Defence`s Feeds

EVENT Malaysian police stated on Monday (13 March) that they had arrested seven people, five Filipinos and two Malaysians, for suspected involvement with the Islamic State. Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said most of the arrests were made during an operation in Sabah earlier in

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Matthew Brubacher

Senior Fellow

Matthew Brubacher currently works with the United Nations Mission to Libya.

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Previously, he has worked with the African Union supporting their peace support operations in CAR and Somalia and prior to that as a DDR officer with the UN mission in DRC.

Matthew also worked as a cooperation adviser for the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and as an officer in the Palestine Liberation Organisation where he supported the Camp David II negotiations.

Matthew has an LLM in Public International Law from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor’s from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

On 23 March, the study “Challenges to freedom of the seas and maritime rivalry in Asia" and the study "Cybersecurity in the CSDP - Challenges and risks for the EU" will be presented at SEDE committee.
Further information
Draft agenda and meeting documents
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Nato has launched the annual anti-submarine warfare exercise Dynamic Manta 2017 (DYMA 17) off the Sicilian coast in Italy.

Raytheon has been awarded a new $11.8m contract by the US Office of Naval Research to develop an advanced, cross-domain communication and engagement network for the US Navy.

The Royal New Zealand Navy and Lockheed Martin Canada have opened the New Zealand ANZAC combat system trainer.

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SENER, the engineering and technology group, will take part in the Cruises and Ferries International Conference (CRAFERIC 2017), from 22 to 24 February in Madrid.

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) has developed a high-energy pulsed power container (HEPPC) is designed to deliver twice the energy density currently offered by existing railgun pulsed power solutions.

Nova Scotia-based Rosborough Boats has received a new contract to deliver multi-role rescue boats for the Royal Canadian Navy's arctic and offshore patrol ships (AOPS).

Mission-critical information technology (IT) infrastructure solutions provider ViON has received a capacity as a service (CaaS) contract from the US Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR).

Americas

• Despite losing Raytheon as a US-based partner in the USAF’s T-X trainer competition, Leonardo is still forging ahead with plans to establish final assembly for the M-346 Advanced Jet Trainer derivative — the T-100 — in the US. The location of the final assembly point is expected to be announced soon; however, no shortlists of potential sites for the plant have yet been offered by the firm. Prior to exiting from the project, Raytheon had chosen Meridian, Mississippi, as a final assembly location. Despite a US partner, Leonardo is confident of the off-the-shelf model’s low cost against its competitor’s clean sheet designs, and the track record the M-346 has had in already being used to train Israeli pilots for fifth-generation aircraft.

• Lockheed Martin has announced that they have upgraded the Airborne Multi-INT Lab (AML) to speed up the mission system’s ability to turn sensor data into intelligence for customers. The modified Gulfstream III aircraft is used to test various onboard sensors for military and non-military purposes and is fitted to enable in-air experimentation for products with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance applications. Upgrades added by Lockheed Martin include an autonomous sensor control mode that can coordinate operations between the plane and onboard sensors which will accelerate the aircraft’s ability to produce actionable intelligence from experimental data.

Middle East & North Africa

• The UAE is to buy hundreds of 8×8 infantry fighting vehicles in a deal worth $661 million. Providing the vehicles is Al Jasoor, a joint venture by local firm Tawazun and the Turkish firm Otokar’s subsidiary, Otokar Land Systems UAE. Otokar said the vehicles, developed by Al Jasoor, will be built at existing facilities of Tawazun Industrial Park in Abu Dhabi under a special arrangement. The vehicle has already completed an array of successful extensive all-terrain tests in the UAE.

Europe

• Bulgaria’s Defense Ministry has received three bids from Italy, Sweden and Portugal for the country’s MiG-29 replacement competition. Sweden is offering Sofia its Gripen package; Italy second-hand Eurofighters; while Portugal wants to sell its F-16s second-hand alongside a logistics package and weaponry from the US. $820 million has been earmarked by the government for the acquisition of eight new aircraft in order to improve compliance with NATO standards while reducing reliance on Russian-made aircraft. Formal negotiations with the preferred bidder could start as early as next month.

• Following Boeing’s accusations that Denmark unfairly chose Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter over the former’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, the Danish Office of Attorney General is expected to unveil a formal legal defense position as early as next month. A lawsuit was filed by Boeing after the company complained of the lack of access to selection process documents pertaining to Denmark’s next-generation fighter competition. So far, Denmark’s MoD has only released a small number of documents to Boeing despite regular formal requests for greater access that were lodged by the company over the last six months.

Asia Pacific

• South Korean daily JoongAng Ilbo reports that North Korea has tested technology necessary to give its Scud-ER ballistic missiles an anti-ship capability. Pyongyang threatens “merciless” attacks if an aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Carl Vinson, which is joining South Korean forces for exercises, infringes on its sovereignty or dignity. Sources say Pyongyang probably inherited the know-how from Iran which has turned its Fateh missile into an anti-ship weapon and officials in Seoul claim that tests were carried out last September and February.

• Iran has commenced mass-producing their domestically built main battle tank. Said to be inspired by Russia’s latest T-90MS, Tehran has boasted of the platform’s capabilities that can rival those used by the West. Speaking at a ceremony to mark the start of production, Iran’s Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said the tank, known as the Karrar, “can compete with the most advanced tanks in the world in the three main areas of power, precision and mobility, as well as maintenance and durability in the battleground.” The tank possesses advanced features like an electro-optical fire control system, a laser rangefinder, and a ballistic computer. It can also fire guided missiles.

• The Pakistan Army has inducted the Chinese LY-80 (HQ-16) medium-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) system into service. Islamabad has made two separate orders for the system having ordered three HQ-16 systems and eight IBIS-150 radars in 2013-2014 for USD $225.77 million and $40 million respectively, and was followed up in 2014-2015 with a $373.23 million order for six additional HQ-16 systems. To augment their air-defense network, there are also plans to procure a long-range SAM system with CPMIEC HQ-9’s export variant, the FD-2000, considered the likeliest option as fiscal constraints may rule out Russian platforms such as the S-400.

Today’s Video

• Time-lapse video of the USS Independence leaving Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for the scrapyard:

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G-III AML
(click to view full)

Lockheed is more aggressive than most defense firms in self-funding projects that make sense to them, and the Airborne Multi-Intelligence Laboratory (AML) was their response to the rising popularity of small manned surveillance planes like the USA’s MC-12W Liberty, the MARSS program, etc. Now, their AML is moving from a privately-funded surveillance variant of the Gulfstream III business jet, to a money-making platform, courtesy of the Italian Ministry of Defence.

Under an agreement for an undisclosed sum, Lockheed Martin will provide its AML as a contracted ISR(Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance) service “in a live operational environment,” which probably means Afghanistan. The service goes beyond the jet…

Italy’s contract includes full flight crew and maintenance personnel, plus 3 intelligence-processing ground stations, for 1 year. An option could extend the contract to 2 years. The sensor package will include day/night cameras and SIGINT electronic eavesdropping gear, other undiscussed communications and sensor packages, plus any new equipment the Italians choose to add and integrate.

Lockheed Martin says that its AML team includes L-3 Communications Systems-West, Rockwell Collins, FLIR Government Systems, and Finmeccanica’s DRS.

To date, the Gulfstream III AML has been used as a test platform to develop the architecture for swappable sensors that could be packaged in different mounting assemblies, and installed on a wide variety of planes. The firm now markets this offering as its Dragon series, with “Dragon Star” marketed as the modification for Gulfstream III sized jets, and “Net Dragon” as the name for the kind of rent-a-capability service the Italians are buying.

The Italian order will help the firm refine its core architecture, broaden its sensor choices, hone both parties’ understanding of how to operate and use a service like this, and give its Dragon line some operational credentials.

Those credentials may be a useful selling point in non-military markets as well. The mineral surveys of Afghanistan that recently found huge resource deposits used military assets, including magnetic imaging sensors on board P-3 maritime patrol aircraft. Unmanned drones have also shown considerable flexibility, with hunter-killer platforms like the MQ-9 Reaper refitted to take on roles like firefighting assistance. Manned aircraft with packages like the Dragon series offer similar potential, without the issues drones have getting permission to fly in civil airspace.

Updates

March 14/17: Lockheed Martin has announced that they have upgraded the Airborne Multi-INT Lab (AML) to speed up the mission system’s ability to turn sensor data into intelligence for customers. The modified Gulfstream III aircraft is used to test various onboard sensors for military and non-military purposes and is fitted to enable in-air experimentation for products with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance applications. Upgrades added by Lockheed Martin include an autonomous sensor control mode that can coordinate operations between the plane and onboard sensors which will accelerate the aircraft’s ability to produce actionable intelligence from experimental data.

March 23/16: Lockheed Martin is to go ahead with its Net Dragon upgrade planned for the USAF’s U-2S fleet. The system will equip the fleet with a beyond-line-of-sight communications relay capability for forward-deployed forces on the ground or in the air. At present, the aircraft uses a Dragon Fly modem that will allow a soldier on the ground to relay full-motion video to another soldier miles away. The new upgrade increases the difficulty for competitors to get ahead of Lockheed, with a planned L-3 Communications upgrade due on the plan within the next few months. An L-3 Communication satellite modem will allow the same forces on the ground to call up imagery and other information from intelligence databases, such as the distributed common ground system.

The East and South China Sea is a strategic maritime link and a major trade route with rich fishing grounds and oil and gas reserves. Mounting conflicts between neighbouring countries (in particular China, the Philippines and Vietnam) have resulted in growing security tension and militarisation of the region. The hearing will therefore address security implications of the territorial disputes for global and European security, and the role the EU could play in easing tensions in the region.
Location : Paul-Henri Spaak 5B001
Further information
Draft programme
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

The EU Counter-Terrorism Strategy was adopted in 2005. Since then the EU has improved ties with third countries in combating terrorism, in particular with countries in the Southern Neighbourhood. The EU adopted a wide-ranging counter-terrorism approach and acts through building state capacity, strengthening the rule of law/respect for human rights, fostering regional cooperation, and preventing/combating terrorism.
Further information
Study
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

The companies join resources and establish a joint venture company in Norway that will be the international strategic and exclusive supplier of combat systems for thyssenkrupp Marine Systems' submarines.

Raytheon Anschütz, a German-based leader in naval bridge system integration, has achieved several key milestones toward the Integrated Navigation and Bridge System (INBS) for the UK Royal Navy's new Type 26 Global Combat Ships.