October 3, 2015 By Pierre Tran - Defense News

PARIS — Constructions Industrielles de la Méditerranée (CNIM) will pitch a lightly modified version of its L-CAT landing catamaran in an expected US Army tender worth some $450 million for 37 new landing craft, said Philippe Neri, the French company's vice president for naval sales.

Minor modifications on the L-CAT are aimed to cut costs, meet requirements and pitch a “compliant and affordable” vessel in a competition likely to be launched toward the end of the year, he said.

The US Army is looking to buy a fleet of the Maneuver Support Vessel (light), or MSV (L), to replace the Vietnam-era “Mike boat,” or Landing Craft Mechanized 8 (LCM-8), Army acquisition officials said in August.

Speaking from the Toulon base, Adm. Denis Beraud, head of the French Naval Action Force, recalled an incident last winter when an L-CAT encountered some light fire from factions as it sailed from the Dixmude helicopter carrier to evacuate French nationals from Yemen.

“It was a little operation but it showed how useful it is to have ships widely deployed,” he said. In 2012, the Navy also drew on the L-CAT to evacuate foreign nationals from Lebanon.

The catamaran’s 30-knot high speed allows the Mistral, the mother ship, to stay off shore at a safe distance while being able to deliver a relatively heavy load of equipment to the beach, he said. “That saves a lot of time.”

France's Navy has four L-CATs as the government ordered that number for the Mistral projection and command warships and canceled options for two more. “I wish I had six,” Beraud said.

The Navy uses the L-CAT for Army training exercises, deploying troops along the Mediterranean coast. The vessel sails from Toulon to Corsica, runs beach reconnaissance and serves as a logistics platform by deploying six containers on the island, he said. Such exercises are part of the “shore-to-shore” approach.

The L-CAT, a variable shape ship with an adjustable deck  designed for the “ship-to-shore” landing craft mission, could meet the US Army’s requirements for the more autonomous shore-to-shore operation, Neri said. The vessels can be fitted for crew accommodation and sail loaded for 500 nautical miles.

CNIM hopes to sign a partnership agreement on the L-CAT with Fincantieri in the coming weeks, Neri said. The Italian shipbuilder would be prime contractor and CNIM subcontractor under the deal.

A US Army selection is expected an estimated two months after the request for proposals is launched. The services stand to lose budgets if they have not been committed by the summer.

The Army program is due to run for 10 years, with a three-year engineering, manufacturing and development phase producing a prototype, followed by low-rate initial production of four boats and full production after five years. The service is also expected to order medium and heavy versions of the boat, so the pick of the first model is seen as key amid lively competition.

CNIM sees Southeast Asia as a promising market as the L-CAT could serve as a vessel for disaster relief alongside its military mission. The Middle East is also viewed as a key region for sales.

The landing craft carries a civilian certification that allows the Navy to sail it up rivers as well as unload supplies in harbors, Beraud said.

In a separate deal, two L-CATs that were part of the canceled sale of the Mistral to Russia are now part of Egypt’s announced plan to buy the two helicopter carriers, said an industry executive, who confirmed a report in Challenges business magazine.

President François Hollande said he and his Egyptian counterpart have agreed that Egypt will acquire the two Mistrals from the canceled Russian deal. A contract with Cairo is due to be signed with prime contractor DCNS and delivery of the helicopter carriers is due in the first half of 2016, the executive said.

DCNS and CNIM are covered by Coface, the French export credit agency, for the cancellation of the Russian deal, according to a Sept. 29 report from the French Senate finance committee.

A U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter is one of the vehicles that may be replaced by the Future Vertical Lift program. U.S. Army photo

LONDON, Sept. 15 (UPI)

The U.S. military's Future Vertical Lift program to develop new battlefield helicopters does not impress the top air force chief in the Netherlands.

Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) commander Lt. Gen. Alexander Schnitger spoke at a rotorcraft panel at the Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition in London on Sept. 14, and voiced his disappointment with the ongoing U.S. efforts to create the next generation of helicopters.

"So far I am not impressed or convinced that the current plans are advanced enough to survive use past 2030," Lt. Gen. Shnitger said.

read more

03/09/2015 deredactie.be


Le ministre de la Défense, Steven Vandeput (N-VA) a confirmé mercredi soir que la Belgique a donné son accord aux Etats-Unis pour une éventuelle réutilisation de la base militaire de Zutendaal, dans le Limbourg, pour entreposer du matériel militaire conventionnel dans le cadre de l’Otan.

July 28, 2015: by Strategy Page

The U.S. Army ordered its last HMMWV (humvee or "hummer") vehicles in 2011. But foreign customers are still avid customers. In June 2014 Afghanistan, Iraq, Kenya, Lebanon, Ukraine and Tunisia together ordered over 2,000 HMMWVs. Many of these will be paid for by the United States as part of military aid. While the American military is looking beyond HMMWV many other countries see the HMMMWV as a battle-tested, mature and very useful vehicle that works just fine.

For the U.S. Army it's the ending of the HMMWV era. About half the annual sales of HMMWV vehicles have been to the U.S. Army, with the rest going to other branches of the American military, and foreign customers. Over 200,000 hummers have been produced so far, in dozens of variants and versions. The army will continue to use the hummer into the early 2020s, but the unique vehicle design is now fading away.

The next generation of U.S. battlefield truck will be the seven ton JLTV (Joint Light Tactical Vehicle), which replaces the 2.4 ton HMMWV. The hummer had itself replaced the 1.1 ton jeep and 3 ton M37 "3/4 ton" truck 25 years ago. The JLTV marks a notable design direction for tactical vehicles. The JLTV is designed to absorb combat damage, and be quickly equipped with two different armor kits. In effect, the World War II concept of the unarmored light vehicle for moving men and material around the battlefield has been radically changed.

This began in Iraq, where it was demonstrated that you can fight your way through a hostile population on a regular basis and defeat a guerilla force constantly attacking your tactical and logistical vehicles. This has never worked before, and worked this time, in part, because U.S. troops promptly armored their hummers and trucks, and quickly developed "road warrior" tactics that defeated roadside and suicide bombs. Even though these bombs created a lot of American casualties, the overall American casualty rate was a third of what it was in Vietnam and World War II. Mainly because of the armored hummers and trucks. Few people outside the military noted this event, a watershed moment in military history. But it was recognized within the military, and produced this sharp shift in design philosophy for tactical trucks, and the result is the JLTV.

The U.S. Army began replacing the World War II era vehicles with the HMMWV n 1985. This was the first new unarmored combat vehicle design since World War II (when the jeep and ¾ ton truck was introduced), and was expected to last for three decades or more. But that plan changed once Iraq was invaded. As expected, hummers wore out a lot more quickly (in five years) in combat, than during peacetime use (14 years). So the army and marines began developing, ahead of schedule, a new vehicle to supplement the hummer in combat zones. Three designs have been selected for development, and soon one of them will be chosen before the end of 2015 as the final design and put into production. The army will buy at least 38,000 of the JLTV (Joint Light Tactical Vehicle), while the marines will buy about 14,000.

In addition to being built to better survive mines and roadside bombs, the JLTV will be able to generate 30 KW of electricity (for operating all the new electronic gear, and recharging batteries), have an automatic fire extinguishing system and jam-resistant doors. Like the hummer, JLTV will be easy to reconfigure, for everything from a four seat, armed scout vehicle, to an ambulance, command vehicle or cargo or troop transport.

The hummer will continue to be used outside of the combat zone, where most troops spend most of their time. But the JLTV will be built to better handle the beating vehicles take in the combat zone, including a design that enables troops to quickly slide in armor and Kevlar panels to make the vehicles bullet and blast proof.

June 25, 2015: Strategy Page

The U.S. Army intelligence bureaucracy is again in trouble with SOCOM (Special Operations Command) over a long-term dispute about computer software. Troops in combat zones and especially SOCOM prefer to use an intelligence database management system called Palantir. But many senior people in the army intelligence and computer tech insist on using another system (DCGS). To further complicate matters it wasn’t even the army who initially created the mess. It all began when the U.S. Air Force developed a data mining and analysis system that, when adapted for army use (as DCGS), turned out to be more expensive and less effective than commercial products (like Palantir). A 2012 government investigation reported the problems in great detail. But senior army commanders and Department of Defense procurement bureaucrats continued to block the use of commercial products the troops preferred. For nearly a year now SOCOM (Special Operations Command) troops have been complaining that a superior system (Palantir) they have been using since 2009 is becoming more difficult to obtain because of more aggressive interference from the procurement bureaucracy and contractor lobbyists. SOCOM was ordered back into Iraq during 2014 and one of their assignments was to collect intelligence on what was going on there. SOCOM preferred Palantir but many procurement officials interfered with doing that.

The basic problem was that the army system (DCGS or Distributed Common Ground System) was cobbled together on the fly, in the midst of a war and has not aged well. Several investigations, in response to growing complaints from the troops, found that the army refused to recognize the problems with DCGS or get them fixed, or allow cheaper and more capable commercial software (like Palantir) to be used instead of DCGS. After 2010 complaints from users and maintainers of DCGS got louder (as in more politicians receiving emails about it). Some of the troops asked for specific commercial systems that were more robust, powerful, and easier to use commercial data mining and predictive analysis software. The army complained that these commercial systems were expensive and required a lot of effort and money to integrate into DCGS. The troops insisted that this was not so and that commercial products like Palantir would save lives. Army bean counters insisted that it was probably only a few dozen lives at most and the additional money needed has to be taken from somewhere else, which might also cost lives in combat. But SOCOM and other organizations point out that they have been able to sneak Palantir into service in some areas and have lots of proof that Palantir outperformed DCGS in combat conditions. But now even SOCOM is being blocked from getting Palantir even though Palantir is officially approved for army use and SOCOM is supposed to be able to buy whatever they need, even if it is not on the “approved” list.

The DCGS controversy also involves professional pride, as the army techs and managers have spent years building DCGS and are confident they can match any commercial products and do it cheaper. But that is rarely the case, as the army simply can't hire the best software engineers and project managers. When it comes to complex software systems, things go better if you keep an eye on the commercial side. If there is something there that does what you need done and does it faster, better, and more reliably it's worth paying the commercial price.

18.06.2015 par Philippe Chapleau - Lignes de Défense
 

L'US Army vient de passer commande de dispositifs Blast Gauge à la société Blackbox Biometrics (lire  ci-dessous). Ce contrat porte à 16,4 millions de dollars le montant des achats effectués par l'US Army.

Le Blast Gauge (modèle 6) est une petite (moins de 30g) jauge d'explosion qui mesure l'exposition aux ondes de surpression d'un combattant (mais aussi d'un démineur ou même d'un chien de sauvetage) aux explosions; ses données permettent de guider le triage et le traitement, assurant ainsi une grande rapidité de réaction. Ce dispositif peut s'adapter sur le casque, l'épaule ou la poitrine.

L'annonce US:
"Blackbox Biometrics Inc.,* Rochester, New York, has been awarded a maximum $9,371,520 firm-fixed-price contract for concussive force monitoring devices. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification commercial Federal Acquisition Regulation part 12. Location of performance is New York, with a June 9, 2016, performance completion date. Using service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2015 through fiscal 2016 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Columbus, Ohio (SPE7M9-15-C-0034)."

Ce matériel est distribué en France par la société CLDS Conseil, de Monaco (info@cldsconseil.com ). Le Blast Gauge aurait été évalué par le ministère de la Défense, mais pas encore par celui de l'Intérieur.

4 juin 2015 45eNord.ca

CAE USA, la filiale américaine de l,entreprise montréalaise CAE, remporte un contrat de la part de l’U.S. Army pour fournir l’entraînement complet des pilotes d’appareils à voilure fixe. La valeur prévue du programme, y compris les options,est d’environ 200 millions $US [249,54 Millions $ CAN] au cours des huit prochaines années. Nous reproduisons ici dans son intégralité le communiqué de l’entreprise.

CAE a annoncé aujourd’hui que CAE USA a remporté un contrat de la part de l’United States Army pour fournir la formation initiale et périodique complète de plus de 600 pilotes d’appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S. Army et de l’U.S. Air Force chaque année.

Selon les modalités du contrat, qui a été octroyé comme un contrat à prix fixe ferme de plus de 29 millions $US pour la période de base et six années en option jusqu’au 30 septembre 2023, CAE USA fournira des services d’entraînement clé en main dans un nouveau centre de formation appartenant et exploité par CAE qui sera construit à l’aéroport régional Dothan en Alabama, à proximité du centre d’excellence aéronautique de l’U.S. Army (USAACE) à Fort Rucker.

La valeur totale du contrat échelonné sur les huit prochaines années devrait être d’environ 200 millions $US ½249,54 Millions $ CAN].

Le programme d’entraînement sur appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S. Army est responsable de fournir tout l’entraînement nécessaire aux pilotes chevronnés sur appareils à voilure tournante de l’U.S. Army qui effectuent une transition vers la flotte composée de plus de 350 appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S. Army.

L’U.S. Army et CAE mettront également en œuvre un nouveau programme d’entraînement initial sur appareils à voilure fixe (IEFW) afin que les nouveaux élèves-pilotes recrutés par l’U.S Army puissent amorcer leur cheminement de carrière vers les appareils à voilure fixe plus tôt. Le programme d’entraînement sur appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S. Army sert également à effectuer l’entraînement périodique officiel des pilotes d’avions C-12/RC-12 King Air, ainsi que l’entraînement annuel des pilotes C-12 King Air de l’U.S. Air Force.

«Nous sommes honorés et fiers d’avoir été sélectionnés par l’U.S. Army comme son partenaire de choix en matière d’intégration des systèmes de formation pour l’entraînement sur appareils à voilure fixe», a déclaré Gene Colabatistto, président de groupe, Défense et sécurité à CAE. «Nous réunirons l’entraînement virtuel, constructif et sur appareil en fournissant à l’U.S. Army un programme d’entraînement moderne et flexible qui fera en sorte que les pilotes d’appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S. Army auront accès à un entraînement sécuritaire et de qualité supérieure. Voilà un autre excellent exemple d’utilisation par CAE de son savoir-faire en intégration des systèmes de formation pour fournir une solution complète d’entraînement clé en main.»

CAE commencera la construction immédiatement d’un nouveau centre de formation à l’aéroport régional Dothan équipé de salles de classe à la fine pointe de la technologie; d’un environnement d’apprentissage intégré de systèmes d’entraînement et d’autres installations modernes. CAE tire parti des conceptions existantes et construit actuellement une série de dispositifs d’entraînement, y compris deux simulateurs de vol (FFS) C-12 King Air de Série CAE 7000XR et deux dispositifs intégrés d’entraînement aux procédures (IPT) reconfigurables CAE Simfinity C-12 King Air.

e plus, CAE développera deux autres FFS de Série CAE 7000XR, considérés comme les FFS principaux, qui seront dotés de la conception révolutionnaire de postes de pilotage interchangeables (RORO) de CAE qui permet l’utilisation dans le simulateur de postes de pilotage représentant divers modèles d’appareils. CAE développera quatre postes de pilotage RORO représentant diverses configurations de l’avion C-12 King Air utilisé par l’U.S. Army et l’U.S. Air Force. Lorsque deux des postes de pilotage sont installés dans le simulateur de vol principal, les deux autres peuvent être connectés à une station d’accueil et être utilisés comme des dispositifs d’entraînement au vol équivalant au niveau 6.

Le programme d’entraînement complet sur appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S Army inclura également l’entraînement sur appareil fourni par CAE. La transition des pilotes d’appareils à voilure tournante de l’U.S. Army et l’entraînement initial des élèves-pilotes d’appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S. Army nécessiteront l’utilisation de six nouveaux avions Grob G120TP qui seront achetés par CAE. De plus, CAE concevra et construira deux dispositifs d’entraînement en vol Grob G120 TP et une série de dispositifs d’entraînement sur ordinateur et de didacticiels pour appuyer le programme d’entraînement. Une flotte de 10 avions C-12U King Air appartenant et entretenus par l’U.S. Army sera également exploitée par les instructeurs de CAE pour fournir l’entraînement en vol sur l’avion C-12 King Air.

«Le programme d’entraînement sur appareils à voilure fixe de l’U.S. Army que nous développons sera un programme de renommée mondiale qui crée un juste équilibre entre l’instruction en classe et l’entraînement en vol», a déclaré Ray Duquette, président et directeur général de CAE USA. « Nous tirerons parti de nos plus récentes capacités d’entraînement, comme la formation sur la récupération en cas de perte de contrôle et les systèmes de briefing/débriefing CAE Flightscape, pour fournir un entraînement fondé sur des scénarios propres aux exigences de l’U.S. Army relativement aux appareils à voilure fixe. Cela nous permettra également d’élargir notre offre en matière de fourniture de programmes complets de formation initiale militaire que d’autres organismes gouvernementaux américains et d’autres forces armées internationales pourront utiliser.»

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich., June 2, 2015 /PRNewswire

The U.S. Army TACOM Lifecycle Management Command awarded General Dynamics Land Systems a $28.2 million contract to develop several design concepts for the Future Fighting Vehicle (FFV) Phase 1 effort. General Dynamics Land Systems is a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD).

As part of the FFV Phase 1 effort, General Dynamics will develop design concepts for the next generation Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV). The company will conduct trade studies, requirements analysis, modeling and simulation (M&S) and assess technology capability and maturity to support each of the three design concepts.

Work will be performed by existing employees in Sterling Heights, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of November 2016.

More information about General Dynamics Land Systems is available at www.gdls.com.

23/04/2015 Stijn Verboven –  MIL.be

Une centaine de militaires du Bataillon de Chasseurs à Cheval participaient à l'exercice Saber Junction organisé en Allemagne du 14 au 30 avril. L'US Army en Europe veut, par le biais de cet exercice à grande échelle, préparer l'OTAN et ses pays partenaires, à des opérations offensives, défensives et de stabilité.

Au total, quelque 5 000 militaires provenant de 17 pays se sont rassemblés sur le terrain militaire d'Hohenfels. Ils disposent d'un mois afin de mettre en pratique leurs connaissances tactiques contre les troupes américaines. Celles-ci endossent, entre autres, le rôle de l'ennemi lors de Saber Junction.

Le Bataillon Chasseurs à Cheval fournit un appui au combat par la collecte d'informations transmises ensuite aux unités de combat. Raison pour laquelle, ce corps est également connu en tant que bataillon ISTAR pour intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance.Normalement, et selon leur devise « voir sans être vu », son personnel essaie de ne pas être détecté par l'ennemi. À Hohenfels, les hommes doivent s'adapter aux méthodes de travail des Américains avec lesquels les observateurs doivent engager directement le combat.

« Cet exercice nous oblige à réagir de manière agressive », explique le lieutenant-colonel Francis Pierard, commandant du Bataillon de Chasseurs à Cheval. « C'est nécessaire afin de garder nos jeunes sur le qui-vive. Se battre n'est plus notre mission principale mais nous devons nous y préparer en cas de besoin. Cela ne signifie pas que nous changerons radicalement notre mode de fonctionnement parce que je suis satisfait de la manière dont les Belges travaillent actuellement. »

L'exercice se poursuit sur le terrain jusqu'au 27 avril. Le 30 avril, tous les militaires rentreront au pays.

March 26th, 2015 By Army News Service - DefenceTalk

Army Field Support Battalion-Afghanistan, or AFSBn-AFG, is in the early stages of a mission that will result in 94 mine-resistant, ambush-protected, or MRAP recovery vehicles being available to support future coalition missions.

The battalion received an order from Department of Army G-4 directing them to notify U.S. Forces Afghanistan of how many MRAP recovery vehicles, or MRVs, were available to support this mission as well as the condition of the vehicles.

“Fourth RSSB [Resolute Support Sustainment Brigade] asked the battalion to tell them how many vehicles we could find that were not matched to a requirement,” said Daniel Benz, AFSBn-AFG support operations. “We found 94 vehicles. Since we’re tasked to send them to Kuwait for staging, we’ve been calling the mission ‘Kuwait 94′.”

“They are stripped-down and shipped as-is,” said Mark Grant, AFSBn-AFG support operations. “The only work done is to ensure that they were air worthy for the flight to Kuwait.”

Grant said the stripped-down condition meant the vehicles were in the most basic configuration without any communications or other government furnished equipment.

The battalion received an order to begin assembling the vehicles in mid-February and the first ones were loaded onto aircraft March 4.

Grant said some vehicles were sourced in Kandahar at the battalion’s logistics task force, but most will be coming from Bagram. There needed to be an even number of trucks so the aircraft would be fully utilized, he said.

Actual driving – really backing – the vehicles onto the aircraft fell to Soldiers identified as ‘over the horizon’ drivers. These Soldiers are assigned to the 21st Inland Cargo Transfer Co. from Joint Base Lewis-McChord or the 32nd Transportation Co. from Fort Carson, Colorado. They originally deployed to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, with the 529th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion, a Virginia National Guard unit.

When AFSBn-AFG identified a capability gap for experienced military drivers, these Soldiers answered the call with some deployed to Bagram and some deployed to Kandahar.

“Our team was put together because we are the best of the best,” said Staff Sgt. Alan Alcaraz, an 88 H cargo specialist from Ewa Beach, Hawaii. “Our exact mission is to help battalion with driving all the vehicles on to the aircraft. Basically any type of rolling stock we drive on to the flight line and then on to the plane.”

“Backing a MRV onto a plane is hard,” Carrillo said. “Actually, more like very interesting.”

Carrillo and Brown had to rely on each other to act as ground guides and help ensure they were correctly aligned with the aircraft.

“The best part of my job is driving all the different kinds of vehicles the Army provides,” Brown said.

Their training and skills paid off as they both successfully backed a 34-foot-long, 52,000-pound vehicle onto an aircraft on the first try.

Alcazar said the team consists of experienced material handling equipment operators and truck drivers, who were selected because they are all ‘go-getters,’ who make up a self-sufficient team who can ‘make anything happen and … don’t take “no” for an answer.’

He also said many of the Soldiers have multiple deployments. In addition to the flightline duties, the Soldiers have been operating material handling equipment, driving other vehicles for battalion missions and acting as additional security for missions to title transfer equipment to Afghan National Defense Security Forces.

24 mars 2015 NATO

FALLS CHURCH, Va. – March 23, 2015 – GLOBE NEWSWIRE

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) will highlight a full range of solutions aimed at providing best-value enhancements and game-changing capabilities during the Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) Mission Solutions Summit. The event will be held March 29-31 at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Northrop Grumman's booth 800 will spotlight tailored enhancements that help preserve command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) dominance, expand mission capabilities and create tomorrow's solutions for today's Army Aviation force.

Featured in the booth will be the company's digital helicopter cockpit and integrated avionics solutions. Derived from the U.S. Army's UH-60V Black Hawk program, the system offers an affordable, integrated suite of avionics equipment. The system's integrated architecture can be applied to many platforms and sustained through a single software package.

Among the multifunction/multiplatform solutions on display will be the Common Infrared Countermeasures (CIRCM) system, which is a lightweight and highly reliable laser-based countermeasure system that is designed to integrate and operate with legacy and emerging missile warning systems for rotary wing, tilt-rotor and small fixed-wing aircraft across the military services.

The company will also showcase the AN/APR-39D(V)2, a radar warning receiver and electronic warfare management system designed to maximize survivability by improving aircrew situational awareness via interactive management of all onboard sensors and countermeasures.

Additionally, Northrop Grumman will highlight its Passive Infrared Cueing Sensor (PICS), Advanced Threat Warner (ATW) and family of tactical radars including STARLite, VADER and Longbow. A number of Navigation Systems (including LN-200, LN-200A; LN-251; LISA 200; LN-100; LN-260; LN-270) will also be on display.

Information on the solutions showcased at the show is available online.

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.