Showing posts with label Subs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Subs. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

N. Korean Air Arm steps up training missions


SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s air force has conducted more training than normal this winter despite the death of leader Kim Jong Il, a report said Jan. 24.
The North’s military drills for winter began in late November and are showing no “abnormal” activities following Kim’s death on Dec. 17, the South’s Yonhap news agency said.
“We, however, witness a slight increase in the number of air force flights taking part in training,” an unnamed government official was quoted as saying.
The South will go ahead with its planned joint exercise with U.S. troops in March as Pyongyang has not eased its tough stance towards Seoul, Yonhap said.
Kim Jong Un, the late leader’s youngest son, has visited army units as head of the armed forces in an attempt to burnish his military credentials.
Kim, believed to be in his late 20s, was proclaimed supreme leader and appointed commander of the 1.2-million-strong military following the death of his father.
The new regime has vowed retaliation against Seoul for alleged disrespect during the mourning period for its late leader.
Cross-border tensions have been high since the South accused the North of torpedoing a warship with the loss of 46 lives in March 2010.
The North denied involvement but eight months later shelled an island near the tense Yellow Sea border and killed four South Koreans.
Kim chaired a Lunar New Year banquet on Jan. 23 for senior officials, the Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday.
At the meeting, leading ruling party official Choe Thae Bok urged North Koreans to glorify 2012 as “a year of shining victory when an era of prosperity is unfolding,” the agency said.
The regime has pledged to turn the impoverished, nuclear-armed country into a “powerful and prosperous nation” this year, which marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of founding president Kim Il Sung, father of Kim Jong Il.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Russian Nuclear Sub Sails under Indian Crew


NEW DELHI — Indian navy personnel will take command of the country's first nuclear-powered submarine in two decades on Monday after collecting the vessel near the Russian port of Vladivostok, an official said.
Moscow offered the Russian-built Chakra II to the Indian navy on a 10-year lease, a move that has angered India's archrival and nuclear-armed neighbor Pakistan.
The Akula II class craft is the first nuclear-powered submarine to be operated by India since it decommissioned its last Soviet-built vessel in 1991.
"INS Chakra II is being handed over to Indian personnel in the east, near Vladivostok," a senior navy source in India said, asking not to be named because Russia will formally announce the transfer.
The 8,140-ton submarine, capable of firing a range of torpedoes, as well as nuclear-tipped Granat cruise missiles, will sail under the Indian flag to its base at Visakhapatnam in the Bay of Bengal.
India is currently completing the development of its own Arihant-class nuclear-powered ballistic submarines and the Russian delivery is expected to help crews train for the domestic boat's introduction into service next year.
The submarine was due to be handed over to India in 2009 but has been hit by various problems during testing.
During trials in the Sea of Japan in November 2008, 20 sailors were killed when a fire extinguisher released a deadly chemical that had been accidentally loaded into the system.
The INS Chakra was commissioned by India in 2004 and has seen the South Asian nation pay $650 million in construction costs.
Earlier newspaper reports in India said New Delhi may end up paying as much as $900 million under the terms of the deal. Russia's RIA Novosti news agency valued the contract at $920 million.
Russia supplies 70 percent of India's military hardware, but New Delhi has been unhappy about delays to arms orders from Moscow and has looked to other suppliers, including Israel and the U.S., in recent years.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Europe need financial backing for Missile Shield


PARIS — Europe has technological capabilities it could contribute to NATO’s planned missile shield to protect European territory but a financial commitment is needed, François Auque, the chief executive of EADS’s Astrium space division, said Jan. 19.
The NATO summit in Chicago in May will be of strategic importance to Astrium as decisions are due to be made on contributions intended to extend the Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense system to a territorial coverage, he said. The system was designed to protect NATO deployed troops.
“In technological terms, Europe has a certain number of competences it can contribute,” Auque told journalists. “It could contribute to the architecture for the system. The knowledge of the missile threat allows one to organize the defense architecture.”
France could contribute by making available its Spirale launch early warning satellite, a demonstrator project, he said. Spirale has a limited life and needs a program launch, he said.
“Europe could also contribute an interceptor vehicle, which would require a certain amount of development,” he said.
“There are technological bricks,” he said. “The only real subject is the financial thing.”
Astrium is prime contractor for the French M51 submarine-launched ballistic missile, which was delivered on time and on budget, Auque said. There is no better qualification to design a defense architecture than the knowledge gained from building a ballistic missile, he said.
The M51 missile entered service in 2010 after an extremely limited test-fire program, due to budgetary constraints, he said. There were five test fires and five successes, Auque said.
“That takes risk-taking to the limit,” he said. “Really.”
Astrium’s experience in building ballistic missiles helped the company win from Kazakhstan a contract for two Earth-observation satellites, when it emerged that the Kazakh minister who agreed to meet Auque for a brief presentation had been a senior rocketry officer in the former Soviet Union, Auque said.
This year, Astrium is expecting the second phase of a feasibility study on future architecture for the ballistic missile early warning system and a formal NATO staff requirement for the architecture for a territorial ballistic missile defense.
The Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) procurement office recently launched work on maintaining a capability for a future nuclear deterrence, he said.
Astrium had 2011 sales of 5 billion euros ($6.4 billion), which is expected to increase to around 5.5 billion to 5.6 billion euros with the integration of the U.S. military telecommunications satellite company Vizada.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Asian Navies Shift to Bigger Vessels, Downplay Littoral Ops


TAIPEI - As Western navies build fewer aircraft carriers, destroyers and submarines, Asian navies are moving in the opposite direction, ignoring the littorals with construction and procurement of larger warships and submarines.
The U.S. and Europe have stepped back from larger platforms designed for the Cold War and invested in smaller platforms such as the U.S. Navy's Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). But this is not the case in East Asia and the Pacific, where there have been increases in spending on destroyers and submarines in Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, said Bob Nugent, vice president of naval advisory services at AMI International, based in Seattle.
One of the most notable cases involves Taiwan's procurement of four Kidd-class guided missile destroyers and plans to procure eight submarines. Japan and South Korea have also invested heavily in guided missile destroyers equipped with advanced phased array radars.
Even in budget-challenged Southeast Asian countries, the trend has been a shift from smaller to larger platforms, such as frigates and large corvettes. Examples include Singapore's Formidable-class frigates, Indonesia's SIGMA-class corvettes, Malaysia's recent decision on the SGPV/LCS frigates, and Vietnam's plan to buy SIGMAs and the pending delivery of Russian-built Kilo-class submarines.
The main reason regional navies are ignoring littoral capabilities has to do with geography. In the region, "the home team enjoys an enormous advantage of range and proximity and the attacker would have to be prepared to conduct pre-emptive strikes against the coast state's bases before conducting operations in the littoral," said Sam Bateman a regional naval specialist at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, in Singapore.
The U.S. Navy should "think twice" about deploying classic sea control/power projection capabilities, such as carrier battle groups, within range of subs and land-based strike aircraft, Bateman said. The U.S. Navy's new LCS will be "hugely vulnerable without close-air support and that cannot be guaranteed."
The U.S. and Singapore have recently agreed to allow the U.S. Navy to station the LCS in Singapore.
Air support is the "elephant in the room" with littoral warfare, Bateman said. Littoral warfare is dependent on fire support directed against targets on land, either from aircraft close-air support or naval gunfire. Despite all the advances with missiles, "the big caliber naval gun remains an attractive and effective way of putting down fire in coastal areas."
Another problem in the Asia-Pacific has been increased tension over exclusive economic zone (EEZ) claims, particularly in the South China Sea. Many countries, including China, claim restrictions over naval operations in their EEZs.
Some within the region have invested in stealthy vessels to avoid detection in the littoral environment. Singapore's Formidable-class frigates are based on the stealthy French-built La Fayette-class frigates and Singapore's ST Engineering is conducting research to develop the 27-meter Stealth Interceptor and 57-meter Stealth Patrol Vessel.
Taiwan wants to build a stealthy 900-ton catamaran corvette and is manufacturing a stealthy 180-ton fast-attack missile patrol boat, armed with Hsiung Feng-2 anti-ship missiles. The stealthy SIGMA-class corvettes procured by Indonesia and now being considered by Vietnam are other examples.
For Asian countries dealing with the littoral issue, the challenge is finding the right investment balance among intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) and defensive and offensive technologies, Nugent said.
"Unmanned systems are critical to ISR and defense in the littoral now and will become more so for offensive littoral warfare as unmanned maritime systems are more widely armed for all domains in the future," he said. Investments in better sensors and C4ISR are the other areas where the "gaps that create vulnerabilities in ship's self-defense against missiles and torpedoes in the littoral are getting a lot of attention."
Another area of growing interest is the use of unmanned surface vehicles (USV) and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV). ST Engineering is developing the 9-meter Venus USV ostensibly for harbor patrol, but the vessel has potential for littoral warfare.
USVs and UUVs will be "particularly useful for littoral warfare as they can be launched outside the EEZ or convenient surveillance range of the coastal state, which is unlikely to have the capabilities of detecting them," Bateman said. "They can be used for surveillance/intelligence collection and as an offensive weapon - to lay mines or fire torpedoes," he said.
There is also potential for anti-submarine warfare, but that capability is as yet "unrealized."

Friday, December 30, 2011

Thatcher Warned Over Navy Before Falklands Invasion


LONDON - Prime minister Margaret Thatcher was warned about the risks in slashing Britain's navy, a year before the 1982 Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands, secret files released Dec. 30 showed.
Her foreign secretary Lord Peter Carrington also warned defense secretary John Nott that axing Britain's Antarctic patrol ship would send all the wrong signals about London's willingness to defend the Falklands.
Documents released after 30 years locked away in Britain's National Archives showed that the head of the Royal Navy was fuming in 1981 about planned defense cuts.
First sea lord Adm. Henry Leach, who later told Thatcher that Britain could and should send a naval task force to retake the Falklands following the April 1982 invasion, was furious with her a year earlier over her "unbalanced devastation" of the armed forces.
"I note with regret but understanding that the tightness of your program precludes your seeing me personally as requested," he wrote in a stinging note to the premier.
"I am confident however that you will at least spare two minutes to read this note from the professional head of the navy before you and your Cabinet colleagues consider a proposition substantially to dismantle that navy."
Leach concluded: "We are on the brink of a historic decision.
"War seldom takes the expected form and a strong maritime capability provides flexibility for the unforeseen. If you erode it to the extent envisaged I believe you will foreclose your future options and prejudice our national security."
The files also include a letter from Carrington to Nott, urging him against axing the Antarctic patrol ship HMS Endurance, warning it would send the wrong signal to Buenos Aires at a time of tension over the Falklands.
"Unless and until the dispute is settled, it will be important to maintain our normal presence in the area at the current level," he wrote. "Any reduction would be interpreted by both the islanders and the Argentines as a reduction in our commitment to the Islands and in our willingness to defend them."
His appeal was, however, rejected and HMS Endurance was less than a month from being withdrawn from service when the first Argentinians landed on Britain's South Georgia overseas territory in March 1982.
Diplomatic friction between Argentina and Britain has intensified since 2010, when London authorized oil prospecting around the islands, which have a population of around 3,000.
Britain would "never" negotiate the sovereignty of the Falklands against its citizens' wishes, Prime Minister David Cameron said in a Christmas message to the Falklands.
Thatcher, now 86, retired from politics and suffering from dementia, is back in the limelight thanks to the biopic film "The Iron Lady," which hits cinemas around the world next month.

Russia Hands Over Nuke Sub Nerpa to India: Report


MOSCOW - Russia has handed over the nuclear-powered attack submarine Nerpa to India following more than two years of delays, a senior naval official was quoted as saying Dec. 30.
A 2004 FILE photo shows the Akula-class Vepr Russian nuclear submarine, the same type as the Nerpa sub Russia handed over to India on Dec. 30 following more than two years of delays. (Fred Tanneau / AFP)
"The signing ceremony happened yesterday at the Bolshoi Kamen ship building facility in the (Far East) Primorye region where the Nerpa is now based," the official in the naval chief of staff told ITAR-TASS.
Russian reports said an Indian crew would sail the Akula II class craft to its home base at the end of January after receiving it on a 10-year lease that has angered India's arch-rival Pakistan and resulted in retaliation threats.
The craft is due to reach its Bay of Bengal base of Visakhapatnam under the Indian flag in February and be commissioned by the navy in March.
"All of the naval tests and performance checks have been completed," the Russian official said. "The crew will begin making themselves feel at home on board the craft after New Year and start sailing it to India in the latter half of January."
An unnamed Russian official at the Amur district facility where the Nerpa was built added that the "Indian side is fully satisfied by the volume and quality of the tests" completed on the Nerpa at sea.
The Nerpa will be the first nuclear-powered submarine to be operated by India in nearly two decades after it decommissioned its last such Soviet-built vessel in 1991.
India is completing the development of its own Arihant-classnuclear-powered ballistic submarines and the Nerpa's delivery is expected to help crews train for the domestic boat's introduction into service next year.
The Russian Pacific port ceremony was held on the same day that a shipyard fire engulfed the Northern Fleet's Yekaterinburg nuclear-powered strategic submarine in the Murmansk region on the opposite side of the country.
The Nerpa had initially been due to be handed over to India in 2009 but experienced various problems during testing. It suffered a mishap during trials in the Sea of Japan in November 2008 that killed 20 sailors when a fire extinguisher released a deadly chemical that was accidentally loaded into the system.
Media reports said that some of the ship's equipment malfunctioned during testing and that the weapons navigation system did not work to India's specifications.
The 8,140-ton vessel can fire a range of torpedoes as well as Granat cruise missiles that can be nuclear-tipped. India has promised not to arm the submarine with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles under its obligations to international treaties it adopted after conducting a series of atomic tests in the 1990s.
But the craft's delivery has still upset Pakistan.
"Rest assured, there will be no compromise in terms of maintaining the credibility of our deterrence," Pakistan foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit was quoted as saying by The Asian Age newspaper this week.
The submarine is due to be commissioned as the INS Chakra in India under a2004 agreement that has seen the South Asian giant pay $650 million in construction costs.
Newspaper reports in India said New Delhi may end up paying as much as $900 million under the terms of the deal. Russia's RIA Novosti news agencies valued the contract at $920 million.
Russia supplies 70 percent of India's military hardware but New Delhi has been unhappy about delays to arms orders from Moscow and has looked to other suppliers including Israel and the United States in recent years.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

U.S. Navy Expects to Base Ships in Singapore


WASHINGTON - The United States, facing a rising China but a tighter budget, expects to station several combat ships in Singapore and may step up deployments to the Philippines and Thailand, a naval officer said.
ADM. JONATHAN GREENERT speaks during a ceremony in September at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. In an academic article, Greenet said the U.S. Navy will stations its newest littoral combat ships in Singapore. (MCS 2nd Class Shannon Eve Renfroe / Navy)
The United States has been increasingly vocal about defending freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, where tensions over territorial disputes between Beijing and Southeast Asian nations have been on the rise.
In an academic article forecasting the shape of the U.S. Navy in 2025, Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, wrote that "we will station several of our newest littoral combat ships" in Singapore.
Greenert said that the United States may also step up the periodic deployment of aircraft such as the P-8A Poseidon - which is being developed to track submarines - to regional treaty allies the Philippines and Thailand.
"The Navy will need innovative approaches to staying forward around the world to address growing concerns about freedom of the seas while being judicious with our resources," he wrote in the December issue of the U.S. Naval Institute's Proceedings.
"Because we will probably not be able to sustain the financial and diplomatic cost of new main operating bases abroad, the fleet of 2025 will rely more on host-nation ports and other facilities where our ships, aircraft, and crews can refuel, rest, resupply and repair while deployed," he wrote.
The naval officer did not directly mention China, as part of the usual policy by U.S. President Barack Obama's administration to publicly seek a more cooperative relationship with the growing Asian power.
But the United States has laid bare its concerns about China.
Obama last month announced that the United States would post up to 2,500 Marines in the northern Australian city of Darwin by 2016-17, a move criticized by Beijing.
The United States also has some 70,000 troops stationed in Japan and South Korea under longstanding alliances and has offered assistance to the Philippines which launched its newest warship on Dec. 14.
Singapore is also a long-standing partner of the United States. The U.S. military already operates a small post in the city-state that assists in logistics and exercises for forces in Southeast Asia.
In the article, Greenert described the Gulf monarchy of Bahrain as a model. The U.S. Fifth Fleet is based on the small island which is strategically close to Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran.
"In 2025 the Navy will operate from a larger number of partner nations such as Bahrain to more affordably maintain our forward posture around the world," he wrote.
The United States spent some $700 billion on its military in the past year, far more than any other country, and many lawmakers accept the need for cuts as the Iraq and Afghan operations wind down.
The Obama administration has identified Asia - full of fast-growing economies and with a still emerging security order - as the key priority for the United States.
Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta all traveled to Asia in recent months to hammer home the message that the United States will not leave the region despite economic woes at home.
"As the United States puts our fiscal house in order, we are reducing our spending," Obama said in his speech in Darwin.
But he added: "Here is what this region must know. As we end today's wars, I have directed my national security team to make our presence and missions in the Asia-Pacific a top priority."
Naval power, critical to the rise of the United States and earlier Britain as global powers, is expected to remain critical in the 21st century.
China has developed its first aircraft carrier, which has undergone two sea trials this year. An image of the 300-meter (990-foot) refitted former Soviet carrier was captured by U.S.-based company Digital Globe Inc.

Malaysia Firm Wins $2.8 Billion Navy Ship Deal


KUALA LUMPUR - A Malaysian shipbuilder says it has won a 9 billion ringgit ($2.8 billion) deal from Kuala Lumpur for six naval vessels developed by French manufacturer DCNS.
In a filing with the local bourse Dec. 16, Boustead Naval Shipyard said it was given a letter of award by the Malaysian defense ministry to build and deliver six "second generation patrol vessels littoral combat ships."
"The delivery of the first of class ship is estimated in 2017 with follow on ships every six months thereafter," it added.
Last week Boustead said it had been selected by Malaysia's navy to build the corvettes, which DCNS says can stay at sea for three weeks and are designed to navigate coastal areas and island groups to fight piracy and patrol fisheries. The vessels are 330 feet long and can each transport one EC275 helicopter made by Eurocopter, a subsidiary of EADS.
DCNS already had a relationship with Boustead through a joint venture in 2009 to maintain two diesel-propelled Scorpene submarines used by the Malaysian navy.
DCNS has previously sold 11 frigates to Malaysia's neighbor Singapore, five of which were built in the city-state.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Capability Reviews Bring Changes for Australia's Navy


MELBOURNE, Australia - The Australian government this week announced its response to two reports that criticize the operational capability of the Royal Australian Navy.
Speaking to media on Dec. 13, Defence Minister Stephen Smith and Jason Clare, minister for defense materiel, announced the Navy would acquire an additional sealift ship to improve its amphibious capability, following withdrawal of two amphibious warfare vessels, Kanimbla and Manoora, due to poor condition earlier this year.
The ministers also detailed responses to the recently released first phase of a review of maintenance of the Navy's six Collins-class submarines by John Coles, an independent expert from BMT Defence Services in the U.K.
The review was commissioned following revelations that most, and sometimes all, of Australia's submarines were not able to put to sea for a period of time and that sustainment costs had increased dramatically.
Speaking during the commissioning of the RAN's amphibious ship Choules in Western Australia, Smith responded to Phase 1 of the Coles review, saying that implementation of the recommendations will begin immediately.
"The report shows very deep, long-standing difficulties so far as maintenance and sustainment of the Collins-class submarine is concerned," he said. "It points to very serious flaws over a long period of time and draws attention to the need for fundamental reform in the way in which maintenance and sustainment is effected. The report itself makes very salutary reading, and it is a no-holds-barred report into what I regard as a long-standing systemic difficulty so far as Collins-class maintenance is concerned."
The report identified a range of shortfalls, including poor availability, a lack of cohesion in strategic leadership, a lack of clarity about accountability and responsibility, unclear requirements and unrealistic goals.
Its recommendations include increasing the provision of spare parts, further training and the development of an In-Service Support Contract between the government's Defence Materiel Organisation and the Australian Submarine Corp., manufacturers of the Collins boats.
Phase 2 of the Coles report will be released in April.
The Rizzo report, commissioned to investigate Australia's amphibious capability and conducted by independent external reviewer Paul Rizzo, was submitted to government in July and has directly resulted in the plans to acquire a third vessel to complement Choules and the existing landing ship, Tobruk.
To cover the shortfall in the interim, the Australian Defence Force is leasing the subsea operations vessel Windemere from civilian sources.
"A commercial off-the-shelf vessel will be sought so that minimal modifications will be needed, allowing the ship to enter service in the course of 2012," Smith said. The new ship "will primarily be used to transport troops and supplies in support of humanitarian and disaster relief operations domestically and in the region. Detailed discussions on the purchase will be taken in the near future."
Responding to the Coles and Rizzo reviews, Chief of Navy Vice Adm. Ray Griggs said, "I see these reviews as a very important opportunity for Navy, and for me as the capability manager, to be able to exercise my responsibilities. I don't see them as a threat. I see them - and their candor and honesty - as extremely useful to me to exercise my responsibilities and to make sure that we work together to get the sustainment of our Collins submarines right."
Australia plans to build 12 conventionally powered submarines to replace the Collins boats in the next decade, and Smith and Clare also announced Dec. 13 that French shipbuilder DCNS, Germany's HDW and Spain's Navantia will be issued requests for information.
Australia has also contracted with Babcock to study the establishment of a land-based propulsion systems test facility in response to a Rand Corp. study into Australia's submarine design capabilities and capacities.
The government has held high-level discussions with the U.S. Navy on the Future Submarine Project, most recently during November's AUSMIN ministerial talks.
"The Future Submarine Project is the biggest and most complex defense project we have ever embarked upon," Clare said. "It will involve hundreds of companies, thousands of workers and a lot of skills that do not currently exist in sufficient numbers.
"Some of those skills are available overseas; others will have to be grown here. Now is the time to develop a plan to make sure we have the skills we need when we start designing and building the submarines."
Clare said future announcements regarding the program will be made in 2012.
Smith and Clare also announced a study into alternate methods of crewing some naval vessels with a mix of civilian and military crews in a manner similar to the Military Sealift Command in the U.S. or Britain's Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Italy Gives Bombing Stats for Libya Campaign


ROME - In their first official breakdown of facts and figures about Italy's air campaign over Libya this year, officials said military aircraft deployed 710 guided bombs and missiles during sorties. Italian Air Force Tornados and AMX fighter bombers deployed 550 bombs and missiles, while Navy AV8s deployed 160 guided bombs, the officials said during an event at Trapani Air Base in Sicily to honor military personnel involved in the conflict.
The Air Force total included Storm Shadow missiles, which sources put at between 20 and 30, which were fired from Tornado IDS aircraft - the first time the Air Force has deployed the missile during operations. The success rate of the Storm Shadow was 97 percent, one official said.
Otherwise, the Air Force deployed Paveway and JDAM guided munitions. AMX bombers for the first time used Litening III targeting pods, while Tornado IDS aircraft used JDAM munitions operationally for the first time.
Although the Air Force used guided bombs in its Kosovo campaign, Libya marked its first "extensive" use of guided munitions, said Air Force chief Gen. Giuseppe Bernardis.
With up to 12 different aircraft flying missions on given days during the seven-month operation, the Air Force racked up 1,900 sorties and 7,300 flying hours using Tornado IDS and AMX aircraft for strike missions, Tornado ECR for air defense suppression, F-16s and Eurofighters for no-fly zone patrol, C-130J and 767 tanker aircraft for refueling, and the unarmed Reaper UAV for reconnaissance.
Patrol and air defense flights accounted for 38 percent of flying hours, surveillance and reconnaissance flights took up 23 percent, ground-attack missions made up 14 percent, air defense suppression flights took up 8 percent, refueling flights took up 8 percent, flights detecting electromagnetic emissions and undertaking electronic warfare were 4 percent, while "armed reconnaissance and attacks on targets of opportunity" took up 5 percent.
More than 340,000 high-resolution pictures were taken by Reccelite pods on Tornado and AMX aircraft while 250 hours of video was transmitted in real time by Reaper UAVs.
Eight Italian Navy AV8 Harrier jets, which enforced the no-fly zone over Libya and operated bombing missions, flew 1,221 hours from the carrier Garibaldi, while 30 ship-based helicopters, including the EH-101, SH-3D and AB-212 types, flew 1,921 hours as part of the operation.
The Air Force also rushed into service its new Boeing 767 tanker aircraft. A third aircraft was delivered in November and the final aircraft is expected in the first quarter of 2012.
Italian Navy statistics released about the campaign revealed that two submarines, the Todaro and the Gazzana, were involved in the NATO Unified Protector operation.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

ThyssenKrupp Concentrates Shipbuilding on Military Sector


BONN, Germany - ThyssenKrupp AG will concentrate its Marine Systems on military surface ship and submarine building in the future, the company announced Dec. 12, adding that it will sell all its civil shipbuilding activities to British company Star Capital Partners.
The contract, signed with the London-based financial investor company on Dec. 11, includes the large yard builder Blohm + Voss Shipyards, Blohm + Voss Repair, Blohm + Voss Oil Tools and Blohm + Voss Industries, including its subsidiaries. According to ThyssenKrupp, the new investor wants to continue the business at all sites.
"The sale is an essential step to further focus the activities of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems," Hans Christoph Atzpodien, CEO of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems AG, said in a news statement. "At the same time, with the new owner, an important course-setting to secure the work places and the future of the shipbuilding at the locations of Blohm + Voss has been taken for the employees."
The deal still has to be approved by oversight committees. ThyssenKrupp expects the deal to be completed at the end of the first quarter of 2012. The transaction reflects its strategic development concept unveiled May 13. It is supposed to improve the Essen-based company's competitive position and offer a sustainable future.
In August, there had been media speculation about a joint venture involving ThyssenKrupp Marine and French ship-building group DCNS. This was strongly denied by the German company at that time, which said that it saw little promise of close cooperation in the submarine or surface naval vessel sector.

Australia Courts 3 Firms for Sub Fleet


SYDNEY - Australia said Dec. 13 it had invited three companies from France, Germany and Spain to submit designs for its new submarine fleet, a project expected to span the next 30 years.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith said Canberra had asked French naval defense firm DCNS, Spain's Navantia and HDW of Germany - a ThyssenKrupp subsidiary - to submit designs for the program, which will see 12 new submarines built.
"The Future Submarine Project is a major national undertaking and is of a scale, complexity and duration never before experienced within (the) Defence (Department)," Smith said, adding that Australia would need a "significant amount of help from overseas."
"The submarines will be constructed over the course of the next three decades."
Jason Clare, minister for defence materiel, said the Future Submarines Project would involve hundreds of companies, thousands of workers and many skills that "do not currently exist in sufficient numbers."
"Some of those skills are available overseas, others will have to be grown here. Now is the time to develop a plan to make sure we have the skills we need when we start designing and building the submarines," he said.
Australia unveiled plans in 2009 to spend more than $70 billion boosting its military capability over the next 20 years.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Women To Be Allowed on Royal Navy's Subs


Women will now be allowed into Britain's Royal Navy submarine service, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond announced Dec. 8, ending a ban that has been in place since 1993.
Nearly 10 percent of those serving in the Royal Navy are women.
The first group of women officer volunteers will begin training next year and are expected to arrive onboard one of the four Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines in late 2013, the Royal Navy said in a statement.
Female enlisted ratings will be recruited and trained from 2014.
Women also will be assigned to new Astute-class hunter-killer attack submarines beginning in 2016, the service said, following "necessary modifications" to the boats' accommodations.
"Our primary objective in the Royal Navy is maintaining our operational effectiveness both now and in the future," Vice Adm. Charles Montgomery, the Navy's second sea lord and head of personnel and training, said in the statement.
"This carefully considered decision will allow the Submarine Service to draw on the widest range of talent and skills of our people - those in service and those yet to join."
Hammond, in his first address as the new defense secretary, said the move will help the service maintain operational effectiveness.
"The Royal Navy has always been at the forefront of innovation," Hammond said, "and this decision represents another step in its distinguished tradition of recognizing the contribution of its people and making the very best use of the talent from which it can recruit."
The 110-year old submarine service has never allowed women to serve on its undersea craft. Women began serving at sea with the Royal Navy in 1990, but the service decided in 1993 not to allow them on submarines, citing health concerns. At issue were worries that higher levels of carbon dioxide in a submarine's atmosphere threatened women's health.
The Navy statement noted that "recent research by the Institute of Naval Medicine in Gosport showed that these risks were unfounded and that there were no medical reasons for excluding women from service in submarines.
"That research came as part of an 18-month review conducted by the Royal Navy looking at the legal, operational, health, social, technical and financial issues of allowing women to go to sea with the Silent Service."
The U.S. Navy in 2010 reversed a long-standing policy against allowing women on its submarines, and the first group of women is preparing to report this month aboard their first boats. So far, women are being assigned only to large missile submarines, and there are no current plans to allow females to serve aboard smaller attack subs.
No decision on allowing U.S. enlisted women to serve on submarines has been announced.
The objections to women on subs in the U.S. Navy were based more on cultural grounds. In particular, spouses of men serving in subs were often vocal objectors.
Service aboard submarines can be a more grueling experience than on surface ships. The boats are cramped, and passageways, working and living spaces aboard even large submarines are tight. Nuclear submarines can remain submerged for weeks, even months at a time, and submarine sailors are constantly urged to be polite and considerate of their shipmates.