Poland wants to divert pledged German air defenses to Ukraine

WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s Ministry of National Defence has effectively turned down Germany’s offer, for now, to deploy air defense systems along the neighbor’s border with Ukraine.

Officials here initially initially accepted Berlin’s gesture for Patriot launchers following a recent missile strike on Polish soil that killed two men. However, in an unexpected U-turn, Warsaw now suggests that Berlin deliver the systems to Ukraine instead to bolster that country’s defenses against Russia.

“After further missile attacks [by Russia], I have asked the [German] side to transfer and deploy the proposed Patriot batteries along the western border [of Ukraine]. This will allow to protect [Ukraine] from further casualties and blackout and enhance security along our eastern border,” Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak tweeted last week.

Two days earlier, the official said in a tweet he will propose to his German counterpart, Christine Lambrecht, “to deploy this system close to the border with Ukraine”. The initial positive response came shortly after Berlin offered to send the country’s Patriots and Eurofighter Typhoon jets to help safeguard Polish airspace.

For some observers in Poland, Błaszczak’s latest declaration represents a way of rejecting Lambrecht’s offer, as it would involve Germany sending its troops, who are to operate the launchers, to Ukraine amid the nation’s ongoing war with Russia. Berlin has supported Kyiv with weapons and military gear, but, like all other NATO member states, it has also kept its armed forces away from direct involvement in the conflict. Compliance with Poland’s proposal would force Germany to cross that line.

Lambrecht has replied to Błaszczak’s proposal by saying the offered Patriots are part of NATO’s integrated air-defense system, and their potential deployment outside the alliance’s territory would need to be agreed with NATO and its member states.

Meanwhile, the latest development has also exposed differences within the country’s ruling Law and Justice party.

On Nov. 25, Polish President Andrzej Duda, who was re-elected in 2020 with the party’s support, tweeted that if Germany “does not agree to deliver the batteries to Ukraine, then we must accept this defense here” in Poland. Duda’s statement could signal that some decision-makers in Warsaw are willing to reach an understanding with Berlin.

The fatal missile strike occurred in Poland’s southeast on Nov. 15 after Russia launched its largest string of attacks on Ukrainian cities in more than a month. The Polish authorities believe the incident was most likely triggered by Ukraine’s air-defense attempting to intercept a missile fired by Russia’s armed forces.

US Army air defense planners take on rising drone threats

WASHINGTON — A U.S. Army organization created to guide air- and missile-defense modernization is taking on a new mission to focus on countering drone threats, its new leader said in a recent interview.

Service officials have divided up the job of defeating enemy unmanned aircraft among a variety of organizations. For example, the Army is already leading the Pentagon’s Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, or the JCO, which is tasked to evaluate and field new technologies for combatting UAS threats in a variety of ways. The office has requirements in place to support selected systems and hosts technology rodeos twice a year to evaluate new technology for possible future integration.

Then there’s the service’s Rapid Capability and Critical Technologies Office working on solutions for countering drones to include directed energy and high-power microwave systems.

The Army’s Program Executive Office Missiles and Space is there to figure out how to bring ready capability to the force as programs of record, and now Army Futures Command’s Air and Missile Defense Cross-Functional Team will work on requirements to support the development of new and advanced capabilities, Col. Patrick Costello, the AMD CFT lead, told Defense News in an interview last month.

Receiving this newest mission, Costello said, “is a realization that counter-UAS is a team sport and it requires coordination with the PEO, it requires coordination with the RCCTO and a close relationship with the JCO.”

Army leaders have sounded the alarm — based on observations in Ukraine, where Russian military is using drones for targeting, attack, and surveillance — that countering UAS needs to be a high priority and that the service needs a comprehensive toolkit to combat emerging drone threats.

Officials are now trying to balance the urgency of what is needed immediately with the needs of tomorrow, and that is its “biggest challenge,” Costello said.

The team’s other missions include developing the future Integrated Air and Missile Defense system including new sensors and shooters, developing the command-and-control system that ties elements together on the battlefield, and short-range air defense.

The CFT will recommend priorities for research and technology development and science and technology efforts and “kind of make sure that those are binned in the right way,” Costello said.

And the team will also synchronize efforts with the Fires Center of Excellence at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where the AMD CFT is also situated, on what formations and training will be required. The joint training base for countering UAS is moving from Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, to Fort Sill in the coming years, Costello noted.

Working with relevant Capabilities Development and Integration Directorates like the Maneuver CDID, for example, the CFT is helping to develop what is needed for the operational force at the Brigade Combat Team level and below, Costello said, “because this is not just an air defense problem.”

The hope is to “synchronize all of these disparate efforts and make sure that we have a strategy where we’re not ending up with 152 systems on the battlefield that don’t talk to each other,” he stressed.

All of the organizations involved in coordinating counter-UAS capabilities acknowledge that there’s no silver bullet to getting after the problem, Costello noted, and what is needed for installations in the United States is going to be different from semi-fixed or fixed sites in another theater, according to Costello. “Then in the close fight, the operational force, the dismounted folks, soldiers don’t need the same capabilities that the mounted folks do,” he added.

One focus area for the CFT is technology to help aid decisions in how to counter drone threats. “Especially when it’s a non-air-defense soldier,” Costello said, “what is the best capability against a [small drone]? It’s probably not a Stinger [missile], it sure as heck isn’t a Patriot [missile]. We’ve seen that happen in places and it’s just not necessary.”

Outside of that, the CFT is looking at how best to layer capabilities such as electronic warfare, directed energy and kinetic solutions, Costello said.

Just because the AMD CFT is just now adopting counter-UAS as a focus area doesn’t mean the Army isn’t in a good position, Brig. Gen. Frank Lozano, the Army’s program executive officer for missiles and space, said in the same interview.

“Even though it may be a new assignment to the CFT, it’s something that we’ve been working closely with Fort Sill on for many years,” he said. “The goodness of the cross-functional team is that it helps coalesce the team to work in a more coordinated manner to get to the outcome, the vision, the Army wants us to achieve.”

Millennium, Raytheon complete design review for missile warning system

WASHINGTON — Millennium Space Systems and Raytheon Technologies said they passed design assessments for a U.S. Space Force program aimed at strengthening the service’s ability to detect and track missile threats.

The critical design reviews, or CDRs, which occurred in November, are for the Space Force’s Missile Track Custody program. The companies are both developing sensors to track missile threats from medium Earth orbit, or MEO, located between 1,200 and 22,000 miles above sea level.

Millennium, a subsidiary of Boeing, announced its successful review on Nov. 23 and Raytheon confirmed the milestone to C4ISRNET on Monday.

“Using the latest digital engineering techniques, we’ve successfully completed key design elements of the fully compliant payload design in just under 18 months,” Roger Cole, executive director of strategic systems programs at Raytheon, said in a statement.

Following the successful payload design review, the program will transition into space and ground segment development, Millennium said in its statement. That includes a digital design for the satellite that will carry the missile warning sensor.

“As shown during the mission payload CDR, a wholly-digital engineering environment will continue to be employed to shorten design cycles and further reduce cost,” according to the company.

The Missile Track Custody program is one piece of the Space Force’s plan to make its on-orbit missile warning and tracking capabilities more resilient against growing threats from China and Russia. Today, those satellites either reside in geosynchronous orbit — about 22,000 miles above Earth — or in highly elliptical orbit beyond GEO. Through Missile Track Custody, the service plans to launch warning and tracking satellites to MEO, where space sensors can observe a larger area.

The Space Development Agency is also launching a fleet of more than 100 satellites in low Earth orbit, or LEO, less than 1,200 miles above the equator.

The Space Force awarded Millennium and Raytheon contracts in May 2021 to develop digital models of missile warning sensors for the MEO-based program, but the value of those contracts was not disclosed. The service, which requested $135 million for the effort in its fiscal 2023 budget, plans to solicit bids next year for Missile Track Custody, but hasn’t disclosed whether it will choose more than one vendor to develop the satellites.

By 2028, the Space Force expects to have four MEO satellites on orbit with a goal of launching technology upgrades on a two-year cycle.

US Air Force’s AdAir fighter training needs a road map

If U.S. Air Force planners want the contracted, live-adversary industry, known as AdAir, to more fully address both live air adversary sortie demand and desired advanced capabilities, they must lay out a multiyear road map that encourages industry to make necessary, timely investments.

AdAir has had a sluggish start within the Air Force while the service struggles with major internal issues, as reflected in a study by the Mitchell Institute regarding the Air Force’s aging fleets of combat aircraft. The study, “Decades of Air Force Underfunding Threaten America’s Ability to Win,” highlights the issues generated by a shortage of fighter aircraft and the lagging procurement of new aircraft, namely the F-35. The Air Force also continues to be short on fighter pilots — a shortfall of 1,650 pilots in 2021 — which will likely be a continuing challenge as the airlines ramp up following the COVID-19 outbreak.

A lack of live, non-organic adversaries exacerbates both issues.

In 2015, the Air Force endeavored to start an AdAir program requiring “some” radar capability at Nellis Air Force Base, awarding the first AdAir contract to Draken International. In 2022, the Draken contract was terminated; the Air Force matured its requirements and has now contracted support from the broader AdAir industry with Airborne Tactical Advantage Co., Top Aces, Draken and TAC Air at five Air Force bases.

Notably, for the first time, fourth-generation fighters in the form of civil-owned F-16s were procured for services and should begin training Air Force pilots at Luke and Eglin Air Force bases in November 2022. Still, the program that started out as a 10-year, $6.4 billion program flying about 37,000 flight hours per year at 12 bases is rather underdeveloped, churning out fewer than 15,000 flight hours per year at just five bases, three years into the contract.

The adjunct of fifth-generation fighters has further complicated the picture in terms of cost, training effectiveness across multiple fleets and training availability. The Air Force will soon see if the addition of advanced AdAir capabilities at Luke and Eglin can meet training requirements and contribute with a value-added approach to training and readiness.

Live training in one form or another is critical to exercising pilots and aircraft as well as developing maintenance and logistics talent. Simulation is a valid addition to live training, especially in very high-end scenarios, but it has not materialized as a majority replacement. Cutting-edge technology, such as augmented reality, could provide value to the live training regime, given the Air Force’s focus on an open-architecture fighter force. The Air Force recently invested up to $70 million in a pilot program to help assess the value of augmented reality in training and readiness.

Another option for the Air Force is to add a new fleet of organic adversary training aircraft. The only apparent solution is to procure an adversary training version of the T-7 Red Tail described in the Air Force’s “Reforge” plan; it’s likely to be an approximately $25 million asset complete with a yet-to-be incorporated radar. For a 100-aircraft, roughly $2.5 billion purchase, the Air Force would have a state-of-the-art trainer with a max speed of Mach 1.06 as the primary adversary aircraft.

To establish an organic adversary aircraft program, it must be funded concurrent with other aircraft acquisition priorities and staffed by pilots in the Air Force, who are likely to be in short supply into the 2030s — two likely difficult hurdles.

AdAir needs a clear, long-term picture and a show of confidence in the program, whose funding has bounced between commitment and termination for five years. Statements from senior Air Force leadership continue to emphasize the short-term mindset when it comes to AdAir, and these can have the result of inhibiting industry commitment and growth. According to a Government Accountability Office report from December, “air support contracts are used as a bridge until the Air Force adversary air program develops greater military capabilities to conduct training.”

What might be missing in the conversation is the total value proposition of AdAir, including:

The ability to have aircraft and capabilities available without the acquisition cost.A lower cost per training sortie.A near-zero increase in organic, fixed costs.Not investing in tactical aircraft that can be only used for training (and associated simulators, spares, maintenance and support personnel).The organic airframe life savings.An increase in the pilot cadre of the Air Force without actually having to increase active duty personnel.

A strong commit signal from the Air Force would result in more aggressive growth in aircraft and desired capabilities for Air Force training and readiness. Near-term additions to the AdAir program — such as active electronically scanned array technology and capabilities like infrared search and track, electronic attack, radar cross-section reduction, and support for development of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft concept of operations — remain options for the AdAir industry.

Industry’s willingness to commit capital and manpower to AdAir is there. But without a commitment to a strategic road map of funding and capabilities over time, the Air Force will not realize the full value of a program that requires such significant commitment from industry.

Jeffrey Parker is the CEO of Defense Business Strategies. He previously worked for Airborne Tactical Advantage Co.

Kongsberg precision-strike missiles to replace Harpoons on UK warships

LONDON — Britain’s Royal Navy is to be equipped with a new long-range precision strike missile in an agreement announced Nov 22 with the Norwegian Government.

Eleven frigates and destroyers are to be equipped with the Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace built Naval Strike Missile.

The first three warships are being rapidly modified to accept the weapon with the first ready for operation in a little over 12 months the U.K. Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace revealed the deal during a visit of the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to Norway this week.

The surface-to-surface strike weapon is being rushed into service in time to meet next year’s pensioning off of the Harpoon missile originally built by McDonnell Douglas before the company was acquired by Boeing.

Harpoon had been earmarked to go out of service in 2018 but the move was put back to 2023.

In November last year the British cancelled plans to introduce an interim capability a move which would have left the Navy surfacefleet without a strike missile for at least five years. That plan , was officially abandoned with the interim surface-to-surface guided weapon program resurrected earlier this year.

“This is a significant task with an ambitious timeline,” Norwegian Minister of Defence Bjørn Arild Gram, said. “Both nations have established a designated team with a strong mandate to ensure the success of this common effort.”

The Norwegian weapon, purchased by a host of nation including the US, plugs the gap between the exit from service of Harpoon and the introduction of a future offensive surface weapon.

The Naval Strike Missile will provide the Royal Navy with long-range strike capabilities against surface ship and land targets until theintroduction of its permanent successor, the ‘future offensive surface weapon’, being developed in a joint deal between the UK and France.

The Royal Navy’s next generation anti-ship missile is scheduled in service in 2028 onboard Type 26 anti-submarine warfare frigates, the first three of which are under construction by BAE Systems shipyards on the Clyde, Scotland.

BAE along with Britain’s other main warship build Babcock, supported by Kongsberg, will be leading the effort integrating the Norwegian missile to the Type 23 frigates and Type 45 destroyers.

US to send anti-drone machine guns, air defense ammunition to Ukraine

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon said it will send Ukraine up to $400 million in artillery ammunition, weapons and supplies in its latest drawdown package to help the nation defend itself against Russia.

The security assistance package announced Wednesday includes more ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, high-speed anti-radiation missiles, or HARMs, and 200 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds, the U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement.

It also includes 150 heavy machine guns with thermal imagery sights that Ukraine could use to shoot down Russian drones, the Pentagon said, as well as 10,000 120mm mortar rounds and additional munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, or NASAMS, air defense systems developed by Norway’s Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace and U.S. firm Raytheon Technologies.

“With Russia’s unrelenting and brutal missile and [unmanned aerial systems] attacks on Ukrainian critical energy infrastructure, additional air defense capabilities remain an urgent priority,” the Pentagon said. “The additional munitions for NASAMS and heavy machine guns will help Ukraine counter these urgent threats.”

The package also includes 150 Humvees, more than 100 light tactical vehicles, more than 200 generators, spare parts for 105mm Howitzers and other equipment and more than 20 million rounds of small arms ammunition.

This drawdown will be the U.S. military’s 26th for Ukraine since August 2021. The Pentagon said the U.S. has provided about $22 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since 2014, with more than $19 billion of that coming since Russia invaded the country in February.

Russian shipyard and Defence Ministry tangle over ship price in court

A Russian shipyard producing Karakurt-class ships for the country’s Navy is facing potential financial hardship after new lawsuits from the Defence Ministry and a series of creditors.

On Nov. 15, an arbitration court in Moscow held the first preliminary hearing for a lawsuit against Pella Shipyard in which the ministry is seeking 1.4 billion rubles (U.S. $23.1 million) over allegations the company was “failing to fulfill supply contacts.”

No further information was available in court papers, and a court spokesman declined to provide details, citing the pending case. Pella officials declined to comment for this story.

The lawsuit comes three weeks after Pella was part of another legal entanglement. In that one, the company received additional funding from the ministry after defense officials failed to include more money for additional capabilities for the troubled Ladoga vessel. That ship is meant to provide search and rescue operations for the Baltic Fleet.

The Defence Ministry was ordered to pay 2.6 billion rubles to Pella, according to an Oct. 24 post on the Moscow city court’s website.

According to the contract for the Ladoga vessel, which was valued at around 1.5 billion rubles, Pella planned to provide the ship to the ministry by November 2016. The court’s decision noted that the ministry made changes to the design and provided them to Pella company in February 2016.

Those changes, company officials said, increased the price of the vessel to more than 3.2 billion rubles. Due to adjustments to the ship’s size, among other features, the company was unable to deliver the vessel until September 2018.

The Defence Ministry refused to pay additional costs, citing existing governmental provisions that doesn’t require contractual changes for state orders after the original tender.

Pella officials told the court they couldn’t afford the additional cost, as it would bankrupt the company.

The company also provided the court with a protocol of disagreement, signed by Deputy Defence Minister Alexey Krivoruchko, which mentions the new price discussed by the company and defense officials.

The Russian Defence Ministry and the Russian Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.

A former shipbuilding industry official, speaking to Defense News on the condition of anonymity, described the 2.6 billion ruble payment ordered by the court to be paid to Pella as “rather huge.”

However, he added, the “discipline to fulfill [state] orders has improved in recent years,” and it is common for defense officials to make “additional wishes” that end up increasing costs beyond those laid out in original contacts.

Pella is also fighting with more than a dozen creditors in court, Russian media reported. The majority of the cases were filed by various Russian fishing companies that ordered trawlers from Pella but didn’t receive them on time.

One creditor, the St. Petersburg-based Petrobalt Design Bureau, filled a suit against Pella, claiming the shipyard didn’t honor its contract obligations to design the fishing vessel on time. The sum claimed in the lawsuit is more than 10 million rubles. A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 23.

“It’s all a big bluff,” said Mathieu Boulègue, a consulting fellow with the Russia and Eurasia Program at Chatham House.

“Forget everything you know about procurement, when it comes to Russia,” Boulègue told Defense News. “They [Pella] can fail, they can be turned into martyrs by the state,” but the company won’t go under because the government needs it as a supplier.

Asked about the future of the Karakut program, he said this latest issue is just one of several production problems with the series. If it’s not the shipyard’s financial failings, it’s a problem securing a part or keeping the production line running, he explained.

Founded in the 1950s and based near the Gulf of Finland, Pella specializes in producing small and medium-size vessels for both civilian and military needs. The company’s main beneficiary is Gerbert Tsaturov, who served as its director since the Soviet era.

During a 2016 defense expo in Russia, senior director Andrei Slizkiy told reporters the company signed a contract to produce seven Karakurt-class missile corvettes. The vessels are equipped with Pantsir missile systems and Kalibr missiles. Russia has used the Pantsir family of missiles against Ukraine, which it invaded in February.

Thus far, the company has delivered three, according to media reports, with the last arriving in 2020. That year, the company reported a turnover of more than 10 billion rubles, according to Spark, a database run by the Russian Interfax news organization.

Users of the F-35 huddle in Italy to tout joint maintenance plans

AMENDOLA AIR BASE, Italy — Air force chiefs from around the world who flew into southern Italy this week to discuss getting the best out of their F-35s gathered in front of journalists to watch a mechanic working on an Italian jet.

The scene at Amendola air base would have been unremarkable except the mechanic was from the Dutch air force, and was part of a bid to show how F-35 operators can work on each other’s aircraft to save cash, increase efficiencies and show Moscow how united they are.

“There might be times when a U.S. F-35 has to divert to another air force’s base, or plans to, and we are trying to make them interoperable so any F-35 nation can work on any F-35 no matter where it comes from – and not just refuel it but re-arm it as well,” said Gen. James Hecker, the commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa, who was at the meeting.

The conference at Amendola, which coincided with Falcon Strike 2022, an exercise involving Italian, Dutch and American F-35s, brought together representatives from the surging number of F-35 customers including Finland, Poland, Belgium, Israel, the U.S., Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, the U.K. and Canada.

Italian air force chief Gen. Luca Goretti said shared maintenance was high on the agenda, claiming, “The standardization process in Europe is intense.”

Goretti said that if he wanted to deploy Italian F-35s to the Netherlands, he would currently need to send a back-up team of 100.

“But if we are doing cross servicing I can deploy crew chiefs,” he said, adding, “That means my deployment cell is 30 to 50 guys. The rest is managed by (the Dutch). And that is saving money.”

That means harmonizing maintenance procedures, a task that European users of the Tornado and Eurofighter have previously managed.

Italy is also hoping that pooling maintenance will encourage users to send jets to its fledgeling F-35 maintenance hub at Cameri air base in northern Italy, which has hitherto focused on assembling F-35s for European customers.

Italy has rolled 16 F-35A’s and five B’s off the line so far, while the Dutch – after getting their first nine jets assembled in the United States – have had the remainder of its 32 deliveries to date assembled at Cameri, and will receive another 14 from the line by 2024.

Dutch air force chief Lt. Gen. Dennis Luyt said he would be using Cameri for maintenance services in the future after rating the assembly work at the base.

“We always said if our Italian friends can build a Ferrari they can probably build an F-35 and we have been really impressed by Cameri,” he said. “We are very happy with the aircraft we are receiving. It is important we have places in Europe where we can not only build but also maintain them,” he added.

Goretti said sharing maintenance was also a signal of unity in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine.

“We are proving to our friends in Moscow that we are all united and doing the same job. This is a very strong message,” he said.

That message has been also boosted by the sheer number of F-35s now being purchased by NATO members, with the war in Ukraine pushing sales.

“The Ukraine war has driven home the value of air supremacy, and more nations see that,” said Luyt.

Hecker said that by 2034 he expected to see just over 600 F-35s flying in Europe, up from around 140 ordered today.

“If we get to 600 F-35s in Europe, that’s pretty powerful and sends out a strong message to any opponent of NATO,” he said.

The U.S. general added, “When you look at Ukraine, neither country has been able to get air superiority and we see what the result is – several hundreds of thousands of casualties in less than a year. If you compare that to the number of casualties we had in twenty years in Afghanistan it just blows it out of the water.”

He said, “So it really shows the importance of air superiority. The F-35 is going to help us gain and maintain that air superiority should we have to go to war with somebody else.”

Japanese destroyers intercept ballistic missiles in tests with US Navy

MELBOURNE, Australia – Japan successfully carried out ballistic intercepts near Hawaii using missiles launched from destroyers, validating the ships’ defense capabilities in the process.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency said Nov. 21 that two live-fire events were conducted over a two-week period involving Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers JS Haguro and JS Maya.

The event, designated Japan Flight Test Mission-07 and held in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, also demonstrated the capability of the SM-3 Block IIA, being developed cooperatively by the two countries to defeat medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles.

The first live fire event saw a successful engagement of a T4-E medium range ballistic missile target by a Standard Missile 3 Block IIA fired from the JS Maya. The Aegis-equipped destroyer tracked and fired on the target successfully destroying it over the Pacific Ocean, marking the first occasion that a Maya-class destroyer has fired a SM-3.

A subsequent live-fire exercise demonstrated a successful integrated air and missile defense scenario using SM-3 Block IB and a SM-2 Block IIIB missiles fired from the JS Haguro against a short-range ballistic missile target and an Anti-Air Warfare engagement against a BQM-177 target drone.

The engagement also involved the Cooperative Engagement Capability fitted on both ships, with the JS Maya detecting and tracking the missile target before the JS Haguro shot it down using the data from its sister ship, Nikkei Asia reported.

The MDA said that JFTM-07 is a significant milestone in the cooperation between Japan and the U.S. in missile defense, adding that its goal is “to support the JMSDF ballistic missile defense modernization and certification of the Japanese Aegis Weapon System Baseline J7 and Maya class destroyer deployment.”

The SM-3 block IIA interceptor is a joint development project between Raytheon and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, adding a larger diameter interceptor that is more maneuverable, and carries an upgraded advanced discrimination seeker and a kinetic warhead

Japan has eight Aegis destroyers equipped for air- and missile-defense, and plans to build two more dedicated missile defense ships centered around the Lockheed-Martin SPY-7(V)1 radars that it had earmarked for two land-based Aegis Ashore missile defense facilities.

The Aegis Ashore project was however abandoned due to “technical difficulties” and opposition from residents living near the chosen sites, fueled in part by revelations the Japanese government failed to carry out a thorough survey of the sites before selecting them.

It was then decided that Japan will built two Aegis System-Equipped Vessels to replace the land-based facilities. The ships will be 210 meters (689 feet) long with a beam of 40 meters and displace some 20,000 tons, Jiji Press reported.

The ships will each have a crew complement of 110 and will also carry SM-6 missiles for air defense and indigenous Type 12 anti-ship missiles, it said. Japanese defense minister Yasukazu Hamada has said that ships are planned to be commissioned in early 2028 and 2029.

The SPY-7(V)1 radar uses scaled equipment and software derived from the MDA’s advanced Long Range Discriminating Radar located in Clear, Alaska.

The MDA announced in August that it had successfully demonstrated the Release 3 software build of Aegis Baseline J7.B software together with the SPY-7(V)1 radar for the ASEV program. This follows a successful demonstration of Release 2 software in January, which showed it was able to engage ballistic missiles with the SM-3 Block IIA.

Europe’s new warplane program could finally, maybe, take off

STUTTGART, Germany — Over one year later than expected, several leaders of the trinational Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program claim to be on the precipice of finally launching the next work phase, that would eventually lead to a suite of new weapons and systems for France, Germany, and Spain.

Berlin and Madrid announced Nov. 18 that a “political” agreement had been reached to move forward with the next phase of work, known as Phase 1B, after many months of stymied progress. But the silence from third-party Paris has left observers puzzled over where the program truly stands.

“The political agreement for the FCAS is a big step and – especially in these times – an important sign of the excellent cooperation of France, Germany and Spain,” the Spanish and German defense ministries said in identical statements. “It strengthens Europe’s military capabilities and ensures important know-how for our industry and, more broadly, for European industry.”

Similarly, Airbus Defence and Space – which leads the German industrial involvement in the program – and Indra, representing Spain, released identical statements on Nov. 18 lauding the progress.

“We can confirm that discussions among industry and governments on the next phase of FCAS have concluded, which represents a big step forward for this European flagship defense program,” the companies said. But the actual contract between the three industry players has yet to be signed, they acknowledged, adding: “Now, a number of formal steps in the respective countries have to be taken in order to allow a speedy contract signature.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Dassault Aviation – France’s industry lead – declined to respond to questions in a Nov. 21 email to Defense News, and the company writ large has not released any formal statements on the program’s progress, reflecting its nation’s own lack of acknowledgement.

Dassault CEO Eric Trappier confirmed on Monday that an industry contract between Dassault and Airbus has yet to be signed.

Speaking on France’s RTL Radio, Trappier called Friday’s statement “a pseudo-political announcement” driven by potential leaks regarding Germany’s approvals on the project. Asked whether an industry contract may be signed this week, Trappier said only, “We’ll see.”

Workshare-related delays

The FCAS program – also known as SCAF, for its French name “système de combat aérien du futur” – was announced in 2017 by then-German chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, and Spain was introduced as a third partner in 2019.

The effort consists of seven technology “pillars,” including a sixth-generation fighter aircraft – which will replace the participants’ fleets of Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft – a new engine for the fighter jet, a next-generation weapon system, new drones, advanced sensors and stealth technology, and an air combat cloud network. Phase 1A, launched in 2020 as a research phase that would allow the FCAS team to identify potential technology hurdles early on to manage risk, was due to end in early 2021.

Phase 1B, also known as the “pre-demonstrator” phase, would focus on developing the fighter prototype ahead of a target flight date in 2027, with three years of testing and evaluation to follow before the manufacturing phase begins in 2030. Stakeholders hoped to field the entire architecture by 2040. But months of industrial infighting over workshare agreements have placed the program on the backburner, until, perhaps, this week.

Trappier has long been vocal that the Phase 1B launch delays stem from workshare agreements between his company and Airbus, specifically related to the program’s centerpiece, the next-generation fighter (NGF) aircraft. While Dassault is the lead contractor on that element, Airbus has advocated for a greater role on the aircraft, and sees itself “as a main partner, at eye level, and not just a supplier,” the company said in a July statement.

Dassault must remain the “uncontested leader” of the NGF, Trappier has said in previous statements. He remained coy on Monday as to when an FCAS demonstrator aircraft would finally be revealed. While the goal was to have a prototype aircraft flying by 2027, the Phase 1B delays have pushed that timeline back by two years, he has previously said.

“At some point, we’ll need an aircraft that will replace our current aircraft,” he told RTL. “But effectively, the Rafale has a long life ahead of it.”

In a Nov. 21 statement to Defense News, the Spanish Ministry of Defense asserted there was a “clear track” for the continuation of the FCAS program.

Noting that the program is funded equally by the three nations, Madrid said it had earmarked about €525.7 million ($540 million) for FCAS in its 2023 budget, and a total of €2.5 billion ($2.57 billion) for the overall program. French officials previously told journalists that Phase 1B would cost around €3.5 billion ($3.6 billion) for work completed between 2021 and 2024, split three ways. Paris had earmarked €287.2 million in its 2022 defense budget for ongoing studies and research related to FCAS, but pointedly did not reveal how much funding would be included in its 2023 budget, released this past September.

Time is of the essence

The pressure continues to grow for the FCAS industry representatives to sign a deal imminently. Germany’s budgetary committee will soon meet for the last time before the new year, and Berlin is anxious to ensure the committee approves the contract details before its session ends.

The German Ministry of Defense’s statement said the conclusion of “political talks” means the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, can now take up the FCAS project for funding deliberations. “The necessary steps can now be taken in order to be able to submit the documents to the Budget Committee for information in a timely manner,” the ministry said.

But that can be interpreted as pressure on Berlin’s and Airbus’ side to get Paris, and Dassault, to finalize the agreement as soon as possible, an industry source, who requested anonymity while discussing internal deliberations, told Defense News. If the budgetary committee doesn’t give the green light to unlock the FCAS funds before the end of the year, that means more months of stagnation as Europe’s governments shut down for the winter holidays.

Meanwhile, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne is due to visit German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Nov. 25, which would be an opportune time for an official contract signing announcement, the industry source noted.

Observers have long made comparisons of the industry infighting between the nascent next-generation “systems of systems” program, and the unravelings of the 1980s joint European fighter program that ultimately led to German, the United Kingdom, and Italy developing the Eurofighter Typhoon, and France building the Rafale.

The concern now is that history may be repeating itself, and what progress is made on FCAS over the next three or so years will be an indicator, the industry source said.