Desert Leopards: Germany Selling Heavy Armor to the Saudis?

Leopard 2A7+

In mid-2011 reports surfaced that Saudi Arabia was preparing to buy around 200 German Leopard 2A7+ main battle tanks. Those reports stirred serious controversy in Germany, and indirectly confirmed the existence of a sales request.

Saudi Arabia would hardly be the first recipient of new or refurbished German tanks; indeed, Germany has displayed a consistent policy of selling cheap used tanks to countries all around Europe, and far beyond. Saudi Arabia is a somewhat surprising customer, because of its traditional “dual buy” structure for its land forces equipment, but there are strong reasons for Germany to be very interested in closing a Saudi sale. At the same time, the concerns expressed by opposition members are not without foundation.

Britain’s A330 Voyager FSTA: An Aerial Tanker Program – With a Difference

FSTA Concept

Back in 2005, Great Britain was considering a public-private partnership to buy, equip, and operate the RAF’s future aerial tanker fleet. The RAF would fly the 14 Airbus A330-MRTT aircraft on operational missions, and receive absolute preferential access to the planes. A private contractor would handle maintenance, receive payment from the RAF on a per-use basis – and operate them as passenger charter or transport aircraft when the RAF didn’t need them.

The deal became politically controversial, and negotiations on the 27-year, multi-billion pound deal charted new territory for both the government, and for private industry. Which may help to explain why a contract to move ahead on a “Private Financing Initiative” basis had yet to be issued, and procurement had yet to begin, over 7 years after the program began. In March 2008, however, Britain issued the world’s largest-ever Defence Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract. This FOCUS Article describes the current British fleet, the aircraft they chose to replace them, how the new fleet will compare, the innovative deal structure they’ve chosen, and ongoing FSTA developments.

The USMC’s Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV)

AAAV/ EFV, swim mode

The US Marine Corps’ AAVP7 Amtracs have been their primary ship to shore amphibious armored personnel carrier for a long time; the AAV7A1 was initially fielded in 1972, and underwent a major service life extension program and product improvement program from 1983-1993. The Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle was the USMC’s plan to replace the aging AMTRACS (lit. AMphibious TRACtorS), which saw extensive service deep inland during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The personnel version of the new EFVs would carry a crew of 3, plus a reinforced rifle squad of 17 combat-loaded Marines. A high-tech weapons station would provide firepower, via a stabilized ATK 30mm MK 44 Bushmaster cannon with advanced sights to replace the AAV’s unstabilized .50 caliber machine gun. A command variant would carry an array of communications and computer systems and staff personnel. The EFV remained the U.S. Marine Corps’ top land acquisition priority, even as its price tag and development issues cut its buy sharply. Push finally came to shove in 2010, however, as the USMC realized that it simply couldn’t afford the vehicle, or its performance.

Britain’s VC10 Tankers Arrive At New Support Model

VC10 & Tornado F3s

As of 2002, the RAF had 19 of its 4-engined VC10 aerial tankers in service. These sleek aircraft with the unusual engine arrangement form the backbone of its aerial tanker fleet, and will continue to do so for about another decade until the new Airbus A330 MRTTs fully enter service as part of a pathbreaking private-public partnership deal.

Meanwhile, the RAF continues to pursue its “future contracting for availability” approach across its fleets, which aims to pay for available equipment, not man-hours and spare parts. This includes the VC10s, who have now reached the final stage of their own support program… and of their service lives.

Rapid Fire June 26, 2012: USAF Looking for Hypersonic Weapons

• The US Air Force will hold an industry day tomorrow at its Eglin base in Florida on the High Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW), a research laboratory program that intends to demonstrate “a Mach 5+ (i.e. hypersonic) velocity weapon capable of holding fixed and relocatable targets (i.e. time critical targets) at risk from tactically relevant standoff distances in tactically relevant timelines.”

• India’s ballistic missile defense system will initially cover Delhi and Mumbai. In addition to being a major economic center, Mumbai is also the HQ for India’s west coast fleet.

• Russia is preparing to deliver India’s 7th and last upgraded Kilo Class submarine. With India’s Scorpene submarine program running late, the upgraded Kilos will be the core of India’s dwindling submarine fleet.