Unlike 2010, there were no lethal skirmishes between North and South Korea in 2011, nor tense confrontations between China and Japan. But the underlying causes of the conflicts and disputes remain unresolved, with no solution in sight.
Andrew Krepinevich, Jr., is president of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, one of Washington's most influential think tanks. He joined CSBA after 21 years in the U.S. Army, from which he retired as a colonel. In the Army, Krepinevich served in the Defense Department's Office of Net Assessment and on the personal staff of three defense secretaries. He was a member of the National Defense Panel and the Defense Science Board Task Force on Joint Experimentation, and serves on the Defense Policy Board. Krepinevich discussed the changes and challenges of U.S.
November's International Atomic Energy Agency report implied that the Stuxnet virus delayed, but didn't derail, Iran's nuclear program. Nevertheless, the worm's precision strike seems to have spawned more advanced cyberattacks. In October, researchers in Budapest announced the discovery of a Stuxnet derivative. Duqu—so named because some files it creates have the prefix “DQ”—may be the work of the same coders, but its mission is different.
BMT Defense Services may be one of the most influential defense companies you have never heard of. Naval architecture—the equivalent of preliminary design in the aerospace world—employs only a few people worldwide, and even fewer in the warship business. Part of the BMT Group, a company held in a trust that is formally dedicated to the interests of its staff, BMT Defense Services has a core of 60 engineers and performs much of the Royal Navy's work in naval architecture.
Growth Dynamics Aselsan, Turkey's biggest defense contractor, started in 1975 as a small company doing licensed production of electronic systems. Aselsan today is a high-tech company with four divisions representing almost every facet of defense electronics. It continues to grow, giving Turkey independence in a key segment of defense technology.
Arab unrest is changing the balance of power in the Middle East, along with the dynamics of the region. With the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria reconfiguring the political landscape, Israel is increasingly isolated and its dependence on the U.S. is growing.
The Indian defense budget for fiscal 2012 (April 2012-March 2013), adjusted for the 12.9% decline in the value of the rupee to the dollar last year, is less than 2011 in real terms. Plans are to allocate $36 billion, or 2.6% of GDP, to defense this year. In 2011, the budget was $35.2 billion, or 2.03% of GDP.
The nickname “Beast of Kandahar” that I bestowed on the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) when initial photos appeared in December 2009 is now being used by Iran's Press TV international news channel. That aside, the circumstances of the Sentinel's unplanned TV debut teach some important lessons.
In theory, the plan for the U.K.'s two new aircraft carriers is now set and can proceed. The 2010 Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR) changed the ships, and the aircraft that are to fly off them, from the B-variant, short-takeoff/vertical landing (Stovl) version of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), in favor of the larger, heavier, longer-range F-35C carrier variant. As such, there is now a requirement for catapults and arrester gear.
Train Like You Fight Spun off from a movie studio in 2002, Strategic Operations (Stops) provides “hyper-realistic” (its trademarked phrase) training. The San Diego firm has built training facilities modeled along Afghan/Iraqi lines for clients including the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and National Guard. Hollywood-style pyrotechnics ensure that urban combat scenarios do not lack realism, while actors play civilians and insurgents for troops to engage.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) wants proposals for a factory that builds a combat vehicle in record time by making rapid design changes. Darpa released the final solicitation for iFAB—Instant Foundry Adaptive through Bits—part of a program to build “adaptive vehicles” with drastically shorter development cycles. “Instead of building one factory, wrapping it around one product or even a family of products, the iFAB foundry is a manufacturing capability with no learning curve,” says Army Lt. Col. Nathan Weidenman, deputy program manager.
A $1.7 billion November contract for seven low-rate initial production P-8A Poseidon multimission maritime aircraft, following an earlier batch of six, indicates that Boeing's big maritime patrol aircraft is well underway. Although cancellation of the U.K.'s Nimrod MRA4 leaves it as the last Western program of its kind, aside from the unexportable Kawasaki P-1, Boeing hopes it is the first of a long family.
A satirical comic strip called Doctrine Man has racked up followers on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter for its smart, sarcastic commentary on military life. So who is Doctrine Man? He asks the same question: “Caped man of mystery, mild-mannered Army officer gone cynical, or just another ham with mediocre PowerPoint skills?
Bar armor is the usual way to protect transport and patrol vehicles from rocket-propelled grenades (RPG), but it is heavy, cumbersome and loses effectiveness after damage. A U.K. unit of Amsafe—based in Bridport, England, which has a 750-year history of rope and net-making—has teamed with ST Kinetics to develop a net-based protection system, Tarian, initially for the Warthog tracked articulated vehicle. Tarian is a refined version of a system developed for the British Army in 2009. Total weight is 190 lb. versus 1,200 lb.
CTA International (CTAI), the joint company set up by BAE Systems and Nexter, expects to qualify its CT (case telescoped) gun with the U.K. by May 2013. The Case Telescoped Cannon and Ammunition (CTCA) is an innovative system that fires a 40 X 255-mm cylindrical round contained in a telescoped case. The design reduces the volumetric size of the round 30% from conventional 40-mm ammunition, making it easier to handle and increasing the number of rounds that can be loaded in a vehicle. CTAI is delivering 16 qualification guns and 54 spare barrels for qualification trials.
Of three major fighter competitions—in the United Arab Emirates, India and Switzerland—that were to have been decided by the end of 2011, it looks as though two will be decided this year.
The Cold War is dead but one of its offspring, nuclear proliferation, is very much alive. Following is a review of programs underway in the Middle East, Asia and Russia, which could soon be flashpoints.
Kevin Kit Parker is not a typical traumatic brain injury (TBI) researcher. As an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Harvard University, his research interest until a few years ago was primarily cardiac cell biology and tissue engineering. But Parker, who is also a reserve officer in the U.S. Army, began to pursue a new area of research between two tours in Afghanistan. There, improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, are the No. 1 killer of U.S. and allied troops, and Parker saw firsthand the effects of TBI.
Trailblazer In a field that has traditionally been dominated by defense contractors and large auto manufacturers, Granite Tactical Vehicles of Mount Pilot, N.C., is a rare creature. Started by former U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Berman, the company is competing for lucrative Defense Department contracts to refurbish thousands of Humvees to make them more survivable.
A tool developed by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) could soon change the way the military understands—and deals with—the exposure of troops to bomb blasts. Darpa's Blast Gauge, which was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011, is a wearable sensor that measures blast exposure. The device could lead to better diagnosis of traumatic brain injury (TBI), dubbed the “signature wound” of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Russia continues to increase its defense expenditures to modernize military capabilities. Money in the growing budget is being spent to reshape the national military, which is being transformed into a smaller but more effective and better-equipped force. The federal budget for 2012 and 2013-14, approved by the Duma in November, calls for further growth of defense expenditures despite a budget deficit. Expenditures could be up 20.9% to 1.85 trillion rubles ($59.8 billion) from 2011, and account for 14.6% of the budget versus 13.9% last year.
Recent cabinet discussions called for cuts equivalent to $800 million in Israel's military budget. Defense Minister Ehud Barak objected, but they were approved. The military cautioned that when finalized the cuts could be more—$2.4 billion—and set back production of missile-defense systems, strategic stockpiles and other priorities.
It has been an interesting 12 months for U.K. defense, and 2012 promises to have as many noteworthy points as 2010-11. The end of 2010 saw publication of the Strategic Defense and Security Review (SDSR), with consequent cuts in the force structures of all three services. Then there was the budget settlement, which promises only minimal funding to 2015. The Libyan campaign appeared out of nowhere, but ended well, while raising serious questions about the outcome of SDSR.
