MILITARY

ASIA PACIFIC INDIA’S RAFALE JET TRAINING A team of six Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel are currently on a training mission in France. The team consists of a fighter pilot, an engineer and four technicians who are being trained on the Rafale jet, first of which will be delivered to the IAF in September 2019. The French-made jets were bought under a $8.8 billion emergency purchase to arrest the drop in the capabilities and fleet strength of the IAF. Delivery of all 36 Rafale jets is expected to be completed by end of 2022. EXERCISE AVIAINDRA-18 Exercise Aviaindra is an Air Force level exercise between India and the Russian Federation. First Aviaindra was conducted in 2014 and has been planned as a bi-annual exercise. Exercise Aviaindra 18 was conducted at Lipetsk, Russia from September 17 to 28, 2018 and will be conducted in Jodhpur, India from December 10 to 22, 2018. The Indian contingent for Exercise Aviaindra departed for Russia on September 15. The contingent comprised of 30 officers including four women officers, from Flying, Administration and Medical Branch of the IAF. The aircraft participating in the exercise included Su-30 SM, Mig29, Su-25, Mi-8 and An-26. The aim of the exercise is focused on anti-terrorist operations in a bi-lateral scenario. The exercise would further enhance the co-operation and understanding each other’s Concept of Operations. DEFENCE INDIA STARTUP CHALLENGE

The Defence India Startup Challenge was launched on August 4, 2018 by Raksha Mantri, Nirmala Sitharaman and calls for proposals to address specific technological needs of the Indian defence establishment. The nodal organisation is Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO) with support from Department of Defence Production, Ministry of De- fence and Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, for the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) scheme. Applicants (startups/MSMEs and individuals) showing capability, intent and promise to be able to produce functional prototypes or to productise existing technologies in selected areas, will be awarded up to Rs 1.5 crore, strictly on a milestone basis in the form of grant/equity/debt/other relevant structures along with incubation and mentoring support. The selected areas include ‘Individual Protection System with built-in sensors’, ‘See Through Armour’, ‘UAVs’, ‘Unmanned Surface and Underwater Vehicles’, thrown open for prospective solutions to be provided by the Indian start up eco-system. The last date for submission of applications to the DISC has been extended till October 31, 2018. JAPAN DEVELOPING SUPERSONIC GLIDE BOMB

Japan is developing a new supersonic glide bomb to strengthen the defences of remote islands. The government will spend close to $122 million in the coming fiscal year and plans to deploy a fully functional weapon by 2025. The missiles will protect islands such as Okinawa and the Senkakus. If outlying islands come under attack or are occupied by the enemy, the system would launch a missile to reach an altitude of more than 20km before the glide bomb separates and then falls at an angle at supersonic speed towards the target on the ground. The missile’s high velocity renders it immune to interception by enemy airdefence weapons. AMERICAS MISSILE CONTRACT FOR LOCKHEED MARTIN Lockheed Martin has been contracted to advance its development of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extreme Range (JASSM-XR) fo r $51 million and includes all-up round level systems engineering and programmatic activities to align and phase the work necessary to design, develop, integrate, test and verify component and subsystem design changes to the JASSM-XR baseline elec-

tronics, hardware, firmware and operational flight software. Few details about the JASSM-XR are known to this date. However, the missile is likely to be a 5,000 pound-class weapon with a range of up to 1,000 nautical miles to deliver a lethal payload of up to 2,000 pounds precisely on target. Work is scheduled for completion by end of August 2023. RAYTHEON CONTRACT FOR US NAVY AIRCRAFT

Raytheon is being given a five year contract for $59.7 million to sustain the availability of the Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) systems installed on the CH-53 Super Stallion and V-22 Osprey. The US Marine Corps currently has 165 CH-53 Super Stallions in service. The helicopter is equipped with the lightweight, high performance AN/AAQ-29A FLIR on a 12 inch turret. The FLIR pod helps helicopter pilots in low-level navigation as well as in high altitude long-range targeting. The V-22 Osprey has a nose-mounted AN/AAQ-27 FLIR that provides navigation and target recognition capabilities in darkness and low-visibility conditions. NORTHROP GRUMMAN UNVEILS THE “VANGUARD” Northrop Grumman Corporation has unveiled its air-to-ground “Vanguard”

radar solution; a multi-function, open architecture system that can be easily scaled and applied to multiple missions and platforms. With its modular, panelbased structure, each radar panel represents a flexible building block that can be tailored to meet changing mission requirements. Each panel can act independently as its own radar, but can also be connected with the desired number of other radar panels to form one single, larger radar array.

Northrop Grumman has conducted successfully more than 10 rigorous test flights. Crucial modes to the air-to- ground radar mission, include Ground Moving Target Indicator, Dismounted Moving Target Indicator and Synthetic Aperture Radar. UPGRADED B-52 MAY CROSS ITS 100TH BIRTHDAY The B-52 strategic bomber is being upgraded to make it more capable with new engines, communications equipment, weapons racks, sensors and new weapons. The lethal arsenal includes hypersonic weapons, air-launched decoy jammers, Quickstrike family of naval mines equipped with JDAM-ER guided wing kits. This weapon gives the bomber unprecedented capability to lay minefields over wide areas in a single pass, with pinpoint accuracy while standing-off at over 64km. A Quickstrike mine is used in relatively shallow waters of about 300 feet or less. It is delivered by aircraft and sits on the seafloor awaiting targets of opportunity. The weapon itself is a Mark 80 series general purpose bomb that has been adapted into a mine by fitting of an arming device in its nose and a target detection device in its tail. The target detection device will detonate when a

vessel passes within lethal range of its position on the seafloor. ELECTRO-OPTIC/INFRARED/LASER DESIGNATOR CONTRACT L-3 Communications will produce a number of Electro-Optic/Infrared/Laser Designator payloads for the US Army’s RQ-7Bv2 Shadow UASs. The firm-fixedprice contract is valued at $454 million and is expected to be completed by August, 2023. The Shadow v2 is the latest model of the Shadow series. It is an all-digital system, optimised for new multi-mission, single-sortie profiles and manned/unmanned teaming. L-3s payload will provide near-real-time reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition, as well as intelligence and battle damage assessment capabilities. BOEING’S MH-139 HELICOPTER TO REPLACE UH-1N HUEYS The US Air Force is choosing Boeing’s MH-139 Helicopter as replacement for its ageing fleet of UH-1N Hueys. The company is being awarded with an initial firm-fixed-price contract that provides for the delivery of four aircraft at a cost of $375.5 million. This is the first award of a $2.38 billion contract that precedes the acquisition of a total of 84 MH-139s. The MH-139 is derived from the Leonardo AW139 and will be used to protect America’s intercontinental ballistic missile bases. The new variant is said to offer more than $1bn in savings in acquisition costs and lifecycle expenses over 30 years when compared with competitor aircraft. Work is expected to be completed by September 2031. INDUSTRY AMERICAS LONG-TERM OUTLOOK FOR LIGHT MILITARY ROTORCRAFT MARKET Data generated by Forecast International through its innovative Platinum Forecast System 4.0, indicate that a number of planned new-start acquisition programmes will kick-start demand in the long term in the light military rotorcraft market. Forecast International projects that 1,630 light military rotorcraft will be produced during the 15-year timeframe between 2018 and 2032. The value of this production is estimated at $24.4 billion (in constant 2018 US dollars). In general, the Connecticut-based defence intelligence firm defines a light military rotorcraft as having a maximum gross weight of 6,804 kilograms.