Tag Archives: Defense Equipment/Products

World

Biden Administration to Ask Congress to Approve F-16 Sale to Turkey

Leave a comment

The Biden administration is preparing to seek congressional approval for a $20 billion sale of new F-16 jet fighters to Turkey along with a separate sale of next-generation F-35 warplanes to Greece, in what would be among the largest foreign weapons sales in recent years, according to U.S. officials.

Administration officials intend the prospect of the sale to prod Turkey to sign off on Finland and Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which Ankara has blocked over objections to their ties to Kurdish separatist groups. Congress’s approval of the sale is contingent on Turkey’s acquiescence, administration officials said. The two countries ended decades of neutrality when they decided to join NATO last year in reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The sale to Turkey, which the administration has been considering for more than a year, is larger than expected. It includes 40 new aircraft and kits to overhaul 79 of Turkey’s existing F-16 fleet, according to officials familiar with the proposals.

Congressional notification of the deal will roughly coincide with a visit to Washington next week by Turkey’s Foreign Minister

Mevlut Cavusoglu.

The sale to Turkey also includes more than 900 air-to-air missiles and 800 bombs, one of the officials said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has faced U.S. pressure to approve NATO expansion.



Photo:

adem altan/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The separate sale to Greece, which was requested by the Greek government in June 2022, includes at least 30 new F-35s. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the U.S.’s most advanced jet fighter. While officials described the timing of the notifications for both Turkey and Greece as coincidental, it could quell protests from Athens over the F-16 sale if its request is also granted. Greece and Turkey are historic regional rivals and a sale to Turkey alone would likely draw swift condemnation from Athens.

The potential sale of the aircraft could have far-reaching implications for Washington’s efforts to shore up ties with a pair of NATO allies amid the Western response to Russia’s assault on Ukraine.

A State Department spokesman declined to comment on potential arms transfers as a matter of policy until and unless they are formally notified to Congress. Congress has never successfully blocked a foreign arms sale requested by the White House.

The proposed deal with Turkey comes at a moment of tension in U.S.-Turkish relations, with Washington also attempting to convince President Recep

Tayyip Erdogan

to do more to enforce sanctions on Russia and to approve the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO.

The proposal also sets up a possible showdown with some congressional leaders who have vowed to oppose weapons sales to Turkey. Sen.

Bob Menendez,

a Democrat from New Jersey who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has said he wouldn’t approve any F-16 sale to Turkey, citing human-rights concerns.

In recent months, Mr. Erdogan has also threatened to launch a new military incursion against Kurdish militants in Syria. Last month a Turkish court also convicted the mayor of Istanbul, a popular opponent of Mr. Erdogan, of insulting public officials in what human rights groups said was part of a crackdown on the Turkish opposition. The Turkish government says its courts are independent.

Under U.S. arms-export laws, Congress will have 30 days to review the deal. If Congress wants to block the deal it must pass a joint resolution of disapproval. Congress can also pass legislation to block or modify a sale at any time until the delivery.

The Biden administration is looking to sell at least 30 new F-35 jet fighters to Greece.



Photo:

robert atanasovski/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

U.S. officials say they are encouraging Mr. Erdogan to drop his opposition to Finland and Sweden joining NATO. One official characterized the F-16s as the “carrot on a stick” to get Turkey to agree.

This, officials said, could ease opposition to the sale among some members of Congress. Officials within the State Department have argued for months that the expansion was imperative to NATO’s collective security. However, officials expect that while the Greece package could sail through Congress, the F-16s may be delayed over some members’ reluctance to embolden Ankara with the additional firepower.

Mr. Erdogan first threatened to veto the two countries’ entrance over their ties to Kurdish militant groups in Iraq and Syria. Turkey has fought a slow-burning war with Kurdish armed groups for decades in a conflict that has left tens of thousands dead.

NATO leaders say that Finland and Sweden have addressed Turkey’s concerns, upholding an agreement signed last year that called for both countries to evaluate Turkish extradition requests and drop restrictions on arms sales to Ankara.

Turkish officials say that Sweden hasn’t done enough to uphold its obligations to Turkey, citing what they say is continuing activity by the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Sweden. The Turkish government this week summoned Sweden’s ambassador over a demonstration in Stockholm in which protesters hung a puppet of Mr. Erdogan by its feet. The Turkish president’s hard line against Sweden has broad support within Turkey, including among opposition parties, who have long opposed what they see as a permissive approach to Kurdish militant groups in Europe.

The timing of a vote on NATO expansion in the Turkish parliament will also depend on Turkey’s national election this year, in which Mr. Erdogan faces a close race amid public discontent over the country’s struggling economy.

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The Biden administration remains cautiously optimistic that Turkey will eventually come around on Finland and Sweden. U.S. officials said last year that there would be no quid pro quo for Turkey’s approval of the NATO expansion, and said that the timing of the F-16 sale was dependent on the administration’s own internal process to complete the deal.

The proposed sales also come amid heightened tensions between Turkey and Greece, two longtime adversaries who have traded threats over the past year in the eastern Mediterranean.

Turkey was originally a participant in the U.S.’s cutting-edge F-35 program but was expelled after Mr. Erdogan approved the purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defense system. The U.S. government said the Russian weapons system could potentially hack the F-35.

Biden administration officials have argued that selling F-16s to Turkey could help restore ties with the country, which maintains the second-largest army in NATO.

Under Mr. Erdogan, Turkey has played an important role in the Ukraine crisis, facilitating negotiations over prisoner exchanges and helping to broker an agreement that allowed Ukraine to resume its exports of grain through Black Sea ports. Mr. Erdogan’s close relationship with Russia’s President

Vladimir Putin

has also raised concerns in Washington, with scrutiny of inflows of Russian money to Turkey, including oligarch assets.

Finland and Sweden have formally applied to join NATO, but Turkey has threatened to block them from joining. WSJ’s Shelby Holliday explains why Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees the expansion as a threat to Turkey’s national security. (Video first published in May 2022). Photo composite: Sebastian Vega

—William Mauldin contributed to this article.

Write to Jared Malsin at jared.malsin@wsj.com and Vivian Salama at vivian.salama@wsj.com

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Read original article here

Business

BAE, U.S. in Talks to Restart M777 Howitzer Production After Ukraine Success

Leave a comment

British arms maker

BAE Systems

BAESY 2.41%

PLC said it was considering restarting production of the M777 howitzer, as the big gun’s performance on Ukrainian battlefields revives interest in the weapon.

BAE said several countries had expressed an interest in buying M777s, production of which is currently being wound down. The inquiries come after Ukrainian forces have been using the artillery piece to deadly effect against Russian troops in recent months.

The company said it was now in talks regarding the restart with the U.S. Army, which runs the weapon’s program. The U.S. government must approve any foreign sales. The U.S. Army declined to comment, referring queries on the matter to BAE.

The M777’s potential resurrection exemplifies how the war in Ukraine could reshape the global armaments industry. High-profile weaponry including the U.S. M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or Himars, and the Anglo-Swedish NLAW portable antitank missile, which have proven very effective against Russian forces, are likely to win new orders, analysts say. Meanwhile, the poor performance of many Russian arms is expected to dent their sales on global markets.

The M777 has allowed Ukraine’s forces to fire a wider variety of projectiles than was possible with older weapons.



Photo:

Sergey Kozlov/Shutterstock

The howitzer, a class of mobile, long-barreled, battlefield gun, has long been a cornerstone of modern artillery. However, it has taken on a more prominent role in the war in Ukraine than in other recent conflicts such as the one in Afghanistan or the second war in Iraq.

The performance of the M777 in particular has been enhanced by the increasing use of precision GPS-guided shells, rather than traditional unguided shells. The M777 is also one of the most plentiful pieces in Ukraine’s Western-supplied artillery, which includes at least 170 of the guns received from the U.S., Australia and Canada.

Easy for troops to operate and less expensive than many other similar types of Western artillery, the M777’s reliability and versatility have drawn attention among military specialists and analysts.

“The demonstration of the effectiveness and utility of a wide variety of artillery systems is what is coming out of the Ukraine conflict,” said Mark Signorelli, a vice president of business development at BAE, one of the world’s largest defense companies.

BAE said that if inquiries from prospective M777 buyers, which include countries in Central Europe, turned into actual orders, it could lead to up to 500 new howitzers.

Easy for troops to operate and less expensive than similar types of artillery, the M777’s reliability and versatility have drawn the attention of military specialists.



Photo:

David Moir/REUTERS

“Inquiries don’t always turn into contracts,” said Mr. Signorelli. To restart the M777 production line profitably, the company needs at least 150 unit orders, he added.

The U.S. Army isn’t expected to add to its stockpile of M777s. The Army and Marines have purchased more than 1,000 of the guns, which entered service in 2005.

The M777 was primarily manufactured in the U.K. but often assembled in the U.S., and the program is currently in the final stages of producing its last orders, for India.


Maximum firing range:

Maximum rate of fire:

Weight:

In service:

Origin:

14 to 24.2 miles

4 rpm

4.2 tons

2005

U.K. / U.S.

Maximum firing range:

Maximum rate of fire:

Weight:

In service:

Origin:

14 to 24.2 miles

4 rpm

4.2 tons

2005

U.K. / U.S.

Max firing range:

Max rate of fire:

Weight:

In service:

Origin:

14 to 24.2 miles

4 rpm

4.2 tons

2005

U.K. / U.S.

Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said that Himars and other Western rocket-launch systems have probably been more important in destroying Russian logistics and control centers.

“But when it comes to engaging Russian military forces directly in the field, the M777s, one assumes, are carrying a larger burden,” he said.

The M777 has positives and negatives when compared with rival guns. Unlike the German Panzerhaubitze 2000 and French Caesar howitzer, which are also being used in Ukraine, the M777 has to be towed. It also has a lower fire rate than those other European weapons, according to an officer in Ukraine’s military intelligence.

However, the M777 has found favor with Ukrainian forces for its greater accuracy and ease of use, he said.

The M777 fires standard Western ammunition, meaning Ukraine is less reliant on dwindling supplies of Russian-made shells, said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the CSIS International Security Program and a former artillery officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. The M777 can also fire a wider variety of projectiles, including guided shells, than the Soviet artillery that had been in Ukraine’s armory, he added.

The M777 howitzer was also used by U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan.



Photo:

LIU JIN/Agencerance-Presse/Getty Images

The U.S., the U.K. and Sweden have given the howitzer new capabilities by creating GPS-guided shells that are far more precise than earlier-generation unguided projectiles.

The 155mm Excalibur shells, developed by

Raytheon Technologies Corp.

and BAE, can strike within less than 10 feet of a target, even at their maximum range of around 30 miles, according to Pentagon and company documentation. Targeting of traditional artillery shells grows increasingly imprecise with firing distance because of wind and other factors. Even modern unguided Western-made artillery shells can land as much as 500 feet from a target located 15 miles away.

That kind of precision, previously achievable only with laser-guided projectiles or expensive air-to-ground explosives, is changing combat. U.S. Himars rocket launchers and larger M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Systems use similar GPS-guided missiles that have wrought crippling damage on Russian forces.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Should the U.S. and BAE restart production of the M777 howitzer? Why or why not? Join the conversation below.

While the rockets used in U.S. guided missile systems cost $150,000 each, the sort of standard shell used in an M777 is $800, Mr. Cancian said, citing Department of Defense budget documents. A guided Excalibur shell is around $68,000, he said.

But as the U.S. and its allies supply Ukraine they are depleting their own inventories. The war has, for instance, run down U.S. stocks of ammunition used in howitzers, and the Pentagon has been slow to replenish its arsenal.

Dormant supply lines often can’t be switched on overnight, and surging production of active lines can take time.

BAE estimates that it would take some 30 to 36 months to restart full production of the M777, not least because the company needs a new supplier of titanium material and suppliers to produce the weapon’s lightweight components.

—Gordon Lubold contributed to this article.

Write to Alistair MacDonald at alistair.macdonald@wsj.com and Daniel Michaels at daniel.michaels@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications
Modern unguided Western-made artillery shells can land as much as 500 feet from a target located 15 miles away. A previous version of this article incorrectly said their inaccuracy could be as much as one mile. (Corrected on Oct. 9)

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Read original article here

US

Inside a U.S. Navy Maritime Drone Operation Aimed at Iran

Leave a comment

MANAMA, Bahrain—The U.S. Navy is working with Israel, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations to build a network of unmanned drones as it seeks to constrain Iran’s military in the region—a program the Pentagon hopes will be a model for operations around the world.

A ship operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attempted to seize an American maritime drone—equipped with cameras, radar and other sensors—but abandoned that effort on Tuesday when a U.S. warship and helicopter approached, U.S. officials said.

U.S. officers declined to disclose the number of aerial and maritime drones deployed by the U.S. and its allies or to give details about where and how they are used, saying that information is classified. But they said the unmanned vessels and aircraft are giving them better visibility over the region’s waters.

The U.S Navy is working with Middle East nations to build a network of unmanned maritime drones.



Photo:

U.S. NAVY

By next summer, the Navy said, it expects to have 100 small surveillance drones—contributed by various countries—operating from the Suez Canal in Egypt to waters off the Iranian coast and feeding information to a command center in Bahrain, headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet.

“I think we are truly on the cusp of an unmanned technological revolution,” said Capt. Michael Brasseur, who heads the U.S. Navy task force working to build the drone fleet in the Middle East.

The drone initiative, now in its sixth month, is part of a burgeoning cooperative relationship among the U.S., Israel and Gulf nations following the Abraham Accords. It mirrors another U.S.-led effort to unite Israel and its Gulf neighbors to create a regional air-defense network.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

How will a drone fleet help the U.S. to counter the threat posed by Iran and its allies across the Middle East? Join the conversation below.

From the Robotic Operation Center here in Manama, U.S. Navy personnel and private contractors monitor the drones’ progress. Video screens display blinking red alerts when the drones identify “dark targets” or suspected threats.

The drones—some of which can float at sea for up to six months—can send back detailed images and other data. Analysts review the images and try to determine what they show.

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander spearheading the effort, said the fleet has proven its value by detecting activity such as a Chinese naval ship moving through the area, suspicious ship-to-ship transfers and vessels using electronic trackers to disguise their identities.

“We’ve been able to detect activity that we simply did not know was previously happening,” he said.

A handout picture from the Iranian Army in July showing a military drone launched from an Iranian navy submarine.



Photo:

Iranian Army office/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The Israeli-linked tanker Mercer Street was struck by a drone off the coast of Iran in August 2021.



Photo:

karim sahib/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The drones now being tested are unarmed. But defense analysts expect the Navy to move toward equipping some with weapons in the future—something that would likely prompt intense debate.

U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns about Navy plans to build larger unmanned ships, a program that could cost billions of dollars. And the military still has to determine how to make use of smaller drones, protect them from attack and act on the information they transmit.

The U.S. drone operations come as there is mounting concern about Iran’s expanding influence in one of the world’s most important economic thoroughfares. Tehran has deployed ships and submarines equipped with aerial drones and has warned it is prepared to use them.

“If the enemies make a mistake, these drones will present them with a regrettable response,”

Abdolrahim Mousavi,

an Iranian army commander, told reporters during a recent visit by President Biden to the region.

An M5D-Airfox drone launched during a multinational training event in the Middle East in February.



Photo:

U.S. NAVY

The U.S. accused Iran of using drones to target an Israeli-affiliated merchant tanker off the coast of Iran last year in an attack that killed two crew members. Iran said it didn’t carry out the strike.

In July, Israeli Defense Minister

Benny Gantz

said Iran’s forces were “a direct threat to international trade, energy supply and the global economy.”

According to people familiar with the operations, Israel last year struck an Iranian cargo ship suspected of spying in the Red Sea. The explosion crippled the ship and Iran sent a replacement.

Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, center, at a briefing about unmanned aerial vehicles in Bahrain in January.



Photo:

U.S. NAVY

When an Iranian ship was discovered Tuesday towing one of the U.S. Navy’s 23-foot Saildrones that was conducting surveillance in the central Persian Gulf, U.S. forces warned the vessel that the drone was U.S. property. The Iranians dropped the tow line and eventually left the area, they said.

On Wednesday, the IRGC Navy called the U.S. military’s version of the incident “ridiculous,” according to Iranian state television. The IRGC said it took control of the U.S. vessel to prevent “unsafe sailing” and decided to release it after warning the U.S. Navy to not let such “illegal behavior” happen again.

Earlier this year, the U.S. created a new military task force to focus on the Red Sea. Israel, which established diplomatic relations with Bahrain in 2020 as part of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords, has, for the first time, a military adviser working out of the Fifth Fleet headquarters in Manama.

The U.S. Navy is testing a range of unmanned craft, including one that looks like a speedboat and can reach speeds of nearly 90 miles an hour. It is also working with Predator-style aerial drones and the Saildrone, which can stay at sea for six months.

The true test of the drones will be whether they provide intelligence that leads to action—such as the seizure of contraband cargo.

“Just watching alone might limit Iran’s behavior,” said Stacie Pettyjohn, director of the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security. “But if they realize that they are not going to follow through and do anything, it may not be much of a deterrent.”

The Saildrone can stay at sea for up to six months.



Photo:

U.S. NAVY

Write to Dion Nissenbaum at dion.nissenbaum@wsj.com

Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Read original article here

World

Ukraine Quietly Receives Tanks From Czech Republic to Support War Effort

Leave a comment

The Czech Republic has been sending old Soviet-designed tanks into Ukraine, providing badly needed heavy weapons to outgunned Ukrainian troops that are battling a much better-equipped Russian invasion force.

The efforts, described by three Czech and Slovak officials, mark the first time a foreign country has provided tanks to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began Feb. 24. In a potentially even more important development, both the Czech Republic and neighboring Slovakia, which shares a border with Ukraine, are considering opening their military industrial installations to repair and refit damaged Ukrainian military equipment.

Read original article here

Business

Lockheed Martin Stock Is Falling After Solid Earnings. What Investors Should Know.

Leave a comment

Text size

Shares of Lockheed Martin are up 7.3% year to date.


Luca Barioulet/AFP via Getty Images

Defense giant

Lockheed Martin

cruised past Wall Street second-quarter earnings expectations—with one caveat—and raised its full-year earnings guidance. Still, shares tumbled Monday.

For the quarter, Lockheed (ticker: LMT) reported $6.52 in per-share earnings from $17 billion in sales, in line with Wall Street’s expectations for $6.53 in per-share earnings from $17 billion in sales. But Lockheed recorded a $0.61 per-share charge related to “performance issues experienced on a classified program” at its jet-making franchise Aeronautics. These kinds of expenses, labeled as a special charge by Lockheed, typically don’t repeat.

Removing that 61-cent charge makes Lockheed’s quarter look solid. What’s more, the company raised its full-year guidance. Lockheed now expects to earn about $26.85 for full-year 2021, up from the guidance of $26.55 given in April.

Lockheed has raised full-year earnings guidance when reporting both its first- and second-quarter numbers.

“Lockheed’s execution over recent years has been so good that we can’t even remember when the last time was that we saw the company take an operating charge,” wrote Vertical Research Partners analyst
Rob Stallard
in a Monday report. “We would imagine that investors had been expecting the usual ‘beat and raise’ performance for 2Q, and so today’s inline result with no change to the operating guidance is likely to prove a disappointment.”

That looks like a good call. Lockheed stock was down more than 3% in early trading. The

S&P 500

and

Dow Jones Industrial Average

were about flat. But Stallard recommends buying the dip: “Should the stock sell-off heavily, then this could be a good entry point.” He rates shares Buy and has a $443 price target for the stock.

“In my first year leading our company, I’m proud of the extraordinary resolve demonstrated by our 114,000 team members to rise above the challenges of the pandemic in support of our customers, our nation and our allies.” said
James Taiclet,
Lockheed Martin chairman, president and CEO. “Our teams continue to deliver on key platform programs while also advancing technologies critical for 21st century deterrence and scientific discovery.”

Taiclet seems pleased. Sales grew in each of the company’s segments: aeronautics, missiles, helicopters, and space systems. Total sales grew about 5% year over year.

Lockheed management scheduled a conference call for analysts and investors at 11 a.m. eastern. Investors will want to hear about the defense budget and its impact on Lockheed sales as well as the outlook for profit margins.

Year to date, Lockheed stock is up 7.3%, trailing behind the comparable 17.5% gain of the

S&P 500.

Lockheed stock, however, trades for 13.6 times estimated 2022 earnings. The S&P 500 trades for 20.5 times estimated 2022 earnings.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

Read original article here

World

Biden Freezes U.S. Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia, U.A.E.

Leave a comment

The Biden administration has imposed a temporary freeze on U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as it reviews billions of dollars in weapons transactions approved by former President

Donald Trump,

according to U.S. officials.

The review, the officials said, includes the sale of precision-guided munitions to Riyadh as well as top-line F-35 fighters to Abu Dhabi, a deal that Washington approved as part of the Abraham Accords, in which the Emirates established diplomatic relations with Israel.

U.S. officials said it isn’t unusual for a new administration to review arms sales approved by a predecessor, and that despite the pause, many of the transactions are likely to ultimately go forward.

But in line with campaign pledges made by President

Biden,

Washington is seeking to ensure that American weapons aren’t used to further the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen, where its conflict with the Iranian-aligned Houthis has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and widespread hunger.

Mr. Biden “has made clear that we will end our support for the military campaign led by Saudi Arabia in Yemen, and I think we will work on that in very short order,” Secretary of State

Antony Blinken

said at his confirmation hearing last week. Washington will continue to help defend the Saudis against Houthi attacks, Mr. Blinken said.

Officials at the Saudi and Emirati embassies in Washington didn’t immediately comment on the developments.

Congress and the U.S. defense industry were informed of the review in recent days, one U.S. official said. It is unclear how long the review will last.

Officials couldn’t offer a precise dollar figure for the weapons sales under review. But the review, they said, includes a $23 billion deal between Washington and the Emirates for the F-35 jet fighters, Reaper drones and various munitions that was finalized on Mr. Trump’s last full day in office, according to a statement on the website of the UAE’s Washington embassy.

It also includes billions in contracts with Riyadh, including a deal for $290 million in precision-guided munitions that the U.S. government approved in late December.

“The (State) Department is temporarily pausing the implementation of some pending U.S. defense transfers and sales under Foreign Military Sales and Direct Commercial Sales to allow incoming leadership an opportunity to review,” a department spokesman said.

Calling it “a routine administrative action,” the spokesman said the review “demonstrates the administration’s commitment to transparency and good governance, as well as ensuring U.S. arms sales meet our strategic objectives of building stronger, interoperable, and more capable security partners.”

Write to Warren P. Strobel at Warren.Strobel@wsj.com

Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Read original article here