Russia's $650B Arms Drive Misguided: Developer

MOSCOW - A top Russian arms developer on March 17 slammed the country's new $650 billion rearmament drive as a misguided attempt to mass produce old systems that have little use in modern warfare.
The military last month unveiled the details of a new procurement plan through 2020 that analysts said placed a strong emphasis on heavy nuclear missile spending that could keep Russia's parity with the United States.

The long-discussed program aims to fill major gaps in a dilapidated Soviet-era force that Western experts believe is no longer capable of engaging in large-scale warfare.
But the head of a prestigious Moscow institute that is designing one of Russia's latest ballistic missiles said the new drive could potentially leave the country decades behind the West.
"I feel bad for the state when they propose this senseless spending," Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology head Yury Solomonov was quoted as saying by Interfax.
Solomonov noted that the United States was now pouring money into the development of new X-37 and X-51 hypersonic space vehicles, "something that we simply do not do."
Instead, the new program intends to "reproduce things that were made decades ago for absolutely unlikely scenarios."
Solomonov said much of the spending was being funneled into the development of a new line of liquid-fuelled nuclear missiles whose use vanished with the end of the Cold War.
"I would like to assure you that it is based on delivery vehicle technology that is about 30 years old," the developer said.
The program unveiled by Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin sees Russia building 100 new ships and acquiring 1,000 helicopters along with 20 submarines and more than 600 warplanes.
But the exact breakdown of the spending plan was not revealed and analysts said much of the money appeared earmarked for missile programs that seek to ensure Russia's ability to penetrate a new European missile shield mooted by NATO.

CNO Assesses Russian, Chinese Navies

"The Russian Navy is moving again."

The U.S. Navy seeks ways to work with the Chinese and Russian navies, said Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations. (MCS Tiffini Jones Vanderwyst / Navy)

That was the description given Wednesday by Adm. Gary Roughead, the U.S. Navy's chief of naval operations (CNO), when asked for his assessment of America's former Cold War opponent.

"The Russian Navy still has great ambition, still has great pride," he said.
The collapse of the Soviet Union significantly reduced the navy, Roughead noted, with most shipbuilding programs coming to a halt or dragging out.
"That has stopped in recent years," he said. An improving Russian economy will mean "you're going to see an increase in their capability and capacity, with new shipbuilding programs taking hold." Roughead noted the recent move by Russia to acquire several French-designed Mistral-class amphibious ships as an indication of rising interest in increased operations.
The navy "will now begin to rebuild itself," he said, "and bring more modern capability to bear and operate more widely."
Roughead did not speak of a growing Russian naval force as a threat.
"I believe we should work closely with the Russian Navy to see where we can work together," he said, and cited operations with Russian ships working to counter pirates off Somalia.
Roughead was asked for his assessment of the Russian and Chinese navies during an appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee. It was the last of several hearings before the House and Senate to present the 2012 budget request.
The Chinese Navy is the fastest-growing in the world today, Roughead said.
"We see their submarine fleet expanding, their surface combatants expanding. But it's also how they're using their command and control facilities," he said, "and the nature of expanding beyond the first island chain," the ring of islands that surround the Chinese mainland.
The strategic objectives of China's naval expansion seem to be same "that nations and navies have had throughout history," Roughead said. "As economies rise it follows there will be a strong navy."
"They want to ensure their sea lanes are able to be used," he told Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., who specifically asked about China's anti-carrier missile capability.
"There has been a lot of discussion about the Dong Feng 21 missile," Roughead acknowledged. "But the DF 21 is no more an anti-access weapon than a submarine is. I would argue that you can put a ship out of action faster by putting a hole in the bottom than by putting a hole in the top."
Noting the superiority of the U.S. Navy's Virginia-class attack submarines over the several types China is building, Roughead declared that "even though the DF 21 has become a newsworthy weapon, the fact is our aircraft carriers can maneuver, and we we have systems that can counter weapons like that."
"My objective," in regards to the Chinese, Roughead said, "is to not be denied ocean areas were can operate, or not be restricted in our ability to operate."
The Chinese being constantly scrutinized as to their intentions, Roughead told Coats.
"I think it's important to gain insight into what their intent is," he said. "So we watch developments very closely."
China's designs on the Arctic Ocean were also questioned by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who asked how the Navy planned to respond to increased activity in the region due to climate change.
"There is no question in my mind that the Arctic is changing," Roughead said. But along with working closely with the Coast Guard, the CNO again observed that "the most important thing is to become party to the convention of the Law of the Sea" treaty, long hung up in the Senate. "If we are not party to that treaty we will not have a seat at the table as this unfolds."

China Aims New Missile At Taiwan: Intel Chief

TAIPEI - Taiwan's top intelligence chief said March 16 that China is targeting the island with a new type of ballistic missile.
"The Chinese communists have deployed the Dongfeng 16, which is a new powerful missile aimed at Taiwan," said Tsai Teh-sheng, the director-general of the National Security Bureau.

"Its range is longer, and it increases the threat to Taiwan," Tsai said while replying to queries raised by Lin Yu-fang, a legislator from the ruling Kuomintang party.
Tsai declined to provide technical details about the new weapon as well as the number that has been deployed so far. Dongfeng means "East Wind."
Taiwanese experts estimate China's People's Liberation Army currently has more than 1,600 missiles aimed at the island, mostly deployed in Fujian and Jiangxi provinces in the mainland's southeast.
Tensions across the Taiwan Straits have eased since Ma Ying-jeou of the China-friendly Kuomintang came to power in 2008 on a platform of beefing up trade links and allowing in more Chinese tourists.
However, China still refuses to renounce the possible use of force against the island to bring about its long-stated goal of re-taking Taiwan, which has ruled itself since the end of a civil war in 1949.
The Pentagon said in an annual report to Congress last year that China's military build-up against Taiwan has "continued unabated" despite improving political relations.

U.S. Cyber Commander Gives Network Security a 'C'

When asked how he would grade the U.S. military's ability to protect its networks, Gen. Keith Alexander, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, said he would give it a C.
"I'd like to say an A, but I think it's going to take us some time to get to an A," Alexander said, testifying March 16 before the House Armed Services subcommittee on emerging threats and capabilities. An A grade would indicate that the networks were completely impenetrable by outside threats.

"We have made it extremely difficult for adversaries to get in and every day we improve that," Alexander said.
In June 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates directed the military to stand up Cyber Command as a subordinate organization to U.S. Strategic Command. Alexander, who also serves as the director of the National Security Agency (NSA), became head of Cyber Command in May. Both organizations are located at Fort Meade, Md.
The Pentagon announced Nov. 3 that the command had reached full operational capability.
"We've worked extremely hard at building the hardening of our networks," Alexander said. "We've made tremendous progress over the last two years."

NATO Task Force Seeks Joint Strategies as Budgets Fall

NATO has created a task force that will identify ways the alliance can bolster its capabilities and purchasing power in a time of shrinking defense budgets, according to a top general.
The group will deliver ideas and proposals for "innovative, multinational approaches to capability development" by September, French Air Force Gen. Stéphane Abrial, NATO supreme allied commander, transformation, said during a briefing in Washington.

Defense ministers from NATO nations agreed to organize the task force during meetings in Brussels last week. U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Carol Pottenger, deputy chief of staff for capability and development at NATO's Norfolk, Va.-based Allied Transformation Command (ACT), is overseeing the effort. The team is made up of officials from NATO headquarters, ACT and member nations.
"We need to be able to do better with less in the future," Abrial said, noting the 28 NATO member governments do not want the financial crisis to turn into a security crisis. "Therefore we have to redouble our efforts to see how we can be more effective and more efficient."
ACT is responsible for preparing NATO troops for near-term and future conflicts and identifying capability gaps.
The task force is exploring the nations' capabilities for all types of conflicts and looking for innovative solutions and multinational approaches. At the same time, ACT and the European Defense Agency are working together to avoid duplication in numerous areas, including countering improvised explosive devices, medical support and network-centric operations, Abrial said.
"This means that the nations have embarked in a more multinational vision of capability development," he said, noting this includes doctrine, organization, training and equipment.
The task force is looking at smaller cooperation agreements within NATO that could ease procurement issues, according to Abrial. This means all 28 member nations would not have to contribute to every initiative.
"If you try to procure at 28, then it might take quite awhile to get an agreement and in order to get to the agreement, you will have to make compromises and to include some parts of ambiguity, which you will pay at the end in terms of time and cost," he said.

Impact of U.S. Joint Forces Command Closure

Abrial expects ACT to continue working closely with the Pentagon even after U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) closes. ACT and JFCOM are co-located in Norfolk, Va. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced plans to close JFCOM in April 2010.
"My understanding is that there will be a good portion of JFCOM which will stay in the Norfolk-Suffolk area, specifically which is dealing with modeling and simulation," Abrial said.
The French general expects to work more closely with the Joint Staff, which will assume the JFCOM headquarters-type roles. The rest of the responsibilities will be "distributed somehow across the different institutions in the U.S., and we have started to look at how we will re-plug into this much more distributed system," Abrial said, noting he is still awaiting U.S. decisions on JFCOM's eventual shut down.
"Working in a distributed environment will not be totally new for us because we have been working already with other entities from JFCOM," he said. "We have close contact with Cyber Command" and the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Disposal Organization, he said.
Abrial said DoD will rely on ACT more than in the past to complete some functions they once jointly tackled with JFCOM.
"My impression is that with the disestablishment of JFCOM, the work between the U.S. defense institution and ACT will even increase as compared to the past," he said.

GAO: F-35 Software 'Significantly Behind Schedule'

Software development continues to bedevil Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), according to government auditors and U.S. Air Force and program officials.
In testimony submitted to Congress, Michael Sullivan, an auditor at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), said the stealth aircraft's software development "is significantly behind schedule as it enters its most challenging phase."

Sullivan said in his report that officials had underestimated the time and effort required to develop and integrate the F-35's software, which is an order of magnitude more complicated than code found on board the Air Force's F-22 Raptor or the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
"Delays in developing, integrating, and releasing software to the test program have cascading effects hampering flight tests, training and lab accreditation. While progress is being made, a substantial amount of software work remains before the program can demonstrate full war-fighting capability," Sullivan said March 15 in testimony to the House Armed Services Committee (HASC).
The GAO is predicting that the remaining software will be more than three years late compared with the F-35 program's 2006 plan.
The agency's statement reflects concerns voiced earlier this month by Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff, that the software might become "the pacing item in terms of the development schedule."
In joint testimony submitted to the HASC, Air Force procurement chief David Van Buren and F-35 program executive officer David Venlet said that software development concurrency is one of the program's top four concerns.
"The four highest development risks on the program risk management board are software development concurrency. [technical baseline review] replan has assessed and extended the schedule, and early code writing and lab integration testing performance measures are being closely monitored," the joint testimony read.
However, Van Buren and Venlet also stated that the F-35's software development is conforming to a recently readjusted schedule.
"The development of F-35 Mission Systems software, a component of the Air System Software, is proceeding according to a schedule adjusted as an outcome of the" aircraft's technical baseline review, Venlet and Van Buren said.
The testimony reflects earlier comments by Venlet's deputy, Air Force Maj. Gen. C.D. Moore, who stated that the program office added more time and resources to the software development effort.
"The schedule and resourcing has been adjusted to address the risks that we saw associated with those next steps," he said.

Scorpene Delivery to India Delayed 3 Years

NEW DELHI - Delivery of the first French Scorpene submarine being license-built in India has been delayed by three years, until the latter part of 2015, Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony told the Indian Parliament in a written statement March 14.
According to the $3.9 billion contract signed in 2005 between India and France, construction of the first three submarines would begin in December 2006, December 2007 and August 2008. As per the contract signed with Mazagon Docks Ltd. (MDL), the first submarine is scheduled to be delivered in December 2012, and one each year until December 2017, Antony said.

Antony, however, told Parliament that the first Scorpene delivery will be delivered in 2015.
"As per the contract, the first submarine was scheduled to be delivered in December 2012 and thereafter, one each every year till December 2017. There have been delays due to initial teething problems, absorption of complex technology, augmentation of MDL infrastructure and procurement" of material. The first submarine is now scheduled to be delivered in the second half of 2015, Antony said.
India is already facing a shortfall in submarines. Currently, the Navy has 14 submarines and, by 2012, there will be nine, a senior Navy official said.
The news of the delay in the Scorpene delivery comes at a time when the Chinese Navy is building several nuclear submarines. China has about 30 modern submarines and few dozen older ones. The Scorpenes are being built under Indian Navy's Project 75, which was approved in 1997.
The Scorpene is a conventional submarine with diesel propulsion. It is 219 feet long and has a speed of more than 20 knots with a displacement of 1,700 tons. With 31 men onboard, it can remain at sea for about 50 days and can dive to a depth of more than 1,000 feet.