Category: Defense Procurement

Boeing’s ARH Proposals

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It looks like Boeing is leveraging its experience with the AH-64 Apache for its proposals.

The first proposal is a modification of it’s AH-6 “Little Bird” helo, with a 15 inch fuselage plug to allow space for extraction of downed airman, and a reprofiled nose to accommodate more avionics.

Interestingly enough, it eschews the common avionics architecture system (CAAS) for cockpit instrumentation that was used on the now canceled ARH-70, instead using a derivative of the suite on Boeing’s own AH-64 helicopter, along with rotor blades also derived from the Apache.

Of course, this is still a single engined helo, and Boeing is proposing a cut down version of the AH-64 “Apache Lite” if the army insists on two engines.

F-35 Stealth Performance Attacked

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The ever reliable Bill Sweetman points us toward an Air Power Australia (APA) analysis of the stealth capabilities of the F-35 JSF.

The folks at APA have an agenda, and they have been very clear on it, they like the F-111 and F-22 for Australian service, and do not like the F/A-18 and the F-35, so that is a part of the subtext, but they have have a bit of a first in their analysis here, they have, “used publically available radar scattering models,” to get a first order approximation of the performance of the F-35 in various frequency bands.

The science has been known for some time, but actual computer codes available publicly are a fairly recent development.

They make it clear that this is an accounting of the shape, because information on RAM (radar absorbent material) is classified, Mr. Sweetman is right when he quotes Stealth pioneer Denys Overholser, who said, “the four most important aspects of stealth are shape, shape, shape and materials.”

Also note that the Russian double digit SAMs were largely developed post Gulf War, when it was clearly shown that higher frequency radars, particularly in the X-band, were the most vulnerable to a stealth, and that in a modern combat environment, you can not sit there with an air defense radar radiating looking for a target.

You either will not see the target, or eat an anti-radar missile, or both.

So, the surveillance radars have gone to lower frequencies both L-Band and VHF, and a lot more computer processing power has been devoted to finding a firing solution with less dwell time for the radars.

Obviously, there are a lot of assumptions made here by APA, so there is some uncertainty there, though Lockheed-Martin does not have a whole bunch of credibility as to their claims, which describe the aircraft as near-invisible with the capability to strike a target multiple times in a sortee.

Gates and Murtha Back More Funds For FCS

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We have a report that Rep. John Murtha and SecDef Robert Gates are supporting the acceleration of the Future Combat System in order to apply the technologies to Iraq and (particularly) Afghanistan.

What the story appears to be saying is that they want to get the improved communications and sensors capabilities into the hands of soldiers.

While I can see the advantage of this, fundamentally, the subtext here is that this is being suggested as an alternative to boots on the ground, which is a losing proposition.

One of the major problems in US counterinsurgency is that we do not commit enough ground troops, and so, we overuse air assets, which, because of collateral damage, strengthen local support for the insurgency.

Pulling the money out of whiz bang, and out of Air Force combat operations in theater, would be a much more effective use of resources.

Your Defense Procurement Dollars at Work

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The USAF has announced a “restructuring” of the Transformational Satellite Communications System which will delay the launch of the first satellite from 2013 to 2019.

It’s supposed to replace MILSTAR, and it is suppose to have 100 times the bandwidth, and from what I know of the “systems of systems” that is supposed to be the new networked military, this capability is very much a part of it.

And now it’s been delayed 6 years.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

Picture Pr0n: X-47B Demonstrator Rolls Out

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Well, Northrop-Grumman has rolled out its first X-47B unmanned combat air system (UCAS) demonstrator in a rather splashy debut.

Not bad for a project that was on the death watch list just 6 months ago.


It’s actually rather large, with a, ” 62.1 ft, compared to 44.7 ft. for an F/A-18″ (the E/F models), and so looks to be close to the size of the canceled A-12 attack aircraft.


Here we can see the standard robust naval landing gear.


Here is a closeup of the inlet, which the N-G folks were fine with letting people take, which surprises me, because it’s kind of the “secret sauce”.

There is still a part of me that is surprised that the US Navy is considering a tailless anything after the debacle that was the F7U Cutlass (aka “Gutless” and “Ensign Eliminator”).

NG press release here.

Boeing Aircraft’s Pre-Christmas Sale

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Well, it certainly sounds like one of those pre-Christmas sales.

Boeing is offering to sell F/A-18 E/Fs to the US Navy and Marines for less than $50 million each, in order to help with the “fighter gap”, that the Navy is facing as its older aircraft face the end of life, and the F-35 is further delayed.

This is with the AESA radar, so it is a very good deal by today’s standards.

I never in my life thought that I’d be saying “F/A-18”, and “low cost” in the same breath.

And the Sub Lease Deal Soap Opera Continues

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Well, it looks like the on again off again deal between Russia and India to lease nuclear attack submarines is on again.

The Nerpa, which was originally the subject of the deal until an accidental discharge of the fire fighting system killed 20 people, is no longer believed to be a part of the deal, though a sister ship (Project 971 “Akula” class boats), or perhaps more than one sister ship, might be a part of the deal.

Another Illustration of How Broken the Weapons Development System Is

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So, we have a fairly run of the mill article Aviation Week article about delays on integrating new weapons into the Eurofighter Typhoon. (paid subscription required)

It appears that there will now be a 2 year delay in qualifying the Meteor rocket-ramjet long range AAM for the platform:

Fielding of the rocket/ramjet-powered Meteor air-to-air missile on the Eurofighter Typhoon is being pushed back two years. The move is part of a wider rescoping of weapon-integration plans.

…

… It had intended to introduce the missile in 2013, although this date was in itself a shift from the previous in-service date (ISD) of 2012. The delay came to light following this cryptic comment from the Defense Ministry: “When the missile is integrated on Typhoon is being deferred until a time in keeping more with when the threat may materialize.”

The Meteor is a key element of the Typhoon’s air-to-air capability, providing the aircraft with a weapon with an engagement envelope, and no escape zone, substantially greater than the Raytheon AIM-120 Amraam family of weapons. The revised ISD is also understood to reflect a threshold for some of the Typhoon partners beyond which their present Amraam inventory would require refurbishment. France and Sweden are also Meteor partners; the weapon is intended for the Rafale and Gripen, respectively.

The translation into English here is that while the Typhoon is already flying, and that the Meteor is largely on schedule, at least its current schedule, it’s outrageously expensive to qualify the Meteor for as a weapon on the Typhoon, and since the most likely competitor, a rocket/ram jet upgrade of the Vympel R-77 (AA-12 Adder) is on the back burner, it’s simply unaffordable to take a system ready for deployment, and make sure that it can be used by a system in deployment.

This is nuts. It’slike saying that the cost of getting a new sound system for your car is $50,000.00.

Russia to Offers to Cancel Some Strategic Weapons Systems Over Euro Star Wars

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The commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile forces, Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov is saying that many of the systems currently in development would not be necessary if the US backs off its missile defense installation in Poland:

“If Americans give up plans to deploy the third positioning region and other elements of the strategic missile defense system then certainly we will adequately respond to it,” Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov said.

“We will simply not need a number of expensive programs,” he added echoing earlier Kremlin overtures to the new U.S. administration.

This has generally been the knock on various BMD efforts since Reagan’s “Star Wars,” and the installations in Europe, which appeared to be located to challenge Russia more than Iran, just further complicate the matter.

IDF Develops New Counter-Battery Radar

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The IDF has started deploying a new radar geared toward counter-battery fire.

The Elta’s EL/M-2084 Multi-Mission Radar (MMR) phased array radar can pick up artillery and rocket rounds at launch, and determing both the launch point and impact point.

It will be integrated with Israeli rocket interception systems, though I wonder if it might also be incorporated into counter-battery fire control too, as it appears that this would allow the IDF Artillery Corps to have rounds on a target firing at them in less than something less than 2 minutes.

The Twisted Part of the Dutch JSF Saga

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Basically, the Dutch government is disputing the amount of kickbacks that are supposed to accrue to it over JSF production.

This is not illegal, or necessarily corrupt, the money is going back to the taxpayer, not an individual politician, but as part of the industrial arrangement, the Dutch government gets profit sharing, hence my earlier comment about their being paid to buy the fighter, and they are now saying that the concerns manufacturing JSF components owe them about €300 million, so they are taking them to court.

In a real way, it’s yet another indicator of how screwed defense procurement has become. It’s like dope dealers fighting over their percentages.

S-300 Deliveries to Iran Confirmed

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Needless to say this represents a significant upgrade to Iran’s air defense capabilities:

One of the world’s most advanced air defense missiles, the S-300PMU1 Favorit (SA-20 Gargoyle), is designed to protect fixed sites against missile and air attacks. The system uses wheeled transporters for mobility. The Favorit system fires the 48H6E2 interceptor missile, updated with improved guidance algorithms, an improved warhead and enhanced ECCM capabilities. The system detects targets at ranges of up to 300 km and can handle up to 100 simultaneous tracks. Up to 36 interceptor missiles can engage targets simultaneously. Aircraft targets can be engaged between 3 and 200 km, and missiles can be intercepted at ranges of 5 – 40 km, and from 30 to 90,000 feet in altitude.

Against a stealthy target you could figure an engagement range in the 15 km range, based on the engagement distance being proportional to the 4th route of RCS, which means that they are not particularly effective for area defense, but for point defense of a specific target (nuclear facility) it could complicate the attack.

First a report of sale, now a report of delivery, in the space of a week and it looks like some are going to the Syrians too, though it appears to be a fixed installation geared toward protecting a Russian naval base at Tartous, and it is unclear as to whether the operators would be Russian or Syrian.

US Military Looking for Contractor to Oversee Mercenaries

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Well this has epic FAIL written all over it:

According to a solicitation released earlier this week by the coalition headquarters at Bagram Airfield, the military is looking for a contractor to run something called the “Armed Contractor Oversight Directorate.” The work statement says the new office will be responsible for tracking private security companies (PSCs) — and keeping tabs on how often they resort to force.

If our army is so hollow that we need to hire mercenaries to supervise mercenaries…

Just so you know, that sound that you hear is Franz Kafka turning over in his grave.

Note to Self: If You Pay Someone to Buy Something, They Generally Buy It

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Which is why, to no one’s surprise, the Dutch have decided that the JSF best suits their needs.

You’d have to be an idiot to not know that it was a done deal. After as Bill Sweetman notes, the Dutch were using PowerPoint slides lifted directly from Lockheed-Martin as a part of their evaluation.

The good Mr. Sweetman also notes that there were numerous errors int he comparison, and they all cut in favor of the JSF.

When one looks at the industrial offsets to Holland, it’s pretty clear that there is more money flowing in than flowing out.

As such, it would have been insane to expect any other result.

Dassault Goes Hard Sell on Indian MMRCA Program

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One of the most hotly contested fighter procurement programs in the world right now is the Indian Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program, which is intended to replace India’s aging MiG-21s, and Dassault is very aggressively pursuing this.

Basically, Dassault has stated that it has gotten clearance from the French government for near total technology transfer.

Additionally unlike all of the other western competitors, its US content is near zero, and so is not subject to the US export restrictions.

To refresh your memory (more here), the competitors are competitors are the MiG-35 (a Mig-29 derivative), Gripen, Rafale, Typhoon, F-16 and F-18E, and my analysis in my earlier posts stands, I think that the Gripen, F-16, F-18E, and Eurofighter are all too tied up in US export restrictions, that the Eurofighter and Rafale are too expensive, which leaves the MiG-35.

I think that the Gripen’s low cost over its lifetime, it’s about ½ the size of most of the competitors may give it an outside chance, but my money is still on the MiG.

The Indians have been using Russian equipment for about half a century, and the low purchase price and familiarity will mean a lot here.