Asian Military Review - February 2009

VOLUME 17/ISSUE 1

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DEFENCE

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NAVAL AIR DEFENCE

COMBAT AND ATTACK HELICOPTERS

CBRN DETECTION AND DEFENCE

IAF MODERNIZATION

UAV OPERATIONS

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Contents FEBRUARY 2009 VOLUME 17 / ISSUE 1

32 Sea

to Sky Defence Front Cover Photo: The Japanese Maritime

Tom Withington Today’s navies have to concern themselves not only with engaging aircraft, but also Surface-to-Surface anti-shipping missiles and even ballistic missiles. Moreover, naval air defence systems may be tasked with providing protection for a fleet, and even, in the case of Ballistic Missile Defence, for an entire country or even the theatre of operations.

Self Defence Force’s guided-missile Destroyer JDS Chokai launches a Raytheon SM-3 standard missile against a ballistic missile target during an interception test on 19th November. The SM-3 uses the SM-2ER Block IV air defence missile design with the addition of a third-stage rocket motor, GPS guidance and a Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile which destroys the ballistic missile with kinetic energy. The warhead’s target location is performed by Forward-Looking Infra Red. The 500Km plus range missile has a top speed of 9600 km/h with an altitude of 160 km. (Photo: U.S. Navy)

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Indian Air Force Modernization: Cutting Edge Transformation

Tom Withington The IAF of today, and more importantly the IAF of tomorrow, will be a modern and agile force. Legacy types such as the Canberra T4/T13 and MiG-25R 'Foxbat' reconnaissance aircraft have already left the force. Other platforms, such as the MiG-21bis, will eventually be replaced by India's future MRCA in one of the most eagerly anticipated competitions on the international defence market. As Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, head of the Indian Air Force told reporters in October 2008, “The Indian Air Force will look very different ten years from now.”

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Self Propelled Artillery: Enhanced Range, Reduced Cost

Adam Baddeley Self propelled artillery, continues to provide what it has always done; the means to provide manoeuvre forces with indirect fires on a protected chassis that can keep up with the AFVs they are required to support.

Designs must also ensure combat survivability against heavy small arms and shell fragments and enable rapid in and out of action times, to avoid counter battery fire.

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Strong market for light armed and attack helicopters

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Ian Kemp The annual production of light military helicopters will rise from an estimated 132 helicopters in 2008 to 291 in 2014. Included within these figures are several purpose designed light attack helicopters and armed versions of light utility helicopters. The ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have again shown the importance of light armed helicopters in a range of missions including reconnaissance, escort and fire support.

UAVs in Afghanistan and Iraq: Learning for the best

John Mulberrry The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have become the proving ground for a variety of evolved technologies, but the most important new development has been the UAV. The lessons to be learnt from both conflicts about both procuring a UAS capability and operating it are multiple. At the same time, there have been both mistakes and successes for the forces that are utilising these new systems. A careful reading of those lessons will provide the Asian defence community with invaluable real world experience.

FEBRUARY 2009

CBRN defence for force protection

38 Andy Oppenheimer Force protection remains a top priority for governments seeking protection for their armed forces, particularly as present-day theatres of war involve insurgencies which not only use conventional Improvised Explosive Devices to kill and injure troops, but where chemical and radiological weapons, and possibly in the future even biological attack, pose a persistent and variable range of scenarios.

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Editorial

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he US has been dragging its heels for some time on one or other of the weapons transfers that Taiwan requests and which are paid for, unaided by the US taxpayer. These are guaranteed under the Taiwan Relations Act which, “provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character."

It is almost 30 years after the Taiwan Relations Act was signed in 1979, just four years after the fall of Saigon, and many things have changed.

China is no longer the wellspring of Red hordes largely equipped with 1950s technology and now has access to advanced weapons systems with considerable reach. Economically, China then had still not embarked upon de-collectivisation. Now, China is still experiencing growth, its market still open to US goods and financially it is still (relatively) awash with cash that might help in the Credit Crisis. Things may have changed but ensuring that allied democracies freely make their own decisions surely hasn’t.

China is using every tool it has available to reduce Taiwan’s military capability. It is reported to be particularly vexed by the indigenous development of the Hsiung Feng HF-2E, turbojet powered cruise missile.

US diplomats are reportedly seeking to stop this work. Why? The 600km range of the missile could only really threaten China’s forces in Fujian province. These comprise over a thousand short range ballistic missies, numerous air bases and naval jumping off points, all of which threaten only Taiwan. Surely being able to respond to the launch sites and bases of the forces seeking to eliminate your country’s very existence is of a “defensive character”, without any stretching of the term?

How the US deals with China as it transitions from a supra-regional behemoth, to a global power comparable to itself, will define the next decades of US policy in Asia. Taiwan is one of many litmus tests of how US deals with that.

The Obama Presidency appears to prefer China over Taiwan, but at the core of his foreign policy is the preservation and extension of human rights and democracy; in short, doing ‘the right thing’. Implicit in his message is also that allies should rely more on themselves for security. Taiwan ticks both those boxes and is doing so in an appropriate and “defensive” manner. A new US administration that accepts that and supports it would show true “character”.

Adam Baddeley, Editor

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Aerospace Technology

Cutting Edge Transformation “We have bid for one of the world's most sought-after air exercises, and are awaiting clearance from the Government of India,” announced the head of the Bhartiya Vayu Sena (Indian Air Force/IAF) Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major in October 2007.

by Tom Withington

The Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet shown here in action over Afghanistan is a competitor for the IAF’s MRCA contest (USAF)

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he Air Chief Marshal was referring to the annual 'Red Flag' exercise hosted by the United States Air Force (USAF) at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. For the IAF to attend this air combat training exercise was indeed a momentous event in the force's 76-year history. During the Cold War, and its immediate aftermath, relations between the two services were arguably at 'arms length', even more so following India's Operation Shakti series of nuclear tests in 1998.

However, the 11th September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States changed USIndian relations decisively. Sanctions, imposed by the Administration of President Bill Clinton, were lifted and the two countries have since moved ever closer together. The military fallout from this rapprochement has, in part, been a strengthening of ties between the two air forces.

For this year's event, the IAF decided to

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bring its most modern and deadly asset; the Sukhoi Su-30MKI (NATO reporting name 'Flanker-H'). The Su-30MKI is a so-called 4.5generation fighter, which has the Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor, Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon as its only real rivals in terms of performance and capabilities. The IAF bought eight examples from 20 'Lightnings' Fighter Squadron to the exercise, along with a pair of Ilyushin Il-78MKI (NATO reporting name 'Midas') tankers from the 78 'Battle Cry' Squadron, and a single Il-76MD (NATO reporting name 'Candid') from the 44 'Mighty Jets' Squadron.

The arrival of the Flankers reportedly provoked quite a stir. It was rumoured that the ArmĂŠe de l-Air (AdlA/French Air Force) had originally planned to deploy its Dassault Mirage 2000-5 combat aircraft for Red Flag, although it elected instead to bring Dassault Rafales once the AdlA had learned of the Flankers' deployment. The change of aircraft was allegedly due to the Rafale's advanced electronic warfare capabilities which may have been able to gather intelligence on the Su-30's Phazotron NO11M BARS passive electronically scanned array radar. The IAF is almost certainly not seen as a potential enemy by the likes of France, the USA or the United Kingdom, but a variant of the Su-30 (Su-30MKK) is also operated by the People's Liberation Army Air Force of China, with whom relations may not be so cordial in the future.

The IAF received its first Su-30MKIs in 2002. The force eventually plans to have up to 212 examples and the aircraft are being produced under licence by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The Flankers have been procured to provide the force with a true Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MRCA), and it is one of the key pillars of the wholesale modernisation, which is continuing across the IAF's fast jet, trainer, transport and helicopter communities. By 2010 the aircraft are expected to be certified to deploy the Indo-Russian BrahMos air-to-surface and anti-ship stand-off missile.

The IAF of today, and more importantly the IAF of tomorrow, will be a modern and agile force. Legacy types such as the force's English Electric Canberra T4/T13 and MiG25R (NATO reporting name 'Foxbat') reconnaissance aircraft have already left the force.

Other platforms, such as the MiG-21bis (NATO reporting name 'Fishbed'), will eventually be replaced by India's future MRCA in one of the most eagerly anticipated competi-

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tions on the international defence market.

As the Su-30MKIs are inducted into service, the MiG-29K/KUB (NATO reporting name 'Fulcrum-D') aircraft, of which around 60 are operated by the IAF, are undergoing an upgrade. In February 2006, the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) sighed an $888million deal to outfit the aircraft with a Phazotron Zhuk-AE radar, Klimov-33 engines and to extend the airframe's life by around 15 years. These are not the only MiG platforms receiving a new lease of life. The force also operates around 125 MiG-21s and 40 MiG-27ML (NATO reporting name 'Flogger-D/J') combat aircraft and, as the IAF looks to the future, these aircraft are being improved to cope with future threats. The upgraded Fishbeds will be redesignated MiG-21Bison and will receive a Phazotron Kopyo-1 multimode radar, Schlem helmetmounted display, the integration of the RVVAE/R-77 (NATO reporting name 'AA-12 Archer'), an Elta electronic warfare system and Hands-On Throttle and Stick control, in a $400 million deal. The MiG-27s meanwhile will be outfitted with an El-Op SU-697 headup display; data recorder and flight planning system; satellite, ring-gyro and inertial navigation system, and new radios and communications, along with the ability to carry the Rafael Litening targeting pod. The improvements should give the re-designated MiG27UPC aircraft at least another decade of life.

India's homegrown HAL Tejas is moving towards service entry. The aircraft has had a troubled birth, although it is now undergoing flight tests. The first examples are expected to enter limited production in late 2009.

Selection of an engine for the aircraft is also on the cards. The Gas Turbine Research Establishment in Bangalore in Western India has been developing the GTX-35VS Kaveri engine, but the programme has been beset by delays. However, either a General Electric F414 or the Eurojet EJ200 powerplant may now be selected instead for the aircraft. Full service entry for the Tejas is earmarked for 2011, and up to 200 examples could eventually be ordered. The programme has not come cheap and to date around $1.2 billion has been spent on the effort.

Joining the MiG-21 and MiG-27s in the

The IAF of today, and more importantly the IAF of tomorrow, will be a modern and agile force 05

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Joining the MiG-21 and MiG-27s in the upgrade hangar are the IAF's Sepecat Jaguar IS/IT/IM aircraft upgrade hangar are the IAF's Sepecat Jaguar IS/IT/IM aircraft. Although the Royal Air Force and the AdlA had both retired their Jaguars by 2007, the IAF aircraft remain flying. In July 2008 it was reported that $57 million would be spent on upgrading this rugged ground attack platform. HAL is adding new avionics to the aircraft and including the Display Attack Ranging Inertial Navigation (DARIN) system Structural improvements are also giving the Jaguars an extra 20 years of airframe life.

Furthermore, the Force is spending $2.2 billion on the upgrade of its Mirage 2000-5 warplanes. The IAF operates around 60 of the aircraft and the modernisation initiative, which was announced in January 2008, will bring 51 of the aircraft to a similar standard to that operated by the AdlA, and will add another 25 years of life to the airframe.

As new fast jet types enter service and receive modernisation, the IAF's fleet of trainers are also undergoing an overhaul.

Having a state-of-the-art training system is essential if a force is operating state-of-theart combat aircraft. A modern, capable trainer is vital for young aircrew to ensure that the jump from trainer to fast jet is as smooth as possible. The IAF has found a solution to this end in the guise of the BAE Systems Hawk Mk.132 Advanced Jet Trainer. HAL will build 81 of the aircraft, with the first 42 being constructed by BAE Systems. The first example took its maiden flight in August 2008 and by 2011 over 40 of the aircraft are expected to be in service. The extent of the Indian Air Force Sukhoi Su-30MKIs at the United States Air Force Red Flag combat exercises this year in Nevada. The arrival of the advanced Flankers has provoked quite a stir. (USAF)

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Coming down to earth – fifteen years ago the sight of an Indian Air Force combat aircraft in the United States on an exercise would have been all but unthinkable. It may soon become a regular occurance. (USAF)

commonality with the rest of the IAF fleet is immediately apparent when one realises that the Rolls Royce Turbomeca Mk.871 Adour engine used by the trainer, is in the same family of powerplants used by the IAF's Jaguars, with the exception that the latter is equipped with a reheat function.

The Hawk will be joined by the HAL HJT-36 Sitara Intermediate Jet Trainer. In July 2008 it was reported that service entry for this new aircraft has been delayed by two years, However, the IAF will eventually acquire up to 225 of the aircraft.

Deliveries of the first examples are expected to begin in 2012.

In several years, the IAF fleet may be allbut unrecognisable from the fleet that it operates today. In terms of the transport fleet, Antonov An-32 (NATO reporting name 'Cline') freighters are used by the IAF alongside the Il-76 strategic airlifters, of which the force has around 25. In October 2008 it was announced that the IAF would acquire up to six Lockheed Martin C-130J transports for 'special missions' use. Costing around $1 billion, the aircraft are expected to enter service circa 2010.

With the new Flankers and the eventual selection of a MRCA candidate aircraft, the IAF will also have a new Airborne

ASIAN MILITARY REVIEW

Warning and Control System (AWACS) platform to act as the long-range 'eyes' of the force. The internal radar on the force's Flankers and Mirages are highly capable and advanced, but they lack the range of specialist aircraft-mounted AWACS radar that perform early warning. The solution will be found via the ELTA Systems Phalcon radar.

The Indian MoD signed a deal with the company in March 2004, representing the largest defence export deal in Israel's history, worth around $1.1 billion for three Phalcon radar to be installed on the same number of Il-76s.

The Phalcon force may eventually be further beefed-up by an indigenous AWACS radar which India's Defence Research and Development Organisation is producing.

The local radar will be installed on an Embraer ERJ-145 legacy airliner and should enter service in 2011. The initiative is thought to be costing around $412 million and the finished product will be able to perform both air and sea surveillance.

As well as taking a keen interest in the MRCA competition, the world's aircraft builders are also watching the IAF's helicopter requirements with interest. The force is known to need up to twelve heavy lift helicopters ostensibly to replace the forces's Mil Mi-26 (NATO reporting name 'Halo') helicopters and Boeing has offered its CH-47F Chinook which is being acquired by the US Army as a solution. The IAF's medium-lift helicopter fleet is in the midst of a comprehensive renewal.

In October 2006 the

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IAF announced plans to purchase up to 80 Mil Mi-17V (NATO reporting name Hip-H) machines for $660 million. This will add significantly to the 37 examples that the air force already operates. However, by far the biggest planned acquisition is for up to 197 Light Utility Helicopters to be procured as a replacement for the force's HAL Chetah and Chetak aircraft. Eurocopter thought that they had the competition in the bag after the company's AS550 Fennec design was selected.

However, the deal was later cancelled in December 2007.

As of July 2008 the competition was relaunched with a tentative in-service date for the first examples of 2010. The full order size could eventually be for up to 312 helicopters spread across the IAF and the Bharatiya Thalsena (Indian Army). The prize for the winning company could be very significant with the order worth up to $1 billion with HAL expected to build the aircraft under licence. However, in November Bell Helicopter Textron announced that it was withdrawing from the competition citing unhappiness with the Indian MoDs requirement for up to 50 per cent defence industrial offset as part of the deal. This leaves the field open for Eurocopter (AS550 Fennec), Kamov

The Su-30MKI is considered one of the world's most advanced combat aircraft. The Indian Air Force fleet will recieve further enhancement over the next few years with the acquisition of a new Multirole Combat Aircraft. (USAF)

(Ka-226), Agusta (A109 Power or A119 Koala) and MD Helicopters (MD520N).

As the IAF looks towards the future it will have a host of new technologies available thanks to the break-neck pace of its modernisation. As mentioned above, all eyes are on the MRCA competition. The IAF is expected to begin flight trials of the candidate aircraft, the Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault Rafale, Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, Saab JAS-

Spirit of Cooperation – Indian Air Force and USAF personnel in discussons during India's participation in the Red Flag exercises. The two forces are learning about each other's doctrine via such initiatives. (USAF)

39 Gripen, Mikoyan MiG-35 (NATO reporting name 'Fulcrum-F') and Lockheed Martin F-16 Viper in early 2009. Up to 126 examples could be purchased, worth up to $12 billion for the winning company.

Russian manufacturers are working closely with their Indian counterparts on future projects. The years of investment that HAL has poured into licence-building aircraft types from Russia and Europe, and also building home-grown designs such as the Tejas, HJT-36 and HF-24 Marut, Asia's first supersonic combat aircraft, has paid off and Russia plans to leverage Indian know-how into designing a fifth-generation fighter.

Development and production of the first prototype is expected to take around 15 years and would enter IAF service as an accompaniment to the Flankers and whichever aircraft is selected for the MRCA requirement. In the past, Russia has shied away from international collaboration on fast jet design, however the country is perhaps realising, as the United States did with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning-II Joint Strike Fighter, that it is simply too expensive to 'go it alone' on fifth-generation fighter aircraft design, and that some degree of foreign cooperation is essential to offset costs. Little public information is available on the prospective design, although it is expected to use Radar Absorbent Materials to give it a degree of low observability.

Indo-Russian cooperation is also expected

Russia plans to leverage Indian know-how into designing a fifth-generation fighter 08

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As part of "Exercise Indradhanush 2007", the Indian Air Force deployed the Sukhoi-30 MKI air superiority fighter to the UK. The Su-30 MKI is shown being escorted through UK airspace by a Royal Air Force 17Sqn Eurofighter Typhoon. (Eurofighter)

on a new transport aircraft. The Force’s cargo aircraft are not getting any younger, and it will eventually need to acquire new types. To this end, it was announced in April 2008 that both Russia and India would each contribute $300 million to design a new transport aircraft with HAL developing the wings, the rear fuselage and assisting the development of the aircraft's avionics with Russian manu-

facturers building the rear and central fuselage. Performance parameters for the aircraft call for it to have a 2,500-kilometre (1,350 nautical-mile) range, and a cruising speed of 870 km/h (470 knots). The IAF is in the market for up to 45 of the aircraft with service entry mooted for 2015 as a replacement for the force's existing transport fleet.

How will all of this be paid for? India's

The Indian Air Force operates the Ilyushin Il-76 as its strategic transport aircraft. The force uses a variant of the aircraft as a tanker and also as an early warning platform. (USAF)

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defence budget did rise in 2008 with a ten percent increase on the previous year to $26.5 billion, of which the IAF received $2.2 billion.

However, the purchases of new aircraft, and projects such as the fifth-generation fighter and future transport aircraft, will have to be made against a backdrop of worsening global economic conditions. Indian Gross Domestic Product has risen at an average of 5.7 per cent over the past 20 years. The country's GDP is expected to grow by around 7.1 per cent in 2009. However, such growth will arguably have to continue over the long term if the IAF's shopping list is to be fulfilled.

Disappointing economic figures could allow some of the programmes to be postponed if India’s economy slows down and the defence budget is trimmed. At the same time, with the exception of the Sukhois, the IAF’s fleet is not getting any younger, despite the life extension programmes for the other fast jets. Airframe stress and also air force modernisation initiatives ongoing in India's neighbours and regional rivals of Pakistan and China will mean that the IAF's modernisation cannot be delayed indefinitely, and difficult choices will need to be made if India's economic growth slows. However, global recession or not, one thing is certain for the IAF, the investment being poured into the Force will have a definite effect, and, as Air Chief Marshal Major told reporters in October 2008, “The Indian Air Force will look AMR very different ten years from now.”

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Strong market for light armed

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The annual production of light military helicopters – defined as rotorcraft with a maximum gross weight of less than 6,804 kilograms – will more than double over the next several years according to a market survey published by the American analysts, Forecast International in November 2008. Annual production is projected to rise from an estimated 132 helicopters in 2008 to 291 in 2014. Included within these figures are several purpose-designed light attack helicopters and armed versions of light utility helicopters. The winner of the US Army’s relaunched Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) programme will secure a sizeable chunk of this market through the Army’s order, orders from US Foreign Military Sales customers and direct export sales.

by Ian Kemp

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n 16 October 2008 the US Army announced the termination of the ARH contract with Bell Helicopter. Although the Army plans to field more than 600 Boeing AH-64D Apache heavy attack helicopters upgraded to the Block III configuration, Service leaders also wanted to buy 512 armed reconnaissance/ light attack helicopters to replace the Army’s fleet of 344 Bell OH58D Kiowa Warriors. These aircraft are being extensively employed in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). The Army's OH-58Ds are the hardest worked elements of its aviation fleet in the GWOT: between 1 February 2003 and 15 September 2008 the 32 Kiowas deployed in Afghanistan accumulated 27,768 flight hours, achieving an operational tempo of 62.2 per cent while the 60 aircraft deployed in Iraq flew a total of 394,011 hours achieving an operational tempo of 72.7 percent. The Kiowa Warrior represents a cost effective alternative to the Apache for many missions in the GWOT. To reduce cost and improve operational performance the sophisticated Longbow fire control radar is frequently removed for AH-64Ds in theatre and the aircraft rarely flies with a full load of 16 AGM114 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles.

The Bell ARH project emerged from the ashes of the cancellation in February 2004 of the Army’s Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche ARH. The Comanche was conceived toward the end of the Cold War and service leaders determined its stealth characteristics and other advanced features, such as internal weapons carriage, were not required in the contemporary operational environment. The project’s cancellation allowed the Army to invest $14.6 billion in several other aviation projects including a more modest ARH acquisition, the AH-64D Block III upgrade and the $3 billion Light Utility Helicopter contract for 332 Eurocopter UH145 Lakotas. Bell Helicopter’s ARH-70A, a militarised version of the successful Bell 407 single engine light commercial helicopter, was selected in 2005 to replace the ageing OH-58D. Bell has produced more than 600 Bell 407s for commercial operators which have accumulated over 1.2 million flight hours. The company received a $2.2 billion contract to build 368 aircraft between 2006 and 2013. Although the aircraft’s primary mission was intended to be reconnaissance it featured a light attack capability with weapon pylons mounted on either side of the fuselage able to accommodate the

O AgustaWestland is developing the Future Lynx Battlefield Reconnaissance Helicopter to operate alongside the British Army’s AH.1 Apache attack helicopters. (AW)

An Australian Army Eurocopter Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter launched an AGM-114 Hellfire missile. (DoD)

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GAU-17 7.62 mm or GAU-19 .50 calibre Gatling gun, up to 38 70 mm rockets or up to four Hellfires. Besides its two side-by-side pilots the aircraft had the useful ability to carry up to three passengers. In accordance with the Army’s ARH requirement, two ARH-70As could be carried inside a Lockheed Martin C-130 tactical transport aircraft and prepared for take-off within 15 minutes of being unloaded. Lockheed Martin assisted Bell in the integration of a mission equipment package which included a chin-mounted FLIR Systems BRITE Star II reconnaissance and targeting pod. A single Honeywell HTS900-2 turbine engine provided a maximum speed of 161 mph, a ceiling of 20,000 feet and a range of more than 300 km. The lead prototype flew for the first time in July 2006.

As part of its new modular structure the US Army is organising its aviation units into Multifunctional Aviation Brigades (MFABs) consisting of company-sized ‘building blocks’ that can be task organised to support several BCTs (Brigade Combat Team). For the first time attack, reconnaissance, utility, medium lift and medical evacuation helicopter will all be in the same brigade. Although each MFAB will have two attack helicopter battalions an attack helicopter company will consist of either 10 OH-58Ds (to be replaced by the ARH) or eight AH-64Ds. Brigades assigned to heavy divisions will have two battalions each with 24 Apaches, a medium division will have one battalion with 30 OH-58Ds and 24 Apaches while each light division will have two battalions equipped with Kiowas.

Delays in the ARH-70A development schedule and escalating costs raised concerns, within the Army, the Department of Defense (DoD) and Congress culminating in 16 October announcement of programme termination. At that point Army officials estimated the projected cost to acquire 512 ARH-70s would be triple the original project estimate, a claim that is disputed by Bell.

Bell is aggressively marketing the Armed 407. On 9 December 2008 the DoD’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Iraq of “26 Bell Armed 407 Helicopters, 26

As part of its new modular structure the US Army is organising its aviation units into Multifunctional Aviation Brigades 13

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Rolls Royce 250-C-30 Engines, 26 M280 2.75inch Launchers, 26 XM296 .50 Cal. Machine Guns with 500 Round Ammunition Box, 26 M299 HELLFIRE Guided Missile Launchers as well as associated equipment and services”. The total value of the sale, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $366 million. However, in November the company decided to pull out of the Indian competition to supply 133 helicopters to the Indian Army to be used for reconnaissance and observation and another 64 for use as light utility helicopters by the Indian Air Force. Contenders for the $750 million project were required to submit a 50 percent offset proposal. The Indian government abandoned negotiations with Eurocopter in 2007 to acquire the AS550 Fennec after allegations that a competitive evaluation had not been conducted fairly.

AgustaWestland, Boeing, Eurocopter, Kamov and Sikorksky were expected to submit proposals in late December. Indian defence officials have stated that trials could begin by mid-2009 with the selected manufacturer to supply the first helicopter within

The brawler in Eurocopter’s stable is the Tiger medium attack helicopter 24 months of contract award.

On 7 November the US Army’s Product Manager, Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (PM ARH) asked industry for ‘comments and suggestions’ on how to accomplish the requirements for a new programme for up to 512 ARHs. The notice stated “the ARH will conduct armed reconnaissance to fight for actionable combat information to enable joint/combined air-ground maneuver execution of mobile strike, close combat and vertical maneuver operations across the full-spectrum of military operations”. The only operational requirement stipulated in the sources sought notice is the ability to perform a hover out of ground effect at 6,000ft (1,830m) and at 35°C (95°F) temperatures.

Only two aircraft, Bell's 407 and Boeing's AH-6, were evaluated in the original ARH competition as AgustaWestland and

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Eurocopter could not meet the requirement for two helicopters to be carried by C-130 and be ready to fly 15 minutes after being unloaded. Boeing developed the improved version of the MH-6/AH-6 Little Bird helicopter, flown by the US Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, for the ARH requirement. After losing the ARH competition Boeing continued to develop the aircraft for various applications including unmanned operations; the second ARH prototype has completed more than 400 hours of autonomous flight.

Boeing announced at the Association of the US Army annual conference in October 2008 that it was launching its ‘new’ AH-6 light attack/reconnaissance helicopter for the export market. Officials forecast a potential global market for ‘several hundred’ light reconnaissance and attack helicopters in countries which ‘can’t afford or don’t need’ sophisThe Australian Army has received half of the 22 Eurocopter Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters on order. (DoD)

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ticated attack helicopters such as the AH-64 Apache or the Bell AH-1Z Cobra. "Boeing has been approached by several potential customers seeking light attack and reconnaissance capabilities in a flexible rotorcraft platform," said Dave Palm, director of Boeing Rotorcraft Business Development.

The AH-6 features an electrooptical/infrared forward-looking sight system and a Lightweight Multiple Weapons Mount that is qualified for Hellfire missiles, the M260 seven-shot 70 mm rocket pod, the M-134 7.62 mm Minigun and the GAU-19 12.7 mm machine gun. MD Helicopters will supply the basic airframe from its Mesa, Arizona facility which Boeing will complete at its nearby plant. Boeing anticipates an export order for 18-24 AH-6s early in 2009 to launch production. Although company officials admit that further development would be needed to meet all of the specifications in the original ARH competition nevertheless Boeing is well placed for the new ARH competition.

In June 2006, the US Army selected the EADS North America proposal based on Eurocopter’s EC145 multi-role helicopter for its Light Utility Helicopter project. The Army plans to buy 345 UH-72A Lakotas through 2017 for various utility missions including medical evacuation and homeland security. As of December 2008, deliveries were running ahead of schedule and full production was due to begin at American Eurocopter’s new Columbus, Mississippi factory. Success in the LUH project gives the company a strong base on which to build a entry for the new ARH competition although it was unclear when AMR went to press if this will be derived from the UH72A or other models such as the single engine AS550 Fennec or the twin engine EC635 which are already developed as armed helicopters. Military and paramilitary forces in more than 30 countries already operate the Fennec family which also includes the unarmed EC130 variant and the armed AS555 naval variant. Powered by a Turbomeca ARRIEL 2B1 turboshaft the AS550C3 can achieve a maximum speed of 253 km/h and a maximum range of 648Km. Flown by one pilot the aircraft can carry five passengers or up to 1,400 kg of payload using a sling. Weapons options include various combinations of BGM-71 TOW missiles, 70 mm or 68 mm rocket pods, the Nexter M621 20 mm cannon, and various 7.62 mm or 12.7 mm machine gun pods.

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Boeing is offering the AH-6, a derivative of the MH-6 Little Bird special operations attack helicopter, on the export market and is likely to offer an improved model for the US Army’s new Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter competition (Boeing)

The brawler in Eurocopter’s stable is the Tiger medium attack helicopter. The Australian Army is acquiring 22 Tigers under the Air 87 Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter project to replace 43 Bell 206B-1 Kiowa scout and 25 UH-1H Iroquois fire support helicopters. The project was planned as an off the shelf purchase of an in-service type but the delays in fielding the Tiger in France and Germany means that Australia’s helicopters will be the first into operational service and the Department of Defence is having to do more certification work that anticipated. The Army selected the Hellfire to arm its Tigers and in late 2005 six missiles, four with inert warheads and two missiles with live AGM114M-1 blast fragmentation warheads, were launched to complete the Hellfire’s integration process. For reconnaissance missions the Tiger will typically carry two Hellfires and rocket pods. The first four Australian Tigers were built in France while the remaining 18 are being assembled by Australian Aerospace in Brisbane with the last originally scheduled to enter service in 2009. Although 11 aircraft

Military and paramilitary forces in more than 30 countries already operate the Fennec family ASIAN MILITARY REVIEW

have been delivered the programme has slipped with the last Tiger not expected to be delivered until 2011. The Tigers will equip two operational squadrons each of six aircraft.

France and Germany agreed as far back as 1984 to launch a joint combat helicopter project and the first Tiger prototype flew in 1991. Spending cuts by both governments following the end of the Cold War have delayed the project and smaller force structures have reduced the numbers required.

Under a 1999 production contract each country will receive 80 aircraft. The German Army changed its requirement from a dedicated anti-tank configuration to the multirole Unterstützungshubschrauber (Support Helicopter) Tiger (UHT) configuration. The service became the launch customer for the MBDA TRIGAT-Long Range (under the designation PARS 3 LR) AT missile when it selected the weapon to arm its Tigers. A mast-mounted TV/FLIR/laser range finder is fitted for the gunner. The UHT’s four outboard weapon stations can be armed with eight TRIGATs or two pods of 19 rockets or four Stinger AAMs and two 12.7 mm gun pods. A Mauser 30mm low recoil cannon in a chin turret may be installed in a mid-life upgrade.

The first 37 Tigers for the French Army, delivered from 2005, are in the Helicoptere

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The AgustaWestland AW129 was the first attack helicopter built by a European member of NATO. (AW)

d'Appui Protection (HAP, ‘Helicopter for Close Protection’) configuration with a chinmounted Nexter 30 mm gun turret. Typical armament could consist of up to 450 30 mm rounds, two pods each with 22 unguided 68 mm rockets and four Mistral AAMs. There is no provision for an AT missile. The remaining 43 Tigers, scheduled for delivery from 2008, will be in the multi-role Helicopter d'AppuiDestruction (HAD) version selected by the Spanish Army following France’s decision to cancel the Hélicoptère Anti-Char (Anti-Tank Helicopter) variant. Similar to the HAP version, the HAD has uprated MTR390-E engines, which provide 14 percent more power and incorporates better ballistic protection. In June 2007 the French Ministry of Defence announced that it had selected the Lockheed Martin Hellfire II to arm the Tiger.

The HAD can carry up to eight Hellfires, 68 mm or 70 mm rocket pods and four Mistral air-to-air missiles. In addition, HAD is armed with a Nexter 30mm cannon turret. The Spanish Army has selected the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Spike-Extended Range missile to equip it 22 Tiger HAD models. Common to the HAP and HAD configurations is a roof-mounted sight with TV, FLIR and laser-range finder.

The AgustaWestland AW129 Mangusta

(until 2007 designated the A129), which entered Italian Army service in 1990, was the first attack helicopter designed in Western Europe. Italy acquired 45 A129A anti-tank models and 15 multirole A129 CBT models, which the Army designates as Reconnaissance and Escort Helicopters. All A model aircraft are being upgraded to the multirole configuration. The A129A has four attachments beneath its stub-wings enabling to carry up to eight TOW missiles, two 7.62 mm, 12.7 mm or 20 mm gun pods or two launchers for 70 mm or 81 mm rockets. The A129CBT, a development of the A129 International, incorporates a nose-mounted 20 mm cannon, Stinger AAMs, a five-blade rotor and other improvements although it retains the original Rolls-Royce Gem 2 turboshafts instead of the more powerful LHTEC T800 turboshafts fitted to the export model. The AW129 can be carried internally by a C-130 or self-deploy more than 1,000 km using external fuel tanks while carrying four air-to-air missiles for self-defence. With a maximum take off weight of 4,600 kg in the multirole version the AW129 is a light attack helicopter which carries half of the number of missiles as the Apache and this was a primary consideration which influenced both the British Army and the Royal Netherlands Air Force not to participate in a proposed multinational AW129 development programme. The Italian Army has successfully deployed the helicopter on peace support operations in the former Yugoslavia, Somalia and Angola and in Iraq.

Turkey announced in March 2007 that the AW129 International had been selected as the basis for the Army’s attack helicopter project.

TUSAS Aerospace Industries will further

A US Army Bell OH-58A Kiowa Warrior and Boeing AH-64D Apache conduct a combat air patrol near Tal Afar, Iraq. The service sees the need for both a light scout helicopter and a heavy attack helicopter. (US Army)

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Turkey announced in March 2007 that the AW129 International had been selected as the basis for the Army’s attack helicopter project develop the T129 model and produce 52 aircraft locally with an option for another 40.

In June 2006 the UK Ministry of Defence awarded AgustaWestland a £1 billion contract to develop and produce 70 Future Lynx helicopters, 40 configured as Battlefield Reconnaissance Helicopters (BRH) for the British Army and 30 Surface Combatant Maritime Rotorcraft for the Royal Navy, with an option for a further 10, split equally between the two services. Future Lynx builds on the success of earlier Lynx aircraft, including the current generation Super Lynx 300, but will feature a redesigned nose and rear fuselage. The aircraft will be powered by two LHTEC CTS800 engines. The army’s BRH will be flown by flown by two pilots with a door gunner to operate either 7.62 mm or .50 calibre machine guns and a two person reconnaissance team. The first flight of the Future Lynx is scheduled to take place in late-2009 with the aircraft scheduled to enter operational service with the Army in 2014. Defence Secretary John Hutton announced on 11 December that only 62 aircraft will be ‘initially procured’, 34 for the Army and 28 for the Navy. The MoD intends to sign a contract to pull forward Future Lynx programme technologies to provide a rapid upgrade of 12 army Lynx AH Mk.9 aircraft with CTS800-4N engines to significantly improve the performance of these aircraft in hot and high operating conditions of Afghanistan. The first four will be delivered in late 2009 and the remainder in 2010.

The ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have again shown the importance of light armed helicopters in range of missions including reconnaissance, escort and fire support. Those coalition nations – such as Australia, Canada and Germany – which do not have such aircraft deployed, are dependent on support from other coalition forces, primarily the US. No doubt the Tiger, when declared operational by any of the four user nations, will make its operational debut in Afghanistan.

Other nations will seek to acquire similar capabilities either using light attack helicopters or AMR armed utility helicopters.

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ROSOBORONE XPORT OFFERING PARTNERS THE BES T MILITARY HARDWARE S

umming up and announcing the owing to an exclusive thrust vector winner of a tender to supply 126 control technology. None of MiG-35’s multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) rivals can boast such capability, which to the Indian Air Force (IAF) will be one of gives it an undeniable edge in real air the high points in military-technical coopcombat. Furthermore, heavy use of eration between India and for-eign councomposites in the frame has made the tries in the coming one or two years. aircraft less observable to enemy The tender involves six contenders: radars. The fighter’s double weapons Russian MiG-35 fighter (RSK MiG), load and 1.5-fold higher fuel capacity American F-16 and F/A-18 (from compared to its predecessor are also Lockheed Martin and Boeing its irresistible benefits. re-spectively), French Rafale The Zhuk-AE active electronically (Dassault Aviation), Swedish JAS-39 scanned array (AESA) radar is a unique Gripen (SAAB), and European component of the MiG-35, which was Eurofighter Typhoon (EADS). The proposed for the tender by technical evalua-tion of the bids has Rosoboronexport and MiG Russian been completed, and field trials are to Aircraft Corporation. The radar can start in India in April-May. track up to 30 targets and attack The Russian fighter offers distinct simultaneously six most dangerous of advantages over the competing them. Its target detection range of planes. Unlike all the other aircraft, 140-160 km also wins admiration and which are production models, the can be further extended to 250-280 km MiG-35 is the latest-generation fighter when more receive/transmit mod-ules Mr. Viktor Komardin developed with due regard to the are used. Along with its powerful Head of Rosoboronexport’s Delegation & peculiarities of operation in India. It not precision-guided weapons, highDeputy Director General of the Corporation only meets all the requirements of the performance active self-defense system tender put forward by the IAF, but also and superb performance charac-terishas drawn from the best operating experience with previous tics, the lightweight MiG-35 has grown into a medium-sized MiG aircraft in the country. aircraft – a superfighter of the 21st century.

The Russian aircraft has perfect aerodynamic lines and what Another benefit of the Russian fighter is its best value for is more it has acquired incredible super maneuverability, money. Being highly competitive with its Western counterparts,

MiG-29k

MiG-35 the MiG-35 is superior to its rivals in many characteristics and at same time is less expensive. For India, this factor may be decisive in selecting the winner, all other things being equal. On the world arms markets, where Rosoboronexport has operated in recent years, the cost-performance ratio favorably distinguishes Russian military equipment from rivals.

More than 40 years of military-technical cooperation between Russia and India and the current level of the mutually beneficial bilateral relations are indicative of this.

The recent major projects being implemented between Moscow and Delhi include delivery of Mi-17V-5 transport helicopters to India, license production of Su-30MKI aircraft and T-90S tanks.

A qualitatively new phase of fruitful bilateral cooperation is marked by the key joint aircraft projects. These are primarily the multi-purpose trans-port plane and a fifth-generation fighter development programs “This year’s 7th AERO INDIA 2009 exhibition is a grandiose aero-space event in the Asia & Pacific region. It involves 20 Russian exhibitors presenting several hundreds of weaponry, military and aerospace equip-ment items,” said Viktor

Komardin, head of Rosoboronexport’s delegation and Deputy Director General of the Corporation. “The content and dimen-sions of Rosoboronexport’s display, planned meetings and negotiations will be focused on further strengthening Russia’s military-technical cooperation with its long and reliable partners as well as on looking for new would-be purchasers of aircraft and armaments made by Russia independently or jointly with foreign partners in production.

AMR Marketing Promotion

KA-31

ROSOBORONE XPORT OFFERING PARTNERS THE BES T MILITARY HARDWARE S

umming up and announcing the owing to an exclusive thrust vector winner of a tender to supply 126 control technology. None of MiG-35’s multi-role combat aircraft (MRCA) rivals can boast such capability, which to the Indian Air Force (IAF) will be one of gives it an undeniable edge in real air the high points in military-technical coopcombat. Furthermore, heavy use of eration between India and for-eign councomposites in the frame has made the tries in the coming one or two years. aircraft less observable to enemy The tender involves six contenders: radars. The fighter’s double weapons Russian MiG-35 fighter (RSK MiG), load and 1.5-fold higher fuel capacity American F-16 and F/A-18 (from compared to its predecessor are also Lockheed Martin and Boeing its irresistible benefits. re-spectively), French Rafale The Zhuk-AE active electronically (Dassault Aviation), Swedish JAS-39 scanned array (AESA) radar is a unique Gripen (SAAB), and European component of the MiG-35, which was Eurofighter Typhoon (EADS). The proposed for the tender by technical evalua-tion of the bids has Rosoboronexport and MiG Russian been completed, and field trials are to Aircraft Corporation. The radar can start in India in April-May. track up to 30 targets and attack The Russian fighter offers distinct simultaneously six most dangerous of advantages over the competing them. Its target detection range of planes. Unlike all the other aircraft, 140-160 km also wins admiration and which are production models, the can be further extended to 250-280 km MiG-35 is the latest-generation fighter when more receive/transmit mod-ules Mr. Viktor Komardin developed with due regard to the are used. Along with its powerful Head of Rosoboronexport’s Delegation & peculiarities of operation in India. It not precision-guided weapons, highDeputy Director General of the Corporation only meets all the requirements of the performance active self-defense system tender put forward by the IAF, but also and superb performance charac-terishas drawn from the best operating experience with previous tics, the lightweight MiG-35 has grown into a medium-sized MiG aircraft in the country. aircraft – a superfighter of the 21st century.

The Russian aircraft has perfect aerodynamic lines and what Another benefit of the Russian fighter is its best value for is more it has acquired incredible super maneuverability, money. Being highly competitive with its Western counterparts,

MiG-29k

MiG-35 the MiG-35 is superior to its rivals in many characteristics and at same time is less expensive. For India, this factor may be decisive in selecting the winner, all other things being equal. On the world arms markets, where Rosoboronexport has operated in recent years, the cost-performance ratio favorably distinguishes Russian military equipment from rivals.

More than 40 years of military-technical cooperation between Russia and India and the current level of the mutually beneficial bilateral relations are indicative of this.

The recent major projects being implemented between Moscow and Delhi include delivery of Mi-17V-5 transport helicopters to India, license production of Su-30MKI aircraft and T-90S tanks.

A qualitatively new phase of fruitful bilateral cooperation is marked by the key joint aircraft projects. These are primarily the multi-purpose trans-port plane and a fifth-generation fighter development programs “This year’s 7th AERO INDIA 2009 exhibition is a grandiose aero-space event in the Asia & Pacific region. It involves 20 Russian exhibitors presenting several hundreds of weaponry, military and aerospace equip-ment items,” said Viktor

Komardin, head of Rosoboronexport’s delegation and Deputy Director General of the Corporation. “The content and dimen-sions of Rosoboronexport’s display, planned meetings and negotiations will be focused on further strengthening Russia’s military-technical cooperation with its long and reliable partners as well as on looking for new would-be purchasers of aircraft and armaments made by Russia independently or jointly with foreign partners in production.

AMR Marketing Promotion

KA-31

LAND WARFARE

Enhanced Range,

Reduced Cost Self propelled artillery, continues to provide what it has always done; the means to provide manoeuvre forces with indirect fires on a protected chassis that can keep up with the Armoured Fighting Vehicles (AFV) they are required to support. Designs must also ensure combat survivability against heavy small arms and shell fragments and enable rapid in and out of action times, to avoid counter battery fire.

by Adam Baddeley

The M109A6 Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) will be the US standard by 2020. (BAE Systems)

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ASIAN MILITARY REVIEW

LAND WARFARE

hile the advantages over towed solutions are self evident, the disadvantages in traditional self propelled designs also remain; their significant weight defies easy strategic deployment with the speed now required by many militaries and they are slow and difficult to redeploy in theatre, particularly over poor infrastructure - both factors that incur high acquisition and through life costs.

Militaries have sought and industry has delivered innovative ways around this. A number of designs successfully incorporate the current benchmark in long range fires 155mm/L52 – on a lightweight platform, either a flat bed truck or other tactical vehicle.

Other programmes, notably the US Future Combat Systems (FCS), achieve the same result while maintaining a tracked chassis.

Requirements however, remaining for heavy designs and the capability they provide.

Current programmes in the region reflect the view that no single solution for self propelled artillery has gained the ascendancy.

Japan for example has considered replacing all its towed FH70 155/39 calibre systems with a truck mounted system. Australia for example under its Land 17 artillery replacement plan, is acquiring systems at the heavy end with as many as 30 155mm/L52 capable systems – pitting the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) PzH 2000 against the Samsung Techwin K9 Thunder - as well as four batteries of lightweight towed 155 mm howitzers. India too is pursuing a similar approach asking for 100 tracked and 180 wheeled solutions after the demise of the Bhim programme. The United Arab Emirate’s recent upgrade to both its M109 and G6 fleets also illustrates that significant capability improvement can be achieved by modifying existing equipment rather than major new investment.

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Nordic Archer Sweden has opted for a wheeled, articulated solution to its indirect fire needs with the BAE Systems Bofors FH77 BW L52 Archer 155mm self-propelled artillery system. The completion of the feasibility stage earlier this year validated the concept, begun in 1995 with prototypes of a 33.5tonne vehicle based on the Volvo Construction A30D 6 x 6 chassis, matched with a 52 calibre version of the FH 77/B howitzer. Loading is automated with 21 ready to use rounds, with a further 20 stored elsewhere on the vehicle, with the crew able

to operate the system from inside the protect- made Roman 26.360 DFAEG 6x6 truck.

Other eastern European players in the ed cab. An ammunition resupply vehicle is planned to enable resupply in less than ten truck mounted arena include Serbia which is minutes. The first Swedish Army artillery reported to have sold a 155 mm/52-calibre units are expected to be equipped by 2011 KamAZ-mounted variant of the NORA B-52 beginning with a four-strong unit allocated to SP howitzer. Slovakia’s Zuzana howitzer is a the Nordic Battlegroup, with an ultimate 155mm/L52 version of the turreted 8x8 requirement for 24-30 guns. The Archer can Dana howitzer.

In pursuit of the UK’s now defunct be fired in thirty seconds and then move on in Lightweight Mobile Artillery Weapon a further thirty seconds.

The most successful truck mounted design System (Gun) programme, BAE systems thus far has been the Nexter CAESAR developed a system based around the M777 (CAmion Equipe d'un Systems d'ARtillerie). and carried by a portee 8x6 SUPACAT vehiBased around an 155/52 upgrade of the cle weighing in at 12.3 tonnes. Rather than Nexter TRF1 gun, rounds fired from CAESAR being fired from the Supacat, the standard can reach as far as 42km and is based around a ‘towed’ gun would be ‘dropped off’ and could be fired in under three minutes.

6x6 tactical vehicle.

Denel Land Systems’ iconic 6x6 G6 platFrance received its first systems in June 2008, opting to mount their systems on a form is in service with South Africa, UAE and Renault Trucks Defense Sherpa 5 chassis as an Oman and has demonstrated a road range of alternative to a further upgrade of its heavy 700km while its L45 ordnance can reach tracked self propelled system. The first four ranges of as high as 53Km and can deploy and guns to be fielded equip the 68e Régiment pull out in one minute and thirty seconds. A d’Artillerie d’Afrique deployed to Lebanon L52 variant with a new turret design, the G6with Unifil, replacing the units tracked AMX 52 has been developed but has yet to find a 30 AU F1 self propelled howitzer (SPH) pred- customer. The same ordnance is used in the T5 ecessor. Delivery of all 80 systems is due to be 8x8 truck mounted system.

South Africa’s Denel Land Systems has competed in 2011. Thailand is the first export customer for CAESAR with a contract for 18 had much success with the performance of Sherpa mounted systems issued in 2006. The the 105 mm Light Experimental Ordnance Saudi Arabian National Guard is acquiring 80 (LEO), described as meeting or exceeding the Unimog based CAESARs together with range – over 30km - and effectiveness of Thales’ ATLAS artillery C4I system to equip 155mm/39 calibre rounds, with a reduction three regiments replacing 155 mm M198 and in weight by over 40 percent. US firm General Dynamics Land Systems, integrated 105 mm M102 towed artillery systems.

A private venture, Soltam’s C-130 capable the LEO on a Stryker chassis for trials but ATMOS 2000 marries a Tatra T815 truck with these subsequently lapsed. A truck mounted a crew of four and carries 32 155mm rounds version has also been developed. for either L39, L45 or L52 barrels, the latter offering ranges of over 40km with an US: PIM and NLOS-C Extended Range Full-Bore - Base Bleed The next step for the two-man, FCS XM1203 (ERFB-BB) round.

Non-Line-Of-Sight Cannon (NLOS-C) protoThe system has been BAE Systems Bofors’ FH77 BW L52 Archer articulated design incorporates acquired by the Israel 21 ready to use rounds and 20 more stored on board. (BAE Systems) Defence Forces and several other undisclosed countries. Soltam have also been reported to have delivered a D30 122mm ATMOS based solution for Kazakhstan. Working with domestic firm Aerostar in Romania, Soltam have developed the ATROM which takes the ATMOS gun and matched it with the locally

FEBRUARY 2009

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LAND WARFARE

The most successful truck mounted design thus far has been the Nexter CAESAR type is the unmanned test firing of 500 155mm rounds in early 2009. This is designed to obtain safety release for manned firing before transferring several vehicles to the Army’s Evaluation Task Force, part of the 1st Armoured Division for operational evaluation in 2010. Low-rate initial production is planned for 2011. The vehicle’s hybrid – electric powered design, is based around an MTU diesel together with Honeywell drive motors, QinetiQ drives and Saft batteries. To meet exacting weight requirements, the barrel had to be cut from L39 to L38 resulting in a reduction in range and a drop in the number of rounds carried to just 24, which it can fire in just four minutes of sustained fire and will be supplied by a truck mounted palletized load.

The NLOS-C is said to be able to fire the first four rounds in as many seconds and using the latest Excalibur precision round, can reach up to 35Km. NLOS-C has a goal of service entry of 2017 and has common features across the FCS Manned Ground Vehicle fleet.

For all the work on NLOS-C, the M109 Paladin will remain the mainstay of the US fleet for many years to come, its out-of service date estimated at 2060.

In parallel to NLOS-C, the US is investing in the M109A6/M992A Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) update, designed to provide greater manoeuvrability, protection and lethality, to enable the M109 to remain in service until 2060. Both the NLOS-C and PIM vehicles will be manufactured at the same BAE Systems plant.

PIM will enable greater commonality with the M2/3 Bradley fleet’s engine, transmission and suspension

22

in the field as well as sharing the NLOS-C’s flick rammer, boosting long term sustainability across Heavy Brigade Combat Teams. The PIM lethality upgrade centres on equipping the Paladin to fire Excalibur and precision guidance fuze kits.

The first prototype is due to be The CAESAR has picked up substantial orders including submitted for testing in 2009 with the France, Saudi Arabia and Thailand (Nexter) first unit equipped in 2011. A total of 600 vehicles will receive the upgrade with PzH 2000 self-propelled systems. The system’s the M109 and M992 PIMs having a projectile 155 mm/52 calibre ordnance has achieved stowage capability of 43 and 95 respectively. range of 60km, using a Denel-developed By 2020, under the National Level Recap munition. Using other rounds, ranges of as litprogramme, all M109s in service will be to tle as 2.7km can be achieved in the indirect this standard. role. It carries one of the highest number of rounds on board, with 60 complete projectiles carried, with the system achieving sustained M109 upgrades With the platform in such wide service, rates of fire of ten rounds per minute, with the upgrades are regularly sought. Denel has first three rounds fired in under ten seconds.

In Europe, users have largely followed upgraded UAE M109s to the M109L47 standard, which includes improved gun laying Germany’s example in adopting the technology in conjunction with RUAG Land PzH2000 to replace their fleets of M109s, Systems. RUAG have also upgraded a number with Greece, Netherlands, Italy becoming of Swiss M109s to the L47 standard, chosen users. The Netherlands has deployed a small because the light weight of the barrel, com- number of systems operationally in pared to a L52 solution allows a more cost Afghanistan. Italy achieved its Initial effective upgrade while obtaining ranges of Operating Capability with its first PzH 2000 over 36km. Rheinmetall Waffe Munition has battery in September. A total of 70 are being developed a prototype of the M109L52 SPH, built under license by Oto Melara.

KMW has also developed its fully automatwhich incorporates elements of the PzH2000 and much improved fire control system. BAE ic, 30 round Autonomous Gun module (AGM) Systems also has its own M109 L52 upgrade using the same weapon system as the known as the International Howitzer but this PzH2000. This unmanned, automated design was originally launched on a M270 MLRS has yet to gain a customer. chassis but at Eurosatory in June 2008, Donar, a collaboration with General Dynamics Santa Heavyweight success Despite the US’ mighty 56 tonne 155/L56 Bárbara Sistemas based on the ASCOD 2 IFV Crusader being cancelled in early 2002, other was shown for the first time. For its part, Rheinmetall has developed three solutions heavyweight solutions have prospered.

Germany’s Bundesheer has the first fielded based on the PzH2000; the RT-52 turreted gun, L52 solution, ordering 185 Rheinmetall/KMW the RWG-52 wheeled SP howitzer and the RFH-52 towed howitzer, with immediate The next step for the two-man, FCS XM1203 interest focusing on India’s requirements, Non-Line-Of-Sight Cannon (NLOS-C) prototype working with Denel. is the unmanned test firing of 500 155mm The UKs 155/39 AS-90 is has undergone a rounds in early 2009 (BAE Systems) partial upgrade addressing sustainability for improvements in Iraq and Afghanistan. Prime contractor BAE Systems has demonstrated an

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L52 solutions on the market and Korea the first to deploy such a weapon in Asia. Outside of Korea, the K9 Thunder’s biggest The K-9 Thunder was the first Asian 155/52 system to be fielded and is success so far has been the selection of now competing for Australia’s Land 17 requirement (Samsung Techwin) the 155/52 calibre system by Turkey in 2001, where it is known upgrade to a L52 solution for some or all of the UK’s 179 AS90s which was put on hold in 2005 as the Firtina, with as many as 300 required. and has yet to be re-started. The company’s For Land 17 the Australian variant has been export variant, the AS90 Braveheart can dubbed AS-9 Aussie Thunder.

The platform has a combat weight of achieve ranges of over 40Km with a base bleed round. The company has tested the turret on 43.6tonnes, is NBC protected and its all weldthe Arjun and T-72 but thus far only Poland ed steel design is proof against shell fragments has acquired the turret which has been inte- and medium calibre rounds.

Each K9 has a maximum range of over grated by Huta Stalowa Wola and WB Electronics onto a T-72 chassis and known 40km, can carry 48 rounds and can co-ordinate firing to deliver simultaneous arrival of three locally as the Krab. rounds to target, made possible by the K9’s fast fire rate of three rounds in the first 15 secAsian Solutions The Samsung Techwin K9 was one of the first onds of a fire mission. As many as 24 rounds

can be fired in the first three minutes. The accompanying K10 Thunder Ammunition Resupply Vehicle carries 104 rounds.

Singapore Technologies Kinetics Primus is Singapore’s principle SPH. BAE Systems provide the chassis, essentially an improved M109 design with commonality with the Bionix infantry fighting vehicle. Its domestically produced ordnance can be fired to over 30Km using extended-range full bore base bleed projectiles. The system is based on the company’s 155 mm/39 calibre FH-88 towed solution. It is unclear whether STK’s 155mm/L52 FH2000 towed design will feed through to a Primus upgrade.

The latest tracked Chinese SPH design is

In parallel to NLOS-C, the US is investing in the M109A6/M992A Paladin Integrated Management (PIM) update

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The US however, is already fielding the FMTV truck-mounted High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) known as the Norinco PLZ52/Type 05 and is a L52 autoloading version of the 155 mm/45 calibre, 30km standard range PLZ45 which is used domestically but has only one export customer; Kuwait with 27 systems, and is capable of firing standard NATO ammunition. A tracked solution firing 122mm D-30 rounds is also in development. The new platform could be ready for PLA deployment by 2012. Both weapons are designed to operate the Russian 155 mm Krasnopol laser-guided projectile. China has also produced a CAESAR-like truck mounted system operating the same L45 gun, known as the SH1 with a L52 variant also being developed. The smaller SH2 is a 122mm design.

The new 2S19M1/ MSTRA-S is one of Russia’s latest offering in this area with a new 155 mm/52 calibre system and 46 rounds on board. The MSTA-K is a rapidly deployable 8x8 truck mounted 152 mm/L47 solution.

Work on a dual barrel, autoloaded 152 mm solution in an ‘over-under’ configuration and

The Uk’s plans to upgrade to a L52 upgrade to the AS90 remain on hold while operational enhancements for Iraq and Afghanistan are implemented 9 (AJB)

known as the ‘Coalition’ has also been trialed.

Alternatives

Artillery is just one way of delivering indirect fire. Rocket artillery and mortars provide their own advantages which both complement conventional tube artillery solutions and erode demand for them.

Rocket artillery has replaced artillery in the very long range role, traditionally occupied by the now retired M110 and M107 family in western service. The Lockheed Martin’s M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) is based on a fully tracked armoured chassis and has taken on this role across NATO and other countries. Initially firing 12 227mm unguided rockets, this has been The AMOS’s double barreled 120mm mortar system enables three complemented by the mortar rounds to be fired in under twelve seconds (BAE Systems) guided MLRS (GMLRS) and the Army Tactical Missile System. The current GMLRS M30/31 has a range of 70Km and very low Circular Error Probability. Prime contractor Lockheed Martin believes ranges of 120130Km are possible with an extended range solution now being trialled.

The US however, is already fielding the FMTV truck-mounted High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), a C-130 capable solution which the UAE has subsequently ordered.

Alternative solutions are available globally, Turkmenistan joined

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India in 2008 as the second Asian customer for the Smerch rocket. The central Asian country has acquired six which will be delivered by the end of 2009 in a $70m, six launcher deal. India acquired 38 systems in 2005.

New acquisitions in the past year include Georgia’s fielding of Israeli-made Gradlar 160mm/122mm multiple rocket launchers mounted on Actros 3341 6x6 trucks.

Mortars have become more accurate, with greater automation with a renaissance in turreted gun mortars designs, now able to send rounds to the mid range of many 155mm designs but with much greater tactical mobility and lower cost.

The doubled barreled 120mm Patria Weapon Systems' AMOS (Advanced MOrtar System) combines to enable three rounds to be fired in under twelve seconds. Finland has ordered 24 systems for its Armoured Modular Vehicle (AMV) fleet. The single barreled NEMO (NEw MOrtar) variant weighs just 1.5tonnes, with Slovenia becoming the launch customer, also matched with the AMV. Russia’s NONA-SVK 2S23 is integrated on the BTR-80, the 2S31 on the BMP-3, with both capable of firing 120mm rounds up to 13Km. Not every requirement seek a gun-mortar. The US has opted for the Soltam Cardom (Computerised Autonomous Recoil rapid Deployed Outrange Mortar) mortar for its Stryker solution, using a turntable to rapidly slew to target, coupled with an automatic reload. Malaysia has recent ordered eight ACV-S300 mortar carriers, equipped with the TDA Arméments TDA 120 mm 120R 2M recoiling mortar system. Italy has also recently ordered this weapon. Singapore's STK 120 mm Super Rapid Mortar System (SRAMS) weighs 1.2 tonnes and is designed for very light chassis which require minimum recoil, including A MR the Spider Light Strike Vehicle.

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Learning from the best While the change towards network centric warfare was well underway in earlier wars, including the first Gulf War, the present conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have been the birth place and crèche for one major new platform, the unmanned air vehicle (UAV). As a result, the operation of these systems by Coalition forces holds a number of lessons for forces in Asia as they seek to acquire or develop a similar capability.

by John Mulberry

An Australian Scan Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle launches from Ali Air Base, Iraq, in 2007. (US DoD)

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AVs are not entirely new. In fact, some argue that they have a long heritage that is as old as that of manned flight.

However, in their current form they are relatively new. With initial, modest outings over Lebanon and the Balkans, their use only exploded with the late-2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. It was at this point, that the US in particular began to invest in this technology, giving the opportunity to an industry that had hitherto been something of a sideshow, to grab centre stage.

It has been argued by some that even if the current crop of UAVs do differ from their predecessors they are still not a game changing technology. In some respects UAVs are just another platform - a truck to move sensors and shooters around the battlespace.

However, this underplays the distinct advantages that such systems provide, including aerial persistence and removing

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the human from the cockpit.

In particular, it is the concept of the system that is key to UAVs. The US military’s gravitation towards using the term unmanned air system (UAS) - even if conceptually fuzzy in the sense that the system is ‘manned’ even if the platform itself is uninhabited - hints at this.

The myriad advantages that UAS provide have been the key to their proliferation in these conflicts and to the interest taken by armed forces around the world in procuring or developing such a capability.

The lessons to be learnt from Afghanistan and Iraq about both procuring a UAS capability and operating it are multiple. At the same time, there have been both mistakes and successes for the forces that are utilising these new systems. A careful reading of those lessons will provide the defence community in Asia with invaluable real world experience. Only

with some level of experience will forces in the region be able to get the best advantage from the new technology. At a time when military budgets are being squeezed and armed forces are being asked to do more with less it makes sense to seek advantage from new capabilities such as UAVs. However, getting the true advantages from UASs takes an investment in both time and effort.

No silver bullet One of the first concrete lessons that defence officials should draw from UAS deployment in Afghanistan and Iraq is that developing such a capability is not necessarily cheap or an inexpensive replacement for traditional airpower assets. The US and Israel - two of the leading UAS nations - have both poured vast amounts of money into the development of very capable UAVs. US spending on UAS technologies in particular is colossal, stretching to tens of billions of dollars.

Nor up until now, has the US been particularly adept at capturing all the data from its experiences. Dyke Weatherington, a deputy in the US Office of the Secretary of Defense who specializes in unmanned systems planning makes that plain when speaking to audiences.

This is particularly true then it comes to trying

The lessons to be learnt from Afghanistan and Iraq about both procuring a UAS capability and operating it are multiple

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The IDF could not always take advantage of the fleeting opportunities to take out emplacements when they were activated to figure out the operational tempo of some of the smaller UAVs. Both the difficulty in quantifying their value and the costs involved mean that UAVs should not be seen as a quick fix capability. Alongside the various US surges of troops in to Iraq has been a commensurate surge in the number and variety of UAVs that the US military has deployed in both theatres. The variety of systems being employed by US forces also suggests that no single system can do everything.

That may be an obvious statement to make, when it comes to looking at the differences between small, tactical and strategic UAVs, but the issue goes deeper than that. The various services, and even units within the services, have slightly varying requirements meaning that different systems are deployed to meet those requirements whether they are the AAI Shadow family, the Insitu Scan Eagle, or the Predator UAV. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) also learnt the hard way in Lebanon 2006 that UAVs are not a panacea for all battlespace challenges. In the initial stages of the campaign against Hezbollah, Israeli leaders were convinced by The UK was quickly able to deploy Hermes 450 in to theatre under a service agreement with Thales (Thales)

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An armed MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle sits in a shelter on Joint Base Balad, Iraq in 2008.

(US DoD)

the Israel Defence Force (IDF) that the silencing of Hezbollah’s rocket systems could be achieved through air power and persistent intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) alone. In some respects UAVs are suited to the ‘empty battleground’ described by former deputy chief of the Israeli Army Reuven Benkler.

Benkler describes the battlefield during the Lebanon campaign as empty for a good reason. Hezbollah’s large long-range rockets were destroyed in the first 24 hours of the campaign, but that left the concealable shorter range systems intact. Opportunities to attack these were fleeting, yet the Israel Air Force believed the combination of persistent ISTAR from UAVs and long range fire power would be able to solve the problem.

However, the solution was found lacking.

Israel did not have enough UAVs available to provide full coverage and even if they had, lagging sensor to shooter times meant that the IDF could not always take advantage of the

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fleeting opportunities to take out emplacements when they were activated. It also found itself unable to find all the rockets, many of which were often concealed underground or under foliage where the staring eyes of UAV payloads could not penetrate. Despite the IDF firing 175,000 artillery shells and 12,000 multiple launch rocket system rounds, Hezbollah remained un-silenced right up to the end of the conflict. Perhaps more importantly, was that the IDF was forced to recognise the need to put troops on the ground, rather than relying on ISTAR and long range fire power.

Unmanned, but manned The US and other countries have also found that the removal of a pilot from the cockpit has not necessarily had as big an impact as originally thought. Officials believed that removing the pilot would both cut costs and also allow for the greater expendability of the platform.

Although there has been a certain element of truth to this, it is not entirely accurate.

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Speaking to Asian Military Review, senior British officers said that in some cases patrols would not be mounted without the support of UAVs on overwatch Rather than producing major savings, the funds released by not having a pilot in the aircraft are often swallowed up by other areas, including the development of monitoring and autonomous systems. In addition, although a pilot no longer has to be recruited and trained to operate the system, there is a continuing need for a platform operator, albeit located on the ground, for the current generation of UAVs. Currently the US Air Force (USAF) uses trained pilots with the additional skills necessary to manage UAVs. That causes its own challenges both in terms of training requirements and managing expectations. The USAF recently stated that it wanted to increase its trained pilot strength by some 300%, a mammoth task even for USAF. It has also necessitated ensuring that 100 pilots annually are streamed directly into UAV training straight from basic – potentially crushing the enthusiasm of the individuals who signed up to fly.

However, at the other end of the scale, the US Army does not use trained aviators to fly the majority of its UAVs – although these tend to be tactical and small UAVs rather than strategic assets. This throws up its own challenges when it comes to airspace management and understanding.

Understanding constraint Crucially, the airspace challenge is likely to remain one of the biggest headaches for some time. Both Israel and Coalition forces have benefited from their total control of the airspace in which they have used their UAVs. The difficulty is that at their current level of technological development UAVs are not yet ready to step out of the boxes of their segregated airspace and operate in the same airspace as manned aircraft.

There have reportedly been a number of cases of near misses where UAVs have come close to collision with manned aircraft. In everyday operations they are segregated from manned assets and given their own airspace.

This may work during a conflict, but is unlikely to be an ongoing solution in peace time or

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for operations other than war such as border security or sea lane patrols.

There are difficulties in this regard both to ongoing training requirements in countries where airspace is at a premium and the use of such systems in non-segregated airspace for low-intensity operations. One case often mooted in the Asian context is for unmanned systems to The US Air Force is taking a close look at how it delivers UAV pilot be used to patrol the training. (L-3 Link) Malacca Strait.

However, without sufficiently strict control of Elbit Systems, is providing UK forces in both the airspace this would be difficult, especially theatres with the Hermes 450 UAV on which when it came to the use of large systems. the follow on Watchkeeper platform is being based.

Although the H450 does not have the same Still a game changer level of capability as its successor will it has Despite the limitations and challenges experienced by some of the countries currently oper- allowed the UK to rapidly deploy at least a ating UAVs there are also more positive les- partial solution. The rapid deployment of the sons to be learned from operations in Iraq and system was in part facilitated by the service Afghanistan. Coalition forces operating in agreement under which Thales provided the both theatres would not be without the UAVs airframes, associated equipment and support that are now part of their arsenal. The UK’s leaving 32 Regt with just the job of flying the UAV specialists, 32 Regiment Royal Artillery, UAVs in operations.

This type of service based agreement is not have been hard pressed to fulfill all the restricted only to the UK. Boeing has tested requests that they receive from commanders.

Speaking to Asian Military Review, senior this type of arrangement with another platBritish officers said that in some cases patrols form, the Insitu Scan Eagle, on a number of would not be mounted without the support of occasions both with US forces and others. The UAVs on overwatch. That presents challenges Australian Defence Force (ADF) is also one of to the likes of the UK, which only has a small those that has used the service. Speaking earliinventory of UAVs. To US.Army personnel conduct final checks on a Shadow UAV on Forward address the require- Operating Base Fenty in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. (US DoD) ment the Ministry of Defence has looked at several options that are instructive.

One has been the rapid procuring of new capability through a service based contract with Thales, which is also supplying the British Army’s next generation UAV capability dubbed Watchkeeper. Under its agreement Thales, and its partner Israel’s

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A more important example when it comes to learning lessons is Canada’s troubled procurement of the Sperwer UAV for operation in Afghanistan. capability slowing its procurement process while filling the gap with some tried and tested solutions including IAI’s Heron UAV and a service based contract with Boeing for the Scan Eagle. Further out the air force is evaluating the need for a more permanent ISTAR capability.

Canadian forces have had difficulties operating their Sperwer UAVs in Afghanistan (Canadian DoD)

Taking stock comes with dangers. The UK has already lost one of the three Reaper UAVs that it bought and was forced to purchase a replacement, although this is not believed to be any reflection on the system itself. A more important example when it comes to learning lessons is Canada’s troubled procurement of the Rapid acquisition dangers The other way that the UK has gone has been Sperwer UAV for operation in Afghanistan.

The Canadian Forces (CF) acquired six rapid acquisition of a new platform. In this case the UK bought the Reaper medium alti- Sagem Sperwer tactical UAVs through tude long endurance UAV through the US Oerlikon Contraves Canada in 2003. The UAV Foreign Military Sale (FMS) programme. The was operated with some success in the Kabul acquisition of the platform through FMS was region in 2003-04. That experience led Canada expensive for the Royal Air Force, which oper- to buy a further ten, second-hand Sperwers ates the UAVs in tandem with US forces from from Denmark in 2006, and five new Sperwer Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. However, it Long Endurance UAVs from the manufacturhas given the service access to advanced tech- er in 2005 to assist its forces in Afghanistan.

However, the combination of heat, dust nology and an unrivalled capability that has and wind in Afghanistan has challenged the already been tested on the battlefield.

However, such rapid acquisition of systems capabilities of a drone originally designed for There has been a proliferation of UAVs in Afghanistan and Iraq, espe- the central European plains. There were sevcially when it comes to the smaller systems. (US DoD) eral crashes early on and further losses are believed to have been suffered since. The procurement quickly became a scandal in Canada as any value out of the deal, including the protection of CF personnel in theatre became secondary to the cost and losses.

In the aftermath of the Sperwer procurement Canada has decided to take another route to procuring er in the year at the Shephard UV Pacific conference in Brisbane the ADF’s programme leaders had nothing but praise for both the capability and the contractor support from Boeing/Insitu.

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There is no doubt that much has been learnt by those countries involved in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq when it comes to the procurement and deployment of UAVs. There is no doubt that such systems have had an important part in the fight and that there will be an increasing number of UAVs over the battlefields of the future. However, they are not the panacea that some of their proponents make them out to be and there are both challenges and lessons to be learned.

The huge expense involved in procuring a viable UAV capability continues to be a challenge, especially for those countries without access to the developed markets in the US and Israel. Other issues also remain to be resolved, such as effective air traffic management and training. Dangers can also lie in ensuring that armed forces procure the right systems for what they need.

However, for those willing to spend the time evaluating current operations there are also positives to be drawn from the lessons of these conflicts. One of the major innovations, especially in terms of utilization of UAVs, has been the skilled use of service based agreements that allow contractor owned and supported systems to be quickly deployed in to theatre to give an interim capability.

There is also no doubt that coalition forces in both Afghanistan and Iraq would not be without the ISTAR capabilities of tactical UAVs in particular. It remains to be seen whether Asian armed forces will be as interested in such systems, but there are systems out there that are waiting for users to define the requirements and move AMR towards procuring this future capability.

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Sea to Sky

Defence

“The idea is so damned nonsensical and impossible that I’m willing to stand on the bridge of a battleship while that nitwit tries to hit it” was US Secretary of War Newton D. Baker’s assumption of success for General William ‘Billy’ Mitchell’s plan to sink a captured German battleship, the Ostfriesland, for a bombing demonstration. The ship was later sunk by General Mitchell’s Martin NBS-1 bombers in July 1920, fortunately without Mr. Newton on the bridge.

by Thomas Withington

A vertical-launch MICA air defence missile is launched on its way to intercept a target. MBDA has leveraged technology that the company developed for its MICA air-to-air missile into the naval variant of this weapon.

(MBDA)

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eneral Mitchell had demonstrated a cardinal principle of air power; its ability to challenge sea superiority. A concept that was to be played out for real twenty years later in the Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. The surface combatant, and indeed the submarine, was to be as vulnerable to air attack as armies, factories and towns.

Today’s navies have to concern themselves not only with engaging aircraft, but also Surface-to-

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Surface anti-shipping missiles (SSMs) and even ballistic missiles. Moreover, naval air defence systems may be tasked with providing protection for a fleet, and even, in the case of Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD), for an entire country or even theatre of operations.

The first post-war SSM to be used in combat was a Raduga Design Bureau’s P-15 Termit (NATO reporting name ‘SS-N-2A Styx’), four of which were fired by two Egyptian Navy Project-183R/Komar class missile boats sinking the Heil HaYam HaYisraeli (Israeli Sea Corps) INS Eilat destroyer during the War of Attrition which followed the 1967 Six Day War. Less than twenty years later, the lethality of such weapons was graphically illustrated once more during the 1982 Falklands Crisis when HMS Glamorgan and HMS Sheffield, County-class and Type-42 Guided Missile Destroyers (DDG) of the Royal Navy, and the MV Atlantic Conveyor container ship were hit by Aerospatiale AM-39 Exocet SSMs causing the loss of 45 lives and the sinking of the Sheffield and Atlantic Conveyor, and substantial damage to the Glamorgan. Disaster would strike once more from the dreaded ‘flying fish’ in May 1987 when the USS Stark, a US Navy Oliver Hazard Perry-class Guided Missile Frigate (FFG) was hit by an AM-39 fired from an Al Quwwa al Jawwiya al Iraqiya (Iraqi Air Force) Dassault Mirage F1EQ combat aircraft, with the loss of 37 lives.

Indeed the SSM threat remains and in 2006 the Israeli INS Hanit Sa’ar-5-class corvette

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was hit by a YJ-82 (‘CSS-N-8 Saccade’) missile with the loss of four sailors.

In terms of short-range systems, Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd. and Israel Aerospace Industries have collaborated to build the Barak-1 Short-Range Air Defence (SHORAD) system. Barak can cover threats around a 360 degree radius, meaning that a missile can be fired vertically from the ship and then, thanks to its thrust vectoring capabilities, orientate itself toward its target.

Guidance is provided by an Elta EL/M-2221 tracking radar and thermal imager. The radar and thermal imager begin tracking their quarry once cued by the ships’ main radar.

Barak can engage sea-skimming missile targets flying at 0.6-m (two feet) above the surface. The system equips the Republic of Singapore Navy’s Victory-class corvettes, and also the INS Viraat aircraft carrier, Delhiclass DDGs and Godavari-class FFGs of the Indian Navy.

Europe’s MBDA missile system company produces the Sadral, Tetral and Simbad Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORAD) System equipped with six, four and two missile launchers respectively, and which uses the MBDA Mistral ‘Fire & Forget’ missile to intercept targets flying at ranges of between 0.6-6 km (0.3-3.2 nautical miles/nm). Unlike the Barak system, Sadral and Simbad do not use radar guidance, and instead rely on an Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) system for targeting. One of the attractions of using an EO system is that, unlike radar, it is difficult to jam and cannot be targeted by an antiradiation missile, although the trade-off with any EO system is always its detection and operating ranges. That said, the missile can

One of the attractions of using an EO system is that, unlike radar, it is difficult to jam

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The important feature of both the VL Mica and Aster 15/30 systems is that they have a true 360 degree engagement capability be integrated to the vessel’s own combat management system and surveillance if so desired by the customer during ship build or modernisation.

Another of the company’s naval air defence products is the Vertical Launch MICA surface-to-air missile, which can be installed on a wide variety of warships.

Although MICA was originally designed as an air-to-air missile, the weapon can also be used with land- and surface-based systems.

John Wilson, the Naval Marketing Executive of MBDA, says that his company can “provide a corvette, frigate or a destroyer with a real, local area as well as self-defence capability. You can dig a hole in the deck and then install the missile launcher in the hole, or you can use the DCNS A35 Sylver launcher.” In terms of fire control, “all you want then is three-dimensional surveillance radar.

They’re ideal, they give us the right information and then you can fire the missile.” VL Mica can be equipped with either an active Radio Frequency or

passive EO seeker and a balanced mix of the missiles will provide naval air defence across the spectrum of operational conditions.

MBDA also builds medium and longrange missile air The French Navy’s new Horizon-class guided missile frigates, which also defence systems based equip the Italian Navy, are outfitted with the MBDA PAAMS (Principle on the Aster-15 and Anti-Air Missile System). This air defence system is also used on the Aster-30 missile Royal Navy’s Type-45 Daring-class destroyers. (Thomas Withington) designs (Aster 15 and Aster 30 are essentially Integrati EMPAR G-band phased array radar the same missile but with different boost in the case of the French and Italian vessels. motors). Aster-15 has a range of between 1.7- MBDA not only supplies the Aster missiles 30 km (0.9-16.1 nm), and a 13-km (7-nm) and fire control but is also responsible for the engagement altitude and, like VL MICA, is system integration with the Sampson radar, designed for self and local area, air defence. which the system fire control controls, and The missile can confront a number of threats the Type 45 Combat Management System.

The important feature of both the VL Mica including aircraft, SSMs and even AntiRadiation Missiles (ARMs). The missile has and Aster 15/30 systems is that they have a been sold to the French, Italian, Singaporean true 360 degree engagement capability. and Saudi Arabian navies equipping aircraft Earlier systems with Command-to-Line of carriers and frigates. The Aster missile also Sight or semi-active radar guidance have has a trick up its sleeve to outfox fast-manoeu- engagement limitations caused by supervring threats. SSM designers are continually structure obstruction of the tracking line of improving the abilities of their creations to fly sight even though the missiles themselves challenging flight profiles to make them hard- may be vertically launched. Thus these earlier to target, and to this end, Aster can out- er systems are vulnerable to saturation manoeuvre air threats, which are jinking to attacks and MBDA says that this is not the lose the missile lock and outsmart the air case for either VL Mica or Aster/PAAMS. Russia has long been an innovative defences, by a special lateral impulse thrusters designer of naval air defence equipment. initiated during the “end game”.

Aster-15 is teamed with the Aster-30 mis- Short range systems produced in the country sile. This weapon has a range of between 3- include the Altair Joint Stock Company 100 km (1.6-64 nm) and an engagement alti- Naval Radio Electronics Scientific Research tude up to 20 km (16 nm), and along with Institute Klinok (SS-N-9 ‘Gauntlet’) shipAster-15, comprises the PAAMS (Principle based air defence system. Klinok was Anti-Air Missile System) used by the installed widely across Voyenno-Morskoy Royal Navy’s Type-45 Daring-class Flot Rossii (‘Russian Navy’) surface combatDDGs, along with the Horizon- ants. The 9M331 missiles used by Klinok have class FFGs of the French and a range of between 1.5-12 km (0.8-6 nm) and Italian navies. PAAMS is can hit targets flying up to 6 km (3 nm) in alticonnected with either the tude. The surveillance and engagement radar BAE Systems Integrated for the Klinok system is the 3R95M Cross Systems Technologies Swords acquisition radar which has a detec(Insyte) SAMPSON tion range of up to 45 km (24 nm).

In terms of medium-range naval air Active Electronically Scanned Array defence systems, Altair also builds the Shtil-1 (AESA) radar, in naval air defence system which can use either the case of the 9M317E deck- or 9M317ME (SA-N-12 British ships, or the Grizzly) below-deck launched missiles with a Selex Sistemi maximum engagement range and altitude of EADS is a company arguably not as well-known for naval surveillance products as it is for aircraft. However, the company does produce the TRS-3D naval radar which has a range of up to 200 km (107 nm). (EADS)

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Raytheon have cornered the market in the United States for supplying naval air defence missiles 32 km/4 km (17 nm/2 nm). As well as equipping Russian vessels, the Shtil-1 was exported to India and China where it equips those countries Project-11356/Talwar-class and Project-17/Shivalik-class FFGs, and Project956EM/Sovremenny-II-class DDGs. The Shtil-1 is designed to equip vessels weighing upwards of 1,500 tonnes. The system is slaved to the vessels’ own 3D radar and the missiles can hit targets out to 18 km (10 nm) which are flying below 1 km (0.5 nm) in altitude, and up to 35-km (19-nm) for targets flying above 1 km. The 9M317ME can also turn to approach its target after launch, giving the system 360-degree coverage.

Russian manufacturers also build long range naval air defence systems such as the Almaz Joint Stock Company’s Rif-M longrange naval air defence system which uses the S-300F (SA-N-20 Gargoyle) missile. The first system was installed on the Russian Navy’s Pyotr Veliky nuclear-powered Guided Missile Cruiser (CGN). The Rif-M is slaved to a 64N6 Tombstone 3D radar, and uses two missiles, principally the 48N6E2 and the 9M96E weapons which have ranges and engagement altitudes of 200 km/27 km (107 nm/14 nm) and 40 km/20km (22 nm/11 nm) respectively. Although the RIF-M is a comprehensive system its size makes it only suitable for ships displacing over 4,500 tonnes and in terms of non-Russian operators it is used on the Type-051C/Luzhou-class DDGs operated by the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).

However, a customer can order a RifM system equipped solely with the 9M96E Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) which can be installed on corvette or frigate-sized vessels. Looking towards the future, the Russian military press has reported that the much-feared An MBDA Aster-15 missile is a verticallaunch air defence missile system with a range up to 30 km (16 nm) and is designed for local area and point air defence. The missile has proved popular, selling to several navies around the world. (MBDA)

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Almaz S-400 Triumf (SA-21 Growler) SAM which has a reported range of up to 444 km (240 nm) will be configured for naval operations. This weapon is expected to be installed on new-build BAE Systems have designed and built the SAMPSON Active Russian surface com- Electronically-Scanned Array radar which is used on the UK’s Type-45 batants and may also destroyers. This S-band system is said to have a detection range of up to 400 km. (215 nm) be available for export.

Raytheon have cornered the market in the detect the target while the gun itself is United States for supplying naval air defence replaced by an eleven-round RIM-116 missiles. The company introduced its RIM- launcher. The advantage of this system com116 RAM (Rolling Airframe Missile), which pared to the previous gun solution, is that the was deployed in 1993 and has been rolled out eleven missiles carried by each Phalanx staacross the US Navy and the Deutsche Marine tion allow the weapon to engage a number (German Navy). The weapon is slaved to the targets in rapid sequence. Complementing ships’ air search radar and uses a passive the RIM-116 is Raytheon’s RIM-7N Sea radar seeker to hunt down active radar-guid- Sparrow semi-active radar-guided missile ed SSMs and also uses the infrared seeker of which has a range of around 22 km (12 nm), the Stinger missile for terminal guidance. The with the RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow RIM-116B variant of the weapon has a dual- Missile (ESSM) having a range of 50 km (27 mode seeker, but can also use only IR guid- nm) and improved agility to defend against ance, to hit SSM and cruise missiles not SSMs. The weapon is used on the Kaijo Jieitai (Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force/JMSDF) employing radar guidance.

RIM-116 has been teamed with the famous Murasame-class DDGs, and the Royal Phalanx Close-In Weapons System. Known Australian Navy and Royal New Zealand as the SeaRAM, this combination uses the Navy’s ANZAC class FFGs upon which they radar surveillance of the Phalanx gun to are connected to the ships’ Saab Giraffe 3D air-search radar (to be replaced by a CEA Technologies CEA-FAR 3D E/Fband radar in the case of the Australian vessels).

The company is also responsible for the renowned ‘Standard’ (SM) series of naval air defence missiles. The RIM66/SM-2MR is used with the Lockheed Martin AEGIS Weapons System, arguably the most famous naval air defence product in the world.

SM-2MR has a range of over 92 km (50 nm). The latest version of the SM-2MR, the IIIB variant, gives the missile the ability to intercept targets with a low Radar Cross Section, while the new SM-3 missile is optimised as an antiballistic missile system with a range of over 500 km (270 nm) and a 250 km (134 nm) engagement altitude. As well as the US Navy, the JMSDF and the Daehanminguk Haegun (Republic of Korea Navy) are users of the AEGIS Weapon System. Australia will use AEGIS on its forthcoming Hobart-class DDGs and the weapon is also used

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NAVAL AIR

tomer system is indigenous”, says Frank Wyatt, Vice President of Raytheon’s Naval Weapons Systems business. However, as with all naval air defence products, the size of the ship dictates whether they are primarily installed as the vessel is being built or during subsequent retrofits: “RIM-116, RIM-162 and Sea Sparrow find themselves more likely to be in retrofit and upgrade. SM-2 and SM-3 are probably more likely to be installed on newbuild vessels.” Moreover, Raytheon is completing development of the next generation of Standard Missile, the SM-6, which will extend the boundaries of layered defence and provide an over-the-horizon capability.

In terms of radar, a number of air search systems are on the market including the BAE Systems Insyte SAMPSON multi-function Sband system. SAMPSON is said to have a detection range of around 400 km (215 km).

Other European systems include the EADS TRS-3D C-band air search system which has a range of up to 200 km (107 nm). Meanwhile Saab Microwave Systems builds the Sea Giraffe system which equips the Tentera Laut DiRaja Malaysia (Royal Malaysian Navy) Leiku-class frigates. Terma of Denmark produces the Scanter 2001 X-/Sband radar which equips the Republic of Singapore Navy Formidable-class FFGs. The company’s Scanter-4100 design can track up to 500 contacts.

Staying in Europe, Thales Nederland’s air search radar products have sold well in Asia with the company’s LW08 long-range search system outfitting the Indian Navy’s Godavari-class FFGs along with the service’s Viraat aircraft carrier, MBDA’s SIMBAD air defence missile in action. SIMBAD has a twin-missile Brahmaputra-class launcher and is designed as a Very Short Range Air Defence System using the company’s Mistral missile which can engage targets out to 6 FFGs; and the Kolkataand Delhi-class FFGs km. (3.2 nm) and DDGs. Thales has an impressive naval air search radar product portfolio which includes the X-band APAR (Active Phased Array Radar) which can track over 200 targets up to 150 km (81 nm) from the ship, as well as tracking surface targets operating up to 32 km (17 nm) from the vessel. Thales also produces the SMART-L L-band

with the Thales APAR radar with other navies.

In 2007 JS Kongo a JMSDF DDG, became the first non-US Navy vessel to destroy a ballistic missile target. Further tests are expected in 2009 with the JMSDF expected to fire an SM-3 Block 1A missiles against a MediumRange Ballistic Missile target. The following year, the force is expected to have four Kongo-class DDGs outfitted with the SM-3 Block 1A weapon and the AEGIS 3.6 Weapons System. The 3.6 configuration of AEGIS allows the ship to engage air and ballistic missiles threats simultaneously and also to pass targeting data to other anti-ballistic missile-equipped ships or shore installations.

The ship will also be able to target a ballistic missile threat using its own AN/SPY-1 Sband radar, or alternatively can use a fire solution provided by another vessel passed across a tactical data link. By 2012, the JMSDF will have six BMD-equipped ships carrying the SM-3 missiles with two Atago-class DDGs being declared operational with the missile. It has been said that a single SM-3 Block-IIA equipped vessel will be sufficient to protect all of Japan against any of the Nodong or Taepodong ballistic missiles possessed by the Democratic Republic of Korea.

Raytheon note that their naval air defence products are flexible in terms of the onboard ship systems that they can work with: “In other parts of Raytheon we sell radar and combat systems. We can also integrate whatever combat systems and radar that a customer may have. What we like to stress is the total portfolio solution that Raytheon offers and that we can work with whichever cus-

FEBRUARY 2009

DEFENCE

A single SM-3 Block-IIA equipped vessel will be sufficient to protect all of Japan against any of the Nodong or Taepodong ballistic missiles radar, which can track large MPAs out to 600 km (324 nm) and combat aircraft at 400 km.

The radar is also reportedly able to track up to 1000 airborne targets. The SMART-L equips the Republic of Korea Navy’s Dokdo Landing Platform Helicopter ships and is also the basis of the Type 45 and Horizon classes’ Long Range Radar. The company has also built the SMART-S Mk.2 which has a detection range of up to 250 km (134 nm) and has been sold to Denmark and other navies.

Looking at US supplied systems, Lockheed Martin produce the AN/SPY-1 radar for the AEGIS Weapons System discussed above. Meanwhile, Sperry Marine (part of Northrop Grumman) builds the AN/SPQ-8B X-band air- and surface-search radar system which claims to be able to detect all known anti-shipping threats. ITT Corporation makes the AN/SPS-48 3D system which the company says can track all threats, including ballistic missiles, and which can be installed at shore installations as well as on ships. The radar has a range of around 407 km (220 nm) and a detection altitude of 30 km (16 nm). In conjunction with Thales Nederland, ITT Corporation also collaborates on the SMART-S Mk.2 S-band long-range 3D radar which provides surveillance of the surface and air environments with a range of up to 250 km (134 nm) and the capability to track up to 500 targets. The radar can detect small-sized missiles at 50 km (27 nm) and aircraft at up to 200 km (107 nm). Finally, Raytheon has built the AN/SPS-49 two-dimensional long-range Lband air-search radar with a reported range of up to 460 km (250 nm). The radar entered service in 1975 and has been exported to Taiwan where it equips Cheng Kung-class frigates and also to Australia to equip the country’s Adelaide-class frigates.

General Mitchell may have graphically highlighted the risk that the air can pose to ships, but fortunately the work of MBDA, Raytheon, IAI Rafael, Almaz, Altair and others, have served to make the work of his folA MR lowers that bit harder.

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C B R N D E F E N C E

CBRN

Defence For Force Protection During the Cold War era, CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear) protection, detection, decontamination and other equipment was primarily for military use.

While the 9/11 attacks and ongoing terrorist threats spurred industry into civilian adaptations for its military equipment and new research and development programmes to develop detectors and other kit for first-responders, military CBRN remains the prime focus. Force protection remains a top priority for the UK, US and other governments for their armed forces, particularly as present-day theatres of war involve insurgencies which not only use conventional Improvised Explosive Devices to kill and injure troops, but also chemical and radiological weapons, and possibly in the future even biological attack, posing a persistent and variable range of scenarios. Soldiers in military operations around the world also have to face endemic infections, toxic industrial materials (TIM) and toxic industrial chemicals (TICs) – the most recent example being the hijacking and exploding of chlorine-loaded tankers in Iraq from January to March 2006.

by Andy Oppenheimer 38

ASIAN MILITARY REVIEW

Facing a toxic gas cloud in full PPE during a CBRN drill (USAF)

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peration Desert Storm in 1991 was a highly significant campaign in which chemical weapons (CW) reconnaissance was conducted by British, US, Czech and other former Eastern Bloc CBRN units before and during the operation. This was vital to ensure that invading troops were not victims of Iraqi CW retaliation. Military planning always factors in the likelihood of WMD or WME (weapons of mass effect) possession by the enemy. In the second Gulf War of 2003, despite the lack of evidence of nuclear, biological or chemical (NBC – the original military term before CBRN became the common) weapons on Iraqi soil, all the indicators before and at the start of the campaign pointed towards deployed chemical warheads and possibly a biological capability. Radiological dangers were posed following looting of abandoned nuclear facilities and the use (by coalition forces) of depleted uranium (DU) weapons – the effects of which on troops and civilians are still being hotly debated.

CBRN defence is based mainly on earlywarning systems (stand-off detection); protection, as personal protective equipment (PPE) – suits, masks, boots and so on; vehicles for collective protection (COLPRO); and decontamination, which is an advanced process in the military sphere, and a vital means of preventing large-scale clean-up operations. All equipment must be costeffective, especially in current times of restricted government spending on defence in many countries affected by economic recession. While there is so little precedent for all non-conventional forms of attack in recent times, military planners must assume that the adversary will use sporadic chemical or other weapons to at least hamper the progress of operations. As opposed to civilian scenarios, those faced by military personnel will be regarded as an acceptable battlefield risk. Nevertheless, protective kit has to be wearable, detectors must be readily portable, and speed and efficiency of detection guaranteed in order to minimise injury and cost to the mission.

O

systems are becoming more compact.

Vehicle interiors incorporate a microbiological safety cabinet for soldiers to operate the systems and replenish consumables without wearing PPE - while being protected from sample pathogens.

Radiological detection must warn of materials used in the weapons of armed forces that incorporate depleted or other uranium components. Stand-off radiological detectors are based on ‘indirect’ detection to identify contaminated areas affected by a high and low dose rate, to facilitate mission planning. New systems are now being tested by a number of companies and government laboratories to detect all types of radiation from distances of up to 500m. Problems centre on the high rate of false alarms that can be registered during reconnaissance, as elements in building materials and other environmental factors may be mildly radioactive.

Selection of radiation monitoring equipment for the military is increasingly focused on multipurpose radiation instruments and

in combining ‘C’ and ‘B’ with ‘R’ in one system. It has to be small enough to use in confined spaces, and perform speedy analysis for immediate action to be taken. Pre-empting a radioactive problem means avoidance and, hence, less need to decontaminate vehicles, buildings and personnel.

Recent tests conducted in Canada have recorded detection of all forms of radiation (alpha, beta, gamma) from distances of up to 500m. This has resulted in a field-ready model using custom-fabricated mirrors and optical filters to photograph the air surrounding the radioactive source and process the image. The tell-tale light emitted by ionised molecules will indicate the presence of a radiation field and identify areas of high and low radiation levels at a distance. Major companies have now produced detectors which can work at selected distances.

Chemical detector systems are deployed on vehicles down the threat axis or upwind of friendly forces. Real-time (of prime importance) individual CW detection may be pro-

The vehicular Integrated Biological Defence System (IBDS) (Smiths Detection)

Stand-off detection Soldiers in the field need to detect dangerous substances at a distance. Mobile technology provides a high level of protection for operators, enabling monitoring to continue for several days; detection and sampling

FEBRUARY 2009

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C B R N D E F E N C E

vided by surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices such as the Smiths Detection Joint Service Chemical-Agent Detector (JCAD) and ion-mobility spectroscopy (IMS) devices such as the Lightweight Chemical Detector also by Smiths and SAIC’s Small Chemical Agent Detector (SmallCAD) both offer.

UAVs (unmanned air vehicles) are increasingly used for detection equipment to be deployed up threat and upwind.

In biological detection, which is less mature than ‘C’ and ‘R’ technologies, the main challenge is for real-time detection and sampling. Older systems with fixed inlets and unsophisticated airflow control are adversely affected by wind direction.

Pathogens – including biological warfare agents (BWAs) and naturally occurring dangerous micro-organisms must be gathered, concentrated and analysed as soon as possible as time is of the essence to prevent loss of life, spread of infection and continued sickness. Sampling and analysis use current technologies within a finite period. Aerosol sampling can collect particles from the air of between 1 and 10 microns (the particle size that most easily lodges in the human lung); the Verotect manufactured by Biral in the UK, for example, is a laser-based system designed to investigate aerosol size and shape.

The UK’s state-of-the-art Integrated Biological Defence System (IBDS) includes Smiths Detection’s suite of detectors and samplers which include both biological and chemical units, with the Human Computer Interface provided by EDS Defence. IBDS is a self-contained, medium mobility system, and is air-transportable in a C-130 Hercules.

It consists of a modified box body, with a COLPRO environment mounted on a 4tonne, Leyland DAF in-service flat-bed truck. The US system, the Long Range Biological Stand-off Detection System (LRBSDS) employs Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) laser technology to detect, track and map large area aerosol clouds with particles larger than 1 micron at ranges up to 30km. The LR-BSDS systems are mounted and operated from an unmodified UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter platform and will also provide a computer generated discrimination between man-made and naturally occurring aerosol clouds.

The main elements within the box body are the detection suite, environmental condi-

The UK’s state-of-the-art Integrated Biological Defence System (IBDS) includes Smiths Detection’s suite of detectors and samplers tioning equipment, communications, meteorological and GPS equipment, together with a separate rest environment for the crew. A highly sensitive biological detection system can detect minuscule traces of biological warfare agents such as anthrax or typhoid, the latter disease being far more common in theatres of war, especially in hot, developing countries - giving troops vital early warning.

BW agents are hard to remove effectively.

Particles may be carried on a suit through the airlock into the safe area and become reaerosolised, possibly contaminating all occupants of the vehicle. New forms of entry being introduced, such as a fly screen to reduce the amount of polluted air taken into the airlock, will reduce the amount of air taken along inside the airlock and reduce purging times to 30 seconds.

COLPRO Protecting the military from biological threats is a largely vehicle-bound activity, to provide collective protection (COLPRO) and thereby minimise the need for troops wearing cumbersome PPE for long periods in difficult conditions where mobility is essential.

Mobile technology provides a high level of protection for operators and enables monitoring to continue for several days in theatre. Detection and sampling systems are also becoming more compact and vehicle interiors incorporate a microbiological safety cabinet for soldiers to operate the systems and replenish consumables without wearing PPE while being protected from sample pathogens.

The Biral VeroTect laser-based biological detection system (Biral)

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ASIAN MILITARY REVIEW

A COLPRO unit has a self-powered filtration and air-conditioning plant, airlocks, and a cleansing station, as well as monitoring systems and disposal facilities for contaminated materials and clothing. Chemicalresistant tent materials are used which are heavier than standard fabric, making the lessening of each element’s weight the main challenge. Regenerable filtration removes the need to change and dispose of filter elements and uses two separate filter units. During a continuous controlled cycle, one unit filters while the other is purged of contaminants through management of the pressure or the temperature within the system, or both.

For protective clothing, Dstl has focused on silicates (especially zeolites) as alternatives to carbon and, using nanoengineering techniques, to build highly ordered carbon structures which offer more predictable filtration performance for PPE.

Military decontamination Decontamination in the field poses two options

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for military commanders: to fight on through contaminated areas which necessitates the wearing of PPE, which decreases troop and vehicle performance, and stopping to clean up, which diverts attention, thereby enhancing vulnerability and the need to carry chemical stocks for cleansing and a source of ample water supply. Kit must be brought in by air. Therefore, a compromise between total decontamination and partial decontamination must be sought.

When decon is needed either after an attack or as a precaution, the military prefer water-based systems, which can be applied with minimal training. Exterior surface coatings should minimise reflectivity to searching radars and other detection systems.

Sacrificial coatings have a tough underlying surface that is highly resistant to CBR penetration; the visible top-coatings can absorb and retain the liquid agents within its structure. Absorbent powders and barrier preparations reduce the effects of contamination on the skin, clothing and PPE. Good contamination control is based on the same design principles as those for reducing corrosion of equipment, some of which is highly complex and sensitive such as aircraft cockpit systems, as well as ground vehicles and ships. New surface coatings aim to prevent contamination to avoid the need for decon.

Civilian hazardous chemicals decontamination has pointed the military towards using polymer-based materials that minimise the damage to the underlying surface and thereby reducing the toxicity of the decontamination residue. A big challenge is decontaminating sensitive material – particularly electronic components in enclosed spaces (aircraft cockpits), which can be achieved through combining vacuum systems, steam delivery and extraction systems with traditional methods.

The aim is to develop a 'one-dose' decontaminant chemistry that can kill or neutralise both C and B agents.

Radiological decon has to cope with both deliberate dispersal by an explosion or – as is increasingly possible in current battlefield operations, particulates from Depleted Uranium (DU) penetrative shells. These and radiological dispersal devices (RDDs), as well as accidental releases of radioactivity, are also military threats. Gross decontamination involves a rapid hosing down with large quantities of uncontaminated water. For ship galley surfaces, military-specification water-

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Troops in Iraq donning PPE. Current research efforts are aimed at making suits more wearable in extremely hot conditions while still offering full CB protection. (UK Ministry of Defence)

soluble liquid detergent and trisodium phosphate may be used. Of prime importance – as with detection – early remediation will prevent further spread of radioactive fallout through movement of individuals and vehicles. Personal radiological decon can be accomplished simply by removing clothing and washing the exposed portions of the body with ordinary soap and water. This should remove as much as 95 percent of radioactive material. Radiological detectors are used to identify areas of the body – such as the nose and eyes - that require particular attention and cleaning. It is indeed essential to determine if radioactive material has been inhaled, as if it emits alpha or beta radiation, this may be lethal. Nasal swabs must be taken before decontamination and will provide an effective screening test for airborne contamination.

Training in CBRN defence CBRN defence equipment should be designed for use with minimal training. Most armed forces may treat CBRN training as an enforced chore which does not warrant high priority, as it is widely believed that the chances of having to operate under an NBC hazard are so slight in the face of other, more constant and quantifiable threats. But the insurgency in post-invasion Iraq, the increase in intensity of attacks in Afghanistan and other theatres have heightened the unconventional threat. Although

Good contamination control is based on the same design principles as those for reducing corrosion of equipment ASIAN MILITARY REVIEW

conventional explosives are still the most common insurgent weapons, the CBR component must always be considered and factored into military training as it is increasingly in civilian first-responder training.

The worst approach incorporates a CBRN component as an add-on at the end of a military exercise. There are also problems with simulating realism in exercises. The US and Singapore hold very realistic exercises with real-time response, but no drill can prepare for the unpredictable nature of CBRN within the many settings that an attack can occur. The Mumbai attacks in December 2008 also illustrate how basic weapons used by terrorists can be – albeit sophisticated in terms of operational planning and training – to mount a fullscale urban attack on people and property.

IT-based training is therefore used to attempt to create more realistic scenarios in both individual and team instruction and exercises. Simulation systems are in widespread use and use powder and liquid simulants, but live agent training is also conducted. Simulated plume systems use the Global Positioning System (GPS) and sophisticated software during outdoor exercises to monitor simulated plumes of chemically toxic or radioactive material passing over an area. Simulated ratemeters can produce real meter readings.

Singapore is also an example of an Asian country which has laid down gold standards in CBRN defence training. Military units are tasked with supporting civilian first response, particularly in the area of decon.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) SCDF formed the Special Rescue Battalion (SRB) which is on permanent standby for incident response. The Battalion is equipped and trained to conduct search-and-rescue

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North Korea has long regarded NBC defence as a high priority, and North Korean forces have been among the best trained in the region – although little is known about its current capability operations, decontamination, fire-fighting and basic medical first-aid operations. The S.E.R.T. Singapore firm provides a high level of operational training capabilities, most notably for tactical operations in a contaminated environment. China also undertakes ad hoc multilateral training courses and military exercises regarding NBC threats. A joint Sino-Pakistan naval exercise held from 18 to 21 October 2003 off the coast of Shanghai in the East China Sea featured surface vessels and submarines and included decontamination exercises for NBC attacks.

North Korea has long regarded NBC defence as a high priority, and North Korean forces have been among the best trained in the region – although little is known about its current capability, both for offence and defence. Nevertheless, this pariah nation has The R.A.P.I.D. real-time PCR (polymerase chain reaction) system has become the standard biodetection portable kit for the U.S. DoD. (Idaho Technology)

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Officers from USAF 183rd Civil Engineer Squadron investigate for evidence of WMD in a simulated clandestine weapons lab during a 2007 exercise. (USAF)

fully integrated CW into its military planning at all levels. Each corps of the KPA (North Korean People's Army) has its own NBC defence battalion, which as far as is known conducts frequent exercises with dilute live agent. The chemical defence force is estimated to number about 13,000 personnel, making it arguably the third-largest CW service in the world with a chemical defence unit in every regiment.

Current missions Afghanistan as the main conflict in the region, and is a theatre in which conventional IEDs posing a constant threat to troops and civilians. The almost continuous warnings that Al-Qaeda and affiliates would launch a CBRN attack have not been borne out by real actions in a military context, although several high-level conventional terrorist attacks have taken many civilian lives. While

ASIAN MILITARY REVIEW

al-Qaeda (and its supporters in the Taleban and elsewhere) has suffered some setbacks in its CBRN efforts, it always remains possible that in areas of insurgency and disruption, smaller-scale attacks against troops may occur. It is also possible that al-Qaeda is taking the ‘long view’ - simply waiting for the right time to launch a large-scale CBRN attack – but it labours under the burden of equalling the wholesale horror of 9/11.

However, al-Qaeda’s dependency on its safe haven in the tribal areas of Pakistan may have driven the organisation (if it can be called such) to compromise its immediate desire to launch CBRN attacks against US troops or civilians in favour of its longerterm goal to establish authority in a Muslim land as a stepping stone to future attacks and ultimate victory. Al-Qaeda may assess that a significant CBRN attack against the US or other countries would invite a US invasion of the tribal areas - with or without Islamabad's consent, and the subsequent end of A MR al-Qaeda's safe haven.

REGIONAL NEWS A N D

D E V E L O P M E N T S

AUSTRALIA

Chemring gets Australian countermeasures contract Chemring Group announced last November that its Australian subsidiary, Chemring Australia, based in Victoria, had been awarded a A$160 million longterm contract for the supply of countermeasures and pyrotechnics to Australia.

Chemring is a leading supplier of countermeasure systems for military aircraft and has subsidiaries around the world.

The contract is for an initial ten year period and as part of the arrangement, Chemring Australia will invest A$18 million in the establishment of a new, stateof-the-art manufacturing facility near Melbourne, as well as creating a research and development centre for the design of future products.

Construction of the new facility will commence shortly and is expected to be completed in 2010. Forty new jobs will be created, initially at Chemring Australia as a result of this investment.

The new manufacturing capability will also enable Chemring Australia to bid for the second-source supply of countermeasures for Australia's Joint Strike Fighters, and the additional production capacity will be utilised in Chemring's global supply chain to satisfy export flare requirements.

A$3 billion cuts for defence?

Media in Australia reported in mid January that an independent review of defence spending; the Pappas McKinsey defence budget audit, calls for savage cuts of as much as A$3 billion. The audit is part of a government wide efficiency review

CHINA

PLAAF showcases J-10 The People's Liberation Army Air Force's (PLAAF's) Chengdu J-10 fighter was displayed publicly for the first time in late November last year at Airshow China 2008 in Zhuhai. During the exhibition, Chinese officials are believed to have also indicated that Chengdu Aircraft Industry Corporation (CAC) is also developing new versions of the 4.5 generation, multi-role fighter aircraft.

Among the improvements that CAC is

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launched last year and proposes big cuts in civilian employees in the Department of Defence, which currently number 20,000.

The report has also looked at project management savings at a time when the government has ducked or delayed a number of high profile procurement decisions, while culling the troubled Seasprite project, valued at over A$1 billion.

Government officials denied the scale of cuts being proposed by the report although the Rudd government has previously made clear its desire to make A$10 billion of efficiency savings over the next ten years. In addition, the Rudd government wants to increase defence spending by three percent in real terms over the next ten years.

Spending by the Department is currently A$24 billion although it is widely seen to have a deficit of roughly A$1 billion.

Further Wedgetail delays likely According to reports, Australia is preparing for further delays to the long overdue Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft programme. Government officials, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) and Boeing held a meeting in late November to address these concerns.

It recently emerged that first deliveries are likely to slip again and the programme is already running over two years late.

Problems have dogged the integration of the various elements aboard the Boeing 737 platform.

It was revealed that integration of Northrop Grumman’s multi-role electronically scanned array radar and the BAE

looking to make is a B-model aircraft that would have a thrust-vectoring engine and an active electronically scanned array radar.

The J-10 is expected to be the future backbone of the PLAAF. The J-10 began entering service in 2006, although the number of aircraft now in frontline service is not known. However, industry sources speculate that more than 100 have been manufactured and that the PLAAF could have a requirement for as many as 300 of the aircraft.

ASIAN MILITARY REVIEW

Systems Australia electronic support measures package are likely to push first deliveries back to July 2009. Boeing Australia has said that it is still working towards getting the first two of a total of six aircraft to the RAAF that month. The DMO, however estimates that a November delivery is more likely.

BAE to support Adelaide class frigates BAE Systems has been awarded a five year contract to provide engineering, maintenance and supply support to the Royal Australian Navy's four Adelaide class guided missile frigates.

BAE Systems assumed the Integrated Materiel Support service delivery for HMAS Darwin, HMAS Melbourne, HMAS Newcastle and HMAS Sydney on 1 January 2009.

According to the company, the performance-based contract is expected to generate approximately $60 million in revenue over the life of the agreement.

The scope of the contract will see BAE Systems managing integrated materiel support including quality management; undertaking engineering analysis, changes and support; planning for all maintenance activities, preparing work instructions, responding to defects and preparing technical documentation, and providing inventory analysis and planning, management of spares and other supply support.

BAE Systems Australia's Managing Director Jim McDowell said that the contract would also significantly enhance the company's strategic footprint at the Garden Island naval facility in Sydney.

The J-10 will become the PLAAF’s backbone.

(Sinodefence.com)

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Malaysian Defence Industry Council

Maritime Institute of Malaysia

HW LIMA SDN BHD 35F-1-6 Jalan 2/27F, KLSC II, Section 5,Wangsa Maju 53300 Kuala Lumpur T : +603 4142 1699 F : +603 4142 2699 E : hw5@hwlima.org W : www.lima2009.com.my

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D E V E L O P M E N T S

INDIA

Huge Poseidon deal India has signed a deal with Boeing to acquire eight P-8A Poseidon multi-mission maritime reconnaissance aircraft which will be operated by the Indian Navy and has an estimated value of $2.1billion.

Under the agreement, the first export sale of the aircraft, India will receive an initial aircraft in late 2012, with delivery of the remaining aircraft scheduled to be completed by 2015. The US Navy will field its first Poseidon equipped squadrons in 2013.

The P-8A is based on the Boeing 737 and will be tasked with long-range antisubmarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Boeing beat an EADS-Casa solution, based on the Airbus A319. Boeing is working with Hindustan Aeronautics on the programme.

Negotiations on the acquisition were well underway by the time of the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. However, the terrorists’ use of sea transport to circumvent border crossings, underlined India’s need for a greater maritime surveillance capability than that offered by the current fleets of ageing Il-38 and Tu-142M patrol aircraft, acquired from the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s.

India has a further requirement to replace its 13 Britten-Norman Islander medium range maritime surveillance aircraft with six new aircraft.

This is the latest and most significant of the recent defence transfers by the US to India which have seen the procurement of six Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules, the former USS Trenton landing platform dock

MALAYSIA

Malaysia cuts Navy plans Malaysia’s plans to acquire three new Multipurpose Support Ships (MPSS) have been cancelled as part of a government spending review, across all government activities, designed to cut overall spending by ten percent.

Malaysia had previously announced its intention to buy the vessels under its 200610, Ninth Malaysian Plan. The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) is lobbying hard to have the MPSS requirement added to the 2011-15, Tenth Malaysian Plan. The cost of the new vessels was estimated at $1billion.

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and several UH-3H Sea Kings.

One last hurdle remains before the transfer can take place. India will have to address US concerns regarding technology transfer and sign government to government protocols, regarding the P-8I’s advanced mission system and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.

Akash missile orders Bharat Electronics Limited has received an order for a number of Akash medium range surface to air missiles for the Indian Air Force over the next three years for an undisclosed sum, reported by the Indian media to be INR12billion ($244million).

Production partners in the Akash include the Electronics Corporation of India, Larsen and Toubro and Tata Power with the development of the missile being led by the Defence Research and Development Organisation. The genesis of weapon was in the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme, cancelled last year.

During the visit, the two countries also agreed to co-operate in the construction of Russian-designed nuclear power plants at new sites within the country, over and above the existing agreement to assist in the construction of additional nuclear power units at Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu.

The decisions formed part of ten agreements that India and Russia signed during the visit. Addressing the press, Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, said that India has directed its officials to 'expedite all measures' required to achieve the bilateral trade target of $10 billion by 2010.

The two sides also discussed the possibilities of greater cooperation in both up and downstream projects in the hydrocarbon sector.

India to release Sub RfP this year

India is set to receive 80 Mi-17V-5 utility helicopters from Russian after New Delhi signed a $488 million agreement for the aircraft during a visit by Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, in December last year.

The Indian armed forces are in the process of updating their helicopter fleets.

The order for the 80 Mi-17s is only part of a wider requirement for new helicopters that will see India also purchase European aircraft, as well as developing further its indigenous capability.

According to India’s defence minister, A K Antony, New Delhi is planning to issue a Request for Proposals (RfP) for the construction of six new diesel-electric submarines by the middle of this year.

Antony told local reporters that the new submarines would be built indigenously to an imported design and the partners would be chosen on a multi-vendor basis. The Indian Navy (IN) is known to have a further requirement for new submarines.

In recent years, India has collaborated closely with Russia on the development of new submarine capabilities. However, tensions between the two countries and a series of accidents involving Russian submarines mean that the IN has begun to look elsewhere.

If the MPSS requirement does go forward, analysts believe that numbers would be cut to just a single vessel.

Navy chief, Admiral Datuk Seri Abdul Aziz Jaafar, cited the need for the MPSS vessels to support anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden. These are currently being undertaken by a three strong RMN contingent, which includes the ageing and expensive to maintain support ship, the Newport class Sri Inderapura.

These are not the only tribulations facing the Malaysia Navy. Adm. Aziz in a further interview said that two of its Kedah class OPVs had recently failed to meet

requirements for operational readiness. At a time of financial constraint, the Navy also has to fund new capabilities, notably a new Submarine Command with the first crew due to be declared operational in January 2009.

Malaysia’s Navy is not alone in feeling the credit crunch. The Army has had its plans to replace its Sibmas and Condor wheeled vehicles, acquired in the 1980s, postponed and the controversial purchase of as many as 12 Eurocopter EC 725s has also been pushed back. The Air Force is also expected to have to wait for prestigious new Early Warning and Control Aircraft.

India procures 80 Mi-17s from Russia

ASIAN MILITARY REVIEW

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PAKISTAN

Brazil to supply anti-radiation missile to Islamabad Brazil has given approval for the sale of 100 missiles to Pakistan that can be used in air-to-surface attacks on radar tracking installations according to reports.

The MAR-1 medium-range missile made by Brazilian company Mectron, is a tactical anti-radiation weapon. The existence of the missile is believed to have been kept under wraps for many years.

According to Brazil’s defence minister, Nelson Jobim, the deal with Pakistan was signed in April of 2008 and is worth $108 million. Jobim called these missiles “very effective ways to monitor” areas flown by war planes.

Lockheed looks to upgrade P-3 Orions

Pakistan to get aerial refuelling capability

US company Lockheed Martin is in discussions to upgrade Pakistan’s P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft as well as further upgrades of the country’s F-16 fleet and C130 transport aircraft.

Confirmation of the talks was given by Lockheed’s Middle East and Africa president James Jamerson during the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar 2008 in Karachi late last year.

Jamerson told reporters that discussions had taken place with both Navy and Air Force.

In particular, Lockheed is keen to sell the idea of upgrading the Navy’s P-3 Orion capability.

The company is upgrading a number of the Pakistan Air Force’s ageing C-130 fleet.

According to international reports, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has successfully completed ground testing of a new airborne refuelling system that it is procuring from Ukraine as part of a package comprising four tanker aircraft.

It will be the first time that the PAF has had an aerial refuelling capability and will alter the balance of air forces on the subcontinent. The PAF expects to receive the first of its four tankers early this year.

The refuelling capability will greatly extend the range of Pakistan’s fighter fleet.

That fleet includes both US built F-16 Falcons as well as Chinese designed J-10 and JF-17 fighters.

INDONESIA

MoD asks for more

The JASDF still believe the F-22 may be the F-X solution © DoD

JAPAN

SINGAPORE

Japan mulls F-22 Japan’s Ministry of Defence is insisting that it has not discarded the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor from the list of aircraft being considered for its next generation fighter or F-X requirement for the Japan Air Self Defence Force (JASDF), and will ask the US DoD for data on the aircraft when the programme begins in 2009-10.

This is despite continued opposition from the US Congress to overturn a ban on exporting the aircraft, to better prevent US technology reaching its adversaries.

The F-X programme is designed to replace the 80, ageing F-4EJ fighters now in service.

Beyond the F-22, the JASDF’s shortlist of potential candidates includes the Boeing F/A-18E/F and F-15FX, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon and Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The decision to still consider the F-22, the world’s most expensive fighter, comes on the back of Japan’s FY09 defence budget which includes an absolute cut in funding.

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While other nations in the region are cutting back defence spending, Indonesia is trying to buck this trend. In January, Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono asked the House of Representatives for further funds to the tune of INR416billion ($41million), on top of the existing FY09 budget of approximately $3billion, shortly after they had passed that budget

STK wins big in UK ST Kinetics has signed two deals with the UK Ministry of Defence, together valued at £185 million ($270 million) to supply over 100 Bronco all terrain vehicles under an Urgent Operational Requirement and high velocity, 40mm ammunition.

The success of the Bronco was in head-to-head competition with the incumbent, the BAE Systems Hagglunds BvS 10 Viking and will replace those vehicles in Afghanistan. The UK has christened the Bronco the Warthog in UK service. The first vehicles are due to be delivered in 2009 with delivery largely completed by the following year.

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on January 6th. The additional funding is described as being necessary to maintain operational readiness and is seen as linked to the Indonesian Armed Forces’ (TNI) plans to replace its Hawk Mk.53 and OV-10 Bronco aircraft, together estimated as costing $300million. The additional funds requested for the TNI are expected to be used in part to sustain the aircraft fleets, after plans to replace them were postponed.

There will be four variants of the Warthog; troop carrier, ambulance, command and repair-andrecovery vehicles with local modifications for additional armour, weapons points and electronic equipment being undertaken in the UK by Thales.

This is the first export success for the Bronco with over 500 in service with the Singaporean armed forces.

The £35 million 40 mm ammunition contract, the second in twelve months, the first being announced in February 2008, covers a range of ammunition types.

The rounds are being acquired for use in the Heckler & Koch GMG first deployed by the UK in 2006.

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SOUTH KOREA

Korean Air to develop UAV The Korea Times reported that South Korea’s Defence Acquisition Programme Administration (DAPA) had selected Korean Air to develop a new indigenous medium-altitude long endurance (MALE) unmanned air vehicle (UAV).

Korean Air, South Korea’s largest airline, won the bid over Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), which is the country's main military aerospace manufacturer. The MALE UAV is expected to come in to service in 2016.

The airline is believed to be working with an undisclosed foreign partner to develop and integrate the UAV’s fuselage and other related systems, including a ground-control station and mission equipment package.

The Korea Times reported that preliminary research and development began last year and will run through to 2011 before development and manufacture begins in 2012. The design will need to be able to perform missions at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet for more than 24 hours. The project is believed to be worth around 450 billion Won.

Second KDX-3 launched Late last year, South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering launched the second of three Sejong Daewang class (KDX-3) destroyers that the Republic of Korea Navy (RoKN) has on order from the shipyard.

Reports suggest that it may be the last of the ships that the yard will launch under its present ownership. The stateowned Korea Development Bank is looking to sell its controlling stake to the Hanwha Group. The second KDX-3 to be launched is the Yi I. Daewoo is currently under contract to build only three of the Aegis-equipped destroyers. However, the RoKN has a stated requirement for six of the vessels.

Acquisition Programme Administration in late November. The new boat, Yung Yi, was then handed over to the command of the Republic of Korea Navy on 2 December.

The design and major components of the submarine were provided by German shipyard Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft (HDW) and built under licence from HDW at a shipyard in Ulsan.

The Type 214 has a displacement of approximately 1,700 tons, is 65 metres long and operated by a regular crew of 27 personnel. It has a combined diesel-electric and fuel cell propulsion system, including air-independent fuel cell propulsion.

Shortly before the end of 2008, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering were awarded the contract for the fourth of the Republic of Korea Navy’s Type 214 submarines. This is the first of the Type 214’s to be built by the yard with the Navy planning to order a further five via a competitive process, taking the number in service to nine. Work begins on the new submarine in early 2009.

Samsung gets artillery order Samsung Techwin has won a $1 billion order from South Korea’s Defence Acquisition Programme Administration (DAPA) to provide its K9 self-propelled artillery systems and K10 ammunition resupply vehicles (ARVs) to the Republic of Korea Army (RoKA).

The DAPA did not reveal the number of vehicles involved in the contract, but estimates suggest that the contract could be for several hundred systems. The RoKA is thought to have a requirement for some 500 self-propelled artillery systems and already has between two and three

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FY09 budget increases approved South Korea’s National Assembly has passed the Ministry of National Defence’s budget for Fiscal Year 2009, which will increase spending by 7.4 percent to 28.63 trillion Won, still somewhat less than had been requested by the Ministry. The funding means that the Defence Reform 2020 project, which kicked off in 2005, remains roughly to its spending guidelines. The 15 year programme is designed to enable a thorough modernization of the ROK’s armed forces. In procurement terms, spending will enable progress to be made on the procurement of air defence destroyers, attack and support helicopters, transport aircraft and AEW platforms.

In December, North Korea began restricting cross border access, reflecting worsening relations since the election of South Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak in February. Domestically there is increased speculation that the 2020 plan will be modified in response to the diplomatic downturn. This is in part influenced by worsening economic conditions but also a belief that the project’s cuts to personnel levels, particularly in the Army, which will see a 150,000 man reduction to an un-mobilised strength of 500,000, is too deep a cut when weighed against North Korean forces, which number over one million.

Korea transfers T-41D trainers to Philippines

RoKN gets second Type 214 sub and selects new supplier for next in class Korean shipyard Hyundai Heavy Industries delivered the second of three Type 214 submarines to the Defence

hundred K9a in service.

According to reports, deliveries of the new vehicles are expected to commence in the middle of this year and the order should be completed in 2012. While the K9 has been in service for several years the new K10 ARV was rolled out less than two years ago.

Samsung Techwin is the prime contractor for the K9 Thunder SPH (Samsung Techwin)

ASIAN MILITARY REVIEW

South Korea has continued its policy of support to the Philippines with the announcement that 15 T-41D propellerdriven training aircraft are being transferred to the latter’s Air Force. The Philippines already operates this model of aircraft but the existing fleet is considered to be in a poor state of repair. This transfer of surplus aircraft follows the transfer in 2007 of a number of military vehicles.

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