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.
All systems are go for the scheduled Dec. 2 flight test of the X-51A WaveRider, a hypersonic vehicle with scramjet propulsion that will fly faster for longer than has any previous U.S. trial of the technology. WaveRider will fly at hypersonic speed (Mach 5+) for 5 min. Previous U.S. hypersonic tests lasted 10 sec. The Air Force recently mated the vehicle to the B-52 that will carry it from Edwards AFB, Calif., over the Pacific and release it at 50,000 ft. for the test. WaveRider, developed by Boeing, is powered by a Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne scramjet engine.
An effective antitorpedo defense for submarines poses two big problems. The submarine’s ability to carry out evasive maneuvers is limited compared with a surface vessel, and water viscosity complicates the use of long-range decoys for fast deployment.
A visionary approach to the convergence of manned and unmanned flight comes from David Vos, senior director of control technologies for Rockwell Collins, and a pioneer of small, low-cost, integrated navigation and flight control systems for UAVs.
Marine growth on hulls adds weight and drag to ships and submarines—up to 20% drag from biofilm and 60% from barnacles. The result is speed reductions of around 10%, up to a 40% increase in fuel consumption and, the U.S. Navy estimates, almost $1 billion annually in added fuel costs and maintenance. Work by the Office of Naval Research and researchers in Florida and Washington shows promise in finding eco-friendly alternatives to the toxic coatings the Navy has used to prevent marine growths. Prof.
July has been another record traffic month for Ares, fueled in no small part by comments from passionate and opinionated readers like the ones cited below. I hereby call on US to stick with making aviation stuff and from now on, outsource all ground combat vehicles to those who know how to maximize effective latest-tech systems with limited budgets. Besides, the US ground units will just look that much cooler in the end. Basically FCS potency at about 25% the cost. Win-win. Gut zu gehen.
“We are in the World War I stage.” That comment by a U.S. Air Force officer at a conference in June reminds us that the use of unmanned vehicles in warfare is—in evolutionary terms—at a very early stage. That makes it hard to think about how unmanned systems will change warfare as their technology changes, in revolutionary ways. Revolution will come from two directions. Any unmanned system is a fusion of information-type technologies—sensors, processors, memory and communications—and mechanical systems that sustain it, move it and allow it to fight.
One of the most ambitious forecasting projects of late is the U.S. Air Force’s Blue Horizons II, which wrapped in 2008, and was presented at a conference here in May by Col. John Geis, director of the Center for Strategy and Technology at Maxwell AFB, Ala.
MBDA has developed a fixed-wing version of its Marte Mk-2S air-to-surface helicopter missile. The company is also working on a turbojet version with triple the range. The Mk-2S-A will arm Alenia Aermacchi M-346 advanced jet trainers and an upcoming light attack version. The United Arab Emirates is buying 28 trainers and 20 light attack aircraft. The S-A variant is an antiship and antisurface weapon with a range of 45 km. (28 mi.). Launching from a jet means it will not need boosters and will thus be lighter than the Mk-2S—262 kg. (576 lb.) versus 310 kg.
A recent conversation with Ron Kadish, former head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and now an adviser for Booz-Allen Hamilton, underlined the fact that ballistic missile defense (BMD) advocates are more confident in their basic technology. However, Kadish says, “You can’t declare victory.” In his view it is important to keep deploying systems and developing technology to stay ahead of threats.
For an airfield that was once awash with Soviet combat aircraft, and for a military that once counted its fighters in the hundreds, the Czech air force’s first post-Cold War operational deployment to this Lithuanian base is a reflection of how Eastern Europe has changed.
With global demand for body armor high, militaries occasionally face lengthy waits for the vests. One reason for this is the time it takes to produce armor that incorporates alumina plates in its protective structure. The plates are usually sintered at 1,600C (2,912F), a process that takes as much as two weeks. Engineers at the University of Leeds in England may have a solution to the shortages.
The Italian army and navy have selected the Spike LR missile from Rafael of Israel as the standard antitank missile to replace the Milan and at least some Tow systems. The army is acquiring 870 missiles, 64 infantry launchers, 20 launchers integrated with the Dardo infantry fighting vehicle and 63 training systems, while the navy is procuring 120 missiles, six infantry launchers and four training systems. The €120-million ($170.6-million) program is scheduled for completion in six years. Delivery of the missiles could be completed by the end of 2010.
