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DefenseNewsw w w. d e f e n s e n e w s . c o m

January 19, 2015

WASHINGTON — In late spring or

early summer, the US Air Forcewill decide who will build its next-generation bomber. Yet, despite all

the hype and public interest, theprogram remains shrouded in mys-tery.

The Long Range Strike-Bomber(LRS-B) program is stealthy, liter-ally and figuratively. Few details

are actually known about thebomber’s capabilities or design.

But the program’s impact is al-ready being widely felt throughoutthe Pentagon and its industry part-

ners.The half a dozen analysts and ex-

perts interviewed by Defense

News for this piece all agree onone thing: The LRS-B has thechance to shape American military

aerospace for the next 20 years.

Whichever competitor wins willreap a windfall of developmentmoney; the loser could find itself

out of the military attack airframebusiness entirely.

And while the program appears

to be on track, Congress is waitingin the wings for any sign of costoverrun or technological prob-

lems.

“This is crunch time,” said Rich-ard Aboulafia, an analyst with theTeal Group. “It’s the biggest single

outstanding DoD competition by avery wide margin. That makes itimportant in and of itself.”

Known UnknownsThe bomber is largely a black

See NEW BOMBER, Page 6

Shrouded in Secrecy, US Air Force’sStealthy New Bomber Makes Waves

By AARON MEHTA

STAFF SGT. NICK WILSON/US AIR FORCE

Secrets Spark Questions: Will the Air Force’s planned long-range strike bomber, like the

B-2, above, be so classified that it cannot be stationed abroad?

LONDON — A shortage of engineers

and other skilled personnel is animminent threat to British militaryaviation safety, according to a high

ranking safety official. When Military Aviation Author-

ity (MAA) boss Air Marshal Dick

Garwood informed the defensesecretary in his report for the yearto Aug. 24 that he could give only

“limited assurance” of air safety,the cause was “mainly due to thesignificant and widespread short-

age of suitably qualified experi-enced personnel,” such asengineers, aircrew and air traffic

managers.That doesn’t mean military avia-

tion here is unsafe. Garwood re-ported an historically low accidentrate for the 12 months. But it does

mean that items like dealing withroutine air worthiness issues arenot being addressed.

The problem’s not new. The MAAhas been reporting shortages ofskilled civil and military personnel

for much of its four-year history.The shortages, particularly of en-

gineers and others at the Defence

Equipment & Support (DE&S) armof the Defence Ministry, is not anisolated issue affecting only mili-

tary aviation safety.Garwood’s MAA report said the

Defence Board, the highest com-

mittee in the MoD led by DefenceSecretary Michael Fallon, hasidentified “achieving and sustain-

ing manpower numbers and skillsas the greatest single challengecurrently facing the department.”

As of September 2014, the MoD

was advertising 102 program andproject management posts and 70

engineering and science posts.

Engineer Shortage

Threatens UK

Aviation SafetyBy ANDREW CHUTER

See UK ENGINEERS, Page 7

TOKYO — While Japan’s newly un-

veiled defense budget representsthe third small hike in a row afterdecades of low spending, experts

say such spending remains insuffi-cient to fund Tokyo’s plans for “dy-namic defense forces.”

Japan’s defense budget for fiscal2015 is edging up 0.8 percent to¥4.82 trillion (US $41.12 billion), ac-

cording to figures by the DefenseMinistry, bringing defense spend-ing closer to 1990 levels.

While well below the 2.4 percent

boost requested last August, the in-crease represents the third small

hike in a row after a decade of de-

cline. Japan has adopted a more

assertive defense posture under

the administration of the conserva-tive Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The MoD will receive funding forall the major purchases it has re-quested to begin updating its Air

Force, restructure its defense pos-ture to better protect Nansei Shoto,

its southeast island chain south ofOkinawa, and boost its naval fleet

to strengthen its deterrence pos-

ture against China’s Navy.Three big-ticket items include

¥350.4 billion (down from ¥378.1

billion requested) to deploy 20

See JAPAN BUDGET, Page 7

Experts: Japan Budget Boost Still Won’t Meet GoalsBy PAUL KALLENDER-UMEZU

KAZUHIRO NOGI/ AFP/GETTY IMAGES

New EquipmentComing: Japanese

Prime Minister Shinzo

Abe inspects an

MV-22 Osprey and

a mock-up F-35A

joint strike fighter on

Oct. 26.

EUROPE

Sea Mine StudyBAE, Thales, DCNS team leadscompetition to develop system todefeat sea mines. Page 15

16 Germany: Euro Hawk UAV revival?

NORTH AMERICA

Defeating the HackGovernments struggle with how

to best respond to cyber assault.Page 12

14 Canada: Crafting spec ops gear needs.

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

Naval Gun BuyIndia short-lists Oto Melara to

provide weapons despite probeof parent Finmeccanica. Page 14

MIDDLE EAST

Sifting the Fog of WarIsraeli combat recordings fromfierce Gaza battle underscore thecomplexity of war in a democra-

cy. Page 17

INTERVIEW

DerekCholletThe departingassistant US

secretary of

defense for inter-national securityaffairs discusses changes in US

security policy, global militaryaction against the Islamic Stategroup, and evolving relations

with Eastern European and Balticnations. Page 22

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InBrief

WASHINGTON — A Malaysian con-tractor at the center of a corrup-tion scandal rocking the US Navy

has pleaded guilty to fraudcharges, admitting to bribing offi-cials with cash, prostitutes, Cuban

cigars and Kobe beef, according toAgence France-Presse.

Known as “Fat Leonard” by the

American sailors who dealt withhim, 50-year-old Leonard Francisof Glenn Defense Marine Asia

(GDMA) entered a guilty plea in afederal court in San Diego, con-

firming he presided over a decade-long scheme involving tens of mil-lions of dollars in bribes,

prosecutors said.In addition, his ship supply com-

pany, GDMA, pleaded guilty to

bribery charges. US Navy Capt.Daniel Dusek pleaded guilty toconspiracy to commit bribery, the

highest-ranking officer so far to ad-mit wrongdoing in the case.

Four other current and former

naval officers have been charged

in the scandal.Dusek, 47, admitted to using his

position as a senior officer to en-sure ships stopped at ports whereFrancis’ company operated, and

on one occasion arranged for anaircraft carrier strike group to stopat Port Klang, Malaysia, a terminal

owned by Francis, officials said.The plea by “Fat Leonard,” por-

trayed as the ringleader of the brib-

ery scheme, represents a coup forprosecutors in the worst scandalto hit the Navy in years. It also

raised the possibility that more na-val officers could be implicated.

Federal prosecutors said the in-vestigation is “ongoing” and thatthe case is not closed.

“It is astounding that LeonardFrancis was able to purchase theintegrity of Navy officials by offer-

ing them meaningless materialpossessions and the satisfaction ofselfish indulgences,” US Attorney

Laura Duffy said in a statement. “In sacrificing their honor, these

officers helped Francis defraud

their country out of tens of mil-

lions of dollars. Now they will be

held to account,” she said.Francis pleaded guilty to bribery,

conspiracy to commit bribery and

conspiracy to defraud the UnitedStates, authorities said.

He agreed to forfeit $35 millionthat he made in the scheme and torepay the Navy whatever amount

the court decides.As part of his guilty plea, Francis

admitted he bilked the US military

out of tens of millions of dollars byroutinely overbilling for fuel, tug-boat services and sewage disposal.

Prostitutes, Pigs and HandbagsFrancis’ firm gave naval officers

millions of dollars in gifts, includ-

ing over $500,000 in cash, hun-dreds of thousands of dollars inprostitution services, travel ex-

penses, luxury hotel stays and spatreatments, lavish meals, includingKobe beef, Spanish suckling pigs,

“top-shelf” alcohol, Cuban cigars,designer handbags, watches, foun-tain pens, designer furniture, elec-

tronics, ornamental swords andhandmade ship models, authori-ties said.

In return, naval officers gaveFrancis classified and confidentialinformation, including ship sched-

ules. Francis also secured prefer-ential treatment for his firm in thecontracting process.

Sentencing hearings for Francisand the naval officer, Dusek, arescheduled for April 3.

Francis told prosecutors of sev-en Navy officials that he bribed, in-

cluding Dusek and three otherswho have entered guilty pleas. Afifth officer, Cmdr. Michael Vannak

Khem Misiewicz, has pleaded notguilty and will face trial.

The other two named by Francis

have yet to be identified orcharged. In addition, two naval ad-mirals have had their access to

classified information suspendedover accusations of inappropriatecontact with Francis. Neither of

them has been charged. N

‘Fat Leonard’ Pleads GuiltyIn US Navy Bribery Scandal

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

SCREEN GRAB

Guilty Plea: Leonard Francis pleaded

guilty to a variety of charges tied to bribing

US Navy officials.

US Troops Under Mortar FireThe 300 US soldiers and Marines

at al Asad air base in Iraq’s Anbarprovince continue to see mortarfire directed at their positions.

A Pentagon spokesman con-firmed the incoming fire, but saidthat the closest rounds landed

about a kilometer away, notingthat the base is roughly the size of

the city of Boulder, Colorado.

The 2,200 US personnel on theground in Iraq are busily training 12

Iraqi and Kurdish brigades at facil-

ities located at al Asad, Camp Tajijust north of Baghdad, and in theKurdish-controlled north in Erbil.

And while about 900 more Amer-ican troops are slated to flow intoIraq in the coming weeks, the air

war is continuing apace. As of Jan.11, the US and its allies have flown15,670 sorties over Iraq and Syria,

1,761 of those involved striking tar-

gets on the ground, according tonumbers provided by the Penta-gon.

France May Halt Personnel CutsFrench President François Hol-

lande said the government will re-think a planned cut in militarypersonnel due to the “exceptional

situation,” as he gave a Jan. 14 NewYear’s address to the armed forcesaboard the Charles de Gaulle air-

craft carrier.Hollande was speaking as

France reeled from the impact of

this month’s shooting of 17 civil-ians by three self-avowed Islamic

fundamentalist gunmen.

In view of an “exceptional situa-tion,” the pace of staff reductionset out over the next three years

under the multiyear budget lawwill be revised, the head of statesaid.

Defense Minister Jean-Yves LeDrian has been asked to conductthe review while taking into ac-

count the tough budgetary climate,

and present a new plan by the endof the week, Hollande said.

Two-Year US Budget Plans UrgedTwo former governors are push-

ing legislation in the US Senate

that would require presidents tosubmit two-year budget plans toCongress.

Democratic Sens. Mark Warnerand Tim Kaine, both former Vir-ginia chief executives, believe the

federal government’s practice ofcrafting budgets each year is “bro-

ken.” The duo also said Congress

should devote more time to itsoversight of the executive branch.

That’s why they introduced legis-

lation that would shift the Penta-gon and other federal departmentsaway from crafting annual bud-

gets. Instead, the White Housewould submit two-year budget re-quests. Under the Warner-Kaine

“Biennial Budgeting and Appropri-ations Act of 2015,” presidentswould send lawmakers two-year

budget blueprints at the start of

each congressional session, whichalso span two years.

Beretta: Tell Us the ProblemsThe US Army’s long-time pistol

supplier, Beretta, is criticizing the

service for failing to communicateperceived shortcomings of the M9sooner — a move the gun maker

says would have led to improve-ments to the weapon, saving theArmy time and potentially millions

of dollars.“There’s never been any formal

correspondence or formal com-

munication from the governmentto Beretta suggesting that there are

flaws or concerns with the weapon

system,” said retired Brig. Gen.Howard Yellen, Beretta consultantand senior military adviser.

The Army, meanwhile, is expect-ed soon to release a request forproposal seeking options for a new

pistol. A new handgun could ad-dress soldier complaints concern-ing the M9’s reliability, lethality

and ergonomics. N

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n Byron Callan of Capital Alpha

Partners discusses the financial perfor-

mance of major defense contractors.

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MOST POPULAR

On the WebLCS Now Officially Called a FrigateSince its inception in 2001, the US Navy’s

Littoral Combat Ship program has been

described as needed to replace the fleet’s

frigates, minesweepers and patrol ships. But

its place in the line of battle is debated.

DefenseNews.com

On the BlogPentagon: Hack of CENTCOM Sitea ‘Prank’In a cyber attack on a Pentagon social

media account, a group calling itself the

“CyberCaliphate“ hacked into to the Twitter

and YouTube accounts of the US Central

Command. But Pentagon spokesman Col.

Steve Warren told reporters “this is little

more in our view than a cyber prank.”

DefenseNews.Com/Intercepts

On TwitterRussia Wants Formal French An-swer on Mistral

Follow our reporters on Twitter at@AaronMehta @paulmcleary @BennettJohnT @reporterjoe @CavasShips @OpallRome @awadz

ON DEFENSENEWS.COM

4 DefenseNews January 19, 2015 www.defensenews.com

WorldNews

ABU DHABI — The United Arab

Emirates may be offloading up to10 Mirage 2000-9s to the Iraqi AirForce in March, according to a

UAE government source.The decision comes after the

Dec. 15 visit of Iraqi Prime Minister

Haider al-Abadi to Abu Dhabi to“discuss mechanisms to enhancecooperation between the two

countries and dry up the sources ofterrorism.”

“The UAE is trying to fortifyIraq’s security from north to south,specifically the areas from Bagh-

dad to Erbil,” the source said.“Mainly, Erbil because many UAEstrategic interests are there with

regards to oil and gas investments,as well as others.”

“During discussions, the UAE of-

fered a batch of upgraded Mirage2000-9s to Iraq, they are expectedto be under 10 aircraft,” the source

added. The UAE has 36 multirole Mirage

2000 fighters that have been in ser-vice since 1986, 30 of which havebeen extensively refurbished and

then upgraded to the same stan-dard as the newer fleet of 32 Mi-rage 2000-9s delivered starting in

2003 by France’s Dassault Avia-tion.

The technologies and advanced

capabilities that the Mirage2000-9s incorporate include Das-sault’s “Rafale technology,” with

similar modular avionics, an LCDglass cockpit with full night vision

goggles compatibility, and ad-vanced sensors and systems, ac-cording to the Bader 21 purchase

agreement signed in 1998.At the core of the Mirage 2000-9’s

navigation and attack system is a

Thales-and-Dassault-developedmodular data processing unit simi-lar to the one used in the Rafale.

This serves as the mission comput-er, manages the navigation and at-tack system, controls the cockpit

display system and generates sym-bology for the head-up and head-

down displays. As a result, the Mi-

rage 2000-9 is claimed to enjoy aworld-beating, highly intuitiveman-machine interface.

The UAE in 2014 also offered anundisclosed number of Mirage2000-9s to Egypt as part of its Fal-

con Eye military satellite deal withFrance.

According to the source, discus-

sions included the possible pur-chase of 40 Rafale Fighters and therefurbishment of the UAE’s Mirage

2000-9 fleet with intent to provideto the Egyptian Air Force.

The UAE is also completing the

purchase of 24 Embraer EMB-314Super Tucano light strike aircraftfor border patrol and anti-

insurgency operations. A numberof those will also be provided tothe Iraqi Air Force, the source said.

“The UAE is also presenting anumber of the Super Tucano air-

crafts from Brazil before the end ofthis month for border patrol andcounterinsurgency to Iraq,” he

said. “We are hoping to finalize thedeal before the end of the month.”

On Jan. 2 Brazilian Air Force

commander Gen. Juniti Saito an-nounced that the UAE has begunnegotiations for the procurement.

He said the UAE wants six of theaircraft to be delivered immediate-ly.

The source added that an undis-closed number of light Russian-

made special operations forces

tactical weapons will be providedfor the Iraqi Army.

“al-Abadi will be coming back in

March to discuss the proceduresfor providing aircraft and weap-

ons,” the source said. A spokesman for the Iraqi Prime

Minister, Sabri Saad, said in De-

cember that key issues were dis-cussed during the visit in relationto supporting efforts to fund the re-

construction of affected areas.“Iraq faces an existential threat

and challenge ... not only threat-

ened but all countries in the regionhave reason to cooperation in allpolitical, security and social fields

in order to defeat terrorism of [theIslamic State group’s] terrorist

gangs,” he said.

During a November visit, UAEForeign Minister Sheikh AbdullahBin Zayed al-Nahyan pledged to

support Iraq. Abdullah said the UAE would

continue to back the political proc-ess in Iraq, which would lead to se-curity, justice and equality in the

unstable country.

“We stand by brotherly Iraq as itis making efforts for reconstruc-

tion and achievement of peace andsafety and in combating the forcesof terrorism, which poses a danger

to all the countries of the regionand defaces the values of our truereligion, Islam,” Abdullah said. N

Email: amustafa@defensenews.com.

STAFF SGT. AARON ALLMON/US AIR FORCE

Fighters to Iraq? A Dassault-made Mirage 2000 fighter from the United Arab Emirates

Air Force.

UAE Offers MirageFighters to Iraq

By AWAD MUSTAFA

WASHINGTON — Since its inception in 2001,the US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship program

has been described as needed to replace thefleet’s frigates, minesweepers and patrol

ships. But the ship’s place in the line of battle

continues to be debated.Navy Secretary Ray Mabus thinks one of

the reasons the ship is misunderstood is the

nontraditional LCS designator. He directedan effort to find a more traditional and ap-propriate designation for the LCS and sever-

al other recent ship types, such as the JointHigh Speed Vessel (JHSV), the Mobile Land-ing Platform (MLP) and the Afloat Forward

Staging Base (AFSB).

The first of the types to be redesignated isthe LCS.

“If it’s like a frigate, why don’t we call it a

frigate?” he said Thursday morning to aroomful of surface warfare sailors at the Sur-

face Navy Association’s annual symposiumjust outside Washington.

“We are going to change the hull designa-

tion of the LCS class ships to FF,” Mabus

said, citing the traditional hull designationfor frigates. “It will still be the same ship, the

same program of record, just with an appro-

priate and traditional name.”Mabus has long been irked by the habit in

recent years of applying program-like desig-

nations to ships, and LCS is an example.

In the Navy’s designation system, the firstletter sometimes is the key to the overall role

of the ship, and “L-class” ships are widelyconsidered to be those involved in carryingMarines and their equipment for an amphibi-

ous assault. LCS is the sole exception — a

ship the Navy counts as a surface combat-

ant, not an amphibious lift ship.“When I hear L, I think amphib,” Mabus

said. “And it’s not an amphib. And I have tospend a good deal of my time explainingwhat littoral is.”

Redesignating the ships as FF puts

the ship squarely back in the surface com-batant category, and is appropriate, since

the Pentagon direction in developing the

modified LCS was to make it more “frigate-like.”

Navy sources said it was intended to desig-nate only the modified LCS as frigates, butmany of the upgrades intended for those

ships are to be backfitted into earlier LCShulls, blending the types. So in the end, thedecision was made to make the change to

the entire class.Navy sources said a decision on what hull

numbers the ships will carry has yet to be

made. There are several possibilities — ifthe ships pick up with the frigate series, thenext number available is FF 1099.

The fleet’s last guided-missile frigates(FFGs) will be decommissioned in Septem-ber, and the next number in that sequence is

FFG 62. But unlike the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates being phased out, the LCSdoesn’t carry an area air-defense missile

such as the Standard missile — the basis for

the “G” — so the FFG series isn’t entirely ap-propriate.

The Navy also could decide not to change

the hull numbers but simply change the des-ignator — something that was done in the

late 1970s when new Aegis guided-missiledestroyers were redesignated as cruiserswithout changing the numbers.

Mabus said he would announce additional

ship changes in coming weeks. N

Email: ccavas@defensenews.com.

LCS Now Officially Called a FrigateBy CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS

MC2 ANTONIO TURRETTO RAMOS/US NAVY VIA AFP

On Its Mission: The littoral combat ship Fort Worth takes part in the search for the AirAsia flight on Jan. 7.

6 DefenseNews January 19, 2015 www.defensenews.com

WORLD NEWS

program, one officials step around talkingabout in any setting.

The program is targeting a production line

of 80 to 100 planes. It will replace the fleet ofB-52 and B-1 bombers. It will be stealthy, ca-pable of carrying nuclear weapons and op-

tional manning has been discussed. Adown-selection will be made this spring orearly summer, with initial operating capabil-

ity planned for the mid-2020s. Nuclear certi-fication will follow two years after that.

The target price, set by former Defense

Secretary Robert Gates, is $550 million acopy. To keep the price down, the Air Forceis looking to use mature technologies that

are available now, rather than launchingnew developments. At the same time, theprogram will have an open architecture ap-

proach for future technologies.Unless there is a secret competitor still un-

known — highly unlikely, but like many

things with the program, impossible to ruleout — there are two teams bidding for thecontract. One is Northrop Grumman, which

developed the B-2 stealth bomber. The otheris a team of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

Together, those companies represent threeof the top five defense firms in the nation.

Breaking down the rest of the program is a

master class in the classic “known un-knowns“ phrase coined by Donald Rums-feld. What equipment will it carry? Will it be

in a flying wing shape? What is more impor-tant, stealth or speed? Will the planes, likethe B-2, be so classified that they cannot be

stationed abroad? If so, does that affect therange vs. payload tradeoff?

A source with knowledge of the program

said the Air Force is likely looking at some-thing smaller than a B-2, perhaps as small ashalf the size, with two engines similar in size

to the F135 engines that power the F-35, soenhancement programs can also be appliedto the bomber.

“They should go bigger [in terms of air-frame], but Gates threw that $500 million fig-ure out there without thinking through the

overall effect and requirement,” the sourcesaid.

Retired Lt. Gen. David Deptula, former

deputy chief of staff for ISR, agreed that thefocus on the $550 million figure may end uphurting the bomber’s capabilities by driving

the discussion from what the plane does towhat can keep the price down.

“One of the biggest concerns is that this is

going to turn into a cost shootout, and

whomever can produce a ’technically ac-ceptable’ airplane at the lowest cost will be

the winner, without any judgment or look at

the ability for growth, the ability to connectto new technologies,” he said. “That is a big

concern amongst folks out there who are in-volved in this evolution.”

And then there are the theories that the

bomber is further along in its developmentcycle than it appears. Last year, J.J. Gertler,an analyst with the Congressional Research

Service, penned a memo noting that thebomber’s budget profile looks more like aproduction than a research and develop-

ment program, hinting that much of the tech-nological development and testing hasalready occurred behind the scenes.

One analyst noted that some of that work

could be based on technologies developed

for the previous bomber recapitalization,which was canceled in 2009.

Mark Gunzinger, a retired Air Force offi-

cial and senior fellow at the Center for Stra-tegic and Budgetary Assessments, arguedthat the mystery around the jet isn’t a bad

thing. “We don’t know performance specifics in

terms of range, payload, low observability,

what weapons, what missions, radar capa-bilities — all these specific performance de-tails,” he said. “Nor should we. Those should

not be announced publicly. It is a black pro-gram and those kind of details now would donothing but give our potential enemies more

time to develop countermeasures.”

Industrial ImpactOne of the larger unknowns is how much

weight the Air Force, or higher ups at thePentagon, are putting on industrial base im-

pact. The answer to that question could havea serious affect on which team wins.

Deptula said industrial base considera-

tions “absolutely” need to be part of the cal-culus.

“It has been a factor in other segments of

our defense architecture, and one couldmake the case that in the aerospace indus-

try, it is perhaps even more important than inthe shipbuilding industry,” he said.

Asked about that topic on Jan. 14, William

LaPlante, the civilian acquisition head forthe service, indicated that while industrialbase concerns are something the Pentagon

is aware of in a broad sense, that is not spe-cifically one of the criteria for the bomberprogram.

“There is a bigger picture of just makingsure we understand when will [different pro-grams] have a downselect, what will come

out of that — it’s almost like a game theorything to understand the implications,” La-Plante said. “It’s at the strategic level. Occa-

sionally you might put it into a singlecompetition. I don’t think that’s the case onthe LRS-B.”

The stakes are high for all three compa-nies, Aboulafia said. After this contract, thenext attack airplane will be a new fighter in

the 2030s, and then a follow-on bombersometime after that.

If Northrop loses, the chances of it having

the infrastructure to compete for a jet 15years from now, or on a bomber longer out,seem slim. Losing the contract now would

essentially end that part of their business. Boeing, too, is coming to the end of its time

as an attack aircraft manufacturer, despite

the company’s best efforts to keep the F/A-18Super Hornet line humming. While the

KC-46A tanker remains a Boeing program, it,

and many other products from the company,are commercial derivatives rather than abrand new design.

Awarding Northrop the bomber wouldspread out the US Air Force’s three top re-capitalization priorities among three compa-

nies. On the flip side, giving the contract tothe Lockheed/Boeing team would mean thatLockheed Martin, the producer of the F-35,

essentially has full control over Air Forcecombat aviation production.

Analysts are divided as to who would be

favored if the industrial base is a high priori-ty. On the one hand, an industrial base angleshould benefit Northrop, as it would spread

the major programs among competitors.

“If you want Northrop to stay in the gameas a prime, and you don’t want to see the en-

tire combat air forces at Lockheed, you haveto go with Northrop,” noted the first sourcefamiliar with the program.

Aboulafia, however, questions whetherthere is truly enough work available tospread among the three firms.

“That presupposes the Pentagon has thisillusion that there can be three military air-framers, and that’s living in a fantasy land,”

he said, adding that strengthening the twomilitary primes in Boeing and Lockheedwould be “appealing” to DoD.

Aboulafia also points out that the contractcould have major implications for one long

rumored transaction among aerospace ana-lysts — the potential sale of Northrop’s aero-space group to Boeing.

“If Northrop loses, it could tip things to be-ing bought by Boeing because it would nothave a new airframe to build,” Aboulafia

said. “If Northrop wins, it could make them amore attractive target, and do the same.”

Once the primes are settled, the subcon-

tractor battle is likely to be just as fierce,Aboulafia noted.

Spokespeople for both teams expressed

confidence that they were offering the bet-ter option to the Air Force.

Another thing to keep an eye on is the fight

over the engine. If F135-maker Pratt & Whit-ney wins that competition, it would give it astranglehold on the US military engine mar-

ket. Whether the Pentagon be OK with that,or look to award a contract to General Elec-tric instead, is another known unknown.

Challenges Ahead?Right now, the program is humming along,

with strong support from inside the Penta-gon.

Last week, outgoing Defense Secretary

Chuck Hagel threw his weight behind thenew bomber in a speech at Whiteman AirForce Base, Missouri.

“I think the Long-Range Strike Bomber is

absolutely essential for keeping our deter-rent edge,” Hagel said. “We need to do it. We

need to make the investments. We’ll have it

in the budget. It’s something I have partic-ularly put a priority on.”

But some foresee challenges ahead as thebomber moves from a black, hypotheticalprogram to one actually bending metal —

and one that can become a high profile tar-get for government spending watchdogs andthe nonproliferation community.

“As the F-35 gets spun up, LRS-B will be-come a new target, especially with the armscontrol people,” said the source with knowl-

edge of the program. “This a big airplane,and it will cost a lot.”

Several experts agreed that the larger

threat to the program comes from internal

budgetary pressures, as the bomber will be

competing not just with other service priori-ties, but with programs like the Navy’s Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine replace-

ment, something Rebecca Grant of ISISResearch says the Navy is positioning as a

“national asset” on Capitol Hill.“The black program status makes it harder

in my opinion to build support for the bom-

ber,” Grant said. “With new [Senate ArmedServices Committee] leadership, the pro-gram will come under additional scrutiny as

the first big budget wedges appear this yearand beyond. So the USAF had best have itsact together on why the bomber they pick is

the right bomber now, in the hands of theright manufacturer.”

Congress could also interfere with the pro-

gram in another way. The loser could protestthe award, which could set up not only a bat-tle at the Government Accountability Office,

but a public relations fight. High-profile con-tract protests often result in each companytapping its preferred congressmen to lobby

on its behalf. According to public data analyzed by the

non-profit OpenSecrets.org, Lockheed ($4

million), Northrop ($3.9 million) and Boeing($3.1 million) were the top three contrib-utors to congressional campaigns and affili-

ated political action committees from thedefense sector in 2013-2014. All three compa-nies also rank in the top 25 of US companies

in terms of dollars spent on lobbying. Drawing a direct line from dollars spent on

campaigns and lobbying and results for cer-

tain programs is always a bit risky, especial-

ly given the breadth of each company’sportfolio. After all, Boeing and Lockheed

traditionally work against each other, while

both companies work with Northrop on dif-ferent programs.

While Boeing and Lockheed each havetheir own local supporters, Northrop may beable to call on the California and Florida del-

egations following its decision to expand fa-cilities at Melbourne International Airport,on Florida’s Space Coast.

While a company official did not confirmthat Northrop plans to work on a potentialLRS-B in Florida, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.,

told media in May that the company plans onusing the facility for that purpose. N

Andrew Tilghman contributed to this report.

NEW BOMBERFrom Page 1

AARON MEHTA/STAFF

Promotion: At the annual Air Force Association

conference last September, Northrop Grumman hung

a major ad for its LRS-B program.

NORTHROP GRUMMAN ILLUSTRATION

Future Concept: Next-generation long-range strike

aircraft concept.

www.defensenews.com January 19, 2015 DefenseNews 7WORLD NEWS

“The problem is most acute inposts relating to aircraft engineer-ing,” an MoD spokesman said.

DE&S has filled some of thegaps.

Among a number of recent initia-

tives were recruitment campaignsthat netted 32 new staff, while ef-forts are being made to better re-

tain the 300 existing airworthinesssafety critical staff with a new re-ward and recognition plan.

Under new salary freedoms be-ing implemented at DE&S, the or-ganization is better placed to

compete for staff with industry, thespokesman said.

Finding sufficient recruits for

the British Army and its expandingreserves is likely the biggest worryfor the Defence Board, but attract-

ing and retaining engineers, tech-nicians and others to operate andsupport the military’s sophisticat-

ed equipment is also a headache.Among the armed services, the

problem is most acute in the Navy.It has had to borrow US CoastGuard maritime engineers to fill

skill gaps on its Type 23 frigatefleet and elsewhere.

“A trial group of four US Coast

Guard senior rate engineering

technicians are close to complet-ing a six-month period of Royal Na-vy familiarization training and will

be joining Type 23 frigates in com-plement marine engineering sec-tion head billets for two-year sea

assignments over the next fewweeks,” a Navy spokesman said.

“Following the success of the

trial, it is intended that a further 16will arrive in the UK in July 2015and will be ready to go to sea in

January 2016. There will be a finaltranche of 16 arriving in July 16,” hesaid

The Navy is also looking to tem-porarily stiffen the engineeringranks with other foreign recruits,

as well as using other solutionssuch as financial incentives fortechnicians and others.

“We are also looking to similarinitiatives with other navies. Num-bers involved in all these initiatives

would be low, amounting to a com-bined total of no more than 20,” thespokesman said.

A source close to the Navy saidone idea is to encourage engineers

from industry to join the service ina sideways entry set-up that wouldsee them come onboard, after

training, at a rank commensuratewith their experience.

Like the military, industry is also

threatened by the scarcity of engi-neers and technicians emergingfrom universities and elsewhere.

A report last week from the Engi-neeringUK lobby group illustratedthe scale of the problem.

“Engineering companies willneed 182,000 people a year with en-gineering skills in the decade to

2022, but there is a current annualshortfall of 55,000 skilled work-

ers,” it said. Jon Louth, director of the De-

fence, Industries and Society pro-

gram at the Royal United ServicesInstitute think tank in London, saidpart of any solution to the skills gap

is in the hands of the government.“It’s an important part of the

skills agenda that there is a real

commitment to future programsand technology by the MoD at therequirement stage, otherwise it’s

difficult to see how the key skillsand competencies industry re-quires are going to be maintained,”

Louth said.But, he added, the problem could

go further than that.“We might see industry and mil-

itary fighting over a diminishing

pool of skills. It could be a doublewhammy as these days 50 percentof defense front-line capabilities

reside in the private sector,” he

said.One leading defense industry ex-

ecutive here said finding recruits

with the right skills and experienceis among the top two or three chal-lenges facing his company.

“Many companies are investingin trying to encourage children intoengineering careers, but this will

take at least a generation to fix,” hesaid. “Unless as an industry we canfind a solution to this problem, it

will eventually impact on our abil-ity to grow the business here.”

Nuclear submarine building and

support and cybersecurity wereamong the pinch points, he said.

The threat to industry health was

borne out by work conducted bythe trade lobby group ADS.

“There is clearly a need for a fo-

cus on boosting engineering skills.Research undertaken last year byADS indicated one in five defense

companies were concerned about

accessing the necessary researchand development skills,” an ADS

spokeswoman said. “Similarly, onein four security organizations were

concerned as to how they wouldmeet domestic and internationaldemand with the current UK skill-

set.” N

Email: achuter@defensenews.com.

UK ENGINEERSFrom Page 1

ROYAL NAVY

Engineers Wanted: This photo from the Royal Navy’s website encourages people to apply

to become an engineering technician (weapon engineering).

PC-3 replacement Kawasaki P-1 maritimepatrol aircraft; ¥168 billion to start the pur-

chase of new Atago-class Aegis destroyers;and ¥103.2 billion (compared with ¥131.5 bil-lion requested) for six F-35A joint strike

fighters for the air self-defense forces. The budget also solidifies the first steps

the MoD is taking toward increasing its mo-

bility, improving its ISR capabilities and de-terring threats to the Nansei Shoto. Forexample, the purchase of five tilt-rotor V-22

Ospreys has been funded, as well as the firstof three Northrop Grumman RQ-4 GlobalHawk UAVs. The MoD also confirmed that it

will now buy 30 AA-7 assault amphibious ve-hicles for its nascent Marine forces.

The Japanese fiscal year runs April

through March. The ¥4.8 trillion figure re-flects the MoD’s own figures for its budget.

Additional items such as new government

planes used for diplomatic purposes and ad-ministrative costs associated with the re-alignment of US forces take the figure to

¥4.9 trillion.The Abe administration is positioning the

budget hike as the minimum necessary to de-

ter aggression in the region, as Japan facesan unpredictable, nuclear-armed North Ko-rea and an expansionist China.

“The level of defense spending reflects theamount necessary to protect Japan’s air, seaand land, and guard the lives and property of

our citizens,” said Japanese Defense Minis-ter Gen Nakatani, speaking ahead of the re-lease of the figures.

In July, Abe changed Japan’s interpretation

of its constitution to allow for limited rightsof collective self-defense, meaning Japancould come to the aid of another country, for

example, under certain circumstances. Ahuge raft of legislation concerning thischange should preoccupy Japan’s Diet this

year.Also, for the first time since 1997, Japan

and the US are rewriting their defense coop-

eration guidelines to work together moreclosely.

Because of severe budgetary restrictions

and the MoD’s purchasing strategy of buyingmajor weapons in small lots, the P-1s will bedeployed in groups of five between 2018 and

2021, and Japan’s Aegis fleet will not be ex-panded to eight ships until fiscal 2020.

However, under the headline-making pur-

chases, the MoD is quietly upgrading its F-15and F-2 fighters and building out its subma-

rine fleet from 16 to 22 boats, including im-

proving the propulsion systems on itsalready advanced, stealthy Soryu-class sub-

marines.

The new budget clarifies three pointsabout Japanese defense, said Alessio Patala-no, a professor at the Department of War

Studies, King’s College London. “First, the Japanese are serious about their

security, and they are seeking to retain the

current edge in implementing sea control inthe East China Sea, whilst adding a small amphibious component adequate to defend

the archipelago,” Patalano said. “Second, theinvestment is not a blank check. Procure-ment is targeted to either develop niche ca-

pabilities or modernize aging platforms.Third, this budget confirms the myth of a Japanese militarization. It is a cautious, mod-

erate choice aimed at confirming the reinte-

gration of military power in the tools ofstatecraft, without seeking to challenge theregional or international order.”

However, analysts differ as to how far Ja-pan is from establishing the “Dynamic De-fense Force” set out by the nation’s 2014

National Defense Program Guidelines.Those guidelines stressed for the first time a“full amphibious capability” for the recap-

ture of remote Japanese islands subject to invasion.

“Building a Dynamic Joint Defense Force,

which emphasizes both soft and hard as-pects of readiness, sustainability, resiliencyand connectivity, reinforced by advanced

technology and capability for C3I, with aconsideration to establish a wide range of in-frastructure to support the SDF’s operation,

is a multiyear task still in its first year of im-plementation under the National Defense

Program Guidelines for FY 2014 and be-

yond,” said Jun Okumura, a visiting scholarat the Meiji Institute for Global Affairs.

“Given the necessary overhaul of the hard-

ware, software and wetware involved, itmust be very much a work still in progress,”he said.

Grant Newsham, a senior research fellowat the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies, alocal think tank, welcomed the steps taken

as a sign that Japan is finally paying longoverdue attention to the need to establish amilitary presence in the Nansei Shoto.

“If you’re not there, you’re not interested.Amphibious capability is essential and thebudget recognizes this. The Ospreys will also

help extend Japanese coverage in the south-ern areas,” he said. “The AAVs also deservecomment. To use them properly, the Ground

Self Defense Force and the Marine Self-De-

fense Force have to cooperate. It’s rare that apiece of hardware — and an inexpensive oneat that — has a strategic effect.”

Those forces, tentatively named the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade(ARDB), should number 3,000 by 2018, said

Corey Wallace, a Japan security policy ex-pert at New Zealand’s University of Auck-land.

“Japan is adding more MSDF capacity totry to prevent China asserting sea control inthe East China Sea, and Japan is demonstrat-

ing that it is serious to defend the southernislands, even if it still has a long way to buildthe necessary capacity,” said Christopher

Hughes, an expert on Japan’s military, andprofessor of international politics and Japa-nese studies at the University of Warwick.

But Newsham argued that the current bud-get levels are chronically insufficient, as are

the small purchases of advanced hardware

and that Japan’s budget is about “half” whatit should be if it had been unable to rely onthe US.

“In terms of percentage of [gross domesticproduct], Japan is still about at the same lev-el as Nepal,” he said.

“Japan is buying some useful equipment

and hardware, but there are no silver bulletsor wonder weapons that will make up for six-

plus decades of too little defense spending,”

Newsham said. “Japan needs a number ofconsecutive years of genuine increases. And

beyond simple hardware, it’s about timeJSDF personnel got a pay raise and moremoney allocated for training. That would say

plenty about how serious Japan is about

defense.” N

Email: pkallender@defensenews.com.

JAPAN BUDGETFrom Page 1

8 DefenseNews January 19, 2015 www.defensenews.com

Intel Seat Gives TurnerMore Influence

House Armed ServicesCommittee member Mike

Turner has secured a seat onthe Intelligence Committee,giving the Ohio Republican

added influence on nationalsecurity issues.

House Speaker JohnBoehner last week tappedTurner, HASC’s Tactical Air

and Land Forces subcom-

mittee chairman, for the in-tel panel. The appointmentmakes him the only Armed

Services subpanel chairman

to also sit on the House Per-manent Select Committee

on Intelligence.

House OKs ControversialDHS Funding Measure

The US House on Jan. 14approved a homeland secu-

rity spending bill with bil-lions for defense firms —

but it likely is DOA in theSenate.

In a mostly party-line vote,

236-191, House members ap-

proved a $39.7 billion De-partment of Homeland

Security appropriations bill

that would give the agencyfunding to do operations,

buy equipment and do a myr-

iad of other things.But they also tacked on

several amendments target-

ing President Barack Oba-ma’s recent immigrationaction.

Congressional aides andobservers predict both

chambers will pass a “clean”

DHS appropriations bill be-fore Feb. 27, when the agen-

cy’s funding will run out.

Corker: More Paris-LikeAttacks Coming

A senior US senator lastweek issued a chilling pre-diction about Islamic ex-

tremist group attacks likethe recent ones in Paris thatleft 16 civilians dead.

“More is coming,” SenateForeign Relations Commit-tee Chairman Sen. Bob

Corker, R-Tenn., said. “And Ithink we all know that.” N

ICYMI

More online defensenews.com/congresswatch.

defensenews.com/congresswatchCongressWatch

The House last week passed a $39.7 billion De-

partment of Homeland Security spending bill.Several controversial immigration riders could bestripped out before it goes to the president. But

both parties support the underlying DHS fundingbill. Here are some highlights:

National Security Cutter

The Huntington Ingalls Industries-

managed program “is really hittingon all cylinders,” Christie Thomas,

Ingalls’ director of business devel-opment for the program, said inAugust. The Coast Guard is slated

to buy eight of them, and some ofits congressional allies defeatedplans to delay buying two recent

hulls. The House bill proposes$632.8 million for the program.Beyond the numbers: A report ac-

companying the legislation thatexplains proposed funding linesand restrictions states the $7.5

million reduction in the service’srequest is “based upon previousproduction cost savings and up-

dated execution data from theCoast Guard and [$3.9 million] forclose-out and other costs request-

ed well ahead of need.” Notably,the bill would require $6.3 millionbe spent on small remotely piloted

aircraft systems.

CybersecurityIn the wake of the recent hackingsof Sony and US Central Command,the bill is not silent on steeling the

federal information infrastructure.Senate Armed Services Committee

Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz.,

recently told a Washington audi-ence that on no other issue during

his three decades in Congress hasless progress been made than oncybersecurity. The bill’s report

lauds the department’s cyberefforts: “DHS has made progress

through its collaborative effortswith federal agencies in overcom-ing obstacles and implementing

cybersecurity tools while safe-guarding sensitive information.”Beyond the numbers: Given law-

makers’ collective support for allthings cybersecurity — it’s not apartisan issue — it’s notable that

the proposed DHS funding mea-sure would not devote signifi-cantly more resources to it. For

instance, a group of programs thereport calls “Infrastructure Protec-tion and Information Security”

would get a smaller appropriation($1.18 billion) than requested ($1.19billion). Still, the bill’s authors

made it clear that DHS should stepup its cyber research and devel-opment game: “The department is

strongly encouraged to expand itswork with cyber research infra-structure test beds and accompa-

nying cyber education.”

Aircraft ProgramsVery few categories of hardwareor systems would get an allotmentwell above the amount requested

by DHS. One exception is aircraft

programs. The department re-

quested $8 million for its HC-130Jacquisition/conversion/sustainmentprogram. The House bill would

increase that to $103 million, theplus-up driving the category’s bigincrease. The H-60 airframe replace-

ment and HC-27J conversion/sus-tainment program also would get$12 million and $5 million increases,

respectively.Beyond the numbers: The legislationincludes a provision plucked from a

previous House version of the 2015House DHS funding bill. “The de-partment shall continue to pursue

joint aviation requirements, as appli-cable, for the Coast Guard and CBP[Customs and Border Patrol],” the

report states. “Both componentsshall maximize commonality be-tween their aircraft fleets. Further,

CBP shall develop a flying hourprogram using the Coast Guardprogram as a model.” And it picks

up language from a Senate versionof the 2015 DHS bill that said “theCoast Guard shall notify the com-

mittees of any changes in the typeor number of its command andcontrol aircraft.” N

— John T. Bennett

PAC BOBBY NASH/US COAST GUARD

Underway: The national security cutter (NSC)

Bertholf underway. The House’s DHS funding

bill proposes $632.8 million for the US

Coast Guard’s NSC program.

Issue TrackerDHS Appropriations high debt level takes money

away from paying for thatsecurity.

To Price and other Repub-

licans, who believe the fed-eral debt is an anchorholding back the United

States, in his words, “theproblem is spending.

“Now, there are three

ways to solve theproblem, right?”he said. “You can

raise taxes. It’s ourfavorite way to dothat from our

friends on the oth-er side of the aisle.

Or you can de-crease spending.”

Price wants to

do the latter.He clearly be-

lieves, as he put it

last week, “wherethe problem is,where the big

spending is, is ob-viously the manda-tory, the automatic

spending: Medicare, Medi-caid and Social Security.”

But Price didn’t mention

anything about raising thedefense caps.

To that end, his spokes-

man recently told DefenseNews that Price “believeswe need to address spend-

ing priorities within theoverall caps.”

Price also talked about

passing a budget resolutionthrough a controversial bud-get tactic known as reconcil-

iation, which would allowthe 2011 Budget Control Actto be amended.

But reconciliation only

works with the president’ssignature making a budget

measure binding. Barack

Obama simply isn’t going tosign anything that guts do-

mestic programs. A Republican lobbyist

with ties to GOP leaders

says all of this means, for thePentagon and defense sec-tor, “a good year would be

buying back some of seques-tration by finding savings in-side the defense budget.”

Probably wise to startdrawing up those 2016 sequester contingency

plans. N

T o say Rep. Tom Price,

the newly installedHouse Budget Com-

mittee chairman, has an am-

bitious agenda is putting itmildly. To say that agenda includes providing more

dollars for the Defense De-partment, as the pro-mili-tary wing of his party wants,

appears a stretch.Price wants to

“save and strength-

en and secureMedicare, Medi-caid and Social Se-

curity.” He aims toslash federal

spending and ush-er in even morefederal debt reduc-

tion. He wants tooverhaul the feder-al budgeting proc-

ess to “a default tospend less, not adefault to spend

more.”All fiscal legisla-

tion must start in

the House. So Price will setthe tone for what, if any-thing, happens to sequestra-

tion with his 2016 budgetresolution.

Price provided some clues

last week in a speech at theHeritage Foundation. It wasa little-ballyhooed appear-

ance at a conference thatalso included likely GOPpresidential candidates.

But hey, only the few andthe proud in D.C. get fired up about the budget chair-

man. It comes with the terri-tory.

Pentagon officials and in-

dustry executives echo con-

gressional hawks’ calls forraising defense spending

caps. Whether the new

House Budget point manwill propose doing so will be

known by mid-March, whenhe has to produce his resolu-tion.

If Price is interested in orwilling to raise the caps, hedidn’t let on at Heritage.

He uttered the word “de-fense” just once, but onlywhen ticking off things the

federal government mustdo. He did say national secu-rity is important, but only in

the context that servicing a

More Money for DefenseNot Likely a Price Priority

John T. Bennett is

the senior congress-

ional reporter for

Defense News.

Email: jbennett@

defensenews.com.

Twitter:

@BennettJohnT.

10 DefenseNews January 19, 2015 www.defensenews.com

NORTH AMERICA

WASHINGTON — The US Navy’s sur-face warfare community is going

on offense — looking for new waysto attack an enemy, looking fornew platforms on which to mount

weapons, looking to get new weap-ons, systems and sensors into ser-vice.

Those were the key messages inthe annual Surface Navy Associa-tion’s (SNA) symposium held last

week just outside Washington.

More than 3,500 attendees, includ-ing a high quotient of active-duty

personnel, gathered to hear aboutthe state of the Navy’s ships and

the people who man them.Notably different from last year

was a decided jump in the number

of littoral combat ship models ondisplay — seemingly anyone asso-ciated with the program wanted to

be identified with it. The renewedenthusiasm came from the Penta-gon’s December decision to con-

tinue building modified variants ofthe two LCS classes already in pro-duction.

Ironically, given the plethora ofLCS-related signs and displays, Na-vy Secretary Ray Mabus rendered

many of them obsolete when,speaking on the last day of thethree-day symposium, he an-

nounced he was redesignating theships as frigates.

But the themes of war fighting

first, going on the offensive, anddistributed lethality dominatedmany of the presentations.

Manning, Maintenance and LCSThe surface Navy’s top officer

said his ships are getting manned,their maintenance is getting backon track and the future is bright for

the controversial LCS program.Vice Adm. Thomas Rowden said

he is happy with the progress that

personnel leaders have made in

closing the gap in unfilled billets atsea, once as high as 20,000, in his

address that opened the annual

SNA symposium. In his first SNA speech as the

head of Naval Surface Forces,Rowden detailed steps he’s takento bring maintenance schedules in

line. He said he’s met with fleetmaintenance leaders such as ViceAdm. William Hilarides, head of

Naval Sea Systems Command, aswell as the shipyards, to get aheadof the issues that have caused de-

lays and ultimately led to longer

deployments and unpredictable

schedules.He also offered a full-throated

defense of the LCS, the Navy’s

highly criticized new warship thatis a replacement for both frigatesand minesweepers.

The LCS program, which in Feb-ruary was capped at 32 ships,down from 55, is still capable of

performing a full range of mis-sions, including the mine warfaremission, and can be upgraded in a

cost-effective way, Rowden said.Defense Secretary Chuck Ha-

gel’s action to set an upper limit on

LCS acquisitions — which couldlater be lifted — and upgrade theplatform was part of the normal

life-cycle of any class of ship.“We have never looked at a new

class of warship at its commission-ing as a finished product,” Rowdensaid.

The LCS has been criticized on anumber of levels, from its surviva-bility in a fight with a high-end ad-

versary to its lethality. The newsmall surface combatant, a modi-fied version of the littoral combat

ship’s existing hulls, will be up-gunned and more deadly, accord-ing to Navy officials.

The Navy is also looking for alonger-range surface-to-surfacemissile that “puts [the Navy] back

on the positive side of the rangeequation,” he said.

The current Harpoon missile can

hit targets at a range of about 64miles. In September, the Navy test-ed the Naval Strike Missile, devel-

oped by Norway’s Kongsberg,which has a range beyond 100miles.

Rowden said he is looking to putmore lethal weapons, such as alonger-range surface-to-surface

missile, on as many platforms aspossible.

The concept, called “distributed

lethality,” is gaining currency

among Navy leaders.

Speedy Landing CraftThe venerable LCM-8 “Mike”

boat is well known to military har-

bormasters and US Army logisticsteams. Chugging at a sedate 12knots with no load — 8 knots or

less when fully loaded — the craftwith bow ramps can drop right on-to a beach and perform a myriad of

unglamorous but necessary tasks.But the Army’s Mikes, which are

from the late 1950s and 1960s, are

worn out. And one of the contend-ers is the L-Cat, a French-designed,multipurpose craft that can zip

across the water at 30 knots — al-

most unheard of for a landing craft.

The L-Cat gets it speed from anunusual configuration. It’s essen-tially a twin-hulled landing craft

with a vehicle deck in the middlethat can be lowered to the water’sedge for direct access onto shore,

then raised to turn the vessel into ahigh-speed catamaran.

The concept was developed by

CNIM, a French firm based nearToulon. The company built one L-Cat prototype followed by four

units for the French Navy. Thecraft have been tested by the USNavy.

Now, CNIM, partnering with theItalian shipbuilder Fincantieri, isoffering the craft to the US Army.

The Army’s Maneuver Support Ves-sel Light program issued a request

for information last summer, and arequest for proposals should comethis year.

The craft can travel 700 nauticalmiles without a payload, 500 nauti-cal miles loaded. It has a total lift

capacity of 100 tons, said PhilippeNeri of CNIM.

Expeditionary Force 21The Marine Corps is refining its

new concept of operations, Expe-

ditionary Force 21, as it begins toapply the doctrine to real-worldmissions and large-scale military

exercises, a Marine general said atthe symposium.

That could include basing mini

special-purpose Marine air-groundtask forces (MAGTFs) on smallships in the Pacific and the Gulf of

Guinea to quell crises on a mo-ment’s notice, said Maj. Gen. An-drew O’Donnell, deputy

commanding general for MarineCorps Combat Development Com-mand.

The major tenets of EF-21 andthe closely related Marine Expedi-tionary Brigade Concept of Opera-

tions, which emphasize scalable

forces built and deployed withinhours of a crisis, are sound, he

said.

But service leaders are nowweighing the nature of distributed

operations, studying after-actionreports — most recently from BoldAlligator 14 — and considering

how current and future amphibi-ous and air platforms will influ-ence how the doctrine is applied.

“The operating environment thatwe live in today has obviouslychanged,” O’Donnell said. “It is

based more on poor governance,bigger gaps between the haves andthe have-nots, increases in unrest

and instability, along with prolifer-

ation of advanced weapons.”To meet those challenges, the

service could put a small special

purpose MAGTF on the next gener-ation LXR amphibious ship. Whilethe ship, based on the hull of the

Navy’s San Antonio-class amphibi-ous transport dock ships, hasspace for two fewer landing craft

air cushions, it has a much largerflight deck, O’Donnell said. Thatmeans it could be used as a “single

deployer” floating on its own witha crisis response unit aboard.

Active Seeker for TomahawkMore than 2,000 Tomahawk

cruise missiles have been fired at

live targets since 1991. In everycase, the missile has been aimed ata fixed target.

That could change in a few years,Raytheon officials told reporters.The defense giant is working on a

company-funded variant of themissile that would allow it to chasemoving targets.

“Raytheon has invested heavilyin a multi-mode seeker, passiveand active,” said Christian Sprin-

kle, the company’s senior program

manager for air warfare systems.The infrared seeker would be add-

ed to existing Tomahawks during a

mid-life recertification overhaul,Sprinkle said, which occurs as it

reaches the end of its 15-year ser-vice life.

The overhaul, Sprinkle said, is “a

great opportunity to insert new ca-pabilities.” Plans already call forthe insertion of upgraded commu-

nications systems, a new, multi-ef-fects warhead, and a multimodesensor suite.

Raytheon is seeking Navy fund-ing to continue the research anddevelopment effort for the new

seeker, which has yet to be official-

ly approved. He estimated thatadding a moving target capabilitywould cost about $250,000 for

each missile, which already cost$1.1 million each.

Marines Return to RootsThe Marine Corps is returning to

its roots as a sea-based strike force

after 13 years of ground wars, butgetting there in fighting shape re-quires flexibility and resourceful-

ness, warned Maj. Gen. RobertWalsh.

But the Navy’s amphibious as-

sault ship force needs a chance torecuperate after more than a dec-ade of hard use, added Walsh, di-

rector of the ExpeditionaryWarfare Division. Extended de-ployments, compressed training

cycles and ship substitutions havetaken a toll.

“We were running ships too hard

and readiness went down,” he said.As the service shifts its focus to

the Asia-Pacific region, it still

needs to remain ready to respondto ongoing and unexpected crises

in the Middle East, Africa and

Europe. The Corps is looking atplacing Marines on new types of

Navy vessels, he said. Marines ex-

perimented with embarking onnontraditional vessels includingan aircraft carrier, destroyer and

dry cargo ship last summer.The versatility of the MV-22B Os-

prey also has given the Corps more

options, Walsh said. For instance,while joint high speed vessels can-not support Ospreys, dry cargo

ships or mobile landing platformships like the soon-to-be finishedLewis B. Puller can. N

David Larter, James K. Sanborn and

Derrick Perkins contributed to this

report.

Taking Offense: Surface Navy EyesNew Weapons, Platforms, Sensors

By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS

SGT. ED GALO/US MARINE CORPS

Show Talk: Littoral combat ships,

including the Fort Worth, left, were a hot

topic at this year’s Surface Navy

Association symposium, along with the

return of US Marines — boarding a

rigid-hull inflatable boat, above, during an

exercise — to their amphibious roots.

REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOK

MC2 ANTONIO TURRETTO RAMOS/US NAVY

www.defensenews.com January 19, 2015 DefenseNews 11NORTH AMERICA

WASHINGTON — For more than a

decade, the US Army’s vehicle de-velopment efforts have focused on

heavily armored vehicles, takingfor granted the presence of road-side bombs common to Iraq and

Afghanistan. Now Army officialssay they want to quickly field a newclass of vehicles that trades armor

for mobility and lets airborne as-sault troops drop far from objec-tives protected by air defense,

speed them over land and capturethem.

The Army’s Maneuver Center of

Excellence (MCoE) at Fort Ben-

ning, Georgia, is seeking the ap-proval of senior Army acquisition

officials for a plan to choose fromreadily available vehicles and fieldsome 300 to the service’s global re-

sponse force (GRF), under the 18thAirborne Corps. Once the program

is established, a vendor could be

selected and a vehicle fielded in2016, they say.

“Industry is saying, ‘I can build

this right now for you, I just needsomeone to say go,’ ” said Carl Pig-nato, a light combat vehicle analyst

at the MCoE’s mounted require-

ments division.Senior Army leaders have been

calling for such a capability, includ-ing Vice Chief of Staff of the ArmyGen. Daniel Allyn and Lt. Gen. H.R.

McMaster, director of the Army Ca-

pabilities and Integration Center.Allyn years earlier, as chief of the

18th Airborne Corps, signed off onan operational-needs request forthe capability.

“We know that we need a middle-weight, mobile, protected firepow-er platform to allow early entry

forces to seize and exploit the ini-tiative,” Allyn told reporters in Oc-tober. “Our tanks and our Bradleys

are the finest fighting platforms inthe world, but they’re heavy. You’vegot to seize a major airfield to get

them in [to the fight]. You’ll see, inthe future, some equipment that’snot quite so heavy, but enables us

to have tactical mobility.”The driving force behind the light

vehicle effort is the contention,

backed by a 2006 Army analysis,

that the service lacks the mobility,protection and firepower to enter

foreign territory, immediately over-

come armed opposition and holdan area that enables further troops

to enter, like a major airfield.Because troops in an airborne

force are on foot after an airdrop,

they have to land close to their ob-jective or lose the initiative, riskingtheir aircrafts’ exposure to air de-

fense artillery. Today, the Armylargely relies heavily on the AirForce and Navy to neutralize air de-

fenses, Army officials say.Even Third World powers are as-

sumed to have sophisticated anti-

access/area-denial measures ar-

rayed to protect sensitive sites,

said Lt. Col. Kevin Parker, light sys-tems branch chief in the MountedRequirements Division. “If I am go-

ing to go into a country and going toseize an airfield so that I can createBagram Air Base, the assumption

has to be they’ve got stuff there thatcan bring down aircraft,” he said.

The MCoE has been floating re-

quirements for two vehicles thatseek to answer this gap: n The ultralight combat vehicle

(ULCV) is required to carry an in-fantry squad with equipment (3,200pounds); weigh 4,500 pounds and

travel 250 to 300 miles on one tankof gas. It must fit inside a CH-47Chinook, by sling load on a UH-60

Blackhawk and be air-droppableby a C-130 Hercules or C-17 Globe-master.

n The light reconnaissance vehi-cle (LRV) would provide protec-tion to a moving force. It would

carry six scouts with gear and betransportable by a CH-47 internally

or by sling load. It would be ar-

mored against 152mm shrapneland host a medium caliber weapon

and sensors equivalent to the long-

range advance scout surveillancesystem, in use by Army scouts.

The idea is not to motorize all air-

borne infantry units, Parker said,but provide a pool of vehicles forthe brigade acting as GRF. The GRF

mission means being ready toquickly deploy anywhere in theworld. The mission rotates within

the brigades of the 82nd AirborneDivision, for which airborne forc-ible-entry is a core mission.

As for armor and roadsidebombs, Parker acknowledgedbombs will remain a battlefield

threat, but said lightweight vehi-

cles would be an option at the earli-

est stages of a conflict, in an areawhere improvised explosives arenot expected. The ULCV would

also allow troops to avoid roads,and drive routes the infantry would

otherwise be walking.

In April, US Special OperationsCommand (SOCOM) awarded acontract to General Dynamics for

its Ground Mobility Vehicle 1.1,which is similar in concept.Though the requirements have not

been made public, General Dynam-ic touts its Flyer 72 vehicle’s topspeed of 100 mph, cruising range of

350 miles and capacity to carrynine operators with payload whiletraversing remote and demanding

terrain.The infantry’s requirements were

for a lighter vehicle than SOCOM’s,

Parker said, so an infantry battal-ion commander can safely assumehe has access to UH-60s, but not

the larger CH-47 Chinook. Specialoperations forces have ready ac-

cess to the CH-47.

The Army last summer held ademonstration at Fort Bragg,

North Carolina, home of the 82nd

Airborne Corps, in which six com-panies showed vehicles: GD’s Fly-er; the Boeing-MSI Defense

Phantom Badger; Polaris Defense’sdeployable advanced ground off-road DAGOR; Hendrick Dynamics’

Commando Jeep; Vyper Adamas’Vyper; and Lockheed Martin’s HighVersatility Tactical Vehicle, which

is a version of the UK Army’sHMT-400 Jackal.

Touting the speed at which the

Army will be able to act on theULCV, Pignato said the Army an-nounced its interest last January,

saw 18 responses in March and in-

formed vendors of a safety inspec-

tion in 30 days and thedemonstration in 76 days. Withmore time, he said, they might have

had more than six contenders.The demonstration showed the

Army that it could find an afford-

able solution to its requirementsamong existing vehicles, enablingit to skip an expensive tech devel-

opment stage that might havedoomed it in the current budget en-vironment, Parker said.

MCoE officials say the UCLV sup-ports the Army’s divestiture of theHumvee and it is separate from the

Army’s procurement of joint lighttactical vehicles, which are ar-mored. Whereas a 36-man scout

platoon is equipped with nineHumvees, it would need only sixLRVs, which adds up to a savings of

18 vehicles per squadron, Pignatosaid.

Parker acknowledges the LRV,

which is the subject of a platformdemonstration in August, will takelonger to field than the ULCV be-

cause it will require a modest de-

velopment effort to integratesensors and weaponry into the ve-

hicle.

MCoE has drafted acquisitionplans for both vehicles and is wait-

ing for senior Army acquisition of-ficials to approve it as a program ofrecord. The Army could order it

forward, reject it outright or ac-knowledge the need and shelve ituntil funds are available.

“If we don’t get it right the firsttime, no one’s going to give us an-other shot,” Parker said. “If no ven-

dors could do it, we’d know wewere asking for too much.” N

Email: jgould@defensenews.com.

US Army Officials: FieldUltralight Vehicles Quickly

By JOE GOULD

WASHINGTON — The days of catapult shots

and arrested landings will soon be coming toan end for mail, parts and passengers head-ed to and from aircraft carriers, as the US

Navy plans to phase out its aging C-2A Grey-hounds in favor of the V-22 Osprey for carri-er on board delivery missions.

The Navy has decided to buy four tiltrotorsannually from fiscal 2018 to 2020 as the next-generation COD aircraft, a development the

service had been eyeing for years. The deci-sion came in a Jan. 5 memo signed by NavySecretary Ray Mabus, Chief of Naval Opera-

tions Adm. Jon Greenert, and Marine CorpsCommandant Gen. Joseph Dunford, the ex-istence of which was first reported by the

website Breaking Defense. The Navy has long sought to replace the 35

aging turboprop aircraft that shuttle passen-

gers and cargo to and from the fleet’s flat-tops. The newest C-2As date from 1990.Northrop Grumman, the Greyhound’s manu-

facturer, pitched an upgraded COD as a re-placement. Its plan was to retrofit

Greyhounds with new wings, a new cockpit,more fuel-efficient engines and most of thetail from the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye.

Officials instead went with Bell-Boeing’sMV-22 Osprey. The versatile tiltrotor is ableto perform carrier delivery missions and has

also been looked at for search and rescueand special forces missions. An added plusis that it can land on a variety of ships. so it is

not only able to perform the role of the CODbut also bring people and equipment to am-phibious assault ships, transport docks and

other Navy ships.Navy officials said they were unable to talk

about an internal memo. Cmdr. Thurraya

Kent, spokeswoman for the assistant Navysecretary for research, development and ac-quisition, said she was “unable to release in-

ternal correspondence or discuss specificsat this point in time. Our recommended wayahead will be submitted as part of the nor-

mal budget process.”Asked about the decision at a Jan. 15 pub-

lic appearance, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus

declined to comment on the memo, sayingonly that the “possible use” of the V-22 for

COD missions was a good example of savingmoney by using a tested airframe rather than

developing a new one.Bell Helicopter and Northrop Grumman

did not respond to requests for comment by

press time Jan. 16.“We are standing by to support the Navy’s

requirements as outlined in the fiscal year

2016 budget request,” Boeing spokeswomanCaroline Hutcheson wrote in an email.

Ospreys landings have been more frequentin the past three years. The aircraft carrierHarry S. Truman completed a successful as-

sessment last summer in which officials ex-amined whether the Osprey could operateduring busy take-off and landing cycles.

The tiltrotor aircraft, which has seen ex-tensive combat action in Afghanistan andIraq, has been dogged by negative publicity

dating to its earliest days, when separatecrashes claimed the lives of dozens of Ma-rines. More recently, safety concerns arose

in Japan, where civilians and some politi-cians protested the Marine Corps’ intent tofly Ospreys over densely populated parts of

Okinawa. A classified 2013 report by the Defense De-

partment Inspector General’s Office also

raised concerns about the way Osprey readi-ness was recorded. A summary of findingsfound that commanders in five of six squad-

rons used erroneous aircraft inventory re-ports and work orders from fiscal 2009through 2011. N

Email: lbacon@navytimes.com.

Report: V-22 Osprey To Take Over Carrier DeliveriesBy LANCE BACON

MC2 AMANDA GRAY/US NAVY

Bringing the Goods: Sailors direct an MV-22 Osprey

as it lands on the amphibious dock landing ship

Germantown. The Navy will use Ospreys for the carrier

on board delivery mission.

12 DefenseNews January 19, 2015 www.defensenews.com

NORTH AMERICA

FORT BLISS, Texas — Wrapping uphis tenure in the Pentagon’s top

job, Defense Secretary Chuck Ha-gel offered a pointed critique ofAmerica’s use of military force and

cautioned against expecting im-mediate military solutions to to-day’s complex challenges.

Hagel, who once served as anArmy sergeant fighting in the jun-gles of Vietnam, warned in unusu-

ally blunt language against forcingAmerican values “down anybody’sthroat.” He repeatedly raised simi-

lar issues in a series of recent pub-

lic meetings with enlisted servicemembers.

For three days ending Jan. 15,

Hagel made a sort of farewell tourafter two years on the job. Stop-

ping to speak with enlisted sol-diers, sailors, airmen and Marines,he made no major speeches but in-

stead conducted a series of townhall-style meetings, thanking thetroops for their service, offering

unscripted remarks and takingquestions.

One message he delivered is that

troops should expect changes re-garding military compensationand health care. And he highlight-

ed new military capabilities that

are emerging despite pressures on

the Pentagon’s budget.At times Hagel seemed to implic-

itly rebut criticisms that the US

military and the Obama admini-stration should be doing more tofight Islamic extremists in Iraq and

Syria.“Sometimes there are no imme-

diate answers to problems. We

Americans contest that. We fightthat. ‘Of course there’s an answer.We’ll fix it. Let’s commit troops.

Let’s present a policy to addressthat problem,’ ” he told severalhundred senior enlisted soldiers at

this Army post Jan. 15. “Well, many

times we find the problem, thechallenge, the issue, can only be

solved through an evolving proc-

ess of solutions.”He warned that the judgment of

today’s leaders can be “intimidatedby the immediacy of everything,the immediacy of judgments, the

immediacy of wanting an answernow.

“We have blundered when we

have tried to force issues, tried toforce the answer on other people,with the virtue of trying to help,

trying to fix the problem. ... Not ev-ery problem has an easy answer,”he said.

He made a similar point at Ma-

rine Corps Air Station Miramar in

San Diego on Jan. 14.“You can’t force the United

States’ value system and our val-

ues and our standards and ourstructures and our institutionsdown anybody’s throat,” Hagel

told Marines. “And we make hugemistakes when we think we can goaround and make many USAs all

over the world. It just won’t work,never has worked.

“Help them; human rights, free-

dom, people having rights to de-cide their own lives for their ownfamilies and opportunities. That’s

universal. How they do that, how

they structure that, that should beup to them, not to us or anybody

else.”

At a stop at Whiteman Air ForceBase in Missouri early in the week,

Hagel more specifically cited themission to fight the Islamic State.

“Our physical presence in Iraq,

as you all know, is very limited: totraining, to equipping, to assisting.We can’t fight those wars for those

people. That is not going to resolvethe problem. The problem is deep-er than that,” Hagel told airmen.

Compensation Changes Hagel also told troops that big

changes are probably coming to

military pay and benefits.

The future of military compensa-tion, including retirement andhealth care, will become a top po-

litical issue in a few weeks when acommission empaneled by Con-gress releases the results of its

two-year study, Hagel said. “I think this will be as big an issue

... over the next year as there is,

and it should be, because whenyou are talking about that entirecompensation package for all of

you and your families, I mean thatis key,” Hagel told several hundredsailors during a visit aboard the

amphibious assault ship America,just off the coast of San Diego.

“I think this year will be the be-

ginning, with those commissionrecommendations, of where we

start moving forward on making

some of these calls,” Hagel said af-ter a sailor asked him directlyabout the future of military retire-

ment. Hagel was referring to the Mili-

tary Compensation and Retire-

ment Modernization Commission,which Congress created in 2013 tostudy potential changes to military

pay and benefits and make de-tailed recommendations for Capi-tol Hill to consider.

The commission’s report is com-plete and will be released publiclyby Feb. 1.

Military compensation has be-

came a target for cuts since Penta-

gon budgets stopped their steadywartime rise in 2010. These daysthe overall defense budget is es-

sentially flat and the top brass saysif per-troop personnel costs con-tinue to grow, they could crowd

out spending on weapons modern-ization and high-tech research.

“We cannot sustain the current

trajectory that we are on with thecurrent system we have,” Hagelsaid.

“We have an opportunity here tomake some shifts, some reforms,early on over a period of time

which assures that no one getshurt on this. And the longer we de-

fer it and not make these decisions

on how do we come to grips withthese realities, the more difficult

it’s going to be and in particular the

more costly it’s going to be, I think,for the men and women in uni-form,” he said.

“We’ve got to address this and wehave to be honest about it and wehave to deal with it,” Hagel said.

“In the end, as advanced as ourtechnologies are, as good as theywill become, even better, without

quality people, it won’t matter. ...We are going to continue to keepand must prioritize a cycle of

bringing good people, the best peo-ple into this business.” N

Email: atilghman@militarytimes.com.

As He Exits, Hagel Candid on InterventionBy ANDREW TILGHMAN

WASHINGTON — The North Korean cyber hit

on the network of Sony Entertainment in No-vember is hardly the first state-sponsored bitof corporate hacking to strike the US or its

allies, and experts say it is likely a harbingerof things to come.

“This is a whole new day in cyber for a host

of reasons,” Mike Rogers, former chairmanof the House Permanent Select Committeeon Intelligence, told an audience at the Bi-

partisan Policy Center in Washington on Jan.15. Not least of which is that the UnitedStates “is going to have to show nation states

that it will not tolerate it.”But how to respond is the issue.The US government has publicly blamed

North Korea for the hack, which is assumedto have come in retaliation for the release of“The Interview,” a Sony movie in which two

bumbling Americans assassinate the north’sdictator, Kim Jong-un.

One of the biggest implications of the at-

tack is that “we now know that a nation with1,000th of the [gross domestic product] of

the United States has the sophistication tocarry out such an attack,” added Paul Stock-ton, former assistant defense secretary for

homeland defense and Americas’ security af-fairs. “The trend is one way and that is to-ward nations obtaining increasingly

sophisticated cyber capabilities.”While Sony will likely pay a price for the

hack from shareholders and industry part-

ners, the breach has hardly been the mostworrisome of corporate hacks.

In August 2012, it is widely suspected that

Iran breached the internal network of theSaudi oil giant Aramco, an event that insert-ed a virus dubbed “Shamoon” into the sys-

tem, which replaced the data on hard driveswith an image of a burning American flag anderasing information.

The hackers called the erasing mechanismimplanted on the network “Wiper,” whichwas suspected as being a sly nod to a compo-

nent contained in “Flame,” a virus that struckIranian oil companies that May, forcing themto cut the Internet connection to the Kharg

Island oil terminal, a critical spigot throughwhich about 80 percent of Iran’s oil flows.

American officials have also blamed Iran

for the September 2012 cyber attacks thattook the websites of Bank of America,JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, US Bank, Wells

Fargo and PNC offline for several days,blocking access for customers.

More seriously, the German government

recently reported that a spear phishing at-tack on an unnamed German factory last

year caused massive physical damage. In areport released in January, the Bonn govern-ment admitted that one of the plant’s blast

furnaces could not be shut down, resulting in“massive damage to plant.”

But hackers don’t need to go after the

Aramcos and Sonys of the world in order tocause disruption.

“All you have to do is go after the supply

chain,” said Rogers, pointing out that a na-

tion-state could do damage to US defenseprime contractors by targeting their smaller,more easily hackable suppliers, effectively

shutting down programs or stealing informa-tion.

The Chinese government has already been

active in that regard, having hacked into USnetworks in order to pilfer information

about a whole host of weapons systems fromthe Patriot missile system, the Terminal HighAltitude Area Defense system, and the Aegis

ballistic-missile defense system. A 2013 Pentagon report also identified the

F/A-18 Hornet fighter, the V-22 Osprey, and

the Littoral Combat Ship as programs com-promised by Chinese hackers over the pastseveral years.

In 2007, China even managed to penetrateLockheed Martin’s system, stealing criticaldesign data about the F-35 program and then

using the terabytes of information it extract-ed to design its own J-31 stealth fighter jet.

One of the most difficult questions to an-

swer about this new method of warfare, ana-lysts say, is how to respond.

President Barack Obama said the United

States would offer a “proportional response”to the Sony hack, and days later the handfulof IP addresses active in the north went

down.But that doesn’t strike some as nearly

enough in terms of either rhetoric, or action.

“I probably would have tried to strike theword ‘proportional’ from the US response”former CIA and NSA chief Michael Hayden

said at the Bipartisan Policy Center event. “Idon’t think we should give them comfort … itgave them a little too much relief in terms of

what we may or may not do.”He added that the problem is, the US has

not yet worked out how to fight in this new

realm.“We have not yet worked out a taxonomy”

for action in the cyber domain like the US hasfor land, sea and air warfare, he said. “Howdo you categorize an event in the cyber do-

main that tells you what is or is not a propor-tional response?”

None of his fellow panelists had an

answer. N

Email: pmcleary@defensenews.com.

Governments Struggle To Respond to Nation State HackingBy PAUL McLEARY

MICHAEL THURSTON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Responding to Cyber Attacks: Workers remove a

poster-banner for “The Interview” from a billboard in

Hollywood, California, Dec. 18, a day after Sony

announced it was canceling the movie’s Christmas

release due to a terrorist threat.

www.defensenews.com January 19, 2015 DefenseNews 13NORTH AMERICA

US Defense Budget 2016

The first defense budget with the newGOP-controlled Congress.Defense News will explore:• Army and Marine vehicles• Navy surface combatants and subs• Air Force strike and ISR platforms• Recapitalization vs. new purchases

Issue Date: Feb. 16, 2015

Special report:Middle East defense requirements

This issue will explore the militaryrequirements, land, sea and ISR, inMiddle Eastern countries.• Bonus distribution at theIDEX show in Abu Dhabi

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US special operations capabilities andrequirements:• New equipment being developed• Emerging requirements• Budgetary issues• Bonus distribution at the SO/LICconference in Washington

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Top Air Force leaders discuss:• The new bomber• First flight of the KC-46• The latest on the F-35• Future space contracts• Bonus distribution at theAFAWinter show

Issue Date: Feb. 9, 2015

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The Pentagon has launched TheBuying Power 3.0 initiative tostreamline purchasing.• Will it make it easier to acquirecommercial technology?

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Issue Date: Feb. 2, 2015

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WASHINGTON — The US Coast

Guard’s 11 missions keep the ser-vice up to its neck in operations.Things are under control, the ser-

vice’s top officer said, but there area few key areas where they’restretched thin.

Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunftmade his case for more ships, air-planes and resources, though the

service already has a long acquisi-tion list to tackle.

“We’re a small service, but as al-

ways, we do punch above ourweight class,” Zukunft said Jan. 15in a speech at the annual Surface

Navy Association symposium inArlington, Virginia.

Some highlights from Zukunft’s

speech and Q&A before hundredsof sailors, Coast Guardsmen andcontractors:

Drug InterdictionStopping the flow of drugs from

South America is one of the CoastGuard’s top priorities, but as it

stands, there aren’t enough cuttersto do the job. Intelligence teamshave eyes on 80 percent of the

drugs coming into the country bysea, Zukunft said, but only enoughplatforms to stop 20 percent.

“So 60 percent get a free ride,” hesaid. “It’s a $750 billion enterpriseand I’ve got a $10 billion slingshot.”

The Coast Guard has a squadronof patrol boats in Bahrain to do ca-pacity building among allies and

provide offshore presence, andhe’d like to see that system expandto stem the flow of narcotics into

the US.

Immigration EnforcementThe Coast Guard routinely stops

boats to prevent migrants from en-tering the US illegally or, in some

cases, to ensure the safety of thoseon board dangerous vessels. Cu-

ban immigrants are common, but

late last year their flow doubled inanticipation of the Obama admini-stration’s move to normalize rela-

tions with Cuba, Zukunft said.“Just over the Christmas holiday,

there was a misunderstanding in

Cuba that on Jan. 15, our [immigra-tion] policy was going to change,”Zukunft said.

Migrant flow increased by 200

percent, forcing the service to di-vert cutters to head off the vessels.

Four medium endurance cutters

were in emergency dry dock at thetime, so smaller ships had to cover

for them.

Polar StrategySince the Coast Guard was es-

tablished, the waters of the ArcticCircle have been largely impass-

able throughout most of the year,

but ice melt is increasing access. Thirteen percent of the world’s

untapped oil and 30 percent of its

natural gas are in the Arctic, Zu-kunft said, and that’s going to drawa crowd sooner or later. However,

the Coast Guard doesn’t haveenough ships to thoroughly patrolthe Arctic, or to help many of the

people who travel there to pros-pect or do research.

That’s the one thing he loses

sleep over, he said.“As the Coast Guard cutter Polar

Star [a heavy icebreaker] breaks

into [Antarctic research station]McMurdo, if they have a main con-sole failure, if they have a crank-

case explosion and now they’re

beset in ice, I don’t have a buddysystem,” Zukunft said.

The Coast Guard used to have a

second icebreaker, the Polar Sea,as a back-up, but it’s out of servicebecause there’s no money for re-

pairs. N

Email: mmyers@navytimes.com.

Zukunft: Ships Needed for Arctic, Drug InterdictionBy MEGHANN MYERS

14 DefenseNews January 19, 2015 www.defensenews.com

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VICTORIA, British Columbia — Canada’s specialoperations forces are focusing on acquiring ISRaircraft and new vehicles as it develops its fu-

ture equipment needs, according to its com-mander. Both projects are in their early phasesbut are already attracting interest from interna-

tional and domestic companies.The purchase of a small fleet of ISR aircraft

would improve special operations capability to

track and target insurgents on the ground. Fouraircraft will be bought and outfitted with sig-nals intelligence capability and sensors to tar-

get ground movement.“I would say that the manned airborne intelli-

gence, surveillance and reconnaissance plat-

form is very, very significant to me,” said Brig.Gen. Mike Rouleau, commander of the Canadi-an Special Operations Forces Command (CAN-

SOFCOM). “It’s a co-sponsored projectbetween us and the Air Force, but that for merepresents a real generational capability leap

from an operational perspective.”The planes would be flown by the Royal Cana-

dian Air Force but special operations forceswould be in the rear of the aircraft to operatethe specialized equipment, Rouleau said.

He said the ISR aircraft would be connectedto a new special operations command-and-con-trol system to allow forces on the ground to re-

ceive data.No specific timelines have been set for the ac-

quisition, but there have been discussions

about purchasing the planes through US for-eign military sales and having companies pro-vide the specialized on-board equipment.

Boeing had been promoting its Reconfigura-ble Airborne Multi-Intelligence System (RA-MIS) to the Canadian Forces for the project.

RAMIS can provide an array of payloads, in-cluding a ground moving target indicator aswell as communications intercept capabilities,

said Mike Ferguson, the Boeing official incharge of business development for RAMIS.

It has plug-and-play software and sensors can

be quickly added or removed. “You can fly onesortie in the morning and fly another module inthe afternoon,” Ferguson said.

He said Boeing remains flexible in respondingto the Canadian special operations acquisition.“If it’s modifying existing aircraft, we’re ready to

do that and we have programs do that,” Fergu-son said. “Or if it is buying new aircraft from theUnited States through [a foreign military sales]

case, we’re ready to support them on that.”Ferguson noted that RAMIS can be installed

on any air platform, but the most common pair-ing would be with a Beechcraft King Air 350.

Boeing brought the RAMIS production proto-

type aircraft to Ottawa in August for a demon-stration for Royal Canadian Air Force officers,including Chief of the Air Staff Lt. Gen. Yvan

Blondin.At this point, industry officials have not been

provided with details on when the project

would proceed.Mike Greenley, vice president for CAE Cana-

da Military, said if CANSOFCOM does acquire

the aircraft as a direct purchase from the USgovernment, there could be additional work forCanadian firms. That could involve provision of

specific sensors or long-term maintenance andsupport of the planes. “We would have the capa-bility to support an ISR platform in Canada,”

Greenley noted.L-3, which was involved in modifying King Air

350s for the US Air Force as part of the Project

Liberty Aircraft program, has also expressed in-terest in the Canadian program. A company offi-cial said it is unclear at this point on how

Canadian special operations forces will pro-ceed with the acquisition.

Rouleau did not get into specific details aboutthe aircraft purchase.

Humvee ReplacementRouleau noted that his command also wants

to acquire a new vehicle to replace its Humvees.

It has dubbed the replacement the Next Genera-tion Fighting Vehicle (NGFV). NGFV will be amultirole vehicle comprising different variants

that can be outfitted for various missions.CANSOFCOM has just finished upgrading its

Humvees, extending their life until 2024, Rou-

leau said.“We’re looking at various options” for the

NGFV, he said. “That project is scheduled to

start delivering in 2023, 2024, when the Humveefleet fades out.”

The examination of vehicle options will pro-

ceed this year. A request for proposals will bereleased to industry in 2017 and a contractawarded in 2018.

The preliminary budget estimates for the pro-ject range between CAN $115 million (US $106

million) and $249 million, but a more accuratefigure will be determined when CANSOFCOMbetter understands what it is looking for.

CANSOFCOM spokesman Maj. Steve Haw-ken said the command has not yet determinedexact quantities of NGFVs that it needs.

The command believes there are off-the-shelfproducts that could satisfy its requirements andhave been talking to allied special operations

forces about the vehicles they use.General Dynamics has already noted that it is

interested in the Canadian acquisition.

Ken Yamashita, General Dynamics Land Sys-tems-Canada’s manager of corporate affairs,said the company is maintaining contact with

CANSOFCOM to keep abreast of developmentsin the project. “We are considering a number ofGeneral Dynamics products, including the Oce-

lot, for this program,” he said.The modular design of the Ocelot, which the

UK military calls the Foxhound, allows quick

cabin modifications for specific missions. N

Email: dpugliese@defensenews.com.

Canada Crafts Spec Ops Equipment NeedsBy DAVID PUGLIESE

AFP/GETTY IMAGES

New Gear for CANSOFCOM: Canada wants to buy ISR

aircraft and new vehicles for its special operations forces.

NEW DELHI — Italy’s Oto Melara

has been short-listed to supply127mm naval guns to the IndianNavy in a deal pushed by India’s

new defense minister despite afraud probe against the firm’s par-ent company, Finmeccanica, an In-

dian Defence Ministry source said.Defence Minister Manohar Parri-

kar’s stand against the blanket

blacklisting of overseas defensecompanies was instrumental in theministry’s selection, an MoD

source said.The writing of the contract will

take a few months after procedural

clearances.

Oto Melara emerged as the solebidder in the naval gun tender of

2013 because the UK’s BAE Sys-

tems did not respond.Parrikar sought to complete the

tender to meet the Navy’s needs,

and decided not to debar the Fin-meccanica group company, ac-cepting the single-vendor bid of

Oto Melara, the MoD source said.Last July, the previous defense

minister, Arun Jaitley, now the fi-

nance minister, imposed a partialban on Finmeccanica and its com-panies in the wake of a probe by In-

dia’s anti-fraud investigatingagency, the Central Bureau of In-vestigation, into the 2010 VVIP heli-

copter deal with Finmeccanica’s

AgustaWestland. Parrikar took advantage of the

July order on technical grounds to

short-list Oto Melara, the sourceadded.

The partial ban imposed in July

said that if a Finmeccanica groupcompany emerged as the lowestbidder, the tender cannot be

awarded to that company if it canbe negotiated with other bidders.Because there were no other bid-

ders in this case, MoD took the po-sition that the tender could go toOto Melara, the source added.

According to the tender, twoguns will be supplied by the origi-nal equipment manufacturer and

the remaining 11 will be license-

produced by state-owned BharatHeavy Electrical Ltd. (BHEL).

“The clear stand against black-

listing of overseas defense compa-nies on alleged corruption chargeswill enthuse overseas companies

to participate keenly in Indian de-

fense programs,” defense analystNitin Mehta said. “There should be

a clear-cut policy on dealing with

overseas companies found guiltyof using kickbacks to swing deals,

and blanket blacklisting thesecompanies is not the answer.”

A Navy official said the much-

needed Oto Melara 127mm gun hasa firing range of up to 100 kilome-ters. The Italian company also will

transfer technology for the licenseproduction of the guns to BHEL. N

Email: vraghuvanshi@defensenews.com.

Oto Melara To Supply Indian Naval GunBy VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

www.defensenews.com January 19, 2015 DefenseNews 15EUROPE

PARIS — A team led by BAE Sys-tems, DCNS and Thales is in the

lead in a competition for a study todevelop an unmanned underwatersystem to fight against sea mines, a

key project for Anglo-French de-fense cooperation, three industryexecutives said.

An evaluation is underway for a

selection, with French firm iXBlue

and the UK unit of German special-ist group Atlas Elektronik part-nered as the competitor in the

bilateral tender.The offer from BAE, DCNS and

Thales “is well positioned,” one of

the executives said. The latter

company, which leads the team,will draw on its British unit.

Best and final offers were due in

October, a fourth industry sourcesaid.

At the Jan. 31 Anglo-French sum-mit last year, the British govern-ment said an agreement had been

reached “on a £10 million contract

for the development of underwa-ter vehicles capable of finding and

neutralizing seabed mines.”

The study for an unmanned sys-

tem is a key part of the cooperativeMaritime Mine Counter Measure(MMCM) program. After the study,

a decision to build a prototype isexpected in 2016, an industrysource said.

That contract will seek a demon-stration project to prove the capa-bility, rather than design of a

production standard system, aBAE spokeswoman has said.

ECA, a French builder of autono-

mous underwater vehicles (AUV),would be a supplier to the BAE-DCNS-Thales group.

One industry executive said theselection is driven by “the political

position.” BAE, DCNS and Thales

are leading firms in Britain and

France, while Atlas is 51 percent

owned by the German industrial gi-ant ThyssenKrupp, and 49 percent

by Airbus Group.

Last year, Airbus said it wouldsell its Atlas stake, and ThyssenK-rupp said it would talk to Airbus,

but did not say it would buy theholding.

If the British-French team wins

the deal, Atlas and iXBlue couldwork as suppliers, executives said.

The firms declined to comment.

“There is no fully mature MMCMsolution based on autonomousdrones available on the market,”

an executive said. “The first full so-lution on the market will attractgreat attention,” he said.

Navies across Europe and Asia

have shown close interest in the

anti-mine studies, he added.France has been working on fea-

sibility studies under the Espadon,

or Swordfish, project. DCNS sup-plied the remote-controlled and

fully automated ship, ECA the

AUVs, and Thales the mission sys-tem. That project feeds into thesystème de lutte anti-mine future,

also a naval program intended toreplace the current minehunterwith an unmanned surface vehicle,

which would tow sonars and de-ploy AUVs to detect, identify anddestroy the mines. N

Christopher P. Cavas in Washington

and Andrew Chuter in London

contributed to this report.

France WeighsBids forAnti-Mine Study

By PIERRE TRAN

LONDON — The UK Defence Ministry hasmostly gotten budget overruns and procure-ment delays under control, the National Au-

dit Office (NAO) said. But the ministry couldbe storing up significant problems by under-estimating costs and potential savings.

“Our work on the equipment plan revealeda number of positive features, not least therelative stability of forecast project costs

and control over in-year variations in ap-proved timings and costs of major projects,”said Amyas Morse, the head of the govern-

ment spending watchdog. However, the NAO boss warned the MoD

has “chosen a higher risk approach to man-

aging the affordability of the equipment planby relying on over-optimistic forecasts ofcosts and future savings, not all of which

might be achievable in reality.”The MoD’s own cost assurance and analy-

sis service reckons the forecast cost of pro-curing equipment is underestimated by £3.2billion (US $4.8 billion).

The underestimation trend, though, isdown. Last year’s NAO gave a figure of £4.3billion and the year before it was higher still.

Investigation by the cost assurance ser-vice on nearly a third of MoD support con-tracts has resulted in a £2 billion

understatement to date. Morse, who has served as a high-ranking

official at the MoD, spoke as the NAO re-

leased its annual examination of the afforda-bility of the MoD’s 10-year equipment planout to 2024 and associated investigation into

the department’s 11 largest projects for theyear to March 2014.

The report said that a forecast £5.4 billion

increase in procurement spending waslargely caused by reclassifying one projectas procurement rather than support.

That, and anticipated efficiency savings inthe support spend, generally are behind anexpected £6.2 billion reduction in the sup-

port budget over the period.The MoD has also removed more than £6

billion from budgets in anticipation of

achieving substantial program savings —primarily in support, which accounts for

two-thirds of the figure.To date only £2.9 billion of the savings in

support cost have been identified and the

spending watchdog says failure to find theadditional proposed reductions could causethe MoD to delay or cancel existing projects.

The NAO report said the £4.6 billion contingency fund set aside

for the 10-year equipment plan may not be

enough to mitigate the combined effects ofunderestimates in project team forecasts ofprocurement and support costs.

If the contingency is insufficient, the re-port said the MoD will have to “draw on the£9.2 billion set aside to deliver equipment

[not yet committed to specific programs]”outside the current £150 billion or so spend-ing earmarked for equipment and support

over the next 10 years. Overall, the projected cost of the equip-

ment plan out to 2024 has fallen by £1.4 bil-lion to £162.9 billion compared with theprevious year’s estimates.

Despite the concerns, the performance ofthe MoD’s Defence Equipment and Support(DE&S) arm in delivering major programs to

cost and budget has been improving for awhile — aside from the £754 million increasein the Royal Navy’s aircraft carrier program

reported by the NAO last year.It’s not that long ago that the MoD minis-

ters would have been gritting their teeth in

the face of heavy criticism from the media,the parliamentary public accounts commit-tee and others as the NAO reported cost

overruns running into billions of pounds anddelays amounting to years.

Philip Dunne, the defense procurement,

support and technology chief, released astatement saying: “We have reduced costs byalmost £400 million in our major projects

and enjoyed our best performance on costsince 2005 and time since 2001. There is al-ways more we can do, but I am delighted [by]

the great strides the department has made.” That didn’t stop Margaret Hodge, the chair

of the public accounts committee, from criti-

cizing the MoD’s potential underestimationof program costs, saying it remains unclear

whether the equipment plan is affordable. “Officials are still being far too over opti-

mistic in estimating future procurement and

support costs, an issue the NAO and PublicAccounts Committee have been raising for anumber of years,” she said in a statement. “If

its own internal assurance service is telling itthat future procurement costs may be under-

estimated by as much as £3.2 billion and sup-port costs by £2 billion, clearly the Ministryis still lacking enough staff with the right

skills to forecast and manage costs properly.If it cannot get its forecasts right, we cannothave confidence that the equipment plan is

robust and fit for purpose.” The Warrior infantry fighting vehicle sus-

tainment program and the core production

capability for Britain’s nuclear submarinebuild program did register delays totaling 14months between them. But the NAO record-

ed the MoD as saying neither delay wouldhave any operational impact.

Lockheed Martin UK officials who briefed

reporters last week on the £1.3 billion War-rior program, on which they are the primecontractor, said delays had been caused by

significant contract amendments to add ca-pability to the vehicle.

The reduction in costs referred to by

Dunne relates to lower forecast spending onthe Typhoon and F-35B fighter jet programs.

Overall, the improved MoD performance

will not have harmed DE&S boss BernardGray’s chances of retaining his post as thechief of defense materiel.

A decision is expected in the next fewweeks on whether to reappoint Gray or

award the post to another candidate afterthe government advertised the post in late2014 as the four-year deal to run DE&S ap-

proaches its end. DE&S is in the early stages of a major re-

structuring of the way it does business, in-

cluding bringing in industry teams to helpraise skill levels and capabilities in the £14

billion a year procurement and support oper-ation.

The 10-year equipment plan envisions

spending £69 billion on procurement and £81billion on support.

Most of the equipment spending is already

committed and the bulk of the uncommittedfunds will not be available until much later inthe decade.

By far the largest single element of spend-ing will cover production of the remainingAstute-class nuclear attack submarines and

the Successor nuclear missile boats await-ing a go ahead planned for next year.

The MoD said in a statement that the 10-

year plan includes spending around £40 bil-lion on nuclear submarines — 26 percent ofthe equipment budget.

The Royal United Services Institute thinktank in London has put the figure at morethan 30 percent during some years in the

2020s.Other major spending includes £15.4 bil-

lion on land equipment and £11.1 billion on

helicopters, the MoD said. N

Email: achuter@defensenews.com.

Audit Cites UK’s StridesOn Procurement Fixes

By ANDREW CHUTER

ROYAL NAVY/UK MOD

Showing Progress: A British procurement organization has avoided further large cost overruns, last seen on the

Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier program.

16 DefenseNews January 19, 2015 www.defensenews.com

EUROPE

ANKARA — Turkish governmentleaders are refraining from making

a hasty “final-final” decision on amultibillion dollar contract thatwill build the country’s first long-

range air and anti-missile defensearchitecture.

“There are political, technical

and financial parameters at play,and we don’t want to make awrong move,” one senior procure-

ment official said. After a crucial meeting of Tur-

key’s top procurement panel, the

Defense Industry Executive Com-mittee, Prime Minister Ahmet Da-vutoglu said Turkey would

continue to negotiate with all threebidders in the disputed program.

In September 2013, Turkey se-lected China Precision MachineryImport-Export Corp. (CPMIEC)

for a $3.44 billion offer. But after in-creased pressure from NATO al-lies, Ankara opened parallel talks

with the second- and third-comersin the bidding — the European Eu-rosam, maker of the Aster 30, and

the US Raytheon/Lockheed Mar-

tin, offering the Patriot system, re-

spectively. Davutoglu said talkswith all three bidders would coveran extended period of six months.

“One imminent political deliber-ation is whether the US Congresswill recognize the alleged Arme-

nian genocide in April. We will waitCongress’ move before making adecision on the contract,” said a

top government official for de-fense and security issues.

The US Congress may, for the

first time, recognize as genocidethe killings of 1.5 million Arme-nians during the Ottoman Turkey

regime in 1915-1920. April will bethe centenary of the start of inci-dents that Armenians and several

parliaments across the world havesaid was genocide, but the US has

so far avoided to label them assuch.

“Apparently, the Turks want to

use the air defense contract as oneof their many cards in the game [topressure Washington not to recog-

nize the genocide]. It may or maynot work. But the success of theUS contender depends first of all

on this,” said one London-based

Turkey specialist.

The procurement official did notcomment directly on whether Con-gress’ decision would be a param-

eter in selecting a winner in thecontract, or whether the US con-tender would be blacklisted for po-

litical reasons. But he said: “Ourprocurement decisions are notfree of deliberations on foreign

policy.”Both the procurement and de-

fense officials said that although

all three bidders are in the picture,talks with CPMIEC have not beenproductive.

“I cannot say negotiations withthe Chinese contender haveevolved as we expected,” the pro-

curement official said. The defense official said:

“[CPMIEC is] still in the game. But

they don’t stand where they stoodwhen we selected them. We expectall bidders to improve their offers

in line with four criteria: bettertechnological know-how, localparticipation, quick delivery and

price.”Turkish procurement officials

earlier admitted that technical ne-gotiations with CPMIEC haddragged into several problematic

areas and “this option now looksmuch less attractive than it did [in2013].”

In September, for a fifth time,Turkey extended the deadline forall three bidders to Dec. 31. The

Jan. 7 decision to extend the dead-

line for another six months is the

sixth extension. The Turkish program consists of

radar, launcher and interceptor

missiles. It has been designed tocounter enemy aircraft and mis-

siles. Turkey has no long-range airdefense systems.

About half of Turkey’s network-

based air defense picture has beenpaid for by NATO. The country ispart of NATO’s Air Defense

Ground Environment. WithoutNATO’s consent, it will be impos-sible for Turkey to make the

planned Chinese system operable

with these assets, some analysts

say.NATO and US officials have said

that no Chinese-built system could

be integrated with Turkey’s jointair defense assets with NATO and

the United States. They also havewarned that any Turkish companythat acts as local subcontractor in

the program would face serious

US sanctions because CPMIEChas been sanctioned under the

Iran, North Korea and Syria Non-proliferation Act. N

Email: bbekdil@defensenews.com.

Turkey Won’t Rush Air Defense Contract

By BURAK EGE BEKDIL

JOHN MACDOUGALL/ AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Deliberate Approach: A German soldier stands near a Patriot missile launcher in

southern Turkey on March 25, 2014. Turkey will not rush its anti-missile program decision.

BERLIN — The German military intends to re-vive its controversial Euro Hawk unmanned

aerial vehicle program after it was canceledin 2013 due to spiraling costs and airworthi-ness issues.

Sources at the German Defense Ministryconfirmed that the drone, developed by Nor-throp Grumman, would be “taken out of the

garage” in order to finish testing its integrat-ed signal intelligence system from Airbus

Defence & Space.

In October, German Defense Minister Ur-sula von der Leyen announced her intention

to get the Euro Hawk drone in the air for test

flights again in a move to recoup some of the€600 million (US $750 million) already in-vested in the project.

The German Air Force is keen to fill thegap left in its signals intelligence capabilitysince the retirement of a fleet of five Breguet

Br 1150 Atlantique aircraft in 2010. “We need this technology in order to gener-

ate a clear intelligence picture on which to

base our decisions, and this is a specific areaof intel that we currently don’t have,” said Lt.Col. Gero von Fritsche, Defense Ministry

spokesman.He said that there are no plans to complete

development on a Euro Hawk series. In-

stead, the military is eyeing options to put

the drone’s SIGINT payload on an alterna-

tive platform. One of the most likely optionsis the Triton MQ-4C drone, which, like theEuro Hawk, is based on the initial Global

Hawk design. The Triton has been devel-oped by Northrop for the US Navy.

However, von Fritsche confirmed that

manned aircraft, such as Airbus’ ACJ319 or

Bombardier’s Global Express XRS or Global

5000 business jets, are also being consid-ered. No decision has been made yet.

“There’s no point in looking only at un-

manned systems if we run into the problemof not being able to certify and fly the sys-tem,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the joint venture,

EH GmbH, released a statement saying it

is “proud” to be working with its Germanpartners.

“The German Federal Ministry of Defense

awarded EH GmbH a contract modificationto restart maintenance and testing on theEuro Hawk Full Scale Demonstrator on

January 15, 2015,” the statement said. “Theaward authorizes the de-preservation andmaintenance assessment of the Full Scale

Demonstrator aircraft in Manching, Germa-ny. We are proud to work with our German

partners and believe that a high-altitude

long-endurance aircraft is the only platformable to fulfill Germany’s SIGINT require-

ments.”

Former German Defense Minister ThomasDe Maiziere canceled the Euro Hawk pro-gram in May 2013 when it became apparent

the plane would not get flight clearance overEurope.

This was due in part to NATO Stanag 4671,

which requires lightning and icing protec-tion on all aircraft flying over Europe. Theoriginal RQ-4 that was going to make up the

program doesn’t have those protections.In addition, the Euro Hawk lacked an on-

board “sense and avoid system” to avoid col-

lisions, a prerequisite to obtain flight permis-sion in the EU. N

Email: dcorbett@defensenews.com.

Germany Seeks To Revive Euro Hawk UAV ProgramBy DEANNE CORBETT

J.GIETL/CASSIDIAN

Top Performance: On Aug. 8, 2013, the Euro Hawk unmanned aircraft set an endurance record by flying 25.3

hours nonstop in European airspace.

www.defensenews.com January 19, 2015 DefenseNews 17MIDDLE EAST

TEL AVIV — Leaks from last summer’s Gazawar dramatize the forces at play here when

democracy and commitment to interna-tional law appear to clash with obligationsto those fighting on the fog-laden front lines.

Israeli combat recordings from a particu-larly fierce battle initiated by Hamas duringone of the many short-lived cease-fires of

the war highlight complex operational, so-cial and legal questions that extend far be-yond the terror tunnels of southern Gaza

where it all began. Questions dramatized in the clips have be-

come campaign fodder in the run-up to

March 17 elections, while the substance ofthe leaked recordings may be used to sup-port criminal probes here and possibly the

Hague-based International Criminal Court.They involve issues of command responsi-

bility, rules of engagement, and the rights ofindividuals who make up Israel’s “people’sarmy” when measured against the collective

benefit of the public at large. They also in-volve limitations of military censorship in acountry that celebrates free press.

And finally, actions taken in the aftermathof that Aug. 1 battle call into question the in-dependence of the military advocate general

(MAG), a general officer appointed by thedefense minister yet subordinate only to Is-rael’s attorney general.

Known here as Bloody Friday, the Aug. 1battle began with an ambush that killed twoIsraeli infantrymen and caused one to go

missing. Troops at the scene pursued Hamasoperatives into the tunnels built by the or-ganization as subterranean staging grounds.

In parallel, the Israel Defense Forces(IDF) activated its Hannibal protocol, allow-ing massive force to thwart an abduction in

progress, even at the risk to the life of thesoldier they sought to save.

The mission failed to retrieve the missing

comrade, but evidence recovered from themission allowed forensics experts to subse-quently conclude that the soldier, 2nd Lt. Ha-

dar Golden, had been killed in the initialattack.

But scores of innocent Palestinians were

also killed in Hannibal-driven airstrikes, ar-

tillery barrages and ground attacks aimed atretrieving Golden or preventing him being

used as a tool for extortion in future prison-

er swaps.

‘You’re Firing Like Morons’In tapes first published by Israel’s Ynet on-

line news service, the extent of the counter-

attack on possible escape routes and sitessuspected of supporting the undergroundlabyrinth was clearly evident.

At one point, alarmed by fire delivered tooclose to friendly forces, the tactical com-mander at the scene, a lieutenant colonel,

barked orders to halt fire: “I repeat: Stop fir-ing! ... You’re firing like morons. You’re goingto kill each other. Enough! I’ve got [soldiers]

already dead. Morons! Hold it for a second.”

At another point, following sustained at-tack on a mosque, another voice reported:

“The entire mosque is full of holes. There’snothing left of it.”

Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, IDF chief of staff,

condemned the media leaks, even thoughYnet had cleared the clips through militarycensor prior to publication. “This is an inves-

tigation that involves bereaved families. ... Itis unacceptable in my eyes that recordingswent public in such ways,” Gantz said of the

Ynet-published clips. In a Jan. 14 interview, a military censor

officer said only those parts of the official ra-

dio transmissions with direct bearing “on is-sues of security” were excised prior topublication by Ynet. As for the rest, “It cer-

tainly wasn’t pleasant; perhaps even in poortaste. But after all, we’re still a democracyhere.”

The Black Friday battle is one of dozensfrom the 50-day Protective Edge campaigninvestigated by teams Gantz appointed to

learn operational lessons from failings in thefield.

It is also one of a handful of “exceptional

events” that Maj. Gen. Danny Efroni, the IDFMAG, is considering for possible criminal in-

vestigation.

In a Jan. 12 letter to the Association for Civ-il Rights in Israel (ACRI), a Tel Aviv-basednon-governmental organization, a senior

Justice Ministry official said probes con-ducted on behalf of the General Staff wouldhelp Efroni determine whether actions tak-

en under the Hannibal protocol warrantedcriminal investigation.

“A decision on the matter has not yet been

taken,” wrote Oren Pono, senior legal aide toIsraeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein.

In response to ACRI’s concerns of political

or military interference in a potential MAG-led probe, Pono insisted Efroni answeredonly to Weinstein and the tenets of interna-

tional law.

“Under military jurisprudence, the MAGoperates independently, immune from the

chain of command and guided solely by con-siderations relevant to upholding the law —and nothing else — in performance of his du-

ties,” Pono wrote.

Classified Rules of EngagementThe Justice Ministry official disputed

ACRI claims that the controversial Hannibalprotocol is patently illegal due to the approv-

al it gives for indiscriminate fire on populat-ed areas.

However, due to its classification as se-

cret, the ministry could not honor ACRI’s re-quest for details concerning the extent towhich the IDF can endanger the life of an ab-

ducted soldier or civilian populations of theenemy in efforts to prevent him from fallinginto enemy hands.

While Hannibal rules of engagement re-main classified, the Justice Ministry officialsaid, “The operational order prohibits fire

whose objective is the death of the kidnap

victim.”In a reference to the disproportionate ratio

of Palestinian prisoners Israel has traded inthe past for a single soldier — or, in somecases, the corpses of IDF soldiers, Pono

wrote: “The operational order prohibits firewhose objective is the death of the kidnap

victim.” Pono told ACRI that actions allowed

under Hannibal “reflect, in our opinion, theproper balance between the various consid-

erations involved.

“Allow us to add that a military action tofoil a kidnapping after it has occurred (forexample, an action to release hostages) al-

most always poses a risk to the life of the kid-

nap victim. Despite this, we don’t believethere is anything in Israeli or international

law that forbids taking action to foil a kid-napping, even under circumstances in whichsuch actions could endanger the life of the

kidnap victim.”

Campaign FodderVehement opposition to MAG-led criminal

probes by Israeli Defense Minister MosheYa’alon casts doubt here on Justice Ministry

claims of military judicial independence. In Jan. 8 remarks distributed as a press re-

lease by Ya’alon’s office, the defense minis-

ter insisted events in southern Gaza on Aug.1 are an operational matter and must not beprobed for potential criminality.

“I hope no one will decide to insert thismatter into the hands of the military police,”Ya’alon said.

A clear distinction must be made betweenoperational debriefs and criminal investiga-tions, the former of which strengthens trust

among combat echelons and the latter ofwhich aims to hold violators to account, hesaid.

“One of the tests of a commander is the ex-tent to which he backs his people. ... The cor-rect way to investigate operational events in

a manner that strengthens trust — even ifprofessional mistakes were made — isthrough operational debriefings,” Ya’alon

said.Citing the inevitable fog of war that accom-

panies battle, Ya’alon said operational de-

briefs should be forward-looking in terms ofapplying lessons to future

battles.In contrast, Ya’alon said

criminal probes that scour

the past for purposes of affix-ing blame must be reservedonly for clear violations of

the law. “Investigations aresearching for the guilty ... andthere are cases when this is

essential. If someone, during battle, commit-ted criminal acts such as looting, rape, wan-ton fire on a woman, a child or someone who

is waving a white flag, these are clear viola-tions of the rules. The place for these crimi-nal cases is with the military police,” he said.

Ya’alon reiterated his position Jan. 13, aday after the Justice Ministry publicized itsposition on the free rein granted to the MAG

under law.With Efroni just weeks or days away from

determining whether to investigate events of

Black Friday, Ya’alon’s repeated public com-ments have been widely perceived as pre-election attempts to curry public favor at the

expense of judicial independence.Ya’alon “seems to be exploiting his final

days as defense minister to bolster his posi-

tion both before the election and afterwardswhen ministerial portfolios are distributed,”

Ha’aretz wrote in its Jan. 11 editorial.

Assailing Ya’alon’s remarks as improper,the newspaper urged that suspected misuse

of “massive and disproportionate” force

should be investigated for the good of theIDF and Israel. “Such a probe has the powerto prevent international investigations,

which will entangle Israel and the IDF in an‘adventure’ in international justice, the out-come of which is unpredictable,” according

to Ha’aretz.Ya’alon, Ha’aretz added, “must understand

that his concern should be the good of the

IDF and the country, rather than his own per-sonal welfare, which he is trying to boostthrough his attempts to draw favor with IDF

commanders and ride the right-wing senti-ments of the public.” N

Email: bopallrome@defensenews.com.

Combat Leaks, Postwar ProbesStir Soul-Searching in Israel

By BARBARA OPALL-ROME

JACK GUEZ/ AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Black Friday: In a picture taken from the Israel-Gaza border, smoke rises from the coastal side of the Gaza Strip

following an Israeli controlled explosion of a tunnel on Aug. 1.

Ya’alon

18 DefenseNews January 19, 2015 www.defensenews.com

BizWatch

BAE Systems has named Jo-seph Campbell as vice presi-

dent and general manager ofthe company’s US-basedShip Repair business. Camp-

bell, who was vice presidentand director at AmericanSystems, succeeds Bill Clif-ford, who will retire.

Jorge Domecq, Spain’s am-

bassador permanent repre-sentative to the Organisa-tion for Security and

Cooperation in Europe, has

been appointed chief execu-tive of the European DefenceAgency, the EDA announced.

Domecq, a senior Spanishdiplomat, will take up his

duties next month, replac-

ing Claude-France Arnould.

James Amos, who retired

Dec. 1 as 35th commandant

of the US Marine Corps, hasjoined the board of directors

of LORD Corp., the North Car-olina-based company said.

Andrew Twomey has joined

ManTech International as sen-ior vice president-general

manager of its Mission Solu-

tions & Services Group’sArmy business unit, the Fair-fax, Virginia-based company

said. The retired US Armybrigadier general was chiefoperating officer of Phycal.

US-based Northrop Grum-man announced the appoint-

ment of Kevin Mitchell as vicepresident of global supply

chain in its Aerospace Sys-

tems sector, replacing LisaKohl, who is retiring. He wasthe sector’s vice president of

production operations.

David Wajsgras has been

appointed president of

Raytheon Intelligence, In-formation and Services ef-

fective March 2, succeeding

Lynn Dugle, who will retire,Waltham, Massachusetts-based Raytheon said.

Anthony “Toby” O’Brien willsucceed Wajsgras as vicepresident and chief financial

officer. He was vice presi-dent and chief financial offi-cer for Raytheon’s Integra-

ted Defense Systems. N

Compiled by Michele Savage.

ON THE MOVE

WASHINGTON — The US Air Force islaunching a wave of new initiativesaimed at bringing down the cost and

time associated with acquiring newtechnologies, service Secretary Debo-rah Lee James announced.

The initiatives are bundled togetherunder the banner of “Bending the CostCurve,” a program title that comes with

its own logo and the requisite BTCC ac-ronym. The goal is to work more close-ly with industry in order to find

solutions that work for both sides,James said during an event hosted atthe Atlantic Council here.

“We have got to stop spending moreand more in order to get less and less,so what we have to do is bend that cost

curve,” James said.As an example of how slowly the ac-

quisition system moves, James notedthat the average time to award a sole-source contract is 17 months, some-

thing she called a “horrifying fact.”“We in the Air Force — and I can say

this broadly across the Department of

Defense as well — we are way too slowin all that we do,” James said.

The BTCC plan is aimed at address-

ing both those issues. It is divided intothree target areas: enhancing interac-tions with industry, expanding compe-

tition for programs among bothtraditional and non-traditional industrypartners, and improving the service’s

internal acquisition processes. James laid out the first big steps be-

ing taken in each of those categories

during her speech.In the “enhancing interactions” cate-

gory, the service is launching a Cost Ca-

pability Analyses process, which will

facilitate the flow of information backand forth between industry and the ser-vice. James held up a hypothetical ex-

ample where a future jet may have arequirement for a 500 mph speed, but

industry could come back and say if theengine speed goes down to 450 mph, itcan save millions.

“Perhaps we can use that knowledgeto make tradeoffs in how we developour RFP [request for proposal], our

evaluation factors, and maybe wemight even choose to modify that re-quirement,” she said.

To launch the use of this process, theservice has selected four upcoming ac-quisition programs: the T-X trainer re-

placement, the Long-Range Stand Offweapon, the Multi-Adaptive PoddedSystem and the Space-Based Infrared

Radar System, also known as SBIRS.T-X will be first, with James noting

that they expect to release an RFP in

about two years for that program. Under the “expand competition” cat-

egory, James announced a “PlugFest

Plus” event at George Mason University

for Jan. 20, where industry and govern-

ment participants can show off tech-nology to Air Force Research Labofficials. If a suitable technology is

shown at the event, the goal is to use anArmy acquisition model to quickly pro-cure that system, perhaps in a matter of

weeks.The test of this strategy will focus on

a distributed common ground system,

which James called a “good fit” be-cause of the open architecture natureof that program.

If the event is successful, James said,the idea is to expand it to future pro-grams.

Internally, the service is working tobecome better at sharing best practicesthrough its “Matchmaker Project,”

wherein industry and service acquisi-tion officials can get together and figureout what worked and didn’t work fol-

lowing the completion of a program.Those experts will then share their in-formation with acquisition officials

who are working on upcoming pro-jects, with the goal to increase theknowledge pool of best practices.

For information technology, the ser-vice is standing up an IT Business Ana-

lytics unit, which will collect businessdata and help drive decisions on pro-curing the increasingly expensive IT in-

frastructure needed by the service.The Pentagon is littered with the re-

mains of acquisition reforms, but

James indicated that starting relativelysmall and building up, as well as the per-sonal focus from top service officials,

should keep these programs on track.“All the ideas I spoke about today are

within [Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh]

and I’s purview,” James said. “Thesecan all be implanted within our own au-thorities, so we are marching out to do

so.“None of this is easy, because it in-

volves change, and change is hard. But I

would submit it’s worth putting the ef-fort into it,” James concluded.

Email: amehta@defensenews.com.

USAF Launches Slate ofNew Acquisition Initiatives

SCOTT ASH/US AIR FORCE

Quicker, Less Expensive: US Air Force

Secretary Deborah Lee James speaks Jan. 12

at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. James wants

to speed the acquisition process and reduce

costs.

By AARON MEHTA

Pandurs for Czech ArmyThe Czech Ministry of De-

fense aims to order 20 Pan-dur II eight-wheeled

armored personnel carriers(APCs) from Madrid-basedGeneral Dynamics Euro-

pean Land Systems. Thedeal is expected to be

awarded in July, Czech Dep-uty Defense Minister Jiri Bo-rovec said. The ministry did

not disclose the amount ofthe planned deal.

The new APCs will im-

prove the military’s com-mand and communicationcapability, Borovec told lo-

cal Czech news agency CTK.“The [supplied] vehicle

should not differ significant-

ly from the rest [of the CzechAPCs]. And not only visual-ly, but also in terms of their

tactical-technical specifica-tion,” said Gen. Petr Pavel,the chief of the General Staff

of the Czech Armed Forces.The planned contract will

expand the APC fleet oper-

ated by the Czech Army. InMarch 2009, the governmentapproved the purchase of

107 Pandur II vehicles for14.4 billion crowns (US $609million).

UK’s Rapier ReplacementThe British Army is to get a

new ground-based air de-fense missile to replace theaging Rapier system follow-

ing the signing of a develop-ment and manufacture dealby the Defence Ministry and

MBDA last month.

The contract for the land-based future local area air

defense system (FLAADS)

has yet to be publicly an-nounced, but an MoD

spokeswoman confirmed aprogram worth £228 million(US $343 million) had been

signed with Europe’s lead-

ing missile maker just be-fore Christmas. She said the

MoD “anticipated the intro-

duction of FLAADS into ser-vice toward the end of thedecade.”

One of the first deploy-ments for the truck-basedmissile system could be to

bolster British air defense inthe Falklands.

Next-gen C4I for IsraelIsrael’s Defense Ministry

has awarded Elbit Systems

rights to develop the nextgeneration of the IsraeliArmy’s digital C4I network

under a series of multiyearcontracts estimated at $117million.

The Haifa, Israel-basedfirm, developer of the Israeli

Army’s operational network

known here as Tzayad, orDigital Army Program, last

week announced receipt of

the bundled MoD contracts,most of them extending overa six-year period.

Under the contracts, Elbitwill develop what it de-scribed as “a master pro-

gram that computerizes alloperations in the landforces, connecting all field

and command echelons intoa central data transfer net-work.”

ICBM Support for USAFThe US Air Force has

awarded Northrop Grum-

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE AND ARMED FORCES OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC

The Czech Republic plans to buy 20 additional Pandur II 8x8 armoredpersonnel carriers later this year.

RANDOM NOTES

MBDA

The land-based future local areaair defense system (FLAADS) willreplace Britain’s aging Rapiersystem.

Send personnel news to

onthemove@defensenews.com.

www.defensenews.com January 19, 2015 DefenseNews 19

Send product information

and financial news to

randomnotes@defensenews.com.

man a contract for the sup-port of Minuteman III

intercontinental ballisticmissile (ICBM) ground sub-systems, the US-based com-

pany said. Northrop is thesole award recipient for the$963.5 million contract, with

an initial value of about $4.4million.

Under this five-year con-

tract, Northrop will provideprogram management sup-port, engineering services

and emergency response tothe Air Force. This effort en-compasses weapon system

analyses, system and sub-system assessment, andtechnical advisement and

assistance to the ICBM Sys-tems Directorate on groundsystems-related programs,

risk management and miti-gation.

AMVs for PolandPoland’s Ministry of Na-

tional Defense has placed an

additional order for AMVeight-wheel-drive vehicles

from Patria’s Polish partnerRosomak, Finland-basedPatria said. The order’s total

value is €90 million (US $106million).

Patria will deliver compo-

nents for 200 vehicles forRosomak, which producesthe vehicles under Patria’s li-

cense. Deliveries will takeplace 2015-19.

Falcon Radios for USMCHarris has received a $15

million order to expand ap-

plications for wideband tac-tical networking for the USMarine Corps, the Roches-

ter, New York-based compa-ny said.

Harris will provide Falcon

III vehicular radio systemsand accessories to theCorps’ AN/MRC-145 pro-

gram. The system is basedon the Falcon III AN/PRC-117G, a software up-

gradeable manpack radiothat delivers tactical Inter-

net capability to the battle-

field and allows users tocommunicate by voice,

video and data for enhanced

command and control andsituational awareness.

USMC Small Arms TrainersMeggitt Training Systems

has won a $31.7 million con-

tract for indoor simulatedmarksmanship training sys-tems from the US Marine

Corps, UK-based parentcompany Meggitt an-nounced.

The five-year contractcovers the design, develop-ment, installation and sup-

port of some 670 systems

and weapon simulators atUS Marine Corps facilities at

home and abroad. Deliverybegins at the end of this year.

EW for Swedish SubsExelis has been awarded a

contract valued at more

than $17 million to provideelectronic support mea-sures technology and ser-

vices to Sweden through asubcontract with Swedishshipbuilder Saab.

Under the contract, Exeliswill provide Swedish sub-marines with the latest mod-

el of the ES-3701 electronicwarfare system, which willboost situational aware-

ness, targeting, self-protec-tion and surveillance.

$17M in OrdersArotech’s Power Systems

Division has recently re-

ceived $17 million in new or-ders for batteries and powersystems, according to Ann

Arbor, Michigan-based Aro-tech.

The total includes about$10 million in orders from aforeign defense ministry for

military batteries and char-gers for tactical communi-cation systems. The

remaining $7 million was forbatteries and chargers for avariety of customers, of

which $1 million in ordershas been delivered.

Signal Processing DealMercury Systems,

Chelmsford, Massachusetts,

announced it has received a$4.3 million follow-on orderfrom a leading defense

prime contractor for high-performance signal process-ing subsystems for a ship-

borne radar application. Theorder was booked in thecompany’s fiscal 2015 sec-

ond quarter and is expectedto be shipped by its fiscal2016 third quarter.

Name Change for SabtechYorba Linda, California-

based Sabtech has changedits name to IXI Technology,the company announced.

“We continue to focus onadvanced communicationstechnology, exceptional

customer service, on-time

delivery for the US militaryand its allies,” CEO Michael

Carter, who joined and pur-

chased the tactical datacommunications company

11 months ago, said in apress release. N

CalendarTO PLACE AN EVENT LISTING,CALL (703) 658-8365 OR EMAIL CALENDARAD@DEFENSENEWS.COM

JANUARY 2015

FEBRUARY 2015

DECEMBER 2015

APRIL 2015MARCH 2015

MARCH 2015

April 22-24, 2015

ADRIATIC SEA DEFENSE &AEROSPACESplit, Croatiawww.adriaticseadefense.com

December 8-10, 2015

GULF DEFENSE & AEROSPACEKuwait City, Kuwaitwww.GulfDefense.com

March 24-26, 2015

16th ANNUAL SCIENCE &ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGYCONFERENCESpringfield, VAwww.ndia.org/meetings/5720

January 26-28, 2015

26th ANNUAL SO/LIC SYMPOSIUM& EXHIBITIONWashington, D.C.www.ndia.org/meetings/5880

Explore requirements, policies and tech-nology solutions to support persistent SOFoperations across the globe. KeynoteSpeakers include: USSOCOM Commander,USSOCOM Acquisition Executive andNATO Special Operations HQ Commander.

January 28-29, 2015

HOW WASHINGTON WORKS -NAVIGATING THE DoDReston, VAwww.ndia.org/meetings/543B

February 5, 2015

COMBATING TERRORISM TECHNICALSUPPORT OFFICE (CTTSO) APBIWashington, DCwww.ndia.org/meetings/5090

CTTSO identifies and develops technology-based capabilities to combat terrorism andirregular adversaries and to deliver these capabilities to DoD components and inter-agency partners. This APBI will forecasts therequirements anticipated for funding in Fiscal Year 2016.

February 10-11, 2015

2015 HUMAN SYSTEMS CONFERENCEAlexandria, VA www.ndia.org/meetings/5350

Focusing on the theme "Human Systems:Maintaining Our Physical Edge, EnablingOur Cognitive Edge" the conference willfeature brief, high-impact presentations oftechnical accomplishments and researchbased recommendations in 90-minuteblocks across the five Human Systems COITopic Areas.

March 25-26, 2015

CYBERWEST: THE SOUTHWESTCYBERSECURITY SUMMITPhoenix, AZwww.afei.org/events/5A06

March 2-4, 2015

30th ANNUAL NATIONAL TEST &EVALUATION CONFERENCESpringfield, VAwww.ndia.org/meetings/5910

"The Future of T&E: Maintaining the Defense Technology Edge." T&E develop-ments, BBP review and lessons learned.

March 11, 2015

WOMEN IN DEFENSE NATIONAL CONFERENCEArlington, VAwww.ndia.org/meetings/5WID

March 30-April 1, 2015

JOINT UNDERSEA WARFARETECHNOLOGY SPRING CONFERENCESan Diego, CAwww.ndia.org/meetings/5260

March 10, 2015

WOMEN IN DEFENSE ANNUAL DINNERArlington, VAwww.ndia.org/meetings

March 16-18, 2015

31st ANNUAL NATIONAL LOGISTICSFORUMWashington, DCwww.ndia.org/meetings/5730

The forum will highlight challenges, attemptto identify opportunities, and assess futureimpacts on logistics support to Warfightersbased on known and anticipated fiscal constraints.

20 DefenseNews January 19, 2015 www.defensenews.com

Commentary

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A fter years of criticism, debate and angst, the

US Navy appears to — finally — have em-braced the littoral combat ships that will

prove to be a critical element of its surface force.

To address persistent concerns that both versionsof the speedy warship were too lightly armed andvulnerable, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered

the Navy to study alternatives and capped the pro-gram at 32 ships.

Unsurprisingly, the Navy proposed adding weap-

ons and improving the survivability of the last 20ships of the class, referring to them as small surfacecombatants.

Critics maintain the changes will do little to im-prove the utility of the LCS while increasing unitcost by tens of millions of dollars apiece.

Supporters say the program is on time and budgetand that LCS offers an ideal foundation as a potentfuture warship that will provide flexible forward

presence and assume key minesweeping dutieswhen current ships are retired in about a decade.

They contend the shallow-draft ships will provevaluable, as in the search for the wreckage of theAirAsia jetliner.

To make the ships more attractive and help assimilate them more quickly into a skeptical fleet,Navy Secretary Ray Mabus last week announced

that the ships would be redesignated as frigates. Thedecision comes as the last of the Navy’s once-ubiqui-tous Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frig-

ates are decommissioned after decades of exempla-ry service.

The announcement at last week’s Surface Navy

Association’s annual conference and tradeshowoutside Washington, however, did little to assuageskeptics who were quick to point out that the term

frigate is usually applied to warships with multiplebuilt-in capabilities.

The Perry-class ships had anti-submarine gear, a

bigger gun and air defense missiles. None of these

capabilities come standard on LCS hulls, which are

delivered with a single 57mm gun.All that said, the LCS is here to stay and it is criti-

cal that the right steps are taken to ensure the pro-

gram’s success.First, both LCS designs will benefit from the dis-

tributed lethality concept to improve the fleet’s

firepower. A top priority is a new lightweight, long-range missile to give the ships an offensive punch.

Second, changeable mission modules are core to

the LCS design, so the Navy must ensure the minewarfare, anti-surface and anti-submarine moduleswork and can be rapidly swapped as needs change.

Third, as the ships require more people to operatethan originally expected, the Navy must determinethe appropriate crew size and make the design

changes needed to accommodate them.Fourth, consider modifications to increase range

and persistence.

Finally, equip the ships with a gun that is morepowerful than the 57mm weapon now fitted, which

many consider too small for the job.The LCS is far different in fundamental approach

than past ships. The Navy and its contractors must

work hard to improve capabilities of both types ofships, which have limitations. Half the fleet will be asteel monohull by Lockheed Martin and Marinette

Marine and the other half an aluminum trimaran byAustal USA. Adding weapons and systems on eitherone without compromising performance or driving

other costly changes will be a challenge.The right way to map the future LCS frigates is to

get ships to the fleet where commanders and sailors

can operate them to determine future capabilitieswhile taking advantage of a fast, light warship de-signed for engagement, presence and limited com-

bat in relief of larger, more powerful ships. The Navy has signaled it is all-in with LCS. Now

leadership must dedicate itself to ensuring this

massive investment is a success.

EDITORIAL

US NAVY’S LITTORAL COMBAT SHIP

Ensure Success of New Frigates

n Email letters to defenseletters@defensenews.com.

Please include phone number. Letters may be edited.

Submissions to Defense News may be published or distributed in print, electronic or

other forms.

WORD FOR WORD

“Germany is providing leadership inso many areas in Europe, but we arealso looking for German leadershipwhen it comes to investing in defense.We need to invest in our defense tobe able to protect all our allies and to maintainthe security and stability of Europe.”NATO Secretary-General Jens StoltenbergSpeaking at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin onJan. 14

“No, I do not.”US Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee JamesWhen asked if she had any regrets about trying to retire the A-10, amove unpopular in Congress

“Why am I not shocked that, inaddition to wanting to cut SocialSecurity and Medicare as we know it,cut education, cut nutrition programsfor hungry kids, their other brilliantidea is to increase military spending at a timewhen we spend more money than almost the restof the world combined.”Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders,I-Vt.On congressional Republicans

www.defensenews.com January 19, 2015 DefenseNews 21

W ell into the second dec-ade of the 21st century,

the future employmentof the US Army remains in doubt.The Army, the pre-eminent

ground combat force on the plan-et, is bedeviled by two funda-mental questions regarding its

future. The first, on the nature of the

roles and

missions thatthe Armyexecutes, is

intrinsicallylinked to thesecond: how

the Armyexecutes thatmission. Rath-

er than surren-dering tobureaucratic

inertia, theArmy and itscivilian lead-

ers must critically examine theanswers to these questions.

The Army exists to fight and

win our nation’s wars. In theabsence of open conflict, it detersaggression by its readiness to

execute this mission. In their roleas a deterrent to war, soldiershave served as the ultimate mani-

festation of our nation’s commit-ment. Simply put, America’sinterests end where boots on the

ground end.

In view of these facts, the Army

has historically maintained 30 to50 percent of its forces outsidethe United States since World War

II. This trend has changed precip-itously since 1990.

At the fall of the Berlin Wall,

more than 40 percent of the reg-ular Army was stationed outsidethe US and its territories. The

bulk of these forces was inEurope, witness to the successfulculmination of the Cold War. By

2014, this number has shrunk to amere 6 percent.

The Army succeeded magnifi-

cently in its role as a strategicdeterrent. In long-term occupa-tions that evolved to symbiotic

stationing, it kept the peace inseveral countries, primarily inEurope and Asia, first strength-

ening them during postwar re-building and ultimately defendingthem from threats largely emanat-

ing from the Communist bloc. This permanent forward pres-

ence provided a mission the

regular Army alone could ac-complish. Abandoning this strate-gy of deterrence must cause us to

look closely at the daunting chal-

lenges of an expeditionary, home-

based Army.

Testing CapabilitiesDuring the Cold War, despite

the approximately 200,000 Amer-ican soldiers stationed in Europe,

we regularly conducted an exer-cise known as “REFORGER,” anabbreviation for “Redeployment

of FORces to GERmany.” Here,we tested our ability to rapidlyreinforce our NATO allies with

US-based units in case of buildingtensions with the Soviet Union.This was a planned exercise that

taxed and tested our strategictransportation capabilities.

Today, the Army argues that the

active force alone provides therequisite readiness to meet thevastly increased expeditionary

demand. Training is presumed tobe the greatest challenge and notthe logistics required to move

these heavy forces. To test this foundational as-

sumption, a REFORGER-type

exercise to Poland or the Balticstates of an armored divisionwould not only provide much

needed training, but validate our

expeditionary Army concept.

If we determine that it is trans-portation, and not training, thatlimits the expeditionary Army,

this would bring into question theArmy’s plan to draw down theactive components and much

cheaper reserve componentsequally.

We know the threats from a

resurgent Russia and an increas-ingly bellicose Beijing define ourconventional challenges. Poland,

the Baltic republics, Ukraine,Japan, Taiwan and the Philippinesare some of our most likely areas

of conflict requiring our conven-tionally focused Army. The nationhas decided we will not use the

previously successful strategy ofa forward-stationed Army. Thequestion is why?

Willingness To DeployDo we have an expeditionary

Army that can handle the threat,or do we simply lack the will todo so? If the latter, then we must

conclude that if we are unwillingto deploy US forces in time ofpeace, we are unwilling to do so

in time of war, regardless of any

technical ability to do so. Ukraine and many of our newer

NATO allies are debating thisissue even if we are not.

Since 1775, my Army has fought

and won our nation’s wars, bothin battle and through the threat ofcombat. If our landpower deter-

rence is now to be based in theUnited States, we must questionthe size of the active force as well

as what national policy we seekto achieve. When we declare,antebellum, that there will be “no

boots on the ground,” we haveproved to both allies and enemiesthe small regard the country has

for the mission.A grand strategy of “no boots

on the ground” demonstrates a

national disinterest in the affairsof men. Every retreat of our na-tion from world affairs has ended

violently in recent history. Everytime we have stood shoulder toshoulder with our allies, we have

reaped success. Often weachieved these victories withoutviolence.

Even should the expeditionaryArmy prove logistically feasible,itself an unproven assumption,

the larger issue of an essentiallymissionless, large standing Armyframes a debate that must be held

in all corners of Washington, aswell as the nation it represents,and not merely relegated to the

E-Ring of the Pentagon. N

Putting Boots on the GroundAn Expeditionary US Army Must Rethink Role

By Lt. Col. PaulDarling, a graduate

of the United States

Military Academy.

T he 2011 National Security

Space Strategy (NSSS) forprotecting US space capa-

bilities, passed in 2011, contained

various elements, including devel-oping international norms ofbehavior, building commercial

and international coalitions, en-hancing theresilience of

space capa-bilities, deter-ring aggres-

sion against

critical spacesystems, and

preparing to

defeat attacksand operate in

a degradedspace environ-

ment. Language in

the 2015 Na-

tional Defense Authorization Act(NDAA) suggests new focus onthe last two elements — deterring

and defeating attacks — in re-sponse to what the national secu-rity community perceives as a

greater counterspace threat fromRussia and China. But doing so atthe expense of the other elements

is likely to increase risks to criti-

cal space capabilities and jeopar-

dize the strategy’s objectives.Russia and China have height-

ened their counterspace activities.

Since 2005, China has conductedat least seven test launches ofone, and possibly two, ground-

based, kinetic-kill, anti-satellite(ASAT) systems that could poten-tially reach targets at 36,000 kilo-

meters above the equator.

There have also been reportsthat Russia may be resuming

work on air-launched ASAT sys-tems, although there is no hardevidence in the public domain on

actual testing. However, there islittle detail on what threats these

systems might pose to the US.

Over the past three years, theDoD and Office of the Director of

National Intelligence (ODNI) have

made modest progress towardimplementing the 2011 NSSS.

Normative efforts on space secu-

rity have been limited to recom-mendations for transparency and

confidence-building measures,voluntary guidelines to enhancespace sustainability, and the Euro-

pean Union-led negotiations on

the nonbinding draft InternationalCode of Conduct for Space Activ-

ities.

Senior US leaders have spoken

out against the testing of weaponsin space that produce long-livedspace debris. Greater interna-

tional cooperation has largelybeen limited to situational aware-ness data-sharing agreements that

do little more than formalize theexisting model of a one-way dataflow from the American military

to other countries. There are no public plans for

the US military to include any of

its allies in the development ofnew satellite systems or to utilize

allied space capabilities instead of

developing its own. And the DoDand ODNI have yet to detail astrategy for how to make national

security space capabilities moreresilient to attacks.

The NDAA for fiscal 2015 directsan update to the 2011 NSSS toinclude space control and space

superiority aspects, and requiresthe majority of the $32.3 millionallocated to the Space Security

and Defense Program be used todevelop “offensive space controland active defensive strategies

and capabilities,” capabilities thatcan be thought of as swords andshields for satellites.

Active defense includes taking

action against a hostile object to

prevent it from destroying a pro-tected object. In the context ofspace, active defenses could

mean cyber or electronic warfarecapabilities to interfere with theability of an adversary’s ASAT

weapon to target and track aprotected satellite, or kinetic killcapabilities that involve destroy-

ing the ASAT weapon before itreaches the protected satellite.

Active defensive and offensive

counterspace capabilities cancontribute to the protection of USnational security space systems,

but only if they are implementedin conjunction with, and in amanner that reinforces, the other

elements of the strategy. Estab-

lishing norms of behavior would

help sensitize all countries topotential vulnerabilities and the

dangers of conflict, and build

critical communication links foruse during a conflict. Buildingstronger international and com-

mercial partnerships, and devel-

oping coalition space capabilitieswith key allies, would also rein-

force deterrence, assuage alliedconcerns and potentially increase

resilience.

Developing swords and shields

by themselves without support

from the norms, cooperation andresilience elements will likelymake the situation more unstable

and could potentially lead to anarms race instability scenario.The result would be increased

threats to everyone’s space sys-tems and increased tensions thatcould lead to or escalate conflict.

The US needs to better artic-ulate how it will implement allelements of the 2011 NSSS and

how these elements will work

together. At the same time, the USneeds to weigh the perspectives

of its allies and the possible con-

sequences for the burgeoningcommercial space sector, in the

development of active defensiveand offensive counterspace capa-

bilities. Failing to do so will undermine

the desired objective of strength-

ening safety, stability and securityin space, and lead to greater insta-bility for all. N

US Satellites Need More Than Swords and Shields

By Brian Weeden,

technical adviser for

the Secure World

Foundation.

n Send your opinion pieces to

opinion@defensenews.com.

Submissions must be roughly 800

words long and are subject to editing

for space and clarity.

22 DefenseNews January 19, 2015 www.defensenews.com

Interview

Q. Since you assumed this position,what have been some of the biggestshocks for the US government?A. I started this job the first weekof June 2012, so we were a year-

plus into the so-called ArabSpring and dealing with the con-tinuing repercussions of this

generational change in the MiddleEast. But Syria, Egypt, Israelisecurity issues, Iran, Libya, Iraq

have dominated my time, as wellas the NATO piece of the Afghani-stan effort and our relationship

with Europe, which is an endur-ing effort. A year ago we wereworried about the future of the

trans-Atlantic relationship, howwould it be relevant to people.And of course, the events of the

last year with Russia and Ukrainehave focused people again onthreats to European security and

the unfinished business, really,still coming out of the end of theCold War.

Q. There seems to be a shift afoot inUS security policy with more and moreUS training and partner missions inEastern Europe but base closures andconsolidation in Western Europe. Isthere any tension there with allies?A. I see it as a continuing evolu-tion of our force posture in

Europe, as we’re continuallytrying to make it relevant to mod-ern threats. Also, the evolution in

our discussion with our Europeanallies about the division of laborbetween us. Despite all these

changes and the efficiencies thatwe’re gaining by closing certain

facilities [in Europe], while also

improving infrastructure in otherparts of Europe and rotatingforces through Central and East-

ern Europe, the bottom line iswe’re still deeply committed to

European security. The trans-

Atlantic relationship is the corner-

stone relationship for the UnitedStates writ large. It’s not just

about European security, it’sabout US/Europe working togeth-er in North Africa, working to-

gether in the Middle East, andeven working together in Asia.

Q. So the conversations with Europeanallies have focused on engagement notonly on the continent, but globally? A. In those conversations, we takea lot of care to ensure that we’reworking closely with our Euro-

pean partners just as we’re mak-ing decisions to ensure that thereisn’t a perception that we are

seeking to withdraw at all, be-cause it’s the opposite. Whatwe’ve been able to accomplish

with our European partners in thelast year alone is a testament tothat. There is a lot of skepticism

in Washington among the expertcommunity about Europe and theUS being willing to step up togeth-

er to support Ukraine, to ensurethat we have the capability in

place in Europe to send a clear

message to Russia that the NATOalliance remains strong and thatwe’re all committed to Article V,

and that European partners wouldbe willing to put real skin in thegame in the fight against [the

Islamic State group].

Q. France, the UK, Belgium, Canada,Denmark and the Netherlands ap-peared eager to take part in OperationInherent Resolve against the IslamicState group in Iraq and Syria.A. The fact that so many Europeanpartners sought us out to contrib-

ute in a meaningful way militarilyin the efforts in Iraq and Syria issignificant. I think, frankly, it’s

underappreciated. This was notsomething where the US wasgoing around the world pressur-

ing allies to contribute. This is a

situation when allies were comingto us wanting to contribute. Num-ber one, they see this as a shared

security interest, the effort against[the Islamic State group]. Eventsjust in the last week in Paris only

underscore that. And also, theyrecognize their role as responsiblepartners. That doesn’t mean we

don’t have huge challenges withour European partners, whether itbe on their defense budgets, their

capabilities, in some cases thepolitical will. But I tend to see thisas largely a good news story.

Q. And what of the newer EasternEuropean and Baltic partners?A. With some of our newer part-ners, the essential Eastern Euro-pean partners, one of the things

that they’ve been asking us forhelp for — and we’ve been willing

to do — is they would like to notfly Russian helicopters and notdrive Russian armored vehicles.

They’re looking to us for help.Now, those are budget decisionsin their governments, they’re

procurement decisions, so they’redifficult because, like the UnitedStates, all of Europe has suffered

financial austerity recently.

Q. Is there any movement toward doingmore partnered training activities withUkrainian military?A. Yes. We’ve already agreed to

help the Ukrainians build a na-tional guard force, and that’sabout $19 million in funds that

were allocated last year to help dothat. That hopefully will be gettingunderway in the coming months.

We’re very open to the idea thatthat becomes a first step in fur-ther training for the Ukrainian

military. That, of course, willrequire additional resources andwe’re going to have to continue

the conversation with the Ukrai-nians about what they need and

want. The Ukrainian military,

even before the events of the lastyear, were too corrupt, not very

well run, not very well organized.

So we’ve worked very hard to putin place a good consultativemechanism with the Ukrainians to

talk about their defense needs.

Q. In building this national guard force,would US soldiers be in Ukraine doingthe training, or would this be some-where else in Europe?A. It would largely be elsewhere.

There are parts of Ukraine in theWest that are far away from the

fighting where we and NATO havedone exercises. So there are facil-

ities in Ukraine, but we can also

do it outside of the country. I don’t

anticipate that any of this trainingwill require significant US pres-

ence.

Q. Is the US involved in training theIraqis to build their proposed newlargely Sunni national guard?A. I don’t think the training hasbegun on the national guard, butit’s not the US doing it. Helping

train an Iraqi National Guard thatincludes Sunni, Shi’a, Kurd, that’sconsistent with our overall ap-

proach, obviously, to have an Iraqthat’s unified. But it’s not the USdoing it directly, or our partners

for that matter, the Europeans orothers. It’s an Iraqi effort.

Q. What are some of the biggest issuesfacing your successor in the MiddleEast and emerging areas of interest inAfrica as far as counterterrorism andsecurity assistance initiatives?A. If you look at the swath of

territory from Northern Mali tothe Afghanistan-Pakistan border,you have what was known by

Zbigniew Brzezinski as the “arc ofinstability.” You have borders thatmatter less and less, non-state

actors who are using any meansthey can acquire — whetherweapons or technology and com-

munications — to try to fomentinstability in that area but also, ofcourse, to strike outside [that

region]. There are weak govern-

ments, security threats, pop-ulation movements and massive

humanitarian problems — and

they are all problems that don’tknow our bureaucratic stove-

pipes, so that can be a challenge.I think the other challenge will

be what Russia is doing. On the

security side of it, where couldthis lead, and how does this makeus think anew about European

security issues and the relation-ships and the force posture issuesor the defense spending issues?

One big challenge is how thatconversation takes place withinthe context of smaller budgets.

So, how we do more with less.

Q. The price of a barrel of oil has fallenby more than half over the past severalmonths, and it’s flirting with $50 abarrel. What kind of effect do you thinkthat may have on the activities of Iran,Russia and Venezuela?A. Particularly those countries

that you named, Russia, Venezue-la, some others have used theriches they were able to acquire

due to the high price of oil to fundsome pretty negative behavior. Soto the extent that it makes those

countries more focused on theirinternal stability and their eco-nomic woes, and leaves them less

time to think about ways that theycan destabilize neighbors, that’s agood thing.

Q. Several years after the Obamaadministration announced its “rebal-ance” to the Asia-Pacific region, wheredoes that stand? It seems the admini-stration continues to struggle to ex-plain what it’s trying to do.A. I think the key word is “bal-ance.” It’s not meant in any way to

diminish our core relationships inEurope. In fact, our message toour European friends has been

“rebalance with us.” We all havean interest in Asia-Pacific. Thisisn’t just an American thing. I

think the difficulty is that it’s a bigstrategic play, and is often hard to

measure in the day-to-day, hour-

to-hour news cycles that we livein. So you have to just stick with

it, be patient about it and un-

derstand that the payoff may notbe appreciated for another severalyears, decades perhaps.

The theory coming in for thisadministration was that we havebeen out of balance coming into

the end of the 2000s, and that wehad expended far too many re-sources on wars in the Middle

East. And while that was happen-ing, a big shift in geopolitics wasoccurring that we were not as

much a part of as we should’vebeen. N

By Paul McLeary in Washington.

DEREK CHOLLETAssistant US Secretary of DefenseFor International Security Affairs

It has been a busy two and a half years for Derek Chollet, as eventshave left the White House and Pentagon scrambling to deal with

complex issues in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, driven inlarge part by groups of non-state actors. As the principal adviser oninternational issues to the US defense secretary and undersecretary,

Chollet has been in the middle of it all. Elissa Slotkin, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for

international security affairs since 2012, will take over for Chollet, who

is heading to the German Marshall Fund as a counselor and senioradviser.

WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES

The assistant secretary of defense for

international security affairs:

n Is the principal adviser to the US

secretary and undersecretary of

defense on international security

strategy and policy issues related to

the nations and international organiza-

tions of Europe, the Middle East, Africa

and the Western Hemisphere.

n Oversees security cooperation

programs, including foreign military

sales, in these regions.

Source: US DoD website

ASD-ISA