As work proceeds on the first of the Royal Navy's two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, authorities at what will be their home port, HMNB Portsmouth, England, have approved a design for the Portsmouth Approach Channel, the body of water through which the 65,000-tonne (71,630-ton) ships will transit. The carriers will be the largest vessels ever docked at Portsmouth. As a result, based on a design developed by BMT Isis Ltd., the Royal Navy will dredge a new approach that is 30 ft. deeper than the current one. The draft of both ships is 36 ft.
The U.S. Navy's new robotics lab in Washington features realistic replicas of a Southeast Asian rain forest, sandstorm-swept desert and choppy coastal waters. Opened this spring, the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research (LASR) boasts 50,000 sq. ft. of space, and is designed to simulate real-world environs in which to test unmanned systems. The lab, which cost $18 million to build, isn't a substitute for operational testing of robots in the field, but can be used to avoid costly trips for environmental testing in places such as Hawaii.
SINGAPORE — China is trying to woo the defense establishment of Thailand, one of the very few Southeast Asian nations with which it has no conflicting claims in regard to the South China Sea.
Reviewed By Pat Toensmeier Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth By Frederick Kempe Berkeley Books, 2011 579 pp.; $29.95 The Berlin Wall symbolized the Cold War. Frederick Kempe writes of the events that led to its construction in 1961, sealing the division of Germany.
The business of being a sniper could soon become a little easier—at least for U.S. Army shooters. The Army is continuing development of its next-generation technology for sniper scopes and marksman sights for extended range known as the Integrated Ballistic Reticle System (IBRS) program. Bids were first solicited in 2010. Since then, the Army has completed two phases of the program, and in April selected L-3 Integrated Optical Systems of Pittsburgh to continue development of the technology in a third phase, which is to last 12 months.
If you make the right decision based on inadequate information, you are lucky rather than intelligent. Although many planning decisions (including big ones, where the horizon is years off) must be made on partial information and rely on estimates, “due diligence” involves learning as much as you can. Two running fights over Joint Strike Fighter procurement, in the U.K. and Canada, show how the lack of due diligence can get you in trouble.
The Australian Defense Material Organization (DMO) selected Supacat Ltd. of the U.K. as preferred bidder for a new family of special operations vehicles. Supacat received a contract to supply the Project Definition and Evaluation (PD&E) phase of the program—known as JP2097 Ph 1B (Redfin)—with the latest version of its HMT Extenda vehicle, which has been designed for use by special forces. On completion of the PD&E phase, the DMO is expected to acquire a fleet of vehicles under a separate contract.
NUCLEAR DYAD?: It may be time for the U.S. to reconsider its questionable insistence on three different nuclear delivery vehicles, the Cato Institute’s Christopher Preble tells a Capitol Hill audience April 30. Preble quoted former Chief of Naval Operations Arleigh Burke as saying, “You very seldom see a cowboy in the movies carrying three guns. Two is enough.” Preble, who has been funded by the Ploughshares Fund to study the history of the triad, says it’s time for lawmakers to start asking hard questions about the Obama administration’s nuclear weapons posture.
Gen. Jean-Paul PalomerosFrench Air Force Chief of Staff Age: 58 Birthplace: Paris Education: Graduate of the Ecole de l'Air in Salon-de-Provence, the university-level school which trains air force officers; studied for one year as an exchange student at the Royal Air Force Staff College in Bracknell, England.
Is an offensive cyberweapon equivalent to a nuclear bomb, in that its use requires the approval of a U.S. president? For years, U.S. officials wouldn't acknowledge the existence of cyberweapons, but current and former officials are now debating who has the authority to order an attack, and when. Attacking a foreign computer network would likely require “the president and [defense] secretary to . . . start making decisions,” Gen. Keith Alexander, head of U.S. Cyber Command, said at a recent congressional hearing. It may not always be a direct presidential order.
The Pentagon plans to spend $250 million per year to find new ways of mining data, an investment that its top engineer, Zachary Lemnios, calls a “big bet on big data.” Of that amount, $60 million will go to military research projects.
Saab says it will implement a far-reaching command-and-control upgrade to the Royal Thai Navy’s aircraft carrier to allow the system to be more interoperable with the country’s relatively new fleet of Gripen fighters and Saab 340 airborne early warning aircraft.
Israel Weapon Industries Ltd. (IWI) has added a new version of its legendary submachine gun, unveiling the 9-mm Uzi Pro recently at shows in Chile, Brazil and India. The Uzi Pro was developed with input from the Israel Defense Forces, to produce a lightweight, compact weapon. The design incorporates a closed-bolt operation with blowback to maximize accuracy and safety. The weapon is ergonomically designed for use by right- or left-handed shooters. The firing rate can be set at automatic or semi-automatic.
