5 Jul 12 UK MoD - A Defence Policy and Business news article

Writing in The Times newspaper, Chief of the General Staff General Sir Peter Wall has outlined the thinking behind the changes to be made to the Army in today's Army 2020 announcement.

General Wall writes:

Today the Defence Secretary Philip Hammond will set out what the Army is for.

After the experiences of the past ten years there is unlikely to be much of a national appetite for protracted war. Yes, the United Kingdom faces new threats from terrorism and cyber attack. But in an era where there has been no threat of conventional invasion since the end of the Cold War, some might ask why we can't shrink our Army by even more than the significant numbers already announced.

Fighting wars through precision attacks from air and sea has obvious political as well as military attractions. And if that won't work then why not rely on our allies to do the hard yards? Or support a local proxy force to deliver 'boots on the ground'?

The answer lies in the level of assurance that we as a nation require when our interests are being threatened and we are vulnerable. The world is not going to be any less confrontational just because of its economic plight; in all probability it will be more so.

Some threats we face will come from well outside the military sphere: challenges to our economic interest, to our values and beliefs, to the conditions that underpin stability around the world. Diplomacy and negotiation will always be our first resort. But the credibility of these approaches often depends on the implicit understanding that military options exist - and that, when the preferred means aren't working, we may need to turn to them.

And that when we do, they must work.

Increasingly that means forming coalitions that include regional partners as well as our traditional allies. They are becoming ever more important in political and military terms, but also to confer international legitimacy on our actions. We should only commit forces when we have a clear understanding of the nuances of the situation at all levels - including the human terrain. Understanding that is critical as both Iraq and Afghanistan have demonstrated. Such a level of clarity is hard to come by.

We have designed Army 2020 against this backdrop. Our future force will be structured around three core purposes. The first is intervention and conventional deterrence; the second is overseas operations in multinational alliances to prevent conflict at source; the third purpose is activity within the UK - partly to make us more responsive to domestic operations such as flood relief and the Olympics and to improve homeland resilience, but primarily to ensure that we can sustain the reformed Army Reserve that will be a key element of our new forces.

The Army Reserve will include armoured forces and light forces, intelligence and surveillance. It will work with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force as well as government departments and NGOs [non-governmental organisations]. It can be adapted to handle smaller operations, or configured as a full-scale brigade for a sustained period, as we currently operate in Afghanistan. Given warning it will field a division for even larger challenges.

Despite a reduction of 20 per cent in our regular manpower, our future capacity will not be far short of its current level. We have managed this by building a high dependence on the new Army Reserve, and a support network of specialist contractors. This is a groundbreaking change. But I am confident that with imagination and the help of employers and industry - supported by changes to legislation - this will work.

Relocating the Army from Germany calls for some focused spending on new bases - and the sooner we can do this the better. We will have important new equipment, including the excellent capabilities returning from Afghanistan.

But what of our officers and soldiers who are so critical to this venture? They are to be found in the warrior generation that has fought courageously in Iraq and Afghanistan. We need them to soldier on into the new era, and we need people of comparable courage, talent and commitment to join them.

After our departure from Afghanistan in 2014 life in this new Army is going to be different for sure; but it will be just as challenging. So we will look after them and their families. The ongoing redundancy programme is unavoidable. We must do everything possible to support those soldiers making the transition into civilian life. Equally we need to ensure the military continues to attract the best.

Change is always difficult, and for an organisation as mindful of its history as the British Army this is especially so. I am confident that Army 2020 is imaginatively configured and properly resourced to meet the future demands of this uncertain world, manned by soldiers of the highest quality.

5 July 2012 army-technology.com

Philip Hammond is set to unveil details of cuts to the armed forces as part of the Future Force 2020 programme to the House of Commons today, amid the increasing prospect of a public outrage.

In what is being labelled as the biggest reorganisation of the military in more than a century, Hammond will outline how the regular UK Army will shrink from its existing size of 102,000 to 82,000 by the end of 2020.

According to reports, the defence secretary is scheduled to confirm that the army will be split in two, with a 'reaction' force ready to be deployed in response to emergencies worldwide, and an 'adaptable' force relying heavily on reservists, which will double in numbers from 15,000 to 30,000.

An expected five out of 36 infantry battalions, including the Yorkshire Regiment and the Mercian Regiment, are expected to be disbanded, while the Royal Regiment of Scotland's numbers is expected to be reduced by more than a quarter.

Two cavalry regiments will be lost, with the amalgamation of the Queen's Royal Lancers with the 9th/12th Lancers, and the 1st and 2nd Royal Tank Regiment.

“These are necessary changes due to tough decisions, which had to be made.”

The Royal Artillery loses a third of its strength, the Royal Engineers and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers will each shed 30%, while the Royal Logistic Corps will be reduced by a quarter.

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman said: "These are necessary changes due to tough decisions, which had to be made."

Last month the department said that there was no way to 'avoid difficult decisions as the army gets smaller', but insisted that the country would still maintain an effective, well-equipped fighting force, with increased reliance on part-time soldiers, co-operation with allies and private contractors.

Criticised by senior army officials, the planned moves are scheduled to make another 12,000 to 13,000 servicemen redundant, in addition to about 7,000 personnel, whom have already lost their jobs, under the UK Government's 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review.

5 juillet 2012 par Optro & Défense

Le groupe allemand Carl Zeiss serait en discussion pour vendre ses activités Défense & Sécurité, Carl Zeiss Optronics GmbH, à la filiale Cassidian du groupe EADS elle aussi spécialisée dans la Défense et la Sécurité, affirme ce jeudi l’édition en ligne du quotidien économique Financial Times Deutschland.

Avec comme fer de lance Carl Zeiss Optronics, les activités militaires du groupe allemand représenteraient un chiffre d’affaires de 160 millions d’euros, pour 800 salariés, affirme le journal qui s’appuie sur « plusieurs sources au sein de la branche ». Outre ses activités dans le Bade-Wurtemberg et le land de Hesse, Zeiss Optronics dispose d’une usine en Afrique du Sud avec environ 300 employés.

Dans le domaine militaire, Zeiss fournit des appareils de vision nocturne ou thermique qui équipent par exemple les chars d’assaut Leopard et travaille aussi sur d’autres équipements à destination des satellites ou des sous-marins, comme les périscopes destinés aux sous-marins de classe U212A de la marine allemande dont il avait été question l’été dernier dans un article dédié.

L’hypothèse d’intégration dans Cassidian même de compétences dans le domaine des capteurs d’imagerie thermique et du contrôle automatique de véhicules ferait ainsi suite au contrat remporté il y a trois ans pour sécuriser les 9000 kilomètres de frontières de l’Arabie saoudite et viserait à développer plus encore des applications pour la sécurité des frontières.

Sources :
- dépêche du 29 juin 2012 de l’agence de presse Reuters
- article du 29 juin 2012 du Financial Times Deutschland
- article du 29 juin 2012 de RP Défense
- article du 29 juin 2012 sur focus.de
- communiqué de presse du 30 juin 2009 du groupe EADS

05 juillet 2012 Par  Barbara Leblanc – USINE NOUVELLE

Plusieurs sources industrielles ont révélé le 4 juillet qu’Airbus n’avait pas résolu les problèmes de moteur de l’avion de transport militaire.

L’avionneur européen va donc être dans l’obligation d’annuler les démonstrations en vol de l’appareil prévues lors du salon qui débute la semaine prochaine.

"Sur la base de problèmes de moteurs, il a été décidé de ne pas participer aux démonstrations en vol, mais l'appareil sera sur le statique", a déclaré une source industrielle.

L’appareil est en effet cloué au sol depuis juin 2011 du fait d’un défaut de la boite de transmission. Mais l’avion avait déjà connu multiples problèmes auparavant qui avaient entraîné un retard de quatre ans et un dépassement de coûts de plusieurs milliards d’euros.

Airbus a indiqué la semaine dernière que l'appareil volerait à Farnborough. Mais l'avionneur reconnaît également que les moteurs n'ont pas encore atteint une maturité satisfaisante, ce qui signifie qu'il doit encore. "La maturité des moteurs n'est pas encore là où on voudrait qu'elle soit mais le calendrier n'est pas affecté et nous nous attendons à une première livraison fin 2012, début 2013", a dit une porte-parole d'Airbus.

Reste que l’avion sera visible au salon et sa livraison en France, son premier client, est toujours prévue avant le début 2013. La cérémonie au cours de laquelle l'A400M, surnommé "Grizzly" par les pilotes, sera rebaptisé "Atlas" en présence des chefs de l'armée de l'air des sept Etats clients devrait avoir lieu.

L'A400M a été développé par la France, la Belgique, la Grande-Bretagne, l'Allemagne, le Luxembourg, l'Espagne et la Turquie pour un coût de plus de 20 milliards d'euros.

Doté des plus puissants turbopropulseurs occidentaux, il est destiné à mener des missions multiples dans des zones reculées et accidentées. Il a une taille intermédiaire entre le C-130 de Lockheed et le C-17 de Boeing.

04.07.2012 de SEDE - Parlement européen

The SEDE subcommittee will host General Håkan Syrén, Chairman of the EU Military Committee for an exchange of views. The EUMC is the highest military body set up within the Council and is composed of the Member States' Chiefs of Defence.

When : 11 July 2012, 09:45-11:00   Where: Brussels, room PHS 4B1

Further information  meeting documents

Ovar, Portugal - 4 July 2012 European Defence Agency news

One of the largest helicopter exercises in Europe gets under way today. Some 2700 personnel from all three services and seven countries will take part in Exercise Hot Blade from 4-19 July. The exercise forms part of the European Defence Agency’s Helicopter Training Programme.

Exercise Hot Blade draws on forces from Portugal (the hosts), and Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Austria and Finland - as well as observers from Sweden and the UK. The exercise area covers almost half of Portugal, and will be based at Ovar Air Base near Porto. Portugal are being supported by Luxembourg. Forces have been arriving over the last few days, by sea, land and air in a tricky logistical operation. Today they will receive briefings and prepare; after this evening’s opening ceremony, flying operations proper will begin tomorrow.

Hot Blade: Mission
Under the overall theme of hot, high and dusty conditions, a broad range of skills will be practiced, including Air Assault, Special Operations Aviation and Casualty Evacuation. In an important innovation, helicopters will work together with F-16 fighters, and crews will train with an embedded civil protection cell. Crews will fly in joint and combined formations, learning to communicate and trust one another in operational scenarios. The mission incorporates lessons learned from recent operations in Afghanistan and Libya.

This takes place under an umbrella scenario designed to test planners and crews in realistic conditions. The scenario is based in the fictional Idrasse Peninsula, where an EU Force is tasked with maintaining security conditions for humanitarian activities, surveilling and suppressing illegal armed groups, and deterring territorial incursions by a neighbouring state.

Hot Blade: Assets
The exercise employs a variety of assets. From Portugal, EH-101 Merlins will fly alongside F-16 fighters and C-160 transport aircraft. These are supported by an Air Force Control and Reporting Centre, a Tactical Air Control Party and a Force Protection Unit. The Portuguese Army have meanwhile contributed a Quick Response Brigade, a Special Operations Troops Centre, and a Commando Troops Centre, while the Portuguese Navy have contributed further Special Operations Forces.

From Belgium, A109 helicopters will participate, while Finland is providing NH90 helicopters. Germany is represented by CH53 Sea Stallions, while The Netherlands is contributing Cougar AS-532U2 and Chinook CH47D helicopters. From Austria come Agusta Bell 212 rotary wing assets. Each country will also contribute crews and support staff, and many are also making contributions-in-kind to the running of the exercise.
The breadth and variety of air assets, from many European states, presents a great opportunity to test and stretch crews and planners, who will learn to work together under operational pressure.

EDA & Helicopter Training Programme
The exercise is part of EDA’s Helicopter Training Programme. Hot Blade is the latest in a series of increasingly effective helicopter exercises, held in France, Spain and Italy since 2009. The exercise programme has delivered training to: 72 helicopters, 152 crews and over 1800 personnel. Over 50% crews that have participated have subsequently deployed to Afghanistan.
The programme has also involved the creation of the Helicopter Tactics Course in the UK, with 18 crews trained thus far, a new ‘train-the-trainers’ initiative to be held this year, work to harmonize helicopter flying training across participating Member States, trial courses in Operational English Language learning and experimentation with distributed simulator training. In this context, EDA looks forward to Exercise Green Blade, to be held in Belgium this Autumn, and to the creation of a core planning team to steer the programme in the long-term.

EDA & Cooperation
The Helicopter Training Programme is one of a number of EDA programmes that pool and share assets and resources, enhancing the overall military capabilities of the EDA’s Member States. Similar programmes include Tactical Air Transport, which recently held a major air exercise in Zaragoza, Spain, and the EDA’s work in training Counter-IED professionals.

Pictures and videos from the exercise are available here.

More information:

www.eda.europa.eu

www.emfa.pt/hotblade

04.07.2012 by EADS

Jul 4, 2012 ASDNews Source : Thales Group

Thales UK has signed a contract with Autonomous Surface Vehicles Ltd (ASV Ltd) to develop a re-configurable Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) to meet the challenges of future off-board Mine Countermeasures (MCM) operations.

The vessel has been jointly designed to meet a number of key requirements and drivers:

    Deployable from military platforms, craft of opportunity and from shore/harbour

    Air transportable

    Payload flexibility for all MCM systems – unmanned underwater vehicles, towed sonar, disposal systems, minesweeping

    Stable platform with excellent slow speed and towing capabilities

    Highly reliable & cost effective

The low signature USV, which is 11.5m in length and 3.6m in beam, will have a maximum speed of around 25 knots. The vehicle is now under construction and will be undergoing acceptance trials later this year. A series of payload trials will be conducted from early 2013 onwards, drawing on experience gained in previous off-board system programmes.

ASV Ltd is a UK company and part of Global Fusion, a privately owned international marine services group. Formed in 1998, ASV Ltd provides rugged, reliable and effective unmanned systems using cutting edge marine technology from its operating base near Portsmouth.

Dan Hook, Managing Director at ASV, in welcoming this contract says: “We are pleased to be developing such an advanced capability with Thales UK and are confident in the system’s performance for the wide range of roles.”

Phil Naybour, head of Thales UK’s naval business, says: “As the MCM capability integrator of over half the world’s in-service fleet of minehunters, Thales brings many years of experience and understanding of mine warfare operations alongside world-class sensors and systems.

“As we head into an era that heralds a step change in the delivery of mine warfare, moving from dedicated MCMVs to off-board systems and sensors, Thales’s extensive capabilities in mission system integration are being brought to bear.

“The Unmanned Surface Vehicle will be central to the success of these new concepts of operation in mine warfare; being able to demonstrate and de-risk both the vehicle and its potential payloads is a clear benefit to both our customers and ourselves. We welcome the news of this contract signature with ASV as it represents a critical step towards the delivery of future off-board MCM capability.”

Brussels - 4 July 2012 European Defence Agency News

With the 5th signature of the project arrangement just gained, the European Satellite Communication Procurement Cell (ESCPC) with IT, FR, PL, RO, UK enters into force as an ad hoc project of the EDA and has now made its Initial Operational Capability milestone.

Satellite Communication is a critical operational enabler that links both command and control systems and intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting systems. Demand is growing significantly, particularly with the widespread use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles on the battlefield which require significant SATCOM capacity for control and transmission of data from sensors.

The ESCPC “pilot” case is a quick-win Pooling and Sharing project. It will allow the contributing Member States to benefit from a common procurement scheme at European level addressing a contested, concentrated commercial satellite communications market by pooling orders and making significant savings that improve the effectiveness of military expenditure.

July 3, 2012 defpro.com

Earlier this year, the Irish Defence Force (IDF) purchased two Mini MineWolf (MW240) machines complete with flail attachments to give them the capability to deploy with the machines anywhere they need in the world. As part of the package MineWolf Systems provided a training course for IDF operators and mechanics, run in February and March at the Defence Training School in Ireland.

The training was conducted by two Mine-Wolf Instructors for 10 Irish Army students who had a good range of practical and mechanical experience.

The practical part of the operators’ course was conducted on an Army training area near Cork. The ground was exceptionally soft and muddy but both students and the machines came through with flying colours. The Irish Defence Force are now the ninth military force to be using MineWolf technology.

Ovar, Portugal - 3 July 2012 EDA News

Major EDA helicopter exercise Hot Blade 2012 is almost under way. Throughout the past couple of days, troops and helicopters have been arriving at Ovar Air Base in Portugal. Finnish NH90s and German CH53 Sea Stallions arrived in Portugal by sea - in an important test of the tricky logistical challenge of transporting helicopters by sea, and were reassembled at the ports, before flying on to Ovar.

Meanwhile, EDA's Project Manager, Wing Commander Andy Gray, also arrived in Ovar, where he has been helping coordinate the final preparations. Before he left, he gave an advance briefing to Brussels-based journalists on the exercise.

There, he noted with thanks the dedicated involvement of the contributing Member States, Portugal (the hosts), and Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Austria and Finland - as well as observers from Sweden and the UK. He thanked Portugal for their contribution in hosting the exercise, and also Luxembourg for their important financial support.

Wing Cdr Gray stressed the scale of the exercise and its complexity. In that vein, he provided illustrations of the scope of the exercise area, which covers almost half of Portugal, and listed the many skills that will be practiced in the exercise, including Air Assault, Special Operations Aviation, Combat Service Support, Close Air Support including Urban CAS and Emergency CAS, Convoy/helicopter escorts, Reconnaissance and Security operations, Combat Search and Rescue, Personnel Recovery, Military/Non Military extractions, Medical Evacuation and Casualty Evacuation.

Wing Cdr Gray went on to place the exercise in the wider context of the Helicopter Training Programme. He offered a potted history of the programme, and explained that Hot Blade built on the lessons learned and past successes of previous exercises in France, Spain and Italy. He highlighted the creation of the Helicopter Tactics Course in the UK, the ‘train-the-trainers’ initiative, harmonization of flying training, the development of the NH90 and experimentation with distributed simulator training. In this context, he looked forward to Exercise Green Blade, to be held in Belgium in Autumn 2012, and to the creation of a core planning team to steer the programme in the long-term basis.

Exercise Hot Blade takes place from 4-19 July. For all the latest news on Hot Blade, go to the dedicated exercise website.

03.07.2012 IHEDN

La 24ème Session Européenne des Responsables d’Armement a réuni 61 auditeurs provenant de 20 pays et organisations de l’espace européen, pour 4 semaines d’étude alternativement à Paris, en Suisse et en Pologne. La SERA est la formation phare en Europe pour les professionnels seniors du domaine armement, tant des ministères de la défense que de l’industrie.

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