Finnish Army Buys More RBS-70 MANPADS

RBS-70, Australian Navy

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The domain of man-portable air defense missile systems (MANPADS) has 4 major competitors around the world. Saab’s RBS-70 is used by 18 countries, and Finland continues to raise its order. Sweden’s Nordic next-door neighbor uses the RBS-70 in 2 modes: as a dispersed, soldier-carried system, and as a vehicle-mounted VSHORAD system

2009 purchase will complement these dispersed, short-range RBS-70 systems with a wider air defense net based on Sentinel radars, and ground-launched AMRAAM missiles. This combination is intended to make Finland’s airspace dangerous enough to deny enemies full air dominance, while its difficult terrain and mobile land forces bleed any future invasion until it quits. If that strategy sounds improbable, recall that Finland forced Stalin’s Russia to settle for a qualified draw in the 1939 Winter War, when Hitler’s ally attacked Finland per the terms of theMolotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

• The RBS-70
• Contracts & Key Events
• Additional Readings

The RBS-70

Man-portable, sorta
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Unlike competitors such as Raytheon’s FIM-92 Stinger, MBDA’s Mistral, or KBM’s SA-18 Igla, the RBS-70 is an ‘unjammable’ laser beam-riding missile with no seeker head at the front. The RBS-70 is a bit heavy for shoulder firing, and is handled from a tripod. The system can be carried in its component parts by 3 infantry soldiers. Target acquisition includes an IFF (Identification, Friend or Foe) phase, but once fired, the missile locks on and vents its propulsion exhaust through the mid-section. This allows the laser beam riding system to fit in the tail, where it is extremely difficult to jam.

Its GlobalSecurity.org entry adds that the RBS-70 Mk 2 uses the Linear Quadratic Method based on the Kalman Theory for missile guidance, whereupon it delivers a 1-2 punch using a shaped charge surrounded by more than 3,000 tungsten pellets.

The Bolide missile is an RBS 70 Mk 2 upgrade that is faster (Mach 2 vs Mach 1.6), with a range up to 8 km (4.8 miles), an adaptable proximity fuse that gives it full effectiveness against a wider variety of targets, and new reprogrammable electronics. The 4th generation system incorporates the BOLIDE all-target missile, BORC clip-on thermal imager, a digital IFF Interrogator, a PC-based training simulator, and an external power supply for training. These improvements reportedly allow the RBS-70 Bolide to be deployed against surface targets as well, which makes it an especially interesting choice for naval use given the proliferation of small fast attack boat threats.

In a complete air defense system configuration, up to 9 RBS-70 firing tripods can be connected to a surveillance radar like Ericsson’s Giraffe 75, enabling all C3I functions. If the missile firing positions are set 4 km apart, the resulting networked VSHORAD (Very SHOrt Range Air Defense) battery protects an area of 175 square kilometers. A number of radar options are available for the RBS-70, including automatic threat evaluation, autonomous operations, et. al.

RBS-70 Bolide, cutaway
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Beyond Sweden, RBS-70 sales have been made over the years to Argentina, Bahrain, Brazil, Indonesia, Iran, Republic of Ireland, Norway, Pakistan, Singapore, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates. All together, Saab says that more than 16,000 missiles have been produced over 4 product generations.

In the last 3-4 years, the Australians have retired their Rapier systems in favor of the RBS-70 system (SEK 600M, incl. SEK 150M for 170 new Bolide missiles). Lithuania received RBS-70 missiles as a gift from Norway to protect critical infrastructure like the Ignalina nuclear plant, whileLatvia (ex-Swedish launchers, unspecified missiles for SEK 185M) and the Czech Republic (SEK 204M, 16 launchers & 200 missiles) have also purchased the RBS-70.

Beyond confirmed customers, The SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) “Register of the transfers of major conventional weapons from Sweden 1995-2005” [PDF] also lists Mexico (100 missiles, supplier uncertain in 1993) and Thailand (85, in 1996 & 2001) as having these missiles in inventory. GlobalSecurity.org adds Venezuela’s Air Force, and the FAV Club site claims that an RBS-70 was successfully used to shoot down an OV-10 during a 1992 coup attempt.

Contracts & Key Events

RBS-70 fired from
ASRAD-R test vehicle
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Jan 27/10: Saab announces a SEK 260 million (about $35.6 million) follow-on contract for further RBS-70 deliveries to the Finnish Army. First deliveries under the new contract are scheduled for 2011. Saab Group.

Jan 7/10: Germany’s Rheinmetall Defence Electronics has commenced an arbitration process against Finland, concerning the delayed delivery of its anti-aircraft defense system to the Finnish Defence Forces. Finland’s MoD says that this is the first time that arbitration has been filed against the Finnish Defence Forces, and adds that they see the allegations as groundless. Finnish Forsvarsministeriet.

Jan 18/07: Saab Bofors Dynamics announces a SEK 600 million (about $85.4 million) contract for the RBS-70 short-range, man-portable air defense system (MANPADS) with the Finnish army, including missiles and maintenance equipment. First delivery is expected at the end of 2008, and the order secures production of the RBS-70 until 2010. Saab release.

Aug 6/02: Finland signs a contract for an unspecified number of RBS-70 MANPADS, and 18 ASRAD-R mobile systems, with a coalition that includes Saab Bofors Dynamics, Germany’s STN ATLAS (nowpart of Rheinmetall) and Ericsson Microwave Systems (now part of Saab Group). These systems will include the new RBS-70 BOLIDE missiles, and a new RBS-70 night sight. The ASRAD-R systems will be mounted on Unimog 5000 trucks. First deliveries were in 2004, and were completed in June 2008.

STN ATLAS was the prime contractor for the EUR 120+ million contract, of which about EUR 30 million was for Saab Bofors Dynamics’ share. Saab Gro

src:http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/finnish-army-buys-more-rbs70-manpads-02971/

Draft Defense Department budget avoids weapons cuts, adds aircraft

Draft Defense Department budget avoids weapons cuts, adds aircraft

By Greg Jaffe and Craig Whitlock

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Obama administration's 2011 defense budget avoids the controversial weapons cuts of last year, according to a draft copy, and continues to shift modest amounts of money to weapons programs such as helicopters, unmanned planes and Special Operations units that are in heavy use Afghanistan and Iraq.

The more than $700 billion budget will be released Monday with a congressionally mandated review of defense spending. That review calls on the Pentagon to focus more attention on wars in which enemy forces hide among the populace and use roadside bombs and hit-and-run ambushes to attack U.S. troops. The Quadrennial Defense review also predicts a future dominated by "hybrid" wars, in which traditional states will fight more like guerrillas and insurgents will arm themselves with increasingly sophisticated technology, such as antitank weapons and missiles.

The bold pronouncements in the review, however, won't drive big changes in the Pentagon budget, which is dominated by massive weapons programs with powerful constituencies in Congress and the defense industry.

"I think the review gets the diagnosis right on the big external challenges facing the Defense Department, but at the end of the day, the preexisting mismatch between the strategy and the [budget] program still exists," said Jim Thomas, who played a key role in writing the last quadrennial review and is now a vice president at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Despite the language about new threats, a December draft of the quadrennial review doesn't mention the F-35 fighter jet program, which remains one of the largest and most expensive programs in the history of the military and has been in development for more than a decade.

Although Obama has proposed a three-year freeze on federal spending, he has exempted the Pentagon from these limits, allowing an increase of about 2 percent when the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are stripped out of the budget. In addition to the more than $700 billion budget, the president will also ask for about $33 billion to pay for the surge of about 30,000 troops into Afghanistan.

Much of the new spending in the 2011 budget will be directed to weapons programs in heavy use in Afghanistan. The budget calls on the Air Force to double the number of MQ-9 Reapers, which are unmanned planes that can carry precision bombs, over the next several years. The extra planes will allow the Air Force to increase from about 37 to 65 the number of long-range, unmanned surveillance aircraft that it can keep airborne during combat missions.

The Army and Marine Corps will get almost $10 billion for helicopters, which have been essential to moving troops across Afghanistan and have been in short supply since the beginning of the war in 2001. The budget also calls for increasing spending for Special Operations forces by about 6 percent, to $6.3 billion. Those forces have played a central role in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, where they have trained indigenous counterterrorism troops.

The Pentagon's quadrennial review will formally scrap its past construct for determining the size of the force, which held that the military should be able to fight two major regional conflicts simultaneously. The review argues that the Pentagon today faces a much broader array of potential threats, including terrorism, stabilization missions and guerrilla wars, and acknowledges that in the near term, the demands of Iraq and Afghanistan will play the major role in determining the size of the U.S. military.

In contrast with last year, when Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates eliminated or curtailed several expensive conventional weapons programs, including the F-22 fighter jet, the new budget includes no major weapons cancellations and is likely to draw plaudits from the defense industry. For years defense industry executives have predicted that spending would be curtailed.

"You have to wonder whether the tough year is ever going to come," said Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute, a defense think tank.

The lack of big weapons cuts is causing some outcry from congressional Democrats. "I don't think that we have to protect military contractors. And I want to make that distinction very clearly," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.). "I do not think the entire defense budget should be exempted."

src:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/29/AR2010012904235.html?wprss=rss_world/mideast

Rocket testing failure: hit residence house

A test rocket fired by state weapons manufacturer PT Pindad overshot its target, hitting a shrimp farm in Lumajang, East Java, on Wednesday. No one was reported injured during the incident.The 122-millimeter rocket was launched at an Air Force artillery range during a test, which was attended by State Research and Technology Minister Suharna Suryapranata and officials from the Defense Ministry the Navy and the Air Force, in Tempeh district.Lumajang Police chief Dedi Prasetyo told journalists that the shell of the rocket hit the farm in Meleman village in Yosowilangun district.“It was the first of 12 rockets that were tested today,” he said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.The rocket was expected to fire only 10 kilometers, but flew another three kilometers, he said.Police said they would let Pindad deal with the farm owner over compensation for damages.

source:http://m.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/01/27/test-rocket-misses-target-hits-farm-east-java.html