MOSS POINT, Miss., Dec. 4 (UPI)

NATO's first Global Hawk unmanned surveillance vehicle is starting to take shape on a Northrop Grumman production line, the company reports.

The NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Block 40 Global Hawk has a cruise speed of 357 miles per hour, a range of 8,700 miles, a service ceiling of 60,000 feet and a flight endurance of more than 30 hours.

Once operational with NATO it will provide near real-time terrestrial and maritime situational awareness information throughout the full range of NATO military and civil-military missions.

NATO has ordered five of the aircraft, which will feature enhancements to meet the alliance's requirements for performing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, Northrop said.

"The variety of sensors and ability to support a wide range of missions will revolutionize how NATO collects ISR," said Jim Edge, general manager of NATO's Air, Ground Surveillance Management Agency. "It was an honor to witness the start of production for the first NATO aircraft, and I'm excited at being one step closer to delivering the AGS system."

Production was kicked off with a ceremony at Northrop's facility in Mississippi, which was attended by representatives of the alliance, state government officials, community leaders and Northrop employees.

"Mississippi excels at advanced manufacturing, and the sophisticated aircraft that will be built at Northrop Grumman's Moss Point facility are a testament to the quality of the area's workforce," Gov. Phil Bryant said at the event. "Our state is also building a strong presence in the aerospace industry, and this operation will certainly bolster our reputation."

The NATO AGS system will be equipped with the multi-mode, Multi-Platform Radar Technology Insertion airborne ground surveillance radar sensor to provide all-weather, day or night intelligence. The system a suite of network-centric enabled line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight long-range, wide-band data links.

It also features European-sourced ground assets to provide in-theater support to commanders of deployed forces. Mobile ground stations, for interface between the AGS core system and a wide range of interoperable NATO and national command, control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems are also part of the system.

"With the ability to fly up to 60,000 feet and for more than 30 hours, the NATO AGS system is uniquely suited to support NATO missions worldwide," said Jim Culmo, vice president, High-Altitude, Long Endurance Enterprise, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.

Northrop said NATO is acquiring the system with 15 nations participating in the program. They are: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United States.

Companies participating in the project with Northrop include Cassidian, Selex ES, Kongsberg and defense companies from participating countries.

Details of the production/delivery schedule for the first and subsequent Global Hawks was not disclosed.

BUDAPEST, Hungary, Dec. 4 (UPI)

The United States has lent a dozen MaxxPro Plus Mine Resistant Ambush Protected armored vehicles to Hungary for military training.

The MRAPS, manufactured by Navistar International, were used by the U.S. European Command and were delivered to the Hungarian armed forces by a U.S. Embassy official in Budapest late last month.

"Due to the significant deterioration of the security situation in Afghanistan in 2010 the most modern assets capable to provide service members with the highest level of survivability had been requested from the U.S. government," Defense Minister Csaba Hende said at a handover ceremony. "In the areas of operations, Hungarian military personnel have been using similar vehicles for years and such assets have greatly contributed to the minimization of losses."

About 200 Hungarian troops are currently deployed to Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. The MRAPs, which are used in Afghanistan, are needed for training of Hungarian personnel in their use.

The vehicles will be used at Hungary's Bakony Combat Training Center and the Szentendre NCO Academy.

4 décembre 2013, Portail des Sous-Marins

La marine indienne envisage de construire un porte-avions nucléaire, si les couts le permettent.

La marine indienne souhaite avoir 3 porte-avions mais le seul dont elle dispose actuellement, l’INS Viraat, est « vieux, dépassé et trop couteux à entretenir, » explique le chef de la marine indienne, l’amiral D.K. Joshi.

L’état-major de la marine prend graduellement conscience qu’il faudra probablement désarmer le porte-avions avant la date prévue.

Le porte-avions, âgé de 55 ans, a déjà subi plusieurs modernisations, très couteuse pour le budget de la défense.

Le mois dernier, la marine a admis au service l’INS Vikramaditya, l’ancien Gorshkov russe. Le porte-avions est actuellement en route vers l’Inde. Il faudra encore 6 mois après son arrivée à Karwar sur la côte ouest, pour le rendre entièrement opérationnel. Il est attendu en Inde en janvier.

Seuls les Etats-Unis disposent de plusieurs porte-avions, tous à propulsion nucléaire. L’importance des porte-avions en océan Indien, est l’objet d’une attention particulière pour les stratèges après la mise en service du porte-avions chinois, le Liaoning.

La Chine a aussi annoncé la semaine dernière la mise en place d’une zone d’identification aérienne en mer de Chine Orientale, dans une zone qui est aussi revendiquée par le Japon et la Corée du Sud. Les porte-avions sont le meilleur outil pour le « contrôle maritime ».

La marine indienne prendra une décision définitive sur son projet de porte-avions nucléaire IAC-2 — d’un déplacement de 65.000 t — après avoir étudié les expériences de la Grande-Bretagne et de la France.

L’état-major de la marine s’est fixée une échéance de 2 mois pour fixer le type de propulsion. La propulsion nucléaire donnerait une meilleure autonomie au porte-avions, mais le réacteur est cher à construire.

La Grande-Bretagne a abandonné l’idée de la propulsion nucléaire pour son porte-avions Queen Elizabeth II à cause du cout. La France est le seul pays, à part les Etats-Unis qui ait construit son propre porte-avions nucléaire, le Charles de Gaulle.

L’autre décision concerne le type d’équipements : catapulte et brins d’arrêt (comme les porte-avions américains et français) ou sky-jump (comme le britannique).

Le projet de porte-avions IAC-2 de 65.000 tonnes, qui pourrait être baptisé le Vishal, suivra le Vikrant, ou IAC-1, un porte-avions classique de 44.700 t actuellement en construction à Kochi.

Le Vikrant a été mis à l’eau en aout dernier. Il pourrait être admis au service actif en 2017. Le Viraat, le seul porte-avions dont dispose actuellement la marine indienne, serait désarmé à cette date.

Référence : Calcutta Telegraph (Inde)

ATHENES, 3 décembre - RIA Novosti

La Russie et la Grèce ont signé mardi un accord intergouvernemental de coopération dans le domaine militaire, a annoncé mardi aux journalistes le ministre russe de la Défense, le général Sergueï Choïgou.

"Nous avons signé un accord qui donne un nouveau cadre, de nouvelles frontières à notre coopération technico-militaire", a déclaré M. Choïgou à l'issue de négociations avec son homologue grec Dimitris Avramopoulos à Athènes.

Le document signé mardi "concerne les systèmes d'armement et de matériel de guerre déjà fournis à la Grèce, l'entretien de ces systèmes et la livraison de nouveaux armements", a indiqué le général Choïgou. 

Selon les médias russes, la défense antiaérienne grecque est équipée dans une large mesure par la Russie. L'armée grecque dispose notamment de missiles sol-air S-300 PMU, Tor-M1, Bouk-M1 et Ossa-AKM, ainsi que de systèmes antiaériens portatifs Igla.

03/12/2013 Par Guillaume Steuer – Air & Cosmos

La force aérienne espagnole envisage l'acquisition de trois A330 MRTT dans le cadre d'une initiative européenne visant à renforcer les capacités des pays de l'Union dans le domaine du ravitaillement en vol. Ces appareils pourraient faire l'objet d'une utilisation et d'une maintenance mutualisée avec d'autres membres de ce "club MRTT".

S'exprimant ce matin à l'occasion de la conférence "Military AIrlift Rapid Reaction and Tanker Operations", un responsable de la force aérienne espagnole expliquait que ces trois MRTT permettraient de remplacer l'unique ravitailleur (K)B-707 vieillissant aujourd'hui utilisé par Madrid, tout en développant de nouvelles capacités de projection de fret, de transport de troupes et de VIP.

L'aviateur soulignait toutefois que pour le moment, aucun financement n'a été identifié par Madrid pour mener à bien ce projet. Un sujet délicat, puisque le budget de la défense espagnol a été réduit de près d'un tiers depuis 2008, selon notre interlocuteur. L'Agence européenne de défense milite pour un achat en commun avec d'autres pays de ces nouveaux ravitailleurs, projet dont la France s'est pour l'instant écartée par souci de conserver son autonomie sur l'acquisition de ses propres MRTT.

La force aérienne espagnole se prépare par ailleurs à accueillir ses premiers A400M en 2016. Un seul exemplaire de l'Atlas sera livré cette année-là, suivi par quatre appareils en 2017, cinq en 2018, cinq en 2019, puis quatre par an jusqu'en 2022. L'officier espagnol confirmait que ces machines devraient être livrées en configuration "plug and fly", c'est à dire qu'elles seront capables d'emporter différents équipements de mission commandés en petit nombre : nacelles de ravitaillement, kits de blindage, autoprotection, liaison Satcom, etc. La base de Saragosse devrait jouer le rôle de "hub" pour les Atlas espagnols.

Déjà utilisatrice de C-295, l'Ejército del Aire réfléchit également à de futures versions multi-missions du bimoteur tactique d'Airbus Military. Selon un aviateur espagnol, cette plateforme pourrait servir de base à des appareils de surveillance maritime, de renseignement électronique ou de guet aérien.

Dec. 4, 2013 Pacific Sentinel

 

Cabinet of Jamaica government has approved a five-year recapitalisation project for the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) which will see the JDF replacing obsolete and mainly unserviceable V150 armoured cars in its fleet. Under the project, the JDF (Jamaica Defense Forces) will acquire 12 Thales Australia Bushmaster armoured personnel carriers (APCs) a report from the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) said.

At present, the JDF has a complement of 14 Cadillac Gage V150s, 10 of which were acquired 37 years ago in 1976 and the other four were acquired in 1985, according to the OPM.

Over the course of their service life within the JDF, the vehicles have been utilized as critical enablers in many high risk situations such as internal security deployments in support of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) as well as pre and post disaster response and rescue operations.

Delivery of the armoured vehicles will commence in 2015.

Read the full story at Army Recognition

A Mauritanian Super Tucano

29 November 2013 by Guy Martin – defenceWeb

The Nigerian Air Force is considering buying Super Tucano trainer and light attack aircraft from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer.

Nigerian Vice President Namadi Sambo expressed interest in purchasing the Super Tucano during a meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Michel Temer earlier this week.

Sambo and Temer held talks on bilateral relations between Nigeria and Brazil, and announced the creation of working groups on security and defence, amongst other areas, reports Xinhua. An agreement on intelligence sharing, particularly regarding drug-related crimes, will be signed soon. The two parties also discussed the possibility of repatriating 377 Nigerian prisoners in Brazil.

Brazil and Nigeria also discussed other possibilities for cooperation in fields such as trade, agriculture, mining, culture and energy. Trade between Nigeria and Brazil has grown from $1.6 billion in 2002 to $9.1 billion last year, Temer said.

Brazil and Nigeria have enjoyed warm defence relations – for example, in September 2012 the Brazilian Navy offshore patrol vessel (OPV) Amazonas (P120) visited Nigeria and conducted training with Nigerian personnel and vessels. Earlier this year Brazil’s new OPV Araguari (P122) visited Nigeria on its way home from the United Kingdom. Apart from Nigeria, it also visited Cape Verde, Cameroon, Sao Tome and Principe and Equatorial Guinea.

Nigeria has a strong requirement for an aircraft like the Super Tucano as it battles the domestic Boko Haram insurgency and also deploys combat aircraft to foreign countries on peacekeeping operations. The country is expected to vastly increase its defence spending over the coming years, and according to a recent Strategic Defence Intelligence report, the Nigerian defence market will go from $2.3 billion this year to $4.4 billion by 2018.

Piracy and oil smuggling in the Gulf of Guinea and a contribution to peacekeeping operations are expected to drive the country's military expenditure to register a growth rate of 13.62% over the next five years. The domestic Boko Haram insurgency is also expected to drive Nigeria’s security needs. The country’s growth in military expenditure will be assisted by the country's stable economic growth over the forecast period, which will a see rise in defence expenditure as a percentage of GDP from 0.8% in 2013 to 1.1% in 2018, according to the report.

“The growing threat from Boko Haram and other extremist groups in northeastern states, and drug trafficking are expected to drive the Nigerian government's investments in homeland security over the forecast period. Police modernization and homeland security infrastructure developments are expected to be primary areas for investment by the government,” the report noted.

Nigeria can be expected to buy military hardware such as naval helicopters, fighters, patrol vessels, and armoured personnel carriers over the next five years, mainly from foreign suppliers.

African Super Tucanos

Embraer has recorded a number of orders for its Super Tucano from African countries, which see it as a low cost light attack aircraft that can also be used as a trainer. On the continent, the Super Tucano has been ordered by Angola, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Senegal. Embraer is highly optimistic about future orders for the type from Africa.

Angola officially received its first three of six Super Tucanos in July this year and is using them for border surveillance, attack and pilot training. Burkina Faso was the first African country to take delivery of a Super Tucano, receiving three aircraft in September 2011 for border patrol missions. In October last year Mauritania received their first aircraft, featuring sensor turrets for surveillance duties, although they will also be used for counter-insurgency missions.

In April Senegal bought three A-29 Super Tucanos as well as a training system for pilots and mechanics. It will use the aircraft for border surveillance and internal security duties.

Over a dozen global customers have purchased the A-29 Super Tucano. The fleet has surpassed 180 000 flight hours and 28 000 combat hours, according to Embraer.

The A-29 Super Tucano is capable of performing a broad range of missions that include light attack, aerial surveillance and interception, and counter-insurgency.

The Super Tucano is equipped with a variety of sensors and equipment, including an electo-optical/infrared system with laser designator, night vision goggles, secure communications and data-link package.

Armament comprises one .50-caliber machinegun in each wing. Five hardpoints can carry a maximum external load of 1 550 kilograms (3 420 lb). Weapons options include gun pods, bombs, rocket pods, and (on the two outboard stations) air-to-air missiles.

A lineup of artillery - defenceWeb

02 December 2013 by Oscar Nkala - defenceWeb

Russian-Israeli billionaire businessman Arkady Gaydamak who is wanted in France to serve a six-year sentence for his role in the Angolagate arms sale scandal, has been detained in the Swiss capital Zurich.

Gaydamak has since filed an application for bail but the French government has reportedly made contact with Switzerland seeking his immediate extradition so that he can serve his pending jail term in France.

Angolagate, also known as the Mitterrand-Pasqua affair, involved the illegal shipment of arms from Europe worth $790 million to Angola in the 1990s. Through the deals, military equipment which included warships, helicopters, tanks, artillery shells and landmines were sold to the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) despite an international arms embargo which was in place because the force was at war with Jonas Savimbi's National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebel movement.

Luxembourg news site PaperJam reported that Swiss police acting on an arrest warrant issued in Luxembourg arrested Gaydamak in Zurich while he was meeting his lawyers to discuss another probe in connection with the controversial acquisition of a $50 million phosphate factory in Kazakhstan by a shell company suspected to have been fronting for him.

However, AFP reported that Gaydamak’s arrest was ordered because he had not paid 400 000 euros to an Israeli football club he once owned.

In October 2009, a French magistrate court tried Gaydamak in absentia and sentenced him to six years in prison for illegal arms sales, abuse of public assets, bribery, fraud, tax evasion and money laundering in connection with the Angolan arms. The court found that together with French businessman Pierre Falcone, Gaydamak acted as a conduit for the payment of 'lobbying fees', to former French interior minister Charles Pasqua by Angolan officials.

The court found that sales of Soviet made weaponry, including 420 tanks, 150,000 shells, 170,000 anti-personnel mines, 12 helicopters and six warships, began when Mitterrand's father Francois was in office in 1993 and continued until 1998.

In April 2011 a French appeals court reduced Gaydamak’s jail term to three years, for money laundering and tax fraud.

Pasqua is alleged to have used his influence to help Angola secure the arms despite official disapproval of the deal by the French government and the UN arms embargo on Angola at the time. A warrant for his arrest was issued immediately afterwards and Gaydamak has been on the run since then. Following a successful appeal in April 2011, Gaydamak's sentence was reduced to three years.

Angolagate involved 36 politically connected French citizens who included Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, the son of former president Francois Mitterrand. However, top Angolan government officials and members of the political-business elite linked to President Dos Santos who were implicated in the case by French prosecutors have not been arrested to date.

Le mégacontrat SRSAM (Short Range Surface to Air Missile), un missile sol-air de nouvelle génération, est actuellement dans les mains du Bercy indien

03/12/2013 Michel Cabirol – LaTribune.fr

Selon des sources concordantes, MBDA ne signera pas en 2013 le mégacontrat SRSAM (Short Range Surface to Air Missile), un missile sol-air de nouvelle génération, co-développé et coproduit en Inde avec Bharat Dynamics Limited. Un contrat estimé à 1,8 milliard d'euros pour MBDA

PARIS, Dec. 2 (UPI)

EADS, the European aerospace and defense conglomerate, says it plans to significantly grow its presence in Poland through links with local companies.

Two major business and investment events, called EADS Aerospace Meetings Poland, are being held in Warsaw and Lodz this month at which EADS executives will meet with some 200 Polish industry representatives over opportunities in the areas of procurement, industrial cooperation, research and development and supply chain management.

"We believe the time has come for a strategic move to be made between the Polish defense industry and European industry through stronger links with EADS, a true symbol of global success in Europe's aerospace and defense sector," said Jean-Pierre Talamoni, corporate vice president for International (business) at EADS.

"We think there is room today for Poland to play a much bigger role in Europe's wider defense industry. Our aim is to open all EADS divisions to Polish companies in a structured and lasting industrial relationship."

EADS major subsidiaries include Airbus, Astrium, Cassidian and Eurocopter.

SINGAPORE, Dec. 2 (UPI)

Tognum AG's Singapore subsidiary has been given a contract to supply diesel engines for use on littoral patrol vessels by the Republic of Singapore navy.

The contract for MTU 20V 4000 M93L diesel engines was issued by Singapore Technologies Marine Ltd., which is building eight vessels for the Singaporean navy.

The value of the contract was not disclosed. A delivery schedule was also not disclosed but the first patrol boat is scheduled for delivery in 2016.

The MTU 20V 4000 M93L diesel engines are known for their low fuel consumption and long service life. The engines produce 4300kW (5766bhp), the company said.

The engines are made by MTU, a German subsidiary of Tognum, which has its headquarters in Germany.

"MTU's reputation, brought about by its powerful, economical and clean engines combined with a track record as a leading innovator, has cemented its status as one of world's leading suppliers of engines and propulsion systems in the marine industry," Tognum said.

CANBERRA, Australia, Dec. 2 (UPI)

Phased array radar technologies are being developed in Australia by CEA Technologies under contract from the government.

The award was given to CEA Technologies, which will leverage its CEAFAR phased array radar for the project.

"The CEAFAR radar is currently being fitted to the ANZAC -class frigates as part of a major upgrade," said Minister for Defense David Johnston. "This radar is a world-leading capability for a system of its weight and size and importantly, is considerably more cost-effective than comparable systems.

"The development of high-power phased array radar based on the CEAFAR system builds on the substantial investment in domestic radar-related research and development."

CEAFAR is a 3D active phased array radar with a microwave tile-based design and is scalable in size and optimized for littoral and open ocean.

Details of the contract awarded to CEA Technologies were not provided by the Australian Department of Defense, which announced the award.

Bat  R-Bat on display Northrop Grumman offices in Rancho Bernardo photo Alex Fuller - UT San Diego

Nov. 30, 2013 By Jeanette Steele – utsandiego.com

Vice president talks about capabilities of smaller UAVs

Northrop Grumman, which engineers the Navy’s Fire Scout unmanned helicopter and the Air Force’s Global Hawk surveillance plane in San Diego, recently showed off two smaller drones at the company’s burgeoning Rancho Bernardo offices.

The defense giant has 2,000 employees at its San Diego “unmanned systems center of excellence” and recently took occupancy of an eighth building there.

And it wants to expand into new territory.

U-T San Diego spoke to George Vardoulakis, Northrop Grumman vice president for medium-range tactical systems, about the two smaller drones, the Bat and the R-Bat. He also discussed the new, beefed-up Navy Fire Scout.

Q: Give us the five-minute tour of the Bat and R-Bat.

A: Let’s start off with the Bat. This is a 12-foot aircraft with a “blended wing” body. Right now, we are in the flight test phase. We are testing these aircraft out in Yuma, Ariz. It’s got a six- to eight-hour flying endurance.

This is the R-Bat. It flies with the same control system as the fixed-wing aircraft, so we are leveraging the vehicle management computer between these two.

This one here is just for our guys to play with. It gives our engineers the opportunity to test our software and experiment.

Q: What has Bat been used for to date?

A: Bat was deployed to Afghanistan (with the U.S. Special Operations Command) for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. It was doing improvised explosive device (roadside bomb) detection for our troops.

As part of the drawdown, we brought it back home, and we’re doing additional tests. And we’re scaling from this 12-foot aircraft up to 18 and 20 feet.

Q: What are the applications in the future for these two UAVs?

A: Ideally, the R-Bat in the commercial world is used for agriculture. Farmers will do crop dusting in their fields. Today they do that with a remotely piloted joystick. In the future, at some point when the Federal Aviation Administration clears it, they could do something like that autonomously.

Q: “Autonomous” means the drone is programmed to fly a specific route, as opposed to a hands-on operator “flying it” when it is in the air?

A: We not only preprogram it to run a route, but it can also be dynamically tasked. So, while it is running those autonomous routes, we can actually intervene and say, “I’d like to continue to loiter here, or move from there to that point.”

Q: It seems like drones are the way of the future, and not just for U.S. military use. Are there other commercial applications for these two drones?

A: The reality is they will eventually be used for a lot of things. Beyond agriculture — going up and down pipelines, looking for oil leaks in the Arctic.

Doing border surveillance, outfitting them with sensors for illegal immigration — aircraft are doing that today. Going out to oil rigs to move cargo and food supplies back and forth.

At some point in the military application, medevacs in a hostile environment. There’s an unlimited number of applications.

Q: What about public use? Some people might like to own one of these themselves.

A: I don’t think we are ready for that yet. There are security concerns, public privacy concerns. I think we all have to work our way through that. We’re working closely with the FAA to make sure that we can harmoniously fly unmanned aircraft with manned aircraft. It’s early in that process. And we want to make sure that we are bringing standards of autonomy up to a level where all of us feel comfortable, so that no matter who makes it, it’s done right and safe.

Q: Let’s talk about the MQ-8C Fire Scout, the unmanned helicopter that will deploy on Navy warships.

A: (Behind me) is the second test aircraft. It’s on its way to Point Mugu (Navy base in Ventura County).

We’ve got six months of flight testing in front of us. On the back side of that flight test period, we’re going to go out to a littoral combat ship to do dynamic interface testing. And then the Navy will be deploying these things.

Q: If these are test vehicles, when will regular production Fire Scout C’s start making an appearance?

A: The very first production aircraft will be here in a month. We are delivering an aircraft to Point Mugu every month.

Q: These will deploy with San Diego Navy ships. But we won’t see them in the skies over San Diego, correct?

A: Right now the military plans on deploying these things overseas, when they are out in international waters and/or over combatant areas. We don’t have FAA clearance to fly these in FAA airspace. Unfortunately! We’d all like to see these things flying at places other than Point Mugu.

Q: Talk about Northrop’s unmanned center in San Diego. As the use of drones grows, so do jobs here?

A: We do all our design and development work here for not only the medium-range, medium-altitude portfolio that I run … but also the high-altitude, long-endurance team just down the street.

So Global Hawks, Tritons, Euro Hawks, Fire Scouts, Fire Birds, Bats — all developed here. All of our advance programs, which are the future of unmanned aviation, are also born here.

We are growing, continuing to expand. We’ve moved folks from New York and Florida who were working on our autonomous systems to San Diego to join the rest of the family.