Briefings : F136, SIGINT A320, Indian fighter upgrades

The alternative engine for the JSF, the GE/Rolls Royce F136 has been in trouble from the bean counters for some time but may survive another year at least because the US government simply doesn't have the time to axe it because of other defence priorities.

Airbus is working on a SIGINT version of it's A320 airliner. Airbus are currently bench testing equipment in a self-funded study. There are no orders for such a plane yet though Airbus say they are talking to several potential buyers.

India is busying it's chequebook in order to upgrade it's fighter fleet. 40 Su-30MKIs will be upgraded with new radars, EW systems and support for the BrahMos missile. The air force's 56 Mirage 2000s are also likely to be upgraded with new avionics, cockpit displays and EW/weapon systems.

Briefings : CMWS support, SSBN(X), Cold War exhibits

BAE Systems has won a £16 million contract to support and service countermeasures systems currently operated by UK fixed and rotary wing assets over Afghanistan. For the next 5 years they will support the AAR-57 Common Missile Warning Systems fitted to 120 UK aircraft.

Nimrod MR2 XV250 has made it's final flight into retirement and will now live at the Yorkshire Air Museum.

The US have started looking at their next generation ballistic missile submarines to replace the Ohio class in the late 2020s. Some commentators are already considering the SSBN(X). The US and UK (who will be replacing their Vanguards in a similar time frame with the Successor submarine) are already working on some joint measures. Meanwhile the US has revealed they have, or are close to having, conventionally armed ICBMs.

In Lithuania you can have a taste of the cold war, or rather a Soviet concentration camp in a new tourist attraction.

UK set to buy 3 RC-135s

The UK is set to replace it's Nimrod R1 Elint aircraft with 3 RC-135 Rivet Joints, the UK has decided to do this instead of modifying development Nimrod MRA4s. The 3 Rivet Joints are currently stored airframes in the US and will be made operational by L-3 Communications. A contract will be signed in weeks, the Nimrod R1s will remain in service until they can be replaced by the Rivet Joints though the similar MR2s are being retired within months.

Bowman upgrade

The key to the modern and future battlefield is data and the UK military's tactical communications and data system, Bowman, is to be upgraded to BCIP5 to make it easier to use and "provide enhanced battle planning tools, a more stable and robust tactical internet, and improved situational awareness"... phew! Bowman, developed by General Dynamics, has not been without it's problems of course.



Its being rolled out to troops, vehicles, ships and helicopters. The new Type 45 destroyers arn't due to get it until well in the next decade though.

Final Sentinel R Mk 1 delivered, successful trial in Afghanistan

Raytheon have delivered the final Sentinel R Mk 1 as part of the Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) programme for the RAF. The programme includes 5 Sentinel aircraft along with six tactical ground station units, two operational level ground station units and other support equipment.



The Sentinel has meanwhile been praised following it's successful trial in Afghanistan last year. Defence Minister Quentin Davis called it a "key element of the modern network-enabled battlefield." So there.

The RAF article gives a good overview of what ASTOR actually does and what it brings to the table.

Nimrod MRA4 service support, maybe R1 replacement

BAE Systems have been awarded a contract to develop and put into place a support system for the future fleet of Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol (& various other things aircraft). BAE already support the MR2 and R1 fleets of course. The 3 development MRA4s are being considered for the R1 replacement as an alternative to purchasing ex-USAF RC-135 Rivet Joints.

ASTOR makes operational debut

The RAF's Airborne Standoff Radar (ASTOR) has made it's operational debut in Afghanistan after a 2 year delay. This is the UK's counterpart to the US' JSTARS and will support ground operations with it's synthetic aperture radar and ground moving target indication sensor. The 2 Sentinel R1s plus ground sites entered operational service today. The RAF has 2 other Sentinels with a 5th due to be handed over by Raytheon before the end of the year (which is close!) The system was supposed to enter service in November 2006 but has suffered a number of delays as is common with all MOD projects.

A tale of 2 AWACS upgrades

Boeing has completed flight systems testing of the Block 40/45 E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft. The upgrade includes a new computer architecture replacing the existing mainframe with open system network servers. The new system also includes better data linking and an improved user interface, well lets hope this new system is up to the job, so often "old iron" is replaced by fancy new boxen which cause no end of trouble, or is that just the software engineer in me talking. The USAF are also looking into upgrading the actual aircraft themselves (Airframe Modernization Program (AMP)) with glass cockpits and maybe new engines.



Meanwhile Russia has started testing a modernisation upgrade of it's A-50M Mainstay AWACS, as with the Sentry the focus of the upgrade has been in replacing legacy analogue systems with digital ones.

Blogger comes to rescue of Georgian cyber attacked websites

Russian cyber warfare attacks badly affected the Georgian government's web presence during the conflict, the virtual information war being raged as fiercely as the physical war. Georgia though have managed to create various blogs using Google's Blogger (which this blog uses of course) to get their message out when their normal web sites were down. For example the Ministry of Foreign Affairs blog and the blog of the State Minister for Reintegration.

As for the cyber attacks themselves Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks were used by Russian hackers to knock out the Georgian websites by overwhelming the servers with masses of requests. Russia Today's website was also knocked out by a DDoS attack, the initial attack coming from Georgia.


An alternative way of hacking electronics

RAF to keep full Sentry fleet; update considered

The RAF is to keep it's entire fleet of 7 Boeing E-3D Sentry AWACS aircraft operational and not mothball 2 as they originally planned in an effort to cut costs. Instead they will reduce the hours flown and the number of assigned aircrews. The MOD are also considering an upgrade to their fleet similar to the USAF's Block 40/45 upgrade. The upgrade would include new flat screen operator panels and updated computers to replace the 1970s style mainframe architecture currently used.

Nimrod R1 is dead apparently

Some will rejoice the demise of the Nimrod R1 as apparently confirmed by the boss of L-3 after the crash in Afghanistan and masses of bad publicity. Others will mourn the fact the UK will be using Rivet Joints instead of making our own but then again Elint aircraft are a bit of a niche these days and its not the end of the world is it?