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THE TRUSTED SOURCE FOR DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION SINCE 1976

Issue 5/2014

INTERNATIONAL

October/November

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THE TRUSTED SOURCE FOR DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION SINCE 1976

Contents 5/2014 INTERNATIONAL www.armada.ch

06 UNDERWATER WORLD

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS WORLDWIDE I Luca Peruzzi The recent military strategic shift towards the Asia-Pacific region, and a renewed interest in submarine capabilities as a national deterrence and defence in that region have refuelled the marketing and sustainable possibilities of the conventional underwater warfare industry in a shrinking budget scenario.

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ARMOURED VEHICLES AN APC AND IFV SITUATION ROUND-UP I Paolo Valpolini

GEOSPATIAL INFORMATION-IV MAPPING THE SEVEN SEAS I Wesley Fox

LANDING CRAFT SHIP-TO-SHORE CONNECTORS IN EVOLUTION I Luca Peruzzi

40 RADIO AMPLIFIERS MORE OOMPH PLEASE! I Peter Donaldson, inputs from Eric H. Biass

COMPENDIUM SUPPLEMENT GROUND ROBOTS: FROM THROWABLES TO MAN-LESS CONVOYS

COMPENDIUM SUPPLEMENT NAVAL ROBOTS: SWIMMING IN UNCERTAIN WATERS

I Paolo Valpolini, inputs from Eric H. Biass

I Peter Donaldson, inputs from Eric H. Biass

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Index

DEFENCE TECHNOLOG SOURCE FOR THE TRUSTED

Issue 5/2014

Y INFORMATIO

N SINCE 1976

L INTERNATIONA

October/November

I INDEX TO ADVERTISERS ARMADA DIGITAL AR MODULAR ARMADA SUBSCRIPTION AUSA AVALON DSEI FLIR IMDEX IMDS LAAD MBDA NAVDEX NEXTER

C4 43 13 C3 45 C2 5 15 C3 25 35 C3 7

ODU OTO MELERA OTOKAR RAFAEL RENAULT SAAB SAAB TEXTRON TUS EXPO UMEX

31 39 23 C4 19 9 C2 11 11 C2

Entries highlighted with Red numbers are found in Ground Compendium 2014 and Blue numbers are found in Naval Compendium 2014

I INDEX TO MANUFACTURERS Companies mentioned in this issue. Where there are multiple references to a company in an article, only the first occurence and subsequent photographs are listed below: 5G Marine 12 AAI Coporation 12 Abu Dhabi Ship Building 39 ACSA 5, 7, 12 Admiralty Shipyard 10, 12 Aeronautics Defence Systems 12 Airbus Defence & Space 9 ALSE 14 AR Modular RF 44, 46 Aselsan 13, 09 ATK 20 Atlas Electronic 09, 10, 13, 14 Australian Shipbuilding Corp 13 Autonomous Surface Vehicles 14 BAE Systems 08, 13, 15 17, 18, 22 Bell 41 Beretta 31 Bluefin Robotics 9, 15 BMT Group 08, 37 Boeing 14, 16, 27, Boston Dynamics 11 Boston Engineering Corp 11, 17 Brahmos 14 17 Central Mechanical Engg. India China Shipbuilding & Marine 7, 12, 13 Damen 29 DARPA 07, 08, 09, 17, 34, 37 DCNS 07, 08, 13, 14, 17, 36 Denel Land Systems 21 DGA 17 DRS Technologies 31 DSME 07, 08, 12 ECA 18, 18 Elbit 19, 30 Esri 27, 29, 30 Eurenco 14 Exelis 43 Fincantieri 08,09, 38 FLIR 29 G-Nius 29, 30, 37, 38 Gabler 09 Gate Elektronik 31 Gavia (Teledyne) 20 Gaymarine 20 General Dynamics 09, 13, 17, 18 General Dynamics Robotics 21 Global Teknik 21 Goluck Naval Shipbuilding 09 Harris 41, 43, 44

04

09 Havelsan HDT Global Protector 3, 27 Hyundai Heavy Industries 12 IAI 05, 06, 21, 27 Itaguai Construcoes Navais 10 IDS 09 Indra 09 International Submarine Engg.

21 iRobot 3, 4, 5, 15,16, 17, 21 Jeppesen 26 Jordan Electronic Logistics Support 33 KADDB 33 Kairos Autonomi 37, 38 KMW 21, 22 Koc Savuma 09 Kockums AB 22 Kockums Shipbuilding 07 Kongsberg 08 Kongsberg Maritime 22 L-3 08, 33 Leidos 13 Liquid Robotics 7, 23 Lockheed Martin 05, 09, 20, 23, 26 M Ship 24 M-Tecks 19 Macro USA 12, 14, 15, 17, 18 MAN Diesel 37 Maritime Robotics 24 MaXentric Technologies LLC 43 Mazagaon Dock Limited 10 MBDA 08, 10, 12, 14, 29, 30 Meggitt Training Systems 24 Meteksan Savuma 09 MILSOFT 09 Mira 35 Mistral Secuity 11, 12 NASA 26, 27 Navantia 07, 08, 09, 10, 12, 37 Navionics 26 Nexter 18, 20, 21 Nexter Nerva 4, 6, 7, 8, 17, 29, 30 Njordworks Inc 25 Northrop Grumman 26, 28 29, 30 Novatiq 8, 9 OceanServer Technology Inc 25 ODF Optronics 11 Office of Naval Research 25 Optimess 10 Oshkosh 34, 35

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OSI Maritime Systems 29 Oto Melaras 15, 31, 32, 37 Patria 21 Pennsylvania State University 26 Piap 12 Polaris 36, 37 Polish Naval Academy 26 Qinetiq 16, 17, 26, 28, 30, 37 RAE Systems 16 Rafael 04, 27 Raytheon 08, 14, 28, 29, 31, 46 Recon Robotics 5,6 Renault 16, 21 Rheinmetall 21, 22 Robo-Team 10, 11, 18, 19, 28 Robosynthesis 12, 24, 25 Rolls-Royce 33 Ruag Defence 36 Rubin Design Burreau 07 Saab 03, 07, 10, 07, 13, 27 Sagem 10 Samvaad 30 Sandia National Laboratories 28 Seaobotics 28 37 Sedef Shipyard Selex ES 32, 37, 38 Sera Ingenierie 29, 30 Singapore Technologies 28, 38, 39 Sterela 28, 29 STX Shipyard 36 Swiftships 28 Tainjin University 29 Tecdron 25, 32, 33 Teledyne Webb Research 29 Terramax Robotics Suite 34, 35 Textron 33 Thales 08, 11, 10, 14, 17, 21 TKMS 07, 08, 09, 12, 13 Torc Robotics 36, 37 Transas 28, 29, 30 Tricom Research inc.

43 Trigun 30 Tubitak 09 Ultralife 44 United Shipbuilding Corp 09, 10 University of Washington 30 USC 07 Virginia Tech 30

A Swedish soldier of the Skaraborg Regiment photographed by our author Paolo Valpolini whilst demonstrating the Saab Dynamics Carl Gustaf M4 - the latest version of the multipurpose weapon system – a few days ago and which will make its first international public début at AUSA. Full report on the M4 in our next issue.

Volume 38, Issue No. 5, October-November 2014 INTERNATIONAL

is published bi-monthly by Media Transasia Ltd. Copyright 2012 by Media Transasia Ltd. Publishing Office: Media Transasia Ltd., 1205 Hollywood Centre, 233 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong.

Tel: (852) 2815 9111, Fax: (852) 2815 1933 Editor-in-Chief: Eric H. Biass Regular Contributors: Roy Braybrook, Paolo Valpolini, Thomas Withington Chairman: J.S. Uberoi President: Xavier Collaco Sr. Manager International Marketing: Vishal Mehta Manager Marketing: Jakhongir Djalmetov Sales & Marketing Coordinator: Atul Bali Creative Director: Bipin Kumar Asstt. Art Director : Ajay Kumar Production Manager: Kanda Thanakornwongskul Group Circulation Manager: Porames Chinwongs Chief Financial Officer: Gaurav Kumar Advertising Sales Offices AUSTRIA, BENELUX, SWITZERLAND Cornelius W. Bontje Ph: +41 55 216 17 81, cornelius.bontje@armada.ch FRANCE Promotion et Motivation, Odile Orbec Ph: +33 1 41 43 83 00, o.orbec@pema-group.com GERMANY Sam Baird Ph: +44 1883 715 697, sam@whitehillmedia.com ITALY, NORDIC COUNTRIES Emanuela Castagnetti-Gillberg Ph: +46 31 799 9028, egillberg@glocalnet.net

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Kamran Saeed, Solutions Inc. Tel/Fax: (92 21) 3439 5105 Mob: (92) 300 823 8200 Email: kamran.saeed@solutions-inc.info SPAIN Vía Exclusivas, Macarena Fdez. de Grado Ph: +34 91 448 76 22, macarena@viaexclusivas.com UK, EASTERN EUROPE, GREECE, TURKEY Zena Coupé Ph: +44 1923 852537, zena@expomedia.biz RUSSIA Alla Butova, NOVO-Media Ltd, Ph: (7 3832) 180 885 Mobile : (7 960) 783 6653 Email :alla@mediatransasia.com USA (EAST/SOUTH EAST), CANADA Margie Brown, Ph: (540) 341 7581, margiespub@rcn.com USA (WEST/SOUTH WEST), BRAZIL Diane Obright, Ph: (858) 759 3557, blackrockmediainc@icloud.com ALL OTHER COUNTRIES Vishal Mehta, Tel: (91) 124 4759625, Mob: (91) 99 999 85425 E-Mail: vishal@mediatransasia.com Jakhongir Djalmetov, Mobile: (91) 98 995 50162 E-Mail: joha@mtil.biz Annual subscription rates: Europe: CHF 222 (including postage) ABC Rest of the World: USD 222 (including postage) Controlled circulation: 25,029 (average per issue) certified by ABC Hong Kong, for the period 1st January 2013 to 31st December 2013.

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Latest Developments Worldwide The recent military strategic shift towards the Asia-Pacific region, and a renewed interest in submarine capabilities as a national deterrence and defence in that region have refuelled the marketing and sustainable possibilities of the conventional underwater warfare industry in a shrinking budget scenario.

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Luca Peruzzi Saab Kockums’ next generation submarine programme, the NGU is one of the centres of discussions amongst Northern European nations regarding multinational co-operation on new submarine development. Saab is also a strong bidder in Australia’s new submarine programme. (Saab Kockums)

T

he Swedish Government decision to reconstitute a sovereign submarine industrial base, with Saab’s acquisition of Kockums shipbuilding company previously owned by Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) group, and the award to the Swedish defence and security group of contracts for the design of next generation submarines and mid-life modifications of two in-service Gotland class submarines, together with the letter of intent signature about the Swedish Armed Forces’ sub-surface capability for the period 2015-2024 covering possible orders valued at over €1.2 billion (SEK11 billion), added a new player which is capable to provide from conventional submarines to related combat and weapon systems.

The underwater conventional industry panorama already saw, a few years ago, the addition of South Korea with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering group which was eventually joined by China with Beijing-based China Shipbuilding & Offshore International. These are competing with European and Russian designers like TKMS, DCNS, Navantia, Rubin design bureau and United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), which have established themselves as key suppliers of emerging or well-established economic and military powers such as India, Brazil and China.

I EUROPE: NEW PARTNERSHIPS?

The Old Continent’s shrinking military budgets are pushing ministries of defence to join requirements and create partnerships to share acquisition and maintenance costs with.

Northern Europe countries, including Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden are understood to have been engaged in discussions to explore options for co-operations or collaboration on a new submarine acquisition. While the Royal Netherlands Navy is finalising its requirement for a next-generation submarine to be submitted to national Parliament in 2015 to replace the current four Walrus-class SSKs, the service is managing a programme to extend the life of these boats to 2030, with the first one planned to return into service in late 2016.

Involving national TNO research institute, industries and universities, the programme includes the introduction of a new command management system (CMS) based on the navy’s Guardion surface ship

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Poland plans to launch a call for tenders for three new submarines by the end of 2014 to replace its single Kilo and four Kobben-class.

The Kobbens (seen here) are to be retired as of 2015. All European submarine-builders are standing in line. (Polish MoD)

With a strategic document called ‘Operational Programme - Countering Threats at Sea 2013-2022/2030’ published at the beginning of 2014, Poland has launched an acquisition programme for three conventionally-powered submarines to replace its single Kilo-class and four Kobbenclass submarines. The tender is to be launched later this year, in order to have deliveries in the 2019-2020/2030 timeframe. Bidders include DCNS and Thales, Navantia, TKMS, a consortium of Swedish FMV and Saab Kockums, and system suppliers. Platforms alleged to be offered include the TKMS Type suite with Imtech Marine consoles as well as the upgrading of Raytheon Mk 48 heavyweight torpedo to Mod 7AT version, an L-3 KEO Model 86 non-hull-penetrating electro-optical mast, new navigation and SHF satcom terminal and a modernised sonar suite that includes the Kongsberg integrated passive sonar processing system and Manta mine avoidance and interception suite based on the German L-3 Elac Nautik Scout sonar. Sweden is seeking international partners for its new-generation submarine.

Now being developed by Saab under a recently assigned contract, the type is mainly intended for littoral operations, but will also possess ocean-going capabilities. With a 62metre length and a surface displacement of circa 1,800 tonnes, the NGU will be powered by a conventional diesel-electric package and equipped with a Kockums Stirling airindependent system with an 18-day endurance at patrol speed. Sporting a modular design with four-capable 533 and/or 400 mm torpedo tubes and an over 1.5-metre diameter multi-mission portal designed to launch and retrieve diverse mission payloads, including uninhabited underwater vehicles and special operations personnel and equipment, the Saab Kockums NGU platform will have advanced so called Genuine Holistic Stealth properties and a new generation decentralised networkcentric ready combat management system.

The Norwegian Government is exploring life-extension alternatives for its Ula-class boats and new-build options for the sustainment of a submarine capability beyond

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ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems’ (née HDW) boats are the most widely spread subs in the world.

Here is a Type 209 for the South African navy, but attentions are also focused on the deliveries of a new batch of Dolphins to the Israeli navy’s, equipped with AIP and capable to launch deep strike nuclear missile. (TKMS)

2020. The assessment work has been completed with TKMS (the Ula-class builder) and BMT in Britain as independent ‘second source’ support, while additional data was provided by five submarine builders (DCNS, Fincantieri, Navantia, TKMS and DSME) in response to a request for information (RFI) issued in November 2012. A decision on the preferred option is expected by year-end with a main gate investment approval decision planned for 2017 in order to attain delivery completion in 2030.

214, the Saab NGU, the Navantia S 80 and the DCNS Scorpene, the latter being offered with MBDA Scalp-Naval long-range strike missile.

While BAE Systems is mainly focused on nuclear-powered submarines for the Royal Navy, BMT Defence Services is proposing two innovative designs of conventional boats: the ocean-going Vidar-36 (3,600 tonnes submerged) multi-mission reconfigurable platform and the littoral warfare-oriented Vidar-7 (900 tonnes submerged), both tailored to current budget constraints.

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Fincantieri plans to launch the first of two second-batch U-212As for the Italian Navy later this year. These platforms will receive different upgrades to reduce systems obsolescence, introduce the latest version of the Wass Black Shark torpedo and network centric capabilities. (Luca Peruzzi)

The joint German-Italian U-212A programme, which sees the involvement of TMKS and Fincantieri and national underwater industries, has delivered four of these boats to Germany and two to Italy who already have proved the capabilities of these platforms in exercises with US battle groups and nuclear-powered attack submarines. The two services are each about to take delivery enhanced versions. Largely identical to the first batch platform, the German navy’s new U-212As will feature tropicalisation to enable worldwide operations, a new Atlas Elektronik Isus 90 integrated sonar and command and weapon control suite with Airbus Defence & Space Cassidian Optronics new OMS 100 optronics mast and Sero 400 attack periscope, an enhanced sonar suite with a conformal array, a network centric warfare communication suite with data Link 11/16, and a new Gabler hoistable mast with Callisto towable antenna-bearing buoy enabling communication from the deep submerged submarine coupled to an Indra SHF satcom antenna.

While it shares the German’s new Indra ESM MRBR800 system and Airbus Defence and Space Cassidian optronics mast and advanced periscope, the new Italian U-212As will boast a Kongsberg MSI-90U Mk2 with Link 11/16 network centric communications, an enhanced Atlas Elektronik CSU 90-138 sonar suite, new Calzoni hoisting systems and masts, together with the latest Wass Black Shark Advanced heavy torpedo and additional fuel tanks.

In addition to the Portuguese and Greek navies’ Type 214 related contracts, TKMS was contracted in 2011 to provide six advanced AIP-equipped Type 214TNs (Turkish Navy) as of 2015. Locally built at

Both the Italian and the German navies second batch U-212A are being equipped with, amongst other novelties, new OMS 100 observation optronics masts and SERO 400 attack periscopes, both produced by Airbus Defence and Space Cassidian Optronics. (Luca Peruzzi)

Gölcük Naval Shipyard, they will be equipped with support and systems provided by Turkish industries, including Havelsan, Aselsan, Koc Savuma, MILSOFT, Tubitak, STM, Meteksan Savuma and IDS. After sharing initial Scorpene export success with DCNS, Navantia is today leading the national S-80 AIP-equipped submarine programme. Involving local industry and Lockheed Martin, the programme encountered challenges given the advanced technologies incorporated.

Overweight issues and problems with the airindependent system development led the Spanish Ministry of Defence to call on General Dynamics Electric Boat for technical assistance and change the system’s developer.

A major underwater platform builder and systems supplier, the Russian Federation industry is today promoting the well-proven latest iteration of Kilo-class on the international market. The first of six 73.8meter, 2,350-tonne surface displacement Project 636.3 (Varshavyanka-class) submarine for the Russian Navy was delivered last August at Admiralty shipyard (United Shipbuilding Corporation) in St. Petersburg, with an aggressive delivery programme to be completed in the next two years. In the meantime, Russian Federation industry is reported working on a fifth-generation conventional submarine, dubbed Project Kalina-class, which is planned to be fitted with an AIP system and ready for testing in 2017.

Although the new generation Lada-class (Project 677) has encountered development

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The S-80 is the Spanish Navy’s first submarine programme. Built by Navantia, it will feature a new AIP system, Atlas Elektronik DM2A4 heavy torpedos and a series of systems supplied by Spanish, Italian and American. (Navantia)

Last August, the Russian Federation Navy received the first of six Improved Kilo class (Project 636.3) from Admiralty shipyard in Saint Petersburg. In the meantime, the same shipyard, part of United Shipbuilding Corporation group, is about to deliver the third of six submarines of the same type to the Vietnam Navy. (Admiralty shipyard)

problems the Russian submarine industry is continuing to attract new customers including Vietnam with six Project 636 platforms, two of which already delivered, while Algeria is reported to be in advanced discussions over two additional submarines.

Other opportunities are mainly concentrated in the enlarged Asia-Pacific region, where Russian and Chinese Government signed an agreement to provide latest generation underwater platforms.

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I KNOW-HOW TRANSFER: SINE QUA NON

Under the 2009 strategic defence cooperation agreement between France and Brazil, DCNS signed detailed contracts for the construction by ICS (Itaguaí Construções Navais), the joint-venture between DCNS and Odebrecht in Brazil, of four Scorpene SSKs where the French group acts as design authority and prime contractor while supplying selected items under a vast

technology transfer programme, enabling the Brazilian Navy and defence industry to significantly contribute to the programme.

DCNS is also providing design assistance – under the Brazilian Navy’s design authority – with the non-nuclear portion of Brazil’s first nuclear-powered submarine and support in the design with the naval base and the submarine building and maintaining infrastructures, under construction in Rio de Janeiro federal state. According to the Brazilian Navy, the first S-BR submarine will enter in service in December 2017, with the other units following at 18-month intervals until 2022. The S-BR Scorpene is longer and has a higher displacement and different propulsion, with a combat system mainly based on French systems. These include the DCNS Subtics integrated combat system with a communications suite based on Thales new-generation systems, a Sagem Series 30 surveillance optronics mast, Series 20 attack periscope and Series 10 CSR navigation radar mast, a Thales S-Cube integrated and modular submarine sonar suite with planar flank array sonar and Earl Communication ESM. DCNS also provides Contralto torpedo decoys and newgeneration F21 heavyweight torpedos.

A comprehensive technology transfer programme is also the root of the Indian Navy P75. Mazagaon Dock Limited is constructing six SSK Scorpenes under a partnership with DCNS, including a “technical data package for progressive indigenisation” of the submarine production.

This challenging process is behind a rescheduling of deliveries, which today is reported to start in 2015 for commissioning of the first boat in September 2016 and completion of class units in 2018. The Indian Scorpene is based on the basic version and features a DCNS Subtics combat system with Thales communications suite and Sagem surveillance, attack and radar masts, Thales S-Cube integrated and modular submarine sonar suite with planar flank array system and Moas mine avoidance sonar. The weapon systems package include MBDA SM-39 Exocet anti-ship missiles but no heavy torpedo has so far been acquired, as the tender from Wass with the Black Shark

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Under the Indian navy’s P75 programme six SSK Scorpene diesel-electric submarines are being built at the Mazagaon Dock shipyards under a partnership with DCNS, including a transfer of technology package for progressive indigenisation of the submarine production. Deliveries are expected from 2015. (DCNS)

(already selected as preferred bidder) has been put on hold by the Indian Government.

The delays that hit this, as well as the follow-on P-75I programme involving six newgeneration AIP submarines with land-attack weapon systems – plus the upgrade and maintenance of the Russian Kilo-class and of the Shishumar-class (Type 209/1500), is pushing the Indian Ministry of Defence to envisage an interim acquisition of a few additional submarines to maintain a viable force. All the main submarine builders are reported to be proposing AIP-equipped

submarines, including TKMS with Type 214, DCNS with the Scorpene, Navantia with the S-80 and Russia’s Admiralty Shipyard with the Amur 1650, the export version of Ladaclass submarine equipped with vertical missile launchers.

I ASIA-PACIFIC

The expansion of the Chinese Navy and of its underwater warfare capabilities have sparked a “submarine race” in the nearby countries. In Northeast Asia, Japan and South Korea continue to develop their own

Hyundai Heavy Industries has launched the fifth of nine Type 214/KSS-II class AIP-equipped submarine for the South Korean navy last July. The same country is working on a class of larger submarines (KSS-III class) capable to launch deep-strike cruise missiles. (HHI)

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underwater capabilities. The long-term relationship between TKMS and DSME with the local construction of the Type 209/214, as well as the desire to develop a local underwater systems industry, has led to a win in the first international tender to provide three Type 209s to Indonesia and develop follow-on larger platforms with enhanced capabilities for South Korea.

Japan is continuing to build platforms belonging to the intended ten AIP-equipped Soryu class submarines, which attracted interest from Australia.

In the wake of Malaysia, which between 2007 and 2009 received two French-built Scorpene-class submarine armed with Wass Black Shark heavy torpedoes and MBDA Exocet antiship missiles, then Vietnam with six Kilo-class platforms from Russia, Indonesia has acquired three new Type-209/1400 from South Korean DSME in addition to the modernised Cakra-class (Type-209/1300) submarines. The first of three Type-209/1400 acquired from DSME are expected to be built in, and delivered to, Indonesia in 2018. In the long term, the Southeast nation is envisioning the development of an ambitious 12-submarine fleet.

In November 2013, Singapore announced the acquisition of two advanced TKMS Type218SGs to join its Archer-class boats and replace the Swedish Challenger-class by 2020.

Reported to be designed for littoral, shallow waters operations and to be armed with the same Black Shark torpedoes as the current boats, the Type 218SG is indicated as a customised design incorporating features of

Based on the Yuan-class submarine project, here seen during the US Navy’s Secretary tour on board Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy vessels, CSOC has developed an export version called S20. (US Navy)

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The Large Training Vehicle 38 (LTV 38) will be used for personnel training and operational testing of large autonomous underwater vehicles in view of turn-of-the-decade entry into service of future underwater vehicles. (US Navy)

both Type 214 and larger Type 216 ‘concept submarine’, both equipped with fuel-cell systems. Thailand has recently established a submarine squadron with a view to developing an underwater fleet capability, while the Philippines are now showing a keen interest.

China’s Beijing-based China Shipbuilding & Offshore International (CSOC) group is promoting its S20, derived from the Type 41 (Yuan class), which is the latest Chinese Navy conventional submarine. With a 2,200-tonne submerged displacement and a length of 66 metres, the S20 has been offered to Pakistan, which is alleged to be about to acquire six which, like the Type 41, features AIP system.

Bangladesh on the other hand is said to have decided to adopt older conventional submarines decommissioned by the Chinese Navy.

In the southern Asia-Pacific region, Australia is looking for the best, cost-effective solution to replace the current fleet of six 78metre Australian Submarine Corporationbuilt Collins-class submarines, the availability of which have recently improved thanks to a comprehensive programme.

Australia is evaluating different alternatives, from local construction by ASC with BAE Systems shipyards to foreign acquisition and building of an off-the-shelf international or Evolved Collins-class design, or a mix of

solutions with a decision to be taken next year. Australia has also recently signed technology cooperation agreements with Japan starting from hull hydrodynamics sector, while platform solutions are being offered by a variety of shipbuilders like the Saab group, which has long relationships with Australia, TKMS with the latest Type 216 design, DCNS with the Scorpene and Navantia (already a surface-fleet supplier) with a customised version of S-80. The Combat system is to be based on the General Dynamics BYG-1, while Mk48 Mod 7 is the chosen heavyweight torpedo.

Japanese sources have recently reported on joint American and Japanese activities regarding a large autonomous underwater platform powered by fuel cells providing an endurance of up to 30 days and designed for patrolling the seas around Japan and alert against foreign incursions. In the meantime, industry and navies are working underwater vehicles that are either autonomous or remotely operated from submarines. Saab for example, proposes the

I ROBOTICS

The LTV 38 was developed by Penn State University Applied Research Lab with a view to providing a means of training personnel in the use of large uninhabited underwater systems – hence its name, large training vehicle, 38 being its diameter in inches. It has now joined the US Navy in view of turn-of-the-decade entry into service of future large-diameter vehicles. As part of the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) programme, construction is also underway by American company Leidos of an uninhabited underwater vessel designed to track quiet-running SSKs over long periods of time with minimal human supervision, with first tests set for 2015.

Saab has developed the Sea Owl Subrov, an autonomously operated vehicle launched from and recovered by torpedo tubelaunchers. Its missions include surveillance, intelligence, inspection and mine countermeasures. (Saab Seaeye)

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and longer life together with reduced maintenance and life-cycle costs.

Last May, Atlas Elektronik and Alse battery specialist launched their new lithium ferrophosphate rechargeable exercise battery adaptable to all Atlas electric torpedoes as any other electrically propelled heavy torpedoes.

The new Black Shark Advanced versions are also proposed on the international market, competing with Atlas Elektronik DM2A4 SeaHake Mod4, the latest Russian test and Ugst, the Raytheon Mk 48 Mod 6 AT/Mod 7 CBASS and the new DCNS F21. Already ordered by the French and Brazilian navies, the F21 is still under development and expected to be fired as part of its final trials by the end of this year. It will arm France’s fleet of nuclear powered submarines and Brazil’s new

The Italian Navy has cleared the use of Wass Black Shark Advanced powered by lithiumpolymer batteries from its second batch of AIP U-212A for training. (Wass)

The heavyweight DCNS F21 torpedo under development is expected to be launched for the first time from French Navy nuclear-powered attack submarine later this year. It has been ordered by the French and Brazilian navies, the latter for its new Scorpenes. (DCNS)

Subrov, which can be launched from and recovered by torpedo tubes, and the AUV62MR, the autonomous vehicle primarily developed for mine reconnaissance and rapid environmental assessment.

I TORPEDO AND ANTI-SURFACE MISSILES

Italy is setting a new trend in heavy torpedo requirements, having funded new Wass Black Shark heavyweight torpedo versions for both war and training purposes. The Italian Navy has given its go-ahead to initially equip its two new U-212A submarines with an innovative lithium-polymer rechargeable battery for training and proficiency. In addition to provide improved performances compared to current silver-zinc batteries, the new types allow more firing cycles

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The Atlas Elektronik’s DM2A4 SeaHake Mod 4 is a major competitor in the sector, with a rechargeable battery developed by Alse training. (Luca Peruzzi)

The MBDA’s sub-launched Scalp Naval (top) is expected to be delivered for the new Barracuda boats in 2017. The type has been offered to Poland for its three new submarine programme. The sub-launch anti-ship Exocet (below) is in service with French and several foreign navies, including India. Such landattack capable weapons have recently been attracting considerable interest. (Luca Peruzzi)

S-BR Scorpenes. To be delivered by late 2015, the F21 an acoustic sensor jointly developed with Thales Underwater Systems, a Eurenco insensitive munition warhead, while the rear section developed with Atlas Elektronik includes the propulsion system powered by an high-energy density French Saft AgO-Al battery and a DCNS Migal fire control unit.

Due to renewed interest in surface-tosurface strike capabilities, underwaterlaunched versions of anti-ship/strike missiles, including the Boeing Harpoon, the MBDA SM39 Exocet, the Indo-Russian Brahmos Aerospace Brahmos and the Russian Club-S, as well as long-range cruise missiles such as the Raytheon Tomahawk and MBDA Scalp Naval, are gradually moving into the limelight again.

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In the wake of Eurosatory Renault organised a demo day on a Gendarmerie training range, the first chance of seeing its BMX-01 being put through its paces.

(Armada/Paolo Valpolini)

An APC and IFV Situation Round-Up “Terminated�: this was the judgment given on February 24, 2014, by US Secretary of Defense Hagel on the Ground Combat Vehicle programme. For the second time in five years the programme aimed at replacing the Bradley in US Army units was cancelled, leaving the over 30 year-old tracked vehicle battle on as the backbone of US mechanised infantry. Is the programme really terminated?

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Paolo Valpolini

Q

uestions arise when some documents state that the Army will set aside $50 million to preserve the engineering base associated with the GCV, while another 100 million would be used in the Army’s research and development centres involved. This should mean that the Army wants to draw on work so far achieved to launch a further programme, and returning to the drawing board to develop a new infantry fighting vehicle. An alternative solution would be to organise another round of tests with foreigndeveloped vehicles, of which some scored top marks during previous evaluations. Whatever happens, the Bradley will definitely celebrate its 40th in service anniversary in 2021.

Nevertheless, one should not forget that in mid-2013 the Congressional Budget Office issued four recommendations, of which two involve looking at foreign solutions for the Bradley replacement. The two recommended vehicles where the Israeli Namer, which had a considerable edge in terms of survivability over the GCV while saving $9 billion, and the German Puma, considered only slightly more survivable than the GCV but definitely more lethal. As a boon it is able to carry six infantrymen which means that five Pumas are required to replace four Bradleys and thereby potentially saving the taxpayer an estimated $14.8 billion. The more affordable option was a further round of Bradley upgrades that would be expected to make it

as survivable and more lethal than the Ground Combat Vehicle, but saving $19.8 on the way. Reduced space, weight increase and lack of electrical power are the main problems to be solved, with lethality increase remaining on the wish list.

Solving those problems would allow the Bradley to turn 50 in the early 2030s, the cancellation of the GCV programme being the last on of the Congressional Budget Office’s recommendations. And this not only because of the termination of successive replacement programmes: the decision of General Dynamics Land Systems not to compete in the US Army’s Armoured MultiPurpose Vehicle programme aimed at replacing M113s in the Army’s Heavy Brigade Combat Teams leaves BAE Systems as the sole competitor, at least to our knowledge.

GDLS is of course lobbying to get the

US Army Bradleys lined up in the desert. In total contrast with a number of new vehicles featured here, these vehicles will remain in service for long as their replacement is pushed on the right. (US Army)

requirement rewritten, which might delay what the Army considers a key programme.

How much politics will affect this issue is still to be seen. What is sure is that if BAE Systems remains the only competitor, this will bring in more Bradley-based vehicles into the Army’s inventory as the company’s proposal is based on the existing tracked vehicle which will be modified and developed in five different versions, quantities being indicated in parenthesis: General Purpose (522), Medical

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Unveiled at the Paris exhibition, the Piranha 3+ seems to be developed to a US Marine Corps requirement originally known as Marines Personnel Carrier (Armada/P. Valpolini)

Evacuation (790), Medical Treatment (216), Mortar Carrier (386) and Mission Command (993). How much synergies could be found between the Armoured Multi-Purpose Vehicle programme and a potential further Bradley upgrade is anybody’s guess, but it would certainly make sense to carry out a parallel improvement in certain areas to further reduce non-recurrent R&D costs, though the acquisition of a new vehicle heavily based on foreign solutions also remains an viable option.

Another major programme on the western side of the Atlantic was cancelled on 20 December 2013: according to Canadian Defence and Army top brass the potential offered by an Upgraded LAV III being far superior than envisioned (including the investment in ISR capabilities, improvements in roadside bomb protection etc) makes the CCV project redundant. This is considerable blow to the three contenders, namely GDLSCanada, BAE Systems and Nexter that were offering respectively their Piranha 5, the CV9035 MK III and the VBCI with the hope of grabbing the US$2 billion contract for 108 vehicles plus 30 more in option.

Such an introduction might sound like a requiem for IFVs and APCs, but it is not quite the case as other programmes are still open on the Old Continent: while the cursor of the Danish replacement for M113s has indeed only slightly moved to the right, Poland is looking at a whole new family of vehicles, while Spain might resurrect its 8x8 programme (although probably with relatively limited numbers), Lithuania added itself to the wheeled IFV potential buyers by

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issuing an RfP to nine potential suppliers in late July 2014. Asia and the Middle East are also pretty active, while in the America the Marine Corps seems again interested in the Marines Personnel Carrier: The programme is now known as ACV Phase 1 Increment 1 (ACV 1.1) and its initial operational capability is forecast around 2020.

For the latter programme the new Piranha 3+ unveiled by General Dynamics European Land Systems at Eurosatory 2014 seems perfectly tailored to the Corps’ requirements.

The vehicle dimensions are increased not only to provide greater volume to the 13 military on board (internal volume

increasing from 13.5 m3 to 14 m3), but also to provide the required buoyancy. Length is stretched to 7.72 metres form 7.30 metres for the Piranha 3, while width and height are marginally increased, respectively from 2.72 to 2.78 metres and from 2.22 to 2.25 metres.

Empty weight has increased from 13.4 to 16 tonnes while payload capacity increased from 9.2 to 11 tonnes, for a gross weight stepping from 22 to 25 tonnes (with growth potential of 27 tonnes). This required the adoption of a new engine to maintain a good power-to-weight ratio, the new Caterpillar C13 providing 520 hp compared to the earlier C9’s 400 hp, resulting in an increase from 18.2 hp/t to 20.8 hp/t at standard gross weight.

The new engine also wrenches out 2,300 Nm of torque instead of 1,600. The Piranha 3+ can be fitted with conventional suspensions or with hydro-pneumatic suspensions with height monitoring system at the higher weights. Fatter tyres are also offered, 395/85R20 being an option for replacing standard 365/85R20. As far as protection is concerned no levels were provided but it was made clear that the 3+ draws on Piranha 5 modular solutions and its survivability to blasts should be close to that. Better underfloor maintenance access is obtained: the driveline features commonalities both with the Striker and the Canadian LAV-Upgrade.

At Eurosatory 2014 GDLS Canada exhibited the latest iteration of its Light Assault Vehicle fitted with a Konsberg remotely controlled medium-calibre turret. (Armada/Paolo Valpolini)

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Field experience as well as comments and requirements from potential customers following tests have led Nexter to develop a prototype that incorporates all possible modifications now offered.

(Armada/Paolo Valpolini)

Although the vehicle exhibited at Eurosatory was not equipped with propellers, the amphibious version will feature two propellers and two rudders, shutting louvers, seawater cooling system, trim van and snorkel, as well as bilge pumps. The prototype, which was rolled-out the week prior to the Paris exhibition, could carry a crew of three and nine dismounts – exactly as per Marine Corps’ requirement – and was armed with a Kongsberg M151 Protector.

On 12 June GDELS demonstrated the Scout SV PMRS (Protected Mobility Reconnaissance Support) to a British Ministry of Defence delegation, the future British Army vehicle being based on the Ascod 42 platform, which was then unveiled at DVD 2014. On 3 September 2014 General Dynamics UK was finally awarded the Scout SV contract to the tune of over €4 billion including 589 units and initial in-service support and training. Deliveries will take place between 2017 and 2020, the Scout SV being produced in different variants: those equipped with the Lockheed Martin turret armed with the 40 mm CTAI include reconnaissance and strike (198), joint fire controls (23), and ground based surveillance (24), the latter adding a radar sensor; the turretless version known as PMRS (Protected Mobility Reconnaissance Support) includes armed personnel carried (59), command and control (112), formation reconnaissance overwatch (34), engineer reconnaissance (51), engineer recovery (38) and engineer repair (50). All PMRS are to be equipped with a Kongsberg Protector.

At Eurosatory 2014 a new version of the Ascod chassis was unveiled, with a gross weight of 31 tonnes and a growth potential up to 35 tonnes. Its dimensions are very

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similar to the original (variations of a few centimetres only), with a slightly raised rear roof at the rear to increase the the infantry compartment volume. What changes more substantially is the curb weight, dropping from 27.8 tonnes to a mere 22 to bring a considerable increase in payload capacity, which rises from 2.2 to 9 tonnes at standard grow weight and from 3.2 to 13 tonnes at maximum admitted weight, although power on tap stays at 721 hp. Rubber tracks offer considerable weight saving compared with the steel variety, although the latter remain available. Re-design brought also a 20% increase in internal volume, now 12 m3. In terms of protection GDELS integrated a new mine protection solution that has been tested and certified in February 2014 by a Nato country with a four high-level blast test campaign; the new mine protection is based on a high-resistance hull bottom and includes innovative shock-attenuating devices both for personnel and equipment (no further details were forthcoming). The reduced curb weight results not only from the rubber track solution but also from the new ballistic protection which is based on ceramics and add-on panels that cover 98% of the vehicle (again, protection levels were not unveiled). With this new chassis the company intends to be more aggressive on the tracked vehicle market.

Still at at Eurosatory General Dynamics displayed the “LAV Demonstrator”, a modernized LAV III fitted with a Kongsberg Protector armed with an ATK 30mm MK44 dual-feed cannon. The vehicle is a further evolution of the Canadian Army LAV 6.00 8x8 infantry fighting vehicle currently in production. Chassis protection is improved thanks to the adoption of the Double-V hull

and of a bolt-on passive armour package. The vehicle looks slightly different, the engine compartment having been raised to house the 450 hp Caterpillar C9 coupled to the ZF 7HP902 automatic transmission, and the rear hull is slightly higher to yield more room to the dismounts. The driveline has been upgraded to cope with the higher output power. The Demonstrator has a curb weight of 28.6 tonnes and can accommodate a crew of three and seven dismounts. The vehicle is fitted with improved suspensions.

With VBCI deliveries to the French Army well underway, Nexter drew on lessons learned both in Afghanistan and Mali by its national customer and from its export campaigns with various potential customers in the Middle East, Canada and Denmark to name but a few. This resulted in the 8x8 APC displayed at Eurosatory. The improved driveline affords an increased GVW of 32 tons in turn allowing the adoption of 105mm gun turrets. Propulsion-wise the adoption of a powerpack concept allows full replacement in around one hour, nearly half of the time needed in the standard VBCI. Propulsion improvement also generated a 10% power increase to a 600 hp and a higher electric power generation of 570 A. Standard VBCIs are equipped with differential steering on the fourth axleto reduce turning diameter from 21 to 18 metres. A further reduction to 15-16 metres by virtue of a fourth differential steering axle is offered on option. Payload capacity received a considerable boost thanks to the curb weight reduction obtained by the adoption of a new protection package based on new technologies. These allowed to skim off round one tonne while keeping the full Level 4A/B protection against mines and roadside bombes. Ergonomics have also been improved with more internal space and comfort. New energy absorbing seats developed by Nexter Mechanics have been installed, and most of the equipment is now fastened to the vehicle to avoid items becoming secondary projectiles in case of explosion. Hydraulic jacks operating the ramp have been moved outside the compartment, while air conditioning distribution has been revised. The driver’s comfort has been increased with more room at

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waist level, and episcopes have been moved from the hull to the hatch to allow a better vision when driving with the hatch open. A day/night driving vision enhancement system with a dedicated display is also installed. Onboard vetronics have also been improved and now feature full open architecture: an Ethernet network has been added to the existing CanBus for on-board distribution of vehicle surround images (all displays are now of the same type to ensure full crew-sharing of images and info). Nexter considers the vehicle and the incremental evolutions implemented presented at Eurosatory as fully representative of the product currently offered to the customer. A first effect of the new standards reached by the VBCI will be the testing of the French 8x8 IFV by the British Army, which should start as these lines are read, as the service is looking at a utility vehicle following the cancellation of the Future Rapid Effect System Utility Vehicle.

The new driveline will eventually be retrofitted to the French vehicles. Amongst improvements sought by the French Army are the Israeli WaterGen GEN-40V atmospheric water generator system and WTU water treatment unit that generates drinkable water from air conditioning (one of each have been ordered for tests in view of a full contract).

“Following the commitment of the President in favour of the defence budget, I am about to launch the Scorpion programme. First deliveries will take place in 2018 for the VBMR and in 2020 for the EBRC.” These are the

words of Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French defence minister, at the opening of the Eurosatory 2014. The go-ahead for the VBMR will thus take place soon. The BMX01, the risk-reduction demonstrator developed by Renault Trucks Défense (RTD) following the June 2010 development contract (another contract filed to Nexter gave birth to the BMX-02) was first unveiled at the Paris exhibition and then demonstrated on the move the following week. As stated by the French Délégation Générale pour l’Armement the VBMR will be developed by a team that includes Nexter, Renault Trucks Défense (RTD) and Thales, respectively responsible for the armour, the automotive-vehicle architecture, and the vetronics. At 22 tonnes with a growth potential of two more, the BMX-01 has a 4.7tonne payload capacity and is based on an allwelded monocoque with independent suspensions. Capable to accommodate up to 11 military in a single 14.7 m3 compartment, it features a team commander’s seat (which in the future will be able to turn 90° right) behind the driver, the vehicle’s commander seat front right, while eight dismounts are seated on two rows of energy absorbing seats in the rear. Ingress and egress take place via the rear ramp, which features an emergency door with a vision block; a wider armoured window is available on each side at the rear, and the windshield is divided into two armoured glass blocks. Protection will be provided by armour kits up to Level 4. The

Although not exhibited at Eurosatory, the new-generation 8x8 by Patria got its new name announced: AMVXP for extreme performances. (Patria)

BMX-01 demonstrator logged over 7,000 km on various types of terrain in several locations in France, and has already sustained ballistic tests. The vehicle is powered by an 400hp off-the-shelf Renault turbodiesel mated to a standard gearbox and has a central tyre inflation system.

According to RTD the BMX-01 represents around 80% of what the VBMR should technically be. The hull will be modified, the roof lowered by about 80 mm, length increased by around 200 mm towards the rear (but wheel base remains unchanged with 2,950 mm between the front axle and the second and 1,500 mm between the second and the third). The 2,500 mm width remains unchanged to comply with civilian road regulations. RTD is considering changing the powerpack in favour of a new 400-500 hp engine from the Group’s new family of engines and thereby ensure full sustainability until at least 2030. With the VBMR the French Army will have a higher mobility and better protected vehicle compared to the VAB, even if it does not match up with the high-tier VBCI. A prototype is expected in 2016.

Remaining in the wheeled vehicles world, as promised at DSEI last year when it unveiled its new vehicle concept, Patria annouced gave it a name at Eurosatory: AMVXP, for Extra Payload, Extra Performance and Extra Protection. While it was not at the Paris show, a command post AMV was. The AMVs are still doing well on the international market. The AMV-based South African Badger infantry combat vehicle developed by Denel Land Systems are undergoing both technical and tactical test and evaluation. Production is expected to start in 2016, the first order covering 238 vehicles in five different variants. The AMV in its different international versions scored a further success last June when Poland ordered 34 Rosomak 8x8s, in the engineering reconnaissance variant. This new version is to be developed, and will feature a one-tonne crane and tools that will allow a basic-level engineering support on the field, a version with a four-tonne crane being available for a higher support level, 17 such vehicles having been ordered in October 2013.

First international public appearance also for the German Puma, developed and produced by PSM, the joint venture between KMW and Rheinmetall. The tracked IFV, that might raise again the American interest, carried out hot weather testing in the United Arab Emirates in the Fall of 2013 at temperatures that exceeding 50°C (one of the

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two vehicles used were at Eurosatory). All extreme weather tests have been concluded within contractual terms, final approval from the German procurement agency were expected in late July 2014, but a need to optimise radio and equipment storage have led to a further test round without, however, hindering deliveries to the German Army in late 2014. The first unit to receive the new IFV is Panzergrenadierbataillon 33. Full-rate production is expected to be reached as of 2015, peaking at 55 vehicles per year until the roll out of the last of the 350 operational vehicles by 2020 (eight driver training vehicles are part of the package). All German Pumas will be delivered to the German Army Armour School in Munster where a specific organisation has been formed. This will receive personnel from mechanised battalions, mate them with their new vehicles, train them to use the new Puma through a three-month course, and finally send them back to their unit as a complete package, each battalion including 44 Pumas. A noteworthy point is that the nine mechanised infantry battalions which are part of the 2011 German Army Structure will not receive the full complement of tracked vehicles, in accordance with the new German Army equipment policy, as this would mean to provide them with 396 combat vehicles plus some extra units for the school. Some lastminute changes might also occur: the Army asked to integrate the MG4 5.56 mm machine gun instead of the older 7.62 MG3, although a return to that larger calibre might occur, the H&K MG5 and the new 7.62 Rheinmetall new 7.62 mm machine gun being under

consideration following lessons learned in Afghanistan. Moreover the current grenade launchers installed on the rear of the turret on both sides should be replaced by new 360° coverage systems. Currently developed by Rheinmetall, the new launcher will consist in a trainable turret with a round container with six 76 mm launchers in the inner circle and 18 high velocity 40 mm grenade launchers on the outer one affording lethal and less-than-lethal engagements at up to 400 metres.

Turning to the Boxer, the first three vehicles – all ambulances – were handed over to the Dutch Army in early July 2014. So far the Netherlands had only received the eight driver training vehicles. The ambulances are in fact the first operational Boxers delivered to the 13th Mechanised Brigade, the unit shifting from tracks to wheels. To show the Boxer flexibility and capacity KMW exhibited at Eurosatory a version of the vehicle fitted with the 155/52 mm Artillery Gun Module.

Thanks to Rheinmetall, Algeria is becoming the latest armoured vehicle producer: in late August 2014 the company received the green light from the German Government to build facilities there to produce the Fuchs. No more details are available due to a non-disclosure agreement, but what is clear is that this is the beginning of a new trend, Rheinmetall having created in early 2014 a joint venture with Ferrostaal, known as Rheinmetall International Engineering, active in engineering, procurement and contracting.

The CV90 is now in its Mk3 iteration, but new developments are already in the pipeline.

Numerous countries are upgrading their

The German Army will soon receive its new Puma fighting vehicles, which had their first participation in an international exhibition in Paris last June. (Armada/P. Valpolini)

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Deliveries of the latest standard CV90 to Norway started in February 2014; the BAE Systems tracked infantry fighting vehicle has substantially evolved since its inception over 20 years ago – its name originally standing for Combat Vehicle for the 1990s. (BAE Systems)

vehicles or plan to do so. Norway has launched its upgrade programme, in which old chassis will see their turrets removed to become support variants (the Sting engineer vehicle, the Multic multirole vehicle that can itself be declined in four variants including logistic transport, VIP and 81 mm mortar carrier 16 of each having been ordered) and Stridle command posts of which 15 have been ordered. These chassis are being refurbished, retain the original automotive components, but their protection is increased and their vetronic becomes fully digitised. Mobility is increased due to the turret removal. New CV90 Mk3 chassis will be equipped with upgraded turrets, also fully digitised, “only the seats and the cannon remain from the original turret” a senior BAE Systems engineer told Armada. The new Mk3 electronic architecture is based on Ethernet, a Canbus remaining however active as a backup in case of Ethernet failure. The new Norwegian CV9030 features over 100 IP addresses. A further variant is the OPV, which retains the turret while adding a mast-mounted ISR package that includes a radar and an optronic suite, the dismounts being replaced by a less numerous recon group in charge of intelligence gathering. The Norwegian Army received the first of upgraded CV9030 IFVs on 25 February 2014, a combat engineer vehicle based on a refurbished Mk1 chassis having been rolled out on 22 August. Sweden is also in the process of upgrading its CV90s; the configuration is not yet frozen but it will certainly include life extension, an ergonomic review and the adoption of an improved BMS. Discussions are underway to finalise the package, a

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contract signature being expected for end2014. Estonia is acquiring 44 CV9035s from the Netherlands. As for Denmark, an RfP for the M113 replacement was awaited in AugustSeptember 2014, in view of a contract award within the first half of 2015.

In terms of CV90 further evolutions, BAE Systems is working on the proof of concept of its Adaptiv visual system currently considered at TRL4, while the IR version is TRL-7 and should a customer materialise it could be delivered within a couple of years. The company is developing a tile that is able to adapt to both infrared and visible spectra to match the background landscape. The size of those tiles will depend on the minimum detection range required by the customer, and two options will be proposed, a lower cost system with preset patterns, and a Gucci system with cameras capable to catch the background image and a computer to tune the tiles to merge the vehicle in the captured background.

Hard kill and 360° surroundings vision are the other two fields of activity. The former sees BAE Systems already involved with a customer in the choice of an optimal solution. As for latter the aim is to get in due

Streit is increasing its successes on the international market and its Varan 6x6 armoured personnel carrier is nearly ready for production. (Armada/Paolo Valpolini)

time a “transparent vehicle” in which the commander can see through the armour in any direction. A cheaper system will be adopted for dismounts in the rear compartment. Co-operation with Soucy continues, new rubber tracks used on the Armadillo demonstrator having survived 6,000 km without any problem. This, and active damping which will become standard on all new platforms, will mark a great step in increasing “comfort” not only for soldiers

but also for the electronic equipment carried. All technology developments are being proposed for the PLO-1, the platform demonstrator introduced at MSPO 2013 with cross-airs on the Polish Army requirement for a light and medium tracked family of vehicles.

First shown at IDEX 2013, the Varan 6x6 developed by the Streit Group should reach the end of its development in late 2014 to enter mass production in 2015. The

Superior Mobility under Protection COBRA

COBRA II

APV

ARMA 8X8 URAL

ARMA 6X6

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A consortium of Slovak enterprises led by Excalibur Army has developed the new BMP-based Sakal IFV. (Armada/Paolo Valpolini)

international appearance. Based on the BMP-2, it features a 402hp Caterpillar engine (some 100 hp more than before) coupled to an improved automatic transmission. The engine is located on the right, with the driver on the left, commander and gunner seats being located behind the front section. The Šakal is equipped with an Evpu Turra 30 weapon station armed with a 30 mm 2A42 cannon and a 7.62 mm co-axial machine gun, with two 9M113 Konkurs missiles located on the right of the turret. The armament can however be replaced with weapon systems of Western origin of the same category. Ballistic protection is at Level 3, while antimine is at Level 1b/2a. development of this vehicle and other military-related products is in line with the group production shift, Streit aiming at a 70% military and 30% commercial split for its 2014 revenues. The monocoque hull uses SSAB Armox 500T ballistic protection on its sides and top while the energy absorbing bottom is made with Armox 440T. Basic protection can be increased to full Level 4 with add-on ceramic armour and anti-mine bottom kit. The development of the automotive components is completed and the vehicle has undergone thorough testing at the Milbrook Technology Park in England, ballistic tests being expected within year end at the IABG test centre in Germany. The Varan can accommodate a two-man crew and six dismounts. The 6x6 APC is powered by a Cummins 400 hp diesel engine coupled to an Allison automatic five-speed transmission, the powerpack being located front right. Having vehicles ready for delivery being the Group’s philosophy, 250 powerpack and axle kits have already been ordered, mass production being expected for 2015 as a few orders are close to be signed, target price for the baseline model being under one million dollars. At Eurosatory the Varan prototype was equipped with a Sarmat remotely controlled weapon station developed by State Kyiv Design Bureau “Luch” in the Ukraine, armed with a 12.7 mm machine gun and four antitank missiles.

The Šakal modernised infantry fighting vehicle was exhibited at the Excalibur Army stand for its first Eurosatory and

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Japan’s first appearance Eurosatory 2014 marked the first appearance of the Japanese defence industry.

No real vehicles were actually shown, the only armoured vehicle – an 8 x 8 from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was exhibited in model form, here photographed by the author. The vehicle would be about 8 metres long, 2.2 metres high, 2.98 metres width, and its curb weight 18 tonnes offering an 10-tonne payload capacity. In APC guise it can carry a total of 11 men and a version with raised rear compartment for ambulance or command post applications is also available. Equipped with independent double wishbone and hydropneumatic suspensions, it runs on 395/85R20 rubber. Powered by a 535 hp MHI 4VA 4cylinder diesel located front-left, it can reach over 100 km/h on road. Protection levels were not provided, the APC being equipped with all-round bar armour, the flanks of the troop compartment being apparently protected by reactive armour.

Armed with a 12.7 mm machine gun for self-defence purposes, the vehicle’s ample payload capacity would clearly enable it to carry medium or even heavy calibre turrets although the Japanese policy remains that of proposing non aggressive equipment on the market.

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Geospatial information-IV

Mapping the Seven Seas Marine charting started in ancient times, and the power of a navy has since been matched by the quality of its charts. On a predominantly oceanic world, mapping the maritime environment amounts to sum up all the know-how and constraints described in the previous Geospatial information releases: the complexity of coastal, surface and subsurface features is augmented by specific human occupation of the littoral, the changing and dynamic nature of the seas, as well as their peculiar weather patterns; on top of this, navigational and traffic control information is adding up an extra, critical dimension. Fortunately, digital-age information products translate this complexity into critical decision-making tools.

Wesley Fox

T

his is probably why the leading charting companies described in the air and space part, Jeppesen or Navionics for example, also provide high-grade marine charts for commercial and military users. Nautical charts, however, comply with specific requirements to describe coastlines and maritime areas, as well as ocean depths and main seabed features, natural or man-made navigational aids, marine currents and tidal activity. Such knowledge rests on national hydrographic offices, coordinated by the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO). Within historical naval powers, the

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National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency in America, the old British Oceanographic Office, or the French Service Hydrographique et Oceanographique de la Marine, thus produce official marine charts (e.g. the famous British Admiralty charts), updated on a regular basis.

I ADVANCED SENSORS, BETTER DATA, NEW STANDARDS

The maritime domain forms a complex interaction between the sea floor, water column, the sea surface, air column, and dynamic information about navigation, weather and obstacles. To comply with the safety and security missions of most navies, this specific battlespace is monitored by a

Next-generation maritime domain awareness systems will hide the complexity of maritime geospatial information and integrate onboard sensors and shore-based intelligence and information services, to present a fused 3D rendering of recognised environmental and maritime pictures focused on mission management. (Armada/Wesley G. Fox)

wide variety of subsurface, surface, air and space sensors, mostly of dual-use between governments and the military.

The Nasa Jason satellite, for example, provides accurate measurement of wave height and sea levels worldwide; its data can be consumed in near real-time to plan naval escorts to pirate-threatened maritime traffic in

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the Horn of Africa. Airborne imaging or ranging sensors like lidars provide accurate coastal contours, or gather bathymetric information in shallow waters (using for example a blue-green laser to penetrate water and infra-red laser to measure surface height).

Meanwhile, shipborne or submarine sonars, from single beam to multi-beam echo sounders combining sensor swathe with attitude sensors, gyrocompass, and inertial navigation, deliver bathymetric information to map deep seafloor features.

Other sensors survey ocean temperature, salinity, and tidal flows. The resulting amount of data can be extremely complex to integrate on a single, standardised support such as the old paper map; the still experimental or academic use of the most advanced hydrographic or bathymetric sensors also adds to the data exploitation challenge. This is why marine charting has found the useful help of digital technologies, giving way to electronic navigational charts (ENC); departing from scanned marine charts to provide dynamic information, ENCs translate vast amounts of information into sets of standardised data, producing intelligent and interactive maps able to manage and display multi-layered information, often combining raster and vector data (see Geospatial Information part I).

The wide array of data collection sensors, and their scientific orientation, have slowed down standardisation, still lagging behind comparable land and air mapping products.

Commercial geospatial information systems

As more and more people of our ocean planet live on coastal areas, we realise how little we know of the complex, disputed maritime environment, and how strategic it is for any power to build and maintain maritime domain awareness. (IHO)

have only recently started to cope with maritime geospatial information, both for the production and the exploitation of intelligent digital maps. The most internationally recognised format in marine electronic charting is the IHO-approved S57, along with its S-63 encrypted variant.

Companies like Boeing’s Jeppesen provide conversion tools to bring legacy and exotic data onto S-57 maps. However, this

An artistic rendering of NASA’s Jason ocean survey satellite, gathering real-time sea level and wave height measurements.

The distribution of this information over web services adds up to the building of an accurate environmental picture.

(Nasa/Thales Alenia Space)

maritime standard is slowly being accepted in commercial GIS. Luciad was early to provide S-57 visualisation tools, thanks to its early involvement with Thales at the turn of the century to deliver shipborne and shorebased command information systems, notably for the new-generation SIC 21 maritime C4I system-of-systems for the French fleet command. Esri followed suit, developing its ArcGIS for maritime operations alongside its version 10.1 in the early 2010s. This suite of functionalities leverages Esri’s prior involvement in enterprise GIS for NOAA and other maritime users in America. It complements Esri’s ocean basemap services released in 2011 on ArcGISonline, filling a gap and demonstrating how poorly the world’s oceans are mapped today. Ocean basemap is planned to move in scale from today’s 1/500 000 to 1/72 000 around American coasts.

As S-57 was developed when computing power was far weaker, electronic charts soon reached their limits in incorporating marine data. So the rich metadata associated with maritime information systems have led to the development of S-100 and S-101 formats designed to replace S-57 for new-generation ENCs in the mid-2010s. These new, more open IHO standards augment pure geospatial information with marine-relevant dynamic information. The S-100 hydrographic

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The United States Naval Ship Impeccable ocean surveillance ship is immensely valuable to monitor and map the underwater environment thanks to its towed array sensor system. It was chased from Chinese waters off the nuclear submarine base of Hainan in 2009, triggering a serious diplomatic incident. (US Navy)

bring additional graphic layers of wind, pressure, precipitation, temperature, wave height and tidal streams. This rich environmental information can be used to plan intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance resources, maximising sensor planning and multi-sensor exploitation.

I FROM LOCAL TO COMBAT INFORMATION

geospatial standard for marine data and information supports multiple data sets: bathymetry, 3D and temporal information, or tracking sensor data, such as radar tracks or AIS (Automatic Identification System).

Beyond at-sea navigation, the new format enables route planning, coastal and harbour navigation, and takes into account dynamic tidal models. The S-101 implementation, tested in 2014-2015, will transform ENCs to richer Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS) which

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combine ENC data with positioning information, to plot course and warn of forthcoming dangers, and cross-analyse different geo-enabled information to provide a rich, multi-layered situational awareness.

Among the most awaited type of dynamic information are weather data. Already available in standardised GRIB files, they

Since July 2012, ECDIS are scheduled to become compulsory on-board major commercial and government ships, becoming the centrepiece of integrated bridge systems.

This growing market is populated by leaders, quickly taken over by major defence companies, such as Transas, Raytheon Ansch端tz or Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine. Based in St-Petersburg, Transas Marine produces a range of ECDIS (like the TRIMS integrated bridge management

Disputed Palawan atolls in the South China Sea. Nautical charts combine natural and human features for navigation and route planning purposes. Their move to electronic formats makes for higher accuracy and automated update. (NOAA, via TerraMetrica)

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Multi-sensor input has brought positive and negative elevation to marine charting, enhancing visualisation through electronic navigation charts, illustrating the multi-dimensional aspect of the Maritime domain. (Jeppesen)

system, available only for Russian and CIS customers), and has teamed with the British hydrographic office to provide the Transas Admiralty Data Service for rich, certified data content and faster update of its charts.

Raytheon Anschütz has developed the Synapsis ECDIS as a PC-based application to display both raster charts and S-57 or S-63 vector electronic charts. Synapsis is used for on-board navigation, course plotting, and track display, with weather chart overlay as an option. It is a key building block in automated bridge management systems adopted onboard Damen’s Sigma-class corvettes and light frigates in service with Moroccan, Indonesian and soon Vietnamese navies.

Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine’s VisionMaster FT ECDIS is its closest competitor, also featuring picture-in-picture for visualisation of video, radar or sonar information; it is similarly a key building block in Sperry Marine’s TotalWatch single integrated bridge display. In both solutions, however, true sensor fusion (where georeferenced sensor data actually replace map information) is still not achieved.

To move from a ship’s bridge to major combatants tactical operations centres, military applications of ECDIS need to take geospatial information one step further, by providing additional military layers (e.g. reading information from a tactical editor or a sensor track manager) and interfaces to combat management systems (which monitor and integrate a ship’s target acquisition and weapon systems). This combat application is the role of Warship ECDIS (WECDIS) described in Nato and major naval powers since the end of the 2000s.

mission-specific solutions for maritime safety and security. Supporting the company’s array of coastal surveillance radars, Raytheon Anschütz provides the Smartblue C2 system to provide local situational state around ports, naval bases, or oil and gas facilities. Its containerised version provides a compact solution to deployment requirements in coastal and offshore environments.

Smartblue can extend to Land perimeter protection, diver detection, and intrusion control, thanks to a radio frequency identification (RFID) extension module.

Beyond point surveillance and for shorebased higher-level command & control applications, the most recent solutions come from information services providers; their level of IT, and sometimes Nato standardisation, enable system integrators to

“The very lack of a WECDIS and the reliance on paper maps to navigate was a key issue in the grounding of HMS Astute, the Royal Navy’s latest nuclear attack submarine, in October 2010” In 2011, Northrop Grumman was granted a contract to install its WECDIS version of Vision Master on the next HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier. The very lack of a WECDIS and the reliance on paper maps to navigate was a key issue in the grounding of HMS Astute, the Royal Navy’s latest nuclear attack submarine, in October 2010. It led to an Admiralty recommendation to install WECDIS throughout the class. In the submarine branch, OSI Maritime Systems provide Tactical Dive Navigation System, a Nato-certified WECDIS dedicated to underwater operations. TDNS uses Vancouver-based OSI Geospatial ECPINSW Sub software, compliant with STANAG 4564 for integration of additional military layers (a standardised catalogue of object of military interest) into maritime information systems. In April 2014, the same software was retained for the integrated bridge system onboard Royal Navy T45 Class guided missile destroyers.

I MARITIME DOMAIN AWARENESS

Bringing maritime geospatial information to bear with mission management systems is a logical step, taken by ECDIS providers in

Standardised S-57 Electronic navigation charts can be used as a repository of georeferenced data layers, such as IHS Fairplay, AIS live, or specialised layers such as oil & gas infrastructures. (IHS)

embed them in Maritime C4I applications.

Esri’s maritime operations suite combines the commercial GIS editor’s large ecosystem with their substantial reference base in the defence and intelligence areas. Noted in 2010 for a rich operational use-case for fighting piracy off the Somali coast by combining satellite imagery, open data and geospatial queries across multiple thematic layers (from maritime charts to human terrain of tribal occupation of the Somali coast), Esri have combined enterprise geospatial services and open data providers (such as IHS and Lloyds maritime information databases).

Their ArcGIS for maritime operations suite offers operational preparation of the maritime battlespace, starting with available templates and open to customers’ intelligence databases. Multi-layer information queries lead to a rich set of analysis tools, merging geo,

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Geospatial information-IV

Transas Marine Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems equip commercial and government ships worldwide; this Russian design accepts the latest standards in maritime information services (Transas)

hydro, oceanographic and meteorological data, against which patterns of activity, coming from open sensors (such as AIS), military ISR, or commercial databases, can be displayed. The resulting time-space analytics capability showcases the extent of consistent commercial solutions open to standardised exploitation in military C4I. The first C4I system integrator to leverage this rich ecosystem was Thales, Esri Gold partner since 2010. Stepping onboard their ArcGIS V10 release the same year, Thales demonstrated integration of legacy and Web 2.0 solutions by integrating their SIC21 maritime C4I (just delivered to the French Navy), with an Esri server hosting Gigabytes of open data

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(such as IHS AIS worldwide, Fairplay harbour & ships maritime databases, and oil & gas exploitation infrastructures and boundaries). Both were connected to webbased Common Operation Picture (COP) viewer in Nato Vector Graphics (NVG) standard to manage large volumes of battlespace objects. The following year, Thales won the Nato COP project, serving the Alliance with Joint C4I (leveraging Nato core Geospatial GIS delivered by Siemens, based on Esri).

Nato’s upcoming environmental and maritime functional services will make full use of latest information standards and architecture, since information association through web map services brings maritime domain situation description one step further from the realm of military-grade information.

There seems to be virtually no limit in associating own-ship sensor information, fleetwide situational awareness, and business applications drawing information from fisheries, customs, port authorities, coast guards and navies – all georeferenced on a set of dynamic geospatial layers.

This new horizon has given birth to a new generation of Maritime C4I systems

designed to connect with on-board WECDIS or Combat Management Systems, and augment them with professional information services. This complies with Nato’s newest requirements for their enterprise functional services, as a set of military applications resting on a serviceoriented architecture, brokering information on a pull rather than a push basis, under the so-called User-Defined Operational Pictures (UDOP). This allows operational users to consume information from multiple legacy systems and new services (like the aforementioned Jason 2 satellite wave height measurement, broadcast in near-real time as a web service by the Australian Navy), and bring them onto an interoperable framework to create mission-tailored information products for decision support. In this context, the release by Thales of its latest Comm@nder integrated C4I system, Comm@nder Maritime in 2013, is targeting a follow-on to the ageing Maritime Command & Control Information System (MCCIS) delivered to Nato by Northrop Grumman UK in the early 2000s.

The Indian Navy has taken a similar path with the Trigun and Samvaad C2 software

Esri’s ArcGIS for the warfighter leverage the GIS editor’s rich partner ecosystem to offer tailored information services in the maritime domain, like this maritime battlespace analysis application to mine warfare. (Esri)

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MILITARY CONNECTORS

LIGHTWEIGHT • NON-REFLECTIVE WATERTIGHT PROTECTION CLASS IP 68 AND IP 69K RUGGED • COMPACT Anything wrong in this latest Zumwalt-class DDG-1000 notional operations centre rendering? Geospatial information displays, for sure, stuck in the late 1990s and unworthy of today’s Warship Electronic Chart Display & Information Systems. (General Dynamics)

suites designed to leverage sensor and navigation information between networked submarine, surface and air platforms, networked with maritime operations centres to build and share maritime across the board.

These new trends illustrate the recent move of geospatial information from platform-centric, to network-centric. New standards ease transition from electronic charting to open maritime information systems; rich maritime geospatial information provides a recognised environmental picture on which to map general surveillance (AIS, navigation radar) or mission-specific (e.g. surveillance or target acquisition) sensors. The border has become blurred between on-board and shore-based applications, since the former can leverage rich databases from fleet command, and the latter can consume locally-built tactical information to create, share and maintain a fully recognised maritime picture for the broader maritime domain.

I THE DISPLAY CONUNDRUM

The limits to this multi-layered exploitation rest in our current visualisation tools. The classical 2D displays inherited from paper charts may well be reaching their limits. The rise of web-enabled 3D visualisation, combined with growing graphical computational power carried by standard computers or mobile devices, is fuelling a promising research and technology effort. As the maritime space is a natural candidate to multi-dimensional visualisation (from ocean surveillance satellites to submarine sonars), new directions are investigated to render the multiple volumes of maritime activity, maximising exploitation of congested shores, or opening new horizons for blue water operations.

Marine Cadastre is a civil project, started in the early 2010s by NOAA and the US Bureau of Energy Management, to present maritime information as an on-demand set of information layers visualised in 2D or 3D. Another promising direction is being investigated by the defence industry. Battlespace Vista is an advanced concept technology demonstrator (ACTD) showcased by Thales in 2014 as an innovation initiative, pooling the group’s advanced C4I solutions between Thales Secure Information & Communication Systems, Thales Raytheon Systems, Thales Underwater Systems, and Thales Research and Technology.

Its application to Maritime Domain Awareness for the 2014 Euronaval exhibition demonstrated a 3D, immersive and interactive environment (thanks to active 3D glasses tracked by sensors to slave the display to the commander’s motion) to visualise an integrated battlespace from the ocean bottom to the higher atmosphere on highgrade geospatial data, complete with every ship position and ID, sensor footprints, and communications links. There is no doubt that such innovation will transform the way we look at the complex maritime domain, relegating electronic charts to the past as surely as they replaced century-old paper charts. As more reliable and open geospatial information becomes available for new situational understanding solutions, naval powers of today and tomorrow will demand these new information superiority tools as surely as their ancestors craved admiralty charts.

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Landing Craft

Ship-to-Shore connectors in evolution The widened range of missions to be carried out by increasing more capable amphibious ship fleets around the world – from traditional launch and recovery of forces ashore to humanitarian and disaster relief operations topped with a large range of threats during those missions – require higher performance landing craft. Ironically enough their development and acquisition are hindered by shrinking development and acquisition budgets.

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In addition to Spanish Navy, the Navantia shipbuilding group has sold its LCM-1E designed LCM to Royal Australian and Turkish navies, respectively 12 and 4 units. With both services, the LMC-1E will operate from Juan Carlos I type LHD, which has been selected by both navies. (Spanish Navy)

Last August US Navy awarded the contract to build the first production Ship-to-Shore Connector (SSC). The LCAC 101 is the first of 72 operational craft to be delivered from August 2017, with a targeted initial operational capability in 2020. The test and training craft is expected to start construction by November this year. (Textron)

Luca Peruzzi

control, computer, communication and navigation (C4N) equipment, crew comfort and passive and active protection not only for personnel but also for the platform.

Shipbuilders and naval industry worldwide are responding to these requirements with advanced or conventional solutions, depending on available budgets.

I MORE CAPABLE LANDING CRAFT ON THE HORIZON

I US LEADING THE REQUESTS

Nowadays a landing craft is tagged as a shipto-shore connector and encompasses a whole range of configurations from traditional hull to air cushion craft. They need to reach high speeds and offer long endurances for overthe-horizon missions, together with comfortable payload capabilities to reduce operations timeframe. These requirements naturally cascade into other enhancements, including capable and integrated command,

End of last August, the Naval Sea Systems Command awarded a contract modification for the construction of the US Navy’s first production-standard ship-to-shore connector (SSC). Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC – pronounce L-cac) 101 is the second craft in the SSC class. It was designed as an evolutionary replacement of currently ageing fleet of LCACs, for which a service life extension programme is underway.

The industrial team led by Textron which includes aluminium manufacturer Alcoa Defense and command, control, computers, communications and navigation specialist L-3 Communications, is today working on the detailed design and construction of the SSC test and training craft (LCAC 100), which is to be delivered in February 2017.

The 101 is the first of 72, with an initial operational capability targeted for 2020.

Although it externally resembles the current type, the new craft includes enhancements driven by design service life extended to 30 years sans service life extension programme, increased payload capacities thanks to two, instead of four but new more powerful, Rolls-Royce MT7 turbine engines (the type is derivative of the Osprey tiltrotor aircraft), reduced flight crew and workload, increased reliability and maintainability.

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Landing Craft

The US Navy’s fleet of LCAC is being subjected to a service life extension programme. The new Mobile Landing Platform Montford Point is here seen successfully conducting interface tests off the coast of Camp Pendleton Last June. (US Navy)

The SSC will be able to carry a load of 74 tonnes – say an Abrams – in Sea State 3 at a speed of more than 40 knots to a shore some from 25 nm away. The US Navy is also planning to begin the procurement of a new Surface Connector (X) Replacement – SC(X)R – in Fiscal Year 2018, to replace the ageing Landing Craft Utility (LCU) 1610 fleet. A so-called Analysis of Alternative completed in the first half of 2014 favoured a low-risk evolution of the LCU design to replace the current 32 1610s on a one-to-one basis. Nevertheless the US Navy and Marine Corps are studying concepts to bridge the ship-to-shore connector gap in the coming years. During the Advanced Warfighting Experiment in conjunction with the Rimpac 2014 multinational exercise led by the US Forces this summer, the Marine Corps tested the half-scale prototype of the Ultra Heavy-lift Amphibious Connector (UHAC). Funded by the Office of Naval Research and built by Navatek, a full-scale craft is expected to carry three times the payload of an LCAC and beat 10-foot high sea walls.

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An Analysis of Alternative (AoA), completed in the first half of 2014, favoured a low-risk evolved LCU design to replace the current 32 LCU 1610 LCU, seen here, on a one-of-one basis, tentatively starting from Fiscal Year 2018. (US Navy)

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Landing Craft

During the Advanced Warfighting Experiment in conjunction with the Rimpac C 2014 multinational exercise lead by US Forces this summer, the US Marine Corps tested the halfscale prototype of the UHAC currently under development. (US Navy)

I EUROPEAN NEW DESIGNS

The French naval industry is waving the innovation flag in this sector. Indeed Constructions Industrielles de la Méditerranée (Cnim) developed and patented a new concept of a fast landing craft capable to carry out LCU, LCT and LST type-vessel duties. Known as the L-CAT (for landing catamaran), it is based on the concept of a variable draft system, by which characteristic it navigates as a catamaran, but it transforms into a landing barge for landing ashore or entering a well deck, this thanks to a mobile central platform that raises or lowers to modify buoyancy. Ordered in 2009 by France’s

DGA procurement agency and built by French Socarenam shipyard, four L-Cat-based EDA-R (Engins de Débarquement Amphibie – Rapides, or Amphibious Landing Craft- Fast), entered service between 2011 and 2012.

With a length of 30 metres and a width of 12, the craft consists of two aluminium alloy hulls that frame a 126 sq. metres mobile central platform that can accommodate an 80tonne load. Once the platform is raised, the four MTU 12V 2000 M93 diesels driving four MJP 650 waterjets provide a maximum speed of 25-30 knots empty or 18 knots at maximum load. Endurance is 400 nm at 12 knots. It has a crew of between four and eight with the

possibility to carry 40 men. Employed by Mistral class BPCs and Sirocco class TCDs, the craft have demonstrated their interoperability with US Navy amphibious vessels.

DCNS has however developed a more conventional but new Landing Craft Medium (LCM) design (see our cover), which was chosen by the Russian Navy to equip the two Vladivostock-class BPC-type vessels under construction and final outfitting by STX shipyard in Saint-Nazaire (as a subcontractor to DCNS) with the cooperation of the OSK Russian shipbuilding group. Ordered as part of the two-BPC delivery package in four units to be delivered with the first ship, the CTM NG (Chaland de Transport de Materiel de Nouvelle Generation) as it has been redesignated, introduced improvements compared to the already-in service CTM with the French Navy. With a length and beam of respectively around 27 and 7 metres, compared to 23 and 6.3 metres of the in-service craft, they differ for a roll-on/roll-off capability thanks to a bow and stern ramp, with the transfer of the crew station on the left side. The craft hull design has been redesigned to offer better sea keeping capabilities, providing a maximum speed of around 20 knots without load. An order for another four CTM NGs is expected for equipping the second ship.

Cnim in France is proposing a family of L-Cat concept based craft, among which the EDA-R seen here in service with the French Navy. (US Navy)

In Britain, the portfolio of Griffon Hoverwork air cushion craft for military and paramilitary applications include the most popular medium lift Griffon 8000TD and the longest running Griffon 2000TD, here seen in the TDX version in service with the Royal Commandos. (UK MoD)

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In addition to the Spanish Navy, Navantia has sold its LCM-1E designed LCM to the Royal Australian and Turkish navies, respectively 12 and 4 units. The first four LCM-1Es delivered to Australia last April operate with the first Canberra-class LHD. (Royal Australian Navy)

The British naval industry has also been a front-runner in new designs for landing applications, with a long and successful tradition in hovercraft and more recently in the Pascat (Partial Air Cushion Supported Catamaran) prototyping programme.

Griffon Hoverwork has developed and is producing amphibious hovercraft for both commercial and military/paramilitary applications. The latter product portfolio include the longest running Griffon 2000TD, capable to carry up to 16 soldiers at a speed of 34 knots, to the most popular medium-lift Griffon 8000TD, which can carry eight to ten tonnes, depending on configuration, or up to 56 persons in addition to its two-man crew.

The latest customers include the Colombian and Peruvian navies, as well as the South Korean and Indian coast guards. A longstanding British requirement for a fast landing craft with an ‘over-the-horizon’ (from 30 nm offshore) reach to replace the current Mk 10 LCUs, led to the evaluation of a surface effect ship (SES) design based on the Pascat. Qinetiq heads an industrial team that includes Griffon Hoverwork and the BMT Group. The latter’s Caimen FLC family is based on a tri-bow monohull of aluminium construction, and a bow ramp positioned well above the waterline, but folded to provide excellent visibility from the wheelhouse. With a length of 33 metres and a beam of 7.7, the medium Caimen 90 Fast FLC can carry a 90-tonne load at a speed of 22 knots, or reach 40 knots unloaded.

The Navantia shipbuilding group in Spain is today offering a more conventional fast landing craft design that has been selected or is in service with different important navies. To replace the LCM-8 in service with Spanish Navy, the shipbuilder developed the LCM-1E for the Galicia-class LPDs and the Juan Carlos I LHD. With a length of 23.3 metres and beam of 6.4,

roll-on/roll-off capabilities, a crew of four and a C4N allowing amphibious operations starting over-the-horizon (over 20nm), the LCM-1E is powered by two MAN diesel engines providing a maximum speed of 22 knots when unloaded and 13.5 knots at max loading. The latter can include a main battle tank, up to six Humvees or 170 soldiers, according to Navantia. In addition to the Spanish Navy, thanks to the design interoperability with the Juan Carlos I-type of LHD, the LCM-1E has been acquired by Australia, namely 12 units to work in conjunction with Canberra-class two LHDs (four LCM-1E for each ship). The first four arrived in Australia last April. In December 2013, the Turkish Undersecretariat for Defence Industries announced a team made up of Navantia and the Sedef shipyard had been selected to begin negotiations for the design and construction of an LHD based on the Juan Carlos I, and four LCM-1E landing craft together with a technology transfer package for their local construction with Navantia assistance. A contract signature is expected in the coming months.

The Italian Navy LCM, here seen during a rescue mission of illegal immigrant traffic between Africa and Italy, forms the base of the LCM built in Algeria for the new multipurpose helicopter landing platform dock ship to the Algerian Navy under a technology transfer contract with Italian Orizzonte shipbuilding company. (Italian Navy)

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Landing Craft

Amongst the European shipbuilders, Damen group has built the LCM and LCVP for the Royal Netherlands Navy in addition to the Enforcer LPD series also selected by other navies. Damen also built the Royal Netherlands navy’s new Joint Support Ship, which entered service recently. (US Navy)

third last June, and the first-of-class has started shipyard trails in the Baltic Sea. I LATEST WORLDWIDE SOLUTIONS

In early September, Orizzonte Sistemi Navali, the Italian joint venture of Fincantieri (51%) and Selex ES (49%), delivered the new 8,800-tonne Kalaat Beni-Abbes multipurpose helicopter landing platform dock to the Algerian Navy at Fincantieri’s Muggiano shipyard near La Spezia. The contract signed in 2011 by Orizzonte and Algeria also regarded a full training and technology transfer package for local construction of landing craft. Orizzonte acknowledged to have provided design supervision, construction management and co-ordination with technology transfer to Algeria for three LCMs to be used with the new amphibious ship. The craft were built at ECRN (Enterprise de Construction et Réparation Navales) at Mers-El-Kebir, to the navy’s full satisfaction.

Their design is based on Italian Navy’s LCM, which were designed and built by Cantiere Navale Vittoria at Adria (Rovigo) in NorthEastern Italy. With a 19.5-metre length and 5.1-metre beam, these landing craft are powered by two Iveco diesel engines affording a maximum speed of nine knots. With a full load displacement of 65 tonnes and a maximum load of 30, they are built to Rina rules and equipped with an armoured wheelhouse to provide the needed level of ballistic protection, together with a full navigation and communication suite.

Other European shipbuilding groups are proposing landing craft solutions of various dimensions. These include the Dutch Damen shipbuilding group (which supplied the LCM and LCVP to the Royal Netherlands Navy), the Turkish Adik shipyard (which delivered eight Adik class Landing Craft Tanks to the local navy between 2009 and 2013), the new Kership joint venture between Piriou and DCNS (which proposes the 650-tonne LCT-

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50 design) and the Portuguese Arsenal do Alfeite with the new family of larger LC560 landing platforms up to 900 tonnes.

The Russian shipbuilding industry is today involved in new fast landing craft activities with Dugon-class assault landing vessels (Project 21820). Designed by Nizhny Novgorod bureau, these air cavity platforms are a dynamic variety of air cushions, where a layer of compressed air at the bottom of the ship is due to the movement of the ship. With a length and beam of respectively 45 and 8.6 metres, these 280-tonne fast landing craft can reach a top speed of 35 knots and can carry up to three Russian main battle tanks or five armoured vehicles to the tune of 140 tonnes.

All three classes have been launched, the

The increasing number of amphibious, crisis response, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, has pushed regional navies and industries to develop their own capabilities, with foreign acquisitions as already mentioned, local designs or through technology transfer agreements.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore and its local shipbuilding industry were the first to locally develop both amphibious vessels and landing craft. Today Singapore Technologies Marine offers the waterjet-propelled Brave series of shallow-water fast landing craft, providing both high speed and varied payload. The craft are given as complements of the same shipyard’s series of Endurance LPDs. The smaller Brave-4T and 18T models, respectively capable to carry loads of four and eighteen tonnes at speed of over 25 knots, were instrumental in carrying personnel and heavy equipment between The Republic of Singapore Navy’s Endurance class LPD and

While China has developed its own designed air-cushion landing craft, it has also acquired four huge Ukrainian-built Zubr (Project 1232.2) hovercraft modified for local requirements, two of which are already delivered. The other two are to be built locally with Ukrainian support. (US Navy)

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shore during the 2004 Tsunami disaster relief operations. The other three models – the 27metre Brave 30T, the 42-metre 75T and the 47-metre 150T – can carry a 30, 75 and 150 tonnes of goods over respectively 90, 160 and 280 square metres of clear deck at a speed ranging between 18 and 25 knots. These FLCs are candidates for a reported interest by local MoD for a larger Endurance-160 LHD. China is the latest customer of Ukrainianbuilt Zubr (Project 1232.2) air-cushion landing craft and has already taken delivery of two. A further two are to be built locally with Ukrainian support.

The need to equip Indonesian Navy’s newest multirole, amphibious vessel Banjarmasin and Banda Aceh, commissioned respectively in 2009 and 2011 with new landing craft, pushed the service to sign a contract in 2014 with Indonesian PT Tesco Indomaritim shipyard for the manufacture of two 24.3-metre long utility landing craft able to carry a maximum of 26 tonnes of vehicle and/or materiel or 100 men and reach maximum and economical cruise speeds of respectively 40 (unload) and 20 knots.

In the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates shipbuilding and ship repair group

Singapore Technologies Marine offers the waterjet-propelled Brave series of FLC to operate in shallow waters, providing both high speed and varied payload. Here depicted is the model of the 42-metre 75T Brave designed to carry 75 tonnes between 18 and 25 knots. (Luca Peruzzi)

Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) group announced during the IDEX 2013 exhibition that it had been selected to meet the Kuwait Navy’s future landing craft requirements.

This programme involves the supply of two 64-metre and one 42-metre landing craft plus five 16-metre composite landing craft, which are being manufactured at ADSB’s facilities in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi (UAE).

This important contract builds on the previous programs for the Royal Bahrain Naval Force and the UAE Navy. The first service received two 42-metre and two 16-metre craft while the second operates with two 42-metre craft of the same type. Manufacturing for Kuwait Navy commenced in 2013, with the programme lasting approximately 24 months.

In South America, the Cotecmar shipbuilding group of Colombia delivered the first of a series of Buque Desembarco Anfibio (BDA) vessels to the Colombian Navy last may. With a full load displacement of around 600 tonnes, a 45.8-metre length and 11-metre beam, these amphibious ships can carry up to 210 tonnes of cargo or 322 passengers for both military, paramilitary and disaster relief operations.

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Soldiers from the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division familiarise themselves with the Thales AN/PRC-148 MBITR. AMTI offers a 20W amplifier for this and other handheld radios covering the 30 to 512 MHz frequency range. (US DoD)

More Oomph Please!

While the software-defined radio represents one of the most important enabling technologies for mobile communications right across the board, there is one area in which it lags older technologies – power. There’s more to it than that, of course, and the real limitations lie in the relationship between output power, signal characteristics, heat dissipation and weight. Power densities of the latest software-defined radios can be four times lower than those of the AM/FM radios they are replacing because their advanced waveforms and wide bandwidths make efficient use of amplifiers difficult.

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Peter Donaldson, inputs from Eric H. Biass

A

round 40-50% of the 50-55 kg that infantry soldiers carry into combat is power related and about 30% of the load that a typical platoon carries is composed of batteries and paraphernalia to power their radios and other electronics. Two recent breakthroughs in technology applied to amplifiers promise to make a significant difference to the soldier’s burden and ability to communicate.

The first of these involves a better way of applying the envelope tracking principle invented by Bell Laboratories in 1937 as a means of matching an amplifier’s power supply to the needs of its transmitter to make power usage much more efficient. The second is by means of layering gallium nitride (GaN) on a diamond substrate to produce semi-conductor amplifier components that run much cooler, and therefore waste far less energy as heat, than older technologies.

Network Technology (TTNT) system used in airborne sensor, shooter and ordnance communications. The Mobile User Objective System (muos) satcom network uses both OFDM and QAM and the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) technology in common use for commercial cellular communications networks.

Nujira points out that QAM and OFDM in particular need faithful reproduction of the transmitted radio signal’s amplitude, and it is this constraint that makes efficient use of power in conventional amplifiers difficult.

Such amplifiers are at their most efficient when operating at or near peak power, or more accurately, as Nujira puts it, then the radio frequency envelope waveform is closest to peak power. Efficiency is a function of the signal’s peak-to-average-power ratio

A US Marine Corporal on patrol with a Harris AN/PRC-152 in Sangin, Afghanistan. All handheld radios can benefit from the extra range that the power of a supplementary amplifier can provide. (US Marine Corps)

I MATCHING POWER TO SIGNAL

Nujira, a British communications technology company based near Cambridge, describes itself as an envelope tracking specialist and has developed a new High Accuracy Tracking (HAT) technique that it has successfully implemented in commercial cellular and broadcast communication systems and is applying it to military radio systems.

The latest software-defined radio systems and battlefield communications networks use a variety of protocols that rely on either Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) – or both – and make use of frequency hopping and adaptive signal to noise encoding schemes, Nujira points out. The Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) relies on QAM, for example, while the Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW) for ground-to-ground and ground-to-air communications uses orthogonal frequency division multiplexing modulation, as does the Tactical Targeting

“Efficiency is a function of the signal’s peak-toaverage-power ratio where the higher the peak power with respect to the mean power, the lower the efficiency.”

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I HIGH ACCURACY TRACKING

This gallium nitride on diamond wafer features diamond as a substrate, benefiting from high thermal conductivity that will enable future radios to combine high power output with cool running and significantly longer battery life. (Darpa)

where the higher the peak power with respect to the mean power, the lower the efficiency. So a signal that exhibits tall peaks that are much higher than the average level cannot use conventional amplifiers efficiently and waste much of their power as heat. It is the modulation and coding scheme that determine the peak-to-averagepower ratio, and QAM, OFDM and WCDMA are all peaky.

With envelope tracking, instead of a final RF stage power transistor optimised for a constant voltage, the supply to the Power Amplifier (PA) output transistor is dynamically synchronised with the radio signal, dramatically reducing the energy dissipated, says Nujira. While the benefits of envelope tracking have been known for more than three quarters of a century, it is only recently that industry has been able to make power supply modulators with the accuracy, bandwidth and noise levels to enable the system as a whole to save energy.

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A technique known as High Accuracy Tracking (HAT) is beginning to demonstrate impressive power efficiency improvements.

Nujira has developed a HAT power modulator module for integration into power amplifiers that measures 70 x 70 x 18 mm and runs an algorithm that tracks the RF signal very accurately in both timing and amplitude. It does this, says the company, by calculating the amplitude from the digital signal and applying a simple function to arrive at the best instantaneous drain voltage. While modulator causes a delay, the HAT algorithm also calculates this and applies an identical delay to the radio signal before sending it to the amplifier. According to Nujira, HAT can take, for example, standard AB class amplifiers from a little above 30% efficiency to above 60%. Radios that use power more efficiently can manage with smaller, lighter batteries or run for much longer on their existing batteries.

New amplifiers are also at the heart of the AN/PRC-155 two-channel manpack radio’s ability to communicate via the Mobile User Objective System (muos) satellite network.

On 14 January, the US Army announced a sole-source award to GD4S for muos High Powered Amplifier (MHPA) kits for the AN/PRC-155. This follows an initial award announced a year earlier, worth around US $5 million, for 100 field replaceable amplifier kits and supporting software to upgrade inservice sets. The upgrade adds muos

General Dynamics C4 Systems’ Sidewinder SRW-Appliqué integrates the rifleman radio and the amplifier from an AN/PRC-155 in a new vehicle mount, both improving power and connecting soldier radios to vehicle networks. (GD 4S)

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Tricom Research provides the TCR-MBA-50 WB amplifier for Harris SRW vehicle appliqué systems and can also “seamlessly” integrate into new line-of-sight and satcom special communications modes for special forces. (Tricom Research Inc)

capabilities to a radio that already runs the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW), the Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW) plus the Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (Sincgars).

Technical details were scant in both cases, but envelope tracking technology has certainly been considered in connection with muos.

As long ago as 2010, for example, MaXentric Technologies LLC won a US DoD Small Business Innovation Research award for a highefficiency W-CDMA power amplifier for a muos hand held radio. The company’s proposal was based on its GreenAmp Mini, which uses a dynamic modulator to provide an adaptive DC supply to the power amplifier. As MaXentric described it, the dynamic supply modulator tracks the envelope of the muos signal. “Since the DC power supply is changing with the input envelope signal, the overall transmitter will not consume extra DC power in a low output power region,” said the company. “When the muos handset is not transmitting, the DC power is not provided to the transmitter, minimising the power consumption in the system and improving the overall system efficiency, which increases battery lifetime significantly.”

Fast forward to 2013 and the company received another SBIR award, this time under Socom’s Next Generation Portable Power Amplifier programme, with its GreenAmp Lite the focus of the work. The GreenAmp Lite combines envelope tracking with a Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) power amplifier in a single small footprint package, says the company, emphasising that tight integration is made possible through the extremely high efficiency and low power dissipation provided by envelope tracking. This also enables the use of a smaller battery that can be integrated into the handheld power amplifier.

As they require no calibration or tuning, says the company, GreenAmp Lite modules can be plugged directly into systems out of the box.

I AMPS BOOST SOLDIER VEHICLE NETS

Supplementary amplifiers are key components of the US Army’s SRW vehicle appliqué systems developed to extend the reach of soldier radios into wider battlefield networks. Four companies— Exelis, GDC4 Systems, Thales Defense & Security and Harris—all won contracts in April to supply equipment for this requirement. While Exelis SideHat is a one-box solution with an integral amplifier that puts out up to 23.4W in the UHF band and 28W in the L-band, the others package their soldier radios with compact add-on devices.

Harris SRW appliqué systems consist of a Falcon III wideband radio and a small form factor wideband power amplifier, most likely the TCRMBA-50 WB from Tricom Research, in a cradle mount. Capable of putting out up to 50 W, this software-defined amplifier is designed to

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Copyright© 2014 AR. The orange stripe on AR products is Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM. Off.

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Ultralife supplies the 20W amplifier that is a key component of Thales’ Vehicle Integrated Power Enhanced Rifleman (Viper) system shown here, along with the 0.68 kg A-320V1-R 225 to 450 MHz “pocket amplifier”. (Ultralife)

extend the range of modern handheld and manpack transceivers and supports networking waveforms including SRW and Harris’ Adaptive Networking Wideband Waveform (ANW2) as well as legacy waveforms such as Sincgars and Havequick.

The amplifier can also integrate seamlessly into systems using new line of sight and satcom Special Communications Modes (SCM) developed for American special forces, says the company.

In this application, the combination provides seamless connections between soldiers, their command centres and higher headquarters, says Harris, delivering voice, video and data though compact installations in space constrained vehicles.

“The network remains one of the Army’s highest priorities,” said George Helm, president, Department of Defense business, Harris RF Communications. “Our SRW appliqués deliver cost effective SRW communications in vehicular applications, connecting the soldier at the tactical edge to the network. The appliqués also address space challenges in army vehicles that are unable to accommodate larger, manpackbased solutions.”

Thales and GDC4 Systems are providing different solutions based on the jointly developed AN/PRC-154 Rifleman Radio.

The Thales Viper (Vehicle Integrated Power Enhanced Rifleman) system combines the Rifleman with a 20W tactical amplifier from Ultralife, a company that also makes a range of amplifiers to boost the power of a number of tactical radios, including dismounted soldierfocused A-320V1-R 225 to 450 MHz “pocket amplifier” which, at 0.68 kg, the company claims is the lightest on the market and which supports the ANW2 and Enhanced Position &

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Location Reporting System (EPLRS) waveforms. GDC4 Systems’ SRW-Appliqué puts the Rifleman Radio into a Sidewinder vehicle mount alongside a 20W amplifier from the AN/PRC-155 manpack radio.

Worth around US $115,000 to each of the companies, the initial contract was intended to provide the US Army with engineering and field service support to demonstrate SRW-Appliqué capabilities during Network Integration Exercise 14.2, which concluded on 22 May. The companies will compete for subsequent orders and the systems will be distributed to Brigade Combat Teams as part of future army capability sets.

On foot again, amplifiers for handheld, manpack and body worn radios are a fact of life for soldiers who need to boost the range and power of these sets, and they are available from radio manufacturers and independents such as Ultralife, who design products to be compatible with radios from a wide range of manufacturers, offering them as stand-alone units or as kits with cradle, cabling and antennas.

Under the AMTI brand, Ultralife offers the 24-ounce (680-gram), combat proven A320, a 20W device that offers its full rated power over the 30 to 512 MHz range and, the company emphasises, can provide full-rated power for 15 hours on average from a single 5590 battery or 24 hours on a 5390. Designed to work with most radios used by the military, government agencies and homeland security, including Thales’ AN/PRC-148 MBITR, Harris’ AN/PRC-152 and RF5800, the A-320 is certified to MilStd-810F and 461E, says the company.

Instead of using wideband or bypass harmonic filters to make the amplifier compatible with Havequick and Sincgars, techniques that can result in interference with other friendly networks, says AMTI, the A-320 uses “exceptional” harmonic filtering and spectrum sensing technology.

AR Modular RF, for their part, announced that they are introducing two new networking-capable amplifiers able to operate in conjunction with software-defined radios (the term now becoming extra redundant by the way, since software-driven radios are the norm) such as the Harris ANPRC-117G and the Thales/General Dynamics AN-PRC-154A. Known as the AR55L and AR20R, these are gallium nitride-based amplifiers and are of course able of high-speed carrier detection and switching to guarantee a seamless, unattended operation.

The company is also introducing the AR20, an ultralight VHF/UHF 30-512MHz 20W amplifier for man-pack radios which it claims to be the smallest and lightest of its kind on the market. Typically designed to operate in conjunction with radios like the AN PRC148 from Thales, or the AN PRC152 from Harris, it is suitable for any single or multiband radio within the operating frequency band.

I GaN ON DIAMOND A SOLDIER’S BEST FRIEND?

Mismatching of amplifier power level and signal demand is not the only energy sapping generator of waste heat; excess resistance in today’s semi-conductor technology is another. The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) is pushing for big improvements— up to threefold—in efficiency for RF systems across the board in communication and sensor systems through advances in semiconductor technology in power amplifiers based on GaN MMICs with fundamentally much lower resistance that don’t generate that waste heat in the first place.

As the Darpa describes it, much of this resistance comes at the thermal junction at which the substrate material of the circuit connects to the GaN transistor. If the junction and the substrate have poor thermal properties, says the organisation, temperature will rise and performance will decrease. The agency’s efforts to overcome this limitation are focused on its Near Junction Thermal Transport (NJTT) programme, under which it is working with industry to replace the current silicon carbide (SiC) substrate material with

AR Modular RF’s new AR20R is part of a family of new amplifiers aimed at the Thales/GD AN/PRC-154A and Harris’ AN/PRC-117G and uses the latest GaN technology RF power devices and rapid carrier detection and switching. (AR Modular RF)

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diamond, because diamond has much better thermal conductivity.

Discussing the results of an early demonstration of High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) technology at the end of April 2013, the Darpa’s programme manager Avram Bar-Cohen said: “These GaN-on-diamond HEMTs could enable a new generation of RF PAs that are three times smaller than the current state-of-theart GaN amplifiers. Smaller amplifiers would lead to RF systems with better size, weight and power characteristics.

Alternatively, PAs like these would be able to generate three times as much output power, leading to a stronger signal for communication systems or longer range radar. Almost any RF system could benefit from the combination of higher power, higher efficiency and reduced size enabled

by GaN-on-diamond amplifiers.”

Avram Bar-Cohen went on to explain that, in power amplifiers built using MMIC technology, the steepest temperature rise happens in the first few microns below the junction of the two materials and is directly related to the thermal conductivity of the entire wafer. “Providing a high conductivity substrate in intimate contact with the GaN gets us unsurpassed heat tolerance and dissipation capability. We expect this advance will substantially improve the thermallylimited high power RF systems of today.”

I TRIQUINT, RAYTHEON BREAKTHOUGHS

The first company to demonstrate such a threefold improvement was TriQuint Semiconductor, working under the NJTT programme with partners at the University of NEXT ISSUE DECEMBER 2014-JANUARY 2015 1 DECEMBER, ADVERTISING: 17 NOVEMBER 2014

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The second of AR Modular’s new amplifiers intended for the PRC-154A and the PRC-117G is the AR55L, which produces 50W PEP between 1.2 and 1.9 GHz in a compact 13.22 kg package that handles current and legacy waveforms. (AR Modular RF)

Bristol, Group4 Labs and Lockheed Martin.

TriQuint describes its breakthrough as involving the successful transfer of a semiconductor epitaxial overlay onto a synthetic diamond substrate, providing high thermal conductivity and low thermal boundary resistance while preserving critical GaN crystalline layers.

TriQuint engineers used a new epitaxial transfer method—one that overlays one crystalline substance in a precise orientation on another—to remove the GaN from its growth substrate and place it in intimate contact with a synthetically grown and specially prepared diamond substrate.

Synthetic diamond is said to have the highest known thermal conductivity of any man-made material, more than 10 times that of silicon semiconductor.

Another of the companies involved is Raytheon, which announced a comparable demonstration of GaN on diamond technology on 1 April this year. Raytheon demonstrated a 10 x 125 µm (1.25 mm) Ganon-diamond HEMT, which represented a Fast Patrol Boats The role of a fast patrol boat is to be able to move from A to trouble spot B in a minimum of time. With B often a trouble maker or a smuggler, the boat often needs to be armed. Since interventions normally take place within national waters, little time is available before B reaches the shores. This also means speed and adequate communications.

Cyber Warfare

Nothing is more complicated to counter than an invisible enemy. It is like plague and its presence is generally detected because the damage suddenly, or worse, gradually becomes visible. Fighting electronic intrusion mainly consists of knowing which are the preferred loopholes used by malevolent bitstreams to block them.

building block – “unit cell” – for constructing power amplifier MMICs. This result, says Raytheon, builds on prior achievements including its “industry-first” demonstration of GaN-on-diamond transistors in 2009, and GaN-on-diamond MMICs in 2011.

Until GaN-on-diamond technology matures, gallium nitride on silicon carbide (GaN-on-SIC) represents the state of the art in miniature amplifier technology. Targeting point-to-point and point-to-multipoint digital radios and satcom terminals, Northrop Grumman has announced two new amplifiers that operated over the 27 to 31 GHz frequency range, namely the APN228 and APN229, which provide saturated outputs of 13 and 8W respectively. Both are HEMT devices with 0.2 um ((please use the “micron” sign here)) wafers on 4-mil SiC substrates.

Unglamorous components they may be, but radio amplifiers represent a vital enhancing technology that provides the power and bandwidth needed to make the smartphone-like functionality and always-on connectivity a reality on the battlefield.

Geospatial Information 5

“Mapping Urban Canyons” will detail geospatial solutions tailored to describing the complex urban environment, merging topography, infrastructure, and utilities to support operations in congested, contested and fragmented urban spaces.

Soldier-Worn Night Vision and

Night Rifle Sights We see the progress made in the field of electro-optical devices in our everyday life without really realising it, when the headlights of our car switch on automatically when entering a tunnel, for example. Well such automated and synchronisation systems have achieved such miniaturisation that they made their way into all manner of soldier viewing systems.

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