In the Navy’s Forecast, a Shrinking Attack Submarine Fleet

The Navy two years ago planned to procure 54 attack submarines through 2040 in order to maintain its desired fleet size of 48 ships. In its latest 30-year shipbuilding plan, however, just 44 boats are included.

Given that the average life of an attack submarine is 30 years, cutting 10 ships equates to a 20 percent reduction in the attack submarine force, said Rear Adm. Richard Breckenridge, deputy director of the Navy’s submarine warfare division.

As a result, the Navy faces a 23-year period when the number of attack submarines in the fleet falls below the desired 48 ships.

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Pentagon to continue developing conventional weapons after ratification of START

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told lawmakers Thursday that the United States continues to encourage Russia to join a European missile-defense system intended to counter the threat posed by Iranian missiles.

He also sought to reassure Republicans that the United States would not agree to Russian efforts to limit the U.S. missile-defense capability.

"Whatever talks are going on are simply about trying to elicit their [Russian] willingness to partner with us, along with the Europeans, in terms of a regional missile defense," Gates said, appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee to support ratification of the recently signed U.S.-Russian Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

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Turkey to freeze bilateral relations with Israel, excludes private sector

Tension that broke out between Turkey and Israel when the latter killed eight Turkish citizens and a US citizen of Turkish origin in a raid on a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla has resulted in Turkey freezing bilateral relations with Israel -- but joint projects and contracts signed with Israeli companies will remain as they are.

The Defense Industry Implementation Committee (SSİK) convened under the chairmanship of PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to take up the issue of military agreements and projects with Israel.

Turkey -- which recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv and cancelled three military exercises in the aftermath of a bloody Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara aid ship -- has shelved 16 bilateral agreements due to Israel's refusal to apologize for the killings or pay compensation.

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North Korea talks war in UN

North Korea has warned that any rebuke from the UN over the alleged sinking of a South Korean navy ship in April could provoke a military response.

The North's envoy to the UN rejected the findings of an international investigation into the incident and said that “A war may break out at any time.” The message given by the North Korean ambassador to the UN was very clear.

He said, in essence, that if the international community strikes North Korea, the latter will strike back.

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Lockheed Offers Options for Replacing NLOS-LS

Lockheed Martin has responded to a U.S. Navy request for ideas to replace the canceled Non-Line of Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS).

After the U.S. Army killed the missiles-in-a-box program, leaving the Littoral Combat Ships without a medium-range weapon, the Navy asked the company, which developed the NLOS-LS’s launch box, for ideas.

“We gave them a menu of solutions, things we can fire out of that NLOS command launch unit,” said Lockheed’s Morri Leland, director of international business development for tactical missiles and combat maneuver systems. “We have weapon options out of that box, if you want to retain the box.”

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Kim Jong-il Demands Fighter Jets from China

North Korea asked China to provide it with the latest J-10 fighter jets and other hardware but was rejected, it emerged Wednesday.

According to a high-ranking source in the North, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il made the request to Chinese President Hu Jintao when he visited China in early May. But Hu apparently told Kim that China will protect and support him if attacked.

Observers guess this is the reason why Kim left a day earlier than scheduled.

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Vandenberg Conducts Test Launch of Minuteman III Missile

Vandenberg Air Force Base announced early Wednesday morning that it had conducted a successful test launch of an unarmed Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

Traveling 4,190 miles across the Pacific Ocean to a target in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the missile was made up of parts from the Department of Defense’s three nuclear missile bases — F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montanta.

The test was conducted by the Vandenberg-based 576th Flight Test Squadron, which although it had been under the command of Vandenberg’s 30th Space Wing, is now part of the Air Force Global Strike Command.

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Fighter jets 'to cost $70m each'

Australia will pay about $US60 million ($A70 million) each for advanced Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, the head of the JSF program says.

Lockheed Martin JSF program general manager Tom Burbage, in Canberra to update the government and Defence on JSF progress, said he could guarantee the price would not be as high as the claimed $US133 million per aircraft.

'Australia is buying the airplane with 2014-15 deliveries and then on out for a number of years.

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Last Flight of F-4D

A series of F-4D supersonic jet fighters neatly lines the runway of the Korean Air Force base in Daegu in southeastern Korea.

Their wings are folded as if to say they are done flying.

The jets… which first landed in Korea in 1969… have served and completed their mission in the Korean Air Force and are now ready to retire.

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Arms spending: India grows as west shrinks

With global arms majors focused on the commercial opportunities presented by India’s military modernisation programme, consulting firm Deloitte India and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) have produced a detailed report on the country’s defence market and the possibilities it presents.

Entitled, “Prospects for Global Defence Export Industry in Indian Defence Market”, the report was released today at the Eurosatory 2010 defence exhibition in Paris.

The report follows a KPMG-CII report in January on “Opportunities in the Indian Defence Sector”, a PricewaterhouseCoopers report in April on “Aerospace and Defence Insights” and a CII report last month on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the defence sector.

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USN 2011 shipbuilding program: 9 ships, $13.7 billion

The United States Navy plans to spend approximately $13.7 billion next year for ongoing construction of 9 new ships, including a super carrier, two guided missile destroyers, two littoral combat ships, two nuclear attack submarines, a helicopter assault ship, a mobile loading platform, and a joint Army/Navy high speed vessel, according to a report prepared for Congress by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

A portion of a table in that report ‘FY 2011-2015 New Construction Shipbuilding Procurement and Funding Plan’ specifically categorizes outlays for 2011:

Designation	Type	# Vessels	2011--$$$ (millions)
CVN-78	Super Carrier	1	2,640
DDG-51	Guided Missile Destroyer	2	2,970
SSN-774	Nuclear Attack Submarine	2	5,133
LHA (R)	Helicopter Assault Carrier	1	950
MLP	Mobile Loading Platfrom	1	380
LCS	Littoral Combat Ship	2	1,509
JHSV	Joint High Speed Vessel	1	181
Total		9	13,762

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Israeli Nuclear Missile Boats Off Iranian Coast

Israel is stationing three of its five Dolphin class submarines in the Red Sea, and will keep one of them operating off the Iranian coast at all times.

These subs will be armed with cruise missiles (equipped with nuclear warheads).

Last year, Israel has received two more German built Dolphin class submarines, giving it a total of five (the others were received 9-10 years ago).

The older boats have since been upgraded to include larger fuel capacity, converting more torpedo tubes to the larger 650mm size, and installing new electronics.

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Russia hopes to sell missiles to Turkey

Russia hopes to sell Turkey surface-to-air missile systems, state-run news agency RIA cited the head of Russia's arms export company as saying on Wednesday.

"The Turkish army has a great need to acquire S-300 and S-400 missile systems," RIA quoted Rosoboronexport director Anatoly Isaikin as saying, referring to two Russian missiles.

Isaikin, speaking in Paris, said Russia had told Turkey it was prepared to participate in a tender for the supply of missile systems, RIA reported.

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New Russian nuclear submarine will not enter serial production

A fourth-generation Russian nuclear-powered multipurpose attack submarine that was floated out on Tuesday is too expensive for serial production, a business daily said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in the northern port of Severodvinsk to attend the official float-out ceremony.

The construction of the Severodvinsk, the first Project 885 Yasen (Graney) class submarine, began in 1993 at the Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk, but has since been dogged by financial setbacks.

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Turkey To Buy 9 European A129 Attack Helicopters

Turkey will launch urgent talks to buy nine A129 Mangusta attack helicopters from the Italian-British manufacturer AgustaWestland to fight separatist Kurds operating in an area near the country's borders with Iraq and Iran, a key Turkish official announced late Tuesday.

"In an effort to meet the urgent needs of the Turkish Land Forces Command and as part of the ongoing attack helicopter program, negotiations for the procurement of an additional nine attack helicopters will be launched with TUSAS," Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul told reporters after a meeting of the Defense Industry Executive Committee, Turkey's highest decision-making body on procurement.

TUSAS is the Turkish name for the Turkish Aerospace Industries, the prime contractor in Ankara's program to jointly manufacture at least 50 attack helicopters with AgustaWestland.

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Afghanistan gets an air force

NATO reports that the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, has decreed that the Afghan National Army Air Corps (ANAAC) can now call itself an Air Force.

According to written guidance to the Minister of Defence and the Chief of the Afghan General Staff, the ANAAC will now be known as the Afghan National Army Air Force.

The current inventory consists of helicopters and transport aircraft, the most modern being the refurbished G222 transporters provided by the US Government as C-27s.

Source

Raytheon Receives $73 Million to Advance Patriot Capabilities for Taiwan and Kuwait

Raytheon Company received a $73 million contract for spares as part of upgrades to configuration-3 of the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System for Taiwan and Kuwait.

The contract is the first of its kind for international Patriot partners and combines the spares requirements for both Taiwan and Kuwait.

The spares will support the upgrade and operation of existing Patriot systems fielded by both countries.

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Report: Decade of Navy personnel cuts hinders current readiness

The Navy’s personnel cuts over the past decade went too far and were based on faulty assumptions, possibly resulting in reduced readiness, according to a recently released Government Accountability Office report.

The Navy has reduced the number of sailors assigned to destroyers and cruisers by 16 percent since 2001.

Those reductions were based on a long-held assumption that at-sea workloads were heavier than in-port workloads, but that assumption didn’t jibe with what sailors told the GAO.

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Lockheed Martin Team Reaches 50 Percent Completion in Construction of Nation’s Third Littoral Combat Ship

The Lockheed Martin-led industry team recently accomplished a key milestone by reaching the 50-percent completion mark in the construction of the nation’s third Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). LCS 3, named Fort Worth, is on track for delivery to the U.S. Navy in 2012.

Fort Worth is being built by Marinette Marine Corporation and is scheduled to be launched later this year. All of the ship’s major equipment has been installed and 100 percent of its modules are under construction.

“Lockheed Martin and its teammates have demonstrated strong performance in constructing LCS 3,” said Joe North, Lockheed Martin LCS program manager.

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Russia to float out new nuclear submarine after delay

Russia on Tuesday launches a new nuclear-powered multipurpose attack submarine after a short delay caused by technical reasons, the Sevmash shipyard said.

The construction of the Severodvinsk, the first Project 885 Yasen (Graney) class submarine, began in 1993 at the Sevmash shipyard in the northern Russian city of Severodvinsk but has since been dogged by financial setbacks.

Russia planned to float out the submarine on May 7 to mark the 65th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in May 1945.

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LOGIR moves a step closer to the fleet

The LOw-cost Guided Imaging Rocket (LOGIR) completed its concept demonstration phase in May with a successful launch and direct hit at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) Point Mugu sea range.

“It was our graduation exercise and it was a complete success,” said Howard McCauley, head of the Precision Guidance Office in NAWCWD’s Weapons and Energetics Department (4.7). “We have shown that the LOGIR concept is feasible and its technology is mature enough to transition into a program of record.”

The LOGIR demonstration was funded as part of the Office of Naval Research’s Future Naval Capabilities Low-Cost Imaging Terminal Seeker (LCITS) program and was executed by NAVAIR Code 4.7’s Emergent Weapons Concepts Division.

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Successful First Firing of Naval Cruise Missile

On May 28, Direction Generale de l’Armement (DGA), the French defence procurement agency, successfully carried out the first test firing of a Missile de Croisière Naval (MdCN) naval cruise missile.

The firing took place at DGA’s missile test range at Biscarosse, in south-western France, and used a vertical launcher similar to those used by French navy surface ships.

The MdCN missile will equip the French Navy’s FREMM multimission frigates from 2014 and its Barracuda nuclear attack submarines from 2017.

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Video inside lethal Israeli Gaza flotilla raid on Turkish ship released at UN

Journalists aboard the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, part of the Gaza humanitarian flotilla, documented Israel's lethal military attack, and were able to smuggle out an hour of footage.

The video is being released presently at a United Nations press conference by Iara Lee, a filmmaker from Cultures of Resistance (CulturesofResistance.org).

Twin Cities Indymedia is helping mirror the High-Definition 1080P 16-minute edit of the Israeli attack.

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Intelligent Laser System

Not your typical paint job. The F-35 Lightning II is the most advanced combat aircraft ever built. Cutting edge technologies, including robotics, are used in it's manufacturing. Even painting the aircraft with radar-evading coatings is accomplished with precise instrumentation guided by lasers.

$700 million Defence Force order gets green flag

Defence Minister Wayne Mapp says he won't be cancelling the Air Force's $700 million helicopter order, despite a damning report from Germany.

It is the single largest purchase for the Kiwi Defence Force in almost 20 years, but a German Army trial has found engine, access and weight issues with the new NH-90 helicopters - the successor to our outdated Iroquois.

But despite being initially critical of Labour's decision to buy the aircraft, Dr Mapp says he won't reverse it.

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