1er juin 2013 Par Rédacteur en chef. PORTAIL DES SOUS-MARINS

Deux bâtiments de la marine nationale, le BPC Tonnerre et la frégate Georges Leygues, sont arrivés vendredi à Goa.

Les 2 bâtiments ont été accueillis par l’ambassadeur de France en Inde au port de Mormugao.

L’ambassadeur de France, François Richier, a déclaré que « C’était un devoir et un plaisir pour moi d’accueillir les 2 bâtiments en Inde. » Richier a rappelé que les liens entre la France et l’Inde s’accroissaient, avec plus de 350 sociétés françaises ayant déjà investi 18 milliards $ en Inde au cours des dernières années. « Les sociétés s’adaptent au marché indien, elles ont installé des centres de recherche en Inde, » a-t-il indiqué.

Le capitaine de vaisseau Jean-Francois Querat, commandant du Tonnerre, a précisé qu’« il était important que les officiers-élèves apprennent à rester longtemps en mer. »

De son côté, le capitaine de vaisseau Romuald Bomont, commandant du Georges Leygues, a indiqué que la frégate « donnait aux officiers-élèves une autre vision de la formation. »

Le vice-amiral Marin Gillier, commandant des forces françaises en océan Indien et au Moyen Orient, qui supervise actuellement le retrait des équipements militaires français d’Afghanistan à bord du Tonnerre, a indiqué que le bâtiment français disposait d’une capacité de lutte contre la piraterie, et qu’il avait récemment opéré au large de la Somalie.

Il a rappelé que le Tonnerre disposait aussi d’un hôpital de 75 lits, et qu’il pouvait être utilisé comme hôpital militaire en temps de guerre. Le bâtiment a participé aux opérations d’assistance après le tremblement de terre en Haïti et aussi aux réfugiés de Libye pendant le conflit.

L’amiral a indiqué qu’un officier-élève indien allait embarquer à bord de Goa à Singapour.

Référence : Times of India

June 1, 2013 By Zachary Keck - Flashpoints

Every Friday, The Diplomat looks out across the net to find the best articles and analysis involving defense, strategic affairs, and foreign policy. From America’s pivot to Asia, China’s growing military power, important defense trends, to the various territorial spats across the region, The Diplomat has you covered with what you need to know going into the weekend.

Here is our top ones this Friday. Have we missed something you think should be included? Want to share an important article with other readers? Please submit your links in the comment box below! Happy Friday!

Several nuclear and missile experts are accusing the U.S. Air Force of exaggerating the nuclear threats posed by North Korea and China’s cruise missiles in order to gain funding for its own nuclear modernization ambitions. Global Security Newswire has the story.

In a new occasional paper for the Jamestown Foundation, Andrew Erickson says that “China’s anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM), the DF-21D, has reached the equivalent of Initial Operational Capability. Although it probably has been deployed in small numbers, additional challenges and tests remain.”

The Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College released a new strategic assessment of the Asia-Pacific. Written by Dr. David Lai, the studies major conclusions include “The U.S. strategic shift toward Asia-Pacific is… not a choice but a necessity” and “the most dangerous blind spot [in the U.S. pivot] is that the Asia-Pacific nations disputing with China can misread U.S. strategic intention and overplay the ‘U.S. card’ to pursue their territorial interest.”

Similarly, the Center for National Defense Policy (CNDP) under the Academy of Military Sciences of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) released its own strategic assessment this week, which concluded that the Asia-Pacific has become a “new global center" of competition.

Taiwan plans to launch a fourth cyberwarfare unit on July 1^st that will try to counter cyber-attacks on government websites. 

Plus, the BBC looks at how you scrap an aircraft carrier.

31/05/2013 par Nicolas Laffont – 45eNord.ca

À Singapour, lors du 12e Sommet annuel de l’Institut international d’études stratégiques sur la sécurité en Asie, Peter MacKay, ministre de la Défense nationale a rencontré son homologue de la Mongolie, Dashdemberel Bat-Erdene, et a signé un protocole d’entente qui consolide la coopération en matière de défense et les échanges entre les deux pays.

«Le Canada et la Mongolie partagent les valeurs de la démocratie ainsi qu’un intérêt commun pour l’expansion des échanges», a mentionné le ministre MacKay. «Le gouvernement du Canada s’engage à approfondir sa relation de défense avec la Mongolie.»

Le protocole d’entente offre des possibilités accrues de coopération entre le Canada et la Mongolie en matière de défense, au moyen d’activités comme l’échange de renseignements, des visites de personnel civil et militaire, l’instruction et la formation militaires, et des activités internationales de maintien de la paix, y compris de l’aide humanitaire.

La coopération entre le Canada et la Mongolie au chapitre de la défense et de la sécurité ne date pas d’hier. La Mongolie est membre du Programme d’instruction et de coopération militaires depuis 2005. Le Canada a aussi participé à l’exercice multinational annuel de maintien de la paix KHAAN QUEST, organisé conjointement par la Mongolie et les États-Unis.

29.05.2013 Thales Group - army-guide.com

Thales Australia has delivered a further two Hawkei vehicles to the Defence Materiel Organisation on schedule.

The handover of the two Reconnaissance variants under Stage 2 of the Manufactured and Supported in Australia option of Land 121 Phase 4 means that all six vehicles are now with the Department of Defence for testing. All vehicle delivery milestones have been met on schedule.

The six vehicles comprise two Command variants, two Utility variants and two Reconnaissance variants, plus a trailer.

The majority of the evaluation process is being undertaken by the Commonwealth at Monegeetta in Victoria, and includes survivability testing, communications system integration testing, electro-magnetic interference/compatibility testing, reliability growth trials and user assessments.

Vehicles already delivered have so far completed almost half of the planned 100,000km of testing scheduled for the evaluation period. Subject to successful testing of the vehicles, final approval of the project is expected circa 2015, as detailed in the 2012 Defence Capability Plan.

Thales Australia CEO Chris Jenkins said: “We are very pleased to deliver these final two vehicles to Defence on schedule. They are backed by the expertise of our protected mobility engineering teams, and we are working closely with Defence to support the testing and evaluation process.”

“We have invested $30 million in Hawkei, and Australian industry has also put significant effort into the development of these vehicles. I’d like to thank all the companies in the supply chain who have helped us meet this important milestone.”

The Hawkei is manufactured at Thales’s Bendigo facility in Victoria. Employing 200 people, Bendigo is also home of the Bushmaster vehicle that has proven very successful on Australian Defence Force operations overseas.

LAND 121 Phase 4 is a Department of Defence project that seeks to provide up to 1,300 protected light vehicles.

May. 30, 2013 - By WENDELL MINNICK  - Defense News

SINGAPORE — The UK-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is set for its biggest Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) since its inception in 2002.

Scheduled for May 31 to June 2 at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, it will involve defense ministers, military chiefs and senior government officials from 31 countries. Known officially as the 12th Asia Security Summit, this SLD will be US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s first, and expectations are high that the Vietnam War veteran will bring a unique perspective.

Hagel’s participation takes place against a backdrop of fiscal battles and furloughs in the Pentagon, an ambiguous Asia Pivot strategy, and unanswered questions over the AirSea Battle strategy that is making some Asia-Pacific allies and friends nervous.

“More than ever this year, there will be ample opportunities to discuss and debate ‘hard security’ concerns, such as the implications of maritime disputes, military modernization programs and missile defense against the backdrop of the contentions in the South China Sea, East China Sea, Korean Peninsula, and over Taiwan,” said Tim Huxley, executive director, IISS-Asia, Singapore.

“We think it is important to provide a dialogue platform where these key security issues of the day can be discussed openly between key representatives of Asia-Pacific states’ defense and security establishments, extra-regional states with major interests in the region’s security, and high-level non-governmental experts,” Huxley said.

Nguyen Tan Dung, Vietnam’s prime minister, will deliver the keynote opening dinner address at the SLD.

“The Vietnamese prime minister’s participation indicates the crucial role the dialogue plays in inter-governmental discussions about defense and security in the Asia-Pacific region,” said John Chipman, IISS CEO and director-general.

Deputy Defense Minister Senior Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chi Vinh, who will also give a speech during the regular session of the SLD, will lead the Vietnamese military delegation.

China has improved its representation this year, Huxley said, with its delegation being led again by a three-star deputy chief of the General Staff (DCGS) of the People’s Liberation Army, “as it was in 2007, ’08, ’09, ’10. In 2011 it was the defense minister; 2012 it was a relatively low-ranking officer from the academy of military sciences.”

This year, DCGS Lt. Gen. Qi Jianguo will speak in a plenary session on June 2, “and is supported by a strong PLA delegation, members of which will be speaking in some of the special sessions on Saturday afternoon,” Huxley said.

“This year will also see a large European delegation: The European Union representative for foreign affairs and security policy, chair of the EU Military Committee, chair of the NATO Military Committee, and the Swedish foreign minister,” Huxley said.

Huxley called this evidence of a “European pivot to Asia … something we haven’t seen before at the Shangri-La Dialogue.”

IISS will launch two Adelphi Books during the SLD on maritime security issues. Sarah Raine, IISS consulting fellow for Chinese Foreign and Security Policy, and Christian Le Mière, IISS senior fellow for Naval Forces and Maritime Security, authored “Regional Disorder: The South China Sea Disputes,” and Geoffrey Till, director of the Corbett Centre for Maritime Policy Studies, authored “Asia’s Naval Expansion: An Arms Race in the Making?”

The SLD will include six plenary sessions on the US approach to regional security; defending national interests and preventing conflict; military modernization and strategic transparency; China’s role in global security; global and regional institutions and Asian security; and advancing defense cooperation in the Asia-Pacific.

There will also be six simultaneous special sessions, including avoiding incidents at sea; the Afghan drawdown and regional security; missile defense in the Asia-Pacific; new military technologies and doctrines; defense diplomacy and conflict prevention; and the cyber dimension to Asian security, which is an “IISS expert special subject.”

30/05/2013 Ministère de la Défense

Le ministre de la Défense, Jean-Yves Le Drian, participera pour la deuxième fois au Dialogue du Shangri-La qui se tiendra du 31 mai au 2 juin à Singapour. Cette conférence, organisée par l’IISS (International Institute for Strategic Studies), rassemble notamment les ministres de la Défense de la zone Asie-Pacifique autour des questions de sécurité régionale.

La France est une puissance de l'océan Indien et du Pacifique. Elle y dispose de territoires et de ressortissants en nombre croissant, qui nécessitent que leur soient apportées protection et sécurité. L’Asie, et notamment l’Océan indien et le Pacifique, est inscrit comme une priorité stratégique dans le nouveau Livre blanc sur la Défense et la Sécurité nationale. La sécurité et la prospérité de la France dépendent aujourd’hui en grande partie de celles de l’Asie, qui est devenue l’un de ses principaux partenaires. Les flux financiers, commerciaux et humains entre l’Europe et l’Asie sont en constante augmentation. Ils placent de factoles espaces maritimes au cœur des enjeux de sécurité.

La France partage de nombreux intérêts de sécurité avec les États de la région et entend maintenir sa contribution à la sécurité en Asie-Pacifique. Elle entend également promouvoir la lutte contre le terrorisme, la prolifération, et la menace cybernétique, ainsi que la libre circulation maritime.

Jean-Yves Le Drian précisera les ambitions de la France dans ce domaine à l’occasion de l’allocution qu’il prononcera dimanche matin, 11h30, en clôture de la conférence (le texte de sa prise de parole sera diffusé à la presse). Il exposera aux ministres et délégations présentes le nouveau Livre blanc et rappellera l’engagement de la France au service d’une architecture de sécurité régionale.

Enfin, Jean-Yves Le Drian s’entretiendra avec nombre de ses homologues parmi lesquels les ministres de la Défense singapourien, malaisien, canadien, néo-zélandais, cambodgien, indonésien, britannique, japonais, vietnamien et mongol.

Le ministre tiendra une conférence de presse sur le site de la conférence, dimanche 2 juin à 14h30 (8h30, heure de Paris).

May 30, 2013 defense-aerospace.com

(Source: The Korea Times; published May 30, 2013)

Bidding for $7.5 Bil. Fighter Program Set to Start

The bidding process for the $7.5 billion next-generation fighter procurement project will kick off at the start of June instead of midway through the month, the Defense Acquisition and Procurement Agency (DAPA) said Thursday.

“We plan to let bidders tender offers about a week earlier,” a DAPA official said.

The change in schedule aims at purchasing a high-end fleet of 60 multi-role fighter jets within budget constraints.

In order to replace Korean Air Force’s aging F-4s and F-5s with high-tech combat aircraft, Boeing’s F-15 Silent Eagle, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS)’s Eurofighter Tranche 3 are competing to secure the contract.

There is speculation that the bid price will go beyond DAPA’s budget and so the accelerated schedule will enable the procurement office to purchase the aircraft at reasonable price without a hitch.

“Our first goal is to buy 60 fighter jets within the budget. As we are scheduled to make the final selection by the end of June, we may not have enough time for negotiations if we start receiving offers from mid-June,” the official said.

“In addition, an earlier schedule will quiet criticism on the most-expensive procurement deal in our history.”

He added that DAPA had already informed the bidders of the schedule change.

The DAPA official also said that those involved in negotiations may not be able to make a decision on some clauses and will need to consult with head office, which will take time.

In order to secure the sale of 60 fighter jets, the three defense firms are throwing around “sweet deals” if they win the contract.

Eurofighter said that it will investment 2 trillion won in Korea’s indigenous fighter program, or the KF-X program, while Lockheed Martin said it will help Korea Aerospace Industries’ (KAI) T-50 be selected for the U.S. Air Force’s trainer procurement project.

Boeing promised to establish an avionics maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, which will be its first such facility in Asia.

May 30, 2013: Strategy Page

A year ago a Japanese warship passed by a Chinese frigate that appeared to be flying a helicopter UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) off its helicopter pad. The Japanese took photos and passed them around. At first it was noted that the helicopter looked like the Schiebel S-100 Camcopter. Schiebel is an Austrian firm which markets the S-100 in many countries via the U.S. firm Boeing Aircraft. But Schiebel continues to sell the S-100 itself, and a little digging revealed that the Chinese had bought 18 S-100s in 2010. While the three S-100s seen on the aft deck of the Chinese frigate do look like the S-100, there also appear to be some differences. It appears that a Chinese firm copied the design of S-100 and created a workable S-100 clone.

European nations are not supposed to sell China weapons (because of an arms embargo), but the S-100s were apparently sold to Chinese police organizations (which is legal and the S-100 does have civilian users). One Chinese firm has since offered a helicopter UAV similar to the S-100. China has become more blatant in copying foreign designs, and then selling them to foreign customers and competing with the original. Suing the Chinese usually does not work, as Chinese courts favor the Chinese copycats, not the original creator of the technology.

The S-100 weighs 200 kg (440 pounds), can stay aloft six hours per sortie, and operates at a max altitude of 5,500 meters (18,000 feet). Max speed is 220 kilometers an hour. So far, some 200 S-100s have been sold to military and civilian customers.

Before the S-100 clone came along Chinese firms had already developed several helicopter UAV designs. For example, the Chinese V750 weighs 757 kg (1,665 pounds) and has a payload of 80 kg (176 pounds). Max speed is 161 kilometers an hour and endurance is four hours. The V750 can fly a pre-programmed route or be controlled by a ground operator (up to 150 kilometers away). The manufacturer is offering the V750 for civilian (scientific survey, search and rescue, police surveillance) and military uses. There are over a dozen other Chinese helicopter UAVs on the market, many of them very similar in appearance and performance to foreign designs.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has taken the lead in this area, with several models developed in the last decade. The one most similar to V750 is the MQ-8B Fire Scout which is operating in Afghanistan and aboard warships. The U.S. Navy developed, and put into use, the MQ-8B. A similar model, the RQ-8B, died because the U.S. Army already had plenty of UAVs that got the job done. The navy kept Fire Scout because helicopters are more practical on most navy ships (for landings and takeoffs). Navy Fire Scouts have been successfully used on frigates (in both the Atlantic and Pacific). There is a huge demand for UAVs in Afghanistan, so the navy sent some there.

The 1.5 ton Fire Scout is based upon the Schweitzer 333 unmanned helicopter, which in turn is derived from the Schweitzer 330 commercial lightweight manned helicopter. Fire Scout has a payload of 272 kg (600 pounds), a cruising speed of 200 kilometers an hour, max altitude of 6,100 meters (20,000 feet), and endurance of eight hours. The U.S. Navy plans to acquire over 160 Fire Scouts.

Several other navies have been testing helicopter UAVs on their warships, and this type of UAV seems destined to replace a lot of manned helicopters on warships and enable smaller warships (that cannot handle the larger manned helicopters) to operate unmanned helicopters.

May 29, 2013 IDRW.org (IANS)

Taking their strategic cooperation further, India and Japan Wednesday announced that bilateral naval exercises would be regularized and held more frequently.However, both countries made it clear that multi-lateral naval exercises, involving more countries, would not be held.

“The bilateral naval exercises will be regularized. These are going to be implemented more frequently,” Tonohika Taniguchi, councillor and a member of the Japanese prime minister’s strategic team, said here.

He said India and Japan were giving emphasis to strategic partnership, especially when it comes to safeguarding their respective maritime regions. Both countries have maritime interests in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean, respectively.

Japan has already expressed its concern over the move by China to regulate maritime movement in the South China Sea.

“We will be concerned if there is any attempt to change the rules of movement,” Taniguchi said, referring to the move by China.

Japan and India have been calling for strengthening of mutual cooperation to ensure regional stability in Asia, especially in the maritime zones.

Both countries have meetings of their foreign and defence ministers on regular basis to engage in strategic cooperation.

The US and Australia have shown interest in joining the naval exercises conducted by Japan and India jointly. However, India has not shown interest in expanding the bilateral exercises to a tri-lateral or multi-lateral level.

May. 29, 2013 By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI – Defense News

NEW DELHI — The Indian Defence Ministry has reissued a tender to buy 100 armored personnel carriers (APCs), slightly easing the requirements from 2009’s failed tender.

A Defence Ministry source said the qualitative requirements laid out in 2009 were “tough,” and sought to mix the best systems available on the market. The vendor also was reequired to make a special prototype of the APC to compete. None of the vendors could meet the qualitative requirements for the APCs in the earlier tender.

The requirements have been diluted slightly relating to the mobility of the vehicles, and the tender has again been issued to the same vendors involved in 2009: General Dynamics in the US, Rosoboronexport of Russia, Ukrainexport of Ukraine, Poland’s Bumar, Finmec­canica of Italy, BAE Systems of the UK and Krauss-Maffei Wegmann of Germany.

An Indian Army official said the vehicle procurement process is slow and the allocated budget has been nearly stagnant for the last three years.

The budget allocation for military vehicles for 2013-14 is only 20.8 billion rupees (US $377 million), compared with 22.6 billion rupees in 2012-13 and an actual spend of 23.5 billion rupees in 2011-’12.

To meet its APC requirements, the Army is using about 2,000 Russian BMP-1 and BMP-2 multipurpose armored vehicles, equipped with anti-tank missiles and other weapons.

Along with the purchase of 100 APCs, the global tender includes buying 60,668 armor piercing rounds, 91,004 high-explosive rounds for the 25-40mm cannon, 886,436 rounds of the 7.62 coaxial machine gun and 84,100 rounds for the 25mm-40mm anti-grenade launcher.

The requirements stipulate that the wheeled APCs be able to fire on the move, have good speed on the road and cross country, and have the ability to protect against mines, improvised explosive devices, small arms, grenades and artillery splinters.

The vehicle must be able to be armed with a machine gun, cannon and automatic grenade launcher.

In addition, the vehicle must have modern, secure communications, amphibious capability and the ability to cross obstacles.

The Army wants the cannon to be able to fire at targets, including helicopters, at a distance of 2,500 meters.

This month, India tapped a consortium of two domestic companies to supply the Army with 100 Tatra trucks, breaking a monopoly held by a Czech Republic-based firm.

Domestic companies Ashok Leyland and Larsen & Toubro formed the winning consortium, which beat another consortium composed of Tata Motors and Tata Power SED.

The bid by Czech firm Tatra Czech, filed jointly with state-owned Bharat Earth Movers, failed at the trial stage.