02/02/2015 Richard de Silva - DefenceIQ

According to a new study, there may be a need for investment in a “more offensive” surface warfare strategy, given the evolving global threat environment and the spectrum of utility for systems such as long-range missiles, directed energy and electromagnetic rail guns.

The research, conducted by Washington D.C.-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), recommended that the U.S. Navy not only invests further in these systems but looks to increase their impact by restructuring the surface fleet and embracing new tactics. It argues that controlling the waters in the coming years will play a particularly vital role in strategic defence, not least because of the increasing opportunity of interoperation between naval, air, land and space assets.

Analysts are looking towards the mid-2020s as a make-or-break deadline, a period in which it is envisaged that there will be a global focus on anti-access/area-denial. A2/AD has already been causing strategic pressures in the Persian Gulf, the East China Sea, and other waters that require multinational port access, shipping routes or military patrols. When done correctly, the tactic can prevent troops from landing by sea or limit the range at which surface vessels can support forces inshore.

In tandem, there is a renewed focus among many nations on the growing threat of ballistic missiles. Spurred further by the conflict in Ukraine, fears that were last at their height during the Cold War have returned, but since this time, anti-missile strategic focus has centred primarily on asymmetric threats, such as counter-rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM) systems.

A great deal of interest now lies on the US Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system, comprising a network of warships designed to intercept ballistic missiles post-boost phase and prior to reentry. Latest tests (as of November 2014) conducted by the Missile Defense Agency in the Pacific with recent upgrades have been reported as successful.

It is interesting to note that China has also identified a need to develop its seaborne missile capability and has announced that its own version of Aegis is also to expand with plans to launch eight new warships (Types 052C and 052D) to augment its ten existing destroyers and new aircraft carrier. Construction is to begin this year.

Most recently, the US Navy sees the deployment of two additional Aegis destroyers (F-100) in Spain his year as providing a “significant deterrent”, according to remarks made to Sputnik News Agency. A representative of US Naval Forces Europe stated that the placement of the vessels maximised “their operational flexibility for missions in the Atlantic and Mediterranean” while further enabling rapid response to any crisis.

The F100 Álvaro de Bazán class multi-role frigate is one of the few non-US warships to carry the Aegis Combat System and its associated AN/SPY-1 radar, along with ballistic resistant steel in the hull and anti-vibration power plants. Other nations to carry the honour are Japan, South Korea and Norway.

Captain Manuel Martinez-Ruiz, programme director for the F-100 (as well as overseeing the impending introduction of the F-110 frigates) – believes the vessels are up to the task of dealing with a range of threats in the coming years and have already demonstrated their value as an AEGIS component during recent exercises.

“The Spanish Navy’s F-100 Frigates have shown excellent AAW capabilities since the commissioning of F-101 Alvaro de Bazán in 2001, and having participated in numerous NATO, US and UNO Coalition operations,” Martinez-Ruiz told Defence IQ.

“On the other hand, frigate F-104 Mendez Nuñez had a limited BMS&T (ballistic missile defense surveillance and tracking) role at FTM-12 (Flight Test Maritime-12) while  Alvaro de Bazan conducted some interoperability tests during Maritime Theatre Missile Defence events during Combat Systems Ship's Qualification Trials. Recently, the F-100 C2 capabilities have been improved through Joint Range Extension.”

“While I consider land based asymmetric threats to be something to pay attention to in the future at the tactical level, I believe ballistic missile defence threats – both current and emerging – are something that impacts us on a more strategic and political level, and involves much more complex action among our agencies and nations. What is clear however is that the Spanish Navy’s future ships, such as the F-110 frigates, will be focused more on countering asymmetric threats.”

As technology evolves, the opportunities for surface warship capabilities are ever-increasing as long as the R&D funding can keep up. Of course, with rising complexities, new challenges also rear their heads, particularly when it comes to introducing new systems into an existing family of systems and then testing them within the parameters of a realistic scenario.

“I think the biggest challenge is to be able to characterise anti-aircraft warfare and BMD threats in order to operate them in a coordinated way by improving ‘detect-control-engage’ technology,” Martin-Ruiz explained. “The need to face emerging BMD and AAW threats at force level in this way requires an improved C2 architecture, sensor-to-shooter technology, as well as mission planning capabilities. Also, increasing radar sensitivity with electronic counter-countermeasures (ECCM) capabilities will be the next hurdle for radar technology.”

The field is further complicated by the increasingly urgent need to ensure that multinational systems are integrated alongside standardised methods and tactics, a situation that can only be achieved through continued multilateral naval exercises.

“That will be extremely important in the coming years,” Martinez-Ruiz confirms, “as will the need to increase interoperability among NATO and allied forces. New protocols such as JRE-C and more robust data link capabilities with images and progressive streaming video transmission mechanisms (for example, JPEG2000 based on wavelets) are possibly required to face asymmetric and emerging threats. There are some exciting multinational projects underway now such as NATO’s Smart Defence project and the MTMD forum in which our Navy is interested.”

Martinez-Ruiz will be briefing the delegation at this year’s Integrated Air and Missile Defenceconference (Seville, Spain, 16-18 March). He identified a specific set of focuses with which he hopes those attending will truly engage. These include European initiatives on AIMD, threat assessment and mission planning, characterisation of emerging threats, technology for asymmetric threats, and discussion on mission modules and UAVs.

2 February, 2015 By Arie Egozi - FG

At this stage in its procurement process, the Indian air force wants Israeli-made air-to-air missiles to hang under the wings of its new fighter aircraft. The Indian government has yet to make the final selection between the French Dassault Rafale and the Russian Sukhoi Su-30. But all indications are that there is a consensus among professionals about the air-to-air weapon. If the SU-30 is eventually selected to be the backbone of the Indian air force, the intention of New Delhi is to equip it with two Israeli-made, combat-proven air-to-air missiles. Both are manufactured by Rafael: one is the Python 5, a fifth-generation air-to-air missile; and the other is the Derby active radar missile.

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January 31, 2015 defense-aerospace.com

(Source: Defence24.com Poland; published January 31, 2015)

Poland’s Armament Inspectorate has started a tender to acquire AMRAAM training missiles, and 200 guided and 300 unguided bombs for the Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Jastrząb fighters stationed at the Łask AB. Final offer placing deadline expires on 2nd March this year.

This is yet another armament bundle for the aircraft based at the 32nd Tactical Air Base.

The tender is to make it possible to realize the following purchases:

-- 32 practice CTAM-120C AMRAAM missiles,

-- 100 GPS-guided GBU-38 JDAM Bombs (based on Mk. 82 500 lbs. bombs),

-- 100 laser guided GBU-12 bombs (also based on the Mk.82 bombs) ,

-- 200 Mk. 84 unguided bombs (1000 lbs.),

-- 100 Mk.82 bombs and

-- 3000 CXU-3A/B practice bomb signal cartridges, which are used to indicate the hit point of the dummy bombs.

The final part of the tender is to involve up to 5 bidders, who are experienced in provision of such supplies, and have at least 5 years of experience gathered within the European Union.

95% of the assessment of the offers is based on the price, while the remaining 5% are to be based on maintenance services.

February 2nd, 2015 defencetalk.com

Pakistan on Monday conducted a successful flight test of the indigenously developed Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) “Ra’ad”, said an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release.

The Ra’ad missile, with a range of 350 km, enables Pakistan to achieve ‘strategic standoff capability’ on land and at sea.

“Cruise Technology” is extremely complex and has been developed by only a few countries in the world. The state of the art Ra’ad Cruise Missile with stealth capabilities is a low altitude, terrain hugging missile with high maneuverability; can deliver nuclear and conventional warheads with pin point accuracy.

Director General Strategic Plans Division, Lieutenant General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, while congratulating the scientists and engineers on achieving yet another milestone of historic significance, termed it a major step towards strengthening Pakistan’s full spectrum credible minimum deterrence capability. Pakistan’s strategic pursuits are aimed at achieving strategic stability in the region, he said.

He appreciated the technical prowess, dedication and commitment of scientists who contributed whole heartedly to make this launch a success.

He showed his full confidence over operational preparedness of strategic forces including employment and deployment concepts, refinement and training of all ranks in operational and technical domains.

The successful launch has been commended by President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who have congratulated the scientists and engineers on their outstanding achievement.

MOSCOU, 26 janvier - RIA Novosti
 

Une version du nouveau missile balistique intercontinental lourd russe Sarmat pourra transporter une charge utile de 10 tonnes dans n'importe quel point du globe, a annoncé le vice-ministre russe de la Défense Iouri Borissov.

"Nous avons déjà fabriqué certains éléments du missile conformément au calendrier des travaux", a ajouté M.Borissov sur les ondes de la radio russe RSN.

Les Troupes balistiques stratégiques russes (RVSN) seront dotées de missiles Sarmat entre 2018 et 2020.

Par ailleurs, M.Borissov a noté que la Russie cherche à prolonger la durée d'exploitation des missiles balistiques intercontinentaux RS-20V Voevoda, les plus puissants missiles au monde connus en Occident sous le nom de SS-18 Satan.

Le missile intercontinental Sarmat aura un poids de 100 tonnes. Il est destiné à remplacer le célèbre RS-20V Voevoda.

January 27, 2015: Strategy Page

In December 2014 Iran held military exercises in which it claimed it had converted one of its UAVs into a “suicide drone” and successfully tested it. The story behind this story is far more interesting. This suicide drone is actually a cruise missile and is based on what Iran claims is a copy of the American ScanEagle UAV. This is a low-tech, commercially available UAV that contains no classified components. In early 2013 Iran released photos of their new production facility producing copies of ScanEagle. But Iran did not present any of the completed “Yasir” (as they called their version of ScanEagle) UAVs. Iran could have built a ScanEagle clone without copying from one they had obtained (either from a crash or the black market). The ScanEagle assembly line picture could have simply been Photoshopped, a technique Iran has been caught using numerous times. The Iranian version was said to have a range of 200 kilometers max altitude of 2,900 meters and max endurance of eight hours. By replacing the surveillance equipment and much of the fuel with explosives Iran would have a short range (a hundred kilometers or so) cruise missile with over a 10 kg (over 22 pounds) of explosives that could, in theory, hit anything within range. That is if it can get past the air defenses. Most Western air defense systems have been upgraded to detect UAVs and low flying cruise missiles.

Actually, defenses against cruise missiles go back over 70 years. Cruise Missiles have been around for that long. The first one appeared during World War II as the German V-1 "Buzz Bomb". The British developed a number of countermeasures. It was the Israelis that began using TV-equipped UAVs in combat during the 1980s. At the same time it was the United States that reinvented the buzz bomb as the modern cruise missile in the 1980s. A decade later the Americans borrowed from the Israelis to create their own UAVs for surveillance.

Yasir first appeared in December 2012 when Iran insisted it had captured a U.S. Navy ScanEagle UAV and copied it. The U.S. said none of its ScanEagles were missing. Iran then released a photo of the captured ScanEagle. But the photo showed a ScanEagle without military markings that appeared to have been reassembled after a crash. The U.S. did reveal that several ScanEagles had been lost over the last few years (due to communications or mechanical failures) in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf and the wreckage was not recovered. This is where Iran might have obtained their ScanEagle (perhaps via fishermen who haulded it in and took it to the black market). In any event, stunts like this are mainly for raising morale among Iranian civilians depressed over economic problems. It doesn’t really matter what the U.S. says or does.

A ScanEagle weighs 19 kg (40 pounds), has a 3.2 meter (ten foot) wingspan, and uses day and night video cameras. This makes it easier for the UAV, flying over land or water, to spot small speed boats or individual vehicles. The commercial version of ScanEagle has been in service since the 1990s to help high seas fishing ships find schools of fish to go after. Cruising speed is 110 kilometers an hour. The ScanEagle can stay in the air for up to 15 hours per flight and fly as high as 5 kilometers (16,000 feet). The aircraft carries an optical system that is stabilized to keep the cameras focused on an object while the UAV moves. The UAV can operate at least a hundred kilometers from the ground controller. The ScanEagle is launched from a catapult and landed via a wing hook that catches a rope hanging from a 16 meter (fifty foot) pole. This makes it possible to operate the UAV from the helicopter pad on the stern (rear) of a warship or any open space on a seagoing fishing ship. Each ScanEagle costs about $100,000 and is still widely used by commercial fishing, ocean survey, and research ships, as well as military organizations in several countries. ScanEagle has been in military service since 2005.

18/01/2015 psk.blog.24heures.ch

AgustaWestland termine la phase de modernisation de son hélicoptère de combat AW129 « Mangusta » avec l’adaptation d’un nouveau système de détection électro-optique, qui pourra notamment mettre en oeuvre le missile « Spike-NLOS ».

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January 20, 2015 armyrecognition.com

Israel deployed an Iron Dome missile defense battery along its northern border with Syria and planned a high-level security meeting in anticipation of retaliation for an airstrike that killed Lebanese Hezbollah militants and an Iranian general, Israel Radio reported.

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Jan 15, 2015 Spacewar.com  (UPI)

The U.S. Navy has authorized the use of long-range multi-role SM-6 missiles by more ships in the fleet equipped with the Aegis Combat Weapons System.

Raytheon, the missile's manufacturer, said the authorization affects more than 35 ships with the Aegis baseline 5.3 and 3.A.0 system series.

"SM-6 is the longest range integrated air and missile defense interceptor deployed, and its multi-role capabilities are unprecedented," said Mike Campisi, Raytheon's Standard Missile-6 senior program director. "Its use is transforming how we define fleet defense."

The SM-6 is a surface-to-air supersonic missile. It is designed to defeat manned and unmanned aerial vehicles, fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and anti-ship cruise missiles in flight. It features active and semi-active guidance, advanced fuzing techniques and signal processing and guidance control capabilities.

Raytheon assembles the weapon at its facility at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Ala.

Details on any ramp up in production of the missiles were not disclosed by the company.

Aegis is a naval weapons system that integrates computer and radar technology to track and guide weapons to targets.

Jan 14, 2015 Spacewar.com (Sputnik)

Moscow, Russia - Russia will create an Air-Space Force from the merger of its Air Force and Space Forces in 2015, the country's Armed Forces General Staff chief, Valery Gerasimov, said Tuesday.

"A new type of armed forces will be created in 2015, the Air-Space Forces, by combining two already existing types of military armed forces: the Air Force and Space Forces," Gerasimov said.

Earlier it was reported that Russia would combine these two military forces in 2016.

According to Gerasimov, the military is working to develop a reliable layered missile defense system in space, and to deploy newest radars.

The establishment of the Air-Space Forces has been widely discussed in the press in recent years, but such rumors were always denied by the authorities. Last summer, Russian Air Force commander-in-chief Lt. Gen. Viktor Bondarev confirmed the creation of the new force.

January 12th, 2015 defencetalk.com

The U.S. media recently reported that the new type-055 guided missile destroyer of the Navy of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLAN) and the U.S. Aegis warship are on a par with each other in terms of power and strength and that the type-055 destroyer is one of the five weapons China might use to change rules of the game in the future.

However, Yin Zhuo, a Chinese military expert, said in an interview that the so-called type-055 destroyer is not the world’s largest guided missile destroyer and speculation that it will change the rules of the game is just an exaggeration.

Previously, U.S. media reported that the PLAN’s type-055 destroyer has a displacement of 10,000 tons and can carry 128 anti-ship cruise missiles, anti-aircraft missiles and ship-to-ground attack cruise missiles. It can be even equipped with electromagnetic guns and laser weapons. The type-055 destroyer is able to carry out in-depth strikes through cruise missiles and also protect its taskforce through the control of airspace.

The U.S. media even believed that judging from its huge volume, strong arm system and advanced sensing equipment, the type-055 destroyer will meet or exceed the capability of “Aegis” destroyer which is current deployed by the U.S. and its allies in the Pacific.

Yin Zhuo said that the type-055 destroyer is not the world’s largest destroyer. In terms of tonnage, although the type-055 has a lot of advantages over the type-052C and the type-052D, it is certainly not the largest destroyer in the world.

Currently, the displacement of Russia’s Modern-class destroyer and Udaloy-class destroyer has reached 8,000 to 9,000 tons. The displacement of Japan’s Atago-class destroyer is over 9,000 tons and the U.S. DDG-1000 destroyer has a displacement of 12,000 tons.

The Type 055 destroyer can in no way change the rules of the game in the future.

Yin argued that “the interpretation of the type-055 new missile destroyer by Western media was excessive. Since the World War II, the emergence of nuclear weapons transformed conventional war into nuclear war; the emergence of the aircraft carrier has shifted the leading role in water battle from fleet to aviation personnel. These two forms of weapons have changed the war significantly. At present, relying solely on the destroyer could not change the rules of war. Even the DDG-1000 destroyer of the U.S. cannot change that.”

Some Western media reported that the type-055 destroyer might have some new operational capabilities and it has the ability to attack air, land and other ships. These are important to improving the capability of the PLAN.

Yin Zhuo believed that the type-055 destroyer is equivalent to the U.S. Arleigh Burke-class destroyer or Japan’s Atago-class destroyer. The type-055 destroyer is equipped with digital phased radar, similar to the U.S. and Japanese destroyers at the technical level. Meanwhile, the type-055 destroyer has large tonnage and thus can carry more weapons. If the Western media is correct, its payload will be about one hundred pieces.

Yin Zhuo also expressed that the type-055 destroyer might welcome a new power system. If the warship is equipped with new-concept weapons, a whole dynamic electric power system commanded by computers will be introduced. Because launching new-concept weapons including laser weapons and electromagnetic guns requires enormous energy within a short period of time. Using digital all-electric propulsion will be a revolutionary change for the PLAN.

Jan. 6, 2015 hurriyetdailynews.com

Turkey’s Defense Industry Executive Committee is expected to discuss a long-range anti-missile deal at its first 2015 meeting on Jan. 7 under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.
The main topic of the meeting will be the long-range air and anti-missile deal for which negotiations are continuing with China, the United States and Europe.

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17 décembre 2014 timesofisrael.com (AFP)

Le nouveau système de défense antimissile, Arrow 3 a été testé mardi, mais il n’a pas pu être testé en condition réelle

Israël a procédé mardi au test d’un nouveau système de défense antimissiles, Arrow 3, mais a dû renoncer à expérimenter dans des conditions réelles ses capacités à intercepter un engin supposé hostile, selon un responsable du ministère de la Défense cité dans la presse.

Israël avait prévu d’intercepter pour la première fois avec Arrow 3, un système israélo-américain, un missile factice tiré au-dessus de la Méditerranée.

Mais « les conditions n’ayant pas été réunies et en fonction de nos critères, nous avons décidé de ne pas lancer l’intercepteur Arrow 3″, a dit Yaïr Ramati, haut responsable du ministère cité sur le site internet du quotidien Jerusalem Post.

« Une panne est survenue au cours du test du missile ennemi qui devait servir de cible, pour des raisons inconnues », a rapporté le site d’information Wallaafpa, citant des experts de l’industrie militaire.

Le ministère de la Défense a simplement indiqué, dans un communiqué, qu’un missile d’interception avait « été lancé avec succès et suivi par le système Arrow dans le cadre du programme de tests menés avec l’Agence américaine de défense antimissiles ».

Le lancement du projet Arrow remonte à 1988, dans le cadre du programme antibalistique américain connu sous le nom de « Star Wars ». Il a été accéléré après le bombardement du territoire israélien par des missiles Scud irakiens durant la première guerre du Golfe, en 1991.

Le Arrow et ses différentes versions sont l’une des quatre composantes du projet « Homa » (« muraille » en hébreu) qui vise à protéger Israël des attaques de missiles et roquettes. Israël cherche en particulier à se protéger d’une menace iranienne.

Le programme Arrow, en partie financé par les Etats-Unis, a été conçu et réalisé par Israel Aerospace Indutries avec Boeing, et les entreprises israéliennes Elta et Elbit-Elisra.