Naval Aspects of the Farnborough Air Show

By ANTONY PRESTON

Antony Preston, a London-based naval analyst and broadcaster, is cofounder of the international newsletter NAVINT.

Outsiders are sometimes puzzled by the interest shown by naval journalists and commentators, but the fact is that the Farnborough Air Show and its French counterpart, the Paris Air Show, serve as excellent display venues for naval aircraft avionics, missiles, electronic warfare (EW) systems, and numerous other systems and subsystems. Companies in the aerospace industry have sea as well as land and air customers.

BAE Systems is one of the best examples of this across-the-range offering of products and services. Its Sea Systems Group marketed a series of designs already in service or required by the U.K. Royal Navy: the Albion-class large amphibious dock transports (LPDs), the Type 23 frigate, the River-class offshore patrol vessels (OPVs), the Type 45 destroyer, and the Future Aircraft Carrier (CVF). The company also provides support for surface ships and submarines, as well as guns and missiles for warships. Through its North America division it is also a major supplier to the U.S. Navy.

EADS, Airbus, and Thales--the only serious competitors to BAE Systems--announced on the opening day of the show that they had formed an Air Traffic Alliance. Thales is competing against BAE Systems for prime contractorship of the CVF program, and is a major supplier to the Marine Nationale. It also has been appointed prime contractor for the Indian Navy's Project 75 submarine program.

U.S. giants Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon all had a big presence, a tacit admission that all three are heavily involved in U.K. and European defense programs. Boeing, BAE Systems, EADS, and Alenia Spazio announced on 24 July that they have agreed to cooperate in the joint development of antimissile defense systems and already have signed a memorandum of understanding to share in efforts to design defenses against ballistic missiles for the United States and its allies. "U.S. and European industry came together today to show unity of purpose and appreciation of a common global threat," said Boeing CEO Phil Condit. "We will work together on ballistic missile defense ... adding a new dimension to transatlantic cooperation."

As prime contractor, with EADS, in the project, Boeing would be responsible for the development and integration of much of the ground-based equipment, including radars and C3 (command, control, and communications) systems. The company also would be responsible for linking these defenses with satellites.

Neither Boeing nor EADS said how much either company would spend on the project, nor how they will divide up the work.

Thales Underwater Systems (TUS) announced that it has been awarded a contract (from Saab Tech Systems AB of Sweden) for the design, development, and production of five FLASH-S Sonics systems to be installed in the NH-90 helicopters procured by Sweden as part of the Nordic Standard Helicopter Project. FLASH-S Sonics, a modified version of the FLASH Sonics developed by TUS for the French Navy's NFH-90 helicopters, combines the proven FLASH active dipping sonar and the TMS 2000 sonobuoy processing system.

To provide optimum performance in the very specific environmental conditions prevailing in the Baltic Sea, FLASH-S features a unique acoustic wet-end, combining in the same body a medium-frequency search array and a VHF (very-high-frequency) classification array. The other components of the system either are identical to the existing FLASH Sonics system (winch, cable, TMS 2000), or modifications to the existing sonar transmitter/receiver, adapted to meet the specific Swedish mission requirements in the Baltic Sea.

Delivery of the first system to Saab Tech is scheduled for 2006. TUS previously has supplied DUAV-4 and DUAV-4-UPG active dipping sonars to the Royal Swedish Navy. This latest contract for the FLASH-based system emphasizes the versatility of the system, which can be deployed from a wide range of helicopters to meet the needs of ASW operations in all environments. FLASH is already in service, in production, or selected by the U.K. Royal Navy (EH101 Merlin), the U.S. Navy (MH-60R), the UAE Naval Force (Naval Cougar), and the French Navy (NFH-90).

France Plans Higher Funding For Future C4ISR Programs

Defense electronics multinational Thales foresees a rise in French defense spending and a refocusing of military procurement requirements following the Centre-right victory in the French presidential and parliamentary elections.

French officials already are revising a national military planning program that was prepared last year--but has not yet been approved by the Assembly and Senate. The new version seems likely--in line with recent technological and strategic developments--to put much greater emphasis on projects in the fields of command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR).

The anticipated increase in defense spending will partly reflect the Centre-right's traditional emphasis on defense and foreign affairs, but it also stems from a long-term trend toward the primacy of C4ISR in modern warfare that has been highlighted by Western operations in Afghanistan. The new requirement has radically altered procurement philosophies, a senior defense official said. In the past, the platform was selected first, and the capabilities were built around that platform. Now, the customer defines the capabilities needed to carry out various missions and the platform has only a second priority.

The British Watchkeeper UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) program, for which Thales is competing, is one of many in which the company is involved that display the new approach, said Jean-Loup Picard, head of strategy and development at Thales. The requirement postulated by the U.K. Ministry of Defence "is merely the capacity to manage: recognition, intelligence, and so on. Afterward, it's the role of industry to select the appropriate platform."

Thales's business traditionally had three key "pillars," Picard explained: aerospace; defence; and information technology and services. Exploiting the "synergies" between and among them gave the company a particularly wide technological base to meet the challenge imposed by the new procurement environment.

Thales also has benefited from a trend toward "professionalization" within the armed forces. The increasing complexity of equipment boosted the demand for training, and sometimes for close industrial support in actual combat.

Although Thales already has U.S. subsidiaries, it remains interested in boosting its on-scene presence in the United States. A major step had been the formation a year ago of a joint venture with Raytheon in the field of air defense. This has been described as a "steppingstone" toward greater involvement in that sector, but Thales officials have suggested that U.S. restrictions on the transfer of technology pose major difficulties, even for allies.

The new French government has indicated that it plans to sell its stake in some companies, but there is no indication of any moves to alter the government's 32.6 percent stake in Thales.

MoD Officials Reject BAE Systems' Monopoly Bid

The U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD) has rejected a call by BAE Systems for the company to be appointed a monopoly contractor for all major defense contracts, with no competitive tendering. According to the London Financial Times, Defence Procurement Minister Lord Bach said in an interview that the government believes such action would not serve the best interests of the government.

The difference of opinion came to light when BAE Systems' Chief Executive Michael J. Turner argued that the British defense industry would lose crucial capabilities if foreign contractors are allowed to bid on major equipment contracts. On the naval side, this has been interpreted as an attempt to exclude Thales from the bidding process for the Royal Navy's future aircraft carriers (CVFs). Thales argues that, although its parent company is French, it already has such a major presence in the United Kingdom that it is virtually a U.K. competitor creating work in-country on a large scale and employing numerous U.K. subcontractors. Royal Navy officials and independent naval analysts seem to agree that, despite some articles to the contrary in the British media, it is most unlikely and probably impossible that any of the CVFs could be built in a French shipyard.

Lord Bach said that he welcomes a "robust debate" with the MoD's biggest supplier, but says that the MoD sees huge advantages in making competition the rule rather than the exception. He also warned that any blanket exemption from competitive bidding could easily create a backlash--i.e., retaliation to stop U.K. contractors from bidding in other countries. Lord Bach also pointed out that abandoning competition for major national contracts would be bad news for the MoD and even worse news for the taxpayer. Cost, innovation, time, and the discipline that competition brings all translate into value for money, he said.

The BAE Systems argument was not strengthened by the news of unexpected delays in the submarine program, the Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft rebuild, and the Eurofighter. In any case, the MoD has traditionally preferred competition rather than sole-source procurement. Some years ago the Monopolies and Mergers Commission was asked to investigate the possibility of taking the submarine monopoly away from the Barrow in Furness shipyard and creating a rival source. The antiBarrow argument was unsustainable at that time, although the late Lord Weinstock, then chairman of Marconi, told the commission that the policy of pursuing competition at all costs drives smaller competitors out of business and encourages monopolies.

Russian Navy Launches Small Space Shuttle

A Russian submarine is reported to have launched a "mini" space shuttle on 12 July, according to official statements. Its purpose is to deliver stores to the International Space Station and then return to earth intact (although the prototype is not reusable).

The launch took place in the Barents Sea, using a modified submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), limiting the choice of submarine to one of the Project 667 Delta series or, conceivably, one of the three remaining Project 941 Typhoon SSBNs (nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarines). A spokesperson for the Babakin Science Research Center says that the device is only 0.8 meters in diameter when folded for launching. It expands once it is free of the earth's gravity, and can change velocity and maneuver for docking.

This initiative is the first of its kind. So far as is known, Western SLBMs have never been used to launch space vehicles. Weapons developed for the Soviet Navy during the Cold War tended to be much larger than contemporary American and French intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

Thai Navy Seeks to Purchase Secondhand British Frigates

The Thai Defense Ministry in Bangkok is trying to buy two secondhand frigates from the U.K. Royal Navy (RN). The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) wants to replace the stricken frigates Prasae and Tachin--ex-U.S. Navy patrol frigates (PFs) dating from World War II--which were deleted in 2000.

Two other superannuated frigates, the U.S.-built PF103-type Tapi and Khirirat, both of which date from the early 1970s, are youngsters by RTN standards, so they will not be retired. However, neither of the RTN training ships, HTMS Makut Rajakumarn and HTMS Pin Klao, are fit for front-line duties. The Makut Rajakumarn suffered a serious fire and is now little more than a hulk; the Pin Klao is an ex-U.S. Navy World War II destroyer escort (DE). Scrapping them will reduce the RTN's frigate strength from 14 ships to 10, four ships below the authorized escort numbers.

The RTN's main strength now consists of two Chinese-built Naresuan-class Type 25Ts, four Chinese Jianghu-type Chao Phraya-class, and two ex-U.S. Navy Knox-type Phuttha Yotfa Chulalok-class ships.

The question is, which RN frigates would be available? There are now only two Type 22 Batch 2 frigates available, HMS Sheffield (in service) and HMS Coventry (decommissioned at the end of last year). The RN's four Batch 3 ships are more modern, but their sale would weaken the RN's own already slender frigate force. They are in any case scheduled to receive a rolling modernization carrying them through to 2011.

One alternative might be a pair of the oldest Type 23 Duke-class frigates--but, like the Batch 3 Type 22s, their sale would reduce the RN's frigate strength to only 14 ships. Given the weakness of the baht, new construction probably would be too expensive an option for the RTN.

Footnote: Members of the Thai Defense Ministry's Economic Compensation Committee, chaired by Defense Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, visited the U.K. Ministry of Defence in London in July to discuss a countertrade agreement involving British acceptance of Thai agricultural produce--either as part payment or by helping Thailand find markets for the produce. *