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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
Similarities between the Ocelot Light Protected Patrol Vehicle (LPPV) and a Williams Formula One racing car are hard to spot. As they sit side-by-side at the U.K. Defense Ministry’s Defense Equipment and Support (DE&S) campus here, the ultra-lightweight F1 machine barely reaches the height of the Ocelot’s run-flat tires, and the military vehicle’s 70-mph. top speed will never threaten a Grand Prix team. Yet Ocelot is the first fruit of Motorsport to Defense (M2D), a U.K.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
The rapid unveiling of the Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter leaves many questions about China’s military development, particularly its airpower goals. Not in question is that it is the latest example of a rapid military evolution that faces China’s neighbors and their ally, the U.S.
Far along from its accidental origin in a university lab, researchers applying special treatment to silicon are set to leap ahead in making devices that see in the dark. The result could be sensitive imaging gear with a pinhole lens fitted onto a pair of sunglasses, the ultimate in night-vision infrared (IR) eyewear.
Will the British and French really get on in defense matters? Can John Bull be compatible with Marianne? The questions are raised, yet again, following November’s Anglo-French defense agreement: Can the two countries, which have been courting each other for decades, actually make it work this time?
Italy is keeping its defense budget—and major procurement programs—untouched despite pressure from the treasury to reduce spending as part of a government-wide effort to cut the national deficit. To achieve these results, however, the defense ministry has slashed funding for operations, maintenance and training, which will affect the readiness of forces, and is reducing military and civilian personnel.
DTI’s demographics say that many readers grew up in the Cold War. “Nuclear combat, toe-to-toe with the Ruskies” was a nightmare, but the light switch was never much of a reach away. Most of the time, nobody thought it would happen. We knew the Russians were chess players. (Had we known their leaders were malevolent, corrupt, drunken union bosses, we’d have been much twitchier, but that’s another story.)
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has awarded Lockheed Martin a $6.9-million contract for multiple One Shot laser-based sniper systems that are designed to improve accuracy and reduce detection. The systems produced under the contract will be used for testing by Darpa and the U.S. military. One Shot uses a laser and camera to gauge wind speed and direction within 1,500 meters (around 5,000 ft.), sensors to account for atmospheric conditions and direct-view optics for enhanced night vision.
When President Barack Obama accepted International Security Assistance Force commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s resignation in June and named Gen. David Petraeus to lead U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, questions about the direction of the war were met with pleas for patience, as the American public was told to wait for a promised Afghan strategy review in December.
Bill Sweetman (Washington), Pat Toensmeier (New York)
Reduced defense budgets and problematic procurement schedules are among the challenges contractors will face in 2011. As militaries and cash-strapped governments press for savings, many contractors will be working to broaden the products and services they provide to remain competitive. There are thousands of companies that could be listed as worth watching in this regard. DTI has selected five which, based on the input of its editors and others, are positioned especially well to deal with business in 2011.
