EDR Magazine issue # 24 November / December 2015

EDR

Issue N° 24 November / December 2015

European Defence Review

Europe’s near eastern role (Editorial) Military shotguns Air-to-ground missiles Separating security from defence UAV surveillance

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EDR

Contents

European Defence Review

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Europe’s key roll in the Near East Joseph Roukoz

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Sea Watch - David Oliver

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The (almost) Forgotten Medium-range Air-t0-ground Missile - Roy Braybrook

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Remote Surveillance - David Oliver

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European Current Shotguns for Military and Police Use - Jean-Pierre Husson

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The Nonsensical Divide Between Security and Defence - Christina Mackenzie

41 Publisher: Editor-in-Chief: Editor UK:

Joseph Roukoz Eric H. Biass David Oliver

European Defence Review issue no. 24

European Defence Review (EDR) is published

by European Defence Publishing SAS www.edrmagazine.eu

EDR - November / December 2015

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Editorial

Europe’s Key Role in the Near East

Joseph Roukoz

Since the creation of this magazine, we have got you used to starting your read with an editorial that mainly focused on the European defense construction and evolution. As journalists, we believe that the focus on international geopolitics is the best introduction to the technological and strategic aspects of defense, because politics and policies directly define social, economic and military orientations.

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s it already was the case thousands of years ago, the Mediterranean and its extension to the east remain a focal point of international developments, whose crisis and conflicts have a global impact.

The main effect on Europe today is the consequence of the so-called “Arab springs”, which caused chaos in some Arab countries and led to the migration of many refugees to Europe. Popular support to welcoming the refugees grew as the press highlighted the horrible conditions in which these refugees flee home, and how many of them, including children, die at sea. However, governments lack of financial means and structures to welcome these refugees, which causes frustration and incomprehension.

Another major risk caused by this flow of migrants is the considerable terrorist risk, given that hundreds of European joined jihadist groups like ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and whose networks in Europe are not to be ignored, as was proven by the terrorist attacks in France last January.

In reality, going back to history, the problems faced by our Arab neighbors are not new. They emerge from the perpetuation of socio-political and economic structures that were institutionalized for centuries and that have created the conditions of conflict.

Since the downfall of the multiethnic and multicultural Ottoman Empire, the Middle East has been home to multiple and repetitive conflicts. The various coups and government changes that have affected Arab countries show the substantial weakness state structures and institutions have inherited from the Ottoman system. This weakness was often anesthetized by the rule of authoritarian regimes, like in Syria or Egypt under Nasser rule.

The post-ottoman Middle East has equally inherited from the dynamics of foreign interference and hegemony that have affected the empire in its last century of existence, due to its strategic geographic assets and resources.

In that sense, a succession of treaties and international conferences were imposed in that region, often contradictory, short-sighted, and mainly ignored. The most prevailing and absurd was the British game at the time. In 1915, Great Britain promised to the Sharif of Mecca, Hussein Ben Ali, the creation of an Arab Nation, including the Hejaz region (Saudi Arabia) and adjacent territories. Just a few months later, in 1916, the same Great Britain decided to share the rule of what was back then called the Levant (part of the Near East) with France, by signing the Sykes-Picot treaty. The former took the rule of Palestine and Iraq and the latter of Lebanon and Syria. These two omnipotent colonial powers were already present in the region through interferences in the Ottoman Empire, which led to proxy conflicts and massacres in Lebanon and Syria.

Finally, in 1917, Great Britain endorsed the creation of a National home for the Jewish people in Palestine with the Balfour declaration, who would later be the main argument for the creation of the State of Israel.

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Editorial Little did the British rulers back then know that their short-time political views were the perfect ingredients to what turned out to be some of the most complex conflicts in the world.

The Yalta treaty at end of the Second World War did not define any particular US or USSR direct influence on the Near East yet. However, the strategic importance of the Suez Canal in Egypt, the oil agreements with Saudi Arabia, and the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 have transformed this region into an open war arena precipitating the intervention of the two Cold War superpowers.

The creation of Israel, considered by Arabs as a “foreign body” or an invading power provoked what was called the “Arab unity” and was the beginning of a complicated and multilayered conflict that is yet to be resolved, almost 70 years later.

The Israeli-Arab conflict is not, however, the only one to be solved. 22 conflicts have been counted to date during these last 6 decades, including the fierce Iran/Iraq war that has deeply affected the military and strategic equilibrium in the region and caused hundreds of thousands of casualties.

Many other domestic antagonisms – just like in Lebanon –, as well as border conflicts, have divided the Arab world. This situation has turned increasingly dangerous since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 that have helped stir the conflict between the two main sects of Islam, Sunnis and Shiites.

The country’s fragile balance was impacted because at the time of Saddam Hussein’s rule, the state power was Sunni and dominated a majority of Shiites. The regime change in Iraq pulverized the buffer zone that protected the Gulf countries from an exposure to Shiites, and was also the warrant of the non-creation of a Kurdish state at the borders with Turkey.

The destruction of this fragile balance also helped radicalize opponent groups that used their religious community as a justification of horrible massacres.

Nowadays, many of the same problems remain. Just like neighboring Lebanon during the 70’s and the 80’s, Syria seems to have become the laboratory of all antagonisms in the region. The country’s fragile sectarian balance was frozen by a secular authoritarian regime for decades. Any revolt was quickly muted, like in the 1980’s when the dominated Sunni majority rebelled against the mainly regime it considered in the hands of the Alawite minority.

After the outburst of the civil war in Syria back in 2011 in the line of “Arab Springs”, part of the dominated Sunni majority was manipulated, notably by foreign countries, and was persuaded that it could easily topple the regime and rule over the country. It all ended up in an uncontrolled war, with perpetrated massacres, the territorial division of Syria between various groups and the regime forces, as well as massive financial and/or military intervention (Jordan, the USA, France, Russia, the Lebanese Hezbollah, Iran, etc.)

The Syrian crisis also had consequences on Lebanon.

Lebanon has always been the Arab territory with the most complex structure, because the social component of the population was institutionalized politically in order to preserve minorities. This strange “sectarian democracy” elected powerful Christian presidents, which governed along with Sunni head of governments and Shiite head of parliaments. The parliament was equally divided between Christians and Muslims and all executive and military functions were also divided between the official 18 religious sects of the country.

Communities were living in a relative harmony, until the day political choices and alliances drowned Lebanon into internal strife and an open civil war, first in 1958, and then from 1975 to 1989.

The Taef agreements, forced upon Lebanon by international and regional powers, gathered most of the political actors of the country in Saudi Arabia in order to find a solution to the conflict. Unfortunately, like always in that region, a new problem lies in the solution. These agreements have put Lebanon under the EDR - November / December 2015

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economic domination of Saudi Arabia, through the nomination of Saudi national Rafic Hariri as a Prime Minister, and under political and military domination of Syria. This domination was supposed to last two years but it lasted more than 15 years. These agreements also broke the fragile equilibrium in Lebanon, emptying the power of the Christian president in favor of the Sunni prime minister and Shiite chief of parliament. The contradictions of that agreement, along with the developments in the region during the last 15 years, led to the spectacular murder of Rafic el Hariri, whose consequences are still impacting the country.

Other countries, like Egypt, whose existence as a centralized state has been the most continuous of the Arab world, has suffered a revolution that revealed how organized was the Muslim brotherhood while being sidelined from power for decades. After the fall of President Mubarak, conservative Islamic parties were the only alternative. Corruption, anger and instability in that era almost drowned Egypt in chaos before the military took over to stabilize the situation.

And finally, Yemen is not at rest, with Sunni officials and Shiite militias waging a very violent and murderous war against each other, in a very clear proxy confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Now, if we look at the bigger picture suggested by these troubles, what analysis can we draw?

There is major religious strife in the Middle East today. Political and religious leaders can try to rationalize and drive our attention away from this obvious issue, arguing that the fight is political, that the final aim is seeking power.

However true these statements can be, it doesn’t exclude the fact that the religious factor, which was completely paralyzed during the Cold War by the ideological antagonism between the USA and USSR, made its great comeback after 9/11 and has never been stronger. Acting as if a problem does not exist will not make it disappear; on the contrary, it will only make it grow stronger.

As Europeans, we have to be more conscious of these events for a simple geographic reason: the Arab world is our direct neighbor. Our proximity as well as our common history and economic ties imply that any event on the region could potentially affect us. Unfortunately, and like in most contemporary international crises, the European Union is divided over how to assess and react to all the problems affecting the region. The current crisis in the Middle East is global, and a solution can only be global.

Europeans should not be the second fiddler in resolving this crisis that is already out of hand. It shouldn’t reproduce a modern scenario of the Cold War where the US and Russia decide by themselves the fate of the region. Europe’s central position and privileged relations with the various actors of the region should ignite a new negotiation impulse towards a global solution.

Any further negotiation should include the US and Russia, but also all direct or indirect acting powers in the conflict, Gulf countries, Turkey, Egypt, but also Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel and Iran.

The Lebanese civil war taught us one thing about the region: No history can be written with the exclusion of any part of the conflict.

The enmity of ISIS and the threat it poses on all the region could be the start of new rounds of negotiation towards a global solution in the region under European supervision. Europe can be its own example as to providing a global initiative based on the model of its construction. The Middle East has a lot of resources and the potential for an open market exists if countries try to harmonize their economic systems.

Europe could also share its experience in managing or pacifying identity conflicts so that every minority (Shiites, Alawites, Christians and Jews) is protected.

The destruction of Syria’s antique city of Palmyra by ISIS is the symbolic testimony that this group is not only beheading individuals, it wants to behead thousands of years and billions of men through the systematic destruction of our collective human memory. Let’s hope Europe, the old continent who gave the world Hellenic democracy and Roman republicanism, along with some of the greatest evolutions in philosophy, arts and science, unites to protect the cradle of civilizations that is the extended Middle East.

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Whatever the mission, wherever, whenever

Swedish Armed Forces Hkp 15B helicopters have taken part in the EU anti-piracy Operation Atalanta. (Swedish Armed Forces)

Sea Watch

David Oliver

In recent multi-national combat operations in the Middle East and Afghanistan, which have been primarily land-based, naval helicopters had little of no role, but over the past few years this has changed.

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ith the increase of Somali pirate attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, migrant smugglers in the Mediterranean and Bay of Bengal, and the Russian announced that it intends to reinforce its naval capabilities in the Arctic, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, NATO and EU naval operations have increased to a peak this year.

Most of the naval ships that have deployed to EUNAVFOR’s Operation Atalanta and NATO’s Operation Ocean Shield have helicopters on board that are used to detect and deter pirate attacks. More than 20 nations have been involved with anti-piracy operations ranging from China to Colombia and their helicopters which include the Z-9, Bell 412, A109s and NH90 NTHs.

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A fourth Swedish unit started its EUNAVFOR deployment in February 2015. Unlike previous operations, ME04 had no ship of its own but instead, the Swedish unit was integrated with the Dutch force. The ME04 element of the deployment’s helicopter unit comprised two of the Swedish Armed Forces 20 AgustaWestland AW109LUH, designated Hkp 15Bs, one on the ship and one spare in Djibouti. Eight were configured for maritime role designated Hkp 15B with a limited anti-submarine warfare capability and can be equipped with hoists for the search and rescue (SAR) role. All are fitted with emergency flotation gear.

The Dutch force consisted of the HNLMS Johan de Witt, a Landing Platform Dock (LPD) amphibious warfare ship of the Royal NetherEDR - November / December 2015

The Italian Navy is taking delivery of 46 NH90 NFH helicopters armed with Marte Mk.2 missiles.

(David Oliver)

lands Navy, The Dutch element of the helicopter unit comprised two Royal Netherlands Navy NH90 NFHs which shared the role of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) with the Hkp 15B. The Dutch element of the helicopter unit comprised two Royal Netherlands Navy NH90 NATO Frigate Helicopters (NFH) which shared the role of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) with the Hkp 15Bs. The Netherlands Naval Helicopter Group is taking delivery of 20 NH90 NFH aircraft.

The 6 tonne naval variant of the NH90 is an antisubmarine (ASW) and anti-surface warfare (ASuW) platform with additional applications including search and rescue (SAR), vertical replenishment (VETREP), transport and anti-air warfare support. It was designed for all-weather/severe motion ship operation environment aboard frigates and offshore patrol vessels (OPV).

The largest customer for the NH90 NFH is Italy that is taking delivery of a total of 46 helicopters for the Italian Navy that will carry the MBDA Marte Mk.2 medium-range anti-sip missile. The French DGA has ordered 27 NH90 NFH Caiman Marines from NHIndustries in two different configurations for the French Navy.

To date 15 aircraft have been delivered and the French Navy declared an operational capability in the ASW operational role in December 2014, completed in March 2015 by the operational EDR - November / December 2015

capability of the Eurotorp MU90 lightweight torpedo.

The naval version of the NH90 is designed to perform a wide range of missions from anti-submarine, to anti-surface warfare, search and rescue, maritime surveillance and control and special operations including counter terrorism and anti-piracy. The NH90 in its final radar configuration includes also an advanced sonar providing the Navy with improved submarine detection and classification capabilities, as well as a new system for the Digital Map Generator (DMG) facilitating mission preparation and execution.

In response to the Mediterranean migrant crisis, several European naval units have been deployed to the EUNAVFOR Operation Sophia including the Italian aircraft carrier, ITS Cavour, on which Italian Naval Aviation AgustaWestland AW101UT and Royal Navy Merlin HM.2 helicopters were deployed for surveillance of migrant boats from North Africa.

A £807 million upgrade programme of the Royal Navy’s Merlin Mk2 helicopters is nearing completion with the fleet being declared fully operational by the UK MoD. Lockheed Martin UK has now delivered 24 of the 30 airframes that are to be upgraded with glass cockpits, an upgraded mission system that includes touch screen flat panel displays, tactical computers and digital maps and an improved radar and sonar system RN Sea King ASaC airborne surveillance and control helicopters. Thales has

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Royal Navy AgustaWestland Merlin HM.2 helicopters are being fitted with the CROWSNEST airborne surveillance and control system. (Thales)

been selected, under the CROWSNEST project, to provide the Royal Navy with a new airborne surveillance and control system to provide critical force protection to Joint forces. The prime contractor for the project, Lockheed Martin, has selected a new generation of the Thales Searchwater radar and Cerberus mission system to be fitted to specially adapted Merlins that will enter operational service in 2018 when the last of the Sea King ASaC helicopters are retired.

As part of its aviation expansion, the Royal Navy has been conducting in the Gulf region to expand the capabilities of its new AW159 Wildcat HMA.2 surface, combatant maritime helicopter which had embarked on the Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan earlier this year to perform the tests. The trials involved simulating the weights of weapons that will be integrated onto the Wildcat HMA.2 in the future; namely the Thales Martlet, a lightweight air-to-surface missile, previously known as Future Anti-Surface Guided Weapon (Light) and the MBDA Sea Venom, previously the Future Anti-Surface Guided Weapon (Heavy). The Sea Venom/Anti-Navire Leger (ANL) is a 100kg-class anti-ship guided weapon intended to address targets from fast attack craft up to corvette size designed to equip the Wildcat and the French Navy’s NH90 Cai-

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man Marine helicopter. Germany has ordered 18 NH90 NFH helicopters, called Sea Lion, and will replace the ageing fleet of Sea King HAS.41 helicopters with deliveries expected to start in 2018. The German Navy Sea Lions will not be armed, their primary role will SAR, seaborne troop transport and vertical replenishment (VERTREP) With Russia’s overt naval expansion threatening its neighbours in north eastern Europe, and Scandinavia in particular, they are looking to upgrade their anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-surface warfare (ASuW) helicopter capability. The AW159 Wildcat lost out for a Danish naval requirement to replace its ageing fleet of Lynx Mk.80 shipborne ASW helicopters when Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk was selected, the first of its type to be ordered by a European navy.

The 6 tonne MH-60R is the latest development of the Seahawk shipboard combat helicopter which first entered service with the US Navy in 1983. The ‘Romeo’ version was designed to process and prosecute large numbers of air and sea contacts in relatively shallow water. Fitted with a new ‘glass cockpit’ centred around Lockheed Martin-developed computer systems and software, the MH-60R can carry eight sonobuoys and is armed with Mk 54 lightweight torpedoes, EDR - November / December 2015

The Sea MBDA Venom/ANL and Thales Martlet LMM anti-ship missile are being integrated on the RN Wildcat and French Navy NH90 NFH. (David Oliver)

Penguin Mk.2 anti-ship missiles, 7.62 mm machine guns and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles for attacking small ships.

Norway is also replacing its Lynx and Sea Kings with the NH90 NFH while Sweden is planning to replace its Hkp 15Bs with an ASW variant of the NH90 TTT designated Hkp 14B. However, the Swedish Air Force Chief of Staff, Major General Micael Bydén, has expressed frustration at the time it is taking to integrate the Hkp 15B’s ASW systems being developed by

Saab. These include Galileo Avionica FLIR sensors, Thales FLASH-S dipping sonar and radar.

The first NH90 was handed over to the Swedish armed forces in 2007, but to date the ASW version is still not operational.

The Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have signed the Baltic Air Surveillance and Control System (BALTNET) that is aimed at contributing to enforcing the sovereignty of their national airspace and support their land and naval forces. Latvia and Estonia have only a small

The Russian and Egyptian Navies have ordered the naval variant of Russia’s potent Kamov Ka-52 combat helicopter. (Russian Helicopters)

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Body Armour Poland has selected the maritime variant for the Airbus Helicopters Caracal based on the Brazilian UH-15. (David Oliver)

number of Mil Mi-8 helicopters while Lithuania has ordered three new Airbus Helicopter AS365 N3 Dauphin helicopters to replace its Mi-8s.

Poland is in NATO’s frontline facing a resurgent Russia and has launched a multi-year modernization programme of its armed forces.

This includes replacing the Naval Aviation fleets of Mil Mi-14 and Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprite helicopters and in April 2015, the Polish Ministry of Defence down selected the Airbus Helicopters H225M Caracal to meet its requirements for eight new multi-role and naval ASW helicopters. The helicopters are likely to be based on the Brazilian UH-15 maritime variant which is armed with Kongsberg Penguin and MBDA AM 39 Exocet missiles. Following confirmation of a contract, deliveries could begin in 2017.

While Russia is the focus for NATO member’s continuing investment in naval capacity,

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Russia’s own naval expansion is comparatively limited compared with that of the Russian Air Force. Its Naval Aviation is equipped with approximately 100 Kamov Ka-27PL ASW helicopters that first entered service in 1982, plus some 50 Ka-29TB seaborne assault troops transport helicopters and a handful of Ka-31 airborne surveillance and control helicopters. With the acquisition of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers, 32 naval combat variants of the Kamov Ka-52 were ordered. The Ka-52K features folding main rotor blades, a Zhuk –AE radar and is armed with AS-17 Krypton and AS-20 Kayak anti-ship missiles. However, since the contract for the carriers was terminated by France in 2012, the future of the Ka-52K is in doubt also the Kremlin has reported that they will be delivered to Egypt which has agreed to purchase the two , cancelled Russian helicopter carriers.

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FORMATION - CONSEIL - ASSISTANCE

www.groupedci.com

© Natcom - www.natcom.fr - 01 47 30 31 32 - Photos : Sirpa Terre, Mer et Air – DCI

LE LABEL DES FORCES ARMÉES FRANÇAISES

The Sagem AASM, or Hammer, air-ground missile in its Laser SBU-54 guise is here seen mounted on a triple-store carrier under the wing of a Dassault Rafale at Mont de Marsan air base. The basic AASM was first used operationally over Afghanistan in April 2008. ŠEric H. Biass

The (almost) Forgotten Medium-range Roy Broybrook Air-to-ground Missile Bridging the gap between guided bombs and cruise missiles, rocket-powered medium-range air-launched guided weapons are needed to cost-effectively engage battlefield targets from a relatively safe distance.

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ost-9/11 military operations have been almost exclusively counter-terrorist actions that involved no opposing aircraft and only rarely a threat from air defence missiles. They have consequently featured the large-scale use (and misuse) of short-range anti-armour guided weapons and low-cost laser-homing bombs (both categories delivered from medium altitudes), and the occasional employment of cruise missiles to attack high-value remote targets.

It is widely recognised that the expense of running overseas contingency operations and developing systems that respond to their special needs has diverted Western efforts from some

weapon systems that could prove crucial in a war with a major power, or with a lesser power using modern air defence systems.

One weapon category that has seen few major developments in recent years has been the tactical air-ground missile. A typical Western fighter-bomber operating (for example) over Iraq is still carrying the AGM-65 Maverick or AGM-88 Harm, both products of Raytheon Missile Systems.

Likewise, the missiles used by Russian aircraft over Syria in late September 2015 were the well-established laser-homing Kh-25L and Kh29L, both from the Tactical Missiles Corporation (KTRV).

The Raytheon AGM-156 Harm (High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile) is shown mounted on a Lockheed Martin F-16, with the AIM-9 Sidewinder and AIM-120 Amraam air-air missiles, also

by Raytheon, further outboard. Š Raytheon.

Originally developed by Zvezda-Strela, the 320-kg Kh-25L (AS-10) entered production in 1975. Current variants include the Kh-25MP anti-radiation weapon, which has an 86-kg warhead and a range of 40 km. The 660-kg Kh-29L (AS-14) was developed by Vympel and entered service in 1980. It has a 320-kg warhead and a range of ten kilometres. The Kh-29TE version has TV-guidance and a range of 30 km.

Russia also uses (both from KTRV/Raduga) the 760-kg TV-guided Kh-59 (AS-13), which has

a range of 40 km, and the 650-kg Kh-58UShKE (AS-11) anti-radiation missile, which peaks at Mach 3.95 and has a range of 245 km. At MAKS2015 KTRV unveiled the Kh-58UShKE-IIR, which adds two imaging-IR seekers to allow the strike to continue if the emitter closes down.

The AGM-65 Maverick entered service in 1972, and over 70,000 of the series have been built for 30 nations. More than 7,800 have been fired in combat. Launch weight is between 210 and 307 kg, largely dependent on the war-

Very much a Soviet-era interpretation of the Maverick, the Vympel X-29 nevertheless has a heavier warhead and has evolved into the Kh-29 under the auspices of the Tactical Missiles Corporation. It is here seen launched by a Su-30KN. ŠEDR Archive

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head type: a 57-kg shaped charge or a 136-kg blast-fragmentation device. Maximum firing range from altitude is over 48 km.

The Maverick has been produced with three alternative guidance systems: electro-optical for the AGM-65A/B/H/J/K, imaging-IR for the AGM-65D/F/G, and laser homing for the US Navy’s AGM-65E2 and US Air Force AGM-65L. Under a $55 million contract placed in October 2014, some 500 older models are being converted to Laser Mavericks. A batch of AGM-65G-2s is being produced for South Korea under a $31 million contract awarded in 2014.

The Raytheon AGM-88 Harm (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile) entered US Navy service in 1985, and is now used by 14 nations. It has a 66-kg blast-fragmentation warhead and a launch weight of 355 kg. Harm peaks at over Mach 2.0. Maximum range is classified, but some sources assess it as over 150 km. The HCSM (Harm Control Section Modification) adds GPS/ INS, allowing attacks on time-sensitive targets of known location, including non-radiating targets. Its navigation system can be programmed with missile impact and exclusion zones.

Orbital ATK is prime contractor for the AGM-88E Aargm (Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile) derivative, which has a rocket-ramjet powerplant for increased range. It has the standard Harm guidance modes, including home-on-jam and GPS/INS, but adds an active mm-wave seeker. Other advances include Digital Terrain-Elevation Database-aided GPS/INS, and the transmission of Weapon Impact Assessment (WIA) data immediately prior to impact.

Full-rate production for Aargm, based on the conversion of earlier AGM-88B rounds, was authorised in 2012. The AGM-88E was a joint development with Italy, and will also be used

by Australia. It will be cleared initially on the Boeing F/A-18C/D/E/F and EA-18G, and the Panavia Tornado ECR, and later on the Lockheed Martin F-35. Orbital ATK has teamed with MBDA on international marketing of Aargm.

Although this discussion is primarily concerned with rocket-powered missiles, it is noteworthy that the unpowered, GPS/INS-guided, stealthy, swing-wing 483-kg AGM-154 Raytheon Jsow (Joint Stand-Off Weapon) can achieve a glide range of 120 km from release at altitude.

The Tactical Missiles Corporation laser-homing Kh-25L is shown being loaded on the outer pylon of a Sukhoi Su-24M at Kheimim airfield near Latakia in Syria. Note the yellow-tan “tropical” uniform of the Russian Air Force ground crew. © Russian Ministry of Defence.

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The dirty end of air-to-ground attacks often is enemy air defence systems, which by definition are there to prevent one from carrying out ground attacks on other infrasturctures. A most widely spread and deadly system is the Buk, made infamous by being responsible for the downing of the civilian MH17 flight last year. ŠEric H. Biass

The baseline AGM-154A carries 145 BLU-97 combined effects bomblets, replaced by a BLU111 penetrator in the case of the AGM-154A-1.

The AGM-154B (the production of which has been deferred) houses six BLU-108 sensor fuzed-weapon submunitions. The AGM-154C has a 227-kg multi-stage Broach penetration warhead (a joint development by BAE Systems, Thales and QinetiQ), an IIR seeker and a cave-defeat capability. The AGM-154C1 adds a two-way data link, and was developed primarily to engage moving maritime targets. The AGM-154E1 or Jsow Extended Range is a turbine-powered, Raytheon-funded development with a range of over 450 km.

Operational Needs To digress, these air-ground missile ranges can be placed in perspective by considering developEDR - November / December 2015

ments in the battlefield air defence systems that they may have to penetrate, such as those produced by Russia.

The well-known KBP/Ulyanovsk 2K22 Tunguska-M1 augments its two 30-mm cannon with eight Fakel/KBM 9M311 (SA-19) missiles, which have an effective range of ten kilometres.

The Antey 9K330 Tor with Fakel 9M331 (SA-15) missiles has a range of twelve kilometres, and the Ulyanovsk-built 9K12 Kub with 9M336 (SA6) missiles has a range of 22 km.

Russia’s 9K37 Buk series began with the 9M38 (SA-11) missile and a range of 25 km, but the Buk-M1 with 9M38M1 (probably the weapon used to destroy Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over the Eastern Ukraine in July 2014) increased this to 35 km. The Buk-M2 with 9M317 (SA-17) grew to 42 km, and the Buk-M3 is being developed toward a range of 70 km.

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In the light of the reach of such tactical air defences, it seems likely that current developments in air-ground missiles are aimed at achieving a range of at least 15 km from low level launch, and over 50 km from medium altitude.

Europe’s latest project in this area is the French Sagem Aasm (Armement Air-Sol Molulaire), a rocket-powered missile family based on standard 125/250/500/1000-kg bomb warheads.

The Aasm entered service in 2007 and is cleared for use on the Dassault Mirage 2000D and the Rafale. It has been employed operationally by the French Air Force and Navy against targets in Afghanistan and Libya. According to a French Senate committee report, the total cost of the Aasm programme has been estimated as Euros 846 million, including the production of 2348 units.

The Aasm is marketed by MBDA France under the name Hammer (Highly Agile Modu-

lar Munition Extended Range) and has already been exported to Egypt, Morocco and Qatar.

The Hammer is available with three forms of guidance. The baseline SBU-38 has GPS/INS, providing an accuracy of around ten metres. The SBU-64 adds imaging-IR, which is replaced in the SBU-54 by laser homing. The versions with terminal homing improve accuracy to approximately one metre.

Whereas the Aasm/Hammer was developed to replace the French services’ guided bombs and the 520-kg Aerospatiale AS.30L laser-homing missile, the Pentagon’s need is to replace a much wider range of missiles, from the 22.6-kg Raytheon BGM-71 Tow to the 49-kg Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire and 210/307-kg Raytheon AGM-65 Maverick.

This led to the multi-service AGM-169 JCM (Joint Common Missile) programme, which was awarded to Lockheed Martin, basically to develop an improved Hellfire with a tri-mode seek-

The baseline Aasm (left) uses a 250-kg warhead and has a launch weight of 340 kg. It has a range of over 15 km from low level release, and more than 60 km from altitude. The concept was also intended to adapt to other bombs, like the 125, 500 and 1,000-kilo types seen here. ©Eric H. Biass

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In late 2013 the MBDA Dual-Mode Brimstone was tested at the US Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake, California in a highly successful series of firings from a General Atomics MQ-9 drone against fixed and moving ground targets. ŠMBDA

er and suited to use from both helicopters and fast jets. Work on the programme was halted in 2004 due to a shortage of funds, and JCM was formally terminated in 2007.

The JCM was in effect reborn in the same year as the JAGM (Joint Air-Ground Missile), to be developed in three stages over a longer period. Increment One is being developed by Lockheed Martin, basically fitting an AGM-114R Hellfire II with a dual-mode seeker combining radar guidance and laser homing. It is planned for integration by FY2019 on the US Army Boeing AH-64E and General Atomics MQ-1C drone, and the US Marine Corps Bell AH-1Z and the Lockheed Martin KC-130J Harvest Hawk. It is not suitable for fast jets.

Increment Two JAGM will introduce a trimode seeker (adding mm-wave radar), and this could provide an opportunity for Raytheon, which produces such a device for the GBU-53/B SDB-II. Increment Three will have a new rockEDR - November / December 2015

et motor, and presumably achieve the original range targets of 16 km from low level and 28 km from altitude. It will be the first JAGM suitable for fast jets, and should be introduced in the early 2020s on the US Marine Corps Boeing AV-8B and Lockheed Martin F-35B. The current production MBDA Brimstone originated as a development of Hellfire to suit operation from fast jets, but eventuated as (internally) an almost completely new design. The first version had an active mm-wave radar, providing fire-and-forget capability against armoured vehicles. Following the ending of the Cold War, greater operational flexibility was required. This led to the 50-kg Dual-Mode Brimstone (DMB), which added laser homing. It is believed to have a range of twelve kilometres from low level and over 20 km from altitude.

The Dual Mode Brimstone entered service on Royal Air Force Tornadoes in 2008, and has been used operationally over Afghanistan,

17

The Dual-mode Brimstone ads an infrared capability to the original millimetric wave radar sensor of the Brimsone. ŠMBDA

Libya and Iraq. It has also been exported to Saudi Arabia.

The Brimstone Two entered service on the RAF Tornado in late 2015, and is being integrated on the Eurofighter Typhoon, with a view to service entry with the RAF in late 2018. This version features an improved seeker, the use of insensitive munitions, and a range increase of over 200 percent. Its development was launched in 2010, when Brimstone was selected as the basis for the RAF Selective Precision Effects At Range (Spear) Capability Two Block One programme.

Russia’s latest in-service missile in this category is the KTRV Kh-38, which is replacing the Kh-25 series. It was unveiled at MAKS-2007, and entered service in 2012. Unlike its Western counterparts, the Kh-38 has folding wings to allow internal carriage in stealth aircraft such as the Sukhoi PAK-FA or T-50. It has a launch weight of up to 520 kg, depending on the warhead, and its speed peaks at Mach 2.2. Maximum range is 40 km.

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The Kh-38 is currently marketed in four versions: the Kh-38MAE with inertial navigation and active radar terminal homing, the Kh38MKE with inertial and satellite navigation, the Kh-38MLE with inertial navigation and laser homing, and the Kh-38MTE with inertial navigation and imaging-IR terminal homing.

The Kh-38MKE dispenses cluster munitions, while the other variants have fragmentation or penetration warheads. Warhead weight is up to 250 kg.

At MAKS-2015 KTRV unveiled the first members of the swing-wing Grom (Thunder) family: the rocket-powered Grom-E1 and the unpowered Grom-2, both of which employ inertial/satellite navigation (evidently with radar terminal homing) and have launch weights in excess of 600 kg. It is conjectured that the warhead weights are around 340 kg and 450 kg respectively. The Grom series, which is probably intended for anti-radiation and anti-ship use, is still under development, and is not expected to , be actively marketed for several years.

EDR - November / December 2015

EDR - November / December 2015

19

The British Armed Forces operate hundreds of Black Hornet nano-UAVs that can relay live video and digital photographs. (Crown Copyright)

Remote Surveillance

David Oliver

Both the European Union (EU) and NATO have identified a gap in allies and members’ unmanned aerial (UAV) capabilities, particularly the medium and high altitude aircraft systems that provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).

E

U leaders identified UAVs as a key military capability at the December 2013 summit. The European Defence Agency (EDA) is currently working on the production of technical documents to inform those member states interested in developing a medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) system. It is anticipated that such a system will have an in-service date between 2020 and 2025. However, the United Kingdom is not involved in the development of a European MALE UAV.

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The ever-expanding role of UAVs across a spectrum of operations raises crucially important questions for the rotorcraft sector. There might be situations where it is safer or more practical to deploy an unmanned platform, but how far can this go? What are the areas where the two sectors can work together to deliver greater effectiveness and what opportunities do these present for the rotorcraft industry?

There is an ever-growing diversity of UAVs on the market, ranging from rotary-wing naEDR - November / December 2015

The Scan Eagle long endurance UAVs are being used for maritime surveillance by the UK, Netherlands and Polish navies. (Boeing)

no-UAVs to high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UAVs. The UK currently operates five different types of what it designates as remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) including 10 Reapers and 29 Watchkeeper tactical UAVs, six Scan Eagle mini-UAVs, over 200 Desert Hawk III mini-UAVs and 300 plus Black Hornet nano-UAVs. Earlier this year, the UK awarded contracts worth about $35 million for additional Prox Dynamics’s Black Hornets and Lockheed Martin’s Desert Hawk IIIs after using both small UAV platforms in-theatre. The Black Hornet is a palm-sized intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) UAV that can relay live video and digital photographs. Weighing some 18 grams with its cameras, it contains a digital data link of 1,600 meters (5,200 ft) within line of sight (LOS).

Desert Hawk III is a larger fixed-wing handlaunched ISR platform. Weighing 8 lb, it can fly for up to 1.5 hours, it if was flow for more than 30,000 hours in Afghanistan and Iraq scanning for security and counter-IED missions, threat detection and battle damage assessments.

EDR - November / December 2015

The UK is already actively seeking a replacement for Reaper from 2018 and the Prime Minister announced in early October 2015 plans to replace the RAF’s existing fleet of 10 Reapers with more than 20 new RPAS. The UK Protector programme, previously known as Scavenger, is the driving force for selecting a replacement for RAF Reapers from the end of this decade. The programme will provide a core medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) capability to provide ISTAR and an offensive capability from 2018 to 2030. The programme, which passed initial gate in November 2013, is currently in its assessment phase. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has not yet decided on what capability will fulfill the programme’s requirements and the Ministry has said a particular requirement is for the capability to be certified to fly in UK/European airspace.

The UK and France agreed to collaborate in acquiring a MALE RPAS from 2018 as part of the work following the 2010 Lancaster House Treaties. The 2012 summit declaration announced a jointly funded contract would shortly be placed with BAE Systems and Dassault.

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The prolific Reaper UAV is operated by several European air forces including those of the UK, France, Italy and the Netherlands. (David Oliver)

However no contract has so far been placed and the programme looks to have fallen by the wayside. Instead, the 2014 summit declaration said the two countries will “look to develop cooperative opportunities through a ‘joint user group’ for Reaper, to exchange lessons learnt and work together on air certification, training, through life support and interoperability.” France is separately involved in a seven-nation exploration programme to develop MALE UAV from 2020.

Meanwhile the French Army has an urgent requirement to replace the Sagem Sperwer A tactical UAV. Two companies, Thales and Sagem, have submitted their best and final offers the Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) and a contract for 15 UAVs is expected to be awarded by the end of the year. Sagem has offered the Patroller, which is based on the airframe of the Stemme S-15 motor-glider, as a versatile long-endurance tactical UAV system with an

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open, modular design and 250 kg payload that includes the Sagen EuroFLIR 410 EO/IR sensor that enables it to perform a broad spectrum of military and security missions. Sagem flew the 18 m (59 Ft) wingspan Patroller in the skies over Toulouse, southwest France, last October and November, showing its compliance with European civil aviation rules. That exercise showed the UAV could meet civil and security as well as military needs, the company said.

In September 2015 Sagem announced that it had signed a commercial and industrial collaboration agreement with the Egyptian company AOI-Aircraft Factory to address the requirements of the Egyptian MoD for Patroller UAVs. Sagem said that the AOI-Aircraft Factory would provide system support and assembly of the UAVs as well as set up a dedicated training centre in Egypt to train staff for the operation and maintenance of the Sagem UAV. EDR - November / December 2015

The AOI-Aircraft Factory is part of Egypt’s state-owned Arab Organisation for Industrialisation (AOI) which assembles CATIC K-8 jet trainers for the Egyptian Air Force and China’s Xian Aisheng Technology Group Company ASN209 UAVs. The Thales bid for the French Army requirement is based on Watchkeeper X, a development on the British Army’s Watchkeeper WK450 tactical UAV that provides persistent, timely and accurate ISTAR to commanders 24 hours a day.

The fully network-enabled system, which has UK civil/military airworthiness certification and was deployed to Afghanistan, will serve the UK Armed Forces for the next 30 years. The cost of acquiring the 54 aircraft, 15 ground control stations and support is approximately £1 billion and as of March 2015 there were eight aircraft in the forward fleet and 21 in storage.

Watchkeeper WK450 is a core equipment capability and replaced the Hermes 450 the Army

used in Afghanistan that was bought into service as urgent operational requirement (UOR). It requires a runway to take-off and land and Watchkeeper flies up to 4,500 m (15,000 ft) providing real time ISTAR for the Army. It will be based at Larkhill and operated by 32nd and 47th Regiments Royal Artillery. There are no plans to arm Watchkeeper. It was not released to service until February 2014, over three years after its originally planned in service date, and did not deploy to Afghanistan until late 2014 where three Watchkeeper aircraft flew for a total of 146 hours.

Thales Watchkeeper X is offered with two sensor payloads including the Thales I-Master, and unlike the British Army variant, a variety of weapons can be integrated such the Thales FFLMM lightweight precision air-to-surface missile. Thales and the Polish company WB Electronics have signed an agreement to build a Polish tactical UAV named Gryf (Grifon), based on the Watchkeeper X. The requirement is for

The Sagem Patroller medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) UAV is an option to replace the French Army’s Sperwer A. (David Oliver)

EDR - November / December 2015

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The Watchkeeper WK450 is in service with the British Army and Watchkeeper X is an option for the French Army and the Polish Gryf programme. (Thales)

12 systems, each with four air vehicles and a ground control station (GCS).

The agreement covers critical technology such as data links, mission computer, software, some optoelectronic heads, cryptographic elements and integration with C4ISR that will be developed and supplied by Polish companies.

This will allow for full sovereign control over the systems on offer to the Polish army as well as encryption codes, ensuring the security of the fundamental state interests.

At the top of the UAV ladder, Northrop Grumman is offering the MQ-4C Triton UAS to fulfill UK maritime surveillance capability gap left by the cancellation of the MRA.4 Nimrod before the release of the pending UK Strategic Defence and Security Review SDSR expected before the end of the year.

The company suggested that it would be beneficial for the UK to go down a similar route

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of the US Navy and most recently the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) where the Triton will support their fleets of Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). The P-8 is likely to be one of the frontrunners for the UK MPA requirement although Northrop Stress that the long-range long-endurance Triton could be able to support other aircraft, not just the Poseidon.

Under the UK’s Seedcorn programme which aims to maintain maritime patrol skills for the Royal Air Force (RAF), its personnel have conducted training on both the P-8 and the Triton aircraft. The UK is not directly involved in a NATO effort to acquire a high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) UAV to provide wide-area terrestrial and maritime surveillance. Fifteen NATO allies are procuring five Global Hawk remotely piloted aircraft that will be operated and maintained by NATO on behalf of all 28 allies.

EDR - November / December 2015

This is called the Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system and is expected to become available for operational deployment from 2017. The main operating base for the AGS system will be located at Sigonella Air Base in Italy, alongside the US Air Force RQ-4 B Global Hawk fleet.

However, the rapid growth in the use of military UAVs has to be countered by their vulnerability to air, ground and cyber threats. Recently International Defence Review found a growing sense of among air operators that the unusually

permissive air environments in Afghanistan and Iraq fostered a potentially unrealistically high level of reliance on UAVs. This was emphasized by the US military’s refusal to deploy Global Hawk into the Libyan theatre in early 2011 until integrated air defence systems had been sufficiently degraded and a joint UK/France study into a future unmanned combat air system (UCAS) is specifically working on a capability that would enable to carry out strikes in hostile , territories.

The Triton high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UAV will be operated by NATO as part of its Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system. (Northrop Grumman)

EDR - November / December 2015

25

DEFENCE

&

SECURIT Y

INTERNATIONAL

EXHIBITION

THE LAND & AIRLAND SOLUTION

Identify your company as a key player

www.eurosatory.com

Current shotguns for military and police use Jean-Pierre Husson

The shotgun is probably the oldest type of all shoulder-fire firearms. Many earliest guns were smoothbore and loaded with multiple projectiles simultaneously. The shotguns were and still are used for hunting, since multiple projectiles increase the chances to hit the target with one shot, but shotguns also were used in combat in almost all wars since their introduction.

T

he devastating short-range firepower and flexibility in loads are the key advantages of shotguns as the fighting weapons. During the XX century shotguns seen lot of combat, both as a police riot weapons and as a military trench, and later - jungle and urban close quarters battle (CQB) weapons. Police used shotguns for riot and crowd control, and as a general purpose short and medium range weapons for about 150 years.

First well known military use of shotguns is dated back to the 1st World War, when Allied forces used various pump-action and self-loading shotguns in the trench warfare. During the 2nd World War shotguns were used as a securi-

EDR - November / December 2015

ty weapons (for guarding and anti-riot purposes), for CQB in jungle environments for exemple where the self-loading shotguns proved to be very valuable for their devastating short-range firepower. Vietnam war also seen many shotguns used by US troops, but these were mostly pump-action shotguns. At the present time shotguns formed a valuable part of equipment of both police and military forces around the world, and its development continued. There were several programs intended to increase shotguns effectiveness and combat range, but these proved mostly to be less than successful. Most combat shotguns were and still are the adaptations of commercial, hunting firearms for the new role,

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The SPS/TPS (Special Police Shotgun/Tactical Police Shotgun) is a pumpaction shotgun designed and manufactured by Herstal. (ISAF)

but during the last three decades some specialized combat shotguns were developed. Some of these remained only in prototype or pre-production status, others flourished and found its way into the police and military stocks.

During the Somalian conflict in 1992, the US task forces tested out a new type of Remington shotgun called Ciener Ultimate Over/Under, which was an under-barrel attachment for the standard M16 variants during Operation Gothic Serpent. The idea was for a soldier in an entry team to be able to breach a locked door with the shotgun and then immediately switch to the assault rifle to clear the room. According to the Army Rangers, their verdict was positive for this new type of breaching gun. In operations in post-invasion Iraq, US forces used their combat shotguns to clear out suspected insurgent hideouts in house to house fighting. One notable experimental shotgun used in limited numbers during Operation Enduring Freedom is the XM26 for breaching doors or CQB.

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Combat shotguns usually designed with two basic action styles - repeating pump-action or semi-auto. The most common type of shotgun used for this purpose is the manually operated, slide-action/pump-action which is currently the pump-action of choice by armed forces, because it is less prone to malfunction (particularly when dirty) than semi-automatic designs. For each shot shooter cycles the handguard back and forward (in some guns, such as Russian RMB-93 or South African Neostead, forward then back).

This design is little slower than semi-auto, but offers greater flexibility in shotshells selection, allowing mixing of the different types of loads; feature especially useful for police since the pump-action shotguns can fire low-powered less-lethal ammunition (with tear gas or rubber buckshot). Pump-action shotguns are also less expensive than their semi-automatic counterparts. Even so, semi-automatic shotguns such as the Benelli M4/M1014 are currently seeing service in many NATO armed forces. Semi-automatic shotguns can use several different actions : inertia recoil like Benelli M1/M2, gas oprered like Russian AK-47 derived Izhmash Saiga-12 and Benelli M4/M1014, barrel recoil like Remington 11. Semi-autos usually have less recoil (especially gas-operated ones), and higher rate of fire, but somewhat more sensitive to the loads selection. The greater firepower offered by semi-automatic shotguns is especially useful for military applications, where short-range encounters are usually very rapid and the amount of firepower used in a short period of time is essential (there are also full-auto models, like the South Korean Daewoo USAS-12). To use advantages of both pump and semi-auto designs, some manufacturers designed select-action shotguns, where user may select the action style with just turn of the lever or so, like Franchi SPAS or Benelli M3 for exemple. The disadvantages of those selective systems are somewhat increased weight and cost.

All modern combat shotguns are magazine fed repeaters, with the underbarrel tubular magazines being the most common type. Those magazines offer a sleek, slim profile of the gun, EDR - November / December 2015

The Benelli M4/ M1014 is designed around an entirely new system called the ARGO/Auto Regulating Gas Operated. (US DoD)

but are slow to reload. Some recently developed combat shotguns featured a detachable, box-type magazines, which can be replaced very quickly.

Few combat shotguns were developed with rotary, revolver-like magazines or drum-type magazines of relatively large capacity, like Americain AA-12 Atchisson Assault Shotgun 12 (20 rounds) or AA-12 SRM Arms Model 1216 (16 rounds).

But generaly those magazines are bulky, heavy, expensive and sometimes slow to reload.

Currently there are numerous combat shotguns models. All offer advantages over the others, however much models are relatively comparable to one another. There are several combat shotgund available today, but as time passes more quickly there will be new developments in this field. Here are some of the most significant up-to-date models for military and Law Enforcement use currently offered by the market.

Belgium : The SPS/TPS (Special Police Shotgun/Tactical Police Shotgun) is a pump-action shotgun designed and manufactured by Herstal, based on the Winchester Model 1300 Defender and used many similar features such as the ported barrel (SPS version), but also had many modern features (TPS version), including an adjustable stock, pistol grip, adjustable sights, MilStd 1913 Picatinny rail and M16A2 style front and rear sight, adjustable for both elevation and EDR - November / December 2015

windage. TPS comes in two variants: fixed stock and collapsible stock.

Brazil : The ST-12 pump action shotgun is produced by Taurus in several versions, intended either for hunting or for police and military use. Key differences between these versions are in the shape of the stock and in the profile and length of the barrel (35,8 inch/910 mm and 39,6 inch/1005 mm). Based on the proven American Mossberg 590 shotgun, the ST-12 uses similar manually operated pump action, with tubular magazine (7 rounds) below the barrel. Receiver is made from aluminum alloy, stocks are made from polymer.

China : Several types of shotguns are currently produced in China. Among the most interesting models include the Hawk series, the LW-3 and QBS-09. • The Hawk Industries produces a line of pump-action shotguns based on Remington 870.

This weapons are available in three basic configurations: standard configuration with fixed tubular magazine below the barrel (5 rounds), standard configuration with detachable box magazine, and bullpup configuration with detachable box magazine and massive horizontal forward grip, which is used to cycle the pump action but also contains an integral flash-light at the front. Box

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The Fabarm Ultra-Short is interesting shotgun for Special Operations Forces or SWAT operators.

(Fabarm)

magazine fed versions (5 rounds also) employ proprietary single stack magazines made from steel. Police guns of standard layout feature rifle-type sights with blade front and tangent-type rear blades; bullpup shotgun features fixed sights built into the integral carrying handle. Hawk Industries produces also a line of semi-automatic shotguns, which persumably are based on Remington 1100, with detachable box magazines (5 rounds). Standard configuration police shotguns of this line are fitted with side-folding butt, pistol grip and adjustable rifle-type sights. A more compact bullpup version is also produced, with same detachable box magazines and fixed sights integral to the carrying handle.

• The LW-3 is automatic shotgun, gas operated, locked breech type, and select-fire system (full automatic fire). Feed is from detachable box magazines of 5 rounds capacity, and from 10 and 20 rounds drum magazines. The LW-3 is equipped with side-folding shoulder stock, and in CQB scenarios can be fired with the stock folded. The weapon is equipped with rifle-type iron sights and features and integral Picatinny rail on the top of the receiver. It is possible to installed a 38 mm underbarrel launcher for use with less lethal ammunition such as tear gas, flash bang or “flying baton” projectiles.

• The QBS 09 is semi-automatic shotgun gas-operated was developed by 208th Institute of China Ordnance Industry. It uses more or less traditional annual gas piston, located around the magazine tube, below the barrel. Barrel locking is achieved by rotary bolt with dual locking lugs that engage barrel extension, relieving the receiver from most of the stress. Gas system is equipped with manual gas regulator, which has three positions : standard, cut-off (for firing low

30

energy less lethal ammunition) and harsh environment settings. Feed is from fixed tubular magazine, located below the barrel, with capacity of 5 rounds. To ensure comfortable firing of high-impulse (Magnum-class) DBD09 standard ammunition, the QBS09 is provided with spring-buffered retractable shoulder stock. Rifle-type iron sights with flip-up rear blade are marked for 50 and 100 meters. Top of receiver is equipped with proprietary scope rail, compatible with that of QBZ-95 family of rifles. Standard ammunition is steel-cased DBD09 anti-personnel round which is loaded with 14 pellets of high-density tungsten alloy buckshot set into plastic container.

Italy : Various models are offered by three major manufacturers: Benelli, Beretta and Fabarm.

• The Benelli semi-automatic M2 Super 90 is an improved version of the Benelli M1 Super 90 shotgun, replaced since about 2004. Benelli M2 features same inertia-driven action as the M1, but it also features ergonomically improved stock (with optional patented ComforTech recoil reduction system, that consists of two gelfilled pads in the buttstock), specially treated barrels and a number of smaller but still useful improvements. The M2 shotguns are manufactured in Tactical configurations for Law Enforcement and military, also in a number of stock variations. The M3 is an updated version of the Benelli M1 shotgun and uses the same semi-automatic system, but with addition of the another Benelli patented feature, which allows to the shooter to lock the semi-automatic action and switch to the manually operated pump-action mode and back in the matter of seconds. The M4 was the first gas-operated shotgun produced EDR - November / December 2015

All weapons in the Izhevsk Saiga family inherited the basic design of the AK, with long piston stroke gas system, rotating bolt and box

magazine

feeding.

(JP Husson)

by Benelli. Its function is designed around an entirely new method called the “auto regulating gas operated” (ARGO) system: the short-stroke design uses two stainless-steel self-cleaning pistons located just ahead of the chamber to function opposite the rotating bolt, thereby eliminating the need for the complex mechanisms found on other gas-actuated automatics. During testing in US Armed Forces, the prototype was named XM1014, but after adoption, the “X” was dropped, and the weapon was officially designated the M1014.

• The Beretta 1201FP is extremely similar to the Benelli M1 Super 90 and has the same recoil-operated semi-automatic action, while the 1301 Tactical is a gas operated semi-automatic shotgun with annular gas piston, located over the magazine tube which runs below the barrel.

The Tx4 Storm tactical semi-automatic shotgun is a gas operated weapon with annular gas piston, located over the magazine tube which runs below the barrel. It features self-adjustable gas system which operates rotating bolt and can reliably cycle even low-powered loads. To enhance flexibility of the gun, its barrel is equipped with removable choke system. Receiver is made from aluminum alloy, furniture is made from polymer and tubular magazine can hold only 5 rounds in basic configuration. Standard sights include protected front sight and removable aperture type (ghost ring) rear; additional sighting equipment such as red dot sights can be installed onto Picatinny rail that is mounted above the receiver.

• The Fabarm STF-12 and SDASS Tactical are interesting pump-action weapons offered in EDR - November / December 2015

various versions for Law Enforcement and military operators. The STF-12 features aluminum alloy receiver and tubular magazine below the barrel (magazine capacity varies with the version and the the barrel length). The furniture (pistol grip, forend and shoulder stock) is made from impact-resistant polymer and the feature rifle-type fixed iron sights as a default option, and a quick-detach Picatinny rail that runs above the receiver and barrel, which can host either iron sights or various red dot sights. The SDASS (Special Defense And Security Shotgun) line is based on a single action/receiver group.

The receiver is manufactured from Ergal 55 alloy which makes for a lightweight weapon (only 3 kg) compared to many other tactical shotguns. Feed is from underbarrel tubular magazine which holds 7 rounds. Furniture is made from polymer, who can be had in a wide variety of styles (fixed buttstock with semi-pistol grip, fixed buttstock with separate pistol grip, side-folding stock with pistol grip, pistolgrip only). Some versions are equipped with Picatinny type rail on the receiver for installation of a various sights. The SAT-8 shotgun (Semi-Automatic Tactical, 8 shots) is also manufactured in a wide spectrum of versions, with different stocks and options, but all are based on same action with patented features such as Tri-bore barrel profile and Pulse Piston gas operated action. Receiver is made from aluminum alloy and features integral Picatinny rail. Furniture are made from polymer, while the barrels can be equipped with interchangeable chokes or muzzle brake /compensator.

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The Molot Vepr-12 is gas-operated, semi-automatic shotgun, with receiver patterned after that of the Light Machine Gun. RPK-74.

Russia : Various models are offered by major manufacturers, like KBP, Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, Molot Oruzhie or TsKIB-SOO for exemple.

• All weapons in the Izhevsk Saiga family inherited the basic design of the AK, with long piston stroke gas system, rotating bolt and box magazine feeding. The shotgun part of this large family includes guns chambered for .410, 20 and 12 gauge magnum ammunition. In each chambering, there’s at least three versions, with long barrel and fixed stock, long barrel and side-folding AK-74M type polymer stock and with same folding stock and shorter barrel. Similar to the AK assault rifle, but semi-automatic fire only, with gas regulator “standard” and “magnum” settings, this shotguns can fire either 3 inch magnum or 23/4 inch standard loads interchangeably. Standard open sights were replaced by the short shotgun rib on the top of the gas tube (optional side mounts for red dot sights are available) and barrel is equipped with screw-on choke system. The black plastic furniture features a long forearm and ether a fixed butt with semi-pistol grip or an AK74M type side-folding solid polymer buttstock combined with pistol grip. The MP-153 is also gas-operated action shotgun, with annular piston located around the magazine tube. Gas system features self-adjusting gas valve which permits to fire a wide variety of loads. The gas regulator is also assembled around the magazine tube, therefore permitting its extension to increase magazine capacity. Feed is from tubular underbarrel magazine which holds 4 rounds. The receiver of MP-153 is made from aluminum forging, stocks

32

(for end and buttstock) are available in wood or polymer. Barrels, available in a variety of lengths, are equipped with interchangeable choke system.

The P-133 is a pump action shotgun, who is produced in two basic versions : standard MP-133 with tubular under barrel magazine which holds 4 rounds and MP-133K with detachable box magazine 5 rounds, inserted from below the receiver, who is made in alluminium alloy. Either version is avaible in a variety of barrel lengths and styles, as well as in wooden or polymer furniture, with traditional fixed buttstock, side-folding (AK-74M type), polymer folding buttstock and pistol grip and no buttstock.

• The KBP RBM-93 is a pump-action shotgun been conceived as a combat weapon for Special Forces and Police units that might face CQB situations. The weapon is thus engineered to reduce size and encumbrance as much as possible.

The working system of the RMb-93 is itself an odd slide-action operation called “Inverted Cycle”, similar in concept to the one used in the South-African Truvelo Armoury Neostead shotgun, the only other mass-produced firearm to be based upon this system. The tubular magazine (6 rouds) is located above the barrel, rather than under it, and is loaded via the port on the top.

The trigger is of double-action only type, with internal hammer and ambidextrous manual safety levers. In combat configuration RMB-93 is equipped with polymer for end and pistol grip and a stamped steel shoulder stock which folds forward over the magazine tube.

• The Molot Vepr-12 is gas-operated, semi-automatic shotgun which uses long-stroke gas piston located above the barrel, and a rotary locking bolt. Gas system is self-regulating and does not need manual adjustments. The receiver is patterned after that of the Light Machine Gun. RPK-74. Gun is fitted with modified AKstyle safety that has additional lever that permits faster “safety on” operation. Safety lever is also duplicated on the left side of the receiver.

Bolt hold-open device which holds the bolt open when magazine is exhausted. Magazine housing is provided with extended magazine tunnel, which permits for faster magazine insertion (8 EDR - November / December 2015

rounds). Gun is chrome lined throughout, including the gas block, barrel, and chamber, affording the rifle excellent corrosion resistance.

Furniture includes a detachable or fixed flash hider on the barrel, a side-folding skeletonized butt with polymer coating, and plastic pistol grip and forend. Bottom handguard and bottom of gas block are fitted with Picatinny-type accessory rails, additional rail is provided on the receiver top cover, which is hinged to the receiver at the front (standard sights are of AK pattern). • The TsKIB-SOO (now the part of KBP) MTs255 is a revolver shotgun, originally produced as a hunting/sporting gun in a number of calibers (12, 20 and .410 gauges) and configuration, offered now in tactical version for Law Enforcement use, in 12 gauge. Gun is built on a steel frame that hosts side-opening revolver cylinder with five chambers. Chambers are numbered on the outside of cylinder, with intent to provide shooter with capability to load gun with different types of shells, and then select appropriate load by manually rotating cylinder according to the marked numbers. Gun is equipped with traditional double/single action trigger with exposed hammer. MTs-255 tactical version is equipped with polymer forend, pistol grip, side-folding shoulder stock and provided with Picatinny rail bolted to the top of the receiver.

South Africa : Two are the main manufacturers offer original shotguns: Reutech and Truvelo Armory.

• The key advantage of the Reutech Striker and Protecta shotguns is their large magazine capacity, but the price for this advantage is an increased bulk of the weapon and slower reloading, especially when compared to the recent box magazine-fed combat shotguns. The Striker shotgun is based on the basic revolver scheme, with double action only (DAO) trigger. The cylinder was made from two plates, which hold 12 separate chambers. Cylinder is removed from the gun only for cleaning and maintenance and the loading/reloading is made via the loading gate at the rear right side of the aluminum cylinder housing. To remove spent cases or unfired rounds, a spring-loaded ejector rod is fixed to the right side of the barrel casing. The top-folding butt is made from sheet metal, the front vertical grip and the rear pistol grip, integral with the trigger unit housing are made from polymer.

The Protecta shotgun has a manually rotating cylinder instead of the clock-spring clockwork.

The front vertical grip can be swung to the right and back. This movement will rotate a barrel shroud and a pivoting arm, linked to it, which, in turn, will rotate a cylinder for 1/12 of turn, to place a next chamber behind the barrel. The spent cases are ejected automatically from the chamber at the moment of the next shot. The last spent case (or unfired cartridges) can be removed using the spring-loaded ejector rod at the right side of the barrel. The reloading of the empty chambers is commenced via the loading gate, similar to Striker shotgun.

The UTS-15 is a pump-action shotgun, with bullpup configuration and dual tubular magazines to 7 + 7 rounds.

(JP Husson)

EDR - November / December 2015

33

The SRM Arms Model 1216 is an original shotgun, with large magazine capacity (8 + 8 rounds) to provide serious firepower.

(SRM Arms)

• The Truvelo Armory Neostead is a manually operated with three original characteristics.

First of all, the gun is built using fixed breech face and movable barrel. Assuming that the barrel is loaded with empty case, to reload the gun one must pull the slide forward, and then backward. This will cause the barrel to go forward, leaving the spent case held against the breech face by the extractor. When barrel will clear the spent case, it will be ejected down through the opening in the gun shell. When slide is pulled all the way forward, the fresh cartridge is released and pushed back out of the magazine above the barrel, and then lowered by the feed ramp until it is aligned with the barrel. When the slide is pulled backward, it will take the barrel back, so the barrel will enclose the cartridge and finally lock itself to the fixed breech face. The only Russian RMB-93 shotgun uses this system. The second feature is its dual feed system. It consists of two tubular magazines, located side by side above the barrel. Cartridges are loaded into the magazines and fed from the rear. Magazines are coupled and hinged to the gun frame at the front. At the rear openings of the magazines there is a magazine selector which can be manually set to enable the feeding from one or another magazine, or from both, alternately. This dual, selective magazine system results not only in increased magazine capacity (6 + 6 rounds), but also offers greater tactical flexibility: for ex-

34

ample, one magazine could be loaded with full power buckshot and the other with less lethal rubber slugs for police work. Third feature is its bullpup layout, resulting in relatively long barrel and compact overall size. The shell of the Neostead is made from polymer. Safety switch is located within the trigger guard and sights are built into the integral carrying handle.

Turkey : Several Turkish manufacturers also offer a variety of models, or pump-type action or semi-automatic. Among these, the most interesting models were made by Hatsan Arms, Stoeger Silah Sanayi, AKSA/Safir Arms and UTAS Makina. • The Hatsan Arms Aimguard/Marineguard line is shotgun pump-operated; sliding for end is attached to the bolt group with dual action bars. All versions feature 18 inch/45 cm or 20 inch/50 cm barrels with fixed cylinder chokes, full matte black finish and polymer furniture.

Marineguard differ only in the type of finish, applied to the metallic parts, which is of corrosion-resistant hard chrome type with matte surface. Feed is from underbarrel tube magazine, holding 5 or 7 rounds (depending on the barrel length). There are three basic versions of stock available : fixed polymer stock with rubber recoil pad, top-folding metallic stock with recoil pad and spare shell holder, and version with no butt and single pistol grip. All versions feature EDR - November / December 2015

The ST-12 pump action shotgun is produced by Taurus in several versions and length of the barrel.

(Taurus)

cylinder-choked barrels with hard chrome lining and simple front sight.

• The Stoeger SP 312 shotgun is a recent product of the Turkish arms-making company, Stoeger Silah Sanayi A.S., (former Vursan Arms Co), which is now owned by Beretta. The SP 312 shotgun is manually pump-operated, with feed underbarrel tubular magazine, which holds 4 (standard) or 6 (extended) rounds. Two-piece furniture (shoulder stock and forend) is made from black-colored polymer. Buttstock is factory-fitted with rubber recoil pad. In standard configuration SP 312 have semi-pistol grips, although Stoeger also makes versions with separate pistol grip and fixed shoulder stock, and short “Police” version with pistol grip and no buttstock. The P 350 is a strengthened and slightly stretched-out version of the Stoeger SP 312, dapted to fire 3.5 inch/89 mm Super Magnum shells, and fitted withnew, improved furniture. This pump action is available in several versions with two of barrel lengths (24 inch/55 cm or 18.5 inch/ 47 cm), finish options (black or camouflaged) and stock styles (standard semi-pistol grip or separate pistol grip). The furniture on all P 350 shotguns is made from polymer. The sliding forend is extended rearwards to provide more comfortable hold, and the buttstock can be fitted with optional mercury-filled recoil reducer and a rubber recoil pad, both essential for comfort when firing Super Magnum shells. The Stoeger 2000 shotgun is built around the inertia-operated action, patented several decades ago by Benelli (today Benelli is owned by the same Beretta group, so Stoeger has access to Benelli patents EDR - November / December 2015

and uses this system under license). The Stoeger 2000 Defense model is fitted with short barrel with fixed cylinder choke. As with most other self-loading shotguns, barrel is easily removable and can be replaced with alternative barrel of different profile or length. Two-piece furniture (shoulder stock and forend) is made either from polymer (black or camouflaged).

• The AKSA/Safir Arms T 14 is gas operated shotgun with rotary bolt locking, with shortstroke gas piston located around the barrel. The weapon is based on the AR-15/M16 platform. Receiver is made from aircraft-grade aluminum alloy. Semi-automatic shotguns T-14 are produced either with integral M16A2 type carrying handle and rear sight block, or with M16A3 type flat-top receiver with Picatinny rail. Furniture is made of plastic and buttstocks are available either in fixed or in telescoped (M4 type) variety. Detachable box magazines (5, 10 or 15 rounds) are specially designed for rimmed shotgun ammunition. At the present time gun is offered in only one caliber, .410x65 (36 gauge) 2/12 inch chamber.

• The UTS-15 (Urban Tactical Shotgun 15-rounds) is a pump-action shotgun, with bullpup configuration and dual tubular magazines located side by side above the barrel. Each magazine contains up to 7 rounds and has its own loading port on the side of the gun, so each magazine can be loaded or topped up independently.

This shotgun has three feed options, selectable through the switch, located at the top of the gun, above the barrel breech: feeding rounds from either left or right magazine only, with switch rotated to respective side, or feeding alternately

35

The QBS 09 is semi-automatic shotgun developed by 208th Institute of China Ordnance Industry, with manual gas regulator system.

(Norinco)

from each magazine, when have two magazines loaded with two different types of loads, with rapid selection of necessary load “on the fly�, or have both magazines loaded with any type of loads for double capacity (up to 14 rounds plus one in the chamber). Receiver of the UTS-15 is from carbon-fiber reinforced polymer. Gun is fitted with rubber buttplate and several sling attachment points, with integral Picatinny rail running allowing for easy installation of various open or red dot sights.

Ukraine : Developed by Scientific and Production organization Fort (NPO Fort) of the Ukrainian Ministry of Inferior, the Fort 500 is a conventional pump-action shotgun, apparently patterned after the Remington 870 in its internal design. It has steel receiver and plastic or wooden furniture; in all versions barrels are available with removable choke tubes; same choke interface on police guns allows for installation of cuptype launchers intended to fire tear-gas grenades.

Feed is from underbarrel tubular magazine,

which holds 6 (for Fort-500) or 4 (Fort-500M) rounds.The Fort-500M features short barrel (14 inch/35,5 mm) and tactical furniture, like retractable buttstock and pistol grip, and a set of Picatinny rails on receiver and for end.

United States : Many models have been produced by US manufacturers in recent years. We therefore limit just mentioned those presenting special or original features. • The Six12 revolver shotgun is an innovative product of Crye Precision. Originally devised as an underbarrel breaching attachment for an assault rifle, this shotgun rapidly evolved into modular system, which can be used either as an underbarrel add-on weapon or as a stand-alone tactical shotgun. In either role, Six12 shotgun offers compact size, fast reloading and tactical flexibility.The Six12 is a manually operated revolver shotgun of bullpup layout. It uses detachable sixshot cylinders, made of plastic, with steel chamber inserts. Cylinders can be reloaded only when separated from the gun, and user can carry several

The Fort 500 is a conventional pump-action shotgun, apparently patterned after the Remington 870, developped by NPO Fort of the Ukrainian Ministry of Inferior. (Fort)

36

EDR - November / December 2015

spare cylinders, loaded with variety of loads, and quickly reload his gun according to the current situation. Trigger is of double action only (DAO) type. Each pull of the trigger rotates the cylinder to align next chamber with the barrel. Furniture is made from polymer and its configuration depends on intended role of the gun. In underbarrel configurations, the Six12 shotgun is equipped with horizontal foregrip behind a trigger guard or a conventional pistol grip, and attaches to the host gun using standard Picatinny rail system. In stand-alone configuration, the Six12 is equipped with pistol grip and shoulder stock. Removable barrels are available in several lengths. • The RAS-12/AR-12 semi-automatic shotgun is a novel concept, developed by Intrepid Tactical Solutions. This system further extends flexibility of 7.62 mm (.308Win) AR-10 (DPMSstyle) semi-automatic rifles by adding a shotgun upper receiver, named AR-12, to the almost endless supply of rifle caliber upper receiver units.

The AR-12 upper receiver is complete with 18.1 inch/460 mm barrel, gas operated action with short stroke piston, proprietary bolt group and a new return spring. Due to the fact that existing 12 gauge shells with their rimmed hulls would not easily fit into any AR-10 compatible magazine, Intrepid Tactical Solutions had to develop their own, proprietary RAS-12 shotgun ammunition. These shells are built on the newly designed rimless polymer case with rebated rim.

Combined with ogive nose plug made of plastic

it allows for smooth feeding from detachable box magazine. RAS-12 shotgun shells are reloadable, using fired or newly purchased plastic cases and newly purchased nose plugs, plus other standard and widely available components (powders, buck or shot pellets, etc.). • Model 1216 shotgun is an original weapon, developed and manufactured by SRM Arms Inc. Thanks to its large magazine capacity it provides serious firepower, while maintaining relatively compact dimensions, making it easy to operate in confined spaces. It also offers ambidextrous handling. For dedicated Law Enforcement and Military use SRM Arms also offers short-barreled versions of the basic shotgun, with 12 and 8 rounds magazine capacities, namely Model 1212 and Model 1208. The weapon is operated using delayed blowback principle, which is rather unusual for shotguns. It employs roller-delayed action with two-part bolt and two rollers in its head, which enter recesses in the barrel extension. This shotgun is built using bullpup layout, with polymer housing/stock and steel upper receiver, connected by cross-pins. Ejection ports are located on either side of the receiver, with one which is not in use being closed by removable ejection port cover. The weapon employs detachable rotary magazine with four channels, each containing its own spring and follower. Each channel can hold up to four rounds. When magazine inserted into the gun, the operator can flip a switch

The Reutech Striker shotgun is based on the basic revolver scheme, with double action only (DAO) trigger. (Reutech)

EDR - November / December 2015

37

The Truvelo Armory Neostead is an original manually operated shotgun with many original characteristics. (JP Husson)

and manually rotate the entire magazine, either clockwise or anti-clockwise, to choose which tube feeds into the receiver. In a tactical application, by loading different shells in different tubes, this would allow the operator to switch between different types of shells to adapt to a changing scenario, or it could allow rapid fire of all 16 rounds. Other features of the SRM Arms Model 1216 shotgun include conveniently located manual safety, which can be set on left or on right side of the gun, and set of integral Picatinny type rails, which can be used to install variety of sighting devices.

• The Super-Shorty shotgun is manufactured

by Serbu Firearms Inc. This stubby firearm was originally designed as one off conversion of a Mossberg 500 shotgun into most compact package possible. Firing full-power 12-gauge loads, the Super-Shorty is a formidable short-range/ point-blank weapon which offers high probability of “one shot stops” while maintaining compact, concealable and maneuverable size.

The Super-Shorty shotguns are converted from existing, full-size pump action shotguns (most popular models that are used for conversion are 12-gauge Mossberg 500, Remington 870 and Maverick 88). Conversion includes careful shortening of the barrel (6,5 inch/165 mm)

38

to ensure proper accuracy with slugs and even patterns with buckshot), shortening of a magazine tube and magazine spring, installation of the pistol grip, and replacement of the standard sliding forend with proprietary folding forward grip (for Law Enforcement and Military use, special breaching adapter is installed onto the muzzle). Standard version of this shotgun holds 2 rounds in underbarrel tubular magazine plus one in the chamber. Serbu also offers slightly longer versions with 3 and 4 rounds magazines and 9 inch/229 mm and 12 inch/305 mm barrels respectively.

The KSG shotgun was developed by Kel-tec CNC industries, which is known for their innovative products. This unorthodox shotgun, because of its compact dimensions and high capacity dual feed system, bears some external and conceptual resemblance to South-African Neostead shotgun, but almost all details of design are different between those shotguns.

The Kel-Tec KSG shotgun is manually operated, pump action weapon and sliding forend is connected to the bolt by dual operating bars. Feed is from two tubular magazines (7 + 7 rounds), located below the barrel, side by side. User can manually select which magazine to use by switching a 3 positions lever, located EDR - November / December 2015

behind the pistol grip. Middle position of the switch blocks feed from both magazines, turning the lever to one side brings respective magazine into the feed cycle. Once one magazine is depleted, user has to manually change the feed direction by switching the lever to feed from another magazine. Magazines are loaded by single rounds through the large loading/ejection port, located at the bottom of the gun, behind the pistol grip (empty shells are ejected straight down

M

through the same port). Manual safety is made in the form of the cross-bolt button, located above the grip, making the gun fully ambidextrous in use. Sighting equipment (iron sights and/or red dot) can be installed using standard Picatinny type rail located above the barrel. Additional Picatinny rail is provided at the bottom of the sliding forend, permitting installation of the optional vertical foregrip and/or tactical , flashlight or laser.

Military 12-gauge Cartridges ilitary use of combat shotguns through the 20th century has created a need for ammunition maximizing the combat effectiveness of such weapons within the limitations of international law. Twelve gauge has been widely accepted as an appropriate bore diameter to provide an effective number of projectiles within an acceptable recoil The most common type of ammunition used in combat shotguns, whether for military or Law Enforcement purposes, is buckshot, typically a 70 mm (23â „4 inch) 12 gauge shell loaded with 9 hardened 00 buckshot, with a diameter of about 8.4 mm (.33 inch). Buckshot is brutally effective at close ranges against unarmored targets, enough so that Germany issued a protest against its use in 1918. The only other types of ammunition currently in use in military shotguns are breaching rounds, which are either specially designed frangible rounds designed to destroy a door lock or hinge while minimizing the risk of damage to occupants of the room or very light birdshot, which accomplishes the same purpose. Shotgun slugs are currently under consideration as an anti-materiel round; the tendency of typical commercial shotgun slugs to deform on impact would render them illegal under the Hague Convention and so a jacketed, hardened or sabot slug may be adopted. Less lethal rounds are used for exemple by military troops serving as police forces in peacekeeping/peace enforcing operations ; beanbag and rubber bullet rounds are commonly used to discourage looters and rioters.

In military use, flechette ammunition has also been used in shotguns, primarily by special opoeration forces, such as its use by the SEALs in the Vietnam War, but this is not common. Other experimental shotgun ammunition has been created, such as SCMITR, but none have been successful enough to be adopted. As was part of the CAWS (Close Assault Weapon System) program, the SCMITR was an experimental military shotgun ammunition created by AAI Corporation. It was a variation on flechette ammunition, but instead of containing a bundle of tiny needle-like steel darts, the cartridge contained a stack of razor-edged stamped sheet-metal arrow shapes designed to fly aerodynamically. It was considered to be very promising, in terms of lethality and effective range, but prohibitively expensive to manufacture, so it has never been mass-produced.

Due to the great flexibility of the shotgun, it is often used in non-offensive roles as well, for example, by offering a number of less lethal varieties of ammunition for use in the riot control role, and for door breaching with 9 birdshot, shotgun slugs, and specialized breaching rounds.

Less-lethal options also include the use of grenade launching cups, special launching cartridges and a less-lethal grenade.

There are a number of experimental rounds currently under development and consideration by modern armed forces, including explosive rounds and stand-off breaching rounds, which could further improve the range and flexibility of the combat shotgun.

EDR - November / December 2015

39

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Sabrina Jonas Sales contact for Maritime Safety & Security, Motorisation and Propulsion - November / December 2015 + 33 (0)1 56 59 15 10EDR - sjonas@euronaval.fr

Soldiers have been patrolling the streets, train stations and airports of Paris in the framework of the Vigipirate national security alert system since 3 December 1996 following a terrorist attack on the Port Royal train station in Paris.

Christina Mackenzie

The Nonsensical Divide Between Security and Defence?

In the good old days, those of the Cold War for example, there was a clear distinction in most countries between the roles played by the military and the police. Simply put, the military were there to protect the West from being invaded by the Soviets, or, if you prefer, they were there to protect a market economy from a communist one. The police were there to protect civilians from robbers and murderers.

I

n a number of European countries: France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany to name but a few, this distinction was already not so clear as they historically had both a police force with military status: the gendarmerie, the guardia civil and the carabinieri, for example, and another one with civilian status... a situation which continues to puzzle the Anglo-Saxons who have always had just the civilian police.

EDR - November / December 2015

Except that in the case of the United States the police has become increasingly militarised.

But John Kleinig, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Criminal Justice at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, argues that “arming them with Mine-Resistant Ambush Protection Vehicles (MRAPs), grenade launchers, night vision rifle scopes, machine guns, M16 assault

41

rifles, Kevlar body armour, equipment to detect buried land mines, camouflage fatigues,” is sending the wrong message and “that a military-style response to social disorder in an alienated community will ‘invite’ or exacerbate a reaction more tailored to a combat zone.” He writes that “police are not only part of the community in which they work, but for a great deal of their work depend on the support, cooperation, and assistance of their community.” Kleinig suggests that arming them to the teeth as a precautionary measure is akin to a homeowner having a fully equipped operating theatre or fully stocked nuclear bomb shelter instead of a first aid kit.

President Barack Obama seems to have been thinking along similar lines when in May this year he announced that he was prohibiting the federal government from providing some military-style equipment, such as tracked armoured vehicles, high-powered firearms and camouflage to local police departments.

In terms of personal equipment, this close-up shot of American police members during a training drill clearly shows the closing gap with the military.

Even if European police forces have not become militarised in this sense, those formerly clear lines of distinction in the type of work undertaken between defence and internal security have become increasingly cloudy and vague since the end of the Cold War. The French have coined a term for it: the “defence/security continuum”. As retired French General Marc Watin-Agouard says, this continuum is “illustrated by the fact that there are no phenomena outside our border that do not have an immediate con-

42

sequence on our internal security.” This was tragically demonstrated last January when two French nationals, brothers identifying with a Yemeni-based Islamist terrorist group, attacked the satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in the heart of Paris, killing 11 and injuring 22. Although Parisians had been used to seeing some armed soldiers patrolling their streets since 1996, these patrols are now present at every train station, outside every synagogue or Jewish school and at all major tourist attractions. Other nations such as Belgium and Britain deployed the military to guard civilian sites such as places of worship and embassies in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack. « ...today police forces across Europe track young men and women they suspect are being brainwashed by terrorist organisations and conditioned in places such as Pakistan, Yemen or Syria (…) shared with the military fighting the terrorists in Syria and Iraq. » Watin-Agouard, founder of the FIC International Cybersecurity Forum, director of the CREOGN (research centre of the French gendarmerie’s officers’ training school) and president of the CECyF (French Experts Centre against Cybercrime) adds that “terrorism, piracy, largescale trafficking, require hybrid responses that combine the action of armed forces and interior security forces.” In Afghanistan, for example, it was the forensic police that used DNA traces to track terrorists, and today police forces across Europe track young men and women they suspect are being brainwashed by terrorist organisations and conditioned in places such as Pakistan, Yemen or Syria. The intelligence gathered by the police is shared with the military fighting the terrorists in Syria and Iraq.

Intelligence gathering is the one area where the line between defence and security is perhaps the most feeble. In the past many nations had two separate agencies for keeping an eye on those inside their national borders – MI5 in Britain, the FBI in the United States, the DST EDR - November / December 2015

A group of lightly protected and armed carabinieri patrol the streets of Florence.

(now DCRI) in France, the AISI in Italy are just a few examples – and other agencies for spying outside their national borders: MI6, the CIA, the DGSE, the AISE. Today, in order to try and get a handle on the densely woven networks both inside and outside national borders that are a threat within nations, these agencies, together with their military counterparts, have had to learn to work together and use almost identical tools to do their jobs.

Meanwhile, the instability in the Middle East and North Africa is causing hundreds of thousands to flee their homes and businesses to seek a safer existence in the Near East and Europe thereby causing the biggest refugee problem Europe has known since World War II and the de facto freeze of the Schengen Area (all 28 European member states except Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland, Romania and the United Kingdom) throughout which Europeans used to be able to travel with no border controls. This has EDR - November / December 2015

put border control agents at the forefront of security issues at the EU’s external borders.

As Derek Lutterbeck of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy wrote in 2004: “the emergence of challenges which defy the distinction between internal and external security, but also the ascendance of agencies which are located between internal and external security forces...is exemplified by... border control, where gendarmeries are being mobilized to counter various transnational challenges to security, and that of peace support operations, where they are playing an increasingly important role in post-war reconstruction efforts.”

The fuzzy distinction between internal and external security is particularly true in the cyber field which, from a legal perspective, can currently only be countered by common law even those most serious attacks against vital infrastructures or the armed forces. These attacks, which can take the form of spying or sabotage

43

The militarisation of police forces in the United States is in sharp contrast to their European counterparts.

for example, call for close cooperation between civilian and military actors but Watin-Agouard argues that this is not contradictory to the specific professional cultures and legal frameworks: “The ‘fireman’, the ‘soldier’ and the ‘gendarme’ must not only act together but strengthen their ties with the cybersecurity private sector whose input is essential to understand evil intentions and drawing up the right technological answers,” he writes.

Piracy is another area where the distinction between a military operation and a police one has become blurred. Fishing, cargo and passenger boats sailing off the coasts of Somalia Guinea, in the Malacca straights, in the Mozambique canal and other places are threatened by acts of piracy, that may have started out as individual acts but are frequently now the business of organised crime. To counter them and protect civilian shipping, civilian organisations such as the European Union and the United Nations have set up complex naval operations such as the highly successfull Atalanta in the Indian

44

Ocean which involve the military, the judiciary, shipping companies and private security groups working together to stop organised crime.

Closer to home, international summits are protected by the police and gendarmerie but they are backed by the military who protect the air, land and maritime spaces around the summit, not with a military objective but a security one. « Piracy is another area where the distinction between a military operation and a police one has become blurred.»

Although there is a clear security/defence continuum, we should not forget that there remain fundamental differences between the security forces and the military. The first is that security forces are civilian: they can join a union, they have working hours, they can stage protests, they can talk to the media, they can be fired and they can be tried in a civilian court.

EDR - November / December 2015

Military forces on the other hand are, well, military: they cannot join a union, they have no set working hours, they cannot protest, they cannot talk to the media, and if they do something sufficiently bad to warrant losing their job they will be tried by their peers in a military court. Not only this but the way they work is fundamentally different. As Major Tim Dawe and Colonel David Connery of the Australian army wrote in June 2015: “Military operations are typically proactive and conducted as a unit or team. They are usually carefully considered, planned and controlled according to doctrine. Risk is mitigated through written orders and formal orders groups, stringent control measures and tactical guidance, strict tiered use of force criteria, established actions on and rehearsals – all underpinned by limits to soldier discretion with-

in the framework of the ‘Commander’s Intent’.

In comparison, police work is ordinarily highly reactive in nature and conducted individually or in pairs....The core community policing role revolves around response and individual discretion. When attending an incident individual police officers must make fast decisions, often under pressure,... must quickly consider a wide array of variables and choose the most suitable options (including use of force) depending on the situation. The time critical nature of these decisions means they are often made in isolation, without further reference to the chain of command.”

Although cooperation between the two forces is vital, so too is mantaining a clear distinction between them in order to best meet tomorrow’s , security challenges.

British riot police are heavily protected but do not routinely carry firearms, whilst their street patrolling colleagues carry nothing more threatening than a pair of handcuffs.

EDR - November / December 2015

45

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