American stealth drone Captured by Iranians

Iran Shows Images of Captured RQ-170

Iran's Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran Network 1 television station has shown the first images of what appears to be an intact RQ-170 Sentinel UAV belonging to the U.S. Air Force, according to a report from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

According to the BBC, the footage was captioned "RQ170 - advanced US spy plane."

The images show Iranian military officials inspecting the aircraft, which appears to be largely undamaged, according to the BBC report.

The U.S. Defense Department has confirmed that an unmanned aircraft is missing over western Afghanistan. The Pentagon has so far declined to identify the type of aircraft or under what circumstances the plane was lost.

The Iranians claim to have brought down the stealthy Sentinel using electronic attack methods.

U.S. analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., said the aircraft likely malfunctioned.

There is also concern that the RQ-170's stealth technology might be compromised, affording other powers to reverse engineer the planes' design features, said analyst Richard Aboulafia. However, any gains would be temporary, he said; reverse engineering doesn't help a national industry innovate.

The mostly likely beneficiary is China, he said.

Analysts: Lost USAF UAV Likely Malfunctioned

Iran's claims to have brought down one of the U.S. Air Force's stealthy unmanned RQ-170 Sentinel reconnaissance aircraft are highly dubious, analysts and Pentagon officials said.

However, the loss of contact with the pilotless jet cast doubts on the service's claim that it has a good handle on maintaining uninterrupted control of such aircraft.

On Dec. 4, Iran claimed to have shot down the stealthy Lockheed Martin-built aircraft. Later, government officials claimed that it had used an electronic or cyber attack to bring down the bat-winged drone and that the aircraft was recovered largely intact. The Iranians have not produced any evidence to back up those claims.

While acknowledging that an unmanned aircraft is missing, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)-Afghanistan, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, declined to say whether the aircraft in question was an RQ-170.

"Reconnaissance missions are, by their very nature, sensitive and as a result, I cannot get into that kind of detail," Cummings said. "It was on a mission over western Afghanistan when the operators lost control of it and we have no indication that it was shot down."

Pentagon spokesman U.S. Navy Capt. John Kirby added that there is no evidence to that suggests any kind of hostile activity was involved in bringing down the aircraft.

"We have no indication that the UAV we know is missing was brought down by any hostile activity," Kirby said.

Loren Thompson, an analyst at the Lexington Institute, Arlington, Va., said that the Iranians have no way to detect or engage the stealthy Sentinel.

"It would be almost impossible for Iran to shoot down an RQ-170 because it is stealthy; therefore, the Iranian air defenses can't see it," Thompson said. "Partly for the same reason, it is exceedingly unlikely that they used a cyber attack to bring down the aircraft."

Thompson said that from everything he has seen, the missing aircraft is a RQ-170. The Sentinel was designed to operate in contested airspace where ground-based air defense exists but where there is no severe airborne threat, such as swarms of patrolling fighters. In western Afghanistan, "it was operating in an area where it potentially could be susceptible to ground air defense attacks," Thompson said.

The Sentinel was developed in the early 2000s at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works facility in California at the same time as the company's X-35 Joint Strike Fighter concept aircraft. The aircraft is operated from Creech Air Force Base and Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, according to the Air Force. The service acknowledged the jet's existence in 2010 after the Sentinel was photographed in Afghanistan.

Thompson said the most likely scenario with the crash is a malfunction with the aircraft. If the plane crashed due to a hardware or software glitch, Iran is likely sitting on practically useless wreckage with little intelligence value, he said.

"The RQ-170 has a RTB [Return to Base] feature," Thompson said. "In the event of a loss of the command link, the aircraft will automatically return to its point of origin and land itself."

The very fact that the aircraft was lost suggests a malfunction rather than a shoot-down, Thompson said.

The RQ-4 Global Hawk has a similar built-in automatic feature to find and land at a divert airfield if the link is lost. The lost link, airfield diversion issue and the inability of UAVs' to avoid other aircraft traffic are bones of contention between the Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration.

As such, the incident highlights a fundamental problem that plagues current unmanned aircraft, which is that they have little in the way of active defenses and very little situational awareness, Thompson said.

"I think it's kind of inescapable that incidents like this raise doubts about operating unmanned air vehicles in civil airspace," he said.

However, attrition rates for unmanned aircraft are going down steadily, Thompson said. Eventually, the mishap rates will match those of manned aircraft, he said.

It has been an unlucky year for disclosed stealthy "black" programs. Earlier in the year, a heavily modified stealthy version of the U.S. Army's UH-70 Black Hawk crashed during the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

This latest crash would be the second reported loss of a classified stealth aircraft in 2011. The Air Force would not confirm or deny if another RQ-170 had crashed earlier in the year.

Iran Shoots Down U.S. Drone: Al-Alam TV

TEHRAN - Iran's military has shot down a U.S. Army RQ-170 unmanned aerial vehicle in the "east of the country," Iran's Al-Alam Arabic language satellite channel reported on Dec. 4, quoting a military source.

The report did not say when or where the drone was downed, but said it was not "badly damaged" and still in good shape.

No further details were provided.

Clinton Calls Pakistan PM Over Air Strike Deaths

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Dec. 3 called Pakistan's prime minister to offer condolences over the deaths of 24 Pakistani troops killed in NATO air strikes, the State Department said.

In the call with Yousuf Raza Gilani, Clinton "reiterated America's respect for Pakistan's sovereignty and commitment to working together in pursuit of shared objectives on the basis of mutual interest and mutual respect," it said.

"She once again expressed condolences to the families of the soldiers and to the Pakistani people for the tragic and unintended loss of life," it said in a statement.

Following the strikes, Pakistan decided not to take part in this week's Bonn conference on the future of Afghanistan - a decision which, together with the Taliban's boycott, has cast the event's usefulness into doubt.

A statement from Gilani's office said he told Clinton that Pakistan's non-attendance was not open to review since it had already received the backing of parliament's national security committee.

The committee "has supported the decision of the cabinet not to participate in the Bonn Conference," the statement quoted Gilani as telling Clinton.

Meanwhile, he said, parliament was looking into the general issue of Pakistan's relationship with the United States.

"The parliament was seized of the matter of terms of cooperation with the U.S. This will ensure national ownership and clarity about the relationship," the statement quoted him as saying.

Islamabad has so far refused to take part in a U.S. investigation into the air strikes on the Afghan border which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on Nov. 26.

The incident has exacerbated fears of a prolonged crisis in relations, after Pakistan also shut down NATO's vital supply line into Afghanistan and ordered American personnel to leave Shamsi air base. The base is widely understood to have been a hub for the covert CIA drone war on Taliban and Al-Qaeda commanders in Pakistan's troubled border areas with Afghanistan.

India Launches Major Land Exercise

NEW DELHI - One of the Indian Army's largest land exercises is underway near the border with Pakistan in the northern state of Rajasthan.

Code-named Sudarshan Shakti, the exercise includes more than 50,000 soldiers, 500 armored vehicles, including battle tanks, as well as Air Force fighter jets and combat helicopters.

Indian President Pratibha Patil on Dec. 5 is scheduled to review the exercises, mounted by the Southern Army headquarters in Pune.

In addition to T-72 tanks, the Russian-made T-90 and the indigenous Arjun tank are also participating.

The Air Force is fielding its Russian-made Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter jet, MiG-21 and MiG-27 fighter jets, airborne warning and control systems and UAVs purchased from Israel, and a variety of helicopters.

The exercise is being led by troops from Bhopal-based Army 21 Corps, also known as Sudarshan Chakra Corps.

The exercise is using network-centric warfare tactics that have been adopted by the Army over the last two to three years, said a senior Army official. The exercise will test the coordination between the India's air and land forces.

EDA To Set Up Pilot European Satellite Procurement Cell

BRUSSELS - National defense ministers from 26 of the European Union's 27 member states (Denmark has an opt-out) have granted the European Defence Agency (EDA) a budget of 30.5 million euros ($40.7 million) in 2012 and agreed the agency should set up a pilot European satellite communication procurement cell.

Despite a considerable amount of talk about the importance of EU member states pooling and sharing more military capabilities and the ongoing financial crisis, there was precious little agreement on concrete initiatives with specific timelines.

At a news conference Nov. 30, EDA Chief Executive Claude-France Arnould described satellite communications as a "key enabler of any operation," allowing "soldiers to communicate, ships to navigate, HQ to operate in theater."

The new procurement cell will involve six to eight member states including the U.K., said Arnould.

It will be up and running straight away. Currently, member states spend about 3 million to 5 million euros per year to acquire satellite communications bandwidth. Demand is growing, particularly with the widespread use of UAVs on the battlefield, which require substantial communications capacity to control and transmit data from sensors.

The pilot program is designed to prove that pooling demand will reduce both costs (10 percent estimate) and ensure better availability (security of supply and rapid access). Astrium has been selected as the broker for this activity following an open competition.

Arnould said air-to-air refueling was a "major capability shortfall, as shown again in Libya," and that the aim "is to improve operational output and cost effectiveness and to address the dependency on the U.S. of European air forces."

Speaking privately, an EU official said that a medium- and long-term aim is to convince EU member states to reduce the current nine refueling fleets down to four (A400M, C130J, Airbus 330 and B767) and not to buy outside those aircraft types.

Another option Arnould noted is for those member states that are not buying A400Ms to instead purchase kits or pods allowing them to refuel from the A400M.

She stressed that there were "no proposals on the table for common procurement of new equipment" and that "capability is not just about acquisition." Training helicopter pilots is one example of a capability that the EDA has been working on since 2009.

The other eight areas for further consideration include maritime surveillance networking (currently covering EU borders only but might be extended for expeditionary tactical operations such as the Atalanta counter-piracy operation); medical field hospitals; future military satellite communications; ISR; pilot training; European transport hubs; smart munitions (the Libya operation showed that EU member state stockpiles were insufficient and that there was an overdependence on the U.S.); and naval logistics and training (capabilities such as aircraft carriers could be made available at all times by synchronizing maintenance schedules on a multinational basis).

Arnould also stressed that the EDA is working to coordinate with NATO as "cooperation is not a beauty contest between NATO and the EDA." She said the EDA would continue work on pooling and sharing, with a more comprehensive agenda coming out in the spring, just before NATO unveils its so-called smart defense proposals at its Chicago summit.

The key question is whether EU member states will follow up with concrete proposals in the 10 pooling and sharing areas other than the satellite communications cell. Regardless of how many proposals the EDA comes up with, that appears to be in doubt.

Arnould said there was "clear momentum for moving forward" and "an important window of opportunity to improve European defense capabilities" but conceded that "cooperation is not a natural reflex" and that "there are concerns, in particular about sovereignty and autonomy."

EU defense ministers also approved an administrative cooperation agreement between the EDA and Switzerland, under which the two parties can work together on research and technology, and armaments cooperation. The framework agreement sets out procedures for mutual consultation as well as for Swiss participation in ad hoc EDA programs and projects.

Still-angry Pakistan Backs Out of Afghan Conference

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan decided Nov. 29 to boycott a key international conference on Afghanistan next month, ramping up its protest over lethal cross-border NATO air strikes that have plunged U.S. ties into deep crisis.

The decision was taken at a Pakistani cabinet meeting in the eastern city of Lahore, days after Islamabad confirmed it was mulling its attendance in the German city of Bonn, where Pakistan's participation was considered vital.

"The cabinet has decided not to attend the Bonn meeting," a government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The prime minister's office said the cabinet agreed that "unilateral action" such as the Nov. 26 strike in the tribal district of Mohmand and the May 2 killing of Osama bin Laden near the capital was "unacceptable."

U.S.-led investigators have been given until Dec. 23 to probe the attacks, threatening to prolong significantly Pakistan's blockade on NATO supplies into Afghanistan implemented in retaliation for the killings.

The U.S. military appointed Air Force Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark to lead the investigation into the attack.

The team, set to include a NATO representative, is yet to arrive in Afghanistan but an initial military assessment team went to the border at the weekend after the catastrophic strike that killed 24 Pakistani troops.

The Afghan and Pakistani governments are also being invited to take part.

There was no immediate reaction from Islamabad or Kabul, although some analysts voiced surprise that it will take as long as nearly four weeks.

A Western military official in Kabul said the schedule for the findings being delivered was "way quicker" than initially expected.

U.S.-Pakistani ties have been in free fall since a CIA contractor killed two Pakistanis in January, and the latest attack raises disturbing questions about the extent to which the two allies cooperate with each other.

Islamabad insists that the air strikes were unprovoked, but Afghan and Western officials have reportedly accused Pakistani forces of firing first.

"With the kind of technology available to the U.S. and NATO, it was expected they would be able to do it [the investigation] much earlier, not more than two weeks," Pakistani defence analyst Talat Masood told AFP.

In Pakistan, angry protests over the NATO strikes pushed into a fourth day, with 150 to 200 people demonstrating in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, setting fire to an American flag and an effigy of NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The crowd carried banners and shouted: "Those who befriend America are traitors" and "We are ready for jihad," an AFP reporter said.

Pakistan has vowed no more "business as usual" with the United States. In addition to shutting its Afghan border, it has ordered Americans to vacate an air base reportedly used by CIA drones and a review of the alliance.

Yet behind the rhetoric, Islamabad has little wriggle room, being dependent on U.S. aid dollars and fearful of the repercussions for regional security as American troops wind down their presence in Afghanistan in the coming years.

In an interview with CNN, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani stopped short of threatening to break the alliance altogether saying: "That can continue on mutual respect and mutual interest."

White House spokesman Jay Carney said U.S. President Barack Obama believed the latest incident was "a tragedy," and said Washington valued what he called an "important cooperative relationship that is also very complicated."

Last time Pakistan closed the border, in September 2010 after up to three soldiers were killed in a similar cross-border raid, it only reopened the route after the United States issued a full apology.

The U.S. military has insisted the war effort in Afghanistan would continue and has sought to minimize the disruption to regular supply lines.

Nearly half of all cargo bound for NATO-led troops runs through Pakistan.

About 140,000 foreign troops, including about 97,000 American forces, rely on supplies from the outside to fight the 10-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Yet so far, officials say there has been no sign that Islamabad would bar the U.S. aircraft from flying over Pakistan.

French Senate's Call: Buy Reaper, Not Heron UAV

PARIS - A left-led French Senate has adopted a budgetary amendment calling for procurement of the General Atomics Reaper UAV while safeguarding funds for development of a new-generation combat drone planned as a common project with Britain, the upper house said in a statement.

The amendment seeks to reverse a government decision to acquire the Heron TP drone from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), partnered with Dassault Aviation.

"The Senate wanted, in the general interest, to separate the operational needs of the Armed Forces from the industrial policy considerations," the amendment text said. "With this in mind, the Senators wanted, in the short term, to put priority on the safety of our troops by giving them the best equipment at the best price, in this case, the Reaper from General Atomics, while allowing, in the medium term, the emergence of an industrial sector by setting aside a larger amount of funds for French and European companies than that envisaged in the government's industrial plan."

The amendment, adopted Nov. 29 by a Socialist-led Senate, seeks to cut the amount for UAV acquisition in the draft 2012 defense budget law from 318 million euros ($423.8 million) to 209 million.

The 209 million euros is the amount General Atomics proposed in May for a non-French modified package consisting of seven air vehicles, two ground stations and maintenance for 10 years.

Under the Reaper offer, EADS would modify the U.S.-built UAV at a cost of 40 percent of the acquisition, or 88 million euros, bringing the total value of the package to 297 million euros, the amendment said.

That compares with an offer made by Dassault and IAI, also in May, for a package of seven modified Heron TP UAVs for 320 million euros. Modifications by Dassault, mainly adapting the satellite communications and integrating extra sensors, would bring the total amount to 370 million euros, the amendment said.

The Dassault-IAI deal also included two ground stations and 10 years' maintenance, the amendment said.

The senators debated the amendment until 4 a.m., a parliamentary official said.

"It was Homeric," the official said.

But senators of both right and left voted in favor of the amendment, which pushes the government to buy the American Reaper UAV, which can be armed.

The U.S. Air Force's selection of Boeing over Airbus for its KC-X tanker program made it extremely difficult for French senators to call for the purchase of a U.S. system, the official said. But the lack of operational and industrial sense in the French government's decision to buy the Israeli drone meant the Senate adopted the amendment, he said.

Besides the cut in procurement funding, the amendment called for the move of 80 million euros into technology studies for the future Anglo-French drone, and 29 million euros for upgrades to the current Harfang medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV operating in Afghanistan.

The 80 million euros for research studies would benefit Dassault and/or EADS for work on the planned Anglo-French program, rather than IAI, the amendment said.

Although the amendment does not specify the money should go to the unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) project in the Lancaster House Treaty, that was the intention, the parliamentary official said.

The amendment pointed up concern over the lack of competition in the government's pick of the Heron TP.

"This decision to choose the Heron TP drone, with a tender, is difficult to understand: it is financially disadvantageous, militarily debatable and industrially hazardous," the amendment said.

Defense Minister Gérard Longuet told the Senate's foreign affairs and defense committee that the Heron TP was 30 percent more expensive and 20 percent less effective than the Reaper, the amendment said.

Dassault was not available for comment.

A bipartisan group from the Senate foreign affairs and defense committee drafted the amendment, which will go to a joint committee of seven senators and seven members of parliament from the National Assembly for review.

It is unlikely the joint committee will agree on the same text, and the lower house, the National Assembly, will probably carry the day, the parliamentary official said.

The Senate and National Assembly defense committees put the safety of service personnel above any political concerns, an industry source said.

French, Germans Should Team on UAV: German Minister

PARIS - Germany's junior defense minister is calling for France and Germany to cooperate on a common UAV program rather than pursue competing projects, business daily La Tribune reported Nov. 28.
Asked in an interview on what programs France and Germany should collaborate, Stéphane Beelemans said: "Drones, for example. The projects being studied in France and Germany reflect a split from the past.

"And I say it clearly in France and Germany to our companies. I don't believe in two projects of this scale at the European level. And I find it hard to believe there is the political will to realize two competing projects. There is enough political will to do a common project," he said, according to the paper.
There was no sense in having two different kinds of equipment, for reasons of interoperability, maintenance, use and budgets, he said.
The competing projects are the next-generation medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) Talarion advanced UAV, proposed by EADS to France, Germany and Spain; and the Telemos air vehicle from BAE Systems and Dassault, pitched to Britain and France.
EADS seeks a place at the top table in the Telemos project alongside BAE and Dassault, but Dassault will only consider a junior subcontractor role for the pan-European company, retaining leadership firmly in the hands of the Anglo-French team.
France, Germany and Spain paid for a 60 million euro ($79.5 million) risk-reduction study for the advanced UAV, but EADS has been unable to convert that into a development and production contract.
Work on a next-generation MALE drone is seen as vital to maintaining a design engineering capability in Europe's military aircraft sector in the absence of development for a manned jet fighter.
The Anglo-French military cooperation treaty calls for joint work on a new-generation MALE surveillance UAV, and collaboration on an unmanned combat aerial vehicle.

Pakistan Condemns 'Unprovoked' Border Attack

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan accused NATO and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) of a deliberate and unprovoked attack on two of its border posts along the Afghan-Pakistan border on the night of Nov. 25/26, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers, and wounding 13.

Trucks carrying supplies for NATO forces in Afghanistan are parked Nov. 26 at the Pakistan's Torkham border crossing after Pakistani authorities suspended NATO supplies. (STR / AFP via Getty Images)

A statement from the Army's Inter Services Press Release, said the attack on the two army-manned posts in Mohmand Agency had been "unprovoked" and that the chief of army staff, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, "strongly condemned NATO/ISAF's blatant and unacceptable act".

The release also stated Kayani had "directed that all necessary steps be under taken for an effective response to this irresponsible act," and that a "strong protest" had been lodged with NATO/ISAF which demanded "strong and urgent action" be taken against those responsible for the "aggression."
Pakistan sealed its Afghan border to NATO, shutting down a lifeline for the estimated 130,000 U.S.-led foreign troops fighting the Taliban, and called on the United States to leave a secretive air base reportedly used by CIA drones.
The Associated Press of Pakistan said a strong protest had been lodged with U.S ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter. Protests were also lodged in Washington and NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The Pakistani foreign office issued a statement saying the attacks were "totally unacceptable, constituted a grave infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty, were violative of international law and a serious transgression of the oft conveyed red lines and could have serious repercussions on Pakistan-U.S./NATO/ISAF cooperation."
No further details of the attack or explanation were forthcoming from the Pakistan Army or the Air Force when asked just how the attack was able to take place in the aftermath of the U.S. Navy Seals raid into Pakistan in May when the military was supposed to be more alert to threats emanating from the western border, or why ISAF/NATO attacked posts they knew to be manned by the Pakistan Army, or why the Pakistan Air Force was not able to intervene.
South Asia analysts and former Australian defense attaché to Islamabad Brian Cloughley said the consequences of the raid would be probably severe.
"This is quite outrageous and I have no doubt it signifies the end of the last lingering shreds of trust that the Pakistan army had for the U.S.," Cloughely said.
He added: "The locations of Pakistani posts have been notified to ISAF. There is no excuse whatever for this incident, especially after the meeting between Kayani and [ISAF commander Gen. John R] Allen."
Cloughley visited Mohmand Agency in early November and was hosted by the Pakistan Army's 77 Brigade that is based there. The brigade had just concluded Operation Brekhna, a three-phase operation to clear the area of some one thousand Taliban militants that took place between January and September 2011.
The operation faced substantial threats from IEDs (which accounted for 47 of the brigade's 74 killed), uncovered nine bomb factories, and an elaborate tunnel system (one part of which contained a 40-bed hospital).
Cloughley also said the Pakistani officers complained that no ISAF or Afghan forces were based between the border and the Kunar River in Afghanistan, and that this area had militant bases (which remained unharmed) from where raids were carried out into Pakistan.
A raid emanating from this area of Afghanistan in August killed 16 Frontier Scouts in the Pakistani region of Chitral.
Information from Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.

Pakistani Taliban declare nationwide cease-fire

The Pakistan Taliban are behind much of the violence in Pakistan. The group is believed to be divided, with some factions still committed to war with the state.—File photo

PESHAWAR: The Pakistani Taliban has declared a cease-fire to encourage nascent peace talks with the government, a senior commanders said, a move that appears to show the deadly group’s willingness to strike a deal with state.
The commander said the cease-fire has been in effect for the past month and was valid throughout the country.
”We are not attacking the Pakistan army and government installations because of the peace process,” he said late Monday. The commander is close to Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Taliban.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not the official spokesman of the insurgent network.
His statement adds credence to recent announcements by anonymous Taliban and intelligence officials that government intermediaries recently met Taliban commanders to talk about a possible peace deal.
The government has not officially commented, and on Tuesday the Pakistani army denied it was involved in any talks.
The Pakistan Taliban, an umbrella grouping of militants allied with al-Qaida and based in the northwest close to the Afghan border, has been behind many of the scores of bloody suicide attacks around Pakistan over the last 4 1/2 years. At least 35,000 people have been killed in the bloodshed.
The United States wants Pakistan to keep the pressure on insurgents and would likely be concerned about any effort to strike a deal.
Many of its fiercest foes in Afghanistan, as well as al-Qaida operatives from around the world, live alongside the Pakistan Taliban in North Waziristan.
Much remains unclear about the nature of the talks and their potential. Both the army and the militants have engaged in misinformation before. Some reports have said any deal would only cover one region in the northwest, South Waziristan, but could be extended.
The Pakistan Taliban is believed to be divided. Many of its leaders and foot soldiers have been killed in US drone attacks and Pakistani army offensives over the last few years.
Some faction and allied groups are still committed to war against the state, and there been several insurgent attacks over the last month.

French Air Chief: UAVs Taxing Available Satellite Bandwidth

DUBAI - A move to a new standard communications band is needed because of a saturation of current bandwidth, French Air Chief of Staff Gen. Jean-Paul Palomeros said Nov. 12.
Increasingly relied-upon unmanned aerial vehicles such as Predators, Reapers and the French Harfang generate huge amounts of data, including full motion video, and complex sensors such as high definition video, laser designators, imaging radar, ground moving target indicators and multispectral imagers demand high bandwidth for transmission, Palomeros told an Air Chiefs conference ahead of the Dubai Airshow's Nov. 13 opening.

Planners estimate a large bandwidth is needed because of a "multitasking of UAVs," with many remote piloted vehicles being operated simultaneously, Palomeros said.
Some 20 gigabits per second is needed to cope with the growing number of UAVs, which are swamping the current Ku bandwidth available on satellite communications links.
"Ka band appears to me as an interesting option," even if the signals are much more sensitive to weather conditions, Palomeros said.
Some technology has been developed, dubbed adaptive codage modulation, that limits the weather's impact on the signal, but a good solution would be to get industry to furnish a dual-band Ku-Ka antenna, Palomeros said.
"This option allows us to benefit from the maturity of the Ku, while anticipating the potential benefits of the Ka-band," he said.
Among "pragmatic options" for boosting UAV efficiencies, Palomeros suggested:
■ Chat rooms between coalition UAV operators, to allow coordination of surveillance missions and to boost interoperability.
■ Greater training in simulation to improve joint operations of UAVs and to overcome "ignorance of UAV performance" among ground commanders.
■ Fuse and share imagery, communication and signal intelligence as a single intelligence chain of command; to think of intelligence as a "whole operational concept" and not as "different pillars."
■ Operate UAVs as elements of a distributed air operation in which the air vehicles work alongside manned aircraft such as the Rafale, so they contribute to the entire mission set of an air operation.
■ Co-locate experts in the same unit, so intelligence professionals can provide the best situational awareness in near real-time in their specific domain, and intelligence experts should deploy regularly to keep information up to date.
■ Develop software to allow automatic detection of "suspicious activity," although most of the time human intelligence and operational expertise will be more effective than sophisticated software.
■ Work on autonomous flight rather than target detection, with manual override for pilots on the ground to reroute.
As an example of the concept of operations to be expected in UAV use, Palomeros showed a video in which a Rafale pilot used data from a Predator UAV to cross cue the designation pod on the French warplane, allowing the pilot to locate and identify a target.

U.S. Reins in Drones Over Diplomatic Concerns

WASHINGTON - The U.S. spy agency has quietly tightened its rules on drone strikes in Pakistan over concerns about their impact on tense relations with Islamabad, the Wall Street Journal reported Nov. 3.

Pakistanis protest U.S. drone strikes on Oct. 28 in Islamabad, Pakistan. Concerned about strained relations between the U.S. and Pakistan, the CIA has tightened rules on drone strikes, according to the Wall Street Journal. (Aamir Qureshi / AFP via Getty Images)

The Journal, citing senior officials, said the new rules resulted from a behind-the-scenes battle between an aggressive Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. military and diplomatic officials concerned about relations with Pakistan.

A high-level review reaffirmed support for the drone program - which has killed hundreds of militants, including top commanders, in recent years - but established new rules to minimize the diplomatic blowback, the Journal said.
The changes reportedly include granting the State Department greater sway in strike decisions, giving Pakistani leaders advance warning of more operations and suspending operations when Pakistani officials visit the United States.
"It's not like they took the car keys away from the CIA," the Journal quoted a senior official as saying. "There are just more people in the car."
The Journal said the debate was sparked by a particularly deadly drone strike on March 17 that took place just one day after Pakistan agreed to release a CIA contractor who had killed two Pakistanis.
Tensions between the two allies escalated throughout the spring, climaxing in May with the killing of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in a secret U.S. commando raid carried out without Islamabad's knowledge.
At issue in the debate over drones were so-called "signature strikes," in which unmanned drones fire on groups of suspected militants without necessarily knowing all their identities.
These strikes, which make up the bulk of operations, are seen as more controversial than "personality" strikes, which target alleged top militants, the Journal said.
U.S. officials do not publicly discuss the drone program, but they claim to have substantially weakened al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent months by taking out top leaders.
Pakistan has criticized the program, however, saying it inflames anti-American sentiment and extremism by killing scores of civilians.

U.S. Air Force To Upgrade 300 F-16s

The U.S. Air Force will upgrade between 300 and 350 F-16C Block 40 and 50 fighters with new avionics and increased airframe life, a three-star general said before Congress.
Testifying Nov. 2, Lt. Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, Air Force deputy chief for operations, plans and requirements, also said the service doesn't have enough trained UAV pilots, and that the U-2 isn't quite ready for retirement.
"You hear an announcement fairly quickly from the United States Air Force, we're going to [service life extension program (SLEP)] and avionics modernize probably in the vicinity 300 to 350 F-16s,".
That number could climb to 600 aircraft, Carlisle said, but it is not likely the Air Force will have to upgrade so many jets.
The modernized jets will be crucial to maintaining the Air National Guard (ANG) and Air Force Reserve fighter force. It will also help maintain the Air Force's dwindling arsenal of tactical fighters before the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) becomes operational.
Although the service doesn't yet know when the F-35 will become operational, the aircraft will likely miss the current projected date of 2016. The aircraft will likely become fully operational in 2018, Carlisle said, but the service is not naming an official date until the new master schedule is complete.
There is money in fiscal 2012 budget to develop a modernization program for the F-16, Carlisle said. The Air Force will start developing the avionics modernization plan soon, he said.
Maj. Gen. Jay Lindell, Air Force director of global power programs, said the airframe life of the F-16 would be increased from 8,000 to "at least" 10,000 hours. That would afford the Air Force eight more years of operations using the old aircraft, he said.
"We're looking at capability through the next decade, which would be through 2030," Lindell said.
Each plane would cost $9.4 million, he said, so the Air Force wants to get its money's worth.
The scope of the modernization plan for the F-16 fleet and the fielding of the stealthy new F-35 depends on the forthcoming integrated master schedule for the new jet, Carlisle said. The F-35 will be fielded to ANG units, starting with the Vermont ANG, he said.
With the upgrades, the F-16 could be serving for decades to come.
The Navy and Marine Corps are also working on extending the life of 150 of their F/A-18 Hornets, said Marine Lt. Gen. Terry Robling, the U.S. Marine Corps' deputy commandant for aviation. The upgraded F/A-18s are slated to hold the sea services over until the F-35 becomes operational.

Pilots for UAVs

In his testimony, Carlisle said the Air Force doesn't have enough pilots for its growing fleet of drones. He said the service was on its sixth surge for providing Predator and Reaper combat air patrols (CAPs). But to attain the required 60 CAPs, the Air Force has had to press instructor pilots into active service and shut down its elite Weapons School course for the unmanned planes, he said.
"Our issue today is our ability to train our sensor operators and pilots," Carlisle said.
The Air Force will likely have to ratchet down the number of CAPs to reconstitute its ability to train and field new unmanned aircraft pilots, he said. The community has grown quickly; it is now the single largest group of aviators in the service.
Reconstituting the training force and rebuilding the expertise at the Weapons School will take about a year, Carlisle said. Once the Air Force can rebuild its schoolhouses, the Air Force can get back on track to fielding 65 CAPs as required by the forces deployed in combat.

No Retirement for U-2

Of the Air Force's U-2 spy planes, Carlisle said the Air Force won't be retiring them until a technical shortcoming with the RQ-4 Global Hawk high-altitude unmanned aircraft is resolved.
Although the Air Force plans to replace the venerable U-2 with the new unmanned aircraft, the Global Hawk's sensors are still not capable of measuring up to the standards set by the five-decade old Dragon Lady.
"The Global Hawk, the RQ-4, will be the replacement," Carlisle said. "It is not there yet. The sensors suite is not there. It cannot match what the U-2 does."
There is a high-altitude transition team, but the U-2 will be maintained until the Global Hawk can match the older plane. With the sensors on the Block 40 Global Hawk, the unmanned plane will "start to get close to that," Carlisle said.
The U-2 will be around through 2014 and 2015, but the Global Hawk should be able to start matching its capabilities by then, he said.

New Bomber Won't Be Nuclear-Capable at First: USAF Chief

The U.S. Air Force's top uniformed officer said the service's new Long Range Strike bomber will be built with nuclear capability but will operate as a conventional strike aircraft initially.
Testifying before Congress on Nov. 2, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said deferring the new aircraft's nuclear certification until the B-52 and B-2 bombers start to retire would help the service manage costs.

"The reason is that we're trying to control costs," Schwartz said.
Testing for the nuclear role is much more elaborate than testing for conventional weapons.
Nonetheless, "the airplane will be dual-capable," Schwartz said.
Schwartz reiterated that the aircraft will be designed and built with all the hardware for both the nuclear and conventional missions from the outset.
"This will not be backed in later," he said.
At least for the time being, the service's Air Combat Command (ACC) is the lead command for developing the new bomber, Schwartz said. That is because ACC has the capability and expertise to build requirement.
The Global Strike Command is still not fully up to speed, Schwartz said. Eventually, however, the command might take over the program, he said.
For the nuclear mission, Schwartz appealed to the congressional committee to ask the Department of Energy to modernize and upgrade the B-61 nuclear bomb.
During the rest of his testimony, Schwartz reiterated that defense cuts beyond the current $450 billion would seriously damage the U.S. Air Force. Already, he said, the service is looking at divesting itself of "hundreds" of aircraft.
Entire fleets, including the entire logistical train, may have to be removed if further cuts are made, Schwartz said.
Lt. Gen. Herbert Carlisle mirrored those sentiments later in the afternoon during his testimony.
Schwartz also stressed the importance of the KC-46 tanker, F-35 fighter and the new bomber. However, this time, he added the MQ-9 Reaper to his three priority programs.
Cyberwarfare is the only area in which the Air Force or Defense Department forces might expand, Schwartz added.

U.S. Drone, French Jet Stopped Gadhafi Convoy

WASHINGTON - A U.S. defense official said Oct. 20 a U.S. Predator drone along with a French fighter jet had attacked a convoy of vehicles in Libya that Paris believed was carrying Moammar Gadhafi.

Libyan National Transitional Council fighters celebrate in Sirte on Oct. 20. A U.S. Predator drone and French Mirage-2000 reportedly stopped a vehicle convoy with strongman Moammar Gadhafi, who was killed by NTC forces. (Philippe Desmaze / AFP)

French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet had earlier revealed that a French Mirage-2000 fired a warning shot at a column of several dozen vehicles fleeing Sirte.

The U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the unmanned Predator aircraft had struck "the same convoy" but could not confirm that Gadhafi was in one of the vehicles.
Longuet told reporters in Paris that the convoy "was stopped from progressing as it sought to flee Sirte but was not destroyed by the French intervention."
Libyan fighters then intervened, destroying the vehicles, from which "they took out Colonel Kadhafi," he added.
The French warplane was sent to the area after news emerged of a large convoy of up to 80 vehicles trying to flee Sirte, he said.
After Libya's new leadership announced the death of Gadhafi, celebratory gunfire erupted across Tripoli on Oct. 20 and jubilant crowds flooded onto the streets waving the red, black and green flag of the new regime.
The NATO-led air campaign was launched in March under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians from Gadhafi's forces trying to crush popular protests.

Taiwan's Defense Show in Decline; F-16s in Limbo

TAIPEI - The biennial Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition (TADTE), which ran Aug. 11-14, was forced to share floor space with a comic book convention at the World Trade Center here. If that was not humiliating enough, several mainland Chinese businessmen were seen perusing booths. Who and what they were about remain a mystery.

A UCAV on display at the recent Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition. (Wendell Minnick / Staff)

Those familiar with the vibrancy of the Singapore Air Show might be surprised to learn that Taiwan spends about $2 billion more than Singapore on defense annually, yet there was no evidence of that at TADTE this year.

The show has seen steady declines over the past decade. Only six U.S. defense companies exhibited this year: ITT, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky Aircraft. Missing were BAE Systems, Bell Helicopter, Boeing, General Dynamics, L-3 Communications, Rockwell Collins, Thales and U.S. Ordnance, all of which traditionally have had booths.
Part of the lack of interest could be attributed to the fact that Taiwan's shopping list for new arms has been filled for the near term and there are few, if any, items left to procure. The military is struggling to pay for $16.5 billion in new U.S. arms released since 2007, including Patriot PAC-3 ballistic missile defense systems, P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, AH-64D Apache attack helicopters and UH-60M Black Hawk utility helicopters.
Added to procurement costs are expensive reform programs. The Ministry of National Defense (MND) is implementing a streamlining and modernization program that will reduce troop strength from 275,000 to 215,000 within the next five to 10 years.
Despite the MND's financial struggles, a U.S. Department of Defense delegation was in Taiwan during TADTE to finalize price and availability options for a $4.2 billion upgrade package for 146 F-16A/B fighter jets.
Sources at TADTE said the midlife upgrade package has been renamed a "retrofit" to reduce complaints from China. To further placate China, the F-16A/B retrofit will be released incrementally rather than as a total package under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program.
The only serious competition at TADTE was between Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to supply the active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for the F-16A/B retrofit requirement. Northrop's Scalable Agile Beam Radar and the Raytheon Advanced Combat Radar are vying to replace the current APG-66(V)3 mechanical radar.
If the U.S. government does not release an AESA radar for Taiwan, TADTE sources indicate that the Northrop APG-68(V)9 mechanical radar would be offered as a substitute.
Taiwan is awaiting a final decision by the U.S. on a deal for 66 F-16C/D fighters for $8 billion, and a 2001 offer for eight diesel submarines estimated at more than $10 billion.
TADTE participants said the U.S. plans to release the F-16A/B retrofit with the AESA radar, but not new F-16C/D fighters.
A senior Taiwan MND official said he was "disappointed" by U.S. plans to deny Taiwan the new fighters.
But senior MND and U.S. government officials are denying the report. MND officials insist the U.S. Defense Department delegation did not inform Taiwan of a final decision on the F-16C/Ds, and hope remains for a positive release.
Since 2006, the U.S. has repeatedly denied Taiwan's request for F-16C/D fighters to placate China. In July, the U.S. State Department indicated a final decision on the F-16 issue would be made before Oct. 1.
News of the DoD delegation's visit comes at an awkward time for the administration of President Barack Obama. U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden arrived in Beijing on Aug. 17 to discuss economic and political issues. China has insisted the U.S. end all arms sales to Taiwan, and has threatened to invade the island should it continue to refuse unification.

MND Pavilion

During TADTE, the MND displayed a variety of new weapons and equipment. The most startling were exhibits by the military-run Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST).
CSIST displayed the new Hsiung Feng 3 (Brave Wind 3) supersonic anti-ship missile. Though the missile had been displayed at TADTE 2009, this is the first time it was described as an "aircraft carrier killer," with a mural depicting three HF-3 missiles sinking China's new aircraft carrier, the Varyag.
China began sea trials for the Varyag on Aug. 10, the same day the HF-3 display was unveiled to the media. The Taiwan Navy has outfitted two Perry-class frigates, the 1101 Cheng Kung and 1103 Cheng Ho, with the HF-3.
CSIST also displayed models of two new unmanned aerial combat vehicle (UACV) concepts. CSIST officials did not provide any information about the UACV models, but one appeared similar to the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, while the other had a diamond-shaped fuselage similar to the Boeing X-45.
A CSIST animated demonstration video showed three X-45-like UACVs flying alongside an F-16 on a mission to attack a Chinese air base. The video also demonstrated how the Reaper-like UACV could be used to attack ground-based radar facilities in China.
The 202nd Arsenal displayed a new 105mm low-recoil turret being developed for the eight-wheeled Cloud Leopard armored vehicle. One Cloud Leopard on display was equipped with a 40mm grenade launcher. Full-rate production has begun, and the military has a requirement for 300 vehicles.