Robbin Laird, Author at Second Line of Defense

Evolving the F-16 for Expeditionary Operations: A Danish Perspective on Shaping a Multi-Mission Aircraft

Posted on October 30, 2018 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

10/30/2018

By Robbin Laird

During my visit to Denmark in October 2018, I had a chance to visit Fighter Wing Skrydstrup and my host for the day was “SON” Pedersen a 727 Fighter Squadron F-16 pilot and Electronic Warfare Office.

He has around 1600 flight hours on the F-16 with 400 in combat.

And one of his roles in the 727 Squadron at the Wing Level is working with his sister squadron the 730 on electronic warfare issues.

“SON” was part of the pilot cohort in the Royal Danish Air Force which experienced the growth of the Danish F-16 into a robust multi-mission aircraft.

The core focus of this growth was on air to ground threats and capabilities.

For example, the main ground based threat was MANPADS, and the Danes along with other F-16 partners evolved their IR defeat capabilities at the expense of dealing with radar-guided threats.

The multi-mission evolution pursued by the Danes was done in common with other F-16 partners, notably with the members of the EPAF or the European Participating Air Forces.

“For example, we are doing an upgrade on our network system which is being done with our partners which means that we share investments to get a new capability.

“We fly the same aircraft as our partners, which allows us to do common upgrades.”

One main trajectory for the F-16 upgrades has been with regard to air to ground weaponry.

The Danes now have a robust arsenal of air to ground weapons which include, GBU-49/GBU-54, GBU 12/24, GBU-31 v1/v3, and GBU-38/39 and the aircraft carries a 20mm gun as well.

The air to air side has not been as robustly upgraded which follows the course of the Danes doing focused investment on the core threats against which they are operating. For air-to-air missions they use the AIM-120B (AMRAAM), medium-range active missile, the AIM-9X Sidewinder, a high of bore sight short range missile and the M61A1 20mm gun.

As a fourth generation aircraft, upgrades have been done in a federated manner in which case by case upgrades have been done.

A number of sensors have been added in this manner, most notably the Litening G4 (ATP) pod that has provided both laser guidance to weapons, as well as secure video down and up link capabilities.

A key element of working integration has been through the Helmet Mounted Cuing System or HMCS.

The HMCS has provided a significant improvement in operational capability as it provides for both air to air and air to ground sensor fusion.

A unique aspect of the Danish F-16 helmet is the use of a Terma 3D audio system.

Terma has described its system which was added to the helmet as follows:

Terma’s 3D-Audio and Active Noise Reduction Systems for military aircraft improve situational awareness, reaction time, speech intelligibility, and flight safety by reducing the noise – acoustically and electrically – while enhancing the signal through digital 3D-audio and spatial communication channel separation.

Terma’s 3D-Audio digital intercom system is designed for the harsh acoustic environment found in most military aircraft. The system, which is already operational and fielded in F-16s, is designed as a form-fit replacement of the existing intercom system, including the amplifier and the headset – part of the pilot’s helmet. Although designed for the F-16, the system can be adapted to other plat- forms, and especially the noisiest of all aircraft, the helicopters, can benefit from the Terma system.

REDUCED STRESS AND FATIGUE

Noise in the cockpit is a serious stress factor. Therefore, the reduced noise level means less stress and fatigue for pilots and other crew members, especially during prolonged missions, thereby enhancing flight safety and mission effectiveness. The reduced noise level also allows pilots to reduce the volume of the intercom system, and thereby reduce the acoustic noise pressure and avoid the yellow earplugs, which many pilots use to prevent hearing damage.

Terma has achieved this reduced pilot noise exposure through developing a digital headset with built-in Active Noise Reduction (ANR) circuitry and Electrical Noise Reduction (ENR), which is powered through a standard intercom interface. The system offers considerable noise attenuation and is at the same time capable of reproducing 3D-Audio in stereo sound quality.

OPERATIONAL BENEFITS

3D-Audio, or spatial audio, is used in two ways to improve the quality of the acoustic messages presented to the pilot. First, it means spatial separation of messages (e.g. cues, VHF and UHF radio communication, warnings, and intercom). Because the messages are directional in the pilot’s earphones, it allows the pilot to focus on one message, the most relevant one, while he is still being kept aware of other messages.

REDUCED REACTION TIME

Second, and perhaps most importantly, 3D-Audio is especially useful when it comes to threat warnings. Not only does the pilot receive the warning from the exact direction of the threat, he will also, compared to a traditional voice message system, be able to initiate evasive manoeuvres a full second earlier, because he can act instinctively without the need to process any information mentally.

The 3D-Audio system makes the pilot aware of activities 360 degrees spherical. To a certain extent, it can be regarded as the audio equivalent of a helmet mounted display, where the visual information moves with head movements. In a similar manner, audio from a given direction will give real time information of direction changes, which is extremely important, especially in a missile attack situation.

With the F-35, the helmet is part of the overall integrated system of fused data and as such operates with much less fatigue and stress on the pilot than the evolved federated F-16 system.

But the Danes have clearly evolved their F-16s as part of the broader F-16 coalition to achieve much greater multi-mission capability.

Of course, the goal of a small air force is to be able to operate across the spectrum of warfare to support the political objectives of its nation’s leaders.

When the Danes conducted the replacement aircraft competition, the objective laid out in the above slide was really a key focus of what they were looking for in a replacement aircraft.

And moving from a multi-mission aircraft to a multi-domain aircraft emerged as a core objective of the competition, with the F-35 fitting their perceived needs.

A challenge which both Eurofighter and the F-18 faced was that the Danes have been part of a really remarkable transformation of the F-16 which made in their eyes the aircraft very competitive with either the Eurofighter or F-18.

They were looking for a leap forward as they needed to return to the challenges of direct defense and working deterrence with their formidable neighbor to the North.

As they evolved their aircraft, training needed to change for their pilots and maintainers.

The Danes have worked a unit training approach and have used new simulators purchased from L-3 as part of their evolved training approach.

Again, such an approach has laid a foundation for what they need to do next, which is to work force integration across their region to provide for deterrence in depth.

The past decade has been a period of evolution in Danish airpower and preparation for the future. But now the challenge is multi-domain, and not largely focused on air-to-ground.

This is a major shift and transition facing the Danes, but clearly their coalition approach does not leave them alone in working the learning curve for 21^stcentury deterrence in Europe.

The featured photo shows a Danish F-16 getting ready for engagement in the NATO Libyan operation in 2011, Operation Unified Protector.

The Brazilian Presidential Elections and Their Impact

Posted on October 29, 2018 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

10/29/2018

By Kenneth Maxwell

The second round of the Brazilian presidential elections took place on Sunday 28th October.

The victor was the far-right populist former army captain, Jair Bolsonaro, with 55.13% of the votes.

The first round had taken place place on October 7th.

Jair Bolsonaro came very close to winning the 50% of the valid votes needed to avoid a second round.

But with 46% of the votes he was forced into a runoff with Fernando Haddad, his opponent from the workers’s party (PT), who had received 29% of the votes.

The wide gap between the two candidades had narrowed considerably over the course of the campaign.

The Datafolha opinion poll (conducted between the 8-10 October) gave Bolsonaro 58% of the valid votes to Haddad 42%. On the eve of the election the difference in Datafola polls was 55% for Bolsonaro and 45% for Haddad.

The rejection rate for both candidades remained very high: At 45% for Bolsonaro and at 52% for Haddad.

But in the end Bolsonaro won decisively.

He received 57,797,416 votes, Haddad 47,040,380 votes.

But abstentions were high at 31,371,204 votes or 21.30% of the total votes.

Bolsonaro has been called the tropical Donald Tump and a Brazilian Rodrigo Duterte after the Philippines president.

Jair Bolsonaro and Fernando Haddad: What do they represent?

Fernando Haddad (55) was the substitute for the jailed former two term president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, better known simply as “Lula.”

Jair Messias Bolsonaro is a reserve army captain, fromer parachutist, and long term congressman.

Lula is in jail convicted of corruption and money laudering. Much as in the US in the 1930s in the case of the gangster Al Capone who was convicted of tax evasion, Lula was convicted by Federal Judge Sérgio Moro in Paraná on a relatively minor corruption case concerning a beachfront triplex apartment in the coastal Sao Paulo State city of Guaruja, paid for by the construction company OAS, in return for steering contracts to the company before he left office.

The information was obtained by plea bargains with Leo Pinheiro, the former head of OAS.

Plea bargains have transformed the Brazilian judicial system and have been at the heart of the process by which Brazilian federal prosecutors unravelled the massive kick-back scandal involving Petrobras, the state controlled Brazilian multinational petroleum company.

Many businessmen and politicians have been caught in the “Lavo-Jato” (car-wash) investigations, including the former speaker of lower house of Congress, Eduardo Cunha, who was jailed for 15 years, and Antonio Palocci, the former finance minister and long term Workers Party (PT) fixer, who has signed a plea bargain which places Lula at the center of the PT’s web of corruption.

The country has been bitterly divided between Lula’s supporters and the anti-Lula forces.

Many Brazilians see Lula as a crook.

Yet many Brazilians continue to think he is a saint.

Both sides are right in part.

Lula did preside over one of the most corrupt regimes in Brazilian history.

But he also left office with approval ratings of 84% according to Datafola in 2011.

He presided over an administration during boom times for Brazilian exports and he lifted many out of abject poverty in one of the world most unequal societies, especially in the North East of Brazil.

These voters remained loyal to Lula even in prison while the rest of the country voted overwhelmingly for Bolsonaro.

The most stricking feature of the election campaign has been the high rate of rejection rates of both candidaes by voters in the opinion polls.

Bolsonaro’s rejection rate hovered between 35% and 39%. Haddad’s between 42% and 44%.

The antipathy to both candidates was deep and consistent and it will make reconciliation very difficult.

Fernando Haddad was Lula’s substitute.

But this substitution took place at the very last moment on September 11 when Lula handed over his presidential candidacy to Haddad who until that point was his vice-presidential running mate.

Haddad is not from the radical wing of the PT. He is the son of a Lebanese immigrant to Brazil and is an Lebanese Orthodox Christian. He studied at the University of São Paulo and has an MA in economics and a PhD in philosophy from the University of São Paulo where he became a professor political science. He was minister of education between 2006 and 2012 during the presidencies of both Lula and Dilma Rousseff.

Haddad was elected mayor of São Paulo in 2012 and served until 2017. While mayor he faced the largest mass demonstrations since 1992 when he raised the cost of public transportation and the Metro in Sao Paulo in 2013. His approval ratings fell to 4%.

In the subsequent municipal elections he was roundly beaten by Joao Doria, a wealthy buinsessman and journalist who was the host of the Brazilain TV edition of “The Apprentice.” Haddad received only 17% of the votes.

After Lula’s benedicton in September 2018, Haddad’s polling results immediately jumped. Haddad’s running mate was Manuela D’Avila from Rio Grande do Sul and a member of the Communist Party of Brazil

But it was always Lula/Haddad during the campaign.

After the results were in the first person Haddad visited was Lula in his jail in the Federal Police Headquarters in Curitiba in the State of Parana.

During the second round of the presidential campaign Haddad sought to distance himself from Lula by adopting the colours of the Brazilian Flag (Yellow and Green) in his campaign slogans, rather than the red flag and red star of the PT.

But Lula always hovered in the background, both repulsion and attraction in equal measure.

Jair Messias Bolsonaro (63) is a Reserve army captain and former paratrooper. He is from a lower middle class family from Glicerio, Sao Paulo, and attended a military school in Campinas in São Paulo, before entered the Brazilian army’s military academy of Agulhas Negros in Resende, Rio de Janeiro.

He served for 17 years in the army but not without controversy.

He was interviewed by a major weekly newsmagazine and complained about the pay and conditions of junior officers. He was arrested for 15 days, and acquittted two years later.

But in the interim he became a household name and very popular among military hardliners and right wingers. He entered the reserves in 1988.

Bolsonaro has been elected four times to the lower house of congress from Rio de Janeiro and he has served in Congress for 27 years. He has been affiliated with 8 political parties during this time and only joined the PSL (The Social Liberal Party) earlier this year.

He is of Italian and German ancestry, has been married three times, and has 5 children.

In Congress he has been adamantly hostile to left wing policies, opposed same sex marriage, abortion, affirmative action, and drug legalization.

He is infamous for his homophobic, racist, violence inciting, misanthropic, and sexist outbursts (as well as for his lack of legislative achievements.)

He attacked the former human rights minister, Maria do Rosario, by saying she was “not worthy of being raped.” He said the error of the Brazilian military dictatorship was that it “tortured but did not kill”.

He has praised the regimes of Alberto Fujimori in Peru and of Augusto Pinochet in Chile.

When Bolsonaro voted for the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in Congress he eulogised Colonel Brilhante Ustra, the head of DOE-CODI in São Paulo, where Dilma was tortured.

He has been pro-American and pro-Israel since the 1980s.

He is opposed to immigration, especially from Haiti, Africa, and the Middle East, which he describes as “the scum of humanity.”

He defends the Brazilian military regime.

His slogan is “property, liberty, family, on God’s side.”

His opponent he claims is taking Brazil “on the path to Venezuela.”

He has strong support from three critical blocs in the congress, the so-called bullets, bible, and beef brigade; that is those members of congress who represent the interests of the powerful Christian evangelicals, the rural interests of big landowners, and the powerful gun lobby.

Bolsonaro was severely wounded on September 6th during an assassination assault when he was knifed in the stomach during a campaign rally in Juiz de Fora in Minas Gerais.

He was saved by the speedy intervention of surgeons at local hospital. He was then transfered to the Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital in Sao Paulo.

After several operations and a month in hospital he returned to his apartment in the upperclass neigbourhood of Barra de Tijuca in Rio de Janeiro, but did not campaign publically thereafter preferring to reach his supporters via WhatsApp, the internet, and the occasional friendly televison interviews.

The election results in the first round disposed of the competitors.

The most serious of which was Ciro Gomes, who was a perennial presidential hopeful. Ciro was in his seventh political party and he is notorious for putting his foot in his mouth.

More seriously, former president Lula from his jail cell in Curitiba regarded Ciro as the most serious presidential challenger on the left to his legacy of support among PT voters, and Lula orchestrated the isolation of Ciro.

Lula also intervened behind the scenes to gain the support of political leader of the so-called “centrao,” former congressman Valdemar Costa Neto, to support the PSDB candidade Alckmin and not Ciro.

Not surpisingly Ciro Gomes left Brazil after the first round, and he only returned to Brazil on the eve of the second round when he announced that he would not support Haddad. Geraldo Alckmin, who is a former long-term former PSDB governor of São Paulo, received less than 5% of the votes.

Also defeated in the state senatorial races were former PT impeached president Dilma Roussef in Minas Gerais (she came in 4th place), and the PT’s Senator Eduardo Suplicy in Sao Paulo (he came in 3rd place.)

The Political Context

Since democracy was restored in 1985, and since the constitution was promulgated in 1988, the Brazilian political scene has been dominated by two major political parties, the PSDB (the Brazilian social democratic party) and the PT (the Workers Part). and by two leaders, Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC) and Lula.

Haddad represented the PT. Alkmin represented the PSDB.

But the great victim of the elections was the PSDB. It has always been a party of many caciques.

But FHC, the historical leader of the PSDB, and an internationally known sociologist, has spend more time promoting the legalization of marijuana in recent years than in promoting the cause of pubic security, which has become one of Bosonaro’s major public issues, and is a major concern in a country which has seen a exponential rise of insecurity and violence on the streets and in the poorer neighborhoods.

There were 56,101 murders in Brazil in 2017.

Brazil is a heavy importer of cocaine and is a major part of international drug routes. Gangs and gang related violence is rife in the favelas and marginal periferal regions and favelas of Rio and Sao Paulo, and violent turf wars have racked the urban slums and the prisons. 40% of murders are of youths between 15 an 25 years of age.

Most of them poor, marginal, and black. The police are often bribed not to interfer, or are themselve drug dealers. For the majority of Braziliian population in “Brasil profundo” the preservation of life was more important than the legalization of marijuana.

The PT proved more resilient in the congressional races at the grass roots level, returning 56 to the lower house of the congress. The Social Liberal Party (PSL) of Bolsonaro was the real winner, gaining 52 deputies. The Movement for Democratic Brazil (MDB), the party of president Michel Temer gained 33 seats.

Although the PSL is the second largest bloc in the lower house of congress, the PSL coordinator and the future chief of staff to the president elect, Onyx Loremzoni, is likely to attact the support of many of the smaller parties, as well the MDB, which has supported every party of government since 1986.

Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of Jair and his close adviser, was elected to the lower house of the Congress from São Paulo by the greatest number of votes in Brazilian history. Jair Bolsonaro’s other son, Flávio Bolsonaro, was elected to the Senate from Rio de Janeiro.

The Senate also saw a major change.

But the new Congress is likely to be less sympathetic to the widespread privatizations and the fiscal and social security reforms that Bolsonaro’s economic advisers have in mind, and many outside observers believe are urgent and essential.

More seriously there has been a creeping militarization of Brazilian politics over the past two years.

Bolsonaro’s vice presidential running mate is General Hamilton Mourao, like Bolsonaro a military officer now in reserve. General Mourao who had commanded the southern military region, became controversial when in september 2017 in Brasilia he declared at the Masonic Grande Oriente lodge, that among the duties of the Brazilian military if the judiciary was incapable of guaranting law and order, then the army would impose it through military intervention.

The security in Rio de Janeiro had in the meanwhile be taken over by the military.

The ministry of defense is now headed by a general.

And the head of the supreme court has taken on a general as his “adviser.”

The presidential contest was also characterized by the rise of digital campaigning, a strategy led another of Jair Bolsonaro’s sons.

Carlos Bolsonaro, via WhatsApp, Facebook, and twitter. Seven out of every 10 Brazilians use WhatsApp for information, some 120 million Brazilians. Anti-PT, and moralistic messaging and “fake news” flooded across dozens of groups of WhatsApp users.

The power of this means of digital communication had been vividly demonstrated last year during the truckers strike which effectively brought Brazil to a dead halt.

Bolsonaro will in all likelyhood be another president addicted to the tweet.

Steve Bannon has been one of Bolsonaro’s supporters.

And in foreign policy the Trump White House will find it has a new like minded ally in Brasilia that agrees with Trump about Venezuela as well as China and speaks the same language.

But the fundamental causes of discontent are the deep and lingering recession, the chronic violence and insecurity of everyday life, the grosteque corruption of politicians, and a collapse of faith in the traditional political system.

Shaping a Way Ahead

Bolsonaro’s economic guru is Paulo Roberto Nunes Guedes (69) who will be the economy minister in the Bolsonaro government.

His views are well known. He has been a columnist for Rio de Janeiro based newspaper “O Globo” where he came to the attention of Bolsonaro. He is a carioca (from Rio de Janeiro) who was educated in economics at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Then he obtained a masters degree from the Fundacao Getulio Vargas, and went on to gain a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago where he worked under the late Milton Freidman of whom he is a great admirer. His thesis at Chicago concerned mathematical models on fiscal policy and foriegn debt.

Guedes has always been an orthodox liberal in terms of economic policy, promoting the reduction of the size of the state, cuts in state expenditures, a floating currency, and a Brazil open to world trade.

He is a strong supporter of privatization. During the early 1980s he was invited to teach at the University of Chile for $10,000 a month with a round trip airfare between Chile and Brazil. The university of Chile was then under military intervention, and economists from the University of Chicago had been invited by the Pinochet regime to implant a policy of economic liberalism following the principles of Milton Freidman.

The invitation to Guedes came from the director of the school of economics and buisness, Jorge Selume, who was also director of the budget for Pinochet, and was one of Guedes colleagues among the the “Chicago Boys” during the Pinochet regime.

Guedes says that the Pinochet dictatorship was “irrelevant from the intellectual point of view.” This is a view he has also promoted in his newspaper columns and which drew the attention of Bolsonaro.

“The death of the old politics is another face of the intellectual advance of this country” he wrote.

“The imprisonment of Lula is evidence that the old politics is dead in the public place.”

He continues:”Only the reform of the economy, irradicating control, and descentralization, can regenerate the political class.” The errors of the past he writes include “the Brazilian labor and social security regimes which are economically disastrous and socially perverse.”

It is little wonder that the Sao Paulo stock market rose following Bolsonaro strong result in the first round of the presidential election.

Bolsonaro says he “knows nothing” about economics and that Guedes is “his man.”

It is not surprising that Bolsonaro/Guedes is by far the “market’s” favorite.

Bolsonaro represents, Guedes wrote, “a middle class that has been forgotten and abandoned and attacked in their values and their desire for order.”

On his return to Brazil from Chile, Guedes was one of the founders of Banco Pactual, which in 2009 became BTC Pactual, and he was one of the founders of the “think-tank” the Instituto Millenium which promotes a liberal vision, individual liberties, the right to property, a market economy, the rule of law, and institutional limits on government actions. It is supported by many leading Brazilian businessmen, Guedes is the CEO of Bozano Investments.

But Guedes has always been an outsider among the economist establishment in Brazil.

He has never held a government position, or a regular university position in Brazil, and he is not fondly regarded by its denizens, nor does he fondly regard them. He was too othodox for one group, and not othodox enough for the other.

He is likely to head a super-ministry under Bolsomaro which combines the ministry of economy (fazenda) with the planning ministry and ministry of industry and commerce.

Brazil under president (reserve) captain Bolsonaro, and vice-president (reserve) General Hamilton Mourao will enter very turbulent waters.

Will Paulo Guedes be able to implement his draconian economic policies?

Will Jair Bolsonaro carry out his draconian social agenda?

One thing is certain.

They will certainly try to.

Brazil has entered a very new and very dangerous new world.

The featured photo is credited to this source:

Motivos para apoiar Jair Messias Bolsonaro

Taiwan Begins its F-16 Upgrade Process

Posted on October 28, 2018 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

10/28/2018

Taiwanese defense has become an even more significant factor as the PRC reaches out deeper into the Pacific.

A key element of the effort to enhance Taiwanese defense capabilities is the process of upgrading its legacy F-16s.

In so doing, a key element of the upgrade process is the incorporation of the Northrop Grumman SABR radar, a major enhancement which enables their F-16 force to work more effectively with coalition fifth generation aircraft as well.

According to an article by Yiu Kai-hsiang and Evelyn Kao published on October 3, 2018 by the Taiwanese Central News Agency:

The Taiwanese Air Force is scheduled to take delivery of its first four upgraded F-16 fighter jets in the next six months, a military official said Wednesday during a legislative session.

The first of the four upgraded F-16s has completed combat flight-testing and all four aircraft in the first batch to be delivered in six months are currently undergoing ground testing by state-owned Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. (AIDC), said Liu Jen-yuan (劉任遠), chief of staff of the Air Force.

Liu was responding to a lawmaker’s question about progress in the upgrading of the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) 4 F-16 A/B jets into F-16Vs.

The fighters are part of a NT$110 billion (US$3.64 billion) government program to launch a domestic upgrade that transforms Taiwan’s 144 F-16 A/B jets into F-16Vs, the largest and most important upgrade ever undertaken by the Air Force.

In order to carry out the upgrade locally, the manufacturer of the jets — Lockheed Martin in the United States — sent engineers to Taiwan last year to help train local personnel at AIDC on how to perform the upgrades.

According to AIDC, the retrofit program includes installing advanced equipment in the fighters, including the AN/APG active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar system, currently used in U.S. F-22 and F-35 fighters.

And an article by Andrew McLaughlin published on October 22, 2018 by our partner Australian Defence Business Review added further details as well.

The first of about 140 considerably upgraded Lockheed Martin F-16Vs has been re-delivered to the Republic of China Air Force (RoCAF) in Taiwan.

The RoCAF F-16 fleet are F-16A Block 20s built in the early 1990s, but will be substantially upgraded to the F-16V configuration with the addition of an AN/APG-83 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, large-format high-resolution cockpit display, a high-volume high-speed data bus, and a Link-16 datalink.

Also included in the F-16V upgrade is a Sniper advanced targeting pod, the AIM-9X AAM, conformal fuel tanks, precision GPS navigation, a modular mission computer, a Terma ALQ-213(V) electronic warfare suite, automated ground collision avoidance system, new heavier-gauge landing gear and other structural modifications, and a helmet-mounted cueing system.

The upgraded aircraft was the first performed by AIDC in Taiwan from a kit supplied by Lockheed Martin, and AIDC is expected to conduct up to 28 upgrades per year from kits until the fleet is complete in late 2022. The aircraft will be based at Chiayi and Hualien bases.

A training detachment of RoCAF F-16s is currently based at Luke AFB is Arizona, and is scheduled to soon relocate to Davis Monthan AFB as Luke transitions to an all-F-35 facility.

A key element of the upgrade is the new Northrop Grumman SABR Radar, which is also part of the Block 70 offering to India.

SABR_Infographic

According to Northrop Grumman, the new SABR radar provides “fifth generation fighter radar capability for 4th generation aircraft.”

The APG-83 is an Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) fire control radar.

Building on Northrop Grumman’s 40-year legacy producing radars for the F-16, it integrates within the F-16’s current structural, power and cooling constraints without Group A aircraft modification.

The capabilities of this advanced AESA are derived from Northrop Grumman’s family of highly successful 5th generation fighter AESA radars, the F-22’s APG-77 and F-35’s APG-81.

sabr_datasheet

The Royal Danish Air Force Works the Transition

Posted on October 28, 2018 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

By Robbin Laird

During my recent visit to Denmark, I had the chance to visit the Royal Danish Air Force fighter base at Skrydstrup.

Squadron 727 and Squadron 730 are both located there and are currently flying F-16s but getting ready for a transition to the F-35.

According to the Danish Defense website which describes Fighter Wing Skrydstrup, the Fighter Wing is located in southern Jutland and became Fighter Wing Skrydstrup in 2006. At that time, the Danish Defense Agreement set the conditions for all fighter aircraft to operate from that air base.

The base comprises 856 hectares and has two runways both 3.5 km long. On the widest track two aircraft can operate at the same time.

The 2010-2013 Defense Agreement set the Fighter Wing at 30 operational F-16s. A few T-17 Saab Supporter which are used for training and transport tasks as well as a Search and Rescue helicopter from Helicopter Wing Karup which operates for emergency needs operate their as well.

The Danish Air Force is undergoing a double transition.

The first is the broader challenge of transitioning from expeditionary operations associated with the land wars in the Middle East to a return to direct defense.

The second is with the F-16 which evolved to play a key role in expeditionary operations to an F-35 which is expected to play a key role in extended direct defense of Denmark.

During my visit I had a chance to talk with Col. Uffe “GUS” Holstener-Jørgensen, the Wing Commander, about his experience with the F-16 and the F-35 transition being worked by the Air Force.

Danish F-16s preparing for an operation. Credit: Royal Danish Air Force

The Wing Commander has been flying the F-16 since 1992 and was an exchange pilot with the USAF, flew in various expeditionary operations, including in Afghanistan.

With the end of the Cold War, the Danish Air Force shifted from what they referred to as a garrison defense role to an expeditionary one. This was a work in progress after the Cold War, which required changes in how the Air Force operated as well as in the evolution of the F-16 itself.

The operational side meant that the Danish Air Force had to learn how to operate far from home, a task which required changes not only in the Air Force but in how the Air Force was linked to the broader Danish defense force and NATO, a subject which I discussed the day before with a senior Danish officer at Karup Airbase further north in Jutland.

Shaping an expeditionary mindset and capability required changes as well in the F-16 itself as new capabilities and weapons were added to the aircraft, notably new ground attack capabilities, self-defense capabilities and electronic warfare capabilities.

That evolution of the aircraft has occurred in a way, which the Danes certainly hope to see, replicated with regard to the evolution of the F-35, namely, joint and regional investments in the evolution of the combat aircraft.

This has several components from the standpoint of operating the F-16.

The first has been simply being able to train and operate with other coalition F-16 partners, notably within the EPAF or the European Participating Air Forces.

Royal Danish Air Force fighter base at Skrydstrup Credit: Royal Danish Air Force

According to Col. Holstener-Jørgensen:

“All the F-16 users in Europe have our own meeting forum where we talk about the development of the F-16s together with the Americans. Because Denmark is a small country, we don’t have the capacity to think what it is we need and then develop it. We need a big brother like the United States Air Force to actually develop the aircraft in consultation with us and to leverage their engineering capability to develop new capabilities.

“The EPAF collaboration on the F-16 has in my mind been the keystone to success in bringing forward F-16 capabilities, to where we are today with an advanced F-16. Indeed, today we have an outstanding offensive weapons portfolio for the F-16.”

Colonel Holstener-Jørgensen emphasized that a major advantage the F-16 program has is the significant number of users, which means that there are significant numbers of airframes in operation, which facilitate investments in modernization of the aircraft.

“With the very large number of airframes out there, that allows the cost per tail to be brought down significantly.”

The cooperation with the other European F-16 partners extended to operations in Afghanistan where the European Expeditionary Air Wing operated together where Denmark worked with Norway and the Netherlands in Afghan operations.

Although the cooperation in operations did not extend to joint maintenance, but at the training level there has been a very flexible approach to working together.

Col. Holstener-Jørgensen added: “At the European Fighter Weapon Instructor Course in Leeuwarden, we actually do full integrated ops where a Danish F-16 pilot can fly a Norwegian or a Dutch F-16 and vise-versa.”

This coalition integrated approach which has shaped the F-16 is clearly something which the Danes are committed to supporting and benefiting from going forward, and in this round, the British are flying the same aircraft as the Northern Europeans and the Dutch so there are expanded collaborative opportunities.

And put in blunt terms, the Danes are among the most significant innovators in working coalition ops and perspectives. Given their size they need to be but clearly they are cutting edge with regard to working the coalition perspective.

Their knowledge of how to evolve the F-16 over the past twenty years as they evolved their expeditionary experience is a sunk cost of capital investment, which they carry forward into the F-35 global enterprise as well.

As then Col. Anders Rex, now Major General Anders Rex, put it during our 2015 conference on air power:

Being a good coalition partner takes practice.

We have a core group in the Danish Air Force, which has done several coalition operations, and when we are not doing that we participate in multinational exercises.

This is a core competence that the Danish Air Force has developed, and as we do so we work to find the gold in each coalition operation.

But the transition is challenging but will benefit from the standup of the global enterprise, which for F-35A users starts at Luke AFB where the coalition partners and the USAF train their pilots and maintainers.

“We will get our first F-35s at Luke within the next three years, and we develop our basic flight capabilities there and transition then to Denmark in 2023 and will end F-16 operations probably by the end of 2024.

“During that two year transition, we will have dual operations. We have limited staff in terms of pilots and maintainers and that will pose a challenge in managing the transition for sure.

“We can leverage the transition to work 4^th-5^thgeneration integration on the fly so to speak and we can also use our F-16s perhaps to red team our F-35 training in Denmark as well.

“By dual operating for a period of time we can gain knowledge of how to operate with legacy aircraft with our F-35s more effectively as well.”

The featured photo shows Col. Uffe “GUS” Holstener-Jørgensen, the Skrydstrup Wing Commander.

RAAF F-35 Engineering Officer Is Awarded US Meritorious Service Medal

Posted on October 28, 2018 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

By Andrew McLaughlin

The RAAF’s first F-35A engineering officer, SQNLDR Nathan Draper, has been recognised by the US with the awarding of a Meritorious Service Medal for his significant contribution to the establishment and sustainment of the Australian training, maintenance and engineering effort at Luke AFB in Arizona.

Now a member of Air Combat Systems Program Office (ACSPO) sustainment team at RAAF Williamtown, SQNLDR Draper served as the Australian Maintenance Liaison Lead at Luke AFB from 2014 until 2017.

Whist at Luke he played a significant role in establishing the initial RAAF and other partner nations F-35 complements including those from Norway and Italy.

“A decision had been made to embed international F-35 program partners as part of operations at Luke AFB,” SQNLDR Draper said in a CASG release. “I knew that as the first partner nation representative I had one chance to make a difference and set the tone and culture for the international team’s contribution.

“I was a little overwhelmed that the efforts I put in were recognised at a program level and that what I did was making a difference on a big playing field,” he added.

“A key component of my time at Luke AFB was continually asking questions of our contracted logistics support staff who maintained our jets.”

The RAAF’s first two F-35As are due to arrive in Australia in early to mid-December to conduct a verification and validation period prior to 3SQN’s planned declaration of an initial operational capability (IOC) in 2020.

This article was first published by our partner Australian Defence Business Review on October 22, 2018.

Belgium Picks the F-35: President Macron Responds

Posted on October 27, 2018 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

10/27/2018

Belgium is a key member of the European Participating Air Forces (EPAF) group which has flown F-16s for three decades. Denmark, Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands and Portugal are the members of the EPAF.

In a recent visit to Denmark, a key leader of the Royal Danish Air Force explained the importance of EPAF to a small country.

“The EPAF collaboration on the F-16 is in my mind has been the keystone to success in bringing forward F-16 capabilities, to where we are today with an advanced F-16. Indeed, today we have an outstanding offensive weapons portfolio for the F-16.”

This Danish airpower leader emphasized that a major advantage the F-16 program has is the significant number of users, which means that there are significant numbers of airframes in operation, which facilitate investments in modernization of the aircraft. “With the very large number of airframes out there, that allows the cost per tail to be brought down significantly.”

It is therefore not surprising that Belgium continued down this path, but this time with the F-35. Belgian is the 13th country to select the F-35.

Further details on the Belgian decision were provided in an article by Joseph Trevitchik published on October 25, 2018 in The Warzone.

Belgian Defense Minister Steven Vandeput formally announcedthe choice during a press conference on Oct. 25, 2018.

The Belga News Network in Belgium had previously reportedthe F-35 had won the competition on Oct. 22, 2018, but the country’s authorities and Lockheed Martin both declined to confirm the details at that time.

The Belgian Air Component, the country’s air force, is now set to eventually receive 34 stealthy F-35As to replace around 50 F-16s with deliveries starting in 2023.

“We have landed! This government is investing heavily in defense,” Vandeput wrote in a Flemish-language post on Twitter. “With the purchase of F-35A fighter planes … we ensure your safety and that of our military.”

The Belgian defense minister subsequently told reporters that the F-35A offer best met the seven criteria the country had laid out, but only identified one, cost. Belgium’s fighter jet replacement program was valued at around $4.14 billion, according to publicly available estimates. Vandeput said that Lockheed Martin’s offer was around $684.5 million lessthan what his government had budgeted, but did not confirm the total figure….

Belgium’s selection of the F-35 does offer multiple benefits beyond the matter of up-front cost. Most obviously, the stealthy jets will offer a significant boost in air combat capability over the country’s F-16s, which it purchased in the 1980s and upgraded to the F-16AM/BM Block 20 MLU standardin the early 2000s.

In addition, the United States and at least six other NATO members are or plan to be flying F-35 variants in the future. In turn, Lockheed Martin has worked with many of them to establish various depot-level maintenanceand assembly facilitiesin Europe. The American defense giant has also indicated that it has offered significant industrial cooperation opportunitiesto the Belgians, which could further offset the F-35s purchase and sustainment costs.

When the Belgian Air Component begins receiving its jets in 2023, it will be able to take advantage of this established and growing support infrastructure, which in turn could result in cost savings on sustaining the aircraft. This is an important consideration, because, while the F-35A’s unit cost may be less than that of the Eurofighter Typhoon, stealth jets, in general, are maintenance intensiveand demanding on logistics chainsto keep them flying.

Belgium’s decision was also likely influenced in part by the need for an aircraft that would support its NATO nuclear weapon sharing requirements. The United States reportedly has between 10 and 20 B61 nuclear gravity bombsat the Belgian Air Component’s base at Kleine Brogel.

During a crisis, the U.S. military could release these weapons to the Belgians, who would then conduct the strikes. Belgium’s F-16s are certified to employ the B61, which includes the addition the necessary equipment to arm the weapons in flight. The U.S. Air Force plans to give its F-35As the capability to carry these bombsin the future.

There are no plans to certify the Typhoon at present, however. This has already posed a problem for Germany, which is looking to replace its Cold War-era Panavia Tornado combat jetsthat it presently uses to fulfill its nuclear weapon sharing obligations. This likely was also part of the problem for Saab when it proposed its Gripen E and would’ve presented a hurdle for Dassault’s Rafale, as well.

(To read the rest of the story please see the following:

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/24465/belgium-decides-to-join-the-f-35-club-over-competing-offers-for-european-fighter-jets)

The reaction of President Macron is quite interesting as it raises some key questions about Europe, NATO, defense and threat perceptions.

The reaction of the French President was provided and discussed in an article published on October 26, 2018 published by France 24.

The Belgian government announced Thursday that it would replace a fleet of ageing F-16 jets with the F-35 made by Lockheed Martin, rejecting rival offers to buy Eurofighter Typhoons or Rafales from the French group Dassault.

“The decision was linked to a Belgian procedure and the country’s political constraints, but strategically it goes against European interests,” Macron told journalists during a visit to Bratislava.

“Europe won’t be strong unless it is truly sovereign and knows how to protect itself,” he said, citing a need to develop “a genuine European defence capacity”.

“I will do everything possible to promote European offers in future contracts,” Macron added.

Critics said the choice of Lockheed would leave Belgium dependent on maintenance and operational systems firmly in US control, while also assailing a blow to Europe’s efforts to unify its defence capacities.

Belgium justified the decision by saying the F-35s offered better value for money while best allowing it to meet its NATO commitments.

Prime Minister Charles Michel said his country would be purchasing equipment from both US and European suppliers as it bolstered defence spending.

On Friday, the French defence ministry announced that Belgium had confirmed an order for 442 Griffon and Jaguar armoured vehicles for around 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion).

The deal had been expected, but the announcement appeared timed to allay tensions between the two NATO allies.

‘Lost opportunity’

Last year the European Union launched its “permanent structured cooperation on defence”, or PESCO, aimed at unifying defence strategies across the bloc and rationalising a fragmented approach to buying and developing military equipment.

The EU itself is planning to vastly expand its defence budget starting in 2021, allocating some 13 billion euros over seven years to research and develop new equipment — up from less than 600 million euros in the current budget.

Most countries see no problem allowing non-EU firms to compete for contracts under the PESCO cooperation, but France is leading a handful which want to restrict their participation.

But Washington has warned that excluding US companies could undermine NATO at a time when tensions are running high with Russia and new threats such as cyber attacks are emerging.

On Friday the European aerospace consortium Airbus also said it took note of Belgium’s decision not to choose the Eurofighter Typhoon with “sincere regret”.

“It is a lost opportunity to strengthen European industrial cooperation in times when the EU is called upon to increase its joint defence efforts,” the company said.

It added that in buying Typhoons, Belgium could have eventually joined the French-German Future Combat Air System, aimed at developing next-generation jets to start replacing current Eurofighter and Rafale jets starting in 2035.

Airbus is one of the partners in the Eurofighter consortium, which also includes companies from Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Macron, speaking at the start of a two-day visit to Slovakia and the Czech Republic, also called on people to reject leaders who seek to “divide Europe”.

“I will fight wherever they are trying to roll back justice, the ability of journalists to work freely, the role of universities, all which makes us European,” he said.

Macron is hoping to counter a surge in support for populist parties and leaders in many European countries ahead of European Parliament elections next May.

The featured photo shows a Belgian Air Component F-16 flying behind a U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker from the 100th Air Refueling Wing, RAF Mildenhall, England, before receiving fuel over Germany, Feb. 23, 2018.

The air refueling was part of a large force exercise with NATO allies including the Belgian, Dutch, French and German air forces.

02/23/2018

Photo by Senior Airman Luke Milano

100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affair

The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative in Historic Perspective

Posted on October 27, 2018 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

By Captain Paul E. Mawn USN (Retired)

Access to and the distribution of petroleum was an underlying foundation for the Allied victory in World War II, in particular due to:

Ample US hydrocarbon resources and refining capacity
Close knit cooperation between the USA and the oil industry
Significant expansion of oil based toluene production (i.e. a chief component of TNT for bombs)
The discovery and manufacturing of synthetic rubber for tires since the raw material was accessible
Oil refining technology upgrades for 100 octane avgas used in the Battle of Britain & elsewhere
The rapid development and completion of the Big Inch and Little Inch oil pipelines

The next 2 major US combat engagements during the Korean and Vietnam Wars were really not tied to petroleum security of supply.

However, some left wing radicals during the Vietnam War incorrectly claimed that the US was really fighting to protect the oil reserves of the “big bad” international oil industry in Vietnam which only has less than 0.3% of the world proven oil reserves which was 94% less than the proven oil in just North America.

However, the underlying foundation for Desert Storm on both sides was driven by the control of petroleum resources.

In August 1990, the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had @ 9% of the world proven oil reserve and literally stole another 6% of the total international crude reserves by invading Kuwait.

Had Hussein been intelligent which fortunately was not the case, he could have easily whipped down the East coast of Saudi Arabia to pick up another 15% of world oil reserves and then continued to plunder another 6% of total oil reserves in the UAE, Oman & Qatar.

Thus, a mad man who was antagonistic to the US would control more than 36% of the global proven crude oil reserves or 50% of the OPEC total oil proven reserves which approaches the dangerous “red zone” known as the “Herfindahl Index” of market concentration.

During Desert Strom, the US was justifiably engaging in international “trust busting” against a clear and present danger to the security of the US and the world.

The current and probably lengthy World Wide Waron Islamic Fundamentalist Terrorism is primarily related to aradical and distorted interpretation of Islam to convert through fiendish terror and conquest.

However the objective for ultimate global domination is to control the proven oil reserves in an Islamic Crescent Caliphate from Gibraltar to Indonesia as shown in the figure below, which in turn would contain 54% of the world’s proven crude oil reserve or 75% of all of the oil reserves in OPEC.

In the hopefully unlikely activation of a future hot war with the Russian Federation, petroleum security of supply will not be a key issue since Russia has 6.3% of the global crude oil proven reserves with a reserve to production ratio (i.e. R/P ratio) of 26 years but only 1.9% of the world’s population.

As a frame of reference, the USA has 3% of the global crude oil proven reserves with an R/P ratio of 11 years and 4.3% of the world’s population.

However petroleum availability will be a key driving force in a future likely hot or cold war with China which has 18% of the world population but only 1.5% of the global crude oil proven reserve with an R/P ratio of 18 years.

As a result, China is now on the attack with a very aggressive global forward presence to address their growing gap for petroleum and other essential resources with a development strategy known as the “Belt and Road Initiative.”

In effect, this strategy by the “Market Leninist” dictatorship of China is an attempt to re-create the ancient “Silk Road” which was a network of routes for commerce that connected the East and the West and named for the lucrative silk trade that started over 200 years before the birth of Christ.

The “Belt” in this program stands for the overland routes to China shown with black lines in the figure below and the “Road” refers to the maritime corridors with a blue line in the figure below through the South China Sea, the South Pacific Ocean, and the wider Indian Ocean area.

Key objectives of the modern resurrection of these 2 “Silk Roads” are to enhance the Chinese economic power, regional hegemony as well as petroleum security via infrastructure development and investments in Europe, Asia, Africa and Venezuela.

The Chinese Navy already has established a forward deployment base in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa and is looking forward to using future port facilities that they are building in Pakistan.

The maritime portion of the new “Silk Road” is particularly crucial since over 80% of world trade is carried over the oceans via ships which for the most part are fueled by petroleum.

In addition, over 99% of the transcontinental communications are carried over sea cables in the ocean and food from the sea is expected to increase by an order of magnitude over the next decade. The Chinese elite and key government officials do study history and view the USA as the gold standard for emulation as a world power.

As a result, maritime leaders and strategists in China are considered to be serious followers of the late Captain Alfred Mahan US Navy who wrote “The Influence of Sea Power upon History”(1660-1787).

Furthermore, China now views the Monroe Doctrine as a concept that should also equally apply to China for dominance over South East Asia which sounds suspiciously like “The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”.

Thus in the last several years, China has been significantly focusing on the rapid development of their Naval Forces to the point where they are about to have more deployable combat ships than the US Navy (i.e. 350 vice 286) plus more auxiliary and reserve ships than the US (i.e. 700 vs. 200).

However for the near future, the US still will have a more powerful Navy than the China for at least the following factors:

Only 1 Chinese carrier vs. 11 US carrier,
No significant combat experience by the Chinese Navy
Significantly fewer Chinese naval aviation assets (650 vs. 3,700 planes of the USN)
Limited forward projection and “Blue Water” experience of the Chinese navy
Inferior Chinese logistics train, especially for petroleum

In short, relative to the link between “Oil & War”, current and future politicians and military strategists would be wise to remember the following words of Harvard graduate and philosophy professor George Santayana in his 1905 book called “Life of Reason”: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

The featured graphic is credited to the following source:

https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/149535-china-belt-road-initiative

For the complete article by Paul Mawn, please see the following:

Oil and War

French Ministry of Defence Launches Next-Gen Aircraft Carrier Study

Posted on October 26, 2018 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

10/26/2018

By Pierre Tran

France has launched 18-month studies for a next-generation aircraft carrier to replace its Charles de Gaulle capital ship, Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly said.

“This step, which is being launched today, is the study step,” Parly said at the Oct. 23 opening of the Euronaval trade show. “It is to decide together what we want and how we want it for our future aircraft carrier.

“We give ourselves 18 months,” she said. The total cost of the studies was €40 million, she later added.

Chantiers de l’Atlantique, Naval Group and Technicatome will conduct the major part of the studies, with contributions from Dassault Aviation, Thales, MBDA, and other companies, government and industry sources said.

Total spending on the carrier program is estimated at €5 billion-€7 billion, business magazine Challenges reported. That cost estimate did not come from the ministry, a government official said.

An aircraft carrier is seen as a highly valued capability, with nations including China, India and Brazil keen to rachet up military power and prestige.

“An aircraft carrier is a symbol of power,” said François Lureau of consultancy EuroFLconsult and a former head of arms procurement. “It is highly visible. It is a political decision.”

The studies for the carrier would address issues such as what threats will be engaged and missions for the future carrier, Parly said. Responses to those questions would allow decisions on operational use, requirements for combat systems and the escort fleet. A second aspect is what technology will be available in 2030, she said. France has launched cooperation with Germany on the Future Combat Air System and the carrier will need to accommodate all capabilities of the planned fighter jet.

The ship’s propulsion, whether nuclear or conventional, will be considered, she said. Disruptive technology, such as electromagnetic aircraft catapults, should also be taken into account.

Cooperation with allies is another key factor, both in working on the vessel and the carrier receiving European partners’ aircraft, she said.

“This aircraft carrier could operate to the last decades of the 21st century, we cannot allow ourselves to design with a limited horizon,” she said. Innovation was vital, and the carrier could be “a true forward base for the Navy, a spur to our innovation,” she added.

Parly also said 18 Atlantique 2 would be modernized, three more units than previously planned, with all the upgraded maritime patrol aircraft delivered by 2025.

The Direction Générale de l’Armement procurement office signed Oct. 11 a contract with Dassault and Thales for modernization of six ATL2 aircraft. That deal follows a previous contract for upgrade of 12 MPA, the ministry said Oct. 23. The upgrade aims to boost the Navy’s capability against submarine threats, which are increasing around the world, particularly in areas of French strategic interest.

The upgrade includes fitting the Thales Searchmaster radar based on an active electronic array developed for the Rafale, as well as onboard tactical computer, electro-optical and acoustic sensors. The modernization is expected to extend the ATL2 life beyond 2030. The first two upgraded ATL2 are due to be delivered next year.

Parly also announced the planned construction of four fleet auxiliary tankers in cooperation with Italy, based on the Italian Vulcano vessels.

“This fleet is decisive,” she said, adding that the choice of Italy as partner reflected the will to boost Franco-Italian cooperation in surface ships.

The unit price for the four tankers was €430 million, a government official said.Naval Group and Chantiers de l’Atlantique will build the new tanker fleet, based on the Italian design, with the first two delivered to the French Navy by 2025, the ministry said in an Oct. 24 statement.

France, in cooperating with Italy, will join the Logistic Support Ship naval program managed by the OCCAR European arms procurement agency, the ministry said.

The French vessels will be modified to allow the tankers to support the Charles de Gaulle carrier task force and fitted with a Naval Group combat system. Fincantieri will build in Italy the hull sections with the refuelling system. The four double-hulled ships will replace the present three-strong tanker fleet, which have single hulls.

This article is republished with the permission of our partner, Operationnels SLDS.

The article was first published by OPS on October 25, 2018.

The featured photo shows President Macron at the Palace of Versailles in July 2017 to address both houses of the French parliament

ETIENNE LAURENT/GETTY IMAGES

Editor’s Note: Some Key Considerations Which Flow From Developing a New French Aircraft Carrier

The US and the UK have launched new aircraft carriers which are either in operation or about to be.

A key question will be the relationship of the French effort to those of the US and the UK?

Also, there are other countries building carriers of various sorts, including India, and in the case of Spain and Italy smaller ships which carry currently Harriers but will need a vertical lift aircraft, notably the F-35B, to operate as aircraft carriers.

What will be the relationship of the French approach to these other carrier nations?

A key question will be the development of the aircraft, rotorcraft and weapons among other things for any new French aircraft carrier.

The proposed Franc0-German joint new fighter would be affected as well by the need to operate that aircraft off of a carrier, something which the French have in mind, but not something the Germans are considering.

The Rafale was built initially to fly off of the Charles de Gaulle and was designed in part with this in mind, and joint Air Force and Navy operations of the same aircraft, albeit of different variants has been important to French military operations.

How would this legacy for Dassault affect the proposed working relationship with European industry to shape a next generation European combat aircraft?

In other words, if carrier aviation is considered important for France, how will they develop and fund such a capability?

Would this be done within or outside of the proposed Franc-German project?