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June 1, 2015

SINGAPORE US Defense Secre-tary Ash Carter will spend the nextweek touring Asia, where he willfocus on building up the maritimesecurity capabilities of regional al-lies.

And while the Pentagon is layingout the trip as the next step in theso-called rebalance to the Pacific,Carters travels are being watchedclosely by officials in China, whichhas been expanding its regionaldominance in recent years.

The trip occurs amid rising ten-sions between China and other na-tions, including the US, overChinese operations to create newislands in the South China Sea.

China has claimed those lands,which the Pentagon estimates tobe about 2,000 acres in size, as partof its territory, a move neighboringnations believe is a power grab toincrease its control of the region.

Some 1,500 of those acres havebeen developed since January,showing the rapid acceleration of

Chinas activities. Carter began the trip with a May

See CARTER IN ASIA, Page 14

In Asia, Carter Focuses on BuildingMaritime Partnerships, Capacity

By AARON MEHTA

GLENN FAWCETT/US DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

Pacific Agenda: Defense Secretary Ash Carter holds an in-flight briefing on his way fromHawaii to Singapore. Carter attended the US Pacific Command and US Pacific Fleetchange-of-command ceremonies in Honolulu on May 27, beginning a 10-day trip toadvance the next phase of the Asia-Pacific rebalance.

HERZLIYA, Israel Whoever thinksthe F-35 or other heavily armedfighter jets are no longer relevantfor urban combat better thinkagain, Israels top Air Force officersaid.

As counterintuitive as it mayseem to the notion of surgicalstrike, Israel Air Force command-er Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel insistssmall wars and counterinsurgencyoperations of the future will de-mand massive use of heavy muni-tions.

Brig. Gen. Amikam Norkin, Esh-els second in command and the of-ficer tapped to become Israelsnext J-5 director of planning, haslikened the Air Forces operationalconcept to playing billiards with abowling ball.

Fighters are the cue sticks.Through precise intelligence, theymust insert Joint Direct Attack Mu-nitions (JDAMs), Small DiameterBombs (SDBs), Paveways and Is-raeli-developed Smart, Precise Im-pact, Cost-Effective (SPICE)missiles into specific pockets ofwhat the Air Force has started tocall human terrain.

And in an era where terrorist or-ganizations and non-state actorsdeploy a variety of increasingly ca-pable surface-to-air missiles(SAMs), Israel can no longer counton owning the skies.

In the future, Eshel insists, eventhe smallest wars will require ex-tensive use of fixed-wing airpowerled by advanced, stealth capabili-ties provided by the F-35.

Whoever thinks that the F-35 isnot relevant to small urban warsdoesnt understand the depth and

Israel Air Chief:Small Wars NeedHeavy Weapons

By BARBARA OPALL-ROME

See ISRAEL AIRPOWER, Page 6

MELBOURNE, Australia Aus-tralias long-troubled Air WarfareDestroyer (AWD) program re-ceived more blows May 22 with agovernment announcement thatthe program faces continuing de-lays and will need at least anotherAUS $1.2 billion (US $920 million)to complete sending the overallprice tag for the three ships to overAUS $9 billion.

The extra money, the govern-

ment said in a statement, willhave to be funded at the expenseof other Defence acquisitions.

Australian Defence MinisterKevin Andrews and Finance Min-ster Mathias Corrman, in the May22 statement, announced theywould begin a search to find eithera managing contractor to insertinto ASC Shipbuilding for the re-mainder of the program, or fur-ther enhance ASC capabilitythrough a partnering agreement.

The limited tender process

was to begin May 29, Andrews andCorman said in the statement,which was prompted by a forensicaudit that quantified the latestcost and schedule overruns.

The AWD program is currentlyrun by a Commonwealth-industryteam known as the Air WarfareDestroyer Alliance, comprisinglead shipbuilder ASC, RaytheonAustralia, the Department of De-fence and the Royal Australian Na-vy. BAE Systems, LockheedMartin and Spanish shipbuildersNavantia also have significantroles.

Ironically, the destroyer pro-gram marked a happier event onlyhours after the audits releasewhen, on May 23, the first ship was

See AWD WOES, Page 7

More Cost Growth, Delays forAustralias Destroyer Program

By NIGEL PITTAWAY

EUROPE

High North Standoff Russian exercise in response tothe Norwegian-led Arctic Chal-lenge heightens tensions. Page 15

NORTH AMERICA

Complex Policy BillDefense policy legislation pre-sents complicated strategy oncosts, requirements, manage-ment. Page 4

ASIA & PACIFIC RIM

Low on AmmoThe Indian Army is facing a short-age of ammunition for vehicles,artillery and infantry. Page 10

MIDDLE EAST

The S-300 ChallengeIsraeli officials say the Air Forcecould still strike Iran even after anew air defense system is in-stalled. Page 6

AFRICA

Preparing for TerrorSouthern African nations to in-tensify special ops training antici-pating terrorist incidents. Page 10

INTERVIEW

Avi FelderIMIs Presidentand CEO dis-cusses the com-panys pendingprivatization,plans for growth and its re-vamped product portfolio. Page 22

3882038820

Mission Success Starts with a CLEAR PICTUREMaritime Surveillance Radar Systems

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InBrief

WASHINGTON The US DefenseDepartment wants to buy up to 450F-35s in a three-year block buy be-ginning in 2018, a move that re-quires congressional approval andwould let the US and partner mili-taries begin to see savings by pro-viding contractors with a biggercommitment to the aircraft.

Frank Kendall, defense under-secretary for acquisition, said thatfollowing the annual F-35 CEOmeeting in Oslo, Norway, the blockbuy plan would drive down costsand increase fielding of the jet inboth the US and international com-munity.

It allows industry to plan withsome confidence in the next fewyears of production, Kendall said.As we are moving into 15, 16 and17 we are also increasing produc-tion rates. By 18 you get to a num-ber that makes it a lot moreattractive to talk about economiesof scale.

A multiyear commitment to alarge number of jets would alsoshow partner nations the benefitsof committing to the program,Kendall said. The F-35 Joint Pro-gram Office is still waiting to hearwhether Canada and Denmark willbuy the F-35. All of the other part-ners expressed interest in partici-pating in the block buy proposal,Kendall said. No total cost num-bers were discussed.

In total, the Pentagon plans topurchase 2,443 of the LockheedMartin jets, with allied purchasesbringing the total number of thejets produced to more than 3,100.

Congress in its drafts of the fiscal2016 National Defense Authoriza-tion Act is wavering on future F-35buys for the US military. The Sen-ate Armed Services Committee, inits markup of the bill, is limitingfunding for the Air Forces plannedincrease to $4.3 billion in 2016 untilthe Pentagon can certify the AirForces schedule for initial operat-ing capability, or can revalidate the

F-35 program buy.Theres quite a bit of time to

work through the details and talkto Congress, Kendall said.

Unlike previous CEO meetings,this years focused more on field-ing the aircraft and getting to a de-ployable status, whereas previousmeetings stressed productionschedules and staying on the base-line, Kendall said.

Theres a change in the orienta-tion of the program, from workingour way through the risks associat-ed with development and gettingthe initial products fielded, to get-ting confident about finishing [de-velopment] and a much moreintent focus on getting to the field-ing and making sure we are goingto meet all the IOCs, he said.

Meanwhile, the F-35 CEO meet-

ing came as the US Marine Corpsfinished a critical test of its F-35Baircraft, flying simulated opera-tions off the deck of the amphibi-ous warship USS Wasp. Lt. Gen.Jon Davis, the Marine Corps depu-ty commandant for aviation, saidthe Marines were able to accom-plish all of their test points in theoperations, which began May 18and wrapped up May 27.

Ninety-one Marines operated onthe ship, flying 108 sorties, consist-ing of 88.5 flight hours over eightdays.

An MV-22 Osprey also flew an ex-tra F135 engine to the ship, andmaintainers were able to changeout an engine on an aircraft, hesaid. N

Email: beverstine@airforcetimes.com

Pentagon SeeksLarge-scale, InternationalF-35 Block Buy

By BRIAN EVERSTINE

JAMES K. SANBORN/STAFF

Passing the Test: An F-35B Lightning II takes off from aboard the amphibious assaultship Wasp during operational testing at sea.

US Army Eyes Capability Gaps The US Army is working to de-

velop new vehicles and more capa-bility based on what soldiers needto fight in the future, the servicestop officer said.

Using the new Army operatingconcept as a base, the service isrunning 20 war-fighting challengesto identify gaps and seams in ca-pability and determine how to fillthose spaces, said Army Chief ofStaff Gen. Ray Odierno.

Its an integrated look across allof our branches and all of our cen-ters of excellence, and were say-ing, this is where the gap is, Odierno said. I think were com-ing up with much better solutionsand identified near-term, mid-termand long-term gaps we need to in-

vest in. Im pretty excited aboutwhere were headed.

Baltics Mull Joint Air Defense Defense ministers for the three

Baltic states said they are mulling ajoint air defense system in re-sponse to security concerns overRussias activity in the region.

The ministers of NATO membersEstonia, Latvia and Lithuania metin the northern Lithuanian city ofPanevezys along with their Ukrai-nian counterpart at a time whentheir relations with Russia are at apost-Soviet low over the Ukrainecrisis.

We plan to analyze the possibil-ity of developing a medium-rangeair defense system to strengthenour defense capabilities, Lithua-nian Defence Minister Juozas Ole-kas told reporters.

External threats lead us to co-operate more, he said.

NATO has been guarding the

skies over the three small Balticstates since 2004, when they joinedthe alliance but lacked the air pow-er to monitor their own airspace.

Spain To Host US BaseThe Spanish government said it

had approved an agreement tohost a permanent force of 2,200 USMarines for deployment on mis-sions to Africa, according toAgence France-Presse.

Spain and the United States willformalize the deal by signing anamendment to a 1988 defense part-nership during a visit by US Secre-tary of State John Kerry this week.

Madrid agreed to permanentlyextend an agreement under whichthe force has been based at Moronde la Frontera in southern Spain,Deputy Prime Minister SorayaSaenz de Santamaria said.

The aim is to contribute to thestability of the region and commonsecurity in Africa, Europe and the

Middle East, Saenz said.

Assembly Cited in A400M CrashAnalysis of the flight recorders of

the A400M that crashed in Spain onMay 9, killing four, indicated therewere no structural faults but as-sembly quality problems, a seniorAirbus executive said in a newspa-per interview, according to AgenceFrance-Presse.

The black boxes confirm it.There was no structural fault, butwe have a serious final assemblyquality problem, Airbus GroupsChief of Strategy Marwan Lahoudtold the German daily Handelsblattafter receiving the first results ofthe analyses of the flight recorders.

Airbus on May 19 warned of atechnical bug in the electronic con-trol units that controls how the air-crafts engine operates, which itdiscovered during an internal testit conducted independently of theinvestigation into the crash. N

FOR THE RECORD@reporterjoe @CavasShips @andclev@OpallRome @awadz

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WorldNews

ROME Italy appears set to pushahead with its order of 90 F-35 jointstrike fighters, and has said it willbuy 38 by 2020, despite simmeringpressure from politicians to trimthe program.

In its definitive budget plan for2015, published in May, the ItalianMinistry of Defense said it wouldspend 582.7 million (US $634.3million) to maintain JSF purchasesthis year. So far, Italy has orderedeight F-35As, including three fromlow rate initial production (LRIP)lot 6 for delivery this year and nextyear, three from LRIP 7 for deliverynext year, and two from LRIP 8 fordelivery in 2017.

In March, the first JSF rolled offthe assembly line built at Cameri innorthern Italy, making it the firstJSF assembled outside the US.

Italys stated ambition to order38 aircraft by 2020 follows criti-cism of the program by Prime Min-ister Matteo Renzi, who said theJSF program would be revisedafter he took office last year.

Then, with many in his own partycriticizing spending on the JSF asItaly struggled to balance its bud-

gets, Renzi said in August that thebiggest weapon to create peace isnot the F-35 or the Eurofighter butschools.

In June, with six F-35s ordered,Defense Minister Roberta Pinottiresponded to opposition to theprogram by stating she was freez-ing new orders until the comple-tion of a new white paper ondefense which would set out Italysdefense priorities.

However, in October, the Penta-gon announced that Italy would beamong the countries taking air-craft from LRIP 8.

Meanwhile, the white paper hasbeen issued and contains strategicpriorities, but officials have saidthat translating that into the num-ber of aircraft Italy needs will beput off until the military GeneralStaff carries out its own strategicreview based on the white paper.

The new defense budget does re-spond to complaints about JSFcosts from Italian politicians, stat-ing that savings will be made onthe program in the medium tolong term, up to 2026. After invest-ing 3.5 billion to date, the industri-al return for Italy, in terms ofcontracts signed, amounted to 1.6

billion, the document states.The governments bid to keep up

the pace on JSF orders is basedpartly on wishing to avoid losingindustrial benefits.

Last December, Italys 360 mil-lion assembly plant for the fighterwas chosen by the DoD asEuropes F-35 airframe mainte-nance, repair, overhaul and up-grade center, which should keepthe plant alive long after Italys jetshave been assembled.

Meanwhile, keeping aircraft or-ders up is helping local firm AleniaAermacchi maintain its workshareon the program making wing sets.When Italy previously cut its orderof JSFs from 131 to 90, Alenia sawits wing set order from LockheedMartin drop from 1,215 to 835.

On May 26, a wing set producedby Alenia at Cameri entered theF-35 production line at Fort Worth,Texas, for the first time.

On the same day, the Ministry ofDefense defended its record on theprogram as transparent, addingthat the orders placed to date weredriven by the need to comply withinternational agreements, toseek maximum economic returnon the program and to help build

Italys industrial and technologybase.

Looking ahead, the 2015 budgetdocument said that future JSFfunding would be included in six-year defense budget laws that theMoD plans to introduce, which willbe voted through parliament.

The decision to seek iron-clad,long-term budgets, which is setdown in the white paper, is aimedat giving military planners greaterfunding certainty.

The MoD has tried publishingthree-year funding forecasts,which have proved wildly optimis-tic thanks to funding cuts.

This years budget lists total MoDspending of 13.19 billion in 2015,including procurement spendingof 2.37 billion, albeit with 2.5 bil-lion added to the procurement potby the Ministry of Industry, giving atotal procurement spend of 4.87

billion. The 582.7 million for the joint

strike fighter is outstripped byspending on the Eurofighter,which gets 768 million from theIndustry Ministry.

This year, the budget forecast forfuture procurement is less opti-mistic than usual, foreseeing a dra-matic drop to just 1.95 billion in2016 and 1.93 billion in 2017.

One new program coming onstream this year is Italys naval law,which foresees a total of 5.4 bil-lion for spending on six new multi-functional vessels, a logistics ship,an amphibious transport dock andtwo fast boats for special forces.

The budget includes 175.6 mil-lion for the program this year, andpredicts 472 million will be spentin 2016 and 690 million in 2017. N

Email: tkington@defensenews.com.

LARRY BRAMBLETT/LOCKHEED MARTIN

Italian-built: Italys first locally built F-35A, which will also be the first joint strike fighteroperated by the Italian Air Force, prepares for its rollout in March from the Cameri, Italy,final assembly and check-out facility.

Italian Budget Protects JSF BuyBy TOM KINGTON

WASHINGTON Sen. John McCains first de-fense policy bill is a reflection of the ArmedServices Committee chairman: bold andcomplicated. It is the kind of legislation thatin one breath proposes lower aircraft carriercost caps but in the next flirts with potential-ly costly design changes.

The legislation also goes to great lengthsto keep aging aircraft flying a costly prop-osition even as the Arizona Republican is-sues regular warnings about what he calls anunderfunded US military.

The measure, which McCain himself callsa major reform bill, reflects some of thechairmans pet peeves and favorite gripes.But it also blocks some service cost-cuttingproposals and raises ideas that could in-crease costs.

On the one hand they want DoD to getmore efficient and modernize for the future,yet on the other hand they want to preventbase closures and protect legacy platforms,said Todd Harrison of the Center for Strate-gic and Budgetary Studies. They [lawmak-ers] want to have their cake and eat it too.

This just exacerbates the strategy-re-

source mismatch already built into the Pen-tagons plans. And to top it all off, Congressdoes not seem to be making any progress to-ward modifying the budget caps still in ef-fect through 2021, Harrison said. Theyhave effectively punted on that issue by try-ing to use the OCO [overseas contingencyoperations] loophole for fiscal 2016. None ofthis is consistent with long-term planningand strategy development.

But when a chairman has something on hisor her mind, it typically shows up in legisla-tion.

For instance, during several exchangeswith reporters in recent weeks, McCain hasbrought up the cost of new Navy aircraft car-riers. He has expressed frustration that fol-low-on models of the CVN 78 class ofcarriers are projected to come with largerprice tags than the lead ship.

On May 19, McCain delivered one of theserants to a group of reporters. Hours later, hisoffice issued a statement warning of $370million in cost growth for the USS John F.Kennedy (CVN 79), the second ship in thenew carrier class.

Accountability must be restored to theFord-class aircraft carrier program,McCain said. Our nation simply cannot af-

ford these kinds of cost overruns amid risingglobal threats and fiscal challenges. I re-main concerned that the USS Gerald R. Ford(CVN 78) design is still not stable given itsdependence on completing design and de-velopment of major systems.

Tucked into McCains version of the 2016National Defense Authorization Act(NDAA) are several provisions aimed at ad-dressing these kinds of issues. And they areclassically McCain in tone in scope.

For instance, one section proposes lowerprice caps for new aircraft carriers whilealso ordering the Navy to explore designchanges. The history of US weapon pro-grams is littered with examples of skyrock-eting costs due to modifications made aftera system already is in production.

McCains bill would leave in place a $12.9billion cost ceiling for the lead ship, CVN 78.But it would lower the price cap for all fol-low-on ships starting with CVN 79 from$11.49 billion to $11.39 billion.

The proposed change reflects a commentMcCain made to reporters in mid-May:Those follow-on carriers are supposed tobe just cookie-cutter version of the first,right? To McCain, the sea service and primecontractor Huntington Ingalls Industries

should be able to build each subsequent car-rier at an ever-declining cost.

A report accompanying the bill, approvedoverwhelmingly by the panel, delivers a dif-ferent message, stating the proposed lowercaps are a recognition of the gains made incontrolling the cost of CVN 78 class aircraftcarriers.

The committee is encouraged by the[Navys] fiscal year 2016 budget request,which indicates the lead ship is on track todeliver in March 2016 at its cost cap and theestimated procurement costs for CVN 79and CVN 80 are decreasing, states the SASCreport.

Still, the committees bill wants the serviceto at least explore other ideas.

In view of the vital importance of aircraftcarriers to national defense, the cost pership, lack of competition, and history of costoverruns, the committee directs a report,which examines potential requirements, ca-pabilities, and alternatives for future devel-opment of aircraft carriers that wouldreplace or supplement CVN 78 class aircraftcarriers, orders the SASC report.

McCain also does not hide his frustrationwhen the four-star chiefs of the armed ser-vices are unable to speak in specifics, or areunaware of major problems plaguing theirweapon programs.

So McCain is pushing language that, if

McCains NDAA: Its ComplicatedBy JOHN T. BENNETT, CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS

and AARON MEHTA

See MCCAINS NDAA, Page 7

6 DefenseNews June 1, 2015 www.defensenews.comWORLD NEWS

TEL AVIV, WASHINGTON and ABUDHABI Despite concern byWashington and its Middle Easternallies, Irans eventual deploymentof Russian S-300 air defense sys-tems will not thwart a potentialmilitary option if Tehran violatesterms of a comprehensive nuclearagreement being finalized with theso-called P5+1 world powers, Is-raeli officials said.

Moscow announced last week itsdecision to honor terms of a 2010contract and deliver S-300s to Iranat an unspecified future date.

The decision to deliver the S-300to Iran has been made, but the real-ization of the project will takesome time, Yevgeny Lukyanov,deputy head of Russias securitycouncil, was quoted by Russiannews agencies as saying followinghis May 26 meeting with IranianDeputy Foreign Minister HosseinAmir-Abdollahian.

If deployed, the systems will notpresent a show-stopper to the Isra-el Air Force, said Maj. Gen. AmirEshel, Israels air chief.

Its a huge challenge, Eshelconceded when asked about theRussian announcement. He insist-ed, however, that it presents moreof a strategic than an operationalchallenge.

Its more a strategic issue ... be-cause whoever has the S-300 feelsprotected. He can allow himself todo things even more aggressivelybecause he thinks hes defended,he said.

In a May 27 address at an Israeliair power conference north of TelAviv, Eshel cited the expandingthreat of surface-to-air missiles inthe hands of Israels enemies. Andwhile he did not specifically referto the prospective Russian deliver-ies to Iran, he insisted the enemycannot stop our Air Force.

I tell you now, and obviously thisis based on all kinds of assess-ments weve done, ... that nothing

can stop us, Eshel said.They can complicate our activ-

ities, but it will be pinpoint compli-cations here and there. But to stopthis offensive machine that wehave cannot be done.

Israeli experts note that in recentyears, the Israel Air Force has stud-ied every aspect of the S-300 andhas trained with American and oth-er counterparts in attempts toovercome its advanced capabili-ties.

In a May 29 statement, a Penta-gon spokesman refused to specu-late on what DoD responses wouldbe to a specific threat or missilesystem. Nevertheless, the spokes-man said, We take the safety andsecurity of our allies in the regionseriously. In general, we are con-fident in our capabilities; the DoDhas a range of options for a multi-tude of scenarios, and we providethose options to the president.

In mid-April, when asked aboutRussian President Vladimir Putinsdecision to unfreeze the estimated

$800 million sale which washeld in abeyance for nearly fiveyears due to US and allied con-cerns Gen. Martin Dempsey,chairman of the US Joint Chiefs ofStaff, replied, Weve known aboutthe potential for that system to besold to Iran for several years, andhave accounted for it in all of ourplanning. The military option that Iowe the president, to both encour-age the diplomatic solution, and ifthe diplomacy fails, to ensure thatIran doesnt achieve a nuclearweapon, is intact.

A government source from theUnited Arab Emirates said hiscountry and fellow Gulf Coopera-tion Council states are carefullyfollowing developments and as-sessing how Iranian deployment ofthe Russian systems would impactregional security.

The UAE and GCC countries areconcerned with the S-300 deal be-tween Iran and Russia and are ob-serving closely how these systemswill be deployed and utilized, the

government source said.Concerns are not limited to the

Russian deal with Iran, he said, butalso to talks with China on sea-based weapons that have been on-going for some time. N

Email: bopallrome@defensenews.com,amehta@defensenews.com,amustafa@defensenews.com.

Gulf Nations Eye Iran Acquisition of S-300By BARBARA OPALL-ROME,

AARON MEHTA and AWAD MUSTAFA

COSTAS METAXAKIS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Incoming: Russia has decided to deliverS-300 missile systems, similar to thisGreek Army S-300 PMU-1 system, to Iran.

extent of the threat, Eshel told a May 27conference at the Fisher Institute for Air &Space Strategic Studies devoted to WinningSmall Wars and the Role of Air Power.

Today, the subject of achieving air superi-ority is a challenge even vis-a-vis small coun-tries and terrorist groups who know how todeploy SAMs, he said.

Israeli F-35s, which will start to arrive herelater next year, will constitute Israels pointof the spear, Eshel said, by paving the wayfor other assets capable of delivering heavi-er payloads. This fifth-generation fighterplane will be a central element of our fu-ture force, he said. It knows how to con-tribute to big wars, small wars andeverything in-between.

As challenging as that is, Eshel said it canbe done in a way that preserves freedom ofaction and international legitimacy.

We have an offensive capability that is un-precedented and extremely significantwhich weve been developing over years andare now able to implement, he said.

In small wars, its a very significant chal-lenge for us to reduce collateral damage onthe other side when the enemy is using all hehas to elevate the damage were forced to in-flict on him, Eshel said. First of all, its amoral challenge. ... It sounds like a slogan,but we are constantly thinking, planning andoperating with this challenge in mind.

Eshel said the Air Force demonstrated themassive use of airpower along with im-mense strides in joint operations during lastsummers Gaza war, when low-flying F-16sdropped 1-ton precision-guided munitions(PGMs) within 250 meters of friendly forces.

Experts here estimated that in Shujaaiyyaalone a heavily populated section of Gaza

city the Air Force pounded multistoryhomes with some 100 tons of weaponry inless than three hours. Tunnel shafts werediscovered under some of the structures.

The pounding provoked international con-demnation and angry sarcasm from US Sec-retary of State John Kerry, who, whenapprised by an aide of the escalation, com-mented, Its a hell of a pinpoint operation.

Kerry subsequently defended Israels rightto do all it needed to destroy tunnels and oth-er sites from which Gaza-based militantswere attacking.

In his Fisher Institute address, Eshel notedthat heavy fixed-wing airpower not only pro-vided effective close support of groundtroops, but actually reduced casualties onthe enemy side compared to the alternativeif Israel had to rely only on bombing by artil-lery or other less accurate methods.

The nature of the threat demands preci-

sion intelligence and significant firepowerbeyond all levels that weve known before,in quality and also in quantity, he said. Inthe urban theater, in order to destroy thosehouses and to destroy tunnels, you need ac-curate heavy weaponry that only a fighterplane can deliver.

Since the Gaza war, experts here have not-ed a spike in Air Force very high ops-tempotraining on its own and in joint exerciseswith the US, Greek and other air forces.

For larger wars, such as the next round offighting in Lebanon, significant numbers ofheavily armed fighter planes are trained toperform targeting missions, return to rearm,and then go back out and do it again andagain.

Even for us, its hard to digest the powerof it all ... and I think that, in the context ofLebanon, its at a level of unimaginable de-struction, Eshel said.

Speaking at the same event, Israel DefenseMinister Moshe Yaalon insisted that wheth-er between wars or during campaigns, big orsmall, air power will continue to play a cen-tral role. He noted that of the more than7,000 targets attacked during the Gaza war,more than 5,000 were destroyed from the air.

Air power constitutes a center of gravityin our force structure and in the implemen-tation of our force, Yaalon said.

In May, the Pentagons Defense SecurityCooperation Agency notified Congress of apotential $1.9 billion post-Gaza war replen-ishment package of PGMs for the Israel AirForce. The preapproved package included14,500 JDAM tail kits in sizes ranging from500 pounds to 2,000 pounds, 4,100 GBU-39SDBs, and 2,200 Paveway kits.

In parallel, Israels Ministry of Defense isrestocking supplies of 250-pound, 1,000-pound and 2,000-pound SPICE systems ex-pended during the Gaza war. Developed bystate-owned Rafael, SPICE integrates anelectro-optical guidance kit onto inexpen-sive standard Mk-82, Mk-83 and Mk-84bombs, which the Air Force uses as a high-end option to the US-produced JDAM.

Precision fixed-wing airpower has al-ways been effective, but Operation Protec-tive Edge was a classic example of how toemploy it effectively in urban theaters aswell, said Yuval Miller of the name designat-ed for the Gaza war.

Miller, executive vice president for Ra-faels Air and Intelligence Division, said, Itall starts with precision intelligence. Onceyou have it, and that intel is available in realtime, fixed-wing air power provides enor-mous added value, especially when com-pared to other capabilities from the groundthat tend to be less precise and less avail-able. N

Email: bopallrome@defensenews.com.

ISRAEL AIRPOWERFrom Page 1

ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP

Precision Strike: Palestinian men look on as a bomb from an Israeli air strike hits a house in Gaza City inAugust 2014. Israeli precision weapons often target specific buildings.

www.defensenews.com June 1, 2015 DefenseNews 7WORLD NEWS

launched at the ASC shipyard inAdelaide.

But that ship, the Hobart, is nowscheduled for delivery in June2017, 30 months beyond the origi-nal December 2014 date.

The government also an-nounced further delays with thesecond ship, Brisbane, now set fordelivery in September 2018 afteroriginally scheduled for March2016, and the Sydney, due now inMarch 2020 after first being sched-uled for June 2017.

All three ships already have suf-fered delays before the latest revi-sions, and technically challengingcombat systems integration workhas yet to get under way in ear-nest.

The Australian governmentcommissioned a report into theprogram after it gained office in

2013. The report was delivered inJune 2014, but was not released tothe public.

Known as the White-Winter re-port after its authors, one of itskey recommendations was the in-sertion of an experienced ship-building management team intothe project.

The government has initiated aseries of interim reforms recom-mended by that review to put theAir Warfare Destroyer back ontrack, pending the completion ofthis forensic audit, the ministerssaid.

So far the government hasmade improvements to the seniormanagement of ASC Shipbuildingand inserted additional shipbuild-ing and related capability from Na-vantia, BAE Systems andRaytheon Australia, Corman andAndrews said in the statement.

They noted that the Air WarfareDestroyer project was in very badshape when we came into govern-

ment, and ticked off severalchanges that already have beenmade, including the appointmentof Mark Lamarre from US ship-builder Bath Iron Works as interimchief executive officer of ASC.

What we are looking at doing isto strengthen the way ASC canperform into the future, Cormansaid after the Hobarts launch.What we are working on is to en-sure that those three ships can bedelivered at the lowest possiblecost from here.

The minister also foreshadowedthe release of a strategic navalshipbuilding plan later this year tomaintain Australian naval capabil-ities through strategies such as arolling build plan for future sur-face ships. But he warned that thecost of building ships in Australiahas to come down.

The government recognizes thesignificant value to our nation of askilled naval shipbuilding work-force, Corman said. The govern-

ment is prepared to invest in theskills and knowledge base of theAustralian naval shipbuilding in-dustry, and is prepared to committo a long-term investment to makesure this important industry en-joys a future in Australia and thesecritical skills are maintained.

There is no sense putting ourhead in the sand, Corman added.We cant ignore the fact that theseships are costing $3 billion a ship,when equivalent ships in otherparts of the world would have costus just $1 billion a ship.

Mark Thomson, a senior analystwith the Australian Strategic Pol-icy Institute, warns that the AirWarfare Destroyer remediation ef-forts may be too little, too late.

In his The Strategist blog onMay 27, Thomson said that if thegovernment chose to embrace thepartnership option, a single firmwould work alongside ASC.

Nonetheless, with no skin inthe game it would be a case of all

care and no responsibility for thepartner, he said.

With regard to the managingcontractor option, Thomsonwarns that the contractor wouldwork within ASC and with theAWD Alliance partners, with thepotential to further complicate thealready intricate workings.

Assuming the new managingcontractor works under an incen-tive scheme [rather than a cost-plus contract], well have four par-ties ASC, Raytheon, Defenceand a managing contractor working under two layers of con-tractual incentives, he said.

Perverse incentives cant beruled out, Thomson added.Moreover, capable firms may behesitant to risk their reputation bytying their fate to the performanceof the parties that got us to wherewe are today. N

Christopher P. Cavas in Washingtoncontributed to this report.

AWD WOESFrom Page 1

adopted in the final version of the NDAA,would give the service chiefs, secretariesand acquisition executives program man-agement authorities now held by the under-secretary of defense for acquisition,technology and logistics (AT&L).

Yet not everyone in Washington believesthe proposals being pitched by McCain willoverhaul Pentagon processes and programs.

Its really hard to know whether to takeany of it seriously, said Gordon Adams, anAmerican University professor who over-saw national defense budgeting for the Clin-ton administration.

McCain being McCain, at some point itslike an animal chasing the latest rabbit something else will get in trouble and hellgo after that, Adams said. Were not goingto get major acquisition reform here, or a dif-ferent aircraft carrier, Adams said. What-ever happens will be a target of opportunity,not a strategic re-do of acquisition pro-grams.

The biggest changes McCain is proposing and the full SASC backed would be tomake the service acquisition executives themilestone decision authority for non-jointweapon programs transferred to or startedunder service control.

To McCain, the chiefs must be more ac-countable for their major programs, a com-mittee aide explains.

One analyst and defense-industry consult-ant, Loren Thompson of the Lexington Insti-tute, said what McCains acquisitionoverhaul plan demonstrates is that the realcustomer of the defense acquisition systemisnt the military services, its Congress.

The continuous congressional tinkeringwith acquisition practices is a prime sourceof inefficiency in the system, Thompsonsaid. McCains changes would not constitu-te a major shift, but they would cause confu-sion as roles and responsibilities arerealigned.

For the Air Force, the McCain legislation is

more about no than it is about yes.Much of the SASC language is focused on

preventing the service from retiring aircraft,including a provision establishing a newminimum number of fighter aircraft the ser-vice would have to maintain.

The SASC language proposes a change tothe US Code, pitching a new requirement fora minimum 1,950 Air Force fighter aircraft.Of those, at least 1,116 would need to remaincombat-coded.

The committee believes further reduc-tions in fighter force capacity, in light of on-going and anticipated operations in Iraq andSyria against the Islamic State of Iraq and theLevant, coupled with a potential delay offorce withdrawals from Afghanistan, posesexcessive risk to the Air Forces ability to ex-ecute the National Defense Strategy, causesremaining fighter squadrons to deploy morefrequently, and drives even lower readinessrates across the combat air forces.

Service officials have been clear that theysee a family of systems setup, one wherenetworked assets blur the lines betweenfighters, intelligence gathering aircraft andbombers, as the future of US air power. If theMcCain language is included in any final2016 Pentagon policy bill signed into law, itcould alter the way the service plans its tech-nological investments for the next decade.

The measure contains language thatwould prevent the retirement of B-1, B-2 orB-52 bombers prior to the services next-gen-eration long-range strike-bomber (LRS-B)going operational.

The Air Force, which has provided few de-tails on the LRS-B program, has indicated aninitial operational mid-2020s target date.

However, the McCain language containsan out-clause for that language. If the secre-tary of defense certifies in budget docu-ments that the retirements are required tofund development of the LRS-B or that theretirements in the near-term will not detri-mentally affect operational capability, thenretirements may be allowed.

Given that language, it appears this ismore about sending a message of congres-sional intent to the service not to aim for

large-scale retirements of the bomber fleetthan it is creating a hard and fast rule.

More direct is language that would pre-vent the retirement of the A-10, the close-airsupport plane that has become a focal pointof discontent between the Hill and the AirForce.

The service wants to retire the A-10 as acost-cutting measure, while supporters ofthe plan say doing so puts the lives of sol-diers on the ground at risk. McCain and Sen.Kelly Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republicanwho is a close ally of McCain, have been twoof the most vocal defenders of the A-10.

Not only does the language aim to preventthe service from using any fiscal 2016 fundsto retire the A-10, but it directs the secretaryof the Air Force to commission an indepen-dent entity outside the Department of De-fense to conduct an assessment of therequired capabilities and mission platformto replace the A-10 aircraft.

Similarly, the SASC also wants to preventthe use of any fiscal 2016 funds to begin re-tirement of the EC130H Compass Call fleetof electronic warfare aircraft, which hasbeen slated to be cut under the presidentialbudget in a cost-saving move. The Air Force

had requested funding for the EC-130H fleetas part of its Unfunded Priorities list sentto the Hill earlier this year.

Even when not preventing the wholesaleretirement of aircraft, the SASC bill wouldplace limitations on other fleets.

One such limitation comes into play withthe C-130H fleet, the cargo plane largely usedby the National Guard. Under the SASC lan-guage, no C-130H could be retired or trans-ferred between facilities unless the AirForce can show Congress that such actionswill not harm daily training and contingencyrequirements.

Some experts wonder whether McCainsfirst swing as SASC chairman would domore harm than good.

When you combine this legislativelydriven churn with the uncertainties createdby the election cycle and a broken budgetingprocess, Thompson said, it shouldnt comeas any surprise that the acquisition systemwastes billions of dollars each year whileleaving some key needs unmet. N

Email: jbennett@defensenews.com,ccavas@defensenews.com,amehta@defensenews.com.

MCCAINS NDAAFrom Page 4

WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES

A Man With Plans:Senate ArmedServices CommitteeChairman JohnMcCain talks to areporter on CapitolHill.

www.defensenews.com June 1, 2015 DefenseNews 9

WASHINGTON The makers of precision-guided munitions no longer take for grantedthat simple GPS-guidance systems will al-ways work on their own. Jammers andspoofing equipment threaten to populate fu-ture battlefields; manufacturers have takennotice and answered the threat.

The military and its industry partners havevarious means fielded and in development toensure that bombs hit their targets, whetherthat means redundant targeting systems likeseekers that target GPS jammers, laser-guid-ance systems or camera-aided navigation.

The reality of the threat is no secret. In2011, North Koreablocked South Kore-an GPS signals, re-portedly usingRussian-made jam-ming equipment ca-pable of disruptingguided weapons.That same year, Irandowned and cap-tured an RQ-170 Sentinel drone, boasting ithad spoofed GPS data, redirecting the droneto land inside Iranian borders.

Put simply, a jammer broadcasts noisesuch that GPS receivers in their vicinity which rely on weak signals from distant sat-ellites are overwhelmed and lose the actu-al GPS signal. If a precision-guided bomb, aminute away from hitting its target, loses thelock, the results could be disastrous.

Ive got to maintain a lock through the en-tire operational envelope that includesget-me-there, that includes the end-game,said Al Simon, navigation systems marketingmanager for Rockwell Collins, which hasfielded more than 225,000 integrated GPSanti-jam systems, found on the US militarysworkhorse smart weapon, the Joint DirectAttack Munition (JDAM).

All the classical threat guys are out there:Iran, North Korea, China, Russia, Simonsaid of the GPS-jamming threat. Everybodyis desperately looking for either augmenta-tion to your primary [navigation] system, orGPS, or theyre looking for something thatsnon-GPS. There is no magic bullet that canreplace GPS.

Fifteen years ago, jammers were consid-ered expensive equipment most common togovernments or nation states. But now low-cost, low-powered jammers are everywhere,riding the wave of cheap, reliable consumerelectronics like Wi-Fi routers and smart-phones. Although military GPS systems aremore resilient than their commercial cous-ins, there is no 100 percent guarantee, partic-ularly against a high-powered jammer.

A $25 Chinese-made jammer, found online,can block the GPS signal around a car, whilea two- or three-watt jammer the size of a cig-arette pack, available for a couple hundreddollars, could envelop several city blocks,said Joe Rolli, who heads Exelis GPS jam-mer detection program, Signal Sentry.

One sign of how common these are: In2013, a New Jersey truck driver who wanted

to mask his location from his boss used aGPS jammer that inadvertently jammed airtraffic control at Newark Airport every timehe drove by. Authorities located the driver,later hit with a $32,000 fine by the FederalCommunications Commission.

Anybody who wants it has got it, saidJames Hasik, a senior fellow at the AtlanticCouncil and author of The Precision Revo-lution: GPS and the Future of Aerial War-fare. To be frank, you and I could build aGPS jammer in the basement quickly.

And so could enemies. John Flint, JDAMprogram manager for Boeing Weapons &Missile Systems, envisions battlefield sce-narios in which US troops encounter an ar-

ray of low-costjammers used tocloak targets fromUS missiles.

In April, DeputyDefense SecretaryBob Work told acrowd at the USArmy War College inCarlisle, Pennsylva-

nia, that guided munitions and advancedweaponry, like GPS jammers, will be fea-tures of future ground warfare.

Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine andtheir state sponsors have very definitelybeen using advanced electronic warfareequipment, he said, and the Defense Depart-ment has been working to discern how effec-tive these were in jamming command-and-control networks and GPS frequencies.

And these technologies are proliferatingas widely as conventional guided muni-tions, Work said. So in the future, US Armyand US Marine forces, and our allies thatfight with us, are going to have to fight on abattlefield that is swept by precision-guidedmunitions, but also one that is swept by per-sistent and effective cyber and electronicwarfare attacks.

On the precision-guided munition side, theUS Air Force Research Laboratory at EglinAir Force Base, Florida, is studying a kind ofseeker that directs bombs to detect and de-stroy GPS jammers, called home-on-GPSjam, or HOG-J.

Last year, the lab awarded Scientific Appli-cations & Research Associates of Cypress,California, a $9.8 million contract to inte-grate the seeker into the JDAM and Small Di-ameter Bomb Increment I (SDB-I) weaponsand demonstrate it in flight tests. The work,at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico,is expected to be completed by late 2016.

The JDAM is a guidance kit that convertsunguided gravity bombs, or dumb bombs,into smart munitions. For years, it had reliedsolely on a GPS-aided inertial navigation sys-tem, but Boeing developed a laser-guidanceversion and debuted it in combat in 2008.

Its unclear precisely how vulnerable theJDAM is to GPS jamming. Flint declined todiscuss a Jerusalem Post report which saidNorth Koreas jamming of GPS signals inSouth Korea in 2011 affected its JDAM ar-senal, but he said Boeing is taking the threatof GPS-denied environments seriously

enough to modify its weapons.I cant comment on specific incidents, but

we do consider GPS jamming to be a very via-ble scenario and a potential threat to the ac-curacy and performance to the weapons wehave achieved, he said.

The laser variant of its JDAM guidance kitwas developed to allow the bombs to adjustcourse and hit fast-moving enemy trucks onthe well-paved roads of Iraq, but it could alsobe used to close in on a target if a GPS signalis denied.

GPS jamming has really evolved over thelast five or six years, and the laser really givesyou a great capability to go GPS indepen-dent, Flint said.

Beyond that, a government-mandatedJDAM upgrade about eight years ago re-quired kits to include a selective availabilityanti-spoofing module (SAASM) and aSAASM/anti-jam receiver. The weapon, asmany do, also includes an inertial navigationsystem, which makes it GPS-independentwhen fired from closer ranges, Flint said.

US Special Operations Command has field-ed a laser version of the SDB I, Flint said.SDB I and JDAM are both coordinate-seek-ing in their baseline configurations, thoughBoeing adapted the laser sensor initiallyfielded in the JDAM and began testing it inthe SDB I in 2011, according to the company.

More recently, Boeing is developing im-proved GPS tracking software, in testing thisyear. Its multi-element antennas, intended toallow the bomb to better capture GPS signalseven through jamming attempts, is due fortests over the next year or two, Flint said.

In search of GPS-level accuracy in areaswithout a signal, Boeing is developing a navi-gation system that can recognize a stationarytarget from a picture. The pilot or another op-erator could send a picture of a group ofbuildings, for example, and designate whichbuilding the bomb must hit.

Rockwell Collins has a four-element anten-na, the Integrated GPS Anti-Jam System(IGAS), used in the JDAM, Simon said. Twen-ty years ago, antennas were single-patternedand captured an analog signal, but RockwellCollins and Raytheon have produced con-trolled reception pattern antennas with asmany as seven elements, controlled by digi-

tal antenna electronics. Commercial GPS typically operates on the

L1 frequency, while the military operates onL2 as well, with the ability to encrypt on both.That ability, even without embedded anti-jam capability, protects military GPS de-vices. Products like IGAS are meant to pro-vide even more protection.

To combat battlefield obscurants, SDB II,which Raytheon is building for the Air Force,uses a three-mode seeker: a millimeter-waveradar to detect and track targets throughweather, an imaging infrared for enhancedtarget discrimination, and a semi-active laserthat enables the weapon to track an airbornelaser designator or one on the ground.

Raytheon said in May that the Air Force ismoving toward low-rate initial production,with plans to put it on the F-35, F/A-18E/F andF-16 aircraft. Initial planning has also startedfor integration on the Super Hornet.

The presidents 2016 budget requests$184.8 million for 100 Raytheon-made tacti-cal Tomahawk block IV cruise missiles. Itwill be able to perform in-flight retargeting,loiter over the battlefield and feature im-proved anti-jam GPS.

The Army and Navys Excalibur 155mm ar-tillery round, produced by Raytheon andBAE Systems Bofors, uses a NavStorm G-Hardened anti-jam GPS system. In May,Raytheon said announced the Army hadfired two of the projectiles from an M109A2/A3 Howitzer.

Textron Systems plans to incorporate itssemi-active laser into its 50- or 70-pound G-CLAW, named for the Clean Area Warhead(CLAW) originally developed for the US AirForce but never used. The companys 12-pound Fury has GPS-aided inertial naviga-tion and a semi-active laser seeker for termi-nal guidance.

Intended for manned and unmanned plat-forms, the G-CLAW in September completeda live-fire demonstration at the US ArmysYuma Proving Ground in Arizona. From10,000 feet, Textron dropped the G-CLAWfrom a Cessna Caravan aircraft equippedwith a US Special Operations Commandcommon launch tube dispenser. N

Email: jgould@defensenews.com.

Guided-Bomb MakersAnticipate GPS Jammers

By JOE GOULD

REBECCA AMBER/US AIR FORCE

Getting Smarter: Airmen load an AIM-120 AMRAAM, left, and a GBU-38 JDAM onto an F-16 at Edwards AirForce Base, California. The US military and its industry partners have various means fielded and in developmentto ensure that smart munitions hit their targets, despite enemies use of jammers and spoofing equipment.

Precision-GuidedMunitions

FOCUS

10 DefenseNews June 1, 2015 www.defensenews.comASIA & PACIFIC RIM

NEW DELHI The Indian Army is facing anacute shortage of ammunition, and even theWar Wastage Reserve, which is required tomaintain supplies for at least a 40-day war,has fallen to a 20-day supply, according tothe latest report of Indias Comptroller andAuditor General (CAG).

The 79-page Report of the Comptrollerand Auditor General of India on Ammuni-tion Management in Army, for the year end-ed March 2013, says there was a shortage for125 of the 170 types of ammunition used,mainly for armored fighting vehicles, artil-lery guns and by the infantry. Defense Newshas a copy of the report, which was releasedin May.

A Defence Ministry official, while admit-ting to the shortage, said supplies have in-creased by more than 15 percent since 2013.

In addition to shortages, an Army officialsaid, the quality of ammunition procuredfrom the state-owned ordnance factories,the only source of ammunition supplies, isinferior. India does not permit the manufac-turing of ammunition by the private sector.Ammunition is procured either from the ord-nance factories managed by the state-ownedOrdnance Factory Board (OFB) or throughimports, largely from Russia.

The CAG report says the shortages of criti-cal ammunition, especially for tanks and airdefense systems, is high.

The percentage of critical ammunition[shortage] in high caliber ranged up to 84

percent during the five-year period of audit,says the report, which covers the years 2008-2013. The critical shortages impacted theoperational preparedness and training re-gimen of the Army.

The shortages began after Israel MilitaryIndustries (IMI) was blacklisted in 2008 andits tie-up with OFB to produce high-tech am-munition for tanks was scrapped. IMI wasaccused of bribing OFB officials. The short-age was later made up by imports from Rus-sia.

There is a shortage of specialized ammu-nition, like armor-piercing, fin-stabilized dis-carding sabot [APFSDS] rounds, owing tocancellation of the Israeli contract. Theseare made up by imports or through surge ca-pacities of OFB, said defense analyst ArunSahgal, a retired Army brigadier general.

India purchased 66,000 such shells fromRussia for $450 million late last year.

Defense analysts say the Army is totallydependent on OFB and Russia for ammuni-tion.

Russia, which has a near monopoly in thesupply of ammunition, has not fulfilled itscommitment to set up ammunition factorieswith Ordnance Factories, especially formaking ammunition for Smerch multibarrelrocket launchers and ammunition for T-90tanks, defense analyst Nitin Mehta said.

Amit Cowshish, a retired MoD financialadviser, said, It is quite apparent that OFBdoes not have the capacity to meet the fullrequirement within the desired time frame,and therefore we will have to resort to im-

ports for some time to come to make up thedeficiency.

The Army official said a lack of technologytransfer for high-tech ammunition has alsocontributed to the shortage. When contractswere signed with Russia to purchase T-90and T-72 tanks and air defense guns, no tech-nology transfer was included to produce se-lect ammunition, leading to totaldependence on Russia.

While buying T-72 and T-90 series tanksfrom Russia, India got only the technologyfrom Russia for making HE [high explosive]and HEAT [high explosive anti-tank] ammu-nition for the tank but did not obtain thetechnology for 125mm APFSDS ammuni-tion, which is the most crucial ammunitionfor this tank, the Army official said.

OFB is capable of manufacturing mosttypes of ammunition except some moderntank and artillery shells for which it is acquir-ing technology. However, there is lack of ac-countability in the OFB, said defenseanalyst Rahul Bhonsle, a retired IndianArmy brigadier general.

Defence Ministry sources also cite inade-quate funding.

There is a shortage of funds as projec-tions by the MoD for the armed forces arecut back by the Ministry of Finance in thefinal budget by 25 percent or so, Bhonslesaid. This is a vicious cycle; there is a prob-lem of budget management wherein [finan-cial] surrender from capital accounts andinternal adjustments have led to loss of cred-ibility of MoDs financial management,which in turn leads the Ministry of Financeto believe that the services can do with less-er allocations.

Another Army official said that in additionto curtailed supplies from OFB, there are is-sues of quality management. Users wantthe weapons inspection agency, DirectorateGeneral Quality Assurance, which is pres-ently under the MoD, to be brought directlyunder the Indian Army to ensure greater par-ticipation of the users in quality manage-ment. N

Email: vraghuvanshi@defensenews.com.

Indian Army StrugglesWith Ammo Shortages

By VIVEK RAGHUVANSHI

SAUL LOED/AFP

Running Low: An Indian Army T-90 tank drives past during the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi in January.India did not receive the technology transfer necessary to produce certain types of ammunition when itpurchased the T-90 and other weapons.

AFRICA

WITBANK, South Africa Defensechiefs and special operations com-manders from nine member statesof the Southern Africa Develop-ment Community (SADC) have re-solved to intensify the training ofregional special ops counterterror-ism units to improve their rapid re-sponse capabilities.

Although it has largely beenspared from the terrorist activitiesaffecting other parts of the conti-nent, south African countries de-veloped the unit, which is made upof air, land and naval commandos,to deal with the encroaching secu-rity threat.

A force initially was set up in thelate 1990s to respond to militaryand civil unrest, but since 2013 thefocus has shifted to counteringmultinational terror threats, whichso far have affected only one mem-ber state, Tanzania.

Special ops forces commandersrecently met in Zimbabwes capi-tal, Harare, to work out ways ofsharpening counterterrorismtraining to give the force a rapid re-sponse capability to face thethreats raging in nearby countries.

The conference was held underthe theme Combat Survival, Navi-gation and Counter-Terrorism. Itcomes a few months after intelli-gence reports suggesting NigerianIslamist Boko Haram and the So-mali-based Al Shebbab militantgroups are trying to establishrecruitment and sleeper cells inSouth Africa, Namibia and Zimba-bwe.

Addressing the conference, Zim-babwe National Army Chief ofStaff Maj. Gen. Trust Mugoba saidthe region needs a rapid responseforce capable of spearheading thedeployment of regular troops fromthe SADC stand-by brigade to deal

Southern Africa Emphasizes Special Ops TrainingBy OSCAR NKALA

MOHAMED ABDIWAHAB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Surveying the Damage: Passersby look at the wreckage of a car bomb outside the Education Ministry in Mogadishu, Somalia. A groupof nearby southern African countries are emphasizing special forces training to fight terrorism.See SPECIAL OPS, Page 11

www.defensenews.com June 1, 2015 DefenseNews 11

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AFRICA

with terror threats, armed rebel-lions, military coups and civil un-rest.

The stand-by brigade is a criticalregional component of the long-delayed African Union (AU) stand-by force which, if activated at theend of the year as planned, will becharged with intervening militarilyto restore stability in memberstates.

Mugoba said there is a need forregular special ops training to en-sure force cohesion and smoothjoint mission planning.

Terrorism is a threat every-where [in Africa] and the SADCspecial ops forces need to be pre-pared to manage such situationsrapidly through enhancing opera-tional capabilities, Mugoba said.In the context of setting up a re-gional rapid response force, wehave realized that there is need tohold regular joint training pro-grams. That is why this conferencehas a specific training program forthe [regional] special [operations]forces element.

The extensive operational man-date of the special ops troops in-cludes reconnaissance, intelli-gence-gathering, offensive action,counterterrorism, the protectionof vital and strategic interests,search-and-rescue services, andmilitary capacity development.

The forces are geared to respondto a crisis within eight hours, there-by providing a critical stopgap tomitigate crises before the deploy-ment of the SADC-AU stand-by bri-gade. The brigade is operationallyhandicapped because it can onlybe activated 54 days after the un-folding of a crisis.

This years special operationsdrills will be held on Lake Kariba inZimbabwe with at least 500 mem-bers from regional land, air and na-val forces participating in acounterterrorism training pro-gram Aug. 24-Sept. 25. The drill,code-named Exercise Mahombe-kombe, will be used to hone thecombat survival, navigation andcounterterrorism skills of the spe-cial operators.

It will also focus on maritime an-ti-piracy operations and how todeal with hostage-taking and kid-napping, tactics regularly used byterrorist groups.

Angolan special operations com-mander Brig. Gen. Joao BaptistaPaulo said there is an urgent needto establish a regional special opsEnglish language training school.Such a school would ensure effec-tive communications during jointoperations with troops from threenations in the 15-country SADCthat do not use English as an offi-cial language Portuguese-speaking Mozambique and Angola

and the Democratic Republic ofCongo, where French is the officiallanguage.

Communication is a major chal-lenge within the SADC special [op-erations] forces. We recommendthe creation of an English languagetraining school for members tomake it easy to communicatewhile on joint operations. It is

known there are three official lan-guages spoken in the region andthese are French, Portuguese andEnglish, Paulo said.

Further, he said English lan-guage proficiency will cut out theneed for interpreters, which oftenpresents practical problems dur-ing military operations.

The regional special ops force

operates under a rotational com-mand, currently chaired by Zimba-bwe National Army Col. EphiasMahachi.

Brig. Gen. Rudzani Maphwanya,commander of the South AfricanNational Defense Force specialoperations unit, also spoke at theconference.

SADC members South Africa,

Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zim-babwe, Mozambique, Angola, theDRC and Tanzania are providingtroops to the unit. Malawi, Mada-gascar, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mauri-tius and the Seychelles, part of theSADC, do not have any special op-erations components. N

Email: onkala@defensenews.com.

SPECIAL OPSFrom Page 10

12 DefenseNews June 1, 2015 www.defensenews.comNORTH AMERICA

WASHINGTON Soldiers in thefirst AH-64 Apache unit to receiveShadow unmanned aerial systemsare training to work out the kinksin preparation for their deploy-ment this summer to the MiddleEast.

The 1st Armored Divisions 3rdSquadron, 6th Cavalry Regimentwill deploy in August to Kuwait insupport of Operation SpartanShield. This will be the units firstdeployment in its new configura-tion just under 500 soldiersfrom Fort Bliss, Texas, will deployalong with 12 Shadows. The unitwill fall in on 24 Apaches alreadyin theater.

The squadron, which was re-flagged March 16 from 1st Battal-ion, 501st Aviation Regiment, wasthe first of 10 Apache units to re-ceive the Shadow. This made it thefirst Apache battalion to be con-verted to a heavy attack recon-naissance squadron.

These are really exciting timesfor us, turning science fiction intoreality almost, said Capt. JeremyPaquin, commander of the squad-rons Bravo Troop. We continueto improve every day.

The conversion added three pla-toons of RQ-7 Shadow unmannedaerial systems to the unit and ispart of the Armys five-year Avia-tion Restructuring Initiative. Partof the restructure eliminates the

OH-58 Kiowa Warrior, the venera-ble armed scout reconnaissancehelicopter, from the Armys inven-tory.

Having Shadows organic to thesquadron is a new capability, andwith any new capability, it takes alot of work to work out the kinks,Paquin said.

One example is the new avionicssoftware that gives the Apachecrews near-simultaneous, near-instantaneous ability to see whatthe Shadows are doing.

Its not intuitive, we have topractice, Paquin said.

Since the beginning of the year,the squadron has conducted fourmajor training events that havehelped to hone our pairing of theApaches and the Shadows, saidCommand Sgt. Maj. Terri Clavon,the squadrons senior enlisted sol-dier.

To start, the Shadow operatorsand maintainers spent monthslearning the unmanned aerial sys-tem. The squadron then conduct-ed Operation Heavy Shadow,where the Apaches and Shadowsflew together so the soldiers couldlearn how to better work together,Clavon said. It was the first tacti-cal exercise to team Apaches andShadows organically.

The crews then moved up tomanned-unmanned teaming exer-cises, where for the first time anArmy heavy attack reconnais-sance squadron used Shadows to

point out targets during a live-firetraining, he said.

Our Shadows were instrumen-tal in providing remote laser desig-nation for our Apaches, allowingthem to stand off and get greaterlethality from a larger stand-offdistance, Clavon said.

The final piece of training wasover-water training at MarineCorps Air Station Miramar in Cali-fornia.

It allowed our troops to fly theaircraft and get used to that toughenvironment of flying over theocean, where there arent a lot ofpoints to give you visual referenc-es, Clavon said. This way theycan be better trained and ready fortheir follow-on missions and pro-vide a better force for the environ-ment we are going to be going to.

The soldiers are picking up les-sons learned and tactics, tech-niques and procedures as they goalong, said Chief Warrant Officer 4Shaun Breth, the standardizationinstructor pilot for 3rd Squadron.

The biggest part from my side isincorporating the Shadow opera-tions with the manned attack op-erations we already conduct,Breth said. Were trying to bettersynchronize each of our trainingevents to pair our missions togeth-er to make us more lethal and ef-fective on the battlefield.

Having the Shadows organic tothe squadron has made operationsmore efficient, Breth said.

It also has pushed for a differentmindset.

Were working on a hunter-kill-er concept, Paquin said. TheShadow is the hunter, the Apacheis the killer. Were really bringingthe Shadow operator away fromthe mindset of [intelligence andsurveillance] to a gun pilot mental-ity. Theyre there to support theground force commander.

The Apache pilots and Shadowcrews have benefited from beingin the same unit and working to-gether so closely, Clavon said.

A lot of times previously, theydidnt get that real understandingof how the guys in the aircraftwanted the sensors employed, hesaid. But now with these guysworking directly with us, going toweekly pilots briefings, gettingupdates and understanding howthe guys in the aircraft are actuallyemploying the Apache helicopter,they can be an added tool for add-ing to the lethality of our systems.

So far, the feedback from theApache and Shadow crews hasbeen positive, said Lt. Col. RJ Gar-cia, the squadron commander.

Both groups really see the po-tential the realized potentialand the future potential ofmanned-unmanned training, hesaid. We learn something new ev-ery day on how we can do this bet-ter.

His soldiers are breakingground on manned-unmannedtactics, techniques and proce-dures, Garcia said.

Thats really the future of howwere going to operate, he said,adding that theyre sharing les-sons learned with other Apacheunits preparing to integrate theShadow.

The capability we bring to anyoperation is increased efficiency,lethality and effectiveness, hesaid. N

Email: mtan@armytimes.com

Armys First Apache, ShadowUnit Prepares To Deploy

By MICHELLE TAN

SGT. ALEXANDER K. NEELY/US ARMY

Learning the Shadow: Soldiers from 3rd Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, CombatAviation Brigade, 1st Armored Division, prepare an RQ-7B version 2 Shadow unmannedaerial vehicle for launch April 15 at McGregor Range, N.M.

ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT OVER THEPACIFIC The Pentagon has assembled agroup to look at potential changes to thetrain and equip mission in Iraq, Defense Sec-retary Ash Carter said.

After the fall of Ramadi to forces from theIslamic State, commonly known as ISIS, Car-ter has tasked representatives from the de-partments policy, Central Command andjoint staff offices to investigate ways thePentagon can improve Iraqi governmentforces.

The events of recent weeks there havehighlighted the central importance of havinga capable ground partner, and thats whatthe purpose of our train and equip programis, Carter explained to journalists travelingwith him overseas.

One of the last things I did before I leftWashington was meet with my team and askthem what can we do to enhance the effec-tiveness of the train and equip line of effort,Carter said. I cant describe to you what thepossibilities are because folks are looking atthem right now.

Carter added that the group is looking atways to hasten the train and equip efforts.

A senior pentagon official later confirmedthe group had its first meeting last week, butnoted there is no timetable for when a reportneeds to be delivered to Carter.

The same official added that while suchdiscussions occur regularly inside the Pen-tagon, this group was set up specifically be-cause of the events at Ramadi.

Ramadi made us pause and say we had totake a hard look at how we do the train andequip mission, the senior pentagon official

said.One option not being explored, the official

added, is the option to directly equip Sunnimilitias inside Iraq. The Iraqi governmenthas the lead on any equipment decisions,and despite some calls in Congress to thecontrary, the Obama administration has re-mained steadfast that the Iraqi governmentcontrol that aspect of operations.

Carter made waves recently during a CNNinterview where he appeared to take a shotat Iraqi military forces in Ramadi, sayingthey showed no willingness to fight.

The secretary did not shy away from thosecomments, but instead cast them in a differ-ent light, indicating a better trained andequipped force would have been better ableto stand up to ISIS.

I think training and equipment affect theeffectiveness of the forces, and therefore

their ability to operate, their confidence intheir ability to operate, so there is a directrelationship, he said. N

Email: amehta@defensenews.com

US Looks at Train, Equip Options in Iraq By AARON MEHTA

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP

Help From US: Iraqi security forces and paramilitariesdeploy in al-Nibaie area during an operation aimed atcutting off Islamic State jihadists in Anbar provincebefore an offensive to retake Ramadi.

www.defensenews.com June 1, 2015 DefenseNews 13NORTH AMERICA

WASHINGTON Details of the newlittoral combat ship (LCS) frigateprograms acquisition strategy arestill being reviewed, the US Navysaid, and the service will likely fallmore than a month behind a dead-line to submit the strategy to seniorPentagon officials.

In his directions last year to theNavy to develop an enhanced frig-ate version of the LCS, then-De-fense Secretary Chuck Hagelordered the service to submit anacquisition strategy to the Office ofthe Secretary of Defense (OSD) byMay 1.

Left open, however, were exactlywhat details the strategy would in-clude. Navy officials have not com-mitted to specifying what detailswould be provided, and they con-tinue to evade a commitment.

The Navy has drafted an acquisi-tion strategy framework that out-lines plans for the frigates designand procurement, Cmdr. Thur-raya Kent, spokesperson for theservices acquisition directorate,said earlier this month. It has alsoprepared an assessment for for-

ward and back-fitting LCSs withfrigate capabilities where it makesthe most sense. Both of these ac-tions are pre-decisional and are be-ing reviewed by senior Navyleadership prior to submission toOSD.

The Navy will not comment pub-licly on specific elements of the ac-quisition strategy or assessment,Kent added. However, the Navylooks forward to continued dia-logue with Congress through thecoming months on the latest devel-opments of the frigate acquisitionprocess.

LCSs beginning with hull number33 are now officially referred to asfrigates, a decision announced inJanuary by Navy Secretary Ray Ma-bus. Not yet clear and perhapssomething that might be in the newacquisition strategy is whetherthe next eight LCSs to be ordered,hull numbers 25 through 32, will beclassed as frigates or LCSs.

The Navy is working to backfitmany features of the LCS frigateinto earlier ships, including theeight interim ships, but the designof the frigates remains an ongoingeffort.

Pre-preliminary design and sys-tem selection for the frigate will becompleted in October 2015, ChrisJohnson, a spokesman with the Na-val Sea Systems Command, saidMay 28. Preliminary and contract

design will occur after pre-prelimi-nary design, ultimately resulting ina technical package that will sup-port a shipbuilding contract in FY2019.

Numerous questions about the

ships designs remain to be an-swered, including the selectionand configuration of armamentand sensor packages. N

E-mail ccavas@defensenews.com.

No Acquisition Strategy Yet for LCS FrigatesBy CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS

AUSTAL USA

Plan Still Pending: Details of the US Navy's new LCS frigate variant have yet to be announced. Meanwhile, construction of earlierlittoral combat ships, like the Montgomery, continues.

14 DefenseNews June 1, 2015 www.defensenews.com

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27 keynote at Joint Base Pearl Har-bor in Hawaii, where he reaffirmedthat the US will not be beholden toChinas claims that these new is-lands represent territorial holdsthat must be respected under inter-national law.

First, we want a peaceful reso-lution of all disputes, and an imme-diate and lasting halt to landreclamation by any claimant, Car-ter said in his prepared remarks.We also oppose any further milita-rization of disputed features.

Second, and there should be nomistake: The United States will fly,sail and operate wherever interna-tional law allows, as we do allaround the world.

The latter was the most forcefulcomment Carter has made aboutChinas claims of sovereignty inthe region. He noted that Chinasdisrespect for internationalnorms is leading other nations inthe Pacific to turn toward the USas an alternative.

Chinas actions are bringingcountries in the region together innew ways. And theyre increasingdemand for American engagementin the Asia-Pacific. Were going tomeet it. We will remain the princi-pal security power in the Asia-Pa-cific for decades to come.

Talking to a group of reporterstraveling with him, Carter deniedthat the US was doing anything dif-ferently in the Pacific, insteadthrowing the blame for the regionschanging political environment onChina.

The new facts are the reclama-tion and the scale on which it is be-ing done, Carter said. Thats notan American fact. Thats a Chinesefact.

The Chinese government, unsur-prisingly, views things differently.Wang Dong, executive director atPeking Universitys Institute onChina-US People to People Ex-change, called Carters statementtypical bluffing actions.

The are intended to send a sig-nal and to communicate US re-solve, a very typical move of asignaling game, Dong said. How-ever, the US overflight actually vio-lates international law andinfringes upon Chinas rights. ...Therefore, the US position is un-sustainable.

Because of that clear disconnectin what is and is not internationallaw, Zhuang Jianzhong, vice direc-tor, Center for National StrategyStudies at Shanghai Jiao Tong Uni-versity, said it is important for theUS to maintain communications.

The historical issues and thedisputed maritime issues couldnot be solved for only one time orseveral times of dialogue. It needsconsistent and persistent efforts

and, above all, sincerity, he noted.

Developing PartnershipsIn the wake of Chinas actions, it

is hard to ignore how the US hasreached out and strengthenedpartnerships in the region. Inroughly a year, the US has strucknew agreements with India, Aus-tralia, Japan and the Philippines,while also evolving its relationshipwith Vietnam. And while thoseagreements are of varying signifi-cance, they add up to a paper trailshowing the US strategy in the Pa-cific.

A senior US defense official toldreporters that the overall trip willbe focused heavily on developingthat kind of open, inclusive, re-gional security architecture thatwe have been building and onwhich we will continue to build.

The highlight of the Asian tripwas the Shangri-La Dialogue, anannual gathering of defense lead-ers from the region hosted by theInternational Institute of SecurityStudies, held May 29-31 in Singa-pore. Carter continued his call forbuilding regional capabilities in aMay 30 speech there.

Before the dialogue, Carter tookpart in bilateral discussions withSingaporean officials, includingmeeting with Defense Minister NgEng Hen. Carter did not have anyplanned meetings with Chinese of-ficials while at the Dialogue, al-though it is possible informalcommunications occurred behindclosed doors. When asked why nosuch meetings were scheduled,DoD officials pointed to the multi-ple lines of communication be-tween the US and China that occuron a regular basis.

The senior US defense officialpointed out the increasing impor-tance of Singapore as a militarypartner, including plans to hostfour US Navy littoral combat shipsthere by 2018 the first perma-nent presence of US naval vesselsin the South China Sea since theearly 1990s.

That theme of building up mari-time security partnerships in theregion will continue in the nexttwo visits of the trip, first to Viet-

nam and later to India.In Vietnam, Carter will visit Hai-

phong harbor for what he calledan unprecedented visit to both theVietnamese Navy and Coast Guardcommanders installations andvessels in that harbor. And in In-dia, the first stop will be the east-ern port of Visag, which Carterdescribed as key to Indias Pacificstrategy.

Carter indicated the Indian stopwill feature a discussion of poten-tial defense technological cooper-ation with the US, which he calleda big priority for India.

Van Jackson, a Pacific expertwith the Center for a New Ameri-can Security, said building partnercapacity in the region is importantto furthering stability in the Pacif-ic. A common operating picture isnot sexy, but its important forcountering the trend, Jacksonsaid.

That includes increasing jointmaritime patrols, more joint train-ing, as well as making sure allies inthe region are using the same gearand can communicate not just withUS forces, but with each other.

Its all for the sake of creating anenvironment in these high-frictionareas that [is] as transparent aspossible, Jackson said. So if Chi-na is using fishing vessels ordrones to press its claims, that canbe seen by everyone in the region.

Aggression is called out for be-ing aggressive, he added. Sun-shine is the least provocativeantidote, so there is good in build-ing capacity for partners to be ableto see the same things.

Focusing on maritime securitycapabilities of regional partnerswould seem to be the US way of re-sponding to Chinas increasing ag-gressiveness, but the senior USdefense official repeatedly pushedback at the idea, citing the trans-parent way American officialshave communicated with theirChinese counterparts.

Still, he acknowledged US con-cern about Chinas attempts to ex-pand its territory.

No amount of reclamation, noamount of dredging, no amount offacilities construction on those re-

claimed features can generate a le-gitimate territory or claim underinternational law, the official said.

With regard to what we will doabout it, lets look at it this way:While the Chinese are building is-lands, were building trust in the re-gion, the official added. We arestrengthening our alliances, we arebuilding our partnerships, andover time we believe that thisweight that we bring to bear on theissue will help all of the claimants,including the Chinese, achieve ajust and peaceful solution of theirdifferences.

Asked specifically what optionsthe US is weighing in the region,the senior defense official de-murred. The Defense Departmentis an option-producing institu-tion, the official said. Im not go-ing to talk about any particularactions were going to take in thefuture.

Jackson warned against lettingthe current impasse stand.

If the status quo continues forfive years, it gets worse and worseto the point where we have nocredibility in the region, Jacksonsaid. It puts us in a box where wehave to capitulate to actual aggres-sion or have a live-fire confronta-tion. Thats where we can end up ifnothing changes.

That view is shared by HughWhite, author of the new book,The China Choice: Why AmericaShould Share Power.

Carter seems to hope that theUS can hit on a military responsethat is strong enough to compelChina to back off, but not so strongthat it provokes a Chinese counter-response, White said. Alas, thereis almost certainly no such optionavailable. China will either ignorewhat the US does by way of over-flights, in which case the US endsup looking weak. Or China will hitback at the US, in which case Car-ter and Obama face an appallingchoice between backing off them-selves or escalating in turn.

That, White noted, is howwars start. N

Wendell Minnick in Singaporecontributed to this report.

CARTER IN ASIAFrom Page 1

GLENN FAWCETT/US DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

Breakfast inSingapore: US DefenseSecretary Ash Carter,right, sits down for abreakfast meeting withSingapore DefenseMinister Ng Eng Hen onMay 29.

www.defensenews.com June 1, 2015 DefenseNews 15EUROPE

WARSAW The largely unexpect-ed victory by opposition candidateAndrzej Duda in the second roundof Polands recent presidentialelections could shift the countrysmilitary priorities and create morefriction with Russia.

Duda is set to replace incumbentPresident Bronislaw Komorowskifrom the ruling Civic Platform Par-ty, which has been governing Po-land since 2007.

Dudas Law and Justice (PiS)Party is seen by many analysts asstaunchly anti-Russian and pro-US. During his campaign, Dudacriticized Komorowski and his par-tys government for its recent deci-sion to award Polands multi-billion-dollar military helicopterdeal to Airbus Helicopters.

This amount of money is huge,and the contract should be imple-mented in a way which would max-imize its benefits for the Polishsociety, Duda said in a televisedbroadcast April 22.

In late April, the Ministry of De-fense announced it selected theCaracal EC-725 to replace the Polish militarys Soviet-designedMil Mi-8, Mi-14 and Mi-17 copters.However, according to Duda, Po-land should instead opt for Sikor-skys Black Hawk or Agusta-Westlands AW149, as bothmanufacturers operate Poland-based subsidiaries PZL Mielecand PZL Swidnik, respectively and employ local workers.

The Defense Ministry, however,dismissed bids by the US and An-glo-Italian consortia, as they werenot in compliance with the formaland technical requirements, ac-cording to the ministry.

Local newspaper Rzeczpospoli-ta reported that the helo procure-ment is estimated to be worth up to10 billion zloty (US $2.8 billion).

During his campaign, the presi-dent-elect called for overhaulingPolands defense policy. And whilethe level of military spending is de-termined by parliament and acqui-sitions are made by the DefenseMinistry, the president plays an im-portant role in defense policy.

Among other roles, he is thecommander in chief of the armedforces, and he nominates the chiefof the General Staff and other topmilitary commanders, as well asthe head of the National SecurityBureau. The president also has theright to veto any bill passed by theparliament, which provides himwith a powerful tool to influenceall defense-related legislation.

In February, in a policy speech atlocal th