Jane_s_Defence_Weekly_-_Apr-25-07

DEFENSE – NATIONAL, TRANSATLANTIC AND BUSINESS PRIORITIES • Change within the Department of Defense • The Challenges to Business • The EDA, National Politics and Transatlantic Collaboration INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT – AGILITY, INNOVATION AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT •Opening Address: Acquisition, Efficiency and Reform • Logistics Reform •Developments in the United Kingdom • Innovative Finance and the US Defense Budget •Opportunities for Agile Businesses THE GEOPOLITICAL OUTLOOK – THREATS, RESPONSES, CAPABILITY REQUIREMENTS • Threats, Requirements and Changing Capabilities •What are the Military Capability Requirements? • Iraq, the Gulf, Afghanistan – The Way Ahead for the United States •Hedging against a Rising China • The Priorities for American Defense and Security Policy •Working with a New Major Power – India 06 90 20 7W E More information: www.conference.janes.com • e-mail: conference@janes.com • telephone: +44 (0) 20 8700 3781 To register go to www.conference.janes.com. Places are limited for this exclusive event. Register NOW! Organized by Lead sponsorSupporting publication US Defense to 2008 and Beyond Policy • Programs • Partnerships The US remains the one great power, but the unipolar world is visibly breaking down. The issues facing Washington require alliance and relationship building and partnerships with industry. Achieving this is the thrust of the US Defense Conference in Washington. 1 May 2007, Cosmos Club, Washington DC, USA Headlines 4 UK RAF to put Typhoon cannons into action US releases funding to start initial JSF production 5 US demonstrates concept of automated satellite servicing US military look to fill gaps in GPS navigation 6 US services drag heels over UAV consolidation NATO begins missile defence talks The Americas 7 USAF poised to award synthetic fuel contract USMC stresses survivability of MV-22 8 USCG to assume integrator power over Deepwater 9 Organiser shuts Iran’s LAAD exhibition stand Europe 10 Poland tests PDCue for use in Afghanistan Bulgaria prepares to relaunch ‘Hip’, ‘Hind’ upgrade 12 Turkey turns to missile defence Asia Pacific 13 Report urges RAN action on future undersea assets 14 China seeks joint exercise with ASEAN countries Taiwan looks to renew helicopter fleet after crash Middle East/Africa 15 Sudan accepts Phase 2 of UN deployment to Darfur Boeing launches first Apache support deal in Kuwait Business 16 Finmeccanica denies Thales stake reports 17 M&A activity reaches a six-year high Boeing in talks to find FRES contract partner Austria may face legal action if it cancels order for Typhoons Analysis 18 Darfur, Somalia: too little, too late Opinion 19 High performance in a changing environment Briefing: US Pacific Command 20 Pacific partners: The US is putting a new emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region. Robert Karniol reports Country Briefing: China 24 Marching forward: China is working to transform its capabilities. Timothy Hu reports Forces Update 31 Kazakhstan unveils modernisation plans Tenix confirms schedule for upgraded M113s Malaysia set to receive fighter aircraft boost 32 Full Pandur II production commences for Portugal Directory 33 Customer service offices; subscription form; list of advertisers Jane"s Defence Weekly is published weekly by Jane"s Information Group Limited, © Jane"s Information Group Limited 2007 All rights reserved.Articles, information, artwork and photographs are the copyright of Jane"s Information Group Limited (unless otherwise stated). No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner. 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Jane's Information Group will not be liable for any damages, including without limitation, direct, indirect or consequential damages arising from any use of products or services or any actions or omissions taken in direct reliance on information contained in advertisements. Printed in the UK byWarners (Midlands) plc. Jane"s Defence Weekly is published 51 times a year at a US subscriber rate of $395. Periodicals postage paid at Rahway, NJ, and other mailing offices. Postmaster send address corrections to MercuryAirfreight International Ltd, 365 Blair Road, Avenel, NJ 07001 ISSN 0265 3818 Registered in the UK as a newspaper. EDITORIAL OFFICES Jane’s Information Group, Sentinel House, 163 Brighton Road, Coulsdon, Surrey CR5 2YH Tel: +44(0)20 8700 3700 Fax: +44(0)20 8763 1007 e-mail: jdw@janes.com jdw.janes.com • VOL 44 • ISSUE NO 17 • 25 April 2007 Subscribe today! Online this week To subscribe to JDW online please telephone +44 (0) 20 8700 3750, or 800 824 0768 if inside the US. Or visit the website and subscribe using our secure server. To subscribe or re-subscribe to JANE’S DEFENCE WEEKLY in print format, please telephone: +44 (0) 1444 475 660, or 800 824 0768 if inside the US. We’ve made re-ordering easier! Visit www.janesrenewals.com if your print subscription is about to expire. Please note that online content is only available to online subscribers. jdw.janes.com also regularly provides you with: • Full access to more than 11 years of archived material; • Full search capabilities; • Additional weekly content not included in the magazine; • Access to the best defence news and analysis wherever you are; • The latest articles delivered straight to your desktop " Estonia eyes maritime surveillance system " Two die as RAF Pumas collide in Iraq " SPAWAR awards $208 million for C4SIR systems " LAAD: Embraer launches transport aircraft project " Pilatus profit rose by 56% in 2006 Enhanced naval capabilities, such as its Sovremenny destroyers, reflect China’s growing aspirations to be a major regional power (see page 24). On the cover All editorial content is available online at jdw.janes.com prior to publication of the hardcopy magazine jdw.janes.com Interview 34 JDW talks to General John Craddock, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe NATO: 1165789 L van G inderen:1117383 Rival aircraft manufacturers have ignored South Korea’s call for tenders on a USD2.4 billion contract for 20 multirole fighters, with only Boeing submitting a bid by the 18 April deadline. Under the first phase of the F-X programme, South Korea bought 40 Boeing F-15K fighters Boeing; 1039533 HEADLINES Staff Editor Peter Felstead Deputy Editor and Middle East Bureau Chief Robin Hughes Features Editor Tony Skinner Asia-Pacific Bureau Chief Robert Karniol Washington DC Bureau: Americas Bureau Chief Stephen Trimble Reporters Caitlin Harrington, Nathan Hodge Administrative AssistantMarian Chiles Chief Sub Editor LyndonWhite Deputy Chief Sub Editor James Adlam Sub Editors Karen Deans, Susie Kornell Jane’s Aviation Desk Editor Damian Kemp Aerospace Consultant Nick Cook Jane’s Land Desk Editor Nick Brown Jane’s Land Consultant Christopher F Foss Land Reporter AndrewWhite Jane’s Naval Consultant Richard Scott Naval Reporter Denise Hammick Jane’s Defence Industry Editor Guy Anderson Industry Reporters Keri Smith Jon Grevatt Ben Vogel Jane’s Business Consultant James Smith ProductionMelanie Aris, Victoria Powell e-Publishing Bich Nguyen Group Managing Director Alfred Rolington Correspondents The Americas: Scott Gourley; José Higuera; Sharon Hobson; Andrew Koch; Joshua Kucera; Jeremy McDermott; Pedro Paulo Rezende; Cesar Cruz Tantalean Asia/Pacific: Iqbal Athas; Rahul Bedi; Joseph Bermudez; MacWilliam Bishop; Farhan Bokhari; Yihong Chang; Anthony Davis; Julian Kerr; Shinichi Kiyotani; Phillip Mckinnon Europe: John Berg; Piotr Butowski; Thomas Dodd; Tim Glogan; Grzegorz Holdanowicz; David Ing; Henry Ivanov; Jiri Kominek; J A C Lewis; Georg Mader; Nikolai Novichkov; Tim Ripley; Lale Sariibrahimoglu; Radu Tudor; Theodore Valmas; Paolo Valpolini; Hans de Vreij Middle East/Africa: Segun Adeyemi; Alon Ben-David; Nicholas Blanford; Helmoed-Römer Heitman, Mohammed Najib NATO and EU Affairs: Nicholas Fiorenza UN: Thalif Deen e-mail the editors: jdw@janes.com 4 • 25 April 2007 • JDW • jdw.janes.com T he UK is planning re- adoption of the Mauser 27 mm cannon as a weapon fortheRoyalAir Force(RAF)Eurofighter Typhoon. This has emerged as one of several new plans being prepared by RAF commanders to concentrate resources on the Typhoon#s deployment to south- westAsia. To enhance the Typhoon%s air- to-ground capability, RAF officers are working up detailed plans to transfer Mauser 27 mm cannon ammunition from the service%s Tornado GR.4 fleet to the new Typhoon force at RAF Coningsby. The UK Ministry of Defence%s (MoD%s) Investment Approvals Board, which oversees defence pro- curement policy, is expected to give thego-ahead for 11Squadron (Sqn), RAF, to begin training to strafe ground targets ahead of its deploy- ment toAfghanistan inmid-2008. Six years ago theMoD opted not to support the use of the Typhoons% Mauser cannons as a cost-saving measure, but an RAF spokesman told Jane#s that current operational requirements in southwest Asia meant rockets or guns were now needed to supplement precision- guided munitions. Jane#s understands the proposed weapon fit for the first wave of Typhoons to deploy is to be two Enhanced Paveway laser/GPS- guided bombs and 55 rounds of 27mm cannon ammunition. Among the deployment changes, seniorMoDofficials are expected to approve by August the demonstra- tion of the Typhoon%s all-weather expeditionary fighter capability in early 2008. This will now be achieved by the deployment of 3 Sqn, RAF, on an overseas exercise in the US, Cyprus or Saudi Arabia, according to a senior RAF officer. This move will allow the RAF and its industry support team fromBAE Systems and Rolls-Royce to con- centrate on air-to-ground training. “The first stage of Typhoon will be the delivery of Quick Reaction Alert in the UK in June,” said the spokesman. “New proposals have been tabled but decisions have not been taken yet. The intention is to get theaircraft supportingour troops to take the pressure off the Harrier andTornadoGR.4 forces.” As a result of this re-appraisal, proposals to deploy a detachment ofTyphoons to theFalkland Islands in the air-defence role by the end of 2007 have been dropped. Tornado F.3 interceptors will now continue to defend the Falklands until the aircraft goes out of service in late 2008. “I don%t think deploying a handful of aircraft to the Falklands would be a helpful step to field- ing the air-to-ground capability of the Typhoon,” said a senior RAF source. “It makes sense to concentrate on the Typhoon%s central capa- bilities until we have to do a significant operation, such as going toAfghanistan or Iraq.” ■ UK RAF to put Typhoon cannons into action TIMRIPLEY JDWCorrespondent London ● Using the 27 mm Mauser cannon on RAF Typhoons will enhance the aircraft’s air-to-ground capability. The MoD originally opted not to support the cannons as a cost-saving measure RAF Typhoons will now have a strafing capability when they deploy to southwest Asia Crown Copyright; 1159311 The USDepartment of Defense announced on 19 April that it has released full funding to kick off low-rate initial production of two F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft, along with additional long-lead funding to prepare for the production of 12 more of the aircraft. ThePentagon released funds for low-rate initial production of two examples of the conventional F-35A variant to begin immediately. The additional long-lead fundingwill be used to secure advancedmateri- als to build 12more aircraft: six conventional variants and six F-35B short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) variants. The announcement is goodnews for prime contractor Lockheed Martin,which has raced to keep themassive,multinational USD276.5 billion F-35 programmeon track. After fixingweight problems that plagued the aircraft, the company is now in the throes of one of the most difficult stages of development: building and testing software for the fighter. “This signals Pentagon confidence that two of the three F-35 variants are ready to enter production,” said Loren Thompson, a defence analyst at the Lexington Institute. The conventional variantwill account for over 70 per cent of F-35 production andmost of the aircraft’s foreign sales, Thompson said. TheSTOVL variant is also key because theUK– a key partner on JSF – is expected to buy that variant. The carrier landing version of the air- craft, known as the F-35C, is entering the critical design review stage. CaitlinHarrington JDWStaff Reporter,Washington, DC US releases funding to start initial JSF production jdw.janes.com • JDW • 25 April 2007 • 5 The US Department of Defense (DoD) has taken a significant step towards redefining the way military satellites are built and operated with a series of experiments that aim to prove the concept of automated satel- lite servicing. On 17 April two Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)-developed Orbital Express spacecraft, which were launched in a mated configuration on 8 March into a circular, 492 km low Earth orbit, were successfully separated for the first time. The two spacecraft – theAuton- omousSpaceTransfer andRobotic Orbiter (ASTRO) and the Next Generation Satellite (NextSat) – were separated with the use of the ASTRO&s robotic arm before later remating. It was the latest in a planned three-month series of experiments aiming to validate the system&s functionality. At the start ofApril, theASTRO spacecraft successfully transferred just under 32 lb (14.5 kg) of hydra- zine propellant to NextSat using its pressure-fed transfer system and 19 lb of hydrazine using its transfer pump. NextSat then con- ducted a pump fluid transfer back toASTRO. The ASTRO vehicle performed the first autonomousbatteryOrbital Replacement Unit transfer on 7 April, using its robotic arm to trans- fer thebattery,whichwasintegrated intoNextSat&s power system. Further demonstrations will include the use of the arm to detach andre-attachaflightcomputer from a bay on board ASTRO as well as multiple rendezvous and capture docking exercises. Initially start- ing less than 1 km apart butmoving out to ranges of up to 7 km,ASTRO will adopt different orbital planes and altitudes to make the rendez- vous attemptsmore difficult. If the series of demonstrations are deemed successful, Orbital Express couldhavemajor ramifica- tions for the use ofmilitary ISR and communications satellites and on theway theUS operates in space. Speaking after the March launch of the two spacecraft, DARPA&s Orbital Express programme man- ager, US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Fred Kennedy, said it was hopedOrbitalExpresswould“dem- onstrate how on-orbit refuelling and modular upgrades will make it possible to work around some key obstacles: stringent manoeuvring constraints, part failures and tech- nological obsolescence”. “We&re hoping that mission designers will see the advantages of a flexible architecture, where you can pop in a better flight com- puter, a fresh battery, or a decade&s worth of additional propellant,” Col Kennedy said. On-orbit satellite refuelling will give the US the flexibility to manoeuvre reconnaissance satel- lites to optimise their time over ground targets – something that currently only happens in time of crisis or war because of the finite amount of thruster fuel aboard the spacecraft. Increased manoeuvrability will also give the spacecraft greater survivability against kinetic kill vehicles and debris and allow it to change orbit to counter denial and deception activities on the ground. Furthermore, this approach allows a higher fraction of a satel- lite&s launch mass to be devoted to its payload, since the craft can refuel once it reaches orbit. The ability to replace or upgrade electronic payloads on deployed spacecraft will both lengthen a sat- ellite&s operational life and make the initial platform development quicker and less expensive. Withscepticismaboutautomated satellite servicing lingering, the activities ofOrbital Expresswill go a longway to proving the concept. So far, the demonstrations have taken place at the lowest levels of spacecraft autonomy, which required several ground-based %approval to proceed& (ATP) con- firmations. Future demonstrations will require fewer ATPs, allowing Orbital Express to conduct flight activities with increased autonomy. Boeing&s PhantomWorks,which is leading the industry team that developed the two types of space- craft in conjunction with DARPA, is acting as overall mission integra- tor under an initial 2002 agreement worth some USD113 million. The total DoD spend on the programme is reportedly USD267.4 million over 2001-07. ■ US demonstrates concept of automated satellite servicing TONYSKINNER JDWFeatures Editor London ● The Orbital Express system successfully autonomously transferred propellant fuel and a battery from one spacecraft to another for the first time The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding an effort to develop navigation technology that will work when signals from the satellite-based GPS are unavailable. Two industry teams – one led by Boeing, another led by Argon ST – have won DARPA contracts for the Robust Surface Navigation programme, which aims to identify ways to tap “signals of opportunity” to provide precise navigation data. The objective is to find ways to use other sources – television antennas, cell phone towers or satel- lites – to fix a location when GPS is blocked by jamming or interference. The first phase of the programme – which will last approximately 15 months – will be followed by a demon- stration phase, which will involve the development of a prototype receiver. Boeing PhantomWorks has teamed with Rosum of Mountain View, California; NAVSYS of Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Shared Spectrum of Vienna, Virginia, on its concept development effort. In a briefing, Bart Ferrell, programmemanager for the Boeing-led Robust Surface Navigation team, said DARPA is trying to solve a problem for the USmilitary: GPS does not work well in “difficult environments” such as urban canyons or inside buildings. Using signals of opportunity to supplement GPS, Ferrell adde