Violence continues to plague Africa, brutalizing, killing and displacing large numbers of people and creating a permanent state of crisis and anarchy in some of the poorest countries in the world.
Defense spending is the largest part of Israel’s budget, but for years political squabbling has forced the defense establishment and finance ministry to deny public access to exactly how much money is being spent. The framework of the defense budget remains obscure and thus prone to speculation.
As developers of UAVs look for ways to increase performance, more than a few innovative concepts are jumping off the drawing board and taking flight. One such is Zephyr, a solar-powered, high-altitude, long-endurance UAV from Qinetiq of the U.K., a specialist in technology development and small-scale production. Zephyr combines a number of design features that are of interest for UAV operations. One is low weight. Although it has a wingspan of 22.5 meters (73.8 ft.), the ultralight carbon-fiber wing that comprises most of the structure weighs only about 50 kg. (110 lb.).
The first decade of the new century demonstrated the threat of modern terrorism, but also how a determined response, led by dedicated personnel, backed by technology and law, can defeat attacks and those responsible for them. Facing almost constant terrorism for more than 60 years, Israel has developed unique methods and procedures to combat this phenomenon.
Bill Sweetman (Washington), Pat Toensmeier (New York)
SAIC supplies engineering and technical capabilities in areas as diverse as sensors, battlefield biometrics, testing, training and simulation, networked communications, high-power microwave systems that disrupt communications or disable vehicles, nanotechnology, energy and environment, and medicine. As a result, it has become a go-to provider of critical services.
The Czech defense ministry will train Mi-171 helicopter pilots on a Russian simulator. It signed a contract on Dec. 8 for training with the HTP Ostrava facility at Ostrava Airport in the Czech Republic. Ostrava, a joint venture between THT Ostrava CZ and Russian simulator designer CSTS Dinamika, is the only training center for Russian helicopters in Europe. The center is equipped with an FTD-1-level simulator of the Mi-171 Hip transport helicopter.
The Virginia-class submarine program is giving the U.S. Navy experience with design and construction techniques that will influence the development of other submarines and surface ships.
It was always the conventional wisdom in Britain that only the Conservative party could make defense cuts and get away with it, and in October we found out that was true. One year ago in this space we said that “the era of sharing the pain by ‘salami-slicing’ all capabilities and programs is over, and governments are wondering which forces and missions will disappear.” The U.K.’s brand-new Sentinel and Nimrod MRA4 did exactly that, to the enormous surprise of most observers.
The new year brings heightened tensions to Northeast Asia. The latest hostilities between North Korea and South Korea erupted in an exchange of artillery fire, initiated by the north, on Nov. 23; Japan and China contest the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea; and Japan and Russia continue their claims to the South Kuril Islands that lie off northern Japan.
Russia continues to reform its military to face regional threats, the most serious of which comes from the Caucasus. The new military doctrine approved in February 2010 marks the transition from the threat perception of the Cold War to a more realistic scenario. The doctrine recognizes the decreased possibility of a large-scale war being launched against Russia, while identifying conflicts in neighboring regions and terrorism as among the major external threats.
Robotic vehicles deployed on land and in the air bring broad capabilities to the battlefield, substantially increasing activities ranging from intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) to explosives detection and disposal, perimeter security and attack. Land and air robots have long since changed battlefield tactics and, in the process, reduced casualties among forces that deploy them.
The image of a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) and helicopter-like hovering is eloquent testimony to the maturation of UAV technology. Israel Aerospace Industries has developed two small UAVs that perform VTOL operation—Panther (see photo) and Mini-Panther. Both versions have a pair of tiltrotor propellers and a vertical propeller that increases lift. VTOL eliminates the need for catapults and reduces the risk of damage on landing.Panther weighs 63 kg. (143 lb.) and is powered by three electric motors.
Compact weapons need compact guidance systems. Atlantic Inertial Systems, a unit of Goodrich Corp., designed a 1-cu.-in. inertial measurement device called MinIM. The component weighs less than 2 oz., making it substantially smaller and lighter than the previous generation of inertial guidance devices. MinIM measures rotational and linear acceleration, and provides guidance, navigation and control in a range of small weapons.
When a North Korean tour guide showed U.S. scientist Sigfried Hecker into the room, he was stunned to see 2,000 gas centrifuges capable of enriching uranium for nuclear fuel or for a bomb. “My mouth fell open,” he said.
The next big development in robotic land vehicles may come from truck manufacturer Oshkosh Defense. The company has developed an autonomous navigation kit for use on its Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV). Called TerraMax, the kit, which can be added during manufacturing or as a retrofit, converts the truck to an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), which can operate autonomously in a leader-follower mode where it follows the route of a lead vehicle, or with supervision from an escort vehicle at a safe standoff distance.
The German army has become the first service to disclose the operational use of infantry-portable fuel cell systems to replace batteries. German forces in Afghanistan are using the Jenny methanol fuel cell system from SFC Energy AG of Munich, which won the Pentagon’s energy prize in 2008. Two substantial orders were placed during 2010, and Austria is using the new system, according to SFC executives at October’s Future Soldier conference here.
Two of the longest-range sniper kills in Afghanistan have been by British forces firing the L115A3 rifle from Accuracy International (AI), a U.K. specialist in precision rifles. The weapon, which the company calls the AW338, made the news last May when a sniper in the Household Cavalry killed two Taliban insurgents firing a machine gun at British troops, with a 1.54-mi. shot—confirmed by GPS—in perfect shooting conditions (high elevation, clear day, no wind). A third round disabled the machine gun.
Hydrogen is an alternative-fuel candidate with plenty of potential. Horizon Energy Systems of Singapore has developed a hydrogen fuel cell power system that extended the flight time of a hand-launched UAV by 150% compared with lithium ion batteries. The fuel cell, called Aeropak, was tested last fall in a RemoEye-006 UAV from Uconsystem of South Korea. The RemoEye-006 has a 2.72-meter (8.9-ft.) wingspan, is 1.55 meters long, has maximum takeoff weight of 6.5 kg. (14.3 lb.), and is powered by an electric motor. Top speed is 75 kph. (47 mph.).
It has been a long road for the U.S. Army’s big modernization initiative, once known as Future Combat Systems (FCS). But in many respects 2011 is emerging as a make-or-break year for the ground sensors, unmanned ground and air vehicles, and communications gear that survived the purge of FCS by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in April 2009.
In the last two years, North Korea has tested a nuclear weapon, sunk a South Korean ship and killed 46 sailors, and now killed two more South Korean servicemen in another act of cold-blooded murder. Why does North Korea continue its provocations? The answer is obvious: because it gets away with them. Brinksmanship brings global prominence and economic aid, as the international community prefers to offer a few carrots rather than force a confrontation with an unpredictable state.
China’s 2011 defense expenditure will not be announced until March. Its official $78-billion budget in 2010 represented a 7.5% increase from 2009, when spending rose 14.9%, and was the lowest in a decade. The average annual defense spending increase during the period 2000-09 was 11.8%. China’s actual military spending, however, is much higher. Based on Defense Intelligence Agency estimates for 2008 published by the Pentagon, 2010 spending could have exceeded $185 billion.
Japan’s 2011 defense budget request is virtually unchanged (up 0.1%) from 2010, but seeks enhanced surveillance capability, improved ballistic missile defense (BMD) and defense of the Senkaku Islands, which are at the center of a dispute with China. Major equipment acquisitions for surveillance include a seventh Soryu-class diesel/electric submarine with better satellite communications, at ¥55.7 billion ($666 million); three Kawasaki P-1 maritime patrol aircraft, ¥55.1 billion; and four Mitsubishi SH-60K maritime helicopters, ¥23.3 billion.
