AN /TPY-2 is the world's most advanced multi-functional, X-band radar

Dec 31, 2011 ASDNews Source : Raytheon Corporation

The Missile Defense Agency is awarding Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) a contract to provide two AN/TPY-2 radars to the U.S. Army as the radar component to the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system. The firm-fixed-price contract is for $363.9 million.

"The AN/TPY-2 is the world's most advanced, mobile X-band radar," said Dave Gulla, vice president for Global Integrated Sensors at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. "It serves as the radar for the THAAD System, an important component of MDA's Ballistic Missile Defense System."

The AN/TPY-2 is a multi-functional radar that searches, detects, tracks and discriminates ballistic missile threats, seamlessly integrating with a variety of ballistic defense systems. In addition to supporting the U.S. Army in a terminal defense role as part of a THAAD Battery, AN/TPY-2 radars are deployed around the world providing continuous forward-based ballistic missile defense as a key component of the global Ballistic Missile Defense Architecture.

The most recent deployment of the AN/TPY-2 radar represents a major milestone in achieving the Administration's European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA), which aims to deter, dissuade, and, if necessary, defeat enemy ballistic missiles that threaten the U.S., deployed forces, friends and allies. The AN/TPY-2 is the critical sensor component of the EPAA.

Work on the AN/TPY-2 radars for this contract will be performed at Raytheon facilities in Massachusetts and by suppliers in 33 states.

30 décembre 2011 à 15h 33 par Stéphan Julienne L’USINE NOUVELLE

Trois appareils sans pilote, appelés A160 Hummingbird, vont faire leur entrée en mission de reconnaissance en Afghanistan d'ici à l'été 2012. Chacun de ces engins, développé par Boeing, peut voler jusqu'à 20 000 pieds. L'A160 est doté d'un mode de pilotage intelligent, d'un nouveau type de rotor ainsi que du dispositif ARGUS. Ce système permet en particulier de surveiller des zones de 65 km2. Il est capable de prendre des images de très haute qualité, à 1,8 gigapixel de résolution, très très loin devant le plus perfectionné des appareils photo reflex du marché.

December 30, 2011: STRATEGY PAGE

The U.S. has agreed to invest another $235 million in Israeli anti-missile efforts. The money is going to two systems. The less well-known one is the David's Sling/Magic Wand air and missile defense system being developed as a replacement for the American Patriot system. The Magic Wand missiles have a longer range (300 kilometers) and better capabilities than Patriot. The American manufacturer of Patriot is cooperating with work on Magic Wand and the U.S. investment gives America access to any new technology. Magic Wand is expected to be ready for service in 2-3 years and would eventually replace Israeli Hawk and Patriot anti-aircraft batteries.

A year ago there were successful tests of the Stunner missiles (yet another development of the Israeli Python heat seeking air-to-air missile) to be used by Magic Wand. Stunner apparently came out of the work to develop the Spyder anti-aircraft missile.

Spyder is a mobile short range system using, as many such systems do these days, air-to-air missiles. Spyder launchers (truck mounted, with four box like launch cells each) can carry either the Python 5 heat seeking missile (3.22 meters/ten feet long, 105 kg/231 pounds, with a range of 15 kilometers) or the Derby radar guided missile (3.6 meters/11.2 feet long, 122 kg/267 pounds, with a range of 65 kilometers). The Derby is actually a larger Python, with more fuel and a different guidance system. Stunner appears to be a slightly longer Spyder/Derby missile, with dual seekers in the nose.

The Spyder radar system has a maximum range of 100 kilometers. The missiles can hit targets as high as 9 kilometers (28,000 feet) and as low as 20 meters (65 feet). With boosters (to increase speed at launch) and the right seekers, a modified Spyder could take down incoming long-range rockets. Magic Wand depends on longer range radars to get target location and speed information to the Spyder/Magic Wand launchers. Once launched, the Stunner is guided to the general location of the incoming rocket, until the Stunner's on-board sensors pick it up, and then home in and destroy the long range rocket.

Then there is Arrow. In 2010 Israel formed a third battery of Arrow anti-missile missiles. The battery will have the new Oren Adir (Magnificent Pine) radar, which has a longer range and is better able to identify potential targets than the existing Green Pine radar. The two older batteries have over a hundred missiles available. An Arrow battery has 4-8 launchers, and each launcher carries six missiles in containers. The Arrow was developed to knock down Scud type missiles fired from Syria, Saudi Arabia or Iraq. The two ton Arrow 1 is being replaced with the 1.3 ton Arrow 2, which can shoot down longer range ballistic missiles fired from Iran. Israel is currently developing and testing an upgraded Arrow 2, which can take down longer range Iranian missiles. The even more effective Arrow 3 is not expected to be ready for use for at least three years.

The United States has long shared the expense of developing the Israeli Arrow anti-missile missile system. This includes contributing over a hundred million dollars for work on the Arrow 3. More than half the nearly three billion dollar cost of developing and building Arrow has come from the United States. In addition, American firms have done some of the development work, or contributed technology. The U.S. has also provided Israel with a mobile X-band radar that enables it to detect incoming ballistic missiles father away. Currently, the Israeli Green Pine radar can only detect a ballistic missile fired from Iran when the missile warhead is about two minutes from hitting a target in Israel. The X-band radar allows the Iranian missile to be spotted when it is 5-6 minutes away, enabling the Israeli Arrow anti-missile missile to hit the Iranian warhead farther away and with greater certainty. The Arrow 3 is expected to need something like the X-band radar, to take advantage of the longer missile range. The Arrow 3 could also use satellite or UAV warnings of distant ballistic missile launches. Arrow 3 weighs about half as much as Arrow 2 and costs about a third less. First tests of Arrow 3 are to take place next year.

In 2010 Israel began increasing the production of its Arrow anti-missile missiles. Costing over three million dollars each, and partly constructed in the United States (by Boeing), the Arrow missiles are Israel's principal defense against Syrian and Iranian ballistic missiles. Since Arrow entered service ten years ago, only about 120 missiles have been built. Currently, Israel has over a hundred Arrow missiles available, and would like to increase that to 200 in the next few years.

29.12.2011 par Guillaume Belfiore - clubic.com

Le département de la Défense des Etats-Unis vient d'officialiser le premier terminal sous Android à destination des représentants du gouvernement américain.

Au mois de septembre nous rapportions que les services secrets américains étaient en train de concevoir un smartphone très sécurisé capable d'accéder aux dossiers confidentiels lorsque les agents sont en mission. De la NSA au département de la Défense en passant par les différentes branches gouvernementales, le smartphone en question, d'apparence très banale, serait proposé à tous les employés ayant accès à des données sensibles. L'agence Reuters rapportait alors que si le gouvernement dispose déjà de téléphones sécurisés, ces derniers sont cependant limités à la fonction d'appel. D'après un représentant de l'état, trop frustrés, les généraux auraient finalement changé pour revenir sur leur smartphone personnel dans le cadre de leur travail.

Jusqu'à présent, seuls les smartphones Blackberry de Research in Motion ainsi que la version 6.5 du système Windows Mobile avait obtenu l'approbation de la Défense américaine. Il semblerait cependant que les autorités se soient intéressées au niveau de sécurité des systèmes Android et iOS. Un premier smartphone a été approuvé, il s'agit du Dell Venue sur lequel une version spéciale d'Android 2.2 est greffée.

Couplé à un serveur distant, l'appareil offrirait ainsi les outils nécessaires pour la gestion des réseaux, des restrictions d'accès à l'appareil photo dans certaines situations, des fonctionnalités de synchronisation, un pare-feu ou encore des outils permettant de bloquer l'accès en cas de perte ou de vol. Dans un document mis à disposition du public, le département de la Défense précise que tous les smartphones Android susceptibles d'être retenus devront restreindre l'accès de l'utilisateur seulement aux applications mobiles préalablement approuvées par le département. Par ailleurs les applications commerciales devront pouvoir être hébergées sur un serveur central. Notons également que la connexion Internet devra être filtrée via un proxy.

Rappelons qu'en avril 2011 l'armée américaine avait choisi des smartphones Android pour équiper ses soldats. Un premier prototype, baptisé « Joint Battle Command-Platform », avait été mis au point par la société MITRE avec un kit de développement (Mobile/Handheld Computing Environment) mis à disposition cet été. L'écosystème ouvert d'Android semble d'ailleurs avoir été la principale raison de ce choix.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 (UPI)

A U.S. military project to develop new countermeasures to nerve agents is being previewed next month to potential contract bidders.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said the project would involve human butyrylcholinesterase, a bio-scavenger that binds a nerve agent in the blood stream before it can affect the nervous system.

"The use of chemical agents by enemy forces or terrorists poses a threat to U.S. troops and civilian populations," DARPA said. Human butyrylcholinesterase "has emerged as a potential new approach to reduce toxicity of chemical warfare nerve agents.

"A biological scavenger should have little or no behavioral or physiological side effects, which is an improvement over currently available treatments."

The workshop for possible proposers for collaborative contracts will be Jan. 20. DARPA will lay out its goal to demonstrate that recombinant butyrylcholinesterase can be expressed using a pharmaceutical platform in Nicotiana benthamiana plants.

Interested organizations have until Jan. 17 to register.

December 28, 2011: STRATEGY PAGE

The U.S. Department of Defense has halted work on its U.S. Air Force ALT (Airborne Laser Testbed). The project will be put into storage, until such time as more effective technology is available to revive the effort, or it is decided that the ALT is not worth the storage expense. ATL has cost over $5 billion during the last 16 years. It never worked, at least not in a practical sense. A year ago, for the second time in a row, the ALT failed in an attempt to use its laser to destroy a ballistic missile. That time, the problem was with the radar and fire control system, which failed to lock the laser on the actual missile (although the radar did detect the actual missile launch.) In the past, the main problem has been a lack of power to drive the laser to lethal levels. Because of that, the ALT program has been an expensive near miss for nearly two decades. Two years ago ALT was demoted from a system in development, to a research program. The reason for this was all about energy supply. Even if ALT worked flawlessly, it does not have enough energy to hit a launching missile from a safe (from enemy fire) distance, ALT needs more than twenty times as much energy that it has now, and it will be a while before that problem is solved.

There have been some successes with this kind of weapon. Last year, the U.S. Navy successfully tested their laser weapon, using it to destroy a UAV. This was the seventh time the navy laser has destroyed a UAV this way. The laser cannon was mounted on a KINETO Tracking Mount, which is similar, but larger (and more accurate than) the mount used by the Phalanx CIWS (Close In Weapons System). The navy laser weapon test used the radar and tracking system of the CIWS. Last year, CIWS was upgraded so that its sensors could detect speedboats, small aircraft and naval mines. The problem here is that knocking down UAVs is not something that the navy needs help with, and the current laser gun technology has to be improved quite a bit before it's worth mounting on a ship.

Six years ago, manufacturers of combat lasers believed these weapons were only a few years away from battlefield use. To that end, Northrop-Grumman set up a new division to develop and build battle lasers. This optimism was caused by two successful tests seven years ago. In one, a solid state laser shot down a mortar round. In another, a much more powerful chemical laser, hit a missile type target. Neither of these tests led to any useable weapons, and the combat laser remains the "weapon of the future." The basic problems are reliability, and ammo (power to generate the laser).

Solid state lasers have been around since the 1950s, and chemical lasers first appeared in the 1970s. The chemical laser has the advantage of using a chemical reaction to create the megawatt level of energy for a laser that can penetrate the body of a ballistic missile that is still rising in the air hundreds of kilometers away. The chemical reaction uses atomized liquid hydrogen peroxide and potassium hydroxide and chlorine gas to form an ionized form of oxygen known as singlet delta oxygen (SDO). This, in turn is rapidly mixed with molecular iodine gas to form ionized iodine gas. At that point, the ionized iodine gas rapidly returns to its resting state, and while doing so releases photons pulsing at the right frequency to create the laser light. These photons are channeled by mirrors and sent on their way to the target (which is being tracked and pinpointed by other lasers). The airborne laser weighs about six tons. It can be carried in a C-130H, producing a laser powerful enough to hit airborne or ground targets fifteen kilometers away. The laser exists via a targeting turret under the nose of the aircraft. The laser beam is invisible to the human eye. The chemicals are mixed at high speeds, and the byproducts are harmless heat, potassium salt, water, and oxygen. A similar laser, flying in a larger aircraft (B-747 based ALT) was supposed to have enough range to knock down ballistic missiles as they took off. But the ALT never developed sufficient range to be an effective weapon.

Nearly half a century of engineering work has produced thousands of improvements, and a few breakthroughs, in making the lasers more powerful, accurate and lethal. More efficient energy storage has made it possible to use lighter, shorter range ground based lasers effective against smaller targets like mortar shells and short-range rockets. Northrops' move was an indication that the company felt confident enough to gamble its own money, instead of what they get for government research contracts, to produce useful laser weapons. A larger high energy airborne laser would not only be useful against ballistic missiles. Enemy aircraft and space satellites would also be at risk. But companies like Northrop and Boeing are still trying to produce ground and airborne lasers that can successfully operate under combat conditions. The big problem with anti-missile airborne lasers has always been the power supply. Lots of chemicals are needed to generate sufficient power for a laser that can reach out for hundreds of kilometers and do sufficient damage to a ballistic missile. To be effective, the airborne laser needs sufficient power to get off several shots. So far, no one has been able to produce such a weapon. That's why these lasers remain "the weapon of the future," and will probably remain so for a while.

Northrop Grumman Concept

Dec 27, 2011 By Michael Fabey - defense technology international

The DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer brings out the split personality of U.S. Navy brass. Depending on which admiral is speaking on which day, the ship is either a science-project testbed or one of the most technologically advanced and needed destroyers for the fleet.

Analysts disagree about whether the ship is a joke, or potentially the Navy’s most valuable surface warship. And debate about the Zumwalt’s true worth to the fleet is heating up as the ship transitions from a PowerPoint presentation to vessel status.

Testing and development of the new technologies—e.g., hybrid drive, composite deckhouse, new guns—is on track or ahead of schedule. Indeed, the Navy says it is eyeing some of the futuristic work for bridge technologies on its next-generation fleet.

With November’s keel-laying of the first ship—already halfway built—and two contracts awarded in September for the remaining two hulls, there is some rethinking of the Navy’s plan to build only three ships. Part of that will depend on the results of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation into the decision to restart the DDG-51 destroyer line—which helped cut the proposed Zumwalt fleet by more than half—to deploy more Aegis-equipped ships for quicker and more affordable ballistic missile defense (BMD).

Due in January, the GAO report is likely to steer the Navy toward buying more Zumwalts and fewer Burke-class ships because the DDG-1000 will likely be cheaper to operate and maintain, as well as a better platform for growth, say analysts such as Norman Polmar, a naval historian.

Others disagree. “They’re floating test- beds,” says Stuart Slade, naval analyst at Forecast International.

Not so, say program officials. “This is fully operational worldwide, globally deployable,” says Program Manager Capt. James Downey. “It is not . . . a test ship.”

“The Navy is looking for long-range, 24/7 surface-fire support,” says Bill Marcley, vice president of total ship mission systems and DDG-1000 program manager for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, a Zumwalt prime. “This is the only platform that can deliver that in all-weather conditions.”

For the U.S. Marine Corps, the vessel will fill the current void in long-range volume support fires. “The DDG-1000 has enormous capacity,” says Gen. James Amos, Marine Corps commandant.

The ship features a 74-mi.-range gun that shoots a guided projectile more than six times the distance with about three times the amount of explosives as the DDG-51’s guns, program officials note. The ship’s 155-mm Long Range Land Attack Projectile completed two live-fire tests this year.

But it is the perceived lack of another kind of firepower—the alleged inability of the ship to handle Standard Missiles (SMs) used for BMD—that concerns Navy leaders. Adm. (ret.) Gary Roughead said as much before he stepped down as chief of naval operations, adding it would be too much of an investment to make the necessary changes to the Zumwalt.

According to defense analysts and industry sources, the Zumwalt’s baseline design has always included an ability to fire Raytheon’s SM-2, though the Navy likely would have to modify the missiles. To fire the SM-3 BMD interceptor, sources say, the Zumwalt’s vertical launch system cell would have to be rewired and some combat system software might be modified, although it’s unclear how costly this would be. Navy officials acknowledge that “the DDG-1000 design could be configured to provide these [missile defense] capabilities,” the Congressional Research Service reports. Further, analysts note, the Zumwalt is designed to accommodate bigger missiles envisioned for the future.

Cost, though, is a factor when it comes to the DDG-1000. The Navy has invested $20 billion in the ships—half for R&D—and program officials say the production price is about $3.1 billion per ship, almost 50% more than a Burke on the restarted line and a third more than later DDG-51s, according to sources.

But Zumwalt lifecycle costs should more than make up any Burke acquisition savings, analysts say, because the ship design cuts shipboard personnel by half and hourly operating costs by a third, according to GAO. The Navy stands to save $18 billion over the life of the initial 32 ships for the advanced destroyers, according to GAO—about $600 million per ship in 2002 dollars.

A 10-ship Zumwalt fleet, according to other government estimates, would save the Navy $4.5 billion, when the tally includes recruiting, training and benefits. A three-ship fleet would save $1.8 billion.

Detractors say the ship may not live up to its potential. The naysayers will be proved wrong, respond Raytheon and Navy program officials, when the Zumwalt is delivered in 2014.

Photo: Lockheed Martin

Dec 27, 2011 By Amy Butler - aviation week and space technology

Washington - With the final F-22 rolling off Lockheed Martin’s assembly line last week, the Marietta, Ga., facility is now focusing its efforts on making its C-130J and C‑5M operations more efficient.

The Raptor business is not dead, though. A massive program, once estimated to cost as much as $8 billion to modify the twin-engine stealthy fighters, is under way and delivering through the next several years.

The $67 billion F-22 program was the Air Force’s most ambitious fighter project to date. While this led to the fielding of a revolutionary capability—craftily dubbed the “fifth-generation” fighter capability by Lockheed Martin’s marketing officials when it was eyed for termination over less-expensive legacy models—it also embodied an ethos in the Air Force to pursue high technology at all cost.

Civil and military onlookers suggest that this ambition took on a life of its own and eventually became a weakness. This came to head in June 2008 when then-USAF Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and then-USAF Secretary Michael Wynne were asked by then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates to resign following multiple missteps, including unauthorized lobbying by the Air Force to buy more F-22s than approved by Gates.

After 20 years of design and production, what began as an effort to buy 650 fighters capable of evading former Soviet radar defenses to escort bombers to targets there came to an end with Raptor 195 rolling out of the final assembly facility Dec. 13—22 years after the Berlin Wall came down. The USAF has purchased 187 combat F‑35s with eight test models.

The F-22’s tooling, which once covered 250,000 sq. ft. of the plant and employed, at its peak, 900 people, will now be dismantled for storage; 150 workers remain dedicated to final checkout and testing of the last Raptor. Delivery to the Air Force, its only customer since the U.S. forbade international sales, is slated for next year.

Tooling from Lockheed’s F-22 work in Fort Worth and Boeing’s wing and aft-fuselage facility in Seattle has been categorized and put in storage at the Sierra Army Depot in California, says Jeff Babione, vice president and general manager of the F-22 program. The remainder of the tooling in Marietta will be sent to California by the end of next year.

In preparing the tooling for storage, Babione says Lockheed was able for the first time to use multimedia resources. The goal is that future workers who need to pull items out of storage to craft a part will have videos of today’s line workers’ methods for reference.

This has already been put to the test. An inlet part for a Block 20 aircraft at Tyndall AFB, Fla., needed to be replaced though there was no spare requirement for it. Parts were located in storage and electronic book references helped workers to craft the item, Babione says.

Once the F-22 tooling in Marietta is stored, the space will be dedicated to parts to support growing C-130J production—the rate has recently increased to 36 per year—as well as the C-5M retrofit line. “The current flow is not optimum for those two lines,” Babione says, adding that travel time for tasks on the production floor are expected to decrease once the new parts storage area is established.

Though the company has been ramping down employees and investment on the F-22 since the Pentagon decided in 2009 to end its purchases, there is still some overhead from the program that will be absorbed by other programs in Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Systems, including the C-130J, C-5M and F-35. “They will all see an increase in their rates because of the loss of the work in this factory,” Babione says.

Overhead has been an issue of interest for senior Pentagon officials as they negotiate new contracts against the backdrop of potentially draconian spending cuts to defense. Earlier this month, Brett Lambert, industrial policy chief at the Pentagon, noted that some contractors still must shrink their physical footprints for savings.

Lockheed officials contend that the new parts storage area will prove valuable to the customer by providing efficiencies in assembling the airlifters.

Meanwhile, the company is continuing work on modification packages for the Raptor. The first, increment 3.1, will be fielded in the next two years and is designed to use the active, electronically scanned array radar to provide mapping from “extremely long ranges,” and allow for improved autonomy to attack ground targets with the new 250-lb. Small-Diameter Bomb. Also included are some undisclosed electronic protection systems.

Two smaller updates—4 and 5—designed for AIM-120D and AIM-9X launches, respectively, are slated to be finished around 2015.

The next major increment—3.2—will include the long-awaited integration of Link 16 onto the F-22 to finally allow it to communicate with legacy fighters. It will also include improvements by using the onboard F-22 sensor suite for enhanced guidance of the AIM-120D and AIM-9X.

The Air Force is also eyeing use of an automatic ground collision-avoidance system on the F-22, although a contract has not yet been negotiated for that work.

The price of Raptor 195 is $152 million, up from roughly $300 million in then-year dollars for the first aircraft, including engines but not the amortized cost of development.

photo Offspring 18 87

December 27, 2011: STRATEGY PAGE

During the last decade there have been several attempts to get the United States to replace the 5.56mm rifle round with something more powerful. A 6.8mm round was popular for a while, but never caught on. Now there's a new round, the 300BLK. This is a 7.62 bullet using a similar size (35mm long) cartridge as the 5.56mm round. Thus all you need is a new barrel for your M-4 or M-16 rifle. The larger and heavier 7.62mm round is more effective at blasting through walls and doors and many troops believe it has better stopping (of soldiers it hit) power. American troops would sometimes use captured AK-47s (and their 7.62mm ammo) to test this theory. This fed the demand for something like the 300BLK. A year ago, the 300BLK was approved for manufacture, and tests, on and off the battlefield are under way. The 300BLK can use the same magazines as the 5.56mm round.

But the fate of the 6.8mm round should be considered before declaring the 300BLK has a bright future. Six years ago the new 6.8mm rifle round developed for SOCOM (Special Operations Command) became available commercially as the 6.8mm Remington SPC (Special Purpose Cartridge). There were some problems in manufacturing the 6.8mm SPC. Remington began work on the new round in 2002. It used the case from the old Remington .30-.30 (which was not a true .30-.30, as it was rimless.) SOCOM began testing the 6.8mm round in M-16s and M-4s modified to accommodate it. The 6.8mm round was more accurate at longer ranges and had more hitting power than the 5.56mm round the M-16 was originally designed for. Out to about 600 meters, the 6.8mm round had about the same impact as the heavier 7.62mm round used in sniper rifles and medium machine-guns.

The 6.8mm, 5.56mm, 300BLK and 7.62x39 AK-47 round are all considered "assault rifle" rounds. This concept of a less powerful rifle round came out of research begun towards the end of World War I. During the 1930s, the Germans studied their World War I experience and concluded that a less powerful and lighter rifle round would be more effective. This resulted in research on a smaller 7mm round, but with World War II fast approaching, this effort eventually produced a shortened regular (7.92mm) rifle round. During that war, the Germans developed the first modern assault rifle, the SG-44. This weapon looked a lot like the AK-47, and that was no accident. The SG-44, like the AK-47, used a shortened rifle cartridge that was developed before the war (7.92mm for the Germans, 7.62mm for the Russians, which is still used in the AK-47).

This gave the infantryman an automatic weapon that could still fire fairly accurate shots at targets 100-200 meters away. The SG-44, and the AK-47, had about the same stopping power as the 6.8mm SPC and 300BLK at those shorter ranges. What a coincidence. The AK-47 didn't have the accuracy of higher powered bullets, but the Russians didn't see this as a problem, because most troops using it had little marksmanship training. If they had to kill someone, they could fire at full auto. The U.S. M-16, and its high speed 5.56mm round, was more accurate than the AK-47 when firing individual shots at shorter ranges. But the wounding power of the 5.56mm (.22 caliber) bullet fell off rapidly at ranges over a hundred meters. The American military, and especially SOCOM, train their troops to fire individual shots, and do it with great accuracy at any range. A number of new rifle sights have made even easier to do, and makes first round hits at longer ranges easier to make. This made the longer range shortcomings of the 5.56mm round more obvious.

SOCOM used the 6.8mm round in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the troops liked it, but not enough to cause widespread adoption. There was also resistance from senior (non-SOCOM) generals to any consideration for replacing the 5.56mm round with the 6.8mm. To further complicate matters, there was a new 6.5mm “Grendel” round being tested as well, and some troops preferred it to the 6.8mm SPC. This was because the 6.5mm round is more accurate than the 6.8mm one at ranges beyond 500 meters. At the moment, no decision has been made about any replacement for the 5.56mm round. The 300BLK is unlikely to change that.

photo US Navy

TUCSON, Ariz., Dec. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire

Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) received a $122.5 million contract from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency for continued development of Standard Missile-3 Block IA and IB programs. Under this modification, Raytheon will provide SM-3 design and engineering, in service engineering support, production engineering, surveillance and flight test support, and transition to production.

The contract was announced Dec. 22 by the Department of Defense.

About SM-3

    Raytheon's SM-3s are designed to defend against short- to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats in the ascent and midcourse phases of flight.

    SM-3 Block IA is Raytheon's first variant in the SM-3 family; it is deployed today in support of the first phase of the administration's Phased Adaptive Approach (PAA) for ballistic missile defense.

    Raytheon has delivered more than 130 SM-3 Block IAs ahead of schedule and under cost.

    The SM-3 Block IB is Raytheon's second variant in the SM-3 family.

    The SM-3 Block IB has an enhanced kinetic warhead seeker, throttleable divert and attitude control system, and advanced signal processing.

    Raytheon's SM-3 Block IB is the cornerstone of phase two of the administration's PAA and is on track for a 2015 deployment at sea and ashore.

December 24, 2011: STRATEGY PAGE

The U.S. Air Force has again delayed the retirement of its U-2S reconnaissance aircraft. Now the U-2 may remain in service until 2016 or later. The reason is the continued failure of the Global Hawk UAV to prove it can replace the manned U-2. Congress wants the Global Hawk to pass tests proving it can do everything the U-2 can before the U-2, which entered service 56 years ago, is retired.

For the last five years the U.S. Air Force has been trying to replace its manned U-2 reconnaissance aircraft with the RQ-4 Global Hawk. This has not worked out well. In addition to the problems with Global Hawks' reliability and dependability, another issue has been in the superiority of the sensors carried by the U-2. So why not just install the U-2 sensors in the Global Hawk? The problem here is weight and space. The U-2 is a larger and heavier aircraft, and even with a pilot, has more carrying capacity. Air force suppliers keep promising that they have the problem solved but after several generations of Global Hawk sensor redesigns and improvements, it will still be a few years before the Global Hawk will be competitive and the U-2 will be out of a job.

Then there's the UAV software, which has still not matched the capabilities of pilots. The humans still have an edge over robotic systems, especially when it comes to emergencies. But another advantage that the U-2 has is that it has been around for half a century. Its quirks and foibles are well known. The Global Hawk is not only new but is also the first of a new kind of robotic aircraft.

Global Hawk has crossed the Pacific, from North America to Australia, using onboard computers to run everything. While impressive, Global Hawk still has a tendency to get into trouble unexpectedly and not know how to recover. More work needs to be done on the software and, to a lesser extent, the hardware used by Global Hawk. Since no one can (or at least will) swear when Global hawk reliability will be up to acceptable standards plans are being made to keep the U-2s around for a while longer - just in case.

This popularity is running the U-2s ragged. Two years ago, for example, two 41 year old U-2s achieved a record 25,000 hours in the air. One of these aircraft had made three belly (landing gear up) landings, requiring extensive rebuilding after each incident.

With a range of over 11,000 kilometers, the 18 ton U-2s typically fly missions 12 hours long. All U-2s have been upgraded to the Block 20 standard, so they can be kept in service until the end of this decade. Or at least until the 13 ton Global Hawk is completely debugged and available in sufficient quantity to replace it. The U-2 has been in service since 1955 and only 86 were built, of which 26 remain in service. Less than 900 pilots have qualified to fly the U-2 in that time.

The heavy use of the U-2 has been hard on the pilots. Missions can be as long as 12 hours and pilots operate in a cockpit pressurized to conditions found at 30,000 feet. This puts more strain on the pilot's body. That, and the fact that they breathe pure oxygen while up there, means they tend to be completely exhausted after returning from a long mission. U-2s fly missions daily over the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Korea.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Five years ago the U.S. Air Force wanted to retire its U-2s and replace them with UAVs like Global Hawk. But Congress refused to allow it, partly for political reasons (jobs would be lost, which is always a live political issue) and because some in Congress (and the air force) did not believe that Global Hawk was ready to completely replace the U-2. This turned out to be correct. New Global Hawks continue to appear but there is so much demand for the kind of recon work the two aircraft can do that both pilots and robots will coexist for a while. But eventually the old reliable U-2 will be retired.

The C-130J Hercules is a tactical cargo, heavy lift and personnel transport

aircraft powered by four Allison AE2100D3 turboprop engines

22 December 2011 airforce-technology.com

The US Air Force (USAF) has awarded a new $167m block upgrade contract for C-130J Super Hercules to Lockheed Martin to help enhance the interoperability of the aircraft across the worldwide fleet.

The Block 8.1 enhancement programme consisting of both software and hardware capability expansion will be installed in the aircraft.

Currently, the C-130J fleets are installed with the Block 6.0 configuration, while the Block 7.0 configuration is undergoing flight trials.

The Block 8.1 configuration includes updated identification friend or foe (IFF), Tempest compliance, automatic dependent surveillance broadcast, and a communications, navigation and surveillance/air traffic management data link.

The company will also provide an enhanced inter-communication system, enhanced approach and landing systems, enhanced diagnostics and additional covert lighting.

Lockheed Martin vice-president for C-130 programmes Lorraine Martin said that the C-130 aircraft has constantly been made adaptable to ensure it meets modern operational requirements.

"The C-130 is the benchmark for airlift around the world and the block upgrade programme ensures interoperability across the

worldwide C-130J fleet," Martin added.

The C-130J Hercules is a heavy-lift tactical cargo and personnel transport aircraft powered by four Allison AE2100D3 turboprop engines and can accommodate a payload of up to 20t or more than 90 passengers.

The aircraft, crewed by two pilots and a load master, features a glass cockpit, digital avionics and a new propulsion system with a six-bladed propeller.

The aircraft are also in service in Australia, Indonesia, Canada, Denmark, India, Italy, Norway, Qatar, the UK and the US Coast Guard.

Dec 23, 2011 ASDNews Source : TenCate

On March 4, 2011 TenCate issued a press release announcing its cooperation with the Danish company ABDS ApS for the development and market preparation of the TenCate ABDS(tm) active blast countermeasure system, a system for the protection of army vehicles against improvised explosive devices and roadside bombs. With reference to the above press release, TenCate herewith announces an agreement with the shareholders to acquire all the shares of ABDS ApS, which will be integrated into the TenCate company as Ten Cate Active Protection ApS. Full ownership by TenCate effectively supports a timely international market introduction through producers of army vehicles in order to substantially increase the survivability protection levels of vehicles used in crisis areas. The acquisition shall be completed once Danish authorities have approved the transaction, which approval is expected shortly.

Recent tests and simulations of the TenCate ABDS(tm) active blast countermeasure system have been concluded successfully. Vehicle specific tests are an essential part of the successful implementation of the system in the field. The implementation of the TenCate ABDS(tm) active blast countermeasure system is currently planned to take place in the course of 2012-2013. Based on the tests and simulations so far and their good results, it is clear that genuine interest is currently being shown by the market in several vehicle programmes.

Survivability protection

TenCate Advanced Armour (with facilities in Denmark, the Netherlands, UK, France and the US) is a specialist in vehicle armouring systems based on light weight, composite armour materials. The TenCate ABDS(tm) active blast countermeasure system offers complementary survivability protection against the effects of explosives. There is an evident need for enhanced protection, in combination with increased mobility of army vehicles. The TenCate ABDS(tm) active blast countermeasure system enables TenCate Advanced Armour to expand its capabilities in terms of advanced protection systems for vehicles to meet these market needs.