US Defense Budget: ¿Where goes the money endly go?

¿Where does the money of the US taxpayer really go?

Watching the scene from outside US, it results difficult to understand how some countries with much less defense budgets are achieving better results.

Let us think on Avangard Hypersonic Glide Vehicle made by Russia: As reported,  it has been launched from the Dombarovskiy missile base in the southern Ural Mountains, and successfully hit a practice target on the Kura shooting range on Kamchatka, 6000 kilometres (3700 miles) away, reaching speeds close to Mach 25, what means roughly 10 Km/s or 6 miles/s.

¿Truth or lie? If the above is truth, this would mean that no US anti-missile could knock it down. In another words: United States could lay fastly out of combat in case a military conflict against Russia.

So, again: ¿Where has the money of the US taxpayer really gone?

Sergei Ivanov, a former Russian defence minister, has said in televised comments that the Avangard constantly changes its course and altitude while it flies through the atmosphere, chaotically zigzagging on its path to its target, making it impossible to predict the weapon’s location.

¿Truth or lie? If truth, ¿United States has something similar? For the moment, it seems simply that the answer is "no".

So, again: ¿Where has the money of the US taxpayer really gone?

Ivanov has stated also that the Avangard Hypersonic Glide Vehicle has cost hundreds of times less than what the US has spent on its missile defence system.

¿Truth or lie? Well, bearing in mind the russian defence budget, it can not be a lie at all.

And now the the cherry on the cake: Ivanov has revealed that Russia began to develop the Avangard after 2002 when the US withdrew from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and began developing defences against ballistic missiles.

¿Truth or lie? Well, this is not the right question. The right question is -or should be- the following :  If a dwarfy budget as the russian defence budget has allowed Russia to get something like the Avangard in just 16 years, ¿Where has the money of the US taxpayer really gone during these 16 years?

¿U.S. to sell Patriot missile systems to Turkey?

The Ankara office director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, told Arab News he believes the decision from the U.S. State Department to dangle the offer of the Patriot system is aimed to make Turkey drop the purchase of the S-400: If Ankara forges ahead with purchasing the Russian alternative, the Patriot offer would allow the U.S. to dismiss Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program.

The Patriot and S-400 are competing systems, and Washington has firmly opposed to Turkey’s planned acquisition of Russian-made systems that are designed to target American-made military weapons. In words of Nicholas Danforth, a senior policy analyst at the Bipartisan Policy Center’s National Security Project, “The real breakthrough would only be if Turkey abandoned its plans to buy the S-400s. For the Patriot sale to move forward, Turkish officials must have to convince Washington they are not going to buy the S-400s.”

Purchase of Patriot missiles will not affect S-400 deal

Turkey’s possible purchase of US-made Patriot missile systems will not impact its deal to buy Russian S-400 systems, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told a news conference on Monday 24th December: “The deal on S-400 is closed. The first systems will be supplied in October 2019. The offer on Patriot will change nothing because we don’t consider them as alternatives to one another. We can have both systems,” he was quoted as saying by Russian news agency TASS. 

US State Department Backs Patriot Missile Sale

On December 18, the U.S. State Department announced its proposal to Congress for a $3.5 billion Patriot system sale to Turkey.

The DSCA press release reports that Turkey plans to procure 80 Patriot MIM-104E GEM (Guidance Enhanced Missiles) and 60 PAC-3 MSE (Missile Segment Enhancement) missiles.

The package also includes four AN/MPQ-65 Radar Sets, as well as other launching stations and control systems. According to an unnamed State Department spokesperson, the sale will allow “the Turkish military to guard against hostile aggression and shield NATO allies.”

This announcement follows several years of increasing tensions between the United States and Turkey under President Tayyip Erdogan.

Raytheon wins $693 million production contract

Previously announced by the U.S. Department of Defense, the contract calls for Raytheon to build and deliver an undisclosed quantity of Patriot fire units and GEM-T interceptor missiles.

In words of Tom Laliberty, vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems business, "Sweden's Patriot procurement will provide joint training opportunities for the Swedish and U.S. armed forces, and enhance military interoperability. Patriot is continually modernized, providing Sweden the world's most advanced and capable air and missile defense system."

Raytheon’s Patriot Solutions is a missile defense system consisting of radars, command-and-control technology and multiple types of interceptors, all working together to detect, identify and defeat tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, advanced aircraft and other threats.

Lockheed secures $3.3b deal to deliver PAC-3 to Saudi Arabia

PAC-3 missiles are high-velocity interceptors against incoming threats, including tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircrafts.

Thirteen nations –Germany, Japan, Kuwait, Netherlands, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Sweden, Romania, Taiwan, UAE and United States– have chosen PAC-3 and PAC-3 MSE (Missile Segment Enhancement) to provide missile defense capabilities.

The upgraded PAC-3 MSE expands the lethal battlespace with a dual-pulse solid rocket motor, providing increased performance in altitude and range. PAC-3 MSE is a high-velocity interceptor against incoming threats, including tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircrafts.

The missile uses Hit-to-Kill technology, which engages threats through kinetic energy via body-to-body contact. In words of Jay Pitman, vice president of PAC-3 programs at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, "PAC-3 and PAC-3 MSE give our customers unmatched, combat-proven hit-to-kill technology to address growing and evolving threats. PAC-3 and PAC-3 MSE are proven, trusted and reliable interceptors that employ hit-to-kill accuracy, lethality and enhanced safety to address dangers around the world."

(Read more)

Turkey would not allow US to inspect Russian S-400

A senior Turkish official says Ankara would not provide the United States with the opportunity to study the advanced Russian-built S-400 air defense missile system, regardless of strong opposition from Washington and warnings that Turkey should not buy the anti-aircraft platform.

(Read more...)

Additive Manufacturing to modernize the US Military

“Innovation” and “force modernization” are the Pentagon buzzwords of the day: Strategies are being developed across the Department of Defense enterprise, with these concepts as the foundational pillars. But oddly enough considering the defense budget of the United States compared to the defense budget of Russia or China, for the first time in decades the United States military apparatus does not possess a clear advantage on the world stage.

¿Causes? The flattening of the technological landscape and emergence of strongly modernized adversaries like Russia and China. Both causes requires that the U.S. innovate to remain dominant not only in technological progress but also in the ability to field systems more rapidly than their peer adversaries.

¿Solutions? Of course, there are not magical solutions, but the undersecretary for research and engineering, Michael Griffin, and other DoD leaders, believe that, in many ways, the Additive Manufacturing could boost the solution. They emphasize this approach in the fiscal 2019 budget request: $90 billion in R&D with increases concentrated in rapid prototyping for testing activities.

For the Pentagon, the Additive Manufacturing can serve as a foundational tool to accelerate new weapons development and provide innovative solutions to win the wars of the XXI Century. Bearing this in mind, industry partners, military operators, and members of the science and technology communities should certainly take notice: DoD leaders are increasingly placing their bets on Additive Manufacturing and they are thinking on using it not only for rapid prototyping in the early stages of development, but also for manufacturing of end-use parts.

Internet of nuclear things: Managing the proliferation risks of 3-D printing technology

Over the next decade, the spread and maturation of Additive Manufacturing could challenge major control mechanisms for inhibiting nuclear proliferation.

At the same time, the cyber-physical nature of this production technology creates the potential for the emergence of an Internet of Nuclear Things, which could be harnessed to increase the information visibility of dual-use activities in civil nuclear programs.

This new capability could offer unique opportunities to mitigate proliferation risks and augment traditional methods of regulating and monitoring sensitive nuclear technologies. But barriers stand in the way of leveraging an Internet of Nuclear Things –notably, political issues related to information access and integrity.

As additive manufacturing technology matures, government and industry stakeholders should adopt a strategic approach toward an evolving Internet of Nuclear Things – an approach that would include principles to encourage transparency within the Internet of Nuclear Things and ensure the integrity of the information it produces.

Read more:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00963402.2018.1436811?journalCode=rbul20

Missile Defense: ¿Why should an army wait a year to get end-use parts that It could be 3D-Printed?

Defense companies are using Additive Manufacturing more often today to build parts for weapons: Aerojet Rocketdyne is using the technology to build rocket engines, Huntington Ingalls is using it to build warships and Boeing is 3D printing parts for its commercial, defense, and space products. “In particular, rapid prototyping, along with the creation of highly specific and technical parts are orders of magnitude faster and cheaper than traditional manufacturing methods,” said a recently released RAND report. 

Someday, the military will 3D-print missiles as needed, the U.S. Air Force’s acquisition chief says. In the shorter term, he just wants to use Additive Manufacturing Technology to get broken planes back in the air. The roadblock is legal, not technical: “I have airplanes right now that are waiting on parts that are taking a year and a half to deliver. A year and a half,” Will Roper, the assistant Air Force secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, said in an interview.

The Air Force is already 3D-printing niche projects whose original suppliers no longer exist. The problem is with parts whose manufacturers are still around, but which no longer make the specific item in need. Today’s 3D-printers could make short work of those deliveries, but some of those parts’ original manufacturers control the intellectual property —and so far, the service lacks clear policy for dealing with that: “The reason I can’t say we’re going to do it is we’re talking about government contracts and IP, so I have lawyers that are helping me and other contracts folks,” Roper said. “But it’s an area I’m going to stay focused because I see a way for win-win. And that doesn’t happen often in the government.”

Missile building related companies firms up investments in Additive Manufacturing and other technologies

Missile building related companies keep investing in new types of manufacturing. Let us summarize some of those investments:

Aerojet Rocketdyne is using Additive Manufacturing to make rocket engines.

Boeing has invested in Digital Alloys, a company that is developing high-speed, multi-metal Additive Manufacturing systems to produce 3D-printed parts for aerospace and other production applications.

Raytheon has opened a $72 million, 30,000-square-foot (2,787-square-meters) facility that houses automation technology to support complex radar testing and integration.

HorizonX has invested in Morf3D, a company whose technology enables light and strong 3D-printed parts for aerospace applications.

Lockheed Martin is using Additive Manufacturing in its Gateway Center.

Navy Developing Prompt Global Strike Weapon that Could Launch from Sub or Surface Ship

The Navy has stood up a program office within its Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) to address the conventional prompt global strike mission the Pentagon has handed to the sea service, the SSP director said recently. (Read more...)

AMRDEC funds a project focused on Additive Manufacturing of Microdevices

"Additive-Manufacturing of 3D Glass-Ceramics down to Nanoscale Resolution" is available open-access via ResearchGate.

The paper is co-authored by Darius Gailevičius, Viktorija Padolskytė, Lina Mikoliūnaitė, Simas Šakirzanova, Saulius Juodkazis, and Mangirdas Malinauskas.

For this experiment, the researchers used two-photon lithography technology, a method of 3D Fabrication on a photonic scale. The technology employs an ultrafast pulsed femtosecond laser to precisely cure a light-reactive material, strong and potentially fluorescent or superconductive.

The project unlocks new potential in microdevice manufacturing, and has been funded by the AMRDEC (U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center) which is seeking to uncover applications in efficient sensing.

Application of Additive Manufacturing Technologies in Missile Manufacturing Industry: Strategy of India

Additive Manufacturing (AM), also popularly known as 3D Printing, is revolutionising the missile manufacturing landscape and presents huge challenges for a country’s defence capability and security.

(Read more)

DEFCON 5

There are currently no imminent nuclear threats against the United States at this time, but let us go summarize the today-and-now status quo regarding the main actors on the main stages of a possible WW3

UNITED STATES vs RUSSIA

As the United States continues to consider withdrawing from the intermediate range nuclear weapon treaty, Russia has warned of an “efficient response” if the United States deploys intermediate-range missiles in Europe, implicity threatening any country that hosts U.S. nuclear weapons.

INDIA vs PAKISTAN and CHINA

• India’s first domestically built nuclear-powered submarine has completed its first patrol in a signal to both Pakistan and China and now says its nuclear triad is complete.
• China has begun construction on third aircraft carrier

IRAN

Iran has test-fired a medium range ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple warheads.

NORTH KOREA vs UNITED STATES and SOUTH KOREA

• North Korea has threatens to restart nuclear weapons programme if U.S. does not provide sanctions relief.
• It must be noted that North Korea has continued to expand operations at its main nuclear site and that South Korea spy agency have reported that North Korea is continuing to miniaturize nuclear warheads.
• United States say it may resume large-scale joint military exercises with South Korea if there continues to be no tangible progress on the denuclearization of North Korea.

RUSSIA vs UKRAINE

• Russia has attacked and captured Ukraine vessels in the Sea of Azov.
• While Ukraine makes noises of war, no other country seems to be moving in that direction.
• The United States has stated that the current crises is an European problem, indicating that the U.S. will not get involved.
• Additionally, Germany has refused a request to get involved.
• This does not mean that escalation is not possible.
• This is highly dependent on what Russia will do and how NATO will respond.