NCOIC seeks better levels of interoperability
Three of Europe's largest military technology companies, along with US aeronautics group Boeing, are making available to the wider defence IT community their network-centric 'patterns' - or sets of interoperability instructions - in key functional areas such as secure message handling, friendly-force tracking and coastal situation awareness. Sponsored by the transatlantic Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC), the four companies have submitted their proprietary patterns for all NCOIC members to evaluate and use for their own product development in the future so that different makes of command and control (C2) and data-exchange systems will be interoperable
[first posted to http://idr.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 16 June 2009]
Raytheon goes guided with its Excalibur Block 1b contender
The first fully guided examples of Raytheon's contender for the US Army's M982E1 Excalibur Block 1b guided 155 mm artillery projectile requirement were successfully fired on 22 May, Jane's has been told. According to a company representative, two such rounds were fired out to ranges of 12-14 km, and landed within 1-2 m of the target, using revised guidance software and a new reduced-cost base unit design
[first posted to http://idr.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 15 June 2009]
Ansys develops low-cost armoured vehicle sightsystem
South African electronics company Ansys has developed a low-cost day/night fire-direction upgrade package for light armoured vehicles. The Remote Video Sighting System (RVSS) has been developed with a particular eye to vehicles armed with low-pressure 90 mm guns, such as the Eland-90 (for which an export contract is being negotiated with an African army), its progenitor the Panhard AML-90, and the Engesa Cascavel
[first posted to http://idr.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 12 June 2009]
Stability concerns fail to slow US pullback from Iraqi cities
The US Army has transferred more than 130 bases to the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) since October 2008 as part of the first exhaustive phase of the withdrawal plan envisioned under a security agreement that would have all US combat troops out of Iraq by 2010. Speaking to reporters in Baghdad on 15 June, the top US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, said he was "absolutely committed" to meeting the 30 June deadline for removing combat troops from urban areas
[first posted to http://jdw.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 15 June 2009]
Upgrades boost RAF multirole Typhoon force
A retrofit project at BAE Systems' Warton site has delivered 15 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft equipped for air-to-ground operations to the UK Royal Air Force (RAF) in the 18 months since it began. "The Whole Aircraft Scheduled Maintenance and Upgrade [WASMU] programme has trebled the number of Block 5 standard aircraft the RAF has available," Tony Eccles, BAE Systems' Operations Manager at Typhoon Maintenance Unit (West) in Warton's Hangar 5, told Jane's on 8 June
[first posted to http://jdw.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 12 June 2009]
NATO commander reports improved police-mentoring capabilities in Afghanistan
The police-mentoring capabilities of all nations operating in southern Afghanistan have increased "significantly" in recent months but a lack of Afghan National Army (ANA) troops and the fledgling Afghan judicial system are continuing to hold back progress, Major General Mart de Kruif, the commander of NATO's Regional Command-South (RC-South), has told Jane's . In addition, the number of police mentoring teams in RC-South is expected to rise from 34 in June to 36 in October, with possible further increases as the US Marines expand their footprint in Helmand, an ISAF spokesperson told Jane's
[first posted to http://jdw.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 12 June 2009]
SPLA reorganises amid growing tensions in South Sudan
Enduring ethnic tensions and shifting alliances ahead of elections due in 2010 have prompted a reshuffle within the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA): the military wing of the semi-autonomous government in South Sudan. The SPLA reshuffle was in response to "people doing things that have undermined the peaceful cohesion [in the South] ..
[first posted to http://jdw.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 18 June 2009]
Paris Air Show: US Navy announces additional P-8A procurement
The US Navy (USN) announced at the Paris Air Show that it will buy an additional nine Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft following a review of service requirements. Speaking on 16 June, Nial Rothback, deputy programme manager for the P-8A at the USN's Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), stated that following an analysis of future capability requirements the programme will now encompass the acquisition of 117 aircraft rather than the 108 aircraft originally expected
[first posted to http://jdw.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 18 June 2009]
Paris Air Show: Eurohawk UAV's first flight expected later this year
Germany's prototype Eurohawk high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UAV is expected to make its first flight before the end of 2009, according to industry officials. Speaking on 16 June at the Paris Air Show, Ed Walby, director of business development for HALE systems at Northrop Grumman, stated that the RQ-4B Global Hawk platform, upon which the Eurohawk is based, is around 80 per cent complete
[first posted to http://jdw.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 18 June 2009]
US House Armed Services Committee votes for 12 more F-22s
The Lockheed Martin F-22 Fighter was thrown a USD369 million lifeline in a last-minute addition to the Fiscal Year 2010 (FY2010) US Defense Authorization Bill. The bill, approved by the US House Armed Services Committee (HASC) on 17 June 2009, includes an increase of USD369 million for advance procurement of 12 F-22 Raptors in FY11
[first posted to http://jdin.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 18 June 2009]
Taiwan's AIDC confident of securing IDF upgrade contract
Taiwan's state-owned Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) is expecting to sign a contract with the government shortly to upgrade around 70 F-CK-1 Indigenous Defence Fighters (IDF), the company revealed to Jane's on 18 June. An AIDC official said the upgrade would be based on two twin-seater IDF-2 prototypes that were delivered to the Taiwan air force in 2007 under a TWD7 billion project known as the Hsing Shing (Soaring Upgrade) programme
[first posted to http://jdin.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 18 June 2009]
Indian MoD stresses that procurement inquiry has no 'time limit'
The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated that there remains "no time limit" on the length of trade suspension imposed on seven companies that are implicated by a continuing inquiry into procurement activities being undertaken by India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The CBI inquiry is being carried out following the arrest in May of five members of the state-owned Ordnance Factory Board - including its former director general, Sudipta Ghosh - on allegations of corruption
[first posted to http://jdin.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 18 June 2009]
Details of Turkey's Project 'J' revealed
Details have emerged of the Turkish Land Forces Command's (TLFC) little-known 150 km-range precision strike tactical ballistic missile system. It is known variously as Project 'J' (J-600T Yildirum - Thunderbolt), or Project 'Kasirga', and is understood to have been developed by Turkey's Roketsan with some foreign assistance from an undisclosed source
[first posted to http://idr.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 12 June 2009]
USJFCOM explores network-free warfighting
US Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) has conducted a comprehensive wargame that, among other things, evaluated the military's ability to fight without networks. The seminar-style wargames were held between 31 May and 5 June, and lessons learned from the event are slated to emerge in July, serving as fodder for the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review
[first posted to http://idr.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 09 June 2009]
KMW to develop Germany's Mungo NC Recce vehicle
Germany's defence technology and procurement agency (BWB) has commissioned Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) to develop a lightweight, air-portable nuclear and chemical reconnaissance version of the Mungo light armoured vehicle. The new vehicle, known as Mungo NC Recce carries three crew members - commander, driver and reconnaissance technician - who are protected by a STANAG 4569 Level 1 (up to 3 for the Mungo 3 version) small arms and shell splinter-protected open-plan cabin
[first posted to http://idr.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 03 June 2009]
Paris Air Show: MBDA engages in missile study
MBDA is currently engaged in an internal study with regard to simplifying customer operations and support services for its new range of Marte anti-surface warfare (ASuW) missiles. Speaking at the Paris Air Show on 15 June, the managing director of MBDA Italy, Antonio Perfetti, said that the company is itself funding the study to show the customer its "robustness of intent and strong commitment" to supporting the new Marte Mk 2/S, Mk 2S-A and ER (Extended Range) fixed- and rotary-wing launched missiles
[first posted to http://jmr.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 15 June 2009]
Iran reverse-engineers HAWK SAM
Iran has reverse-engineered the Raytheon MIM-23B HAWK (Homing All-the-Way Killer) surface-to-air missile (SAM) and has begun manufacturing the weapon. On 6 June, the Iranian Defence Minister, Brigadier General Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar, inaugurated the production line of what was described as the Shahin domestically-made supersonic SAM
[first posted to http://jmr.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 15 June 2009]
USAF remains confident on post-2010 GPS performance
Claims in recent newspaper reports that the quality of service provided by the US Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite navigation system was likely to degrade from 2010 onwards have been denied by the US Air Force (USAF). On a tweet forum held on 20 May, Colonel Dave Buckman, Air Force Space Command lead for position, navigation and timing, stated: "GPS will not go down"
[first posted to http://jmr.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 01 June 2009]
War veterans take to streets in Bosnia
The budget cuts are part of a EUR1.2 billion stand-by deal agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in May. Under the deal, which took three weeks of tortuous negotiations between the various layers of government, some two thirds of the money available will go to the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the remainder to the Republika Srpska, roughly in line with the two major entities' share of Bosnia-Herzegovina's population
[first posted to http://jiwk.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 18 June 2009]
Soldiers' pay grievances pose risk in eastern Congo
Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (known as MONUC), told AFP that "no one was killed or injured" in the incident, which took place in Pinga, Nord-Kivu province, on 15 June. Both AFP and the BBC reported unnamed UN sources as pointing to pay issues
[first posted to http://jiwk.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 18 June 2009]
Military offensive raises Niger Delta tension
Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua is set to reveal details of an amnesty plan in June for militants who lay down their weapons in the volatile oil-rich Niger Delta. The amnesty offer - raised by the president in April and reiterated in late May - has so far been rejected by the main umbrella group the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which has been locked in an escalated battle with the Nigerian security forces since mid-May
[first posted to http://jiwk.janes.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 18 June 2009]
Chechen president turns to nation building
While Moscow formally announced the end of its 'counter-terrorist operation' in Chechnya on 16 April, it is clear that the fighting is far from over. Within a week, the shooting of three Russian soldiers had led to the resumption of combat operations and sporadic attacks have continued
[first posted to http://jiaa.janes.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 17 June 2009]
Al-Qaeda's administration of savagery
On 8 April 2009, Arab media reported that Saudi security forces had arrested 11 men in the southern part of the kingdom. The men were identified as Al-Qaeda supporters with ties to other militants outside of the country
[first posted to http://jiaa.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 15 June 2009]
IJU returns to Uzbekistan
The Islamic Jihad Union (IJU) marked the fourth anniversary of the 'Andijan massacre' by claiming its first attacks in Uzbekistan since July 2004. The incidents demonstrated that, after years of promoting its international credentials, the militant group still harbours a grudge against President Islam Karimov
[first posted to http://jtsm.janes.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 17 June 2009]
Attack index
TRENDS IN GLOBAL ATTACKS: May 2009 (See figures 1 and 2) May saw 771 attacks recorded worldwide from open sources by Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (JTIC), a slight 4.7 per cent decrease from the 809 recorded in April. Between April and May, significant escalations in operational tempo were recorded in the Philippines (20 to 30), Colombia (12 to 19), Greece (two to 10) and the Russian Federation (20 to 25)
[first posted to http://jtsm.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 05 June 2009]
Al-Qaeda continues to face attack of the drones
US drone strikes continue to target Al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan, but many attacks go unreported. The 19th drone strike of 2009 was launched on 16 May, according to The New York Times (17 May). The newspaper cited Pakistani officials as saying the drone killed two Arabs, one of them a suspected Al-Qaeda operative called Asad al-Masri
[first posted to http://jtsm.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 05 June 2009]
Trouble brewing - Three decades of insurgency in Assam
The northeast of India has been among the country's most restive regions for the past three decades. In particular, the state of Assam has been wracked by various ethnic insurgencies, with the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) posing the most significant threat to the state's security. Since the early 2000s, this threat has diminished as the ULFA's capabilities have been weakened by security operations, compelling the insurgent group to turn increasingly to indiscriminate bombings in civilian areas
[first posted to http://jir.janes.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 18 June 2009]
Ploughshare politics - The future of Hizbullah's militia
Hizbullah's performance in Lebanon's parliamentary elections on 7 June showed it will remain a major actor within the country's political scene. Although the March 8 alliance of which Hizbullah is a member lost the election, securing 57 seats out of a total 128, Hizbullah's 11 candidates all won their seats
[first posted to http://jir.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 18 June 2009]
Myanmar launches military offensive against Karen
As many as 3,000 ethnic Karen fled to Thailand from Myanmar in early June, following the launch of a military offensive. Although Thai Army Lieutenant General Aphirakyothin, who operates in the border region, claimed that only 1,741 Karen had entered Thailand, there is little doubt that the movement of refugees indicates an ongoing offensive in eastern Myanmar
[first posted to http://jir.janes.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - 18 June 2009]
