US Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Mean while back literally on Planet Earth.
BAE wins Marine Corps contract to build new amphibious combat vehicle
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  16 minutes ago
WASHINGTON —
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has won a contract to build the Marine Corps’ new
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following
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where BAE’s vehicle was pitted against an offering from SAIC.

The contract allows for the company to enter into low-rate initial production. The Marines plan to field 204 of the vehicles by 2020. The total value of the contract with all options exercised is expected to amount to about $1.2 billion.

BAE Systems and SAIC were both awarded roughly $100 million each in November 2015 to deliver 16 prototypes to the Marine Corps for evaluation in anticipation of a down select to one vendor in 2018.

[
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All government testing of the prototypes concluded the first week of December 2017 and the Marine Corps issued its request for proposals the first week in January 2018. Operational tests also began concurrently.



Government testing included land reliability testing, survivability and blast testing and water testing — both ship launch and recovery as well as surf transit.

Operational evaluations included seven prototypes each from both SAIC and BAE Systems, six participated and one spare was kept for backup.

BAE Systems’ partnered with Italian company Iveco Defense Vehicles to build its ACV offering.

[
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]

Some of the features BAE believed were particularly attractive for a new ACV is that it has space for 13 embarked Marines and a crew of three, which keeps the rifle squad together. The engine’s strength is 690 horsepower over the old engine’s 560 horsepower, and it runs extremely quietly. The vehicle has a V-shaped hull to protect against underbody blasts, and the seat structure is completely suspended.

SAIC’s vehicle, which is being built in Charleston, South Carolina, offers improved traction through a central tire-inflation system to automatically increase or decrease tire pressure. It also has a V-hull certified during tests at the Nevada Automotive Test Center — where all prototypes will be tested by the Marine Corps — and has blast-mitigating seats to protect occupants.
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The Marines new ACV
Speaking of 8x8s
US Army test-fires Belgian-made gun amid plans for Stryker upgrade competition
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  6 hours ago

PARIS ― The U.S. Army’s test-firing of a 30mm gun turret from CMI Defence is seen by
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as putting it in a privileged position for an upcoming tender for
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, a company spokesman said.

“We’re in pole position, “ Xavier Rigo, communications manager of CMI Defence, told Defense News on June 18. “That does not mean we will win the race, but it puts us in a very good position. We are very proud to have been selected for tests, a real recognition for our team and our equipment.”

That test-firing stems from a cooperative research and development agreement CMI signed in 2015 with the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, which is seeking a lethality upgrade for the Stryker.

CMI adapted the turret to fit the U.S. requirement for linkless ammunition, he said. ATK supplies the 30mm gun, which CMI fitted to its turret.

The Belgian company also supplies a 105mm gun turret for a bid led by SAIC in the U.S. tender for the Mobile Protected Firepower program. CMI has fielded its Cockerill 3105 turret, which uses its turret and 105mm cannon, with the latter built in a factory in northern France.



A Cockerill 3105 turret was among the products on display at the CMI stand at the Eurosatory trade show, which ran June 11-15. The stand at the show two years ago used the Cockerill brand name.

BAE Systems, General Dynamics Land Systems and SAIC are the competitors in that Stryker lethality upgrade competition, Rigo said. The next step is a down-select to two bidders, which will be asked to build and supply 12 prototype vehicles for tests.

In Europe, CMI is ”in discussion with the Belgian government“ in its search for a role in Belgium’s planned €1 billion (U.S. $1.2 billion) acquisition of the Griffon and Jaguar armored vehicles from the French Army Scorpion program.

Those talks are exploring the possibility for CMI to participate in local production and maintenance of the Scorpion vehicles, he said. The Belgian project, dubbed Capacité Mobilisé, or CAMO, sparked debate, as the planned acquisition boosted French contractors Arquus, Nexter and Thales, but left CMI turrets by the wayside.

CMI has delivered 130 gun turrets and is building some 20 turrets per month to supply GDLS, which has a contract with a Middle Eastern country, he said, declining to identify the client nation.

Those turrets are based on four modules, armed with 30mm, 90 mm, 105 mm, and both 105mm and 30mm guns. There are both manned and unmanned versions of the turret.

Canadian broadcaster CBC reported March 19 that GLDS Canada has sold to Saudi Arabia combat vehicles armed with 105mm and 30mm guns for ”heavy assault,” anti-tank and direct-fire support.

CMI conducted a firing demonstration of its six Cockerill gun turrets June 15 at the French Army Suippes firing range, eastern France. Some 60 representatives of foreign army delegations attended, the company said in a statement.

The Belgian company had been one of the
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, the then-Governmental Sales unit of Volvo Group, until the Swedish truck maker canceled the sale. Nexter had been the other bidder.
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timepass

Brigadier
Strict export regulations may be costing US industry billions in foreign sales

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  2 hours ago
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regarding military technology in an attempt to facilitate the transfer of military technology, but the changes do not change the status of drones under the Missile Technology Control Regime, or MTCR.

How does the MTCR work?

The MTCR is a voluntary export control consortium of 35 nations designed to prevent signatories from proliferating longer-range cruise and ballistic missile technology. The arms control regime was extended to UAVs because early iterations of drones were
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technology due to their active guidance system.

The regime divides missiles into two categories. Category I items are capable of delivering a 500 kg payload more than 300 km. The sale of category I systems is restricted by a “strong presumption of denial,” meaning they are only exported in rare circumstances. The
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,
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and
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are well-known unmanned systems that fall under this category.



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Opposition parties in the German parliament were less excited about the decision.

By: Sebastian Sprenger
Over the past several years, U.S. partners such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia and UAE were denied requests to purchase American drones, and have since turned to China to purchase comparable systems.

Trump administration officials have been attempting to alter the regime by
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that would drop any vehicle that flies under 650 kilometers per hour to category II systems. This would make all but the most advanced U.S. systems available for international sale. For example, the MQ-9 Reaper clocks in with a cruise speed of 230 mph or 370 kph, according to an Air Force facts sheet.

Drone proliferation

RAND found that 10 nations operate category I drones, and more than 15 operate near-category I systems that register just below the MTCR’s payload and distance restrictions. The report says increased proliferation rates are due to a handful of countries, specifically China, Israel and the United Arab Emirates, who are not party to the MCTR.

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A proposed focus on speed over payload would make drone exports easier for the U.S. and others. But 35 countries need to sign off on the change.

By: Valerie Insinna, Aaron Mehta
More countries are expected to procure drones, which pose a “growing threat to U.S. and allied military operations,” the report says. While category I systems can deploy missiles and other guided munitions, their main threat lies in “their ability to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations against U.S. forces prior to hostilities,” according to RAND. “Adversaries that would otherwise have difficulty detecting U.S. force deployments, monitoring U.S. operations, and maintaining targeting data on U.S. units can employ UAVs to maintain situational awareness of U.S. capabilities”

The report identifies Russia, China and Iran as unfriendly nations that will seek to utilize drones to complicate U.S. military operations.

For example,
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to set up a UAV manufacturing plant in Saudi Arabia for up to 300 new UAVs, and I
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The coproduction of regional drone factories “could further exacerbate the proliferation of large UAVs to the degree that these systems are exported to other nations,” according to RAND, and that hurts U.S. industry.

A U.S.-sized hole

Voluntarily restricting U.S. drone exports have allowed competitors to establish themselves in a market Rand expects to “grow from about $6 billion in 2015 to about $12 billion in 2025.”

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RAND expect export controls to have a negative impact on the U.S. industrial base, something those in industry already know.

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Now that the Trump Administration is taking steps to relax U.S. drone sales worldwide, will the Middle East start placing orders for once hard-to-get drones?

By: Jen Judson
“What you are enabling the competition to do is not just to sell some hardware,” Linden Blue, General Atomic’s chief executive,
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during an Aug. 16, 2017 roundtable at the company’s headquarters in Poway, California. “You’re enabling it to build a customer base for at least 20 years, I would say. You’re enabling them to build a logistics system. It will take them many years to get to where we are right now, but you’re helping them start out. They should be very thankful.”
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The Navy’s acquisition boss has a plan to get fleet maintenance back on track
me watching
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The Navy’s acquisition boss, aiming to get his arms around the
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and ownership costs of the world’s most complex fleet, has directed Naval Sea Systems Command to undertake an ambitious long-term plan for all the ships in the fleet.

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, the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, has asked NAVSEA to compile a 30-year
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plan that he intends to roll out alongside the annual shipbuilding plan.

“The idea is, we have this 30-year shipbuilding plan, that’s only as good as our ability to repair and modernize those ships once we build them,” Geurts told a gaggle of reporters Tuesday. “So what we’d like to do is create the companion plan that takes the shipbuilding plan and what we have in inventory, then forecast and plan for all the repair and modernizations that we’ll have to do.”

The Navy wants to have an idea, as it looks down to road, if it has the needed industrial capacity and infrastructure in place to meet the fleet’s needs, which will become especially important as the fleet builds up.

In fact, the Navy struggles to adequately maintain the smaller fleet it has today. In testimony last week, NAVSEA head Vice Adm. Thomas Moore told House lawmakers that the net capacity private shipyards that handle surface ship maintenance was only 75 percent of what the Navy required.

During the past decade, the increasing demands on a smaller fleet drove deployment lengths to nine months or longer, which racked up a readiness deficit that the Navy is still working through. Deployment lengths have come back down closer to seven months, but the unpredictable operations tempo made it difficult for the Navy to plan yards periods and impacted the business of the private shipyards.

Geurts conceded that operations will undoubtedly impact a 30-year maintenance schedule but said having it on paper was the right place to start when managing complicated schedules.

“It’s a very complex issue with inputs and outputs,” Geurts said. “But the only thing I know is the best way to get after a complex issue is laying out at least what you know and having that at least as a baseline so then when you have to do changes – for operational reasons of whatever — you are changing from a known baseline and you can understand quickly what the second and third order effects are. Like we do on new construction, I’d like to introduce that kind of rigor.”

Ultimately the hope is that industry can plan better with a long-term plan in place, Geurts said.

“My hope is if we can do that, industry can start planning resources, they can start hiring resources when they see the signal,” he said. “Right now we are not as well positioned in the future as I’d like to be.”
 
Yesterday at 4:50 PM
Today at 7:56 AM
and the story of 'Space Force or no Space Force' goes on as
Trump orders creation of independent space force - but Congress will still have its say
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while now Air Force Issues First Guidance to Troops About Space Force
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leaders have broken their silence following President Trump's order to create a new military service branch for space.

Leaders issued a message to airmen telling them to stay the course as the process of implementing the president's guidance moves forward. Trump gave the order Monday during a speech to the National Space Council at the White House.

In a message to all airmen sent Tuesday night, service brass including Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein confirmed that, as rumored, the new "space force" would be established as a military service inside the Air Force.

It's an idea that
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as too costly and presenting too many organizational challenges for the service.

In the new message, the leaders voiced agreement with Trump's position that the U.S. military approach to the space domain must become more robust to meet current and future challenges.

"The President's statement to the National Space Council adds emphasis to the Air Force position -- space is a warfighting domain and the entire national security space enterprise must continue to enhance lethality, resilience and agility to meet the challenge posed by potential adversaries," they wrote. "We look forward to working with Department of Defense leaders, Congress, and our national security partners to move forward on this planning effort."

Trump offered few details about the implementation of a space force in his announcement Monday, though he did say the Air Force and the proposed new service would be "separate, but equal."

Air Force leaders told airmen they should not expect any "immediate moves or changes" in the wake of the announcement, saying creation of the new force would take time.

"The work directed by the President will be a thorough, deliberate and inclusive process," they wrote. " ... Our focus must remain on the mission as we continue to accelerate the space warfighting capabilities required to support the National Defense Strategy."

Policy experts told Military.com this week that
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and would require major legislation and planning, even if it's staffed by current service members and takes advantage of existing infrastructure.

The message to airmen concluded on an upbeat note.

"We remain the best in the world in space and our adversaries know it," it said. "Thank you for standing the watch. We're proud to serve with you!"
 
May 30, 2018
May 15, 2018
the last on 'low-risk, low-cost' (LOL) tanker was ... Apr 5, 2018now Boeing, U.S. Air Force At Odds Over KC-46

May 14, 2018
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funny is “enhancement” versus “fix” debate
also funny (the DefenseNews linked in the post right above):

"KC-46
The SASC bill authorizes $2.3 billion to procure 14 KC-46 aircraft, which is one aircraft fewer than the administration’s request, to — according to the bill summary — “restore program accountability.”

The committee was concerned with the program’s repeated delays and is applying its leverage. “It’s a signal to the [Defense] Department and to Boeing that we feel strongly that they need to get their act together and get this program moving forward,“ another SASC aide said."
and Here’s when the US Air Force will get its first KC-46 tanker
if you want to know, click
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TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
is the headline true
The USMC Is Buying New Amphibious Vehicles That Can't Swim Faster Than What They Have Now
?
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Yes It is. And there are reasons.
First B-U-D-G-E-T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Second Lack of Alternatives
You might remember a few years back the Marines were trying to buy the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle?
efv.jpg
Yeah This.... What's the Word you like to use... Oh yes Game Changer. Well The Marines were forced to cancel it in 2011 as Some how the Marines didn't see landing on opposed beaches and that the 75 mile range of some anti-ship missiles meant that the EFV was flawed.
So the Marines were sent back to the Drawing board but budget happened.
Now you may say but the PLA ZDB series And although faster, those have considerably shorter range smaller capacity and less protection.

The Marines had a second program running around this time the Marine Personal Carrier. This was a far more conventional and Budget friendly vehicle family. The Idea was a 3 weight fleet the EFV would be the heavy weight the MPC the middle weight and the JLTV the light weight.
EFV was as I said canned, MPC was to a degree as well but was resurrected as the Amphibious Combat Vehicle 1.0, and JLTV is about to enter production. Along side these in place of the EFV the Marines road mapped 2 new programs 1 was the AAV SU a upgrade and life extension for the AAV7 series the other the ACV 2.0

Because of the constants of time and funds remapping the MPC into ACV 1.0 meant the Marines were looking for an off the shelf vehicle that was to offer a higher level of protection vs the AAV7A1 and LAV series well being a 8x8 wheeled vehicle in a medium weight and a capacity of one Marine Rifle Squad (13 Marines). with the EFV off the Table that left nothing that could do that. There are Unarmored vehicles that can move as fast and as long across water but no protection and the Marines wanted protection.
I mean look up Amphibious assault vehicles you will find a fairly limited number of nations that actually have ( in the modern era) True amphibious armored forces. The US and China will top the list. A very short list.
Although many armored vehicles can swim but few beyond Sea state 2 ( basically a calm river) BTR and Super AV can go to a sea state 3 ( Calm sea) (AAV7A1 goes to a sea state 5 [Rough sea] Well Russia's Soviet era PTS goes to sea state 4) and almost none can break 15 km/h in the water. the exceptions are or were either in the proposal or development stages Like EFV, Russias BMMP concept, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Amphibious assault vehicle concept Or the limited access of the ZDB series with small size short sea range and light armor.
So faced with these limits Off the Shelf, Budget, Protection being the priority the Marines compromised.
 

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
Yes It is. And there are reasons.
First B-U-D-G-E-T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Second Lack of Alternatives
You might remember a few years back the Marines were trying to buy the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle?
View attachment 47444
Yeah This.... What's the Word you like to use... Oh yes Game Changer. Well The Marines were forced to cancel it in 2011 as Some how the Marines didn't see landing on opposed beaches and that the 75 mile range of some anti-ship missiles meant that the EFV was flawed.
So the Marines were sent back to the Drawing board but budget happened.
Now you may say but the PLA ZDB series And although faster, those have considerably shorter range smaller capacity and less protection.

The Marines had a second program running around this time the Marine Personal Carrier. This was a far more conventional and Budget friendly vehicle family. The Idea was a 3 weight fleet the EFV would be the heavy weight the MPC the middle weight and the JLTV the light weight.
EFV was as I said canned, MPC was to a degree as well but was resurrected as the Amphibious Combat Vehicle 1.0, and JLTV is about to enter production. Along side these in place of the EFV the Marines road mapped 2 new programs 1 was the AAV SU a upgrade and life extension for the AAV7 series the other the ACV 2.0

Because of the constants of time and funds remapping the MPC into ACV 1.0 meant the Marines were looking for an off the shelf vehicle that was to offer a higher level of protection vs the AAV7A1 and LAV series well being a 8x8 wheeled vehicle in a medium weight and a capacity of one Marine Rifle Squad (13 Marines). with the EFV off the Table that left nothing that could do that. There are Unarmored vehicles that can move as fast and as long across water but no protection and the Marines wanted protection.
I mean look up Amphibious assault vehicles you will find a fairly limited number of nations that actually have ( in the modern era) True amphibious armored forces. The US and China will top the list. A very short list.
Although many armored vehicles can swim but few beyond Sea state 2 ( basically a calm river) BTR and Super AV can go to a sea state 3 ( Calm sea) (AAV7A1 goes to a sea state 5 [Rough sea] Well Russia's Soviet era PTS goes to sea state 4) and almost none can break 15 km/h in the water. the exceptions are or were either in the proposal or development stages Like EFV, Russias BMMP concept, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Amphibious assault vehicle concept Or the limited access of the ZDB series with small size short sea range and light armor.
So faced with these limits Off the Shelf, Budget, Protection being the priority the Marines compromised.
 
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