Defensiebegrotingen en -problematiek, niet NL

[andré herc]

Boeing Delivers UK Royal Air Force's 8th C-17 Globemaster III

Delivery of additional airlifter comes 2 months after contract signing

RAF C-17 fleet has surpassed 74,000 flight hours

LONG BEACH, Calif., May 18, 2012 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] delivered the United Kingdom's eighth C-17 Globemaster III to the Royal Air Force (RAF) today during a ceremony at the company's final assembly facility in Long Beach.

"I'm honored and delighted to deliver the Royal Air Force's newest C-17 to join the fleet at Number 99 Squadron, where our seven C-17s are in constant demand flying missions in support of Defence and other government agencies' requirements," said RAF Wing Cmdr. David Manning, Officer Commanding 99 Squadron. "It's a great feeling to know that we have the capability to deliver crucial supplies to the front lines with little notice, or to transport injured troops home with a better chance of survival because of the capability and flexibility of the C-17. This newest C-17 will be a welcome addition to the Air Force fleet."

The RAF C-17s are operated by 99 Squadron at RAF Brize Norton. The first RAF C-17s entered service in 2001 and have surpassed 74,000 flight hours -- 15 percent above the projected rate. The UK Ministry of Defence, citing ongoing demand, ordered additional airlifters for delivery in 2008 and 2010 and contracted for its eighth C-17 in March.

"RAF C-17s are ever-present when there's a need for humanitarian relief or peacekeeping around the world," said Bob Ciesla, Boeing Airlift vice president and C-17 program manager. "We're proud to support the Royal Air Force in providing for the mobility needs of their great nation, and we are grateful for the partnership with the UK Ministry of Defence and U.S. Air Force that made this delivery possible in such a short time."

"The RAF fleet's airlift capacity, increased by this latest delivery, is backed by a comprehensive sustainment services program," said Boeing Defence UK Managing Director Mike Kurth. "As part of the worldwide C-17 'virtual fleet,' RAF C-17s are supported through the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III Integrated Sustainment Program (GISP), a Performance-Based Logistics agreement. The support provided to the RAF under the GISP arrangement results in an excellent mission-capable rate at one of the lowest costs per flying hour."

http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=2258

En dat twee maanden na het ondertekenen van het contract

A new C-17 transport aircraft has been unveiled today by the Defence Secretary at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHqbwxa3Hf8

[andré herc]

Australian Super Seasprites to fly again?

In the latter half of this decade the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) will have seven vessels which could and should embark a ship's helicopter. But the RNZN only has five SH-2G(NZ) Seasprite naval combat helicopters available to it. This makes it very difficult to embark them on more than two ships at any one time because of heavy maintenance requirements. The usual multiplier of helicopter fleet size to ship numbers is just under three to one. In other words, to have the ability to embark seven helicopters simultaneously, the RNZN would ideally require twenty helicopters.

16th May 2012

voor meer info
http://www.asiapacificdefencereporter.com/articles/237/Australian-Super-Seasprites-to-fly-again

[Lex]

In Noorwegen begrijpen ze het tenminste... Nu maar maar hopen dat de Haagse "Narcisten" het ook begrijpen.

Ja hoor, het Haaagsche begrijpt het als de beste.
Achter de dijken hebben ze alles in de hand, het stemvee laat de lastenverzwaring gedwee over zich heen komen, shit dit is hier off-topic.

[Harald]

Norway Eyes Sub Renewal or Acquisition Program

OSLO — The Norwegian government likely will decide the future of its submarine force by 2015 or 2016, when it will either buy new vessels or conduct a second upgrade of its existing Ula-class fleet.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) has allocated funding to extend the life of Norway's six Ula boats. The recent midlife upgrades to the Ula-class subs, which began in 2008 and will be completed in 2014, will ensure they can operate up to 2020. The focus now is on strengthening Norway's submarine capability in the Arctic Ocean and territorial waters around the country's High North region.

Tactical and capability reports produced for the MoD have underlined the importance of retaining a submarine fleet and not following the route traveled by neighboring Denmark, which mothballed its Narhvalen, Tumleren-Kobben and Kronborg-class subs in 2004.

"I don't believe that Norway will ever be without its own submarine capability," said Defense Minister Espen Barth Eide. "This is because we have vast sea areas and Russia as a neighbor. We have 2 million square kilometers of sea to monitor outside the North Sea."

Whether the MoD decides to again renew the Ulas or acquire a new class of next-generation stealth submarines, the bill is likely to run between $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion.

A third option is to renew part of the Ula-class fleet while acquiring two or more next-generation subs. The time frame being considered requires funding for either course of action by parliament no later than 2017. Effectively, this means the MoD will need to complete the selection process in 2015 or 2016.

The military view, which is fully supported by the government, is that a submarine fleet is the most effective deterrent and intelligence-gathering resource to protect Norway's coasts and sovereignty in its Arctic territories.

Norway has had informal contacts with Sweden relating to the Kockums-designed, next-generation A26 stealth submarine, which is under development. Other possible European acquisition options include France's Barracuda-class submarine or the German-designed Type 212 or Type 214 subs.

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120524/DEFREG01/305240004/Norway-Eyes-Sub-Renewal-Acquisition-Program?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Norway wants to keep its submarines

In Noorwegen begrijpen ze het tenminste... Nu maar maar hopen dat de Haagse "Narcisten" het ook begrijpen.

[Lex]

Norway wants to keep its submarines

Cooperation and distribution of tasks within NATO is excellent, but Norway will not abandon having its own submarine fleet because of the vast sea areas and the proximity to Russia, says Defense Minister Espen Barth Eide.

'Smart defense' – the concept that not all allies need to have all possible military capacities – is one of the main issues on the NATO top meeting in Chicago.

Pooling and sharing capabilities is smart and reasonable, but Norway will not give up having its own fleet of submarines, Eide says:

"I don't think Norway will ever be without its own submarines, because we have such large sea areas and Russia as a neighbor", he says to Aftenposten.

The former German Defense Minister Volker Rühe has suggested that the countries around the North Sea should combine their submarines in one fleet. Defense Minister Eide thinks this is reasonable, but that Norway will need to have its own submarine fleet anyway.

"We have two million square kilometers of sea to monitor outside the North Sea".

Norway has six submarines of the Ula-class. They were built in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They are now undergoing modernization which will make them operational to 2020.

What will happen after 2020 is up to the politicians to decide. To replace the Norwegian Navy's submarines with new ones is estimated to cost NOK 20-25 billion (€2.6-3.2 billion).

The Ula-class submarines are among the most silent and maneuverable submarines in the world. This, in combination with the relatively small size, makes them difficult to detect from surface vessels and ideal for operations in coastal areas.

Barents Observer,
May 21, 2012

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

How the Trident replacement and the MoD's £38bn 'black hole' help to subsidise India\

By William Forbes
PUBLISHED: 12:23 GMT, 23 May 2012

'My right hon. Friend is absolutely right to draw attention to one part of Labour's black hole — the unfunded Trident commitment.'

I recently described the infamous 'Black Hole' in the MoD accounts as an illusion cleverly manipulated to deceive the British taxpayers. On Tuesday last week, only seven months after taking office, the Defence Secretary, Mr Philip Hammond, confirmed this with the announcement that he had not only filled the £38 billion 'hole' – he had another £2 billion spare.

This is not his first miracle. Within a few days of taking office he discovered that the supposedly insolvent MoD had £560 million unused in a budget intended to finance the advice of external consultants. This half billion is understood to be real money that was there, waiting to be found – but a total of £40 billion, £40,000,000,000?  Surely not.

Triumphant: Defence Secretary Philip Hammond claims to have balanced the MoD's books
The truth is that the missing £38 billion, conveniently ascribed to the 'mismanagement' of the MoD under Mr Gordon Brown, mesmerised the public into accepting there was no alternative to decommissioning warships, selling very cheaply aircraft that had just been expensively upgraded, discharging recently trained pilots, and destroying ancient regiments.

The money to be 'saved' by this vandalism then became available for Mr Cameron's ideas of 'soft power' which, in brief, is to be his way of defending our nation and our interests by giving money to those countries whose citizens might be tempted to do us harm. This 21st-century Danegeld is to be used, for example, to finance women's education in countries such as Somalia and Pakistan so that they will turn their sons away from recruitment for terrorist attacks in London.
More...RIGHTMINDS: Withdrawal from Afghanistan by 2014 is a credible military strategy, but ONLY if NATO commits to it utterly
RIGHTMINDS: Three cheers for the balanced defence budget, but wars are not won by cost-cutting

Very quickly after Mr Hammond's statement in Parliament, posts were appearing on the Internet questioning the nature of a £38 billion 'hole' that could be filled so quickly and, following the blog, accusing ministers of deliberately misleading the public.  One signed by 'Cassandra' was typical – it opened with this:

'As is usual with this most dishonest of regimes the truth is hidden behind a web of lies; the supposed black hole was in fact a sneaky wheeze to get the public to accept the plan to smash our armed forces and reform the bits into part of the EU armed forces.'

Unfunded: Mr Hammond claimed the Royal Navy's new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers constituted part of the 'black hole'
But it is not necessary to accept theories of a European Union conspiracy to recognise the immense damage inflicted on our defensive abilities when our Armed Forces are allowed to sink in size below their critical mass. 

So what was the 'black hole' that has now disappeared?  For a long time no one knew, perhaps because the MoD's accounts were in such a mess (as the National Audit Office and two Parliamentary Select Committees have stated) that it was very difficult to see what precisely was happening to the Defence budget.  But now we have been told, by the man who has filled in the 'hole' of £38 billion, that whatever it was it was created by 'Labour's fiscal incontinence' (does that mean financial prodigality?), and that a 'yawning black hole' had been left by Labour's equipment programme.   

Oversized: Sections of HMS Queen Elizabeth's hull are put together
What Mr Hammond was implying is that orders had been placed for equipment for which no funds had been allocated. What equipment might this be?  He gave us examples.

First, 'two 65,000 tonnes carriers, three times the size of a typical STOVL carrier' (such as the three STOVL carriers, of which HMS Ark Royal was the most famous, we already had and are now to lose for reasons most analysts cannot fathom).

Unfathomable: Why the MoD is replacing the three existing STOVL aircraft carriers is a mystery to many analysts
Second, 'the unfunded Trident commitment'!  Until that weird moment last Tuesday no one outside the secret Mad Hatter's world of MoD finance knew or even suspected that Trident was in the Black Hole.  Perhaps Mr Hammond had not intended to confess this, and the revelation slipped out when answering a question from his predecessor, Mr Fox, who stated that he had inherited from Labour 'a commitment to the replacement of the Trident programme that had no funding line whatsoever.'
Third (aimed at Mr Brown), the '22 Chinook helicopters that the former Prime Minister famously announced but then forgot to fund'.  (The present Prime Minister also has promised Chinooks, greatly needed by the troops in Afghanistan, but intends to withdraw the troops before the Chinooks will arrive there.)

Commitment: Another 22 Chinook helicopters were promised by Gordon Brown, with no means to pay for them
Does this make sense?  Well, when the MoD twelve months ago released the likely cost of the Trident replacement programme, the Defence Secretary, then Mr Fox, suggested that by the time the new submarines were built the figure would have doubled even before the price of the warheads, the lease fees for the missiles, and all the running costs were included.  It would have doubled, he said, to £25 billion.

So with the unfunded Trident replacement programme at £25 billion, and the unfunded increase in the carrier programme at £7 billion, and the Joint Strike Fighter F-35 aircraft which could not be funded because no one knew, and still no one knows, the price, we may have the notional constituents of the Black Hole which the Defence Secretary has filled, but he has not told us where he found the money to do this.  So was it a 'loaves-and-fishes' miracle?

Mystery: No one has a clue how much the F35-B STOVL version of the Joint Strike Fighter will eventually cost
The number of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters that the MoD planned to buy has been reduced, but the new number has not been published.  However, Mr Hammond has spoken of having 12 F-35B STOVL aircraft at sea, and of having a surge ability of 36.  That number for each carrier must be supplemented by an attrition reserve, a service reserve (for a rolling maintenance programme), and a training squadron, so we may calculate on around one hundred being bought.

Price?  This month the US Air Force contracted to buy twelve of the simpler F-35A variant for a price equivalent to £125 million each.  The MoD will pay more than that because it is buying the expensive F-35B STOVL variant, because it is a foreign buyer and will have an overseas marketing contribution added to the basic figure, and because it insists on a British weapons pack and British electronics, all of which will increase the price significantly, certainly by 20 per cent.  This produces an estimate of £15 billion, three times the original expectation (which is about par for the MoD's procurement calculations and thus of no surprise).

Creative accounting: Britain's nuclear deterrent has never been paid for out of MoD funds
Well, did the Black Hole ever exist?  Not really.  It was a cell on a spreadsheet, but it was used politically and very cleverly. It is still being used politically.

What must never be forgotten is that most of that cell was occupied by Trident (which historically has not been funded by the MoD), and that the cell was manipulated to give an illusory justification for the dismemberment of our Armed Forces to help finance Mr Cameron's unpopular, ring-fenced and growing budget for Overseas Aid.

Included among the recipients of Mr Cameron's generosity with our defence funds is India, a country with its own space programme, nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, an aircraft carrier programme, and a confidence in its future that allows it to say, as it does say, that it doesn't need our money.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2148698/How-myth-MoDs-38bn-black-hole-helps-subsidise-India.html#ixzz1vlUH1FYY

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Think Tank Calls for Major U.S. Defense Reductions

May. 23, 2012 - 05:57PM   
By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS 

In sharp contrast to Republican lawmakers' strident calls to protect U.S. defense spending and even raise weapon budgets, a Washington think tank closely tied to the Obama administration is calling for significant reductions in many Pentagon programs, including the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the littoral combat ship and the Ground Combat Vehicle.

"We disagree with those who argue that preserving American military pre-eminence requires maintaining or increasing current levels of defense spending," the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) authors wrote in the report, released May 23.

But the group also warned against cutting back too much.

"We continue to believe," they wrote, "that the defense budget can be reduced responsibly, but that total defense cuts beyond $500 billion to $550 billion over 10 years, measured relative to the Pentagon's current level of spending, would place at high risk the U.S. military's ability to execute America's long-standing and generally successful military strategy of global engagement."

The report's authors — David Barno, Nora Bensahel, Matthew Irvine and Travis Sharp — based their recommendations on four principles:

• Naval and air forces should be prioritized to project power and deter aggression in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East theatres.

• Interdependence among the military services should be increased to strengthen joint effectiveness and reduce unnecessary redundancy.

• Military requirements should be matched to threats based on a "holistic analysis" of the capabilities of the joint force.

• Technological investment should be accelerated to leap ahead of the planned next generation of existing systems, "especially technologies related to unmanned, autonomous and artificial intelligence systems."

Among the report's recommendations are:

• The chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff should "assert greater authority in challenging combatant command (COCOM) and service requirements. This would be a significant cultural shift inside the Pentagon, which is geared to approve COCOM requests rather than question them.

• The number of geographic U.S. combatant commands should be shrunk from six to four, merging Africa Command with European Command and Northern Command with Southern Command. Administrative service component commands should also be combined for efficiencies.

• The Pentagon's civilian work force should be shrunk by 100,000 workers over the next decade, and restrictions placed on the number of contractor "augmentees" assigned to headquarters staffs.

On a service-by-service basis, CNAS recommends:

• The Army would shrink to about 480,000 active-duty troops and transfer one-quarter of its active armored brigades to the reserves. Fielding of the Ground Combat Vehicle would be delayed until 2021; the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle would be reduced to smaller serial buys; and the Distributed Common Ground System would be canceled. Stryker combat vehicle production would be canceled; most mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles would be stored; the Humvee modernization program would be canceled; and exports of M1 Abrams tanks would be increased.

• The Air Force should slash its planned buy of 1,763 F-35A Joint Strike Fighters to between 1,000 and 1,200; reduce the KC-16A tanker inventory; and assume the full inter-theater tactical airlift mission — including taking over the mission of current Navy and Marine Corps C-130 Hercules transports. A new requirement should be issued for a long-range, stealthy unmanned aerial system strike and reconnaissance platform, and development of the long-range strike bomber should continue, although the current inventory of 80 to 100 aircraft should be re-evaluated. Agreements for access to and presence at overseas bases, particularly in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East theaters, should be increased.

• The Navy should reduce its carrier strike force to 10 ships and nine carrier air wings, and reduce by half the current planned inventory of 369 F-35C carrier variants of the JSF. Planned production of 55 littoral combat ships would end with 27 ships, a production rate of two attack submarines per year should be continued through the early 2020s and the amphibious fleet held at 30 ships. Development of the X-47B unmanned aerial system demonstrator should be accelerated and a follow-on unmanned strike program be made a program of record.

And while CNAS recommends one-quarter of carrier-based strike assets to be unmanned by 2025, it recommends cutting in half the number of MQ-4C Broad-Area Maritime Surveillance unmanned aircraft. As with the Air Force, more ships should be based in the Western Pacific and Middle East regions.

• The Marine Corps should shrink to 175,000 active-duty personnel and sustain a three-Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) global rotation; move one California-based MEU to northern Australia; and preposition ashore more equipment in Australia, Guam and Qatar. CNAS recommends continuing current plans for the F-35B short-takeoff, vertical-landing JSF aircraft, but would eliminate Marine F/A-18 C and D Hornet and EA-6B Prowler squadrons from regular carrier operations. MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor procurement would end in 2016 with a total of 314 aircraft; current helicopter procurement programs would continue; and the numbers of C-130 and C-9 transports, executive jets, E/A-18G Growlers and unmanned aerial systems would be reduced.

The full report is available at http://www.cnas.org/files/documents/publications/CNAS_SustainablePreeminence

http://www.defensenews.com/article/20120523/DEFREG02/305230008/Think-Tank-Calls-Major-U-S-Defense-Reductions?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Turkey pushes U.S. for sale of drones: report

Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Turkey wants to buy armed drones whose sale depends on an approval from Congress amid concerns that pro-Israeli lobbies may hinder such a sale due to Ankara's tense relations with the Jewish state. (File photo)

The Obama administration is trying to convince the U.S. Congress to approve the sale of spy drones to Turkey for its campaign against Kurdish rebels, the Turkish president was quoted as saying Tuesday.

"Actually the administration has a positive stance (over the sale)," President Abdullah Gul was quoted as telling the Anatolia news agency in Chicago where he was attending a NATO summit.

"They (the administration) are trying to convince the Congress," he added.

The United States has deployed Predator drones to Turkey from neighboring Iraq for surveillance flights in support of Ankara's fight against Kurdish rebels, Pentagon announced in November.

After U.S. forces withdrew from Iraq in December, the four American unmanned aircraft were shifted from an air field in northern Iraq to the Incirlik air base in Turkey.

But Turkey wants to buy armed drones whose sale depends on an approval from Congress amid concerns that pro-Israeli lobbies may hinder such a sale due to Ankara's tense relations with the Jewish state.

A botched air raid launched by the Turkish military that killed 34 civilians in December may also complicate further sales.

Gul met with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the NATO summit late Monday.

"I've repeated our demands," said Gul. "It is necessary to trust, not envy such a country, which is an important ally. As you know, President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton and her assistants are doing their best."

Gul declined to say how many drones Turkey wants to buy from the United States.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms for Kurdish independence in southeastern Turkey in 1984.

It sparked a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/05/22/215741.html

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Cartwright Targets F-35, AirSea Battle; Warns of $250B More Cuts

By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.

Published: May 15, 2012

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA: The Pentagon should brace for another $250 billion or more in cuts even if sequestration does not occur and must revolutionize how and what it buys, warned Hoss Cartwright, former vice-chairman of the Joint Staff, in a speech that savaged sacred cows from the Joint Strike Fighter to cybersecurity to the AirSea Battle concept.

"We just took a $480-some billion reduction" in the current budget proposal, Cartwright said at the annual Joint Warfighting Conference hosted by the US Naval Institute and the industry group AFCEA. (Click here for video). "While we squeal a lot about that reduction, we were heading that way anyway," he said. Whether sequestration occurs or not, the pattern of past post-war drawdowns strongly suggest we're heading further down the budget cutting road. "$480 billion is about a 10 percent reduction," he said. "Historically we've run about 20% reductions after these conflicts. We're about halfway there."

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That means "we've got at least another increment of a couple hundred [billion]," Cartwright went on. "If you take another two hundred billion out of this budget, we're going to start to run into a problem if you don't start thinking about the strategy," he said. "You really need strategy before you spend money, and what you spend it on needs to be something you can actually afford."

On the ground, the current strategy is one shaped by a decade of optimization for operations from static bases in Afghanistan and Iraq. "We are now an occupation force," Cartwright said. "When you go to battle by getting up in the morning in your compound, getting into your armored vehicles, go out and patrol, and return to your compound at night, that is an occupation force." With all its armored vehicles, its body armor, and -- equally important -- its massive logistical tail, "it is a very heavy force, too heavy to move by air," he said. So if the Marine Corps and Army recapitalize their ground vehicle fleets without reconceptualizing them, they will lack the agility that future operations require.

In the air and on the sea, said Cartwright, "today we talk about 'AirSea Battle,'" the Air Force and Navy-driven concept for operations in the vast reaches of the Pacific. "To some, it's becoming the Holy Grail," he said, "[but] it's neither a doctrine nor a scenario and it's trying to be all things to all people." Worst of all, said Cartwright, "AirSea Battle is demonizing China. That's not in anybody's interest."

Nor did Cartwright have much patience for the Administration's vaunted "pivot" to the Asia-Pacific. "We're 'pivoting to the Pacific,' a really poor choice of words," he said. "The rest of the world interprets that as we're turning our back on them... pivoting away from the rest of the world."

Without a coherent strategy, "you just go in and plan for everything and then let the budgeteers decide what you'll actually buy, which is what you're doing today," Cartwright said. "Left to our own devices, we would normally hollow the force," he said. "That is really a recipe for disaster." The general, known as one of the Pentagon's smartest strategists, said that when he talks to servicemembers around the military about such mundane necessities as spare parts he's, "hearing all of the stories about shortages, about what they don't have, what they need. We have to be careful."

The problem, Cartwright said, is that today's procurement process still focuses on "platforms" -- jets, ships, submarines, ground vehicles -- and not on the information technology those platforms carry. But technologies like the jet aircraft and the submarine are mature ones, with "marginal space for improvement," whereas rapid advances in information technology offer huge returns for investment because available computing power doubles every 24 months. When the US discovers it's developed the wrong platforms and has to physically rebuild them, as with the frantic effort to add more armor to Humvees and buy Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicles, it takes years and billions of dollars, Cartwright said, but a complete update to the electronics of, for example, the Reaper unmanned air vehicle fleet took less than $300 million and less than a year of time. "Sometimes you will have to buy an MRAP," said Cartwright, but it's a sign that the enemy has out-thought you.

Cartwright fears the Pentagon's most expensive program, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, might prove to be as vulnerable to enemy hackers as the old under-armored Humvees were to roadside bombs. "We built the F-35 with absolutely no protection for it from a cyber standpoint," he said. Just as historical aircraft used to have an "EMCON switch" -- short for "emissions control" -- that could turn off all electronic transmissions from the aircraft when it needed to avoid detection, Cartwright said, today's aircraft need a switch that shuts off all the electronic apertures through which they can potentially receive transmissions, lest electronically savvy enemies hack into them. "As a guy who spends his life on the offensive side of cyber, every aperture out there is a target," Cartwright said.

"There is a nexus coming between electronic warfare and cyber," between traditional electronic jamming and countermeasures and new-fangled hacking, Cartwright concluded. "One knocks the door down and the other goes in and does the dirty work." The current turf wars between the electronic warfare and cybersecurity communities miss the vital point, he said. In the cyber realm, "we've been thinking 90 percent defense, 10 percent offense. That's bass-ackwards for us," he said: We need to stand ready to seize the electromagnetic offensive.

http://defense.aol.com/2012/05/15/cartwright-savages-f-35-airsea-battle-warns-of-250-billion-mo/

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Military to shed air defence system as part of cutbacks, documents reveal

By David Pugliese, The Ottawa CitizenApril 12, 2012

The Canadian Forces will get rid of its air defence equipment, shut down military housing in Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg and cut back on army training, according to documents leaked to the Citizen.

Pilots will also fly less, security units made up of reservists who guard ports will be disbanded, and buildings will be closed in Moncton, N.B., and other locations across the country to save money.

The Canadian Forces will also get rid of its TOW 2 launchers and missiles, just three years after the government approved a $100-million purchase of the weapons.

The Canadian special forces command on Star Top Road in Ottawa will reduce its headquarters operating budget, reduce domestic and international travel and find ways to save money in how it purchases ammunition. Special forces will also be required to scale back on individual training.

The moves are part of the Conservative government's strategic review to trim costs among federal departments and organizations.

The Defence Department did not comment.

But privately, military officers say some of the moves, such as getting rid of the older Leopard 1 tanks as well as out-dated radios and vehicles, make sense.

Others, however, have questioned disposing of the Air Defence Anti-Tank System (ADATS) since that largely eliminates the air defence capability in the Canadian Forces.

In addition, the decision to get rid of the newly purchased TOW 2 missiles doesn't make sense, they say, since the savings would be around $20 million, even though more than $100 million was originally spent on acquiring the weapons.

Larger savings will come from the decision to cut army training on what that service considers non-essential activities. This includes maintenance and repair, garrison support, as well as personnel and information technology support, according to the documents. These cuts will save around $127 million.

Reducing the number of reservists who are currently serving in full-time positions will save another $82 million. Many of those are at various headquarters. Those numbers of reservists would drop from 7,200 to 4,500 by the spring of 2014.

Among the other initiatives outlined in the documents:

■ Military housing at Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg will be shut down.

■ The air force hopes to save $26 million by cutting flight hours of pilots and making more use of simulators.

■ Canadian military participation in national and community events will be reduced, saving $10 million.

■ Military facilities will be closed or reduced in size in Chilliwack, B.C., Calgary, Northern Ontario and London, Ont., as support units are moved to major bases.

■ Canadian army buildings in Moncton, N.B., will be shut down except for two in use by reserve units in the city.

■ A safety program that deals with the risks from unexploded bombs scattered at former military training sites across the country will be reduced. The removal of some of the bombs will either be stopped or reduced.

■ Recruiting offices in Sault Ste. Marie, Yellowknife, Rouyn-Noranda, Que., Thunder Bay, Saskatoon, Bathurst, N.B. and North Bay will be closed down.

■ A Canadian Forces health information phone line service will be shut down. The Canadian Forces will also no longer automatically pay for personnel who have been prescribed massage therapy and who are in receipt of a Veterans Affairs pension.

■ The availability of courses at the Royal Military College in Kingston and St-Jean, Que., will be reduced.

■ Duplication among the various commands headquartered in Ottawa will be reduced. The commands will share administrative services.

■ The navy will cease to operate reserve port security units. Those were originally established to back up government departments in protecting Canadian ports and harbours on short notice.

■ A navy centre in Victoria, BC that collects and analyzes acoustic data and intelligence will be shut down and its activities transferred to a similar operation in Halifax.

■ As previously reported in the Citizen, Canada will withdraw from NATO's Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) program as well as NATO's planned purchase of unmanned aerial vehicles. On Wednesday, air force chief Lt.-Gen. Andre Deschamps issued a message to personnel, noting that the withdrawal from the NATO AWACS program would take place over a three-year period. AWACS are airborne radar and targeting aircraft that officers say played a key role during the Libyan war.

■ Funding for the Ottawa-based Conference of Defence Associations is being withdrawn. The advocacy group, which lobbied for increases in military spending, received $100,000 a year from DND.

On Wednesday, Deschamps also noted that the air force would try to save money by cutting travel and using videoconferencing as well as reducing civilian staff. But he said that the air force sees such staff reductions handled through attrition.

© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

Dat zou vreemd zijn, want die hebben we al helemaal (de Orions) of voor driekwart (de M-fregatten) weg gedaan.....  

Druk me maar weer eens met de neus op de feiten...  

[KapiteinRob]

Ik krij zomaar een idee voor een nieuw projectje: de Joint Sub Fighter 

Dat zou vreemd zijn, want die hebben we al helemaal (de Orions) of voor driekwart (de M-fregatten) weg gedaan..... 

[jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)]

We hebben m.i. geen "onderduikende JSF's" nodig.

Ik krij zomaar een idee voor een nieuw projectje: de Joint Sub Fighter 

[KapiteinRob]

Dat is goed nieuws voor de UK, misschien een idee voor Nederland, maarja dan MOET er wel een conservatieve partij bestaan in Nederland.

Heb jij de illusie dat een conservatieve partij in Nederland nucleaire subs zal willen? Ik niet. Laten we vooral onze hoogstaande OZD met diesel-electrische subs houden. We hebben m.i. geen "onderduikende JSF's" nodig.