The Tale of the Logos

This leads to the other superficial similarity to NASCAR: The proliferation of corporate logos on the vehicles.

As you'll note, they are the very same logos. It was the automotive industry, both consumer and industrial, that was all over the place. Caterpillar sponsored three teams and there were CAT hats, T-shirts and logos wherever you looked. I'm sure the General Motors PR folks are exchanging high fives today - the GM logo covered about half the side of the winning Boss robot.

Your usual defense industry vendors were in evidence. LockMart, Honeywell, Teledyne - to name a few - have made contributions of subsystems and presumably people and cash. But their logos were small and their presence quiet.

Admittedly the automotives value brand equity, while defense is the ultimate inside selling business. But the real tale is in the composition of the teams. Here's an algorithm I tested at the event: Find someone wearing a T-shirt from a team that finished the Challenge, who appears to be over 30, and chat them up. If they aren't a university professor or staffer, then you've likely just located someone seconded from Volkswagen, GM, Cat or the like.

The clear lesson that comes out talking to these folks is that they see their Urban Challenge spinoffs reaching market well before there are convoys of autonomous logistics vehicles on the battlefield. Fully robotic cars are still a ways off, but semi-autonomous safety and convenience features - the next generation of self-parking - are already on the roadmap. Having participated in a few 70 to 80 mph 'freight trains' on I-5 while driving home, I'm all for that. One can easily foresee a not-so-distant future in which teenage and elderly drivers are required to engage autonomous safety features when at the wheel.

Fully autonomous systems will have an earlier home in industrial applications. Mining, maintenance and other 'dull, dirty and dangerous' (and often remote) jobs are square in Caterpillar's sights, and are a major part of the rhetoric coming from the winning Team Tartan. (Disclosure: I have an investment in this sector.)

The Urban Challenge may herald a transformation in both consumer and industrial automotive that's as profound as any defense meaning of the word.

A Convergence Of Platforms

For those of us in Silicon Valley and in hi-tech generally, a 'platform' is something largely built out of software. Think Linux, Google Web services, Windows or OS X. Microsoft's recent habits aside, we're accustomed to having the platform's functionality updated and augmented once or twice a year at least. Platforms have more or less well described functional interfaces that allow third parties to access their capabilities.

High tech investors pay a lot of attention to the creation and augmentation of these platforms. Their appearance and success is a sign that a market is reaching consensus on a set of sufficient functions to address its needs. Because it allows outsiders to tap and augment this functionality, the advent of a software platform means that the capital costs and other entry barriers of building a salable end-user product are ready to fall again. That can spell opportunity for startups. Innovations they spawn are often acquired, integrated and made generally available to platform users.

Having grown up in a GM family, I'm well aware that 'platform' has meant something very different in the automotive industry. It's a collection of structural, motive and control systems that will be the underlying basis for a number of superficially different vehicles. Rather than cycling in months, an automotive platform might turn over once every five years. Any 'interfaces' have historically been mechanical, always highly idiosyncratic, and generally unavailable to those outside the automotive OEM's supply and maintenance chains. The gulf between OEM and 'after market' components markets has been huge. Lacking the ability to wait out the lengthy platform cycle, and considering the risks of selling to a highly concentrated OEM market, private investors and consequent innovation have generally avoided this area.

The Urban Challenge represents one of two revolutions that will force the automotive market closer to the Silicon Valley notion of 'platform'. The other driver is the change in motive systems, and it's worth a quick detour. Hybrids are the first step toward what's likely to become all-electric motive power in many vehicles. Once the step to electric motors with 100% capability is taken, the source of the electricity is literally decoupled - the old fashioned drive shaft vanishes. Batteries, fuel cells, or hydrocarbon driven generation can be mixed and matched. The phrase for this in software architecture is "separation of concerns", and it's important not only for modularity, but to allow the modularized functions to innovate separately and usually more rapidly.

The Urban Challenge fits squarely into the second transforming theme, drive by wire. Accelerator linkages, shifters, brake master cylinders and even steering columns are slowly disappearing, replaced by electronic interfaces to distributed actuators. Which are in turn the perfect plug-in spots for the capabilities pioneered in the DARPA events. Add a similar data stream for sensor data, and the road for continuous improvement of safety and other autonomous functions is open.

We're probably never going to want to download new functions from the Internet into the family car. But if the military and government in general exercise some wisdom in mandating open interfaces when they begin to procure autonomous systems, we can avoid the era of 'fork lift upgrades' that occurred in avionics and allow flexible upgrades on fielded equipment. A separation of concerns of sensor array, actuators, and supervisory software will allow more independent innovation in both the civilian and military markets.

What's The Next Challenge?

DARPA's boss Tony Tether unsurprisingly dodged that question at the press conference following the Urban Challenge. If nothing else, his team now has weeks and months of pouring over captured data to find out what really happened from a systems point of view. How much of the outcome was robustness, and how much good luck? Until that's known, the real state of the research front is not. One can expect that the Boss, Junior and Odin may meet again, somewhere out of the public eye.

A fast redirect of the question to the heads of the three leading teams produced interesting answers that may shed some light, however. Red Whittaker of Tartan Racing is ready for an 'enduro', a long range road race forcing the bots to cope with darkness, rain, snow and dust - a test of the robustness needed for real deployment. Sebastian Thrun of Stanford's more car oriented team would like to push speed and cornering, moving beyond the limits imposed by the human senses and muscles. He mentioned an idea to mix bots and humans at a future Long Beach Grand Prix event. The Virginia Tech team would like to see collaboration between multiple vehicles, in convoying or other 'flocking' maneuvers. To the extent that the winner's ideas reflect the cutting edge of engineering, they may give some clue of what to expect if there's a fourth robotic DARPA Challenge in store.

DARPA's other major goal for the competition was to spur interest in robotics generally, particularly in hopes of attracting talent into a field that will become strategically important in a sense beyond the direct defense implications. Based on comments from Stanford and other schools, they are seeing increased interest, and the Challenges have stimulated growth of a larger robotics community.

We, Robot

Some of the most fatuous commentary and questions from the mainstream media portrayed the Challenge bots as potential HAL 9000s or general purpose artificial intelligences. They are nothing of the kind. They have more to do with prosaic signal processing techniques like Kalman filtering, enabled by lots of processor power, than they do with any sort of general 'reasoning' power. As an articulate blogger from the Cornell team put it:

"I guess the thing that's difficult for passers-by to realize is that these cars lack the ability to learn: they only know exactly what they've been programmed. If one of these cars changes lanes or makes a turn smoothly, it's because some dedicated zealot stayed up late one night tuning the crazy thing until it looked just so."

It's an easy trap to fall into, though. Even Dr. Tether admitted that he ended up attributing personality to the bots, as did their attendant human chase drivers, and my own post on their body language. Personality and intelligence are the only mental models and language that humans have for that degree of autonomous behavior.

That straightjacket of language hides a major change in the direction of robotics development. Historically, the image of the robot in both fiction and research has been what the classic movie Blade Runner called replicants. Substitute humans, in other words. That makes for better stories, and an endlessly challenging - perhaps impossible - research agenda.

Boss, Junior, Odin and the rest, along with Roomba's, Japanese eldercare bots and many others are something else. They are symbionts, creations we have made to live alongside us and extend our capabilities. They do not substitute for the human. It remains our judgement on what medical treatment is required, how often to mow the lawn, or what the rules of engagement require on the battlefield.

The inescapable physical presence of a bot like the TerraMax hides something else: Many of the symbiots that are beginning to surround us are out of sight, either virtual or just thought of as useful features of a product or service. TiVos, Amazon recommendations, a car's skid control system, all act on our explicit or inferred command. We're all becoming part of robotic systems, just as much as any future commander of a convoy of DARPA-derived logistics bots.

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Processions

But first, perhaps to remind the assembled technology and automotive junkies that there is a serious mission underlying this effort, there was ceremony. The armed forces' oldest form of autonomous transportation met the newest.

A fleet of dozens of human-driven Ford Tauruses paraded through the start area and populated the streets of 'DARPA Town', in reality an abandoned housing area in the former George Air Force Base.

3-2-1...

And then they were off. After the problems caused yesterday by lining up all eleven bots at once, no more than three were staged in the chutes at any one time. 'Odin' from Virginia Tech led off the launch.

Followed by all ten of the other bots, from the smallest, Pennsylvania's 'Little Ben' Prius...

To Oshkosh Truck's 12-ton Terramax, the monster truck of the bot world and a crowd favorite...

Mission One

The day's course for the robots was divided into three missions, each consisting of 6 or 7 subtasks. After each complete mission, the bots would return to the start area to have a new mission file loaded and its sensors cleaned off by the team's pit crew.

The first mission quickly began to take a toll on the bots. I headed from the start area towards a press zone that overlooked a four-way stop which was going to force the bots to interact with one another. By the time I reached it, the DARPA staff's radios were already reporting that the vehicles from Team Annieway and IVS, the two most tentative in their movements in yesterday's practice runs, had already been removed from the course for going too slow and impeding traffic.

At the intersection, Boss soon appeared around a curve, with its chase vehicle behind.

The old housing in the background is in bad shape even for a ghost town. It's been used for urban warfare training that may have featured live demolition charges and flash-bangs, judging from the many blown out windows and walls. The heavy equipment is waiting to take it down as soon as the DARPA show departs.

Bot Jams

Sure enough, the four-way forced the bots to intersect on their courses. Several of them dealt with the traffic correctly, but then the UCF entry froze at one of the stop signs, with its chase car parked close behind. The Cornell bot approached the stopped vehicles from the rear, paused, probably decided they were just obstacles, and pulled out to pass. Then it froze as well.

With one road into the intersection choked, the MIT bot rounded a curve and headed for the opposing stop sign. At the same time, Little Ben rolled up from the right, and the press and DARPA staffers watched in anticipation, with no idea where the bots were supposed to go, or what was about to happen. (Little Ben in the foreground, UCF stuck in the center, Cornell barely visible over Little Ben's roof, MIT out of view left.)

MIT's Talos paused, successfully turned right away from the jam (and then seemed to stop for a bit to think about what had happened.) Little Ben had apparently also been tasked with a right turn, which would take it right into the jam of bots and chase cars. It began to roll, turned... (MIT turning, Little Ben beginning to roll).

...and threaded perfectly through the stopped bots and chase cars, and disappeared up the street. A cheer went up from the humans.

Then everything stopped. The race control had called an 'all pause', which froze all the bots and the human driven vehicles in their places. Word came down that the Terramax vehicle had appeared to go catatonic for twenty minutes while attempting a parking task, then suddenly accelerated, jumped a curb, and headed straight for the old post exchange building. It was apparently shut down before beginning demolition work, but Terramax's confident appearence yesterday did not hold up under stress, and its humans arrived and drove it away.

Pauses struck several more times during the first mission, and after too many inappropriate movements or blockages were caused, the bots from both UCF and Team CarOLO were removed from the course as well. By then the faster bots were returning to the start for their new mission assignments. But with five down and six left, the rate of attrition might end the race early.

Cranking It Up

With the weaker bots out of the way, and with confidence growing in their own performance, several teams appeared to be turning up the maximum speed of their vehicles during their second missions. The number of problematic interactions also dropped dramatically, and there were no further disqualifications during the second mission.

Here MIT's Talos gets a bit of body lean rounding the traffic circle.

By the start of the third mission CMU, Stanford and VT were building up a lead. Cornell and Little Ben had never turned up the speed, and MIT's increase seemed to be getting its bot into troubles. I overheard one CMU team member on the radio saying something to the effect of 'let them hit us for aggressiveness, just turn it up.' The top three were now running close to the posted limit of 25 (which doesn't seem like much until you've had a driverless car doing 25 zip past you ten feet away - on the other side of a K rail, fortunately). Stanford's Junior is pursued by Virginia Tech's Odin down the back straightaway of the traffic circle, with Tauruses chasing.

Making History

Then one of the slower bots, Cornell, pulled onto the traffic circle and stalled (due to a bug in a throttle controller, a team member told me later). MIT's Talos approached from the rear, regarded the stopped bot and chase car, and pulled out to pass the obstacles. As it cut back into the right lane, the Cornell vehicle suddenly moved forward, and the first bot-to-bot contact of the event occurred as bumpers met. This could have been disastrous, as the Cornell team had mounted many of their sensors inside the bumper of their Tahoe. Fortunately, neither vehicle suffered critical damage and they were backed off and restarted. The scuff on the bumper below is one half of the world's first bot-on-bot body shop work.

While Junior had been paused to allow the accident to be cleared, the other bots continued to run, and from that point on none of the three leaders appeared to have substantial delays in completing their tasks. Watching them round the circle to start the next part of the mission started to seem almost routine, and soon the announcer said that all three were on their final laps, and the viewing stands refilled. A cheer went up as Stanford's Junior appeared on the circle first, turned into the finish chute, and took the checkered flag, wielded by Dr. Tether.

Team Tartan's Boss was not far behind.

All four of the other bots still in the running also finished the course, a remarkable achievement for the world's first attempt at such an event. Note again that Stanford's crossing the finish line first does NOT make it the winner. Times will be adjusted for the staggered start, stoppages not the fault of the bot, and for 'moving violations' recorded by the judges on the course. We'll find out the actual winner tomorrow (Sunday) morning.

Update: The results are here.

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The first off the mark, 'Little Ben' moved out nicely, turned smoothly onto the test traffic circle, did most of its lap with a chase car tagging along, but then stopped abruptly and needed a human to bring it back.

But the next two bots to launch moved just a few feet and 'paused', as they say here - meaning they stopped themselves, or were stopped dead by a human overseer. Then the pride of Silicon Valley, Stanford's 'Junior' moved out, made a quick left 120 degree turn, and nearly impacted the bot three stalls over. Oops!

Given that all of these systems had already made it through this maneuver over the last few days, having three in a row go Tango Uniform was more than a bit suspicious, and the DARPA coordinators halted the test. I haven't heard any official word on what was going on, but the range of speculation was interesting in itself. The theories I heard in the bleachers and pits included:

• Sitting on the line for so long without launching might cause any system with a memory leak to fail.
• Purely by coincidence, the vendor of the differential GPS systems used on many of the vehicles had staged a new firmware download within the last 24 hours. That shouldn't make a difference, but....
• The rotating laser sensors used on many of the vehicles were interfering with each other.
• Some of the data files passed out to the teams might be corrupted.

Anyone who's ever worked on a distributed, realtime system will be cringing about now. As one team member put it, "There's thousands of ways for this to screw up, and only one way it works right."

DARPA had everyone reload their route files, and then restarted the test with no more three bots on the line at a time, and everything worked fine. Each of the vehicles rolled out, did its appointed lap and recovered at the appointed spot.

Watching from the bleachers, even such a small run shows the range of personalities of the bots. Just as a human driven vehicle has its own sort of 'body language', so each of the Urban Challenge bots gives an impression. Team Annieway's VW feels like a student driver: over-steering at slow speeds, moving tentatively onto and around the circle.

A CMU Team Tartan member commented that their 'Boss' has attitude, and indeed it moved out through the start area at a good clip, and was one of the fastest bots around the circle.

The 25,000 pound Terramax from Oshkosh Trucks has a presence due to its sheer size, starting out with a hiss of air brakes and motoring confidently along.

This qualitative feel is at least loosely related to the systems' characteristics. Are the various physical control systems well synchronized? Can the planner keep up with actual motion? Is the team confident enough to let its bot travel at a good clip? It will be interesting to see if my notes on 'body language' correlate to success or failure in tomorrow's big event.

(Update: Here's another view of the morning's events from a member of Team Cornell. I'm one of the guys who asked to meet him become of 'this little blog segment' of his. He's done a great job of capturing the atmospherics of the place. You've got to see the 'evil army of synchronized Ford Tauruses' in action to understand.)

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Air & Space Sector

• Aging aircraft attracting attention. The pilots are still roughly the same ages - but their planes are not. This is becoming a global issue for military aircraft fleets, and the average age of America's fleets will continue to rise even if the Pentagon gets everything they're asking for. DID offers a round-up of links and resources.

Strike

• F-22: Afterburners lit. The F-22A Raptor super-fighter had a busy summer, racking up over $7 billion in contracts as part of a new multi-year deal. DID's FOCUS Article covers the aircraft, the controversies, program developments, and those heavy-duty contracts.

• F-35 headed into production. The very first examples of the multinational Joint Strike Fighter are headed into production, thanks to $2.5 billion in contracts. Lockheed is a bit behind schedule, and heat is still an issue, as the naval F-35C version's wings grow and the program prepares for something new: multi-aircraft training programs embedded in each plane. DID's in-depth F-35 Focus Article, meanwhile, offers an overview of the 3 F-35 types, program developments, and related contracts.

• MMRCA Dogfight. America has been invited to MMRCA in a big way. Now they have to battle the Russians, French, Europeans, Swedes - and most fearsome of all, India's bureaucracy - if they want American fighters to fly off with India's $10.25 billion contract. DID steps up with an in-depth FOCUS Article covering the competition - and the competitors | AW: could a 2-stage F-16/F-35 offer be in the works?

• Sukhoi-35 Debuts. It's baaack. AW covers the mysterious SU-35's (re)appearance at Russia's MAKS 2007, with a mockup of a long-range AWACS-killer weapon under its wing. Which may help explain why European missile giant MBDA is busy buying ramjet expertise.

• The 2018 Bomber. In our June briefing, AW reported that the USA was beginning to figure out what it wants in its new bomber. This month, DID adds a set of links and resources that cover the developing program.

Other

• Guns a Blazing. The U.S. Air Force's AC-130H/U gunships continue to support operations in Afghanistan and Iraq [see video], but planners are already looking at what would be needed for a future gunship. It may look very different, and relate to other efforts like the new AJACS transport aircraft, or even future bombers. AW story | DID AJACS story.

• JCA: small cargo, big confusion. The JCA program is worth $6 billion. Or $2 billion. Or $1.75 billion, depending on who you ask. The US Army and Air Force finally got their act together (maybe), and a winner was just announced (maybe, because it's being challenged). Meanwhile, the small, short-field airlift gap is being magnified by the needs of counterinsurgency campaigns.

• Japan's aerospace industry is working on an ATD-X stealth fighter design with French help, and has rolled out flying prototypes of the new P-X maritime patrol aircraft and the C-X airlifter. No Gundam mecha on the horizon. That we know of.

• Europe's Heavy-Lift Heli. France & Germany signed an agreement to develop it. Or will it be a competition of American vs. Russian helicopter designs? AW agreement coverage | DID looks into the emerging competition, and possible specifications.

• A New Hawkeye. US carriers are already suffering from shrinking strike range, and expanding ship-killer ranges. The new, improved E-2D Hawkeye AWACS aims to improve carrier group surveillance ranges and detect small, stealthy aerial and ground targets, and even ballistic missiles. AW first flight coverage | DID Focus Article.

• Poseidon Down Under. The P-8A Poseidon maritime and ground surveillance aircraft program just went multinational, as Australia stepped up with an A$ 4 billion commitment. DID's in-depth Focus Article covers the 737-based platform, program developments, and contracts. Meanwhile, Boeing and Gulfstream have entered the competition to develop its BAMS UAV companion.

Tech

• Boeing's Invisible Man Strikes Again. Another step in stealth could pave the way to a new Super Hornet version: F/A-18 E/F, Block 3.

• New eyes for US fighters. They can bust radar stealth, and enable long-range missile attacks with no radar warning. Many new fighters have them, but most American planes don't. Could the solution be... a fuel tank?

• Japan: scrap the fighters, buy the pods. Once, you needed modified fighter aircraft to do battlefield aerial reconnaissance. Once, you needed a free arm and shoulder, plus a backpack, if you wanted to take your music with you. Neither is true any more. For the same reasons.

Space

• Italy's First Radar Satellite. Italy recently launched the 1st of 4 COSMO-SkyMed radar satellites for space-based ground surveillance. Bravo.

• Secret Sat Shuttered. A US National Reconnaissance Office imaging satellite program thought to be called Misty was recently canceled after drawing major criticism from key lawmakers

• Twinkle Twinkle Secret Sat. How we wonder what you're at. New images of the US National Reconnaissance Office's latest Lacrosse radar reconnaissance satellite show some interesting, almost puzzling features.

UAVs

• UCAS-D fighter swarms? As we noted in June, the US Navy is going ahead with a carrier-based unmanned stealth fighter. Since then, Northrop has unveiled more details about its X-47B, and work is also being done on "swarming" tech [NXTbook format,, high bandwidth] that would let the craft work together autonomously or be controlled as a group. Meanwhile, UCAS-D competition loser Boeing is told to chin up.

• Skat - A Preliminary Filleting. Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles are under development in the USA, Britain, Europe... and now Russia. MiG's entry into the UCAV business has been hinted at for some time, and was recently unveiled. AW offers pictures, and some preliminary analysis.

• Big and small. Small UAVs can't work with larger UAVs if they can't share data, but datalinks have been too heavy. Is there a solution in the house?

C4SI Dimension

• Electronic Attack for the Infantry. AW says that upgrades to the EA-6B Prowler aircraft, and links to Marine Corps radio battalions, will give the infantry an on-call electronic attack capability.

• Notice to Pirates. In June 2007, Italy's SELEX Sistemi Integrati achieved the first milestone of its EUR 20 million project to install an extensive, integrated, networked coastal security surveillance system in Yemen. Piracy and worse are serious problems near Somalia and Yemen, which flank the entrance to the Red Sea and Suez Canal; tumors of a behind the scenes American role in this deal are probably true.

• Building a Bridge to Bowman. The USA will be depending on the software-driven JTRS system for future radio interoperability across its forces. Britain & the Dutch Marines will depend on a system called Bowman, which is related to similar hardware-driven systems deployed in Canada and Australia. ITT's Bowman VHF waveform software application hopes to bridge these radio solitudes.

• Hello? Hello? Patriot missile defense communication frequencies assigned to Japanese cell phone industry. New plan slow in coming. North Korean missiles fast in arriving.

• ITES-2: the $20B soap opera. This multi-year I.T. contract should be called "Yikes," given all the legal challenges and hassles it has faced. DID looks at the contract, the participants, and some of the trends it suggests.

• GSA's $50B Alliant Contract. The US General Services Administration acts as a one-stop buyer for many US federal departments. So the $50 billion, multi-year I.T. services contract it recently issued is a big deal in every sense of the term.

• iRobot Selected for FCS Controller. iRobot announced that the makers of those neat little Roombas had joined Lockheed's Martin team designing and developing the single Centralized Controller device for unmanned systems, which is part of the Army's Future Combat Systems program. No word re: a GameCube version, though an AW report says the iRobot's controller already blurs the distinction...

• DARPA's Deep Green. The folks who brought you the Internet are trying to create a system to support battlefield commanders that would fit smoothly into a Heinlein novel. DID looks at the system, and the odds of success.

Land Sector

• MRAP-II. As the USA finally wakes up to the need for mine-resistant rides, it's pushing the pedal to the medal with a second MRAP contract for up to 20,000 vehicles before the first is even done. The new contract has some new requirements, and will probably have some new competitors. AW coverage | DID coverage.

• Navistar's MaxxPro MRAP. Truck maker Navistar has taken the pole position in the USA's MRAP-I competition, using a vehicle designed with help from Israeli up-armoring firm Plasan Sasa. AW's Defense Technology International takes a look under hood [NXTbook format, high bandwidth].

• BAE Back in MRAP. In 2003, BAE Systems was the recognized world leader in mine-protected land vehicles. But the firm stumbled badly as the USA's MRAP competition ramped up. A jump in orders, a win for coopetitor General Dynamics, some new windows to lower Hummer/MRAP drowning deaths, and a new anti-rocket cage armor system for smaller vehicles have helped them salvage their pride. Next step: recovering their status.

• Oshkosh's MRAP Blues. While other firms prosper, big truck maker Oshkosh has seen both of its MRAP partnerships crash and burn. But sometimes, when you get the horns, you respond by messing with the Bull.

• Blast Absorption. German-based Rheinmetall Landsysteme has "totally changed" the protective armor concept for its new 6×6 armored multi-role vehicle, the Yak, to meet the threat of IED land mines.

• Future Combat Systems announces Phase 1 spinouts. The $160 billion, 14 component land systems program is about to offer some immediate help for US forces. Meanwhile, AW-DTI offers an under-the-hood look at the vehicles' future hybrid engine [NXTbook format, high bandwidth]. Driving a tank in California's carpool lanes... they could sell that to civilians is Los Angeles, and pay for the whole program. Which may be headed for a name change...

• Urgently Wanted: Remote Controlled Weapon Stations. RWS that can be fired from inside the vehicle's protective armor were pioneered by the Israelis - now they're a hot, and competitive field. Hot enough for a $1.3 billion order from the US Army for smaller videogame-like CROWS systems, for a big German competition; for orders from the Dutch and Australians for the Raven RWS system. Even hot enough for larger systems with 30mm cannon and missiles to equip new Belgian, Czech and Slovenian wheeled APCs.

• Fire Ball. Mortars are a common and effective infantry support weapon, but they aren't accurate - which means lots of civilian casualties in cities. New from Israel: a GPS-guided, laser-homing 120mm mortar bomb that can hit precise targets up to 15 km away. AW coverage | Defense Update profile.

• U.K. Unveils Next-Gen Armored Vehicles. The British army announced it has selected 3 wheeled vehicles as finalists for its next-generation FRES armored vehicle program. Some wonder if the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan have really been learned - but the Minister has fired back at critics.

• MWMIK: a porcupine for Afghanistan. Britain is joining the MRAP trend, but it's also fielding vehicles in Afghanistan based on a very different philosophy: light vehicles with low protection, but high firepower. Field commanders seem to like them, but the affection is not universal.

• Israel & India: Call me MR. Israel's Barak anti-air missile is becoming the centerpiece of a large and lucrative defense relationship. Not only will future versions equip India's Navy, but a land-based MR-SAM version may be the Army's solution to India's own failed development projects.

• Better body armor. While body armor controversies rage on Capitol Hill, the US Army is fielding a new and improved version of its Interceptor system.

Maritime Sector

• New Carriers for Britain. UK industry created a joint venture for future surface warship construction and support. With its conditions met, the British government kicked its defense budget up a GBP 7.7 billion notch, and gave the go-ahead to Britain's new 65,00t Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier.

• Navy Shares Blame on Rising Ship Costs. "The growing cost of warships in recent years has led the US Navy to reduce its orders, and the resulting loss of economies of scale has driven costs of individual warships even higher." SecNav Winter was talking about this a year ago... and don't forget the role of Congress.

• Australia's New Fleet. A pair of big wins for Spanish firm Navantia will build the future core of Australia's surface fleet: 3 Hobart Class AEGIS air/missile defense frigates, and 2 Canberra Class LHDs that can embark troops, helicopters - and even jets. AW report | DID Hobart Class in-depth | DID Canberra Class LHDs in-depth.

• ROK On. South Korea will see Australia its LHD and AEGIS Air Warfare Destoyer, and throw in a pair of its own locally-developed ships. Meet the KDX-III King Sejong Class AEGIS destroyer, and the new "LPX" Dokdo Class LHD.

• Stealthy Stereguschiy. The first stealthly corvette of Russia's new Project 20380 class was displayed in public for the first time at the IMDS 2007 maritime defense show in St Petersburg. This could become a popular export item; AW-DTI's Ares looks at the design, and what it signifies.

• Germany Orders F125 Frigates. In a marked departure, this EUR 2 billion program will create ships designed to support deployed troops and special forces, and remain on station for a long time. Plans to put a MONARC howitzer turret and MLRS rocket launcher on the ships have been shelved, however.

• Non-simulated stability. The sea moves. You move on it. Sometimes, that's not so great. Could aircraft simulator technology, and an innovative idea from a Netherlands university, hold the key to fixing this?

• Remote firefighting. Imagine this horror scenario: a naval helicopter loses power on takeoff and crashes back onto the flight deck of a frigate -- rupturing its fuel tanks and causing a blazing fuel fire on deck. Could the same kind of technology used for remote weapons system like CROWS hold the answer?

• T-AKE My supplies, please. A multi-billion agreement will expand the USA's versatile and environmentally friendlier T-AKE cargo & ammunition supply ship fleet to 14. What's up? Maybe better sustainment of the fleet at sea. Or maybe they're looking at potential sea-basing applications [NXTbook format, high bandwidth].

• Deep water: The US Coast Guard's National Security Cutters. They're the size of a frigate, and at $300-400 million per ship, they cost about as much. The Bertholf Class is a centerpiece of the USCG's $25 billion Deepwater program, but they're mired in controversy. DID's Focus Articles describes the cutters, the controversy, and the contracts.

R&D: Far Out Concepts

• ADVENT of a new jet engine. What if your car came with a morphing engine that could offer compact car mileage, or sports car performance, with almost no compromise at either end? What if they could design jet engines that way? The ADVENT program just pledged over $500 million to find out. DID looks at the overall program | AW explains some of the technologies.

• Can Anyone Win the $1M Wearable Power Prize? All those electronic device soldiers carry need batteries. Batteries mean weight, and it's a growing problem. The British are already doing research. Can the US DOD's $1 million competition really reduce the battery weight soldiers have to carry by more than 75%?

• Submarine Shark. Responding to stealthier subs with louder sonar is creating problems. What if you tried detecting electrical anomalies in the water instead, like our sharp-toothed friends? A recent contract award indicates some success in that area.

• It Is The Walrus. Could a canceled DARPA project could be the answer to the USA's strategic lift problems? A July 2007 Congressional Budget Office report on SeaBasing thinks so - but they had also said that before its cancellation, for all the good it did. See also DID's WALRUS Focus Article.

• The U.K.'s Own Grand Challenge. Inspired by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's 2004-05 Grand Challenge, and the 2007 Urban Challenge for unmanned ground vehicles, the U.K. Ministry of Defense launched its own Grand Challenge last fall. This one may feature flying saucers.

• X-47B Flies. "Blended Wing Body" aircraft have the potential to radically improve aerodynamic efficiency, lifting capacity, and even aircraft noise, resulting in a new generation of cargo and passenger aircraft. Boeing's X-48B test aircraft has now made its first flight.

• What if nanotech manufacturing could use the skills of our existing work force? Researchers at Duke University think they may have the answer.

• DARPA's Robot Dog. It's a lot bigger than Sony's AIBO, and it's designed to carry loads right alongside infantry troopers as they cross rough terrain. Next step: advanced leg-lifting algorithms.

• Robot Racecar Swims Upstream. It's one thing to get a robot to fly through the air or crawl around on the ground. The air is mostly devoid of obstacles; on the ground, the obstacles are pretty numerous but at least you're only moving on roughly one plane.

Strategic Weapons & Missile Defense

• Russia's Bulava Missile Gets Production Go-Ahead. Russia's navy chief Admiral Vladimir Marossin says the new Bulava-M intercontinental nuclear missile, with features designed to evade ABM defenses, has been given the serial production go-ahead.

• Tail of Confusion. NPO Mashinostroenia's 3M-25 Meteorit made a belated debut at this year's MAKS 2007 Moscow air show, a mere 15 years or so after the strategic nuclear cruise missile program was shelved.

• Chemical lasers are messy, bulky, and very toxic. If battlefield lasers are going to work for applications like space-based missile defense, powerful solid-state lasers need to be developed instead. Northrop Grumman is trying, and making some progress.

Supply & Support

• Thumbs up for UK's new maintenance contracts. In our June briefing, we talked about Britain's new approach of paying for available vehicles & aircraft, not parts and hours. The national auditor has taken a hard look - and says it's working.

• DTCI. Take a system where hundreds of bases and depots contract locally for transportation and freight. Figure out how to turn it into a centralized system for 1/3 of military cargo shipments within the USA that will use corporate 3PL principles, save money, and improve service. Good luck to the US military, because they're trying to do exactly that with this recent contract award. And the winner is...

• Support Your Local A400M. The 7 European nations buying the new 35-ton Airbus Military A400M airlifter could save approximately 15% of costs associated with in-service support if they agree to maximize common support activities. Looks like they've taken the first steps.

Policy & Doctrine

• Israel: Si vis pacem... With rumors of war from Iran and Syria on the horizon, Israel has issued a stream of formal requests to re-equip its Air Force with bombs and missiles. It has also considered the lessons of the last proxy wart in Lebanon, and laid its multi-year "Tefen" military procurement plan in response.

• The Taliban bombed a girl's school being visited by Dutch troops on International Womens Day, then followed up with a full scale offensive. The Dutch military, still stung by their reputation after they abandoned Srebrenica to Serbian massacres, fought back and crushed them in several days of hard fighting. But political weakness always trumps military success - and this time was no exception.

• Counter-Insurgency Airlift. Counter-insurgency and stabilization fights have some unique characteristics that affect the kind of airlift support required. RAND explains, and looks at the current US transport fleet. Is it properly set up for this job?

• A COIN for Blackwater. The astronomical cost of operating high-end fighter jets as surveillance and light attack planes is starting to renew a niche for cheaper counter-insurgency aircraft. Private sector security forces have noticed.

• By their earmarks shall ye know them. Where would Congress be without the ability fund baseball stadium upgrades in the defense budget? Despite the recent gutting of early 2006 reforms, a US taxpayers group has assembled a database of Congressional defense add-ons "earmarked" for specific projects.

• Closer Alliance. U.S. State Department official John Rood announced that the United States and the United Kingdom are signing a defense trade treaty that would eliminate the need for export licenses for defense and counter-terrorism goods and services between the allies. In recent months, Canada and Australia have also signed export licensing related agreements.

• U.S. Technology? No Thanks. The only way to resolve technology access and U.S. government export restrictions imposed by ITAR is by "not including any U.S.-sourced technology into our products," said the President of the Aerospace and Defense Industries Association of Europe (ASD). Hate to say we told you so...

• Meanwhile, US industry is pushing for major changes to America's export control policy. How much is helpful, and how much is only self-interest?

• UK MoD's bid for savings. Buying office supplies isn't exciting. But when you buy them using the largest-ever Public Sector reverse auction, and achieve the greatest savings ever by using an auction process, that's something.

• Sarkozy's Defense Plans Stumble. France's new President Sarkozy came into office promising a serious boost to French defense spending, but when an expected Parliamentary landslide fell short, he appears to have recalibrated his plans.

• CSAR-X: Rescue Me! America's combat rescue helicopter program is in trouble. Beset by ongoing political and quasi-legal challenges, the USAF has tried to power its choice through against all opposition. Will they be shot down - and if so, who will come get them? DID coverage | AW on rotor downwash | a Project Sandblaster solution?

« ok, I'm done now

AIR & SPACE SECTOR

• Hog Heaven. The A/OA-10 Warthog has proved far more useful for modern fights than even the contemporary F-117 stealth fighter, and is slated for another 20 years of service. To keep them current, the USAF is putting them through major upgrades. AW Ares has background and pictures, while DID offers a full FOCUS Article report on the program that includes lessons from the field.

• RAF Pod People. The US Marines have used the hovering Harrier fighter jet very successfully, but the British record in Afghanistan was a mix of praise and strong military complaints re: their ground support capabilities - including unfavorable comparisons with USAF A-10s. Ouch! What the planes carry matters - the U.K. Ministry of Defense will now add Lockheed Martin's Sniper ATP surveillance & targeting pod to its Harriers [AW coverage | DID coverage], and also undertook a rapid development program with QinetiQ to add RAFAEL's LITENING III surveillance & targeting pod to its Tornado GR4 strike aircraft.

• ACCA! It's AJACS! Build a cargo-carrying X-plane in 18 months. That's the broad-brush goal of the Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) project, kicked off by the Air Force Research Laboratory as part of a program called AJACS, which aims to replace the C-130 Hercules, the current mainstay of the USA's tactical transport fleet. AW's Ares looks at the contracts, while DID looks at military air transportation's future competitive landscape and says we've been down this road before...

• DARPA's Orbital Express Proves On-Orbit Fluid Transfer. Orbital satellite to satellite refueling, without human intervention, has never been done before. Now it has, and the feat has implications for the future of space. AW has links to photos of successful fluid transfers between the two Orbital Express program spacecraft. DID covers the Orbital Express program in an in-depth FOCUS Article.

• Holy Microelectronics! Honeywell announced last week that it is releasing a new line of microelectronics for military and commercial satellite developers. The line offers 4x the memory and 4x the logic in the same amount of space as previous systems, according to company spokesman James O'Leary. AW report.

• HIFiRE. Hypersonic flight above Mach 5 (5 times the speed of sound) would have obvious implications lower-cost satellite launches, spaceplane projects, and missiles. The US and Australia have signed the HIFiRE research agreement to undertake some of that research together, and R&D and testing are beginning in preparation for the X-51's test flights. DID covers HIFiRE developments, and offers a primer on hypersonic technologies and issues.

• Syrian AF wants to modernize - or it that Iran? Russian newspapers are reporting a $1 billion deal with Syria for MiG-31 Foxhound and MiG-29M2 fighter jets, which they say is likely a front for shipments to Iran. DID reports, and adds some details re: the aircraft and their uses.

• A Euro UCAV. The 6-nation (France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland) nEUROn program aims to keep Europe's defense aerospace sector busy, while creating a UAV with a range and weapons options that approach the F-117 stealth fighter. That effort has just moved out of the Feasibility Phase, and into the Definition Phase... and spawned a medium surveillance UAV spin-off program.

• Israel's Huge, New UAV. The first pictures of Israel's secret, large-payload, weapons-carrying unmanned aircraft have leaked out.

• Where are the other Qs? DRS Technologies' unique Neptune unmanned air vehicle, designed to be launched from a small boat and recovered by a parachute splash-down, has been ordered into low-rate initial production for Navy special operations teams and - in the process - has been designated RQ-15A. Which leads to the immediate question: since AeroVironment's RQ-11A Raven is the most recent designation in the Q series, where have 12, 13 and 14 gone? AW reports.

• Look, Ma, No Hands! Boeing recently flew 14 class 1 (fair weather) and class 3 (dark and stormy) approaches and waveoffs and reentries into the landing pattern of the USS Truman May 19-20 without the pilot's hands on the controls. The flights are part of a program to develop an autonomous landing capability for both manned and unmanned aircraft. AW reports.

• Radar Killer, Redux. This American & Italian project is called the AGM-88E AARGM. So what? Perhaps the story of how a Serbian unit using an antiquated SA-3 battery managed to survive the 1999 NATO air campaign - and eventually shot down an F-117 Nighthawk stealth plane - will help put things into perspective...

• JASSM Spasms, Again. The goal: produce a stealthy cruise missile with shorter range and a smaller warhead than the BGM-109 Tomahawks, that could be carried on fighter aircraft, and was only about 1/3 as expensive as the Tomahawk. The AGM-158 JASSM has been bought by the USA and Australia, but the program has had its ups and downs. AW thought they were clever when they used the headline "JASSM Spasms"... now they think they may have to top it.

• Sic'em, Spike! Small, cheap, accurate - all the words to make a weapon researcher's heart beat fast. U.S. Navy officials say they have conducted the first successful demonstration - against a moving target -- of the 5.3 lb., 25-in. long, 2.25-in. diameter Spike missile (not to be confused with Israel's Spike anti-tank missile, in service with several countries). A missile that small could be carried in numbers by helicopters, UAVs... not to mention soldiers, and vehicles.

• MOPping up. WW2 featured the amazing Barnes Wallis with his dam-busting "Upkeep" bouncing bomb, the 12,000 pound "Tallboy" with an estimated terminal velocity of over Mach 3.5 when dropped from 20,000 feet, and its successor the 22,000 pound "Grand Slam." They made short work of U-boat pens. These bombs went out of fashion with the advent of nuclear weapons, but if you wait long enough, fashion comes around again... meet the Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

• Danger Knows Full Well...that Caesar is more dangerous than he. The Eurofighter Typhoon has taken a big step toward improving its combat capability with the first flight with the CEASAR active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. AW has the report, while DID explains why AESA radars are a big step forward - and may have unexpected advantages.

• Baby B-2. The USAF is narrowing down its focus on a new bomber, according to speakers at a panel discussion on Tuesday, set up by the Air Force Association's Eaker Institute. The top-line numbers: it looks like a manned medium bomber, possibly carrying a laser or a high-powered microwave weapon to zap incoming missiles. Hooookay...

• The SeaSprite Jinx. In 1997, Australia signed an $A 667 million contract with Kaman to purchase 11 SH-2G (A) "Super Seasprite" helicopters with cutting-edge sensors and electronics. The first helicopter was unveiled in 2003, but the project is now 6 years behind schedule, costs have risen over 50% to $A 1.1 billion (currently about $900 million) for 11 helicopters, and the program is being used as a case study in the Australian Defence College's leadership and ethics course. Australia's DoD... is continuing with the program. Why? DID offers some background, a timeline, and analysis.

• ARH in the Crosshairs. The US Army's 1980s-era OH-58D Kiowa Warrior scout helicopters are playing a key role in Iraq - and taking casualties from wear and fire. The Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter was supposed to replace it, but shortly after the request rose from 368 helicopters to 512 helicopters, Bell Helicopter was cut off from government R&D funds as a result of performance issues. Congress continues to cut program funding, grumbling about a 100% price hike and lowball bait-and-switch tactics. The Army thinks about it, and decides to stick with Bell Helicopter's ARH-70A. A 2008 budget showdown looms... and DID has the in-depth coverage.

• A Sandblaster for brownout crashes. Brownouts are serious problem for helicopters in dusty environments, as they cause crashes when pilots lose all visual references. DARPA has a program that aims to fix that, and Sikorsky got the contract. Will it come in time to help the army's new CSAR-X combat search and rescue helicopter?

• Compound Interest. Whether you call it meddling or injecting creativity into a hidebound bureaucracy, Congressional earmarks can have some interesting results. Witness AW's coverage of the Piasecki-Sikorsky X-49A compound helicopter, now complete and being prepared for flight tests. Compound helicopters and other new approaches are also being built into demonstrator vehicles for the US military's Joint Heavy Lift research program, and could provide many of the V-22 Osprey's benefits without the drawbacks and high costs.

C4SI DIMENSION

• US fielding next-gen tactical radios. Tactical radios are still one of the quiet lifelines of the battlefield. After-action reviews from Iraq have cited communications compatibility issues, creating pressure to modernize. Yet the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program that has been plagued by inflated requirements, system delays, cost issues, and restructuring. What to do? Fortunately, industry is providing interim answers - and the USA has just issued a $9+ billion contract to buy them...

• Stealth is becoming affordable, according to Europe's defense giant EADS. Jan Ritter, head of the computational electromagnetics (CEM) group in EADS Military Aircraft division, says that the mindbogglingly complex task of calculating how radar waves scatter off a complex shape - at all relevant angles and frequencies - is succumbing to advances in computing and better codes. Translation: better computers means more stealth, on more platforms, by more countries. AW reports.

• LSRS: Not-Quite-Secret Radar. New to the not-quite-secret file is the Raytheon/Boeing Littoral Surveillance Radar System (LSRS), which offers both maritime and land surveillance at a level that can make a difference militarily. AW reports that some P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft have already been modified, and the LSRS will also play a major role in equipping the new 737-based P-8A Poseidon aircraft.

• JDICE, K? Given the coming size expansions of the US Army and Marines, the need for more tactical air controllers to guide airstrikes is acknowledged. There's also the nature of counterinsurgency campaigns, and the USAF itself is acknowledging resource issues. One might think that the idea we're about to cover refers to a way of making it easier for more people in the armed forces to become as effective as current JTACs. The JDICE system is indeed a form of sensor fusion simplification - but JDICE won't help with the JTAC squeeze... yet. DID explains.

• Internet Routing Moves to Space. Right now, messages are passed from earth, to a satellite, to an earth station, to the satellite again on a different frequency, to its destination. Putting a router in space will shorten the process and reduce transmission times. See also DID's coverage of the Transformational Satellite Communications Network, a 10-year, $18-20 billion effort to use space laser transmission and routers to provide the equivalent of fiber bandwidth from space. Will it survive?

• Bulgarian Telemedicine. Attention E.R. fans: Bulgaria has leapfrogged many Western nations by implementing a satellite communications-based armed forces telemedicine network. The system is based on SkyWAN technology provided by German-based ND SatCom and on VSAT (very small aperture terminal) services provided by local service provider Interactive Technologies.

• Canadian anti-terror R&D. You don't need to have a huge defense budget to make a difference. Canada is performing a slew of small research projects related to defense against terrorism, and especially against terrorist WMD attacks.

• Rad Solutions to Rad Problems. Electrical miniaturization can be a double-edged sword. The point is being reached where electromagnetic energy produced naturally by the sun could create the same destructive effect on aircraft avionics that spikes of high power microwaves create in today's less vulnerable, higher-voltage circuitry. Now what? AW reports.

• HURT So Good. Unmanned aerial vehicles are useful, but they can't work together easily, and collision avoidance still depends on scheduling, luck, and human override. What if one person could control multiple UAVs simultaneously, preventing collisions and linking them to provide a more seamless, common picture to warfighters? AW covers an effort called HURT, not to mention some British research into controlling multiple UAVs. DID, in turn, notes Europe's push toward civilian airspace certification and collision avoidance, as well as some swarm-based control ideas.

LAND SECTOR

• Tanks for the Lesson, eh! In October 2003, Canada was set to buy the Styker/LAV-III 105mm Mobile Gun System to replace its Leopard C2 tanks. In the end, however, the lessons of war have taken Canada down a very different path - one that now has them sending tanks to Afghanistan, renewing the very tank fleet they were once intent on scrapping, and backing away from the wheeled vehicles that were once the cornerstone of their Army transformation plan. What happened? DID explains.

• Ike Abercrombie: the Future Will Be Cut. It's never good for contractors when an influential congressman cites Ike's famous military industrial speech - Rep. Neil Abercrombie [D-Hawaii] is coming out strong over his cuts to the Army's Future Combat Systems. Meanwhile, DID's collection of FCS links offers some background on the $200+ billion program, and opinions both pro and con.

• An M4 That Doesn't Jam - But You Can't Have One. The US military is about to buy 500,000 Colt M4 carbines, a smaller, cut-down version of the M-16. The M4 has been praised, and also criticized because it jams in sandy environments. US (and some foreign) Special Forces are using an HK variant of the M4 that solves this problem, and even Colt says it could provide something similar. Will the Army use its big buy to field an M4 that doesn't jam to its soldiers in the sandbox - or even hold a competition that includes criteria re: reliability? No. DID reports.

• Cute, Double-Jointed, and Popular. Britain is having very good success with its small BvS10 Viking armored vehicles in Afghanistan, and its predecessor vehicle had over 15,000 units & variants produced around the world. Why? DID explains, and says it's all about the infantry.

• Land Warrior, RIP. In the Pentagon's April 2007 Selected Acquisition Report, the US Army's $4 billion "Infantry-21" program - Land Warrior - lists as terminated. Noah Shachtman at WIRED's Danger Room says the soldiers weren't that crazy about it, anyway.

• AW: C-Sniper Strikes Again. DARPA has released a solicitation for proposals for its counter-sniper technology called C-Sniper, which aims to track and target snipers before they actually shoot. DID offers a compilation article covering various anti-sniper technologies currently in use.

• A Turret for Chavis. On October 14, 2006, AFC Leebernard E. Chavis of the USAF's 732nd Expeditionary Security Forces Sqn was killed by an enemy sniper near Baghdad, Iraq, as he sat in the turret of his armored Hummer. His comrades in the maintenance group responded by building a better turret. So good, in fact, that it's headed into production.

• US Army May Want 19,000 MRAPs. Over 30 years ago, South Africa developed patrol vehicles that protected their occupants against land mines. Several years into a war in Iraq against an insurgency that used land mines as its main weapon, the USA has decided this might be a better idea than using vulnerable Hummers. After years of low-grade interest or outright neglect, can industry now gear up deliver 23,000 blast-resistant vehicle to the US military in under 4 years?

• Ich Bin Ein MPV. Some countries, like Germany and Australia, have been building blast-resistant vehicles for years. Oddly, the German vehicle is the one called Dingo. It's about to be joined by a larger blast-resistant counterpart called the Grizzly, as the global trend toward blast-resistant vehicles continues to build.

• Stryking Out. The Army's Stryker vehicle is racking up enough losses in Iraq to prompt some questions about its vulnerability. AW offers coverage. DID has been covering the Stryker's battlefield performance, too - which has been surprisingly good until recent events in Diyala Province.

• Trophy Ready to Go. RAFAEL's Trophy Active Protection System (APS) against incoming rockets and anti-tank missiles has been completed, including integration of the system into current armored vehicles and the introduction of reloading. Initial systems are expected to go into new-production and currently deployed Merkava tanks, as well as the new Merkava-based armored Infantry Fighting Vehicles (Namer). Meanwhile, the USA has chosen a less developed option from Raytheon that won't be ready any time soon.

• RPG-7.net One of the biggest threats when fighting asymmetric wars against insurgents -- especially in urban environments -- is posed by the ubiquitous RPG-7 family of rocket-propelled anti-armor weapons. The Netherlands-based TNO Defense, Security and Safety research lab is developing a deceptively simple protection system against RPG-7 attacks: a net.

• 21st Century Hoplite. The Phalanx system uses radar plus a gatling gun to put up a wall of lead against incoming enemy anti-ship missiles, and serves with the navies of 22 nations. So, can it be used to defend against, say, incoming rockets and mortar rounds aimed at US and British bases - without killing hundreds of people when the bullets fall back to earth in populated areas? Both militaries think so, and are now deploying the system on land as well.

• Robots Take on Concrete Jungle. The 2004-2005 Millennium Challenge was only the beginning. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has now selected 53 teams as semifinalists in its next robot driving contest: Urban Challenge. Cyberdyne Systems' optional road rage modules to follow...

• Robots On the Border - With Guns. Remotely-operated Weapons Systems (RWS) allow an operator inside a combat vehicle to look at a screen displaying visual feeds from the RWS sensors, then move and fire machine guns et. al. from inside the vehicle. Which leads to the logical next question: why does the operator have to be that close? South Korea, and now Israel, have thought about this and decided that in some cases, the answer is "no reason at all." DID reports...

• Ouch! An Israeli company with headquarters in Toronto says it recently briefed Army researchers on a wireless, electric bullet that causes muscle spasms painful enough to make you fall over, but not die. AW's Ares has the report.

• Less Lethal Still Hurts. Then again, pain isn't permanent. The conversation's electric in the leafy confines of Ettlingen, the small town between the Pfalz and Black Forest regions of Germany, where a multinational confab on non- (or less-, actually) lethal weapons is ongoing. AW's Ares reports.

MARITIME SECTOR

• CSBA Favors Carrier UCAVs. The non-partisan US Center for Strategic & Budgetary Assessments point out that today's Super Hornets are no better than 1950s-era Skyraiders when it comes to persistence over distant targets, and even the F-35C will only partially restore the capability lost with retirement of the 1980s-era A-6 Intruders and F-14 Tomcats. With ship-killer technologies acquiring longer reach, the number of US carrier air wings set to fall to 10, and the number of carriers set to be 11, something has to give. CSBA has a proposal... AW coverage | DID coverage & graphic.

• No Nukes -- and that's Northrop Grumman talking. Not everyone agrees with Rep. Roscoe Bartlett [R-MD], ranking minority member of the House Seapower Committee, that the Navy's planned CG-X missile-armed derivative of the DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class stealth destroyer should run on nuclear energy. In a conversation at the Navy League show last week, a self-described "dumb ship driver" and business-development executive at Northrop Grumman pointed out that it's a great deal more complex than just pulling out turbines and dropping in a nuke. AW reports.

• Firing NEMO: Finns think different re: Naval Fire Support. Nobody has battleships on call any more. These days, the high end of naval gunfire support options involves the not-yet fielded DDG 1000 Zumwalt Class destroyers/ light cruisers, $3+ billion, 14,500t ships with the most advanced air defense systems and sonars for protection, and a pair of 155mm howitzers on board that can rapid-fire GPS-guided ammunition 80-100 miles inshore. In the middle we have European countries with 100-127mm naval guns, and abortive efforts like Germany's 155mm mobile howitzer turret on a frigate-sized ship. Then there's the low end, where Finland is funding a study that's about as far away from the DDG 1000 idea as you can get - but may be very effective in its own right...

• HAAWC Eye. A recent test dropped a MK-54 lightweight torpedo from 8,000 feet, instead of the usual 100 feet or so. The test was part of the company's $3 million U.S. Navy contract to prove the High-Altitude Anti-Submarine Warfare Weapons Concept, or HAAWC, a GPS-guided glide bomb kit for torpedos. AW has the coverage. DID adds its own FOCUS Article, explaining the trends that are making HAAWC necessary.

• Virginia gets a nose job. Unveiled at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space show in Washington this week is a proposed new bow (that's the bit on the front, for all you non-sailors) for the Navy's Virginia-class boat. AW reports.

• ASDS: How the Navy Bought a Lemon from Northrop Grumman. The General Accountability Office explains in a new report how the Navy's Advanced SEAL Delivery System program got so messed up that the service had to cancel it in 2006 after spending $885 million. Meanwhile, DID's FOCUS Article covering the ASDS offers additional background, and so does their companion article covering the newly-converted SSGN Special Forces & Conventional Strike subs that were supposed to carry ASDS. Maybe the Swedes have the right idea...?

STRATEGIC WEAPONS & MISSILE DEFENSE

• Are Missile Defense 'Bullets' Smart Enough? [updated]. Nightline did a piece recently on 100th Missile Defense Brigade at Ft Greely, AK. Since the Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) has posted the video for download on their website, AW's Ares has uploaded it to YouTube for your viewing convenience.

• NCADE: an ABM AMRAAM. Later this summer, Raytheon researchers will test a new interceptor missile's seeker, fired from a fighter jet against a boosting ballistic missile, at the White Sands Missile Range, N.M. Can you take a pair of fighter jet missiles and combine them to kill ballistic missiles? Maybe. AW has exclusive photos, while DID's FOCUS Article explains how NCADE works... and why it may make a big difference against other fighter jets as well.

• Intercontinental Cans of Whup-Ass. Yes, the USA has actually issued an R&D contract to deliver... well... cans of whup-ass at intercontinental range. No way? Way...

SUPPLY AND SUPPORT

• Paying for Jets, not Parts. Britain leads the world in a model called "Future Contracting for Availability." Instead of paying for parts and fixing stuff, they sign fixed-price contracts for service over a weapon type's entire service life - and rewards contractors for how often the equipment is available for use, instead of in the shop. It's not easy to do, but they're making a good go of it. DID covers the idea in the context of the ATTAC contract for its Tornado fleet, which was costing twice as much to service as the British MoD had available in their budgets - but doesn't any more.

• EFP Land Mines? We say "Bull!" Explosively Formed Penetrator land mines from Iran are taking a toll on vehicles in Iraq. With the exception of PVI/RAFAEL's Golan, the new MRAP vehicles aren't designed from the outset to handle this threat. As a result of the Ballistics Protection Experiment, however, there's a vehicle that is. And the logistics guys who drive most of the convoys in Iraq will be happy to know that this BULL's for them, too...

• Training: all for one, and one for all. Right now, Raytheon Technical Services holds the US Army contract for live training support, Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) carries the contract for virtual training (simulators), and General Dynamics the one for constructive training (computer models & game-like simulations). The US Army has been working on a new approach that does away with the 3 domains, in order to put the full focus on delivering whatever kind of training support is needed and appropriate, in whatever manner works best, in order to teach life-or-death skills that need to be remembered. Hence the $11.2 billion, 10 year FOCUS contract. And the winner is...

• Tired of Inventory. As part of the USA's base reform 2005 process, recommendations were handed down to the US Defense Logistics Agency to privatize a series of product commodities, and eliminate the government's wholesale stock in key areas. In January 2007, DID covered privatization of aircraft tires (up to $700 million) and vehicle tires (up to $1.7 billion). This was followed by a privatization contract worth up to $6.2 billion for chemicals and packaged petroleum, oils and lubricants. The forklift please... and the winner is...

• Catamarans = Mini Sea Base. The leased U.S. Navy catamaran Swift -- "High Speed Vessel" in milspeak -- is headed to Latin America to test the Navy's new "Global Fleet Station" concept, which envisions transport ships acting as miniature sea bases, hauling and supporting contingents of engineers, boat crews, civil affairs specialists and doctors, all specializing in stabilizing and rebuilding failing states. Cue the press release! And see also DID's coverage of the forthcoming Joint High Speed Vessel" (JHSV) competition, which will produce a number of ships like this.

• Medic! The USA's DTRA continues to research some novel approaches to countering ebola, hantavirus, and other hemorrhagic fevers. Not to mention an interesting option for going after drug-resistant "Class A pathogens." DID notes some contracts, and explains some of the approaches being researched.

TRANSFORMATION: POLICY & DOCTRINE

• Private Parts: The UK's new aerial tankers. Your aerial refueling fleet that goes in harm's way and keeps fighters, transports, et. al. in the air is aging. Replacement will cost around $20 billion. So you... hire it out from the private sector, and have the planes used to haul vacationers in their spare time? Britain says "yes, exactly." Meanwhile, the USA prepares to declare a winner in its own $30 billion, "buy and operate them all" KC-X contract - which is only the first of 3 phases.

• Airpower and Air Forces: Can't Do With 'Em. CDI offers a summary of The Winograd Commission's findings, a scathing Israeli review of the recent war in Lebanon against Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah. The upshot? "Transformation" has important limits, and airpower + precision weapons cannot and will not be decisive. See also DID's collection of after-action reviews and lessons from that war.

• Airpower and Air Forces: Can't Do Without 'Em. At any stage during the past 100 years, people have wondered about what airpower can and cannot, as well as should and should not, do. Many still are uncomfortable with the huge sums of money that are spent to acquire, operate and support the air force's high-tech machines. Aviation Week Ares discusses.

• Three Ds, Four Roles. Development, Defense and Diplomacy should be the three legs of any stabilization operation, says the recently returned commander of the first Netherlands-Australian Task Force in southern Afghanistan. Brigadier General Theo Vleugels, of the Royal Netherlands Army, led the 1,500-strong task force in Uruzgan province (near Kandahar) during its first six months of operations between August 2006 and February 2007. AW Ares reports.

• Dutch COIN strategy in Afghanistan. AW's Ares picks up a New York Times article via a subscriber who can confirm its truthfulness as "....a very accurate report of the Dutch approach to counter-insurgency operations in southern Afghanistan...."

• Closer to the 6-Day Satellite. A small contract to a US firm opens a window into the USA's next-gen concept of "Operationally Responsive Space," in which small, low-cost satellites could be launched quickly and affordably to respond to crises or temporarily patch losses among the USA's big, expensive systems. DID looks at the ORS concept, and adds links to some other ideas if the US really wants to get more for its satellite buck.

• Fly High, Fly On. The most important aid to combat aircraft survival since the 1990s has not been stealth or EW technology but the decision to fly fast jets above 15,000 feet, says a USAF pilot said at the IQPC conference on aircraft survivability in London. He can thank the advent of small surveillance/targeting pods like Rafael/Northrop's LITENING, Raytheon's ATFLIR, and Lockheed's Sniper ATP for that. Not to mention those GPS-guided JDAM weapons.

• Coke, Fritos and Medals. The ever-interesting PPrune is discussing whether unmanned air vehicle crews should be eligible for service medals.

Thanks for reading! If you found something here you want to blog about yourself (and we hope you do), all we ask is that you do as we do and offer a Hat Tip hyperlink to today's "Defense Transformation Uplink".

The Comments section can be used to brief us on new developments, or contribute your thoughts. Note that WindsofChange.NET has earned a reputation as a site for grown-up debate, where argument is often strong but participants demand quality. As back-up, designated Marshals are on hand to enforce a baseline level of order and civility. Their approach is generally diplomatic, but they have other options at their disposal if need be. If you have what it takes to be part of such discussions, you are more than welcome here

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The larger and more powerful combatant uses a fraction of its total available strength in these conflicts and can theoretically fight hard enough to destroy its opponent in short order if it can somehow accept the massive collateral damage that this will inevitably result in. Theoretically, it can also fight long enough to frustrate the opponent into defeat if it can somehow stay in there for as long as it takes. Armed combat is a tool in this war, a sort of a meta-weapon that a state deploys in some fronts. It can, at times, produce decisive results---but is bounded by whether it is given the time and resources to have a chance of doing so.

By most definitions of victory, India won the Kargil war in 1999. But it miserably failed in the battle (yes, it was a battle) of Kandahar in 2000, when the NDA government gift-wrapped and hand-delivered the ransom that Pakistan sought. India is committed for the long-haul in Kashmir: and despite the Manmohan Singh government's confused vacillations, this is unlikely to change. Over in Assam though, the commitment to defeat ULFA waxes and wanes. Meanwhile, India's military intervention in Sri Lanka in the late 1980s is seen as a failure causing an overreaction that has made subsequent governments reluctant to use force in the neighbourhood. The United States too lost in Viet Nam, won in Afghanistan (in the 1980s), in Iraq (in 1990). It now stands on the verge of losing Afghanistan II and Iraq II. In almost all these cases India and the United States were the stronger, better-equipped combatants. Yet they lost some and they won some. Why?

Because the outcome of the war was decided not on the battlefield. It was decided in a battle of minds, in a battle of collective resolve and in a battle in the court of public opinion. Kargil was won because Indians were overwhelmingly in support of the cause. For the same reason, India is prosecuting the long war in Kashmir. Kandahar was lost because public opinion was manipulated into 'saving the hostages at all costs'. In Sri Lanka and periodically in India's North Eastern state of Assam, domestic public opinion was against the further use of force. Similar reasons apply to the United States in its Iraqi and Afghan outings.

That public opinion matters is not new. Public support for the cause and morale during the war itself were always important. What is new is that the outcome of the war itself is increasingly decided by public opinion--with all its uncertainties, vagaries, whims and susceptibility to manipulation. Of course, this has been true in authoritarian states and closed societies for a long time, where the outcome is unquestionably what the regime says it is. In democratic societies with a free (and freewheeling media) the outcome of wars is becoming what public opinion says it is.

This poses a special challenge to open and secular democracies where there is no supremacist religion or ideology that has an irrational hold on the mind, and the media is more susceptible to manipulation by cynicism, populism or worse, by enemy interests. Indeed, technological change has shifted the control over mass media from the government to corporations and eventually, to citizens themselves. No longer can governments use their exclusive control of the "channels" to spread their "message".

What this means, in effect, is that citizens have become combatants in the war of convictions. The side that believes that it has won wins. The side that believes it has lost loses. It is misleading to think of this as being about propaganda or public relations theatre, which though important, can be exposed or seen through. It is about truth, not necessarily the objective truth, but what is widely regarded to be true. The study of how public opinion forms has become all the more important. What instruments should the state have to fight this war? How should it equip its citizens? More importantly, what are the rules of the game? Is it even possible to 'win' wars any more?

Centuries ago, war was all out combat between one group against another; the distinction between combatants and non-combatants came later as a moral upgrade to that ugly business. Wars then largely became contests between armed forces of countries (although non-combatants continued to be killed). In the nuclear era, war became a game played by the strategic elite. The war of the future may go back a full circle--pitting entire populations, combatants and non-combatants alike in a complex clash of convictions.

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AIR & SPACE SECTOR

• Some transformation stories are not happy ones. Last month, we noted that US forces in Iraq were shifting toward flying more supplies into certain areas, in order to reduce road hazards. Meanwhile, CENTCOM commanders note that inability to use shorter runways is a problem in their part of the world. So what does the USAF do? It double-crosses the US Army on the Joint Cargo Aircraft program for light supply aircraft that could fly more of those supply missions and use those smaller runways. JK view: The USAF's sneaky lack of good faith will cost lives unless fixed pronto. Preferably by cutting the USAF out of this program entirely and giving it to the Army.

• The 5th-generation F-22A Raptor fighter has been the focus of controversy, cost concerns, Congressional cutbacks, and some lessons learned. DID covers both sides of the controversies, and chronicles the program's FY 2006 ups, downs, and purchases.

• The USA is working on big unmanned, solar-powered, radar-carrying surveillance blimps that will float above the jet stream for a month at a time to detect and track incoming ballistic missiles and low-flying cruise missiles, perform ground surveillance as required, and even act as a weather surveyor and telecom relay. It will have 25 times the volume of the Goodyear blimp, and a radar set that will provide incredible resolution because it will be attached across the blimp's surface and hence almost as "big" as the blimps themselves. A recent fire at Lockheed's huge, historic Akron Airdock facility is not expected to delay the program.

• The US House of Representatives voted to deny the Air Force's request to retire a number of aging planes including B-52 bombers, F-117 stealth attack aircraft and the U-2 spy plane, in order to save budget dollars for procuring new F-22s.

• Congress also voted to keep the alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter alive. It's the F136 and is to be built by GE and Rolls-Royce. Meanwhile, we may soon learn the name of the JSF. 'Lynx' and 'Phoenix' appear to be among the finalists. Although some of the F-35's controls are going to be Linux-powered, it's unlikely the plane will be called the 'Penguin'.

• DID has an article that covers the F-35 JSF's develop program over the past year, including contracts for the plane and related items, and even developments among the international development partners like Britain, Norway, the Netherlands, etc.

• And while significantly less expensive per plane than the F-22, the F-35 isn't exaclty cheap.

• South Korea has approved the acquisition of a follow-on batch of 20 Boeing F-15K fighters for the country’s air force. This will keep Boeing's F-15 line open until at least 2011, giving current F-15 customers a longer window to exercise additional delivery options on existing contracts.

• The US Air Force test-fired the first Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile - Extended Range, a second model of the original AGM-158 JASSM stealth missile which doubles its precision attack range to 500 miles. The USAF hopes to buy nearly 5,000 JASSMs, over half of them the extended range version. Australia is the first international customer to purchase the missile.

• Who Killed the Killer Drone - and Why?

• It's just not the major military powers with UAVs: The bad guys can use drones too.

C4SI DIMENSION

• Do your special forces teams need communications over a 600 mile area? Instead of relying on a $300 million satellite, how about a portable $6,000 weather balloon?

• The DoD is offering free anti-spyware software to all government employees and armed forces personnel for use on their personal computer systems to reduce the opportunity for spyware to get into government networks via users who transfer files between their home and work PCs.

• Some Air Force weapons simulator programs get their data from friendly ground weather-monitoring stations, leaving unacceptable gaps on the surface of the earth. That may be about to change, thanks to some collaboration between a civilian space program and the Department of Defense.

• The U.N. International Maritime Organisation (IMO) said governments party to the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) convention had given initial acceptance to new rules to track ships by satellite to help fight terrorism and prevent the transport of materials used in weapons of mass destruction.

• The U.S. Navy is getting a new three-star deputy chief of naval operations (DCNO) for communication networks. This 'Info Tech Czar' will be the new 'N6' DCNO in a reorganized OpNav.

LAND SECTOR

• Mini-UAVs are extremely popular in Afghanistan. America, Britain, Germany, and now Canada and Holland are all ordering and using these soldier-portable, hand-launched eyes in the sky. DID has details and field reports from Afghanistan, aka. "the commando olympics."

• 12th Cavalry Regiment is the first unit to mount the Common Remotely Operated Weapons Station (CROWS) system on tanks. CROWS is a stabilized, unmanned machine gun system for vehicles, with an advanced sensor suite of lasers, thermal sights, and cameras. It allows the operater to remain inside, targeting the gun via a joystick and screen. CROWS has been available on Humvees for some time and received very positive reviews. It can mount the M-2 .50 cal machine gun, the MK19 40mm grenade launcher, M249 5.56mm squad automatic weapon, and the M240B 7.62mm machine gun.

• Want to check out the CROWS yourself? Get the new version of "America's Army," boot it up, and start training.

• The seemingly endless drive to encase soldiers and marines in more and more armor continues -- whether the troops want it or not. Though sometimes the unwanted armor comes through.

• In our April 2006 briefing, we talked about the Israeli Trophy system, incorrectly touted as a 'force field' system by some ignorant media. The USA's $120+ billion Future Combat Systems program just awarded Raytheon a $70 million contract to develop a similar system for 2010. Trophy is available now for tanks and Stryker vehicles in Iraq... so why wasn't it picked for priority fielding?

• DefenseTech reports that military diesel-electric hybrids are facing fielding challenges. "Right now we don't have a hybrid-electric vehicle targeting fielding," says Gus Khalil, director of the Army's hybrid research. DID has covered one of the possibilities in development - and read DefenseTech's "Hybrid Reality Check" for an outline of some of the field's overall challenges, and projects undertaken.

• DRS has signed a long-term strategic agreement with energy weapon manufacturer Ionatron, Inc. in Tuscon, AZ. They will dewvelop Ionatron's Laser-Guided Energy (LGE) and Laser-Induced, Plasma-Channel (LIPC) directed-energy weapon systems for the U.S. military market, and integrate them with the energy management systems and vehicle platforms of its DRS Test & Energy Management unit in Huntsville, AL. Ionatron's highest profile item is its JIN anti-IED vehicle.

• The Pentagon’s Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program is looking to find non-lethal ways to stop a moving vehicle such as a suspected suicide car or even a pirate's vessel. Laser devices fitted to rifles are already being tried out in Iraq to temporarily dazzle drivers who refuse to slow down for vehicle checkpoints - or even civilian boardroom laser pointers that just warn them. Tire shredders borrowed from civilian law enforcement can be handy, too.

• Need to get to the roof in a hurry? Why not take a ride on DARPA's experimental "man cannon." Five storeys in two seconds. Not for the faint of heart.... but might make lots of money for DARPA's budget if commercialized for the X-games set.

MARITIME SECTOR

• Britain took some important steps forward on its 60,000 tonne CVF future aircraft carrier program. In March, they secured an agreement with France for joint development of the design. April & May, meanwhile, saw GBP 143 million in contracts and a formalized alliance agreement between the participating companies and the Ministry of Defence. DID offers an in-depth look at the CVF carrier, shows some designs that didn't win, and chronicles its ongoing development.

• Australia is looking to increase its naval capabilities via its A$ 2 billion program for 2 Canberra Class amphibious ships - really mini-carriers that can carry up to 1,000 troops and their equipment. The Request for Tender is out now, and the final choice will be between modified versions of ships being built for the French and Spanish navies.

• The DD (X) destroyer (DDG-1000 'Zumwalt'-class) program has shrunk from 30+ ships initially to down to 12 ships, then to 7 ships, and now possibly even fewer as the Navy attempts to increase the size of the fleet on a limited budget. Two DDG-1000 ships are budgeted to begin construction next year, though even this has been a topic of controversy.

• Meanwhile, the 'Sea Jet' technology demonstrator, a sort of quarter-scale DD (X) prototype, continues testing on an Idaho lake.

• USS Florida, the second of four 'Ohio'-class nuclear subs being converted to SSGN special forces & conventional strike submarines, is nearly ready to return to duty.

• With its shallow-water draft and high speed performance, Austal's Westpac Express high-speed catamaran has been instrumental in changing the way the US Navy approaches sealift of forces and supplies. Future programs like the Joint High-Speed Vessel (JHSV) owe a great deal to the innovative designs and performance of Australian shipbuilders Austal and Incat. In the meantime, the US Navy has given Westpac Express a new charter (think of it as sort of a lease) worth up to $88.7 million over 5 years.

• The Navy was getting rid of its 'Cyclone'-class patrol boats, the smallest fighting ships in the fleet, when it discovered that the 180-foot vessels are a very capable littoral warfare platform for defending oil platforms and the like near shore. The article's comparisons to the USA's new Littoral Combat Ships are very misleading, though - the two vessel types aren't remotely similar, except that they both operate in shallow seas.

STRATEGIC WEAPONS & MISSILE DEFENSE

• Russia says its Topol-M and Bulava are not only able to better survive a nuclear first strike, they are equipped to avoid detection by launch-detection systems and deceive anti-missile systems like the one the US is developing.

• Part of that anti-missile system is the Sea-Based X-Band Radar, built on a converted oil rig. Unfortunately, it was damaged on its way to its base in Adak, Alaska, and had to return to Pearl Harbor for repairs.

• Oh, and the Russians don't like the idea of conventionally-armed ICBMS.

• The Starfire Optical Range uses adaptive optics to take pretty pictures of stars. But could it help fire a laser through the atmosphere, to fry a satellite or ballistic missile?

SUPPLY AND SUPPORT

• The Pentagon expects to spend a total of $500 million to implement RFID throughout its through its massive $120 billion per year logistics chain over a six-year period, with payback ranging between a net savings of $70 million - $1.7 billion over seven years. Some of the early RFID performance data is in, and it's very positive from both a financial and a front-lines perspective.

• Lockheed clearly sees a lot of potential - they just spent $400 million to acquire leading RFID solutions firm Savi Technology.

• The new prototype service dress uniforms for the US Air Force are getting a lot of attention. The service wants something that looks more 'military' and less 'corporate'. The new Airman's Battle Uniform is entering production and will be available next year.

• DID has covered the Pentagon's increasing focus on energy consumption and conservation as a growing logistics and sustainability issue. Part of that coverage has mentioned "Energy: A Conversation About Our National Addiction" inter-agency events... and now there's a site where you can see the presentations and listen to their speakers.

• There's a quiet revolution afoot in the Navy and Marine Corps, a new way of doing things that promises massive leaps in capability. It's called Seabasing, and nobody outside of the services seems to know anything about it. (JK: probably because the funding required to get serious about it has been a mirage so far. Good idea, though.).

• In the budget battles, the Senate voted for a few extra C-17s. The current fleet is getting quite a workout.

• Also on the air transport front, Lockheed-Martin completed the first upgraded C-5M with new engines, avionics, and more. A total of 111 ultra-large Galaxy aircraft will get the upgrade.

• You're going to hear a lot about "Lean Initiatives" over the next few years. They're an offshoot of business process improvement programs found in commercial business, and they're getting more and more attention from militaries these days. If you're new to the concept, here's a painless introduction.

• Combat Feeding Directorate improves MREs. Many troops will tell you that they couldn't get much worse. Unfortunately, the new meals won't be available in the field until 2009 or 2010.

• EADS' TransHospitals are a modular system that clips convenient ISO Standard 20×8×8 container modules together in order to assemble field medical facilities of any size. It's part of a slow global trend toward containerized support systems, and Singapore is on this bandwagon.

TRANSFORMATION: POLICY & DOCTRINE

• Eminent military historian Victor Davis Hanson offers some thoughts on transformation and warfare in the journal of the American Historical Society, whose Jan/Feb 2006 issue has a section about the Future of War. "In other words, the newfound lethality of the Macedonian phalanx did not change at all the older rules of why men fight, the ingredients for their success or failure, or how such new technology was rightly or wrongly employed in an unchanging strategic landscape."

• The First Information War. Are we winning it? Are we losing it? Do we know?

• The Pentagon's process for drawing up its shortlist of new, high-priority weapon system requirements is changing, and could result in combatant commanders having much more influence over the shape of the US Defense Department's new six-year spending plan. Military.com's "DOD Making List of New, Key Weapons" discusses how this system evolved from Giambastiani's frustrating experiences as a combatant commander.

• One area where combat vets can exert more immediate influence is in training, passing on their own experiences (both good and bad) to those preparing to deploy to the war zones. And new gear is arriving so quickly it's tough for everyone to know how to maximize its potential. There's no shortage of combat vets these days, and they're incorporating lessons learned like lives depend on it. Because they do.

• The Army is looking to reduce the length and frequency of deployments to Iraq, perhaps even moving to six-month tours a la the Marine Corps. Some have wondered if six-month tours mean the unit leaves just about the time it's settling in with the locals and really getting the lay of the land, but shorter tours are sure to be popular with the troops. (JK: I'm with the wonderers. Year-long stays suck, but mean that more people will come home safely in the end.)

Contributors to this issue included: Murdoc, Defense Industry Daily, and Military.com's DefenseTech. Join them in our June 2006 isdsue by emailing story tips, blog URLs, etc. to transformation, over here @windsofchange.net.

Thanks for reading! If you found something here you want to blog about yourself (and we hope you do), all we ask is that you do as we do and offer a Hat Tip hyperlink to today's "Defense Transformation Uplink".

The Comments section can be used to brief us on new developments, or contribute your thoughts. Note that WindsofChange.NET has earned a reputation as a site for grown-up debate, where argument is often strong but participants demand quality. As back-up, designated Marshals are on hand to enforce a baseline level of order and civility. Their approach is generally diplomatic, but they have other options at their disposal if need be. If you have what it takes to be part of such discussions, you are more than welcome here!

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AIR & SPACE SECTOR

• Congress killed the RNEP nuclear bunker-buster program, but the ability to reach buried targets with precision strikes is still important. Meet Deep Digger, first of a revolutionary new generation of unconventional conventional bunker-buster bombs. This literally ground-breaking new technology uses cannon fire to tunnel through solid rock, drilling a channel for the bomb. DefenseTech has the special feature: Part 1 | Part 2.

• UCAVs, drones with capabilities that approach an F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter's, are popular projects these days. Britain is flying the CORAX, which kind of resembles the late 1990s Darkstar project. Meanwhile, France is leading a 6-nation Euro consortium to create the nEUROn UCAV.

• In the Pacific, the USA is proposing a transformational system for its allies in the region: a shared Pacific "pool" of ultra-long range Global Hawk UAVs based in Guam. The proposal before Australia, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand includes options for a shared and commonly funded fleet along the lines of NATO's E-3 AWACS model, or an option in which countries acquire their own Global Hawks and make them available to the common regional fleet on agreed terms. The Global Hawk is also competing for a maritime patrol aircraft RFP in India, so the pool could deepen.

• Speaking of India, India's Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi remarks that Indian Air Force (IAF) plans to acquire more advanced fighters, sophisticated defence systems and smart long-range weapons, as the country's "strategic boundaries have been redefined" by its growing energy needs and participation in disaster management operations. Tyagi said the current scenario "necessitated a strategic reach..."

• In the USA, the Hunter Killer Standoff Team (HKST) consists of a Hunter UAV controlled from an AH-64D Longbow Apache helicopter. Those RQ-5 Hunter UAVs have a sting of their own, too, via small precision weapons called Viper Strikes. Other UAVs, too, are being fitted with missiles, miniguns, and even automatic shotguns.

• The laser-guided Hellfire missile is a mainstay in the US arsenal, but these missiles don't come cheap at $100K to $150K apiece. Designed to take out heavy Soviet tanks, they're often overkill on today's battlefield. The APKWS II "Hellfire Junior" (target price $10K) is a laser guidance system that fits onto a standard 2.75 inch rocket, creating a low-cost light alternative that puts more precision weapons on more platforms. Lockheed-Martin recently conducted a successful ground-launch of the system.

• Lasers aren't just for guiding bombs, either. The Airborne Laser (on the nose of a 747) and its little cousin the Airborne Tactical Laser (on the belly of a C-130) are still struggling through development. Meanwhile, Tactical Relay Mirror System could someday use mirrors (perhaps mounted on giant blimps) to let lasers shoot around corners.

C4SI DIMENSION

• Defense Industry Daily offers a deep, in-depth look at the the USA's $18 billion Transformational Satellite (TSAT) system, the planned future for the USA's space-based communications backbone, and the potential threat from "incremental alternatives." Will TSAT go the way of Iridium?

• "ROVER" is an unimpressive looking piece of equipment. Mostly, it looks like a ruggedized laptop with antennas. Lt. Col. Gregory E. Harbin, of the 609th Combat Operations Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base, SC says "...the ROVER is bringing a phenomenal capability to our people on the ground." Read why.

• Maj. Gen. Charles Cartwright says the US Army's Future Combat Systems electronics will probably have a Linux/Intel base because 'it works best with the service's current and future applications.'

LAND SECTOR

• Maj. Gen. Roger Nadeau, who heads the US Army's research and development command, looks at the lessons of Iraq and says, among other things: "If [the $120+ billion Future Combat Systems set] were here in its entirety today, how would the soldier's life in that city [amidst urban warfare] be better? If we can't answer that, we're probably going down the wrong path and we need to make some modifications."

• Meanwhile, the US Government Accountability Office steps in with a report that takes a hard look at the Future Combat Systems program management.

• It isn't always the big ticket items that make a difference. Read why 2,000 eye-safe civilian green laser pointers are being rushed to Iraq. Not to mention some seriously bright flashlights.

• Rocket propelled grenades are second only to improvised explosive devices in the insurgent's arsenal. The Army's Stryker vehicles carry a heavy and bulky "bird-cage" of slat armor to defend against the threat, and it's worked pretty well. But what if the incoming RPGs were shot down instead? Raytheon Company's new Quick Kill System means to do just that. eDefense Online has more, and Defense Tech has background and links about various "active defense" systems here.

• The Patriot missile system alternates between hero and scapegoat, but the Army says software upgrades, data links, and improved training will solve the problems by next year.

• The quest for "Starship Troopers continues: Exoskeletons Make You Tough. Background, links, and the Invincible Iron Man over at Defense Tech.

MARITIME SECTOR

• The SEALs' new $6 million Stiletto stealth ship: Look different. Ride different. Buy different.

• It was just revealed that the US Navy successfully tested the AN/BLQ-11 Long Term Mine Reconnaissance System (LMRS) unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) in January 2006, by having it find and dock with a sub. The LMRS is designed to enable submarines to conduct clandestine undersea surveys to locate mines.

• The US Navy is looking to field a conventional warheadded Trident sub-launched ballistic missile for "Prompt Global Strike" capability against targets within less than one hour of the order to launch. But the proposal is under fire. And the Air Force thinks land-based missiles are better-suited. Did we mention that the Air force operates those land-based missiles?

• Meanwhile, the US Navy is also working on rail guns that it hopes will be able to fire shells hundreds of miles.

SUPPLY AND SUPPORT

• The USA continues to step up its use of Radio Frequency ID (RFID) tags throughout its logistics chain, and there are programs afoot to create interoperable systems with allies for coalition operations.

• In its search to improve aircraft maintenance turnaround and improve quality, The US Air Force spliced elements of several civilian efficiency programs to develop "Smart Operations 21." The program is based on both Lean and Six Sigma business process improvement tools.

• The Army's Theater Support Vessel (TSV-1X) "Spearhead" is a high-speed low-draft "transport plus" catamaran that just oozes of transformation. (PDF version with images here) Yes, the Army! DID has an article covering the JHSV program that will follow.

TRANSFORMATION: POLICY & DOCTRINE

• The biggest recent event on the military transformation policy front was the USA's 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review. Overall, the services seem happy but the broader buzz is not good. Defense Industry Daily has a comprehensive QDR roundup from the Pentagon, the services, and outside commentators.

• Defense Industry Daily offers a similar roundup for the Pentagon's upcoming FY 2007 budget, which already shows some influence from the QDR.

• So what about this year? Winslow T. Wheeler is the Director of the Straus Military Reform Project of the Center for Defense Information in Washington, with 31 years experience on national security issues for US Senators from both parties and the GAO. He dissects the USA's FY 2006 military budget, including controversies re: its real size and some of the dodges and tricks to watch out for when looking at it.

• How bad are the Pentagon's financial and accounting systems? Bad...

• Is the USA's new brigade-centric organization going to lead to HQ bloat and reduced combat power?

• How Marines are preparing for hybrid wars: A. Small wars? B. Amphibious operations? C. Major land combat? D. All of the above?

• Finally, technological transformation isn't everything - the human element is still decisive. This account of how an 'obsolete' Serbian missile battery shot down an American F-117 stealth fighter and survived NATO's Kosovo air campaign provides a vivid and memorable example.

Contributors to this issue included: Murdoc, Defense Industry Daily, Military.com's DefenseTech, and eDefense Online.

Thanks for reading! If you found something here you want to blog about yourself (and we hope you do), all we ask is that you do as we do and offer a Hat Tip hyperlink to today's "Defense Transformation Uplink".

The Comments section can be used to brief us on new developments, or contribute your thoughts. Note that WindsofChange.NET has earned a reputation as a site for grown-up debate, where argument is often strong but participants demand quality. As back-up, designated Marshals are on hand to enforce a baseline level of order and civility. Their approach is generally diplomatic, but they have other options at their disposal if need be. If you have what it takes to be part of such discussions, you are more than welcome here!

« ok, I'm done now