Diehl BGT Defense of Germany conceived the IDAS missile as a fiberoptic-guided antiair weapon for use by submarines operating underwater. It is, however, evolving into a family of missiles that can be deployed by surface ships and helicopters, and used for antiship and coastal attack missions.
Reviewed By Pat Toensmeier War Over The Trenches: Air Power and the Western Front Campaigns 1916-1918 BY E.R. Hooton Midland Publishing, 2010 352 pp., $36.95
Procurement policies—and related issues such as technology transfer and intellectual property rights—impact many organizations, especially the services that get the equipment. The Indian air force is set to deploy a number of game-changing platforms, from the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft to advanced sensors and missile systems. Contributing Editor Neelam Mathews discussed plans for new capabilities and strategies for maintaining legacy equipment with Air Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik, air force chief, at his New Delhi office.
Changing combat conditions in Afghanistan and the advent of high-resolution pod-mounted sensors have seen a surge in fighter planes being used for a new type of recon activity known as non-traditional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (NTISR).
The Middle East defense market is changing. Nations are no longer interested in just buying hardware—they want comprehensive packages that include training, security guarantees, military-to-military cooperation, forward deployment of allied forces and nuclear guarantees. Products from nations such as France, the U.K. and the U.S. sell well, their pitch being that buying from them buys security.
The name Stradivarius conjures images of violins whose sound is unequaled. It does not bring to mind maritime surveillance, but a French team that is developing a high-frequency surface wave radar is likely hoping that their product will become as much of a synonym for perfection as its musical counterpart.
“Going commando” (or “regimental” in Scotland) is a term with a military history that means sans underwear. The practice is now officially discouraged by the U.K. Defense Ministry, which has invested £10 million ($15.8 million) in the development of a pelvic body armor kit that starts with undershorts made of ballistic silk. When combined with two other components—a layer of detachable body armor (soon to be issued) and plate armor for the upper leg and abdomen (in development)—soldiers will have a system designed to mitigate blasts and shrapnel.
Tank: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Location: Paris Profile: Ubiquitous and global Cyberweapons” are a threat, conclude two British academics, but there will never be a true cyberwar that is not associated with traditional weapons. The OECD’s International Futures Program commissioned Peter Sommer of the London School of Economics and Ian Brown of the Oxford Internet Institute to look at potential “global shock” from cyberattacks.
A figure lies on the ground, blood gushing from the stump of a severed arm. Medics rush to provide treatment, but if they get it wrong, they can always “rewind” and try again because the wounded figure is not human but a new concept in mannequins—a training dummy with pumping blood, organs and a rattling cough. Medical equipment manufacturer Laerdal of Norway developed the mannequin, called “Sim Man Essential.” It is designed to provide battlefield medics and first responders with realism in treating casualties.
Swedish manufacturer DCE AB is developing a unique family of vehicles for naval special forces that can be operated on the surface, partially submerged or underwater.
The U.K. might have trouble procuring a new generation of armored fighting vehicles (AFVs) now, with the stop-start progress of the Future Rapid Effects System, but this hasn’t stopped the Defense Ministry from looking into the future.
A wireless network of sensors is being developed for use on helicopters that will provide real-time data on the mechanical integrity of rotating and structural components, thereby facilitating maintenance, reducing operating cost, increasing readiness and improving safety. MicroStrain Inc. of Williston, Vt., is developing the system under a $730,000 Phase II Small Business Innovation Research contract from the U.S. Army. The sensor network includes embedded energy-harvesting radio-frequency identification (EH-RFID) nodes. The sensors pull double duty.
The German government could approve funding this year of a replacement for the navy’s Westland Sea King Mk.41 search and rescue helicopter, and may award a contract for production in 2012.
Editor-in-Chief Bill Sweetman’s Christmas present this year was imagery of China’s new J-20 stealth fighter, which has emerged on Chinese Internet websites. His first Ares blog post on the aircraft appeared on Dec. 25. What followed were many more posts and hundreds of comments from readers eager to debate the relative air superiority of China and the U.S. It just goes to show: If you’re not reading Ares, you’re missing some really interesting news and analysis as it breaks. Here are a few of the J-20 comments.
The U.K. Defense Ministry has ordered 1 million lightweight magazines for use with the British Army’s 5.56 X 45-mm. SA80 rifle. The EMAG, manufactured by Magpul Industries Corp. of Erie, Colo., and sold to the Defense Ministry through distributor Level Peaks Associates of Hereford, England, will reduce a soldier’s combat load by 2.8 lb., based on the 12 clips that most troops carry during operations. The EMAG holds 30 bullets and is fabricated of polymer—U.S. patent documents indicate it is a polyolefin. (EMAG is an acronym for export magazine; the U.S.
Tom Hurn, project manager for General Atomics’ railgun program, demonstrates the trajectory of the company’s experimental Blitzer railgun on the occasion of the December test firing at the U.S. Navy’s Dahlgren test center (DTI January, p. 16).
With major U.S. military sales to India underway and the possibility of a winning American bid for the $10-billion Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft program, one seemingly non-negotiable condition affecting U.S. export of sensitive technology is unresolved—India’s refusal to sign the Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (Cismoa).
China’s unveiling of the Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter (see p. 32), plus the public assessment of a senior U.S. Navy officer that the major components of a Chinese antiship ballistic missile system (ASBM) were operational, or close to it, caused people who ought to know better to talk about a “Sputnik moment.”
The Brazilian defense ministry has awarded Aeroeletronica (AEL) Ltda., a local subsidiary of Elbit Industries of Haifa, Israel, a multiyear contract worth up to 440 million reals ($263 million) for “several hundred” UT30BR unmanned turrets. The turrets will be equipped with 30-mm. automatic cannons and installed on the 6 X 6 Guarani VBTP-MR armored personnel carrier (APC), developed for the Brazilian army by Iveco of Italy. The preproduction series of 16 APCs begins testing this year.
Torpedoes are potent weapons, if rarely used. Excluding the sinking of a South Korean ship last March by North Korea, the last torpedo used in combat was by the Royal Navy in the Falklands War, “and they used a torpedo from World War II,” says Marc Le Roy, director of BU ASM (Business Unit Armes Sous Marines), the underwater weapons business of French naval systems developer DCNS.
Last November, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) completed a $219-million project to secure high-grade plutonium and enriched uranium from a Soviet-era BN-350 reactor in Aktau, Kazakhstan. NNSA’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative and Kazakhstan’s industry and new technology ministry moved the material in casks—i.e., containment vessels—on specially designed railcars to a secure, secret location in eastern Kazakhstan, more than 1,800 mi. away.
Bernard Gray, the U.K.’s new defense materiel chief, began the year with a project that may be nearing the top of his priorities list: the £1-billion ($1.6-billion) Warrior Capability Sustainment Program (WCSP), a multifaceted plan to upgrade 600 Warrior armored fighting vehicles (DTI September 2009, p. 36). WCSP is the type of program that Gray, author of a critical report on defense procurement commissioned by the previous Labour administration, was appointed to assure never happens again.
Reviewed By Pat Toensmeier Project Azorian: The CIA and the Raising of the K-129 By Norman Polmar and Michael White Naval Institute Press, 2010 238 pp., $29.95
The outlook for Britain’s defense technology sector is rosy despite budget cuts and retrenchment. That was the message from the second annual conference and exhibition organized by the U.K. Defense Ministry’s Center for Defense Enterprise (CDE) in London last month. CDE has funded over 200 technology projects since May 2008.
