U.S. Marines Seek Ideas for New Vehicles

The U.S. Marine Corps wants a new family of vehicles to carry out the business of amphibious warfare, and has issued a series of requests for information (RFIs) seeking industry input.

The U.S. Marines want to upgrade about half the existing fleet of amphibious assault vehicles while a new amphibious combat vehicle is developed. Here, an AAV comes ashore Feb. 6 during an exercise in Thailand. (Staff Sgt. Leo A. Salinas / U.S. Marine Corps)

The Corps needs a replacement for the canceled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), a complex, high-speed amphibious vehicle that had grown too expensive to buy and operate and no longer fit the tactical bill for the way amphibious assaults will be carried out.

In lieu of buying EFVs, the Marines are seeking industry proposals to upgrade the service's existing AAV7A1 amphibious assault vehicles (AAVs), and to create an amphibious combat vehicle (ACV) able to perform across a full range of military operations.
Additionally, the Marines issued an RFI for a new Marine personnel carrier (MPC) that would complement the AAV in land operations.
The RFIs were published Feb. 18 on the Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website at www.fbo.gov.
The moves were expected after Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced his decision Jan. 6 to cancel the EFV and develop a lower-cost alternative. A number of requirements for the ACV were set out in the RFI, including:
* The ability to autonomously deliver a Marine infantry squad from an amphibious ship to shore a minimum distance of 12 nautical miles, at "a speed to enable the element of surprise in the buildup ashore." The notice acknowledges that a high rate of speed "may prove to be unaffordable."
* Protection against direct and indirect fire, mines and improvised explosive devices. The protection can be modular, "applied incrementally as the situation dictates."
* Employ open architecture principles to rapidly integrate new technologies, and be reconfigurable to carry out alternative roles, including operation of heavy mortars or rockets, and logistic or medical evacuation missions.
* Be powerful enough to engage and destroy similar vehicles, provide direct fire support to dismounted infantry and maneuver with M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks.
The Marines want the vehicle to be configured in several variants, including as a squad maneuver/fighting vehicle, a command-and-control vehicle, and for recovery and maintenance.
The AAV sustainment and survivability upgrade effort seeks to modernize about half the Corps' 1,057 existing AAV7s. The new request builds on a previous RFI issued Aug. 18, and adds new requirements to improve the vehicles' lethality, propulsion system, command-and-control facilities and water mobility.
The accelerated MPC development effort is being made in conjunction with the Army, which issued the RFI on behalf of both services. The Marines intend to carry out "an aggressive, competitive acquisition approach with the intent to field an MPC fleet as rapidly as possible," and the notice directs competitors to assume a start date of Oct. 1, 2011. The wheeled vehicle is intended as a replacement for the existing Light Armored Vehicles operated by the Marines.
The Marines are seeking responses to the AAV RFI by March 4, and those to the ACV and MPC on April 22.

Philippines, Communists Aim For Peace in 18 Months

MANILA - The Philippine government and communist rebels waging one of the world's longest insurgencies are aiming to sign a peace pact within 18 months, the two sides said after holding landmark talks.
The parties released a joint statement late Feb. 21 following the end of a week of negotiations in Norway in which they committed to try and sign a "comprehensive agreement" to end hostilities by June of next year.

"The two panels expressed satisfaction over the achievements of the first round of formal talks," the statement said.
The negotiations in Oslo were the first between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF) sides since 2004.
The communists have been waging a rebellion since 1969 and still have about 5,000 New People's Army guerrillas based in the mainly poor, rural areas of the Philippines.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict, including dozens of rebels, civilians and security forces over the past few months.
Analysts said before the talks began in Norway that there was little chance of a quick end to the rebellion, with the communists determined to overhaul the country's economic model and railing against corruption by the nation's elite.
In his own statement released late Feb. 21, chief government negotiator Alex Padilla said even he had begun the talks with a "sense of dread" that they would be the "beginning of a dead end".
"But we have taken the first step," Padilla said.
"We have agreed on a timeframe of 18 months to produce the substantive agreements - on socio-economic reforms, on political and constitutional reforms, and on the end of hostilities and disposition of forces, leading to a final political settlement."
Nevertheless, Padilla expressed deep caution over the many hurdles still facing the peace negotiators.
"It will be hard, harder, perhaps, than anything else we have done in our lives to stay the course, which, in the first place, asks us to keep faith in the process. Are we up to this?" The next steps will include a range of lower-level working group meetings over the next few months to cover issues such as social and economic reforms.
Political and economic reforms will be discussed in another working group.
The government said it would also "work on appropriate measures to effect the expeditious release" of 14 detained communist rebel leaders that the NDF has long demanded be freed.
The government said it would also consider releasing four other communists the NDF had recently added to the list.
However, it made no firm commitment on releasing any of them.
In a reciprocal "confidence-building" measure, the communists said it would take steps towards releasing an unspecified number of people it was holding as prisoners.
One of the key reasons the previous round of peace talks broke down six years ago was a demand by the communists that the government have them removed from international terrorist lists.
However, there was no mention of the terrorism issue in the joint statement.
Another reason the talks fell apart in 2004 was the communists' distrust of then-president Gloria Arroyo, who vowed to crush the rebellion by the end of her term.
Her time in power ended in June last year with her military quest to extinguish the rebellion unfulfilled.
Her successor, President Benigno Aquino, immediately said he wanted to pursue peace talks with the communists.
He placed former human rights lawyers and other people deemed favorable by the communists on his peace negotiating panel.

Source: Iranian Ships to Pass Suez on Feb. 22

CAIRO - Two Iranian naval ships are likely to pass the Suez Canal on Feb. 22, a canal source said Feb. 21, en route to Syria on a purported training mission that Israel regards as a provocation.
"Their shipping has indicated this evening that their passage will be made on Tuesday at dawn," said the source on condition of anonymity, a day after a canal official said the two vessels would transit the canal on Feb. 23.

Reportedly bound for Syria, a destination that necessarily involves passing Israel, the patrol frigate Alvand and support ship Kharg would be the first Iranian warships through Suez since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Officials at the Egypt-run canal had previously said privately that they expected the two vessels to pass on Feb. 21, just days after the U.S. aircraft carrier Enterprise steamed through Suez in the opposite direction.
That was later revised to Feb. 23.
In the wake of President Hosni Mubarak's ouster on Feb. 11, Egypt gave its green light on Feb. 18 for the Iranian warships to transit the canal into the Mediterranean.
Egypt's official MENA news agency has reported that the request for the ships to transit the canal said they were not carrying weapons or nuclear and chemical materials.
The 1,500-tonne Alvand is normally armed with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles, while the larger 33,000-tonne Kharg has a crew of 250 and facilities for up to three helicopters, Iran's official Fars news agency has said.
On Feb. 20, after a weekly meeting of his cabinet, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the ships' arrival in the region 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," he said.
"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," he added, according to a statement from his office.
Earlier this week, Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called the move a "provocation."
But 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 ships will spend a few days in Syrian ports for training purposes," having already visited several countries including Oman and Saudi Arabia," the diplomat added.

Belgium Probes Arms Sales to Kadhafi Regime

BRUSSELS - Belgium's regional government of Wallonia came under fire Feb. 21 for authorizing the sale of weapons to Libya in 2009, prompting a probe into whether the arms were used against protesters.
The governments of the French-speaking region asked the Belgian ambassador in Tripoli to ask Libyan authorities how the weapons have been used, said Christopher Barzal, spokesman for Wallonia's regional leader Rudy Demotte.

Wallonia gave an export license to Liege-based FN Herstal for the sale of 367 F2000 assault rifles, 367 P90 submachine guns, 367 Five-Seven handguns, 20 Minimi light machine guns, 22,000 rifle grenades and 1.134 million rounds of ammunition for these weapons, for a total value of 6.9 million euros.
The license also authorized the sale of 2,000 FN 303, a compressed-air gun that fires projectiles which, according to the firm's website, can be used to stop a "hostile but unarmed individual or group" among other things.
The sale of these so-called "less-lethal" weapons was valued at 5.3 million euros.
The final use certificate states that the weapons are for the exclusive use of the Libyan army's 32nd elite forces battalion for a mission to protect "humanitarian aid convoys to Darfur", Barzal said.
The Belgian Human Rights League expressed fears that the weapons could have been used by the regime of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi to repress anti-government protests, but it admitted it had no proof.
"The probability is very low, but we have asked the ambassador to verify urgently," Barzal said.
The European Union lifted an arms embargo on Libya in 2004.
In Belgium's decentralized political system, the regions are responsible for approving licenses for arm exports.

Italy on Alert as Libyan Colonels Flee to Malta

ROME - Italy put its air bases on maximum alert on Feb. 21 after two Libyan air force colonels fled to the Mediterranean island of Malta in fighter jets saying they had refused orders to bomb protesters.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who had been reticent to criticize veteran Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, also condemned the "unacceptable" use of violence against civilians and said he was "alarmed" at the turmoil in Libya.

The violence in Libya also sent shockwaves through the Italian stock market, which dropped 3.59 percent as some of Italy's biggest companies have extensive Libyan capital or major investments in the north African state.
Meanwhile, authorities in Malta said they were holding two Libyan pilots who landed earlier on Feb. 21 for questioning after the men said they were forced to flee their base in eastern Benghazi when it was taken over by protesters.
"One of the pilots requested political asylum" after the two descended from their single-seater Mirage F1 jets, a government spokesman said.
Two helicopters also landed at the same time carrying seven passengers who said they were French nationals working on oil rigs near Benghazi, the base of the popular uprising.
The markings on the French-registered Super Puma helicopters were for Heli Union - a company specializing in air transport for oil and gas majors.
The helicopters were given permission to land but had not been given clearance to leave Libya, indicating they had escaped, military sources said.
Malta is the European Union member state closest to Libyan shores, located just 340 kilometres (210 miles) north of the Libyan coastline.
After the landings in Malta, Italy said it had put its air bases on high alert and was moving air force and navy helicopters to southern Italy.
Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said Italy was also deploying the Elettra, a military vessel used for intelligence and reconnaissance.
Italian experts have warned of a massive influx of refugees from Libya if there is a power vacuum in the country.
Berlusconi is to meet with the defense, foreign and interior ministers Feb. 22 for talks on the crisis in north Africa.
Italy and Libya signed a friendship treaty in August 2008 that opened a new chapter in relations and led to massive investments, formally ending historic resentment against Italy - Libya's colonial ruler between 1911 and 1942.
Berlusconi said at the time that Italy would invest five billion dollars in Libya as compensation for colonization over the next 25 years.
Italy has since become the biggest exporter to Libya, with a 17.5 percent share of the market, and it is the main outlet for Libyan exports.
Libya and veteran ruler Moamer Kadhafi's family have also taken major stakes in leading Italian businesses including its biggest bank UniCredit, the defense and industry giant Finmeccanica and first-division football club Juventus.
Italian energy giant ENI, the biggest foreign oil producer in Libya, saw its share price plummet 5.12 percent after it said it was evacuating "non-essential" expatriate employees and the families of all foreign staff.
Finmeccanica, whose share price dropped by 2.69 percent and in which Libya has a 2.01 percent stake, also said it was also pulling out of the country.

Alleged Break-In Clouds S. Korea-Indonesia Deal

SEOUL - South Korean intelligence officials allegedly broke into the hotel room of a visiting Indonesian delegate last week to copy computer files on possible arms deals between the two governments, according to sources here and Feb. 21 news reports.
Seoul officials are expressing concern that the episode could provoke a diplomatic feud and harm the government's efforts to sell its T-50 supersonic trainer jet and other defense equipment to the Southeast Asian nation.

The Indonesian government has asked Seoul's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to figure out just what happened, said ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae.
"We are verifying the facts, and we agreed to inform the Indonesian authorities as soon as we are done," Cho said.
Officials with the National Intelligence Service (NIS) denied the allegations and declined to elaborate.
South Korean police has been investigating the Feb. 16 incident, which occurred at the Lotte Hotel in central Seoul, where a 50-strong Indonesian delegation was staying.
The delegation led by Hatta Rajasa, coordinating minister for the economy, and Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, arrived here Feb. 15 for a three-day run to discuss ways of boosting economic ties with Seoul.
Indonesia's potential purchase of South Korea's T-50 Golden Eagle trainer aircraft was referred to as a top topic, as Jakarta has shortlisted the T-50, co-developed by Korea Aerospace Industries and Lockheed Martin of the United States, as one of the three candidates for its advanced jet trainer requirement.
Competitors are said to be Russia's Yak-130 and the Czech-built L-159B, according to the Defense Acquisition Procurement Agency.
According to police officers, three unidentified intruders, two men and one woman who are believed to be members of the NIS, broke into a suite on the 19th floor of the five-star hotel.
The break-in was made right after most of the delegation departed for the South Korean presidential office for a courtesy call on President Lee Myung-bak.
The alleged trespassers may have used a USB memory stick to copy files from one of the two laptop computers left in the room but fled after being witnessed by an aide to a visiting Indonesian envoy.
Whether or not the intruders succeeded in getting access to the computer files remains unclear, according to the police. The laptops were handed over for an investigation, but the Indonesian aide requested their return the next day.
"If that's true, I'm just surprised that this kind of amateurish operations had been conducted," a military source said. "Only thing we can guess is that the Lee Myung-bak administration could be too pressed to make the first sale of the T-50 following the back-to-back defeats in the trainer contests in the United Arab Emirates and Singapore for the past years."
Citing an unidentified government source, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper said the agents "were trying to figure out the Indonesian delegation's negotiating strategies" regarding the potential purchase of the T-50, K2 Black Panther main battle tank and the K30 Biho 30mm self-propelled twin-gun system.
The KAI-Lockheed team has fought an uphill battle to explain to potential customers the T-50's performance-to-price ratio after it lost to Italy's M-346 jet both in the UAE and Singapore because of the "luxury" jet's price of about 25 billion won ($22 million).
The single-engine T-50 features digital flight controls and a modern, ground-based training system. It is designed to have the maneuverability, endurance and systems to prepare pilots to fly next-generation fighters, such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, the F-22 Raptor, the Rafale and the F-35 Lightning II.
The jet has a top speed of Mach 1.4 and an operational range of 1,851 kilometers.
Potential customers for the South Korean trainer jet include the United States, Iraq, Greece and Poland.
Meanwhile, in an interview with the Jakarta Post, Hatta claimed the intrusion was a "misunderstanding." The Indonesian economy minister said the three intruders were actually hotel guests who happened to enter the wrong room.
"Instead of entering their own room, 1961, the guests unintentionally entered room 2061, which belonged to an Industry Ministry official," Hatta said. "But the misunderstanding was immediately cleared up. And the laptop which was unintentionally opened by the guests consisted only of PowerPoint slide shows about the condition of our industry, which would be presented by Industry Minister M. Hidayat before our Korean counterparts."

IDEX: UAE To Modify Black Hawks Into Gunships

ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates is set to turn a number of its Sikorsky Black Hawks into gunships in a deal with the U.S. helicopter maker worth nearly 1 billion Arab Emirate dirhams ($272 million).

The announcement of a plan to buy weaponization kits for 23 of its Black Hawk UH-60M helicopters was the pick of a 4 billion Arab Emirate dirham order bonanza unveiled by the UAE armed forces at the IDEX show Feb. 21 in Abu Dhabi.
Included in the list of 21 orders was a second deal with Sikorsky, this time a program to train Black Hawk pilots and technicians in a contract valued at 65 million Arab Emirate dirhams. The scheme to turn the UH-60M into an air assault machine gives the U.S. helicopter maker a launch customer for the Battle Hawk weaponization package it has been working on for some time now.
A Sikorsky spokesman here was unable to give additional information on the deals.
Information previously released by the company shows the weaponization package will give the UAE military a helicopter able to fire rockets, heavy-caliber machine guns and missiles from four weapon stations.
The bulk of the work will be undertaken by AMMROC, the maintenance, overhaul and repair center set up here last year in a joint venture between Sikorsky and a local company, Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies.
With further development work still needed on the weaponization package, sources said it was likely the first modified helicopters would be handed over to the UAE around 2014. The deal could be expanded later to cover further weaponization kits, the sources said.
UAE has long been tipped as a launch customer for the Battle Hawk package, but Sikorsky wasn't the only helicopter manufacturer to benefit from new orders here.
AgustaWestland secured a 336 million Arab Emirate dirham order for the delivery of four AW139 rotorcraft for VIP duties.
The helicopter deals kicked off what is likely to become a daily routine of contract announcements here if the last IDEX show provides an example. Almost every day at IDEX 2009, the IDEX spokesman arrived in the press center to reel off a long list of orders running into billions of dirhams.
The centerpiece announcement in 2009 was the purchase of Alenia Aermacchi M-346 trainers and light attack aircraft. That deal remains on ice with the two sides at loggerheads over a number of issues, and there is little indication the deal will be signed any time soon.
Asked whether there had been any progress toward signing the deal, IDEX spokesman Maj. Gen. Obaid Al Ketbi said there was "nothing much happening in that area."
Then, as now, many of the announcements for small-value deals caught contractors by surprise.
Included in the list of contracts this time around is South Korean company Hanwha, which is supplying arms and ammunition; engines for unmanned air systems from Denel of South Africa; fire control systems for naval guns from Selex of Italy; munitions from Diehl BGT Defence of Germany; and bulletproof vests from local company Al Naboodah Protection.
The IDEX spokesman there would be more deals to come over the next few days.