November 4, 2015: Strategy Page

Israel is offering for sale a laser weapon that can shoot down artillery and mortar shells as well as rockets and small UAVs. Called Iron Beam it has a range of 2,000 meters and is expected to enter service in Israel by the end of 2015. There is a lot of action on Israeli borders for a system like Iron Beam and it will soon become evident if Iron Beam is the first effective laser air defense weapon or not.

Each Iron Beam firing unit consists of a radar and control system and two lasers. These three elements can be stationary or mounted (and used) in trucks. This is the first C-RAM (counter-rockets, artillery and mortars) system using lasers to be offered for sale. There have been several attempts to develop systems like this since the 1990s but this one is the first to actually hit the market.

The first non-laser system similar to Iron Beam was developed by the United States in 2006. This was a C-RAM version of the Phalanx ship-mounted missile defense system. The C-RAM Phalanx was intended to protect large bases in Iraq and Afghanistan from mortar and rocket attack. The original Phalanx was a 20mm cannon designed to defend American warships against anti-ship missiles. Phalanx does this by using a radar that immediately starts firing at any incoming missile it detects. The C-RAM Phalanx system has its software modified to detect smaller objects (like 82mm mortar shells). This capability came about when it was discovered that the original Phalanx could take out incoming 155mm artillery shells. This capability is what led to the 2006 C-RAM Phalanx.

The first C-RAM was sent to Iraq in late 2006 to protect the Green Zone (the large area in Baghdad turned into an American base). It was found that C-RAM could knock down 70-80 percent of the rockets and mortar shells fired within range of its cannon. It took about a year to develop C-RAM, and another version, using a high-powered laser, instead of the 20mm gun, was soon in development. The laser powered version is still in development.

 Other modifications included linking Phalanx to the Lightweight Counter Mortar Radar and Q-36 Target Acquisition Radar. When these radars detect incoming fire, C-RAM Phalanx points toward the incoming objects and prepares to fire at anything that comes within range (about 2,000 meters) of its 20mm cannon. Phalanx uses high explosive 20mm shells that detonate near the target spraying it with fragments. By the time these fragments reach the ground, they are generally too small to injure anyone. The original Phalanx used 20mm depleted uranium shells, to slice through incoming missiles. Phalanx fires shells at the rate of 75 per second. Another advantage of C-RAM Phalanx, is that it makes a distinctive noise when firing, warning people nearby that a mortar or rocket attack is underway, giving people an opportunity to duck inside if they are out and about.

Iron Beam eliminates the risk of shells not going off in the air and falling to ground or the small chance of anyone (especially children) being hit by the small fragments and injured. Perhaps the best thing Iron Beam has going for it is the impressive track record of Israel in developing anti-aircraft weapons. The Israeli Iron Dome anti-rocket system has been heavily used since 2011 and Israeli work on its Arrow anti-ballistic missile system is considered world-class.

26 October 2015 by Nato

Nato Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) has agreed to provide its complete support to update the PzH2000 self-propelled 155mm howitzers being procured by Lithuania from Germany.

The update support was announced by head of the department of weaponry and control systems Artur Plokšto at a session of the Land Combat Vehicles (LCV) Support Partnership of the NSPA, held in Luxembourg. At the session, Lithuania joined the howitzer user project after an unanimous agreement was reached between participating countries Croatia, Italy, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands. Representing Lithuania at the session, Plokšto said the howitzers would be updated, C2 systems installed and full operational capability reached on time. For the PzH2000 project, NSPA support will include supply, procurement, maintenance, technical/engineering services, technical training, configuration management, transportation, in-country training and on-site support, among others.

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01 October 2015 Saab Press release

Defence and security company Saab has signed a contract to supply the Australian Defence Force with Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortar System (C-RAM) support with a contract value of approximately $AUD 26.4m (approximately SEK 168 million). The initial contract period includes the establishment period and three years of support services thereafter, with options of up to five 12-month extensions, that could take the contract period up to July 2024.

C-RAM is an essential capability to protect friendly forces from hostile fire. C-RAM sensors provide detection and warning against small, mobile and hard-to-find threats such as rocket and mortar fire. The C-RAM capability components to be supported under this contact are Giraffe Agile Multi-Beam (AMB) radar, Giraffe Training Simulator and a Lightweight-Counter Mortar Radar. The contract follows the 2010 procurement of Saab’s Giraffe AMB and Giraffe Training System Mission Systems to support Australian troops during Operation ‘Slipper’ in Afghanistan.

“The Giraffe AMB radar maintained an operational availability of 98.5 per cent in Afghanistan and was the first layer of defence against insurgent rocket attacks for the Australian led coalition base at Tarin Kot,” says Dean Rosenfield, Managing Director of Saab Australia.

“This contract is a boost to local industry with additional positions through the period of the contract to manage the Australian sub-supplier network and deep maintenance services from our headquarters in Adelaide”, says Rosenfield.

Adelaide-based, Saab Australia will lead an In-Service Support team which includes Saab in Gothenburg, Sweden and SRCTec, LLC in Syracuse,USA.

“Saab’s global radar operations are now growing in Australia. Our Australian staff has the full backing of Saab in Sweden in our proven through-life support of the Giraffe AMB. It is a solution shared by many Giraffe AMB customers and includes global logistics and supply, comprehensive training, maintenance and engineering. This contract also proves that Saab has the competence to be able to support radar systems from other OEMs”, says Anders Linder, Head of Saab business unit Surface Radar Solutions.

SRCTec has been sub-contracted to provide through-life support to the AN/TPQ-49 Lightweight-Counter Mortar Radar. Saab Australia will manage the support program, including the establishment and delivery of support services and support to the introduction-into-service requirements, associated with the three C-RAM capability components.

The C-RAM capability is intended to be absorbed into the wider Australian Defence Force ground based air and missile defence capability.

Headquartered in Adelaide, Saab Australia is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saab AB, providing defence, security and traffic management solutions. With over 300 experienced staff across Australia and New Zealand, and a reputation for achieving complex systems integration projects on time, Saab Australia has proven its capabilities over more than 26 years.

Sep 29, 2015 by Richard Tomkins(UPI)

Lithuania on Tuesday signed an agreement to procure 21 PzH2000 self-propelled howitzers from the German Armed Forces.

The deal for the 155mm guns, as well as vehicles and other equipment, is worth nearly $65 million.

The Lithuanian Ministry of Defense said 16 of the guns will be usable for combat purposes, two will be used for training firing and driving skills, and three for spare parts.

"The changed geopolitical situation and lessons learned from the conflicts in Georgia and Ukraine have made the Lithuanian Armed Forces prioritize an efficient fire support to maneuver units on the course of its development," said Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas. "Looking for solution, we turned to Germany, our ally, and its understanding and good will has helped us come up with a compromise on the procurement on one of the most modern self-propelled howitzers in the world within a particularly short time.

"That is a clear demonstration that Germany understands the reasons behind our security concerns and is sending a clear signal that it stands firmly by Lithuania."

The other equipment being purchased from Germany includes 26 M577 V2 armored command vehicles and six BPZ2 recovery tanks.

Also included in the deal is training for Lithuanian troops who will use the self-propelled howitzers, which will begin to arrive in Lithuania next year.

September 1, 2015: Strategy Page

 On August 22nd Iran announced that it had developed, tested and was putting into production a new ballistic missile. This one, called Fateh-313, used solid fuel and had a range of 500 kilometers. This is the latest claimed Iranian development of the Fateh 110 which is a copy of the Chinese DF-11 ballistic missile, which appeared in the 1980s with a range of 300 kilometers and an 800 kg warhead. In the 1990s an improved version, the DF-11A appeared with a range of 800 kilometers and a half ton warhead. A decade later the DF-11 was using GPS (American or Chinese) guidance in addition to the less accurate INS. For nuclear warheads either guidance system is accurate enough. For conventional warheads GPS is essential to avoid missing the target with the smaller explosive power of the conventional warhead. The big change here is solid fuel, which enables a missile to be made ready in less than 30 minutes compared to several hour for liquid fueled missiles like the SCUD.

The Fateh 110 is an 8.86 meter (27.5 foot), 3.5 ton rocket with a half-ton warhead. The first version appeared after in 2002 and had a range of 200 kilometers. By 2010 there had been to improved models, with ranges of 250 and 300 kilometers plus improvements in reliability and accuracy. The Fateh 110 is a solid fuel missile developed to replace the liquid fueled SCUD ballistic missiles Iran had been using since the 1980s. SCUD was developed from the German World War II era V-2. In 2008 Iran licensed Syria build the Fateh-110 as the M600. In 2010 some of these were apparently transferred to Hezbollah. Apparently the only Fateh-110 type missiles to be fired in combat were two Syrian M600s fired at rebel targets in 2012.

In 2011 Iran claimed to have created an anti-ship missile, called the Khalij Fars, with a range of 300 kilometers based on the Fateh 110. What all this implies is that Iran is claiming to have developed a ballistic missile that can hit moving ships at sea. China is also claimed to have developed this technology (the DF-21D). But neither country has demonstrated their anti-ship ballistic missiles actually working.

In fact there is little evidence, in the public record that any versions of the Fateh 110 are effective or exist in large numbers. Iran regularly announces wondrous new weapons, developed entirely in Iran. Very few of these weapons are ever seen in service. Still, the Iranians can handle modern tech and it is possible that their Fateh 110 missiles, or at least most of them, would work in wartime

01..07..2015 par Philippe Chapleau - Lignes de Défense

La société américaine GSI (GovSource Inc) recherche des formateurs pour un contrat de 13 mois en Jordanie.

Les formateurs, tous anciens membres des FS américaines (au moins 3 ans d'expérience), devront avoir une expérience du mentoring au profit de soldats de nations partenaires.

Ils seront sur place pour le 1er août prochain et ils seront déployés au KASOTC (King Abdullah Special Operations Training Center, KASOTC.) pour y entrainer des recrues jordaniennes.

GSI recrute aussi des formateurs pour un autre contrat de 13 mois. Il s'agit de transformer un bataillon d'artillerie jordanien en un bataillon équipé de lance-roquettes multiples de type High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). La Jordanie dispose de 12 systèmes de ce type.

10/04/2015 Sources : Etat-major des armées

Du 23 février au 6 mars 2015, un détachement d’assistance opérationnelle « feux dans la profondeur » de l’unité de coopération régionale des Eléments Français au Sénégal (EFS), s’est rendu au centre d’entraînement tactique n°7 (CET7) de Thiès, au Sénégal. Ils y ont conduit une action de formation artillerie au profit de soldats sénégalais.

Les stagiaires sénégalais issus des sections de mortiers des 4ème  et 6ème bataillons d’infanterie et du bataillon parachutiste des forces armées sénégalaises (FAS), ont reçu une formation qui avait pour objectif de les remettre à niveau dans le domaine de l’artillerie. Le travail s’est axé autour des domaines suivants : calcul des éléments de tir (EPT), service de la pièce (EDP) et utilisation d’une équipe de reconnaissance (RECO), permettant ainsi de gagner en vitesse lors de l’équipement d’une position de tir.

La première semaine a été consacrée à l’instruction théorique, dispensée entre salle de cours. La deuxième semaine a quant à elle été réservée à la mise en pratique des savoir-faire acquis. Des exercices ont été effectués sur le terrain de manœuvre du CET7, permettant ainsi au personnel de s’entraîner à la manœuvre tactique et d’appliquer les procédures de travail étudiées plus tôt.

Au terme de ces deux semaines enrichissantes, les forces armées sénégalaises et le détachement des EFS ont procédé à la traditionnelle cérémonie de remise des attestations de stage.

Depuis 2011, les EFS constituent « un pôle opérationnel de coopération à vocation régionale » en Afrique de l’Ouest. A ce titre, ils conduisent des actions bilatérales et régionales de coopération militaire visant à accompagner les Etats africains dans le renforcement de leur capacité de maintien de la paix. Depuis le 1er janvier 2015, les EFS partagent cette activité de formation avec les forces françaises en Côte d’ Ivoire, seconde base opérationnelle avancée (BOA) en Afrique de l’Ouest avec celle de Djibouti.

March 20, 2015: Strategy Page

The United States recently sent Lebanon 72 M198 155mm howitzers and 25 million rounds of ammunition (mostly for rifles, but also thousands of mortar and 155mm shells). The U.S. valued the shipment at $25 million but that was being generous. The Americans began replacing their 1980s vintage M198s with M777s in 2007. Thus the United States has lots of M198s that were going to be scrapped or put in storage (and eventually scrapped). Artillery is much less in demand since the 1990s because of the development of cheaper and more accurate guided rockets and artillery shells. That said, the Lebanese were grateful for the American howitzers since these are still useful and Lebanon received them as a gift.

Until recently the M198 was the standard towed 155mm howitzer for the United States and many NATO counties. Each one weighs eight tons, and can fire conventional rounds as far as 22.4 kilometers. For rocket-assisted projectiles the range is 30 kilometers. These unguided shells land anywhere within a 200 meter circle. That's at 25 kilometers range. Accuracy gets worse at longer ranges. It takes 12 minutes for the M198 to be ready to fire after the truck towing it stops. It can pack up and move again in about 4 minutes. Using GPS the M198 can be in position to fire in less than ten minutes and shift to another target in about 8 minutes.

The M198 has been replaced by the M777A1 lightweight 155mm howitzers. The M777s cost $1.9 million each and the U.S. has bought 800 of them so far, for use by the army and marines (who are getting 377 of them). The manufacturer, BAE, has also received a contract to refurbish 33 M777s that returned from service in Afghanistan. This cost $91,000 per howitzer. The British designed howitzer is also used by Canada and Britain. The U.S. Army uses M777s in airborne and Stryker brigades. A five ton truck is used to tow the guns, but a special, 4.5 ton LWPM (Lightweight Prime Mover) is available to do that as well.

The five ton M777A1 is 40 percent lighter than the weapon it replaces, the M198. This is because the M777A1 makes extensive use of titanium, and new design techniques. It fires shells with a maximum range of 40 kilometers (using RAP, or rocket assisted projectile, ammo). A crew of five operates the gun, which can be ready to fire in under three minutes, and ready to move in under two minutes. The M777A1 is light enough to be moved (via a sling) by CH-53E and CH-47D helicopters. Its sustained rate of fire is two rounds a minute, with four rounds a minute for short periods.

What will really makes the M77A1 (and the M198) useful is the new GPS guided Excalibur shell which entered service in 2007. The Excalibur shell falls within a ten meter circle (the middle of that circle being the "aim point") at any range compared to the unguided shell that lands within a 200 meter (or larger) circle depending on range. The Excalibur shell is essential, because ten 155mm shells (of any type, with their propellant and packaging) weigh about a ton. Ammo supply has always been a major problem with artillery, and Excalibur is the solution making one shell where previously ten or more unguided ones were needed.

For users like Lebanon ammo supply is less of a problem because the howitsers will be operating within tiny Lebanon and never that far from a port or airbase were new supplies of ammo will arrive. Besides the U.S. isn’t giving any of the expensive Excalibur shells away.

11 mars 2015 British Army

03/05/2015  Richard de Silva - DefenceIQ

For a company that has one of the most seasoned histories in the U.S. defence market, dating back more than 40 years, it is no surprise that its role in supporting the field artillery needs of both its American and international customers is held in high regard. From the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), we take a look at where the company's artillery focus lies today in this exclusive feature.

Feb. 27, 2015 By Richard Tomkins (UPI)

The Army will use a special process to demilitarize obsolete 155mm artillery shells that will allow more casings to be reused.

MCALESTER, Okla., - A U.S. Army ammunition plant has developed a new process to make more recovered 155mm shell bodies viable for reuse as artillery training rounds.

The new process changes how the shell's base plate is removed, leaving its threads intact.

The obsolete D563, recovered from a demilitarization process, is then repacked with Insensitive Munition Explosive-101, or IMX-101, instead of TNT and Composition B. The result is the round is less likely to detonate if in a fire, hit by another munition or mishandled during transport, said the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant, which manufactures M1122 high explosive munitions.

"The new 'soft touch' of the manual download line will allow us to use almost all of the downloaded projectiles for M1122 and other programs that reuse those bodies," said Scott Sullivan, M1122 project manager at MCAAP.

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24 février, 2015 Nathan Gain (FOB)

De par son ampleur, la diversité des entreprises présentes et des produits mis en avant, l’International Defence Exhibition (IDEX), salon de défense bi-annuel devenu incontournable, réserve à chaque édition son lot de surprises.

L’édition 2015 n’a pas dérogé à la règle, apportant son lot de nouveautés, certaines étant parfois issues de nations plutôt « discrètes ». Relativement peu présent au sein de ce genre d’évènement, le Soudan est l’un de ces pays désormais capables de déployer un panel de nouveautés propre à surprendre jusqu’aux spécialistes les plus avertis. Au travers de l’importante « Military Industry Corporation » (MIC-Sudan), consortium national d’entreprises fondé en 1993, le Soudan crée et manufacture un vaste ensemble de produits et services, allant de la simple arme de poing au véhicule de combat d’infanterie.

Véritable vitrine de l’industrie soudanaise, la « Military Industry Corporation », basée à Karthoum, a traversé la mer Rouge avec deux produits majeurs : l’obusier automoteur de 122mm Khalifa-1 et le véhicule de reconnaissance Sarsar-2. Selon un délégué soudanais, tous deux sont déjà en service au sein de l’armée soudanaise.

Le Khalifa-1 est le résultat du mariage entre un canon de 122 mm D-30 et un chassis Kamaz 43118 6×6 redessiné, le tout pour une masse totale dépassant les 20 tonnes. Doté d’un équipage de 5 hommes, le Khalifa-1, selon MIC, est capable d’assurer une cadence de tir maximale allant jusqu’à 8 obus tirés à la minute (avec un premier obus déjà chargé, détail non négligeable). Capable d’atteindre une cible dans un rayon maximal de 17 km, le Khalifa-1 serait également en mesure de tirer son premier obus ou d’être prêt au redéploiement en un maximum d’une 1min30. Enfin, le Khalifa-1 est également équipé d’un système de contrôle de tir Karary IGZ01, composé d’un poste d’observation et d’un poste de commandement. De quoi rivaliser avec le Caesar ? D’après les représentants soudanais, cela ne fait aucun doute. Qu’importe la réponse, la question a au moins le mérite d’être posée.

Dans une toute autre catégorie, MIC met également l’accent un panel de véhicules légers, tel le véhicule de reconnaissance Sarsar-2. Basé sur un châssis KIA, le Sarsar-2 autorise le transport d’une escouade de 11 soldats (équipage compris), le tout protégé par un blindage de niveau BR6. Le moteur, un D4DA à 4 cylindres en ligne, développe 139 chevaux et autorise une vitesse maximale de 80 km/h. Une écoutille de toit permet l’installation d’une mitrailleuse de calibre 12.7mm/14.5mm.

Précisons que le Sarsar-2 et le Khalifa-1 ne sont que deux systèmes d’arme parmi tant d’autres présentés par la délégation soudanaise, démontrant par là même l’importance de s’intéresser à certaines industries nationales aux qualités par trop insoupçonnées.