One In Three Afghan Troops Leave Army: NATO

BRUSSELS - One in three Afghan soldiers still leave the army each year, but NATO remains on track to raise the number of security forces to 305,000 by October, an alliance general said Feb. 23.
The NATO training mission gets enough recruits to keep up with the high number of departures, which reached an annual attrition rate of 32 percent, according to its head, Lt. Gen. William Caldwell.

Boosting the ranks of Afghanistan's security forces is a vital element of NATO's plan to begin handing command of the battlefield to Afghans this year and to start withdrawing of some foreign troops. The goal is to give Afghans full control nationwide by 2014.
The attrition rate among Afghan troops is "not a trend across the army," Caldwell told reporters during a visit to NATO and European Union headquarters in Brussels.
But it is particularly high among battalions facing a fierce Taliban insurgency in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. general said, blaming the attrition in part on weak Afghan leadership.
"It's not men who are leaving perhaps because they don't want to continue serving, but they either are continuously engaged in insurgent operations and not really getting a break or their leadership is not properly taking care of that," he said.
To keep up last year, the NATO training mission had to recruit 110,000 new soldiers and police to boost security forces by 70,000, a member of the training mission said, meaning that 40,000 men had left the ranks.
To reach its goal of 305,000 security forces this year, NATO will need to train 86,000 police and soldiers to add 35,000, according to a NATO document, meaning 51,000 men are expected to drop out.
Attrition includes soldiers who leave the army for various reasons, including desertion, the end of active duty and medical discharge.
The high number of recruits is allowing NATO to continue to increase the number of security forces "but also replenish any attrition that takes place," Caldwell said.
"We are on track right now to reach the approved growth goal by the international community of 305,000 Afghan national security force members by October of this year," he said.

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.

Arrow Test Hits Target, Validates New Software

TEL AVIV - The U.S.-Israel Arrow program passed another milestone Feb. 22 with the spectacular, nighttime, head-on intercept of a sea-based, long-range target off the California coast.

The joint U.S.-Israel Arrow Weapon System successfully intercepted a ballistic target missile on Feb. 22. (U.S. Defense Department)

Part of the ongoing, jointly funded Arrow System Improvement Program (ASIP), the test validated new Block 4 versions designed to improve discriminating capabilities of the Arrow 2 interceptor, the Green Pine search-and-track radar and the Citron Tree battle management control system.

"To see that explosion off the shores of California was truly gratifying. It was a body-to-body impact that completely destroyed the target," Arieh Herzog, director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization told reporters via teleconference shortly after the nighttime launch at the U.S. Navy's Point Mugu Sea Range.
Herzog said validation of the Block 4 software would provide the Israel Air Force "with a better system than they have now." The software upgrades, he said, improve detection capabilities and lethality needed to defend against "new and different threats."
In a Feb. 22 statement, the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency (MDA) noted that the Green Pine radar successfully detected and tracked the target, transferred information to the Citron Tree management control system and launched the Arrow interceptor, "which performed its planned trajectory and destroyed the target missile."
The MDA statement noted that the test "represented a realistic scenario" and involved operationally ready elements of the Arrow weapon system.

U.S. Navy: Cost of Ohio Class Subs Down $1 Billion

The Navy has been able to reduce the expected cost of its Ohio Class submarine replacement by more than $1 billion with an overall goal of trimming more than $2 billion per vessel, according to the Pentagon's top weapons buyer.
Pentagon officials have generated the extra cost savings by examining the drivers of cost in the vessel's design, according to Pentagon acquisition executive Ashton Carter.

Originally, cost estimators projected the SSBN(X) price tag at about $7 billion per submarine. The submarine's cost is now down to $6 billion with a goal of getting the cost down to $4.9, Carter said during a Feb. 22 presentation at a Center for New American Security event in Washington.
If the Navy were forced to pay $7 billion per submarine, it would not be able to afford any other ships, Carter said.
This same approach of looking at the drivers of cost in a weapon's design will be used during upcoming acquisitions, including the Air Force's new bomber, a Marine Corps effort to field a new helicopter for presidential transport and the Army's Ground Combat Vehicle, Carter said.

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.

Iran Warships Enter Mediterranean

JERUSALEM - Israel put its navy on high alert and said it would respond immediately to any "provocation" as two Iranian warships sailed through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean on Feb. 22.
The Iranian vessels entered the southeastern Mediterranean after going up the canal for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, reportedly en route for Syria, in a move taking them past Israeli territorial waters.

Suez Canal officials confirmed the patrol frigate Alvand and support ship Kharg had completed the crossing after entering the narrow waterway at dawn.
A senior Israeli security source told AFP that Israel would "not initiate any action" against the Iranian vessels, but if the Iranians deviated in any way that could be considered "a provocation," there would be an "immediate Israeli response."
The Israeli navy immediately went on high alert and the troops were briefed on how to respond in such an event, he said.
The 1,500-ton Alvand is normally armed with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles, while the larger 33,000-ton Kharg has a crew of 250 and facilities for up to three helicopters, Iran's official Fars news agency has said.
Both ships were built in Britain during the 1970s for Iran, which ordered them before the Islamic revolution.
Neither ship is carrying chemical or nuclear material, Egypt's state-run MENA news agency has reported.
Their passage into the eastern Mediterranean comes as the Arab world and the Middle East grapples with a vast wave of unrest and protests that is radically changing the political landscape, and leaving Israel increasingly concerned about its security.
"We are talking about an unprecedented Iranian military presence in the Mediterranean, and that is a provocation to which the international community must react firmly," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP earlier Feb. 22.
On Feb. 20, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the ships' arrival in the region as an Iranian power play, just days after his Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, branded their voyage "a provocation."
"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," he said.
"Israel views with gravity this Iranian initiative," his office quoted him as saying.
Animosity between Iran and Israel has grown under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has repeatedly spoken of the Jewish state's demise.
Israel also accuses Tehran of arming and funding Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
Israel, which has the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, suspects Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear program.
Tehran denies that charge and has in turn accused Israel of trying to sabotage its nuclear program and kill its nuclear scientists.
Israel has backed a U.S. policy of tougher U.N. sanctions against Iran while remaining open to dialogue.
But it has refused to rule out a resort to military action to stop Tehran from developing a nuclear weapons capability.