at the DSEi show in London last September (see photo), after displaying the sea-based version at the 2010 Eurosatory exhibition.
As the Libyan regime of Moammar Gadhafi withered and died after months of combat with rebel forces, the weapons that the dictator stockpiled in his 42-year reign came up for grabs.
A subject of increasing sensitivity in the fighter world is the information that emerges from multinational exercises. Stories from several operations have leaked over the past few years and flashed around the world, indicating that one side left the other for dead. The first problem when such stories break is that it makes air forces wary of engaging in exercises. Another is that combat exercise loss-exchange-ratio numbers are scenario-dependent.
A 17-year journey has come to an end for a collaborative European program with the announcement that a long-awaited U.K. armored fighting vehicle (AFV) upgrade is finally getting the go-ahead. The Warrior Capability Sustainment Program will upgrade the current mechanized infantry combat vehicle with new digital architecture, better integration of some protection systems that were added as a result of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, importantly, a new and radical gun.
