Editor Bill Sweetman’s travels include exotic stops such as Windom, Minn., between homebase in Minneapolis and Omaha, where representatives (save three) of the world’s nuclear weapons discussed deterrence. The executive jet (in silver) never exceeded the speed limit in 370 mi.—and North Korea’s intentions are peaceful.
Bill Sweetman (Washington), Paul McLeary (Washington)
The Assn. for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International show here last month was a chance to look at the industry’s progress in meeting Pentagon demands for more unmanned systems. Some systems and companies are doing much better than others. But what’s often not clear is why.
It is difficult to transmit data underwater. Temperature variations based on depth, location and even the season combined with changing salinity levels foil most communication devices. Most man-made devices, at least. Dolphins and whales emit sounds that can be heard far and wide. One company has studied how these mammals achieve this range of communication and applied the technique to a modem technology called Sweep Spread Carrier (S2C) for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), which transmits ultrasound or digital images up to 8 km. (5 mi.).
Flight trials for India’s biggest defense procurement program, the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA), are underway. India will acquire 126 aircraft—86 single-seat and 40 twin-seat configurations.
The U.K.’s procurement of armored fighting vehicles (AFVs) changed dramatically in the past year. The operational pressures of combat in Afghanistan forced planners to adopt far shorter timelines, and this means that AFV procurement strategies will see changes.
Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis, head of Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) and an advocate of finding innovative ways to combine technology with small-unit tactics, envisions a future where an infantry squad can call in joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets when needed, including close air support, without running the request up a chain of command.
Outfitted with blast-resistant armor, an external skeleton that provides super-human strength and the ability to command drones with a wave of the hand, the U.S. Army’s Natick Soldier Systems Center’s vision of the future is forward-looking and ambitious. And that’s precisely the point, according to Jean-Louis “Dutch” DeGay, a Natick official involved in a new science and technology concept called Future Soldier 2030. “We’re building an F-16 on legs,” he says.
Reviewed by Pat Toensmeier The View From Damascus: State, Political Community and Foreign Relations in Twentieth-Century Syria By Itamar Rabinovich Vallentine Mitchell & Co., 2008 371 pp., $49.95
When printer cartridges run empty in Dr. Anthony Atala’s office at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, they go to an unusual second life: creating and printing human skin.
Selex Galileo is a new name in sensors. Formed by Finmeccanica two years ago, it brings together much of the British (Selex Sensors) and Italian (Galileo Avionica) experience in sensors for defense applications, covering the visible, infrared, radar and acoustic domains. (Interestingly enough, the two biggest British names in Selex’s history are Marconi and Ferranti.) The company started with a lot of technology in its portfolio, along with a diverse range of customers, products and technologies that had evolved nationally and separately over the years.
Recent laser projects in Europe could yield developments that affect the size and performance of defense electronics. A consortium of more than 20 research institutions and companies, working with the Alcatel Thales III-V laboratory in France, sought to develop low-cost, high-brightness lasers at extended wavelengths, primarily by tightly focusing high-performance blue, green and red lasers together.
The Pentagon is aggressively promoting alternative energy. The goal is energy security, which includes long-term cost control in procurement, reduced logistics chains, sustainability and, of course, guaranteed supply.
Iraq looks set to divide its fleet of light helicopters between American and European aircraft. Bell Helicopter recently announced a contract to provide 24 Model 407s to Iraq, while a similar deal was concluded with France for 24 Eurocopter EC635s. “We start delivery in December with the first aircraft and then ramp up to two a month until [the contract is] complete,” says Mike Miller, Bell’s executive director for business development. There is also an option to buy another 26 helicopters.
The front hallway of BAE Systems’ Jam Lab looks like a rogues’ gallery of Russian-made shoulder-fired missiles, from the Vietnam-era SA-7 Strela to the more modern SA-18 Igla. Widely proliferated and easily transportable, such heat-seeking shoulder-fired missiles are high on the list of terrorist threats against commercial and military aircraft.
Israel’s first Merkava Mk4 tanks with Rafael’s Trophy Active Protection System (APS) became operational in August. It is not certain if the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) will standardize on the Trophy or also adopt the Iron Fist system from Israel Military Industries, which is in development. The IDF has yet to finalize a decision about how many and which types of APS to field in the armored corps. A mix of systems could be effective against a range of threats. Trophy is integrated into the Mk4 turret (see photo).
After U.S. Navy Seals dispatched three Somali pirates with three shots from the fantail of the USS Bainbridge off the Somali coast in April, Defense Secretary Robert M.
It wasn’t enough for the German military to have a versatile 26-metric-ton sweeper that neutralizes mines. It needed a bulldozer, too. Responding to requests from the German government, MineWolf Systems of Pfaeffikon, Switzerland, added a forklift, bucket, sifter bucket and dozer blade attachments to its MineWolf landmine sweeper. The attachments, like the vehicle, can be operated manually or by remote control. They allow the vehicle to grade roads and lift disabled cars. The company is reportedly working on more variants.
The Obama administration’s Quadrennial Defense Review and a parallel review of U.S. nuclear posture could give the go-ahead to two long-debated programs: a next-generation missile-launching submarine (SSBN) and a new nuclear warhead. If so, it will be a relief to nuclear insiders who worry that the topic of deterrence has been ignored for too long in the U.S., while nations like France, the U.K., Russia and China outpace U.S. modernization plans.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) wants to apply biomimetics to an important area of development: photonic structures. Darpa’s Bioinspired Photonics program is soliciting research proposals that will improve the understanding of how nature builds intricate optical structures in organisms. The goal is to combine this with advances in materials technology and develop photonic devices that operate in visible and near-infrared wavelengths.
One threat faced by warships is swarming by small watercraft. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has a way of combating swarming and other threats—picking them off one-by-one with high-energy lasers. ONR awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract worth up to $98 million to develop a laser weapon for U.S. Navy ships. The company declines to reveal details about the project, part of a Navy initiative called Maritime Laser Demonstration, but a representative says lasers will permit a graduated response to threats.
Russia’s Phazotron-NIIR Corp. completed factory trials of its Zhuk-AE active electronically scanned array radar. “The radar is combat-ready,” says Yuri Gouskov, chief designer. A 600-mm.-dia. (24-in.) prototype with 680 transmit/receive (TR) modules has been tested on a MiG-35 since 2008. Fight tests verified its operating range against air and ground targets and in ground-mapping modes. The prototype has a detection range of 60-65 km. (37-40 mi.). Increasing the power of the TR modules extended the range to 130 km. with the same array diameter.
One inescapable aspect of combat is “friendly fire” or “fratricide,” in which casualties are caused by friendly troops accidentally firing on each other. Militaries are working to develop ways of alerting their forces on land and in the air to the presence of friendlies in an area to prevent needless deaths and injuries. The solutions aren’t always high-tech. Despite the technological sophistication of combat, something as simple as infrared-reflecting tape on the side of a vehicle or a soldier’s helmet can prevent accidental targeting.
Network-centric warfare (NCW) relies too much on dissimilar tactical network technology and voice communications, plus a jumble of aging legacy systems that further handicaps interoperability. That’s no formula for enhancing situational awareness.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is producing a high-energy laser weapon called Thor to defeat improvised explosive devices (IEDs), roadside bombs and unexploded ordnance. The vehicular system mounts on a remotely controlled weapon station, and includes a laser, beam director and coaxial 12.7-mm. machine gun. The gun provides a dual capability so Thor can be used for offensive and defensive purposes, along with standoff removal of explosives by kinetic as well as laser energy. Thor uses an air-cooled laser that generates 700 watts.
