India World's Biggest Arms Importer: SIPRI Report

STOCKHOLM - India has been the world's biggest weapons importer over the past five years, Swedish think-tank SIPRI reported March 14, naming four Asian countries among the top five arms importers.
The report also highlighted how the world's major arms supplying countries had in recent years competed for trade in Libya, and in other Arab countries gripped by the recent wave of pro-democracy uprisings.

"India is the world's largest arms importer," the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said as it released its latest report on trends in the international arms trade.
"India received 9 percent of the volume of international arms transfers during 2006-10, with Russian deliveries accounting for 82 percent of Indian arms imports," it said.
Its arms imports jumped 21 percent from the previous five-year period, with 71 percent of its orders being for aircraft.
India's arms purchases were driven by several factors, said Siemon Wezeman of SIPRI'S Arms Transfers Program.
"The most often cited relate to rivalries with Pakistan and China as well as internal security challenges," he wrote.
China and South Korea held joint second place on the list of global arms import, each with 6 percent, followed by Pakistan, on 5 percent.
Aircraft accounted for 45 percent of Pakistan's arms imports, which had bought warplanes from both China and the United States. Pakistan's arms imports were up 128 percent on the previous five-year period, SIPRI noted.
Greece rounded off the top-five list arms importers, with 4 percent of global imports.
Since the lifting of a U.N. arms embargo on Libya in September 2003, Britain, France, Italy and Russia had all competed to win orders from Moammar Gadhafi's regime, said the report.
Gadhafi's forces are currently using tanks, artillery and warplanes to reclaim territory held by the opposition forces.
Egypt had received 60 percent of its major arms imports from the United States between 2006 and 2010, said the SIPRI report.
They included "M-1A1 tanks and M-113 armored vehicles of the type present during demonstrations in the country in January 2011," it added.
A pro-democracy uprising forced Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak to step down on Feb. 11, after nearly three decades of autocratic rule, after pro-democracy uprising.
But the conflict left at least 384 dead and more than 6,000 injured.
Russia, Montenegro, the Netherlands and China had also supplied weapons to the Mubarak regime, said the SIPRI report.
The United States remained the world's largest military equipment exporter, accounting for 30 percent of global arms exports in 2006-10, 44 percent of which went to Asia and Oceania, SIPRI said.
The rest of the top five arms suppliers were: Russia, with 23 percent of the total market; Germany (11 percent); France (7 percent); and Britain (4 percent).
"There is intense competition between suppliers for big-ticket deals in Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America," said Dr Paul Holtom, head of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Program.
He cited the efforts of the Eurofighter consortium to sell their plane across the world against rival warplanes, with competition particularly fierce for the markets in Brazil and India.
Britain, France, Germany and Italy were also competing for orders for naval equipment from Algeria, noted SIPRI.
The think tank, which specializes in research on conflicts, weapons, arms control and disarmament, was created in 1966 and is 50 percent financed by the Swedish state.

Study: Put General In Charge of U.S. Army's GCV

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The U.S. Army appears to be taking seriously a new study that describes problems that plague service acquisition, from writing requirements to full-rate production.

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The Army announced it had commissioned the 120-day study last May and asked Gil Decker, a former Army acquisition executive, and retired Gen. Lou Wagner, who served as chief of the Army's Materiel Command, to lead the inquiry.
On the last day here of the Association of the U.S. Army's winter symposium, Wagner ran through the study's recommendations for improving the system. He was not originally on the conference's agenda, but was added after InsideDefense broke news of the study's findings in a Feb. 11 story.
While the study group has clearly outlined the scope of the acquisition problems, it remains to be seen whether its recommendations will lead to the kind of change required.
One of its recommendations is to put a general in charge of the Army's Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program, currently led by a colonel. GCV and similarly complex acquisition category (ACAT) 1 programs need to have a general in charge, Wagner said.
If it were the Air Force, a three-star would be in charge, Wagner half-joked.
The Army's track record in getting programs out of technology development and into production does not bode well for GCV, planned as a successor to the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle. The acquisition process for the entire U.S. military requires scores upon scores of reviews and layers of bureaucracy that can slow things down, but the Army's recent history appears particularly bad.
From 1990 to 2010, the Army terminated 22 major programs, Wagner said. Of course, several of those fell under the umbrella of the multibillion-dollar Future Combat Systems effort, which was canceled in 2009. This has led to a loss of trust by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Congress and industry in the Army's ability to develop good requirements and move a system into production, Wagner said.
The study's recommendations fall into four broad categories:
* Make the requirements process collaborative and timely. This means bringing the key stakeholders in early from across the Army, something the service did do with GCV, Wagner said. For key ACAT 1 programs, the Army should establish a special task force chartered by the chief of staff or the secretary of the Army, Wagner said.
* Manage risk, don't be risk averse.
To this end, Wagner showed a chart that displayed how Army programs were categorized by risk, based on the amount of development work required. A program that intends to develop a system from scratch versus one that plans to upgrade an existing system does not need to go through the same process, Wagner said.
The Army should not undertake developing systems from the ground up unless the system is truly a game-changer, he added.
* Align organizations and accountability. For example, Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier should be renamed PEO Soldier and Small Unit. PEO Combat Support and Combat Service Support, which currently manages more than 500 systems, should be broken up into two offices,
* Provide adequate requirements and acquisition resources. To reduce funding instability, the Army could fence off funds for larger programs or fund them with a "capital account."
Wagner said he has briefed many people in the Pentagon on the study, including Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter.
So far, the feedback has been very positive, he said.

Turk Armor Maker Wins $600M Deal in Malaysia

ANKARA - Turkish armored vehicles manufacturer FNSS, based here, has sealed a $600 million contract with a Malaysian partner for the sale of the Pars, its wheeled armored vehicle, officials here announced. This is the largest contract a Turkish company has won abroad.
Under the deal, FNSS will design, develop, manufacture and supply logistical support for the Pars, according to Nail Kurt, the company's general manager. FNSS' Malaysian partner, DEFTECH, will locally assemble the 257 vehicles under contract.

The agreement was signed here Feb. 22 on the sidelines of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's official visit to Turkey. "We have decided to raise our relationship to a strategic level," Razak told reporters in the Turkish capital.
Malaysia will be the first country where the Pars will enter service. The vehicle will come in four-, six- and eight-wheel types.
Earlier, FNSS sold to Malaysia other armored vehicles worth about $300 million. The company also hopes to sell the Pars to the Turkish army.
Turkish industrial conglomerate Nurol Holding owns 51 percent of FNSS while the remaining 49 percent is held by the American company UDLP. Since the late 1980s, FNSS has sold to the Turkish military thousands of mostly tracked vehicles.

IDEX: MBDA Wins Multi-Purpose Combat Vehicle Contract

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - MBDA has won a contract with an undisclosed Middle East country as its first export customer for the Multi-Purpose Combat Vehicle (MPCV), which mounts the Mistral anti-air weapon, the European missile maker said at the IDEX trade show here.
The vehicle deal is part of MBDA's efforts to boost its systems capability and upgrade the existing park of Mistral short range air defense missile.

Under the contract, MBDA will integrate the vehicle into the country's existing air defense system, which includes the Mistral weapon, the company said in a statement.
Rheinmetall supplies the turret for the MPCV. The export order has allowed production of the combat vehicle to begin, with a first delivery due in 2013, MBDA said.
"The MPCV program illustrates how MBDA can optimize the investments already made by its customers," said Antoine Bouvier, MBDA Chief Executive Officer. "We have devised an easy-to-use and highly automated system which significantly increases the capabilities of the missiles already in service with our customers."
The company spent four years and its own funds developing the missile vehicle, which was initially proposed for the French Army. Domestic orders failed to appear, however, and MBDA set out to look for export orders.
The European company is understood to have held talks on the combat vehicle with Qatar, Saudi Arabia; the United Arab Emirates, and probably Oman, French defense newsletter TTU has reported.
A prototype was tested in December 2008 using the Nimr high mobility vehicle from the Bin Jabr group, based here, and the King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau (KADDB) of Jordan, TTU reported.
MBDA displayed the MPCV on a Sherpa 3A vehicle from Renault Trucks Defense at the Eurosatory trade show last year.

IDEX: UAE Requirement For APC Fleet Generates Interest

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - A requirement by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for a fleet of new armored personnel carriers (APC), estimated at 600 units, has attracted strong interest from the European arm of General Dynamics, Nexter, Rheinmetall and Patria, which are on the bidding list.
Vehicles from each of the competing companies were on show at the IDEX arms exhibition here.

The planned purchase of 600 eight-wheeled troop carriers includes an undisclosed number of a fighting vehicle variant, industry executives said. The vehicles are intended to replace about 400 BMP-3 troop carriers dating back to the Soviet era, the executives said.
Amid official secrecy and cautious industry estimates, the companies are preparing their bids, which require teaming with local partners and meeting rigorous industrial offset requirements.
A high level of protection, mobility and modularity are priorities in the procurement. Tests of the vehicles were held last summer and more trials are due to take place this summer, when temperatures are expected to hit the 50s.
Once the vehicle is selected, the fleet will be plugged into a new command and control system.
EADS, through its Emiraje Systems joint venture with local partner C4 Advanced Solutions, was announced Feb. 22 as winner of a $550 million contract to supply a command and control system for the UAE armed forces.
Thales, meanwhile, is expected to deliver tactical radios for the new vehicle fleet through Thales Advanced Solutions, its joint venture with local partner Emirates Advanced Investments.
The bidders for the vehicle:
* General Dynamics European Land Systems is showing the Desert Piranha 5, a variant of the Piranha 5, at IDEX. A Piranha vehicle went through tests last summer, which led to modifications to be made to the present unit on display, a company executive said. The Desert Piranha unit will remain in the UAE after the show closes on Feb. 24 to take part in further tests. Production of the Pirnaha 5 has started in Switzerland.
* Nexter of France is proposing its Véhicule Blindé Combat d'Infanterie (VBCI). The French company is also leaving the unit at the show to take part in the upcoming field trials. The VBCI underwent tests last year. The VBCI has entered service with the French Army. Major Gen. Obaid Al Ketbi included Nexter in the Feb. 22 daily show announcement of deals, for a 423 million dirham contract for technical support for the Leclerc battle tank.
* Rheinmetall of Germany is fielding the Boxer, which went through summer trials here last year and entered production in Germany in September, a company executive said. The German Army plans to send the Boxer to Afghanistan in the second half of 2011. Rheinmetall has presented a fighting vehicle variant.
* Patria of Finland is bidding its Armored Modular Vehicle (AMV), which has been in service with the UAE since the Abu Dhabi authorities bought an undisclosed number of units in 2007. Patria understands the vehicle fleet has performed satisfactorily, a company executive said. That included the unit trials last summer, and which did not break down in the tests. The AMV is in local production in Croatia, Poland and Slovenia, which have bought the vehicle. Patria has a cooperation agreement with the Al Taif company, based here.

IDEX: KMW, Ashok Join to Produce Armored Vehicles

ABU DHABI - Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) has struck a deal with Ashok Leyland Defence Systems to partner in the development of armored vehicles for Indian and other markets.
The two companies used the IDEX defense show here to announce they have signed a memorandum of understanding covering armored wheeled vehicles, recovery vehicles, artillery and combat systems, bridge layers, and other similar vehicles.

Ashok is India's largest military truck supplier, with more than 60,000 of its Stallion machines helping power India's military logistics effort.
The Chennai-based company recently formed a new company, Ashok Leyland Defence Systems, to spearhead its special military vehicles effort.
Germany's KMW said it would provide technology and technical assistance to develop products for the Indian market.
Ashok Leyland Defence Systems Chairman V. Sumantran, said the "strategic partnership seeks to harness the formidable skills of both companies, namely, the technological bandwidth of KMW and our approach to innovations aimed at cost advantage."
The German armored vehicle company follows European rival Bae Systems into the Indian market. It recently formed a joint venture with automotive maker Mahindra & Mahindra to develop artillery systems and armored vehicles for the Indian market.

ABU DHABI - A David-and-Goliath pairing of L-3 Communications and armored vehicle minnow Total Mobility Vehicles (TMV) made their debut together Feb. 20 on the opening day of IDEX 2011, marrying a new 6x6 platform with an integrated network of sensors and displays.

U.S. systems giant L-3 is teaming with the British vehicle maker to showcase an array of capabilities based on what it calls its Ruggedized Command and Control Network.

L-3 demonstrated a virtual version of a generic vehicle, deploying its RCCN system to potential customers in the U.S. last year.
This time it has gone one better, and it brought the real deal in the shape of the imposing TMV vehicle fitted out with its systems and products to IDEX 2011, which runs through Feb. 24.
The "best way to demonstrate the company's vehicle networking capabilities is on a rolling test bed and the newly designed TMV vehicle is the perfect fit," said Pete Alexander, business development director for L-3's San Diego-based Ruggedized Command & Control Solutions business.
The tie-up with TMV doesn't mean L-3 is getting into the platform business. But Alexander said it does show L-3's ability to integrate systems from across the marketplace, including many in-house technologies, in a rugged open architecture network.
"We are vehicle agnostic and equipment agnostic; we are not vertically aligned; and we can play in the field as a neutral, trusted supplier," he said.
Alexander said some of the vehicle primes have been bringing equipment capability back in-house in recent times - and in doing so they "have pigeon holed themselves" to provide only what solutions they can offer from their own product ranges.
L-3 marketing literature at the show claims the RCCN is the "first operationally proven, truly agnostic vehicle network solution."
Alexander said L-3 can supply solutions free of U.S. technology export restrictions, if required.
TMV brought a special forces-configured vehicle to IDEX, with L-3's RCCN providing the electronic backbone for a baseline suite of capabilities that includes displays, data receiver terminals, vision enhancers, event recorders and electronic jammers.
Other 6x6 versions of the TMV, like an armored personnel carrier, could include remote weapons stations, mast mounted sensor suites, weapon sights and electro optical/infrared systems.
For TMV, the association with L-3 "demonstrates to potential customers the ease of integrating top-line systems into our vehicle and helps people recognize our ambitions in the marketplace," said John Stretton, the British company's managing director.
TMV, an outgrowth of the Leyland Technical Centre, has matured the high protection, high mobility 6x6 vehicle to the point where it could deliver a fully integrated machine to a customer in the first quarter of 2012, Stretton said.
It's not just the military on which TMV is focusing, Stretton said. Applications like border patrol and emergency response vehicles are also in the company's sights. And 4x4 and 8x8 versions of the vehicle also are on the drawing board.