Counter-piracy techniques will be a highlight of Imdex 2011, the biennial maritime defense exposition in Singapore, May 18-20. The show and concurrent International Maritime Security Conference will feature the latest technologies and research developments in maritime warfare and counter-terrorism operations.
Titanium prosthetics are more functional than ever, but have a problem: preventing bacteria from entering the body at the abutment, the point where a prosthetic is implanted into bone. This is normally a function of skin. Researchers at Brown University, led by Thomas Webster, associate professor of engineering and orthopedics, developed two methods to promote skin cell growth at the abutment and seal the gap. One involves firing an electron beam of titanium coating at the abutment, which creates a surface of 20-nanometer mounds.
Most discussion of cyberdefense remains rooted in questions of protection of critical national infrastructure. Yet if a cyberthreat exists that requires a defense, it is axiomatic that there is potential for offensive cyberweapons, a few of which are beginning to emerge from the shadows.
With piracy exploding and ship owners paying millions in ransom to free crews, vessels and cargo, a proposal to create a quasi-governmental antipiracy force is gaining traction, at least among insurers. The concept involves buying a fleet of fast patrol boats that would accompany commercial ships through pirate-infested waters.
Nicholas Fiorenza (Alkantpan Firing Range, South Africa)
The full product range of Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM) was on display at the Alkantpan shooting range in April. Created in 2008, RDM is jointly owned by Rheinmetall Waffe Munition of Germany, with a 51% share, and Denel of South Africa, with 49%.
For commercial shippers to counter piracy, integrated, affordable solutions need to be fielded to reduce the risk of vessels, crews and cargo being seized. Selex Sistemi Integrati (SSI) of Italy, building on its expertise in naval combat management systems, border and costal surveillance, and network-centric development, has engineered an antipiracy system called Pompeius for merchant ships.
As a Royal Marine warrant officer in Y Sqdn., 3 Commando Brig.’s electronic warfare (EW) unit, Gavin O’Connell became convinced during tours in Afghanistan in 2002 and Iraq in 2003 that EW was being squandered as a capability. He saw the need to better integrate EW within a wider signals intelligence (sigint) and intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (Istar) perspective.
Richard D. Fisher, Jr. (Washington), Bill Sweetman (Washington)
It is no secret that long-term U.S. Air Force and Navy planning is focused on China. This alone is straining U.S.-China relations, as well as triggering U.S. domestic criticism from those who regard war with China as inconceivable, and an internal squabble between China-focused planners and “boot-centric” Army and Marine Corps leaders.
Secret and slow could be watchwords for the U.S. Air Force’s new bomber program. Although major spending is getting under way, the service does not expect to see the aircraft in service before the mid-2020s—a longer timescale than the “2018 bomber” discussed in 2008. In addition, Maj. Gen.
One goal in designing prosthetic limbs is making them as real as possible. At Stanford University, Zhenan Bao has developed an electronic skin that could improve the way prosthetics feel—literally. Bao, an associate professor of chemical engineering, calls the material “super skin.” It is touch-sensitive, self-powering and could eventually be made to distinguish chemicals and proteins and transmit that data to a receptor, whether the brain or a computer.
Aviation, maritime and homeland security assets will be key features of the eighth LAAD 2011 Latin America Aero and Defense international exhibition in Rio de Janeiro. Exhibitors from the Americas, Israel and Europe will be among companies vying to meet the region’s growing security needs at the show, April 12-15.
Australia’s transport forces will undergo an unexpected shakeup, with the government seeking two logistics ships and an extra Boeing C-17 that were not planned. The ships, probably a second-hand Bay-class assault vessel from Britain and a fast multi-hull ferry from an Australian builder, will be introduced because of the near collapse of the Royal Australian Navy’s amphibious fleet due to unserviceability.
It may be possible to determine when metallic components wear out and have the potential to cause a machine failure. Research by Prof. Michael Khonsari at Louisiana State University resulted in a method that predicts when metals subjected to cyclic stress will fail. Khonsari found that prior to failure there is a sudden and dramatic rise in the temperature of a metal component. As the metal degrades, “the amount of disorder generated within it keeps rising to a maximum value” prior to fracture.
Bill Sweetman (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates), Andy Nativi (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)
The Twittering rebels of the Islamic world and rumblings from Iran turned out to be the best sales aids that February’s International Defense Exhibition—IDEX—here could have. One result of the regional unrest and periodic threats from Teheran was a focus at the show on internal security and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) technology.
The U.S. Army says its new airburst weapon is a success and plans to build another 36 units. Only five have been built. In November, the Army fielded prototypes of the XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System to units in Afghanistan. The XM25, which currently fires 25-mm ammunition developed by ATK, has been in combat a number of times. Soldiers were so impressed with its ability to destroy targets that they nicknamed it “The Punisher” (no formal name has yet been given to the XM25). The weapon allows soldiers to hit targets behind a barricade or inside a building.
Graham Warwick (Washington), Bill Sweetman (Washington)
For a time it looked as if the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan might spark demand for dedicated counterinsurgency (COIN) aircraft, the way Vietnam gave new life to the A-1 Skyraider and spurred development of the OV-10 Bronco.
Consternation and speculation about the state of Chinese military science spread rapidly around the globe in the wake of Beijing’s recent rollout of the J-20 fighter, which is said to possess stealth characteristics and to be the first serious rival to what had been unchallenged American technology (DTI February, p. 32). Two other events—the stellar showing of Shanghai students in global math and science testing against a droopy American turnout, and, a few years ago, China showing a clear capability to blast satellites from orbit with missiles—also raised eyebrows.
Plans are underway to test-fire the Barak 8 surface-to-air naval missile in India this year. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) are jointly developing this version of the weapon. The Barak 8 (the name means lightning in Hebrew) is on schedule to complete testing and be integrated on board the first Israeli and Indian combat vessels by 2012. After entering service, the system will continue with development and phased improvements before achieving full operational capability.
An official U.S. military organization has voiced a concern that many naval experts have had for some time: whether the Navy’s Virginia-class submarine, the nation’s centerpiece undersea warfare weapon, can perform one of its main missions—finding, tracking and defeating enemy diesel-electric subs.
Weapon sales to Libya were legal until a matter of weeks before U.S. and European forces struck the country. In February, the European Union and the U.S. suspended arms exports amid civil unrest and a crackdown by Libyan strongman Col. Muammar Qaddafi. While U.S. arms exports to Libya have been limited to spare parts and non-lethal equipment, EU countries have pushed forward rapidly. A EU report on arms sales says Europe exported €354 million ($502 million) of military equipment to Libya in 2009. Since 2006, the U.S.
While the rest of the aircraft carrier community breathed a collective sigh of relief in December when the U.S. Navy’s new Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (Emals) launched its first Boeing F/A-18E Super Hornet, shipbuilders and contractors for the next-generation CVN-78-class flattop knew the real work was just beginning.
Reviewed By Paul McLeary China, The United States And 21st-Century Sea Power: Defining a Maritime Security Partnership Edited BY Andrew S. Erickson, Lyle J. Goldstein and Nan Li Naval Institute Press, 2010 529 pp., $47.95
NATO’s Air Command and Control System (ACCS) is in its final testing and validation phase, with the goal of being operational during the first half of this decade.
Defense primes in Europe are broadening their horizons when it comes to deep research and technology (R&T). Rather than relying on their in-house laboratories, they are reaching out to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as universities and other institutions. The drivers are two: First, there is a realization that much technical innovation is fostered inside the SME/academic sector; second, defense ministries are trying to increase the amount of business that goes to SMEs, so teaming makes sense.
