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.

Israel Remains Alarmed At Iranian Ship Moves

JERUSALEM - Israel views with "gravity" what Iran says is the "routine" dispatch of two warships to the Mediterranean, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Feb. 20, as the vessels were expected to pass through the Suez Canal.
During his weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said Israel viewed the movement as an Iranian power play.

"Today we are witnessing the instability of the region in which we live and in which Iran is trying to profit by extending its influence by dispatching two warships to cross the Suez Canal," Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his office.
"Israel views with gravity this Iranian initiative and other developments that reinforce what we have said in past years about the Israel's security needs."
Last week, Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called the move a "provocation."
Egypt has given two Iranian ships permission to use the waterway en route to Syria.
The move - the first time Iranian warships will have transit ted the canal since the Islamic revolution of 1979 - is "routine" and "short term," an Iranian diplomat said.
"This will be a routine visit, within international law, in line with the cooperation between Iran and Syria, who have strategic ties," the diplomat said.
"The ships will spend a few days in Syrian ports for training purposes," having already visited several countries including Oman and Saudi Arabia."
A senior Suez Canal official said that the warships had yet to reach the waterway, after Iranian television earlier reported that they were already in the Mediterranean.
"No Iranian ships have passed. Not today, not yesterday, not the day before," according to operations room chief Ahmed al-Manakhly.
Manakhly did not say when the Iranian ships were scheduled to arrive, but canal officials have privately said they were expected early Feb. 21.
Kharg has a crew of 250 and can carry up to three helicopters. Alvand is armed with torpedos and anti-ship missiles.
Egypt's MENA news agency reported that the request for the ships to pass through the Suez Canal said they were not carrying weapons, or nuclear or chemical materials.

IDEX 2011 Underway in Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI - The largest defense equipment exhibition in the Middle East opened in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi on Feb. 20, as military spending continues to grow in the region amid rising tensions.

Sheik Mohammed shakes hands with executives from Lockheed Martin and Boeing at IDEX 2009. The 2011 edition of the show opened Feb. 20 in Abu Dhabi. (Staff file photo)

The International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) 2011 opened with a parade of helicopters, fighter jets and armoured vehicles, in the presence of UAE Prime Minister and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum.

The 10th edition of the biennial show is taking place as the region is hit by a wave of protests that toppled veteran leaders in Tunisia and Egypt and threatens other regimes.
The conference, which will continue until Feb. 24, hosts more than 1,000 exhibitors. Nearly 50,000 visitors are expected from around the world.
More than 30 pavilions most of them belonging to the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Britain, France and Germany, were spread over 124,000 square meters (0.05 square miles).
A naval defense industries exhibition, Navdex, is being organized for the first time this year.
Manufacturers worldwide are racing to seal contracts with Gulf states, who are fearful of Iran and possessing spending power buoyed by high oil prices.
The six Gulf Cooperation Council countries - Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait - along with Jordan are set to spend $68 billion on defense in 2011, according to research firm Frost & Sullivan. Their spending is expected to reach nearly $80 billion in 2015.

Europe's Earthcare space laser mission gets go ahead

Europe's Earthcare satellite is unlikely to get into space before 2016

Europe is to press ahead with its Earthcare space laser mission, despite a 30% rise in its probable final cost.

The satellite will study the role clouds and atmospheric particles play in a changing climate.
But the difficulty in finding a workable design for the spacecraft's lidar instrument means its total budget will now top 590m euros (£500m).
Member states of the European Space Agency are convinced though that Earthcare will deliver invaluable data.
Delegates to the 18-nation alliance this week accepted the findings of a review that assessed the technical risks of proceeding.
They also heard a clear message from the scientific community that Earthcare would do pioneering research.
"The Programme Board confirmed the conclusions of the independent assessment," said Dr Volker Liebig, Esa's director of Earth observation.
"This re-affirmed the high scientific value of the Earthcare mission - that there are unique synergies between all the instruments and it makes no sense to remove any of them. The board is confident that all has been done to reach the mission objectives in the 'costs at completion' which are at the moment foreseen," he told BBC News.
Earthcare is one of Esa's proposed Earth Explorers - a series of spacecraft that will do innovative science in obtaining data on issues of pressing environmental concern.
Three missions have so far gone into orbit, returning remarkable new information on gravity, polar ice cover, soil moisture and ocean salinity.
Earthcare will study how clouds and aerosols (fine particles) form, evolve and affect our climate, the weather and air quality.

Climate modellers need more information on clouds

Scientists say knowledge gaps in such areas severely hamper their ability to forecast future change.
Different sorts of cloud have different effects. For example, low cloud can help cool the planet while high cloud can act as a blanket.
Developing the primary instrument on Earthcare to get at this information has proved extremely problematic, however.
Prime contractor, Astrium-France, has had a torrid time arriving at a design that will reliably work in the vacuum of space.
A fundamental re-configuration of the lidar has added significantly (140m euros) to the projected total mission cost.
It has also delayed the mission's probable launch date to 2016 - two years later than recent estimates.
Concerned about developments, member state delegations had requested a review of the project's status.
The lidar will fire pulses of ultraviolet light down into the atmosphere.

EUROPE'S EARTH EXPLORERS

• Goce was launched in 2009 to map the subtle variations in Earth's gravity field
• Smos (above) has been studying ocean salinity and soil moisture for over a year
• Cryosat-2 was launched in 2010 to measure the shape and thickness of polar ice
• Swarm is a trio of satellites that will map the Earth's magnetism from next year
• Aeolus is another innovative laser mission that will measure winds across the globe
• Earthcare was selected in 2004 to examine the role of clouds and aerosols in climate change
• Two other missions will emerge from competitive selection processes

From the way this light is scattered back to the spacecraft, scientists can build up a picture of where in the atmosphere different cloud types and aerosols reside.

Combined with the data from three other instruments onboard, it should then be possible to work out the implications for the energy budget of the Earth.
"The board was asked to look into a potential de-scoping of the mission, but it was the clear view of all the scientists that the breakthrough Earthcare will deliver comes from the combination of all the instruments," Dr Liebig said.
Europe has yet to fly a space lidar mission and so developing this expertise is seen as an important technology goal for Esa.
Earth observation is currently the agency's biggest programme, representing a fifth of its total budget or 844m euros in 2011.
The extra cost of Earthcare will need to be absorbed, but Dr Liebig said the tendency of all high-technology missions to slip over time meant the additional expenditure could be managed in an affordable way.
Like all Esa missions, Earthcare will be a pan-European effort. However, the mission has particular significance for the UK.
The main structure of the spacecraft will be built in Britain (Astrium-UK at Stevenage), as will two of its instruments, at SSTL (Guildford) and SEA Group Ltd (Frome).
The fourth instrument on Earthcare is being supplied by Japan.

Somali pirates seize American yacht crew off Oman

Pirates usually target cargo ships

Four Americans sailing on a yacht off the coast of Oman have been taken hostage by Somali pirates, an international maritime watchdog says.

The S/V Quest, owned by a retired couple, was hijacked 240 nautical miles (275 miles) off Oman on Friday afternoon, Ecoterra told BBC News.
It is believed the yacht was en route from India to Oman.
While pirates usually attack cargo ships, they have hijacked a number of yachts in recent years.
Ecoterra said the capture of the S/V Quest had been reported by both its sources and by Nato's anti-piracy operation, Ocean Shield. Nato could not be reached immediately for comment.
Jean and Scott Adam, the yacht's owners, have been sailing it around the world since 2002, according to their website.
The couple wrote on the site that they had taken on two new crew members last year.
Mapping out their sailing plans for this year, they said they planned to sail from Sri Lanka to Crete in the Mediterranean, via the Suez Canal, making stops in India, Oman and Djibouti.
Vulnerable shipping

Somalia's UN mission confirmed for the Associated Press news agency in New York that the S/V Quest had been hijacked.
Omar Jamal, first secretary at the mission, called for the immediate release of the hostages and all other captives who are in the hands of the pirates.
Overstretched international anti-piracy forces operating in the Indian Ocean give priority to protecting cargo ships. The EU's Navfor force recently warned that yachts, even those travelling in convoys, were not assured of protection.
Individual yacht owners wishing to reach the Suez Canal through the Gulf of Aden are tempted, as a result, to leave convoys and strike out by themselves, maritime experts say.
The attack on the S/V Quest is the latest in a number of attacks on yachts:

• South African couple Bruno Pelizzari and Deborah Calitz are still being held in Somalia, four months after their vessel, the S/Y Choizil, was hijacked

• British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler were held for nearly 400 days after their yacht, the Lynn Rival, was hijacked near the Seychelles in October 2009

• French yacht-owner Florent Lemacon was killed in April 2009 when French commandos tried to liberate him and four other people from their hijacked yacht, the Tanit, off Somalia

Somalia has had no functioning central government since 1991, allowing piracy to flourish off its coast.
Somali pirates have made millions of dollars in recent years by capturing cargo vessels in the shipping lanes around the Horn of Africa and holding the ships and crew for ransom.
A recent US study found that maritime piracy costs the global economy between $7bn (£4.4bn) and $12bn (£7.6bn) a year.

No Permanent Hike in Size of Afghan Forces: Gates

The Pentagon and government of Afghanistan cannot afford a permanent increase to the end strength of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), Defense Secretary Robert Gates told senators Feb. 17.
To that end, Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee that any increase beyond the ANSF's current manning levels should be viewed as temporary.

President Obama's administration is contemplating a request to increase the ANSF end strength to between 352,000 and 378,000 troops, according to Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who appeared with Gates at the Senate hearing to discuss the Pentagon's fiscal 2012 budget request. The ANSF should have 305,000 troops by the end of this year. The training of these troops has improved greatly in the last year, according to Mullen.
But Gates questioned the sustainability of a force that could increase by more than 70,000.
"How big an [Afghan] Army can we afford, because, let's not kid ourselves, nobody else is contributing to this in any significant way," he said. The Overseas Contingency Operations portion of the Pentagon 2012 budget request contains $12.8 billion to pay for the ANSF, a figure the Pentagon "can't sustain ... for many years," Gates said.
"The international community and Afghanistan cannot afford a force of 375,000 ANSF indefinitely," he said. "We have to think of this, I think, more as a surge for Afghans, and with a political settlement and with the degrading of the Taliban perhaps the size of the ANSF can come down to a point where it's more affordable for us and for everybody else."
Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said he supports the increase and has spoken to Obama twice about the issue. Having more ANSF troops could save money in the long run, since, theoretically, fewer U.S. troops would be needed in Afghanistan, according to Levin.
"We are still very much in discussion inside the administration on where this comes out," Mullen said. Gates said he expects the administration to make a decision on the proposed increase "in the fairly near future."

U.S. to Brazil: 'Significant' Technology Transfer in F/A-18 Buy

WASHINGTON - Brazil would receive a "significant technology transfer" if it buys U.S.-made fighter jets, a U.S. Defense Department official said Feb. 17, seeking to ease concerns before Brazil selects a winning bidder.

The United States would permit a “significant technology transfer” to Brazil if it buys the F/A-18 from Boeing, a U.S. Defense Department official says. (The Boeing Co.)

The transfer of military technology is a key factor for Brazil as it considers Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet, the Rafale by France's Dassault, and the Gripen NG made by Saab of Sweden for a contract worth between $4 billion and $7 billion.

"I would argue that the technology transfer that we are offering of this magnitude would put Brazil at par with our close partners," Frank Mora, deputy assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, told a legislative committee.
When asked if it were accurate that Brazil should not have doubts about the commitment to the technology transfer, he replied: "That is correct."
"The United States has made a robust proposal of the Super Hornet technology - a significant technology transfer," he said.
The contract is for 36 fighters with the possibility of many more aircraft in the future.
The competition for the contract has dragged on for years, with President Dilma Rousseff inheriting it from her predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who had declared a preference for French planes.
Arturo Valenzuela, assistant U.S. secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said during the Feb. 17 hearing that "we always raise this issue" in talks between Brazil and the United States.
President Obama is scheduled to visit Brazil in late March as part of a tour that includes stops in Chile and El Salvador.
Brazil and the United States signed a military cooperation agreement in April 2010.