Russia is increasing its stealth corvette fleet. On March 31, Severnaya Verf shipyard of St. Petersburg launched Soobrazitelny, the second Project 20380 corvette. Shipyard officials say it will enter service in late 2011. The first-in-class Stereguschiy joined the Baltic fleet in February 2008. The ships are multirole littoral vessels. Displacing 2,000 tons, they reach 27 kt. and have a range of 4,000 nm. They are the first Russian combat ships with stealth features, including a special hull shape and composite deck structures.
As the U.S. military looks for ways to improve human intelligence in asymmetric conflicts, one organization is soliciting proposals for analytical equipment and software to meet this need. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has launched Guard Dog (Graph Understanding and Analysis for Rapid Detection-Deployed on the Ground), a program to develop handheld devices and software that automate the collection, analysis and prioritization of intelligence.
Telling your customer that he can’t do math is not a classic way to succeed in business, but it may have been the best argument that Lockheed Martin had by mid-April after a torrent of bad news about the Joint Strike Fighter program. There was one good news story in March: The first vertical landing, on March 18. The program notched up 50 flights in the first half of Fiscal 2010, bringing the total to 170, more than half of them logged by the now retired AA-1. Plans in 2008 called for 1,243 test sorties in Fiscal 2010.
A U.S. Marine Corps sergeant jumped from a Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle last summer to inspect a suspicious clump in the dirt along the side of the highway linking his operating base and the combat outpost the convoy was headed to. He inched his way to the patch of ground with a metal detector. The marine had good reason for caution. Helmand Province is infested with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), found along roadways and footpaths that Marines and Afghan security forces use during dismounted patrols.
Cyber-attack is an ever-present threat that can result in major damage to government and business web sites, as the following examples show. U.S. and South Korea, 2009: Officials in both countries reported attacks in the summer, aimed mainly at government web sites, as well as financial services sites. How it happened: The perpetrators used a virus to infect computers, enlisting hundreds of thousands of unwitting computer users in several countries to launch distributed-denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks, which overwhelmed targeted web sites.
Military planners in the 1990s and early 2000s dreamed of a fully networked battlefield where soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen would have as near absolute knowledge of enemy movements as possible, in real-time, 24/7.
The European Defense Agency (EDA) has awarded a consortium led by Rheinmetall of Germany—and including Thales of France—a contract to produce an interoperable demonstration system for protecting military assets and installations in multinational operations. The Franco-German Future Interoperability of Camp Protection Systems (Ficaps) project aims to develop a common architecture linking fixed and mobile protection systems in the joint defense of co-located camps, critical infrastructure and other potential land targets.
The U.S. Army needs a new self-propelled artillery system. Though it plans to keep BAE’s Paladin PIM howitzer in service until 2050-60, the Army was also planning to add the Non-Line-of-Sight-Cannon (NLOS-C), a self-propelled tracked howitzer that was part of the discontinued Future Combat Systems (FCS) program (see related story on p. 30).
Dealing with a shortage of tactical-lift helicopters is not always a matter of buying more new rotorcraft, which may be just as well, because most armed forces can’t afford that. Even with resurgent production of the Boeing CH-47F Chinook, there remains an urgent need for more lift, and in Europe and Israel this is being met by upgrades and increased use of the old-technology, robust Mil Mi-17, usually known by its NATO name Hip.
Nanoparticle gel and integrative data are the latest tools being tested for security in military and civilian infrastructures. They hold the potential of snaring everyday criminals such as drug smugglers and terrorists like the foiled underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
In March, the Ares blog was eclectic, with comments ranging from Iran’s nuclear enrichment program to the needs of the Canadian navy. One big topic was Boeing’s design for a “NewGen” KC-X tanker, given Northrop Grumman’s decision to withdraw from the program and EADS declining to go it alone in the competition or seek a new partner. There were also reactions to the agreement between A400M launch nations and EADS that keeps the airlifter in business (see p. 10), and the Joint Strike Fighter staring a Nunn-McCurdy breach in the eye.
British soldiers and helicopter pilots may soon have a night-vision device that doubles the field of view most conventional systems offer. Scientists at BAE Systems are developing Bug Eye, a monocular sight with 60 deg. of peripheral vision. Bug Eye is based on the 50 convex microlenses that make up each eye of Xenos peckii, a parasite whose vision is unique in nature, in that it generates a mosaic of images to provide a wide field of view. Bug Eye will have nine digital lenses (see photos) and attach to a helmet.
Northrop Grumman’s use of the Cartman gambit—as the South Park cartoon character puts it, “screw you guys, I’m going home”—in the U.S. Air Force tanker competition was pre-leaked, so it was not a strategic surprise. European Aeronautic Defense and Space (EADS) may yet, at the time of writing, cobble together an alternate offer, but the odds are against it.
The U.K. took a big step toward its upcoming Strategic Defense Review (SDR) by publishing a Green Paper—a preliminary report of government proposals—in February. The Green Paper offered no conclusions about the SDR, but laid a framework around which the review will be conducted.
Support vessels may not be at the top of an admiral’s wish list, but these workhorses are becoming more important as many navies try to build blue-water fleets, and those with the capability seek to better manage extended missions far from home waters. France and the U.K., for example, are planning new replenishment vessels, Italy wants two refueling ships, Turkey wants one, and Greece and Spain have just added support ships to their fleets.
Speakers at a lawfare conference were unanimous in their opinion that the tactic, defined as the wrongful manipulation of a legal system for strategic, political or military ends, inhibits debate, undermines international organizations and delegitimizes national efforts to fight terrorism. This is because lawfare, a term that dates to the 1970s, is increasingly used by activists and non-state entities against the West and Israel to influence opinion, obscure precedent and build support for positions through rulings by courts and international bodies.
The bombing of the USS Cole in 2000 caused a catastrophic failure of bulkhead shaft seals, designed to prevent flooding between compartments along the main propulsion shaft. The failure was evidence of an ongoing problem for the Navy—conventional rotating diaphragm shaft seals were subject to wear. A design developed by Mide Technology Corp. of Medford, Mass., has been qualified on several DDG-51 destroyers, and is commercial and available for new and retrofit installation on Navy ships and other vessels.
Paul McLeary (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), Bettina H. Chavanne (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)
The Association of the United States Army (AUSA) expo is a good gauge of what’s happening in the defense industry. Last year, there was a palpable air of hesitation, as Army officials and industry waited for the new administration to take the reigns and assert its policy goals, and for the Quadrennial Defense Review to outline priorities.
Kockums AB has signed a contract with the Swedish defense procurement agency FMV to develop its A26 vessel as the country’s next-generation submarine. The sub will replace Sweden’s Gotland-class boats, which will be obsolete by the end of the decade. Sweden operates three Gotland subs, which were commissioned in 1996. Like the Gotland boats, the A26 subs will have diesel-electric hybrid engines and Stirling air-independent propulsion systems. Each will be 63 meters (207 ft.) long, with a 6.4-meter beam, and displace 1,900 metric tons. Crew size will be 17-31.
U.S. Marines handed over command of Iraq’s Anbar Province to the Iraqi army in January—freeing up what was once a peak force of 25,000 deployed there for the fight in Afghanistan.
The 2.75-in. (70-mm.) folding-fin aerial rocket is widely used for ground attack by helicopters. As militaries look to upgrade the weapons, many of which are unguided, manufacturers are putting the final touches on new laser-guided versions that they say are less expensive and more accurate. After years of development, first sales are expected this year.
Surgical screws attached to bone are usually made of titanium or medical stainless steel. When an injury heals, a second operation is necessary to extract them. An improved screw has been developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Applied Materials Research of Bremen, Germany: a biodegradable version molded of materials that promote bone growth. The screw not only degrades, which eliminates the need to surgically remove it, but creates bone in the process so no hole remains where it was attached.
