[A-List] UK military rearmament

["Keaney Michael" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

MoD plans £7bn air defence upgrade

Richard Norton-Taylor
Friday March 15, 2002
The Guardian

The Ministry of Defence yesterday announced a £7bn programme to
upgrade and replace air defence systems for Britain's armed forces
deployed in operations abroad.

In the first stage, valued at £1bn, six companies have been invited to
tender for a contract to provide a new command and control system for
ground-to-air missiles.

The companies are AMS of Camberley, Surrey; Eads Defence Systems and
Electronics (UK) of Milton Keynes, Bucks; Lockheed Martin of the US;
Oerlikon-Contraves of Switzerland; Thales Defence of Crawley, Surrey;
and Raytheon Systems of Harlow, Essex.

A shortlist of two is expected to be announced in December.

At the same time, the manufacturers of the Rapier and HVM (high-velocity
missile) systems have been asked to improve the performance of those
weapons. The missiles are made by MBDA of Stevenage and Thales Air
Defence of Belfast.

The new package, planned to enter into service in 2007, will provide
British troops with better defence against new potential threats such as
low-flying, unmanned air vehicles, cruise missiles and attack
helicopters.

Existing systems, which were developed for cold war battles, cannot
distinguish between enemy and friendly aircraft, with the result that
operators have to identify targets visually before firing at them.

The national audit office warned last week that Britain's armed forces
face a growing risk of "fratricide" - accidental attack by allies.

The risk of being under fire from friendly forces will increase as
military operations are conducted by ad hoc coalitions, sometimes with
countries which have only recently joined Nato, it said.

Failure to distinguish between allied and enemy aircraft would have
prevented British Rapier ground-to-air missiles from being used
effectively in the Kosovo war, the audit office added in a report on
combat identification.

New members of Nato continued to use equipment operated by the former
Warsaw Pact, it said. For example, the Polish army's ground-based air
defence systems - more advanced than those in Nato countries - would
still be identified as an enemy threat.

The new system will allow them to identify threats beyond visual range.

In a second, longer-term investment, the MoD has committed £6bn to
develop ground-to-air missile systems to counter threats from
low-flying, high-speed weapons equipped with stealth technology. The
ministry is looking for collaborators among its Nato allies.

Defence officials said yesterday that a number of countries, including
Germany, France, Italy and Norway, had already expressed interest in the
scheme. Collaboration would help reduce the cost, the officials said.

Lord Bach, the arms procurement minister, said that the initial upgrade
would be achieved by buying off-the-shelf technology.

"Use of off-the-shelf technology at the start, and introducing further
improvements in stages, means that the UK's joint GBAD [ground-based air
defence] force gets improved capability earlier," he said.

"Ground-based air defence is an essential component of our force
protection package."

Full article at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,667492,00.html

Michael Keaney
Mercuria Business School
Martinlaaksontie 36
01620 Vantaa
Finland

michael.keaney@xxxxxx