The cost of the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship, rose so high that the navy cancelled the order with Lockheed Martin for the second ship. The parties just couldn't agree on cost and risk factors. The Littoral combat ships were supposed to be the future of the new navy. They would have been modular and could have been configured for many different tasks. Meanwhile the navy is moving to replace its aging amphibious landing craft with the new LHA Replacement designed ships. The new ships will be the LPD 17 Antonio class. It is also planning to replace older ammunition and cargo ships with the Lewis and Clark class T-AKE design. The navy has requested Boeing to build a new, more powerful, Infrared tracking unit for the F/A-18E/F fighter, known as the Super Hornet. They believe that this will allow them to track enemy planes and missiles, at a much further distance. In the last 18 months, the U.S. Navy has quietly reequipped at least 6 of its planes with a new radar system. It is called the LSRS, Littoral Surveillance Radar System. In a test by the navy, one ballistic and one cruse missile were successfully tracked and engaged. The test was carried out to prove that the navy could track and engage ballistic missiles and still perform other defensive duties. The same test was a failure in 2006.

The U.S. Navy has deployed a high speed catamaran, the Swift, to tour the Caribbean and Central America. They state that they want to establish a persistent presence with a minimal foot print. A new single channel handset radio is being proposed that will simplify communications through the military. The US Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego, hosts the Joint Tactical Radio System known as JTRS. I just have to wonder if having a one channel radio will make it much easier to jam?

Predator
Photo Source: US Air Force

The U.S. Air Force has issued contracts for a new, unmanned, hunter killer aircraft. The idea is to take the force well beyond the Predator type aircraft. Could it be that we too will have a full sized, unmanned aircraft such as the one that was made operational by the Germans? The air force also dealt a blow to Lockheed Martin when their decision not to give a helicopter contract to the company was backed up by the GAO, General Accounting Office.

Osprey
Photo Source: US Air Force

The U.S. Marines are scheduled to deploy the MV-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft in Iraq in September 2007. They claim that it is far more survivable than the helicopters currently in use. This remains to be seen. The aircraft has been plagued by malfunctions, besides presenting an even larger target with perhaps more personnel on board.

Some are saying that the Humvee is now weighted down with so much heavy armor, that it is no longer highly maneuverable. This is why the armed forces are eagerly awaiting replacement vehicles. The problem is that the highly touted replacement vehicles, which were thought to provide superior protection from roadside bombs and mines, are no longer as efficient in that area. The insurgents, in Iraq, have upped the power of their explosives in anticipation of more capable vehicles. What is the answer? Could it be the UGV? This stands for unmanned ground vehicle. Many of our allies have signed a memorandum of understanding called a MoU, with us for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, but there is a problem right now and that is the transfer of certain technologies. It is yet to be ironed out. The U.S. military is thinking again, about having unmanned planes stay up in the sky until a target of opportunity shows itself. They think of these vehicles as sacrificial. In other words, if they get shot down, there is no big loss, since there is no pilot. Hmm, throwaway airplanes, what will they think of next? The U.S. is establishing a new Africa command. It is a united command and will consolidate military activities on the continent for all countries there, except for Egypt.

The U.S. and Spain are competing for a destroyer contract with Australia. The U.S. has indicated that Israel may be granted access to the F-22 Raptor project. Wow this has to be the biggest plumb that Israel ever received. The project has cost us untold billions upon billions of dollars and if just one plane falls into the hands of our enemies, it will have all been for nothing, as the planes are re engineered. The truth of the matter is that the Joint Strike Fighter is far beyond anything that Israel would need and is so far superior to the forces surrounding Israel that it would make their air force practically invincible. The U.S. is going to award a 15 billion dollar contract for a new search and rescue helicopter at the end of the year. The famous Lockheed Martin Skunk Works has developed an unmanned aircraft that can be launched from a submerged submarine, but they need more funds from the Navy, because the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency contract was not renewed. The performance of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) can not be fully assessed because of too few tests, according to the GAO.

In our ever increasing relations with Japan, we are allowing the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) to test fire Raytheon's Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 1A interceptor missile at the end of 2007. One of their Kongou class ships will attempt to engage a medium range ballistic missile separating target.

Britain says that it is going to build two large aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy. The MOD, Ministry of Defense, states that they are examining which shipyards will be able to keep costs down and work closely with them. There is a problem though, as two shipbuilders have decided to merge. The companies have said there will be no deal unless the government commits to the building of the two carriers. The UK defense equipment minister had said that the consolidation had to take place first. The British have launched a competition for a new, medium range, radar to replace the Type 996. This is the radar that is on most of the Royal Navy's ships. The invitation went out to Lockheed Martin UK, Saab-Microwave Systems and Thales-Naval UK. The first British Astute class submarine was launched on 8 June, 2007. The budget is almost in place for a fourth sub. It is expected that seven Astute class subs will be built. A British company is developing controls that will let a fighter pilot control multiple unmanned vehicles on the ground. Thales UK has unveiled the Watchkeeper, an unmanned aerial vehicle that is said to be very capable. For the price of about 5.5 Billion pounds, the new Panavia Tornado F.3 will be equipped with the Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) by QinetiQ.

Estonia had now acquired the ability of maritime surveillance through the purchases of a Czech turbojet and Swedish sensors to be integrated into the aircraft. Turkey has decided to buy Mark 54 lightweight torpedoes from the U.S. They are the first international customer to do so. I am a little surprised at this and it seems a political move to me, since the new rocket torpedoes being sold by Russia can run rings around it. The Russian torpedo speeds along in a bubble of air and hits speeds in excess of 200 mph and is said to be capable of much higher speeds. The U.S. may already have one. By the way, these torpedoes build up so much kinetic energy that warheads are optional, they can sink a ship just by hitting it. Poland is fitting its military vehicles in Afghanistan with new, advanced steel-composite, lightweight passive armor by Rafael. India has built a supersonic cruse missile. It can be fired on land or from submarines. It was built jointly between India and Russia. India has also begun testing its air to air missile again. The last tests were conducted in 2005. India's largest electronics defense contractor, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), expects to double in size in the next four years. Thailand is getting ready to begin developing and producing and entire range of sophisticated rockets and missiles. Just what the world needs, cheap missiles. Maybe the mob will even be able to afford one? Morocco is in joint negotiations with France on the purchase of 20 of the fourth generation Rafael aircraft, Rafael is the parent firm of Dassault Aviation. Singapore is in negotiations with South Korea to buy T-50 jet trainers. Upgraded Indian Navy IIyushin II-38s, known as "Mays", have got the Indian government very upset. It seems that they are missing vital equipment that was never put on the planes. They don't have advanced avionics and weapons systems, limiting their usefulness. The Ukraine has improved the Skif anti tank missile launcher.

NATO had over 3,700 flights by unmanned aircraft in April, 2007 and it is expected that this will expand greatly.

Su-27
Graphic Source: This drawing was placed into the Public Domain by the artist.

The Chinese are developing their next generation of a heavy air superiority fighter called the J-11B. They are further developing the Sukhoi Su-27SK that ended production in 2004. That aircraft was designated the J-11 by the Chinese. China and India are planning a joint military exercise to foster military cooperation.

A new radar has been developed by the Minsk, Belarus based design bureau, known as RADAR. Catchy name. It is an advanced, solid state, ground mobile, air defense radar named Vast and will replace the Soviet era P-18 Spoon Rest D. tests are taking place in an undisclosed Asian country, could it be China? It is able to detect and track targets, measure their range, azimuth and speed and send the info to an air defense network.