111 Nations Agreed To Ban Cluster Bombs

Delegates from 111 nations agreed May 28 a landmark treaty to ban cluster bombs, Ireland's foreign ministry said, in a deal that lacks the backing of major producers and stockpilers of the lethal weapons.

After 10 days of painstaking negotiations at Croke Park stadium in Dublin, diplomats agreed the wording of a wide-ranging pact to outlaw the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions by its signatories.

It also provides for the welfare of victims and the clearing of areas contaminated by unexploded cluster bombs.

The agreement will be formally adopted on May 30, and signed in Oslo on December 2-3. Signatories would then need to ratify it.

But crucially, the United States, Russia, China, India, Israel and Pakistan - all major producers and stockpilers of cluster bombs - were absent from the Dublin talks, and thus not part of the agreement.

The Irish Department for Foreign Affairs said 111 participating states and 18 observer countries attended.

The treaty requires the destruction of stockpiled munitions within eight years - though it leaves the door open for future, more precise generations of cluster munitions that pose less harm to civilians.

Britain was widely cited by campaigners as being at the forefront of a group of states seeking to water down the treaty.

But in a dramatic move May 28, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced in London that Britain would withdraw all its cluster bombs from service in a bid to "break the log jam" in the Dublin talks.

Brown later said in a statement he was "delighted" with the treaty's agreement, and said it made "the world a safer place."

The draft treaty agreed in Dublin read: "Each state party undertakes never under any circumstances to: "(a) Use cluster munitions; "(b) Develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, cluster munitions; "(c) Assist, encourage or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a state party under this convention."

Much of the wrangling at Croke Park focused on what signatories could and could not do in joint operations with states still using cluster bombs.

The draft text said signatories "may engage in military cooperation and operations".

But the Cluster Munition Coalition, an umbrella group of non-governmental organizations, hopes that the treaty will stigmatize the use of cluster munitions - as the similar Ottawa Treaty did for landmines - and stop countries from helping others to use them.

Hildegarde Vansintjan, advocacy officer for disability campaigners Handicap International, said the convention made states responsible for providing assistance to cluster bomb victims.

The treaty would be a real step forward for the people suffering from cluster munitions all over the world.

The cluster munitions ban process, started by Norway in February 2007, took the same path as the 1997 Ottawa Treaty by going outside the United Nations to avoid vetoes and seal a swift pact.

Cluster munitions are among the weapons that pose the gravest dangers to civilians, especially in heavily bombed countries like Laos, Vietnam and Afghanistan.

Dropped from planes or fired from artillery, they explode in mid-air, randomly scattering bomblets. Countries are seeking a ban due to the risk of civilians being killed or maimed by their indiscriminate, wide area effect.

They also pose a lasting threat to civilians as many bomblets fail to explode on impact.

MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) Vehicle ...

The acronym MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) has its origins in a US Marine Corps (USMC) programme established in November 2006 to deliver a vehicle for use in Operation 'Iraqi Freedom' (OIF) and Operation 'Enduring Freedom' (OEF) that offered troops on the ground higher levels of protection from emerging threats than their then current uparmoured versions of the beleaguered High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (Humvee).

From its beginnings as a far lower-profile Marine Corps project, the programme, in fewer than 12 months, had grown exponentially to become the US Department of Defense's third largest acquisition programme behind missile defence and the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

Such is the global profile of the MRAP programme that it has understandably received extensive coverage across the media. That coverage has seldom been as accurate, informed or as impartial as it could and perhaps should have been.

Prior to the original indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) MRAP contracts that were issued to nine contractors in January 2007, both the US Marine Corps and army had in fact procured, and were using on deployed operations, vehicles of types that are now referred to as MRAPs.

The US Army's preferred choice had been the BAE Systems Land Systems OMC RG-31, and from an initial purchase of three Mk 3 vehicles in 2003, the service would eventually receive 468 vehicles (Mk 3 and Mk 5). The final pre-MRAP delivery order was placed in January 2007 for 169 Mk 5 vehicles. All US Army RG-31 contract awards are to BAE Systems' North American licensee, General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) Canada.

The leading provider of MRAP-type vehicles to US armed forces before the MRAP ID/IQ contract awards was Force Protection. This company had supplied around 400 of its Cougars (4 x 4 and 6 x 6), plus 90 of its Buffalo dedicated mine/improvised explosive device (IED) route-clearance vehicles to the army and marines before January 2007 and, according to the company, these had totalled in excess of 2 million combat hours in Afghanistan and Iraq and had survived at least 2,000 blast attacks. The Buffalo was first deployed in Iraq by the US Army in July 2003, while the Cougar was first used by the USMC in Iraq in October 2004.

The MRAP ID/IQ contracts initially called for four vehicles (two each of Category 1 and Category 2 MRAP designs) from each of the nine contractors involved - BAE Systems Tactical Vehicle Systems (now BAE Systems Mobility and Protection Systems); BAE Systems Ground Systems; Force Protection Inc; General Dynamics Land Systems - Canada; General Purpose Vehicles; International Military and Government LLC (now Navistar Defense LLC); Oshkosh Truck Corporation (now Oshkosh Defense); Protected Vehicles Inc; Textron Marine and Land Systems.

The following vehicles were eliminated from the competition: the Textron M1117 Armored Security Vehicle (ASV), the Oshkosh-offered Thales Bushmaster, the GPV offering, and following small low-rate initial production (LRIP) orders: the PVI-offered Rafael Golan and Oshkosh (PVI-designed) Alpha, would all be eliminated from the competition. The bulk of the 60 Golans and 100 Alphas ordered have since been declared excess property by the marines and will be employed by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

RNLAF CH-47F Helicopters Equipped With Missile Warning Systems

Northrop Grumman has been selected by the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) to provide the AAR-54 Missile Warning System (MWS) for its CH-47F Chinook helicopters.

Under the terms of the multi-million dollar contract, Northrop Grumman's Defensive Systems Division will provide eight MWS shipsets and spares, in addition to follow-on support, to the RNLAF beginning in Jan. 2009 and continuing through Jan. 2010.

The AAR-54(V) is a fourth-generation Missile Approach Warning System now in production and available for use on virtually every platform - helicopters, fast jets, tactical and widebody aircraft.

In all applications, this compact, lightweight system provides outstanding clutter rejection, long-range and short-shot missile detection, rapid automatic cueing to the countermeasures system, and increased situational awareness capabilities via heads-up display or radar warning receiver display.

First Unmanned Surface Vehicle to US Navy for Littoral Combat Ship(LCS)

General Dynamics Robotic Systems delivered the first 11-meter “Fleet” class Anti-Submarine Warfare Unmanned Surface Vehicle (ASW USV) to the U.S. Navy on May 2 as part of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) mission package. General Dynamics Robotic Systems is a part of General Dynamics Land Systems (Sterling Heights, Michigan), a business unit of General Dynamics.

General Dynamics has worked in partnership with a Navy team that includes PEO-Littoral & Mine Warfare (LMW), PMS-420 LCS Mission Package Systems, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego (SSC San Diego) and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) to design, integrate, test and deliver the USV.

A second USV will be delivered to Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, Rhode Island, in June. These USVs are the first unmanned surface vehicles to ever receive hull numbers from the Navy, and will be known as “11MUC0601” and “11MUC0602,” respectively.

LCS is a fast, agile, focused-mission platform designed for operation in near-shore environments to defeat asymmetric “anti-access” threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast surface craft. The ASW USV operates and supports payloads and sensor systems, including an unmanned towed-array sonar system and an active multi-static offboard low-frequency sonar system. The General Dynamics-designed vehicle provides a high-speed, high-payload capable craft with excellent sea keeping characteristics, along with a state-of-the-art unmanned navigation and autonomous control capability that includes 360-degree situational awareness.

The USV has a payload capacity of 5,000 pounds, beam length of 11.2 feet and is capable of operating continuously for 24 hours or more. During high-speed transits the vehicle can reach speed of 35 knots or higher. A government-developed bow latch will launch and recover the unmanned surface vehicle from the LCS. As a semi-autonomous vehicle, the USV is capable of way-point navigation, sea keeping and station keeping.

To fulfill its mission, the LCS-based ASW USV performs the Maritime Shield, Protected Passage and Port Reconnaissance ASW missions to protect Navy surface ship battle groups.

General Dynamics, headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, employs approximately 84,000 people worldwide and reported 2007 revenues of $27.2 billion. The company is a market leader in business aviation; land and expeditionary combat systems, armaments and munitions; shipbuilding and marine systems; and information systems and technologies.

China and Russia sign nuclear cooperation deal

China and Russia signed a $1 billion nuclear cooperation deal and issued a joint statement condemning the proposed U.S. missile defense shield along Eastern European border. The deal came during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's two-day visit to China.

Under the nuclear agreement, which strengthens Russia's role as a supplier to China's fast-growing nuclear power industry, Russia will provide technical assistance in building a nuclear fuel enrichment plant costing $500 million. It will also supply semi-enriched uranium worth at least $500 million to China for the next 10 years, the Itar Tass news agency reported.

A joint statement, signed by Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao, said a U.S. plan to create and deploy a global missile defense system "does not help to maintain strategic balance and stability or strengthen international efforts to control nonproliferation."

The leaders also raised their objection to any new arms race in space.

During their talks in Beijing, the Chinese President expressed gratitude to both Medvedev and Russian Prime Minster Vladimir Putin for sending rescue crews and a mobile hospital to the disaster area in central Sichuan province hit by the killer earthquake.

Medvedev called for better cooperation between the two countries and said that steps must be taken to reduce the trade imbalance, which is currently in China's favor.

Russia has been encouraging China to import more Russian machinery and engineering goods instead of concentrating on energy imports.

Medvedev was scheduled to hold talks with Chinese Prime Minster Wen Jiabao on the same day, but it was called off because Wen is paying another visit to earthquake- devastated Sichuan province, China's official radio reported.

Medvedev's visit to China, his first after becoming Russia's President earlier this month, sends a message to both Beijing and the West that Moscow continues to strengthen its influence in the Central Asia region as its home turf.

General Dynamics' Piranha V Light Armoured Vehicle Makes FRES Provisional Selection

General Dynamics' Piranha V light armoured vehicle has been provisionally selected ahead of Artec's Boxer and Nexter's Vehicule Blind� de Combat d'Infanterie (VBCI) to meet the British Army's Future Rapid Effect System (FRES) Utility Vehicle requirement.

A written statement from the UK Defence Equipment and Support Minister Baroness Taylor described the Piranha V as the "preferred design" but only a "provisional selection".

Accordingly, questions remain over exactly what work needs to be done to get beyond the provisional selection. A statement from General Dynamics UK noted that the company "will now enter negotiations with the MoD to determine the scope of development work required".

The competition to select a Utility Vehicle Integrator is ongoing and - until that decision is made - questions also remain over the exact build strategy to get the vehicle into service, with teams from Artec, BAE Systems, EADS, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and Nexter are all vying for the role.

As the MoD's announcement stopped short of a production order, industry executives and UK MoD sources told Jane's they feared that the FRES programme had fallen victim to the UK defence "budget crunch".

New Maxico (SSN 779) Submarine, Completion Of Pressure Hull

Northrop Grumman's Shipbuilding sector reached an important construction milestone May 18 when it completed the final hull welds of the Virginia-class submarine New Mexico (SSN 779). This accomplishment, known as "pressure hull complete," signifies the hull sections being joined to form a single unit.

It is the last major milestone before the ship's christening later this year at the company's Newport News, Va. facilities.

Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, a newly-formed sector of Northrop Grumman, combined the former Northrop Grumman Ship Systems and Newport News shipbuilding sectors.

Pressure hull completion is a major milestone in the shipbuilding process. She's starting to take shape.

New Mexico, the sixth ship of the Virginia class, is named for "The Land of Enchantment." Upon delivery to the Navy in 2009, it will be the most modern and sophisticated attack submarine in the world, providing undersea supremacy well into the 21st century.

Northrop Grumman is teamed with General Dynamics Electric Boat to build the first 10 ships of the Virginia class. Current plans call for 30 Virginia-class submarines in the fleet.

Designed to meet the Navy's requirements in a post-Cold War security environment, the submarines use advanced technologies to increase firepower, maneuverability and stealth. The 377-foot long submarines are capable of submerged speeds of more than 25 knots and can stay submerged for months at a time.

MQ-9 Reaper drops first GPS-guided weapon

A test team with the 658th Aeronautical Systems Squadron completed the first Global Positioning System guided weapons release from an MQ-9 Reaper May 13 at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division at China Lake, Calif.

The efforts of the pilots, sensor operators, maintainers, weapons troops and testers culminated in six successful guided bomb unit-49 weapon releases in one day.

The first two drops were inert weapons to ensure the GBU-49's GPS guidance was working properly. The final release employed four weapons at one time, also known as a ripple, with three weapons on GPS guidance and the fourth weapon guided by laser. The three GPS weapons "shacked" (a successful, direct hit on a ground target) their targets and the laser-guided weapon came very close.

The GBU-49 is a laser-guided, 500-pound bomb much like the GBU-12, but it also includes an on-board GPS kit. The GBU-49 provides the warfighter an all-weather capability to employ a munition with precision without the aid of a laser designator.

First Sirius IRST System For Canadian Navy

Recently, the first SIRIUS Infrared Search and Track system destined for Canada’s Navy was subjected to a Factory Acceptance Test (FAT) at the Thales site in Hengelo, the Netherlands. The test was witnessed by the SIRIUS Program Management Team, DRS Technologies Canada, the Canadian Navy and the Royal Netherlands Navy. DRS is Thales' partner in the SIRIUS program.

The FAT demonstrated that SIRIUS performs as specified, underlining Thales' leading expertise in naval electro-optics world-wide. It further demonstrates Thales’ ability to deliver complex Canadian programs on time and within budget.

The first SIRIUS is intended for the Combat Systems Training Centre (CSTC) of the Canadian Navy, located in Halifax N.S. With Thales support, this system will be integrated into the HALIFAX Class CCS 330 system, with an expected shipboard installation projected in fall 2008 with at sea acceptance trials in early 2009. The second SIRIUS system will be delivered to the Royal Netherlands Navy and will be installed on board HMS Tromp during the summer of 2008.

In concert with the RNNL and the Canadian Navy, the FAT is the conclusion of a long series of tests and qualifications that have been performed over the past few years. They include the cold-water trials at the Royal Netherlands Navy's Land Based Test Site in Den Helder, the Netherlands in 2003, that proved SIRIUS' outstanding long-range detection capabilities; and, the warm-water trials near the Bahamas in 2005 on board the Canadian Halifax Class frigate HMCS Montreal, that demonstrated the SIRIUS system excels in littoral environments.

At present, 17 SIRIUS systems have been ordered: 13 for the Canadian Navy. In addition to the training centre system, 12 more will be installed on the Halifax Class frigates. The remaining four will be installed and integrated on the De Zeven Provinciën class Air Defence and Command frigates of the Royal Netherlands Navy.

This outstanding accomplishment highlights the benefits of long term partnering between industry (Thales / DRS) and Government (Canadian Navy and Royal Netherland’s Navy). Through collaboration, the SIRIUS product will deliver an exceptional operational capability to both navies. The SIRIUS program consistently demonstrates Thales’ ability to meet the Canadian and Netherlands’ Navies requirements in a timely and cost effective means. This is further demonstrated with the recently awarded Fire Control and Surveillance Radar Systems overhaul program for the HALIFAX and IROQUOIS Class.

Sirius is a passive infrared search and track system that operates simultaneously in two wavelengths (3-5 µm and 8-12 µm) and provides long-range surveillance under all atmospheric conditions. As a complement to radar systems, Sirius is an electro-optical surveillance sensor which cannot be detected. In the complex littoral environment Sirius is a perfect source of additional information for the situational awareness on board naval vessels. Video images generated by Sirius support operators with threat classification.

Thales is a leading international electronics and systems group, addressing defence, aerospace and security markets worldwide. Thales’ leading-edge technology is supported by 22,000 R&D engineers who offer a capability unmatched in Europe to develop and deploy field-proven mission-critical information systems. Thales employs 68,000 people in 50 countries with 2007 revenues of EUR 12.3 billion. Thales Nederland, established in 1922, is one of the leading companies in integrated naval systems for surveillance, weapon control, combat management and system integration world-wide.