 As the custodian of the country's coastline, territorial waters, and Sea Lines Of Communications (SLOCs) the Pakistan Navy has a vital role to play in the defence set-up of the country. The Pakistan Navy's primary role is to guard the country's territorial waters and oversee enforcement of jurisdiction over nearly 240,000 square miles of waters constituting Pakistan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The navy is also tasked with protection of Pakistan's SLOCs, its 960km long coastline and its ports, especially the port of Karachi. Barely 150 km from the Indian border, Karachi has the only developed berthing facilities for handling the bulk of Pakistan's trade, naval dockyards, repair and overhauling facilities as well as the strategic national petroleum reserves. Another port of significance is Port Qasim, a more modern commercial port designed primarily for grain exports, but without naval shore facilities. Of lesser importance are the subsidiary ports of Pasni. Jiwani and Gwadar. Critical SLOCs are the maritime routes running from Karachi to the Persian Gulf, the Suez Canal, East Africa and the Far East. After the Passing of the UN Law of Sea Convention of 1982, Pakistan acquired an EEZ of about 240,000 square miles. In order to provide protection to this vast area, the Pakistan Government decided to raise the Maritime Security Agency (MSA), which was formally inaugurated on 1 January 1987. The MSA implements the local and international laws in the EEZ, and provides surveillance against poaching by illegal vessels and unauthorised survey by foreign craft. It also conducts SAR missions, and implements measures for control of pollution and fishery protection. Available SAR facilities include aircraft, surface vessels and a network for the reception of distress signals. Secondary navy's mission comprise coastal surveillance; SAR duties, hydro-graphic surveys, maintaining navigational aids, and law enforcement. As regards in particular the latter, in recent years the navy's role has been expended to include narcotics interdiction, anti-terrorist operations, anti-smuggling, elimination of piracy and combating environmental pollution. The naval headquarters is situated at Islamabad but the fleet as logistic commands are in Karachi, together with most of the training facilities. During the late 1980s, in association with the expansion of the fleet, the Pakistan Government ordered the construction of a new major base at Ormara, 200km west of Karachi. The Ormara Project was named "Jinnah Naval Base" after the founder of the nation. During the 1980s, the Pakistan Navy went through an unprecedented period of growth. It virtually doubled its surface fleet from nine main surface combatants in 1980 up to 16 by 1989, also acquiring sophisticated long-range anti-ship missiles and enhancing its maritime reconnaissance capabilities. This expansion process also proved the navy's ability to manage the added administrative, maintenance and operational loads. The submarine force currently consists of two HASTMAT class (AGOSTA type) built between 1976 and 1980, four HANGOR class (DAPHNE type) built between 1967 and 1970 and one KHALID class (AGOSTA 90B type), all of these boats being of French origin. The HASHMATs were modified in 1985 to fire Sub-HARPOON depth-to-surface anti-ship missiles. The HANGOR class boats, now close to obsolescence, will be replaced by three new AGOSTA 90B type submarines, first of which has already been inducted into Pakistan navy. The main assets of the naval air wing currently consist of two P-3C ORION and four improved Breguet ATLANTIC anti-submarine and maritime patrol aircraft, four F-27 maritime surveillance and EW aircraft, plus thirteen ship-borne helicopters, comprising six Mk45 SEAKINGs, three LYNX ASW/attack types and four SA-319B ALOUETTE IIIs. The Marine Corps is the youngest force in the Pakistan Navy. With its establishment the navy has become capable of operations on four dimensions, i.e., on the sea with surface combatants, under the sea with submarines, in the air with naval aircraft and on the ground with the Marine Corps. The Pakistan Navy is moving from the old to new technologies at a rapid pace. The navy will have to consolidate the new weaponry, which will take time as this will involve a basic restructuring of personnel and logistics to suit future needs. |
Monday, February 21, 2011
The Pakistan Navy Custodian of The Country's Coastline
President Zardari to seek nuclear technology cooperation with Japan
President Asif Ali Zardari said Monday that since Japan was negotiating a deal with India to cooperate on peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the similar cooperation should be extended to his country.
“If Japan is willing to cooperate with India in nuclear technology and (is) giving nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, I do not see any reason why we should not deserve the same,” Zardari said in an interview with the Japanese media in Islamabad ahead of his departure for a three-day visit to Japan, published in leading English newspapers here.
“I do not know what questions would be raised during discussion. It depends,” he said when asked if he will raise the question of nuclear technology cooperation during the visit.
President Zardari recognizes that nuclear power is a sensitive issue for the Japanese people and government.
Neither India nor Pakistan are signatories to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and the talks between Japan and India have triggered an outcry from survivors of the 1945 US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who fear such a deal will hamper global efforts to bring about a world without nuclear weapons.
Japanese firms, however, are keen to export nuclear power generation technology and related equipment to India, which plans to build 20 new nuclear power plants by 2020.
The President said Pakistan never wanted to go nuclear but it was forced to do so when arch rival India detonated a nuclear device in 1974 and again in 1998.
Libya protests: Gaddafi regime shaken by unrest
The 40-year rule of Col Muammar Gaddafi is under threat amid spiralling unrest throughout Libya.
Several senior officials - including the justice minister - have reportedly resigned after security forces fired on protesters in Tripoli overnight.Witnesses say renewed protests have hit two suburbs of the capital.
In an earlier TV address, Col Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam conceded that the eastern cities of al-Bayda and Benghazi were under opposition control.
But he warned of civil war and vowed that the regime would "fight to the last bullet".
The BBC's Jon Leyne, in neighbouring Egypt, says Col Gaddafi has now lost the support of almost every section of society.
Reliable sources say Col Gaddafi has now left the capital, our correspondent adds.
'Hatred of Libya' After clashes in the capital overnight were suppressed by security forces, state TV reported a renewed operation had begun against opposition elements there.
Analysis
The situation in Libya is becoming increasingly confused and chaotic. There are several reports that Col Gaddafi has now left Tripoli, possibly for his hometown of Sirt or his desert base of Sabha.In Tripoli itself, elements of the security forces are still on the streets, though the violence seems to be increasingly random.
During the night, there were more brutal attacks on demonstrators who had gathered, after rumours spread that Col Gaddafi had fled the country.
Hour by hour, there are reports of more defections. Almost all major tribal leaders seem to have joined the opposition, as well as important religious leaders and several senior Libyan ambassadors.
The east of the country is already almost entirely out of the hands of the government. Col Gaddafi's hold on power is becoming weaker by the hour.
"Security forces have started to storm into the dens of terror and sabotage, spurred by the hatred of Libya," the Libyan TV channel reported.
An eyewitness in Tripoli told the BBC that the suburbs of Fashloom and Zawiyat al-Dahmani had been cordoned off by security forces.Protesters were out on the streets and flames and smoke could be seen rising from the area, the witness said.
Amid the turmoil on the streets, senior officials have also begun to desert the regime.
Justice Minister Mustapha Abdul Jalil quit the government because of the "excessive use of violence", the privately owned Quryna newspaper reported.
In New York, Libya's deputy ambassador to the UN denounced the Gaddafi government, accusing it of carrying out genocide against the people.
Libya's envoy to the Arab League, Abdel Moneim al-Honi, announced he was "joining the revolution", and its ambassador to India, Ali al-Essawi, told the BBC he was also resigning.
In another blow to Col Gaddafi's rule, two tribes - including Libya's largest tribe, the Warfla - have backed the protesters.
Meanwhile, two helicopters and two fighter jets from Libya landed in Malta.
The helicopter was said to be carrying French oil workers, and the fighter pilots were reported to have left Benghazi when an airbase was taken over by protesters.
'Decisive moment'
Mid-East unrest: Libya
- Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has led since 1969
- Population 6.5m; land area 1.77m sq km, much of it desert
- Population with median age of 24.2, and a literacy rate of 88%
- Gross national income per head: $12,020 (World Bank 2009)
Human Rights Watch says at least 233 people have died since last Thursday, though in his speech, Saif al-Islam insisted reports of the death toll had been exaggerated.
The US, UK and French governments are among those condemning the harsh treatment of protesters.The US has ordered all families of embassy staff and all non-essential diplomats to leave the country.
Italy, the former colonial power in Libya, has close business links to Tripoli and voiced alarm at the prospect of the Gaddafi government collapsing.
"Would you imagine to have an Islamic Arab Emirate at the borders of Europe? This would be a very serious threat," said Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.
The head of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, described the protesters' demands as legitimate, calling it a "decisive moment in history" for Arab nations.
Oil price jumps Reports from several cities suggest the country is sliding out of the government's control:
- In Az-Zawiya, 40km (25 miles) west of Tripoli, witnesses say the police have fled, government buildings have been burnt down and the city is in chaos.
- Unconfirmed reports from the port city of Darnah say protesters are holding more than 300 workers hostage - many of them Bangladeshis.
- Several hundred Libyans stormed a South Korean-run construction site west of Tripoli, injuring at least four workers.
- In Benghazi, reports say 11 solders were killed by their commanding officers for refusing to fire on protesters.
At one point, Brent crude - one of the main benchmarks on world oil markets - reached $105 (£65) a barrel.
International firms including BP, one of the world's biggest oil companies, are preparing to pull their staff out of Libya.
Japan probes possible WWII prisoner experiment site
Excavations are beginning at the site of a former medical school in Japan which could yield evidence of war-time experiments on prisoners.
The site in western Tokyo is said to be linked to Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army, which used prisoners for biological warfare experiments.The excavation was ordered after a former nurse came forward.
Toyo Ishii said workers were made to bury dozens of bodies there after the surrender at the end of World War II.
Ms Ishii, now 88, first came forward several years ago.
A nurse in the hospital's oral surgery department, she said she had no knowledge of any experiments on humans at the site, which is said to have been the research headquarters of the unit.
But she and her colleagues were ordered to take bodies and body parts for burial in the compound before US troops arrived.
"We took the samples out of the glass containers and dumped them into the hole," she wrote in a statement in June 2006.
"We were going to be in trouble, I was told, if American soldiers asked us about the specimens."
Excavation of the site had to be delayed until residents had been moved from the area.
"We are not certain if the survey will find anything," Health Ministry official Kazuhiko Kawauchi told the Associated Press news agency.
UNIT 731
- Japanese germ warfare centre with its headquarters in north-east China, 1936-1945
- At least 3,000 people killed at the unit in Heilongjiang, but others thought to have died elsewhere
- So far no-one has been charged and no compensation given to victims
"If anything is dug up, it may not be related to Unit 731."
Japan's government has never formally acknowledged that the atrocities of Unit 731 took place.But witnesses and former soldiers have provided accounts of the work of the unit, which had its main base in eastern Heilongjiang province in China, then part of Japanese-controlled Manchuria.
Viruses intended for use in biological warfare were reportedly tested on prisoners, some of whom were then dissected alive.
Others were said to have been frozen to death in endurance tests.
The site being excavated in Tokyo is close to another where fragments of bone, many showing saw marks, were found in 1989.
Then the health ministry concluded that they could not be linked to Unit 731, but had been brought to Japan for "medical education".
Embrace the Air-Power Revolution
U.S. Can't Approach 5th-Gen Aircraft the 'Old Way'
By ROBBIN LAIRD
Published: 21 February 2011
U.S. air power has reached a turning point. As budget cuts increase and the U.S. Air Force's percentage of the defense budget falls, the crucial requirement is to invest in the future. President Barack Obama is calling for a Sputnik moment in the investment in future technologies, and there is little reason to exclude the Defense Department from such an effort.Published: 21 February 2011
Yet this is exactly what is happening. After canceling the F-22 without ever understanding what the Raptor brings to the joint war fighter, the administration is slowing its investment in the F-35, instead putting money into legacy aircraft.
The new aircraft represent a sea change with significant savings in terms of fleet costs and overall capability. But this will not happen unless policymakers understand that the transition is not simply from fourth-generation to fifth-generation aircraft, but a transition from yesterday's approach to war fighting to distributed operations.
The shift is from linear to sequential operations; it is a shift away from fighter pilots who need to reach back for support from large aircraft command-and-control and ISR platforms, to 360-degree dominance by deployed decision-makers operating not in a network but a honeycomb.
The F-35 is a flying combat system able to operate across the spectrum of warfare. It is the first plane that has the combat system to manage 360-degree space. Deployed as a force, it enables distributed air operations, an approach crucial to the survival of our pilots in the period ahead.
The fifth-generation aircraft are a benchmark for a new approach to airpower. The traditional aircraft adds systems that provide capabilities, and the pilot has to manage each new system. The F-35 has five major combat systems that interact with each other to provide capabilities.
Functional capabilities emerge from the interaction of the systems done by the machine and are not simply correlated with a single system. For example, jamming can be done by several systems aboard the aircraft; the machine determines which one through interaction among the systems. The entire system rests on a common architecture with broadband capabilities.
But if airpower leaders simply mimic the operations of older aircraft with fifth-generation planes, the promise of new air operations will not be realized. The result would be a repeat of the failures of the French facing the Germans in World War II, where the French had superior tanks but outmoded tactics and command structures, and achieved predictable results.
The new aircraft simply do not function as do the old. Considerable cultural change will be required in moving to distributed air operations and decision-makers.
And the shift will require developers of weapons and remotely piloted aircraft to think differently about how to leverage the new stealth-enabled distributed air operational capabilities.
F-22 pilots have already called for the change. They don't want to be tethered to the Airborne Warning and Control System; they don't want to be directed by the classic operations of a centralized combat air operations center.
Another key part of the airpower cultural revolution is the approach to maintainability. To hear some Air Force officials, they sound like the union members in the 1970s objecting to changes in the work force associated with digital production of the newspaper. To recall the days of the controversy, union members wanted to keep their typesetting functions in spite of the elimination of the jobs necessary to produce a newspaper digitally. They lost and Rupert Murdoch won.
The same is true of the shift from mechanical to digital maintenance regimes. Many jobs will be eliminated - the U.S. Marine Corps estimates one-third - and the tooth-to-tail ratio much improved.
The administration's ideological opposition to performance-based logistics (PBL) systems is part of the problem of "union style" resistance to change. The last administration signed a PBL with the partners; the current administration should honor it. The benefits are clear; less cost for sustainment for a more capable aircraft.
In short, the U.S. and its partners are on the cusp of an air-power revolution if our leaders have the courage to embrace cultural change. And there is a clear need to direct investments toward the future, not the past. After all, this is change you can believe in.
Robbin Laird is editor of a book on the evolution of air operations, "Re-Norming Air Operations," and co-founder of the defense analytical website Second Line of Defense.
IDEX: NATO, Thales Extend Comms System Agreement
ABU DHABI - NATO has extended with Thales for two years a contract to act as operator of the secure communications system used by coalition forces in Afghanistan, the French systems company said in a Feb. 20 statement at IDEX 2011.
Thales won a contract in 2007 years ago to provide an information and communications service for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. The service allows more than 7,000 users in the various militaries to talk to each other on the Afghan Mission Network, the company said.
No financial details were available.
"We are very proud of the renewed trust shown in us by NATO for such a sensitive issue as the outsourcing of its communications capabilities, with all the security aspects that this involves," said Pascale Sourisse, Thales senior vice president in charge of C4I (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence), Defense and Security activities.
The system uses satellite, point-to-point radio links, fiber optics, secure voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and video on demand, the company said.
No financial details were available.
"We are very proud of the renewed trust shown in us by NATO for such a sensitive issue as the outsourcing of its communications capabilities, with all the security aspects that this involves," said Pascale Sourisse, Thales senior vice president in charge of C4I (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence), Defense and Security activities.
The system uses satellite, point-to-point radio links, fiber optics, secure voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and video on demand, the company said.
IDEX: QinetiQ Reaches Research Deal With Saudis
ABU DHABI - British defense technology company QinetiQ has inked a memorandum of understanding to undertake joint development work with a leading Saudi Arabia research center.
QinetiQ said in a statement released Feb. 20 at IDEX 2011 that it had agreed a deal with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) to collaborate on a range of research and technology development programs.
The sectors being eyed for collaboration include autonomy, robotics, sensors, communications and remote sensing, QinetiQ said.
Based in Riyadh, KACST is the Saudi national science agency and manages Saudi Arabia's national laboratories.
The sectors being eyed for collaboration include autonomy, robotics, sensors, communications and remote sensing, QinetiQ said.
Based in Riyadh, KACST is the Saudi national science agency and manages Saudi Arabia's national laboratories.
Pentagon Contract Auditors Overwhelmed
The agency that makes sure the U.S. Defense Department and other agencies are not overcharged by contractors is overwhelmed.
The volume of contractor work that has been paid for by federal departments but that still awaits auditing by the Defense Contract Audit Agency has nearly quadrupled - from $110 billion in 2006 to $405 billion in 2010. But in the same period, the Defense Contract Audit Agency's staffing grew by only 20 percent.
The $405 billion represents approximately 20,000 contracts, most of which were awarded by the Defense Department in support of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Kenneth Saccoccia, DCAA's assistant director of policy and plans. Of that, about a third - 6,500 contracts valued at an estimated $220 billion - have been awaiting auditing for more than a year.
"And intentionally, we have deferred it because of the resources," Saccoccia said in an interview. "We've dedicated those resources to higher-priority work, like forward-pricing work," which reviews contracts before they are finalized to help contracting officers negotiate a price.
The result of the backlog is that an estimated billions of dollars worth of savings are not being identified and returned to the Defense Department, experts say.
Also, such delays make it more difficult for auditors to prove overcharging that occurred years ago, because people involved with those transactions have moved on to other jobs or they remember less about the circumstances surrounding particular transactions.
Michael Thibault, who has been investigating DCAA's work as co-chair of the Commission on Wartime Contracting, said the agency needs a bigger audit staff, but that solution will take time.
Thibault blames the agency's inadequate staffing levels on poor planning by the Defense Department. Over the last several years, DoD contracting increased to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and yet DCAA staffing levels remained about the same, he said.
"They should have been increasing the oversight needed for contracts … and they just didn't," Thibault said. "They missed it."
DCAA has added about 500 auditors to its work force over the last couple of years. Director Patrick Fitzgerald said in an interview last year that he plans to add 1,000 more by 2015. But Saccoccia said the current budget standstill makes staffing plans difficult to predict.
In the meantime, Thibault, who worked at DCAA for more than 30 years, including a 10-year stint as its deputy director, said he supports other solutions Fitzgerald has outlined, including changing the risk thresholds that require forward-pricing audits and simplifying the business systems that auditors use.
Still, as auditors work through the buildup from 2006 through 2008, 2009 and 2010 audits are piling up, Thibault said.
Since some problems that auditors find occur more than once, that means issues that could have been identified in 2006 and prevented in the following years may have happened repeatedly, he said.
Thibault and others, like Nick Schwellenbach with the Project on Government Oversight, are especially concerned about the amount of money being left on the table as these contracts go unaudited.
Historically, DCAA identifies between 1 percent and 2 percent in savings from incurred cost audits, Thibault said.
That means $4 billion could be recovered right now if DCAA were to complete backlogged audits. And the longer it takes to audit a contract, the greater the chances that records get lost and employees change jobs, Thibault said.
Saccoccia said timeliness is always a concern at DCAA. But he said they hope contracting rules allow DCAA to obtain sufficient evidence from the contractor to perform quality audits and give contracting officers necessary information for negotiations to close contracts.
DCAA also has turned down some audit requests from non-Defense agencies that pay for its services, forcing those departments to seek audit help from private firms, and causing some to revive suggestions for another audit agency within the federal government to serve non-DoD agencies.
Saccoccia said audits of incurred contract costs can be put on the back burner because they can be picked up more easily at a later time than forward-pricing audits, which can hold up a contract award.
"The audit effort on those high-risk proposals is crucial to ensure the fair and reasonable price is established by the contracting officer," he said.
At a Senate contract oversight committee hearing this month, Schwellenbach spoke in favor of creating another audit agency.
He said the contract auditing done by DCAA is highly specialized and often cannot be replicated by inspectors general or outside auditors. And with more contracts coming out of non-Defense agencies, DCAA's problems could get worse, he said.
Schwellenbach pointed to recent criticisms of DCAA's past auditing practices as the cause of the backlog, saying auditors now take much longer to perform their duties for fear of mistakes.
"Some of that makes sense given the problems, but some think the pendulum has swung too far the other way," he said. "Essentially, taxpayers are going to be the big losers."
Despite the slowdown, Saccoccia said the percentage of costs DCAA questioned more than doubled in 2010 when compared with the average between 2001 and 2008, resulting in a savings of almost $3 billion.
"Really, we focus on the high-risk areas," he said. "Right now, I would say wartime contracting is our highest risk. So this year, we're dedicating resources in that area for looking at those incurred costs."
DCAA plans to get auditors to spend one-third more time on incurred cost audits then they did in 2010, Saccoccia said.
"That's our initial plan," he said. "That always can change, based on higher-risk forward-pricing effort that comes in."
The volume of contractor work that has been paid for by federal departments but that still awaits auditing by the Defense Contract Audit Agency has nearly quadrupled - from $110 billion in 2006 to $405 billion in 2010. But in the same period, the Defense Contract Audit Agency's staffing grew by only 20 percent.
The $405 billion represents approximately 20,000 contracts, most of which were awarded by the Defense Department in support of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Kenneth Saccoccia, DCAA's assistant director of policy and plans. Of that, about a third - 6,500 contracts valued at an estimated $220 billion - have been awaiting auditing for more than a year.
"And intentionally, we have deferred it because of the resources," Saccoccia said in an interview. "We've dedicated those resources to higher-priority work, like forward-pricing work," which reviews contracts before they are finalized to help contracting officers negotiate a price.
The result of the backlog is that an estimated billions of dollars worth of savings are not being identified and returned to the Defense Department, experts say.
Also, such delays make it more difficult for auditors to prove overcharging that occurred years ago, because people involved with those transactions have moved on to other jobs or they remember less about the circumstances surrounding particular transactions.
Michael Thibault, who has been investigating DCAA's work as co-chair of the Commission on Wartime Contracting, said the agency needs a bigger audit staff, but that solution will take time.
Thibault blames the agency's inadequate staffing levels on poor planning by the Defense Department. Over the last several years, DoD contracting increased to support the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and yet DCAA staffing levels remained about the same, he said.
"They should have been increasing the oversight needed for contracts … and they just didn't," Thibault said. "They missed it."
DCAA has added about 500 auditors to its work force over the last couple of years. Director Patrick Fitzgerald said in an interview last year that he plans to add 1,000 more by 2015. But Saccoccia said the current budget standstill makes staffing plans difficult to predict.
In the meantime, Thibault, who worked at DCAA for more than 30 years, including a 10-year stint as its deputy director, said he supports other solutions Fitzgerald has outlined, including changing the risk thresholds that require forward-pricing audits and simplifying the business systems that auditors use.
Still, as auditors work through the buildup from 2006 through 2008, 2009 and 2010 audits are piling up, Thibault said.
Since some problems that auditors find occur more than once, that means issues that could have been identified in 2006 and prevented in the following years may have happened repeatedly, he said.
Thibault and others, like Nick Schwellenbach with the Project on Government Oversight, are especially concerned about the amount of money being left on the table as these contracts go unaudited.
Historically, DCAA identifies between 1 percent and 2 percent in savings from incurred cost audits, Thibault said.
That means $4 billion could be recovered right now if DCAA were to complete backlogged audits. And the longer it takes to audit a contract, the greater the chances that records get lost and employees change jobs, Thibault said.
Saccoccia said timeliness is always a concern at DCAA. But he said they hope contracting rules allow DCAA to obtain sufficient evidence from the contractor to perform quality audits and give contracting officers necessary information for negotiations to close contracts.
DCAA also has turned down some audit requests from non-Defense agencies that pay for its services, forcing those departments to seek audit help from private firms, and causing some to revive suggestions for another audit agency within the federal government to serve non-DoD agencies.
Saccoccia said audits of incurred contract costs can be put on the back burner because they can be picked up more easily at a later time than forward-pricing audits, which can hold up a contract award.
"The audit effort on those high-risk proposals is crucial to ensure the fair and reasonable price is established by the contracting officer," he said.
At a Senate contract oversight committee hearing this month, Schwellenbach spoke in favor of creating another audit agency.
He said the contract auditing done by DCAA is highly specialized and often cannot be replicated by inspectors general or outside auditors. And with more contracts coming out of non-Defense agencies, DCAA's problems could get worse, he said.
Schwellenbach pointed to recent criticisms of DCAA's past auditing practices as the cause of the backlog, saying auditors now take much longer to perform their duties for fear of mistakes.
"Some of that makes sense given the problems, but some think the pendulum has swung too far the other way," he said. "Essentially, taxpayers are going to be the big losers."
Despite the slowdown, Saccoccia said the percentage of costs DCAA questioned more than doubled in 2010 when compared with the average between 2001 and 2008, resulting in a savings of almost $3 billion.
"Really, we focus on the high-risk areas," he said. "Right now, I would say wartime contracting is our highest risk. So this year, we're dedicating resources in that area for looking at those incurred costs."
DCAA plans to get auditors to spend one-third more time on incurred cost audits then they did in 2010, Saccoccia said.
"That's our initial plan," he said. "That always can change, based on higher-risk forward-pricing effort that comes in."
IDEX: ATK To Modify Planes for Jordanian Military
ABU DHABI - The Jordanian military is turning two CASA-235 aircraft into heavily armed gunships and has contracted ATK to modify the transport aircraft, the U.S. firm announced Feb. 20 at IDEX 2011.
ATK is partnering with Jordanian state-owned King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau to modifying the EADS-built aircraft in time for a late spring 2013 delivery to the Royal Jordanian Air Force.
ATK will install and integrate electro-optical targeting systems, a laser designator, aircraft self-protection equipment, and an armaments capability that includes Hellfire laser-guided missiles, 2.75-inch rockets, and a M230 link-fed 30mm chain gun similar to the one ATK supplies for the Apache attack helicopter.
Work will be performed in Jordan and at three ATK sites in the U.S.
ATK's special mission aircraft business in 2008 modified a Cessna Grand Caravan to an armed configuration for the Iraqi military. The aircraft has a similar weapons fit to the Jordanian aircraft. Its capabilities include air-to-air and air-to-ground data links.
In a separate announcement involving Jordan, the Austrian rotary unmanned air systems supplier Schiebel said it had delivered two Camcopter S-100 machines to KADDB. The vehicles will be used by the Royal Jordanian Air Force for surveillance and reconnaissance duties.
A graphic of the gunship that ATK will produce for the Royal Jordanian Air Force. (ATK)
ATK will install and integrate electro-optical targeting systems, a laser designator, aircraft self-protection equipment, and an armaments capability that includes Hellfire laser-guided missiles, 2.75-inch rockets, and a M230 link-fed 30mm chain gun similar to the one ATK supplies for the Apache attack helicopter.
Work will be performed in Jordan and at three ATK sites in the U.S.
ATK's special mission aircraft business in 2008 modified a Cessna Grand Caravan to an armed configuration for the Iraqi military. The aircraft has a similar weapons fit to the Jordanian aircraft. Its capabilities include air-to-air and air-to-ground data links.
In a separate announcement involving Jordan, the Austrian rotary unmanned air systems supplier Schiebel said it had delivered two Camcopter S-100 machines to KADDB. The vehicles will be used by the Royal Jordanian Air Force for surveillance and reconnaissance duties.
ABU DHABI - A David-and-Goliath pairing of L-3 Communications and armored vehicle minnow Total Mobility Vehicles (TMV) made their debut together Feb. 20 on the opening day of IDEX 2011, marrying a new 6x6 platform with an integrated network of sensors and displays.
U.S. systems giant L-3 is teaming with the British vehicle maker to showcase an array of capabilities based on what it calls its Ruggedized Command and Control Network.
L-3 demonstrated a virtual version of a generic vehicle, deploying its RCCN system to potential customers in the U.S. last year.
This time it has gone one better, and it brought the real deal in the shape of the imposing TMV vehicle fitted out with its systems and products to IDEX 2011, which runs through Feb. 24.
The "best way to demonstrate the company's vehicle networking capabilities is on a rolling test bed and the newly designed TMV vehicle is the perfect fit," said Pete Alexander, business development director for L-3's San Diego-based Ruggedized Command & Control Solutions business.
The tie-up with TMV doesn't mean L-3 is getting into the platform business. But Alexander said it does show L-3's ability to integrate systems from across the marketplace, including many in-house technologies, in a rugged open architecture network.
"We are vehicle agnostic and equipment agnostic; we are not vertically aligned; and we can play in the field as a neutral, trusted supplier," he said.
Alexander said some of the vehicle primes have been bringing equipment capability back in-house in recent times - and in doing so they "have pigeon holed themselves" to provide only what solutions they can offer from their own product ranges.
L-3 marketing literature at the show claims the RCCN is the "first operationally proven, truly agnostic vehicle network solution."
Alexander said L-3 can supply solutions free of U.S. technology export restrictions, if required.
TMV brought a special forces-configured vehicle to IDEX, with L-3's RCCN providing the electronic backbone for a baseline suite of capabilities that includes displays, data receiver terminals, vision enhancers, event recorders and electronic jammers.
Other 6x6 versions of the TMV, like an armored personnel carrier, could include remote weapons stations, mast mounted sensor suites, weapon sights and electro optical/infrared systems.
For TMV, the association with L-3 "demonstrates to potential customers the ease of integrating top-line systems into our vehicle and helps people recognize our ambitions in the marketplace," said John Stretton, the British company's managing director.
TMV, an outgrowth of the Leyland Technical Centre, has matured the high protection, high mobility 6x6 vehicle to the point where it could deliver a fully integrated machine to a customer in the first quarter of 2012, Stretton said.
It's not just the military on which TMV is focusing, Stretton said. Applications like border patrol and emergency response vehicles are also in the company's sights. And 4x4 and 8x8 versions of the vehicle also are on the drawing board.
L-3 demonstrated a virtual version of a generic vehicle, deploying its RCCN system to potential customers in the U.S. last year.
This time it has gone one better, and it brought the real deal in the shape of the imposing TMV vehicle fitted out with its systems and products to IDEX 2011, which runs through Feb. 24.
The "best way to demonstrate the company's vehicle networking capabilities is on a rolling test bed and the newly designed TMV vehicle is the perfect fit," said Pete Alexander, business development director for L-3's San Diego-based Ruggedized Command & Control Solutions business.
The tie-up with TMV doesn't mean L-3 is getting into the platform business. But Alexander said it does show L-3's ability to integrate systems from across the marketplace, including many in-house technologies, in a rugged open architecture network.
"We are vehicle agnostic and equipment agnostic; we are not vertically aligned; and we can play in the field as a neutral, trusted supplier," he said.
Alexander said some of the vehicle primes have been bringing equipment capability back in-house in recent times - and in doing so they "have pigeon holed themselves" to provide only what solutions they can offer from their own product ranges.
L-3 marketing literature at the show claims the RCCN is the "first operationally proven, truly agnostic vehicle network solution."
Alexander said L-3 can supply solutions free of U.S. technology export restrictions, if required.
TMV brought a special forces-configured vehicle to IDEX, with L-3's RCCN providing the electronic backbone for a baseline suite of capabilities that includes displays, data receiver terminals, vision enhancers, event recorders and electronic jammers.
Other 6x6 versions of the TMV, like an armored personnel carrier, could include remote weapons stations, mast mounted sensor suites, weapon sights and electro optical/infrared systems.
For TMV, the association with L-3 "demonstrates to potential customers the ease of integrating top-line systems into our vehicle and helps people recognize our ambitions in the marketplace," said John Stretton, the British company's managing director.
TMV, an outgrowth of the Leyland Technical Centre, has matured the high protection, high mobility 6x6 vehicle to the point where it could deliver a fully integrated machine to a customer in the first quarter of 2012, Stretton said.
It's not just the military on which TMV is focusing, Stretton said. Applications like border patrol and emergency response vehicles are also in the company's sights. And 4x4 and 8x8 versions of the vehicle also are on the drawing board.
Israel Remains Alarmed At Iranian Ship Moves
JERUSALEM - Israel views with "gravity" what Iran says is the "routine" dispatch of two warships to the Mediterranean, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Feb. 20, as the vessels were expected to pass through the Suez Canal.
During his weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said Israel viewed the movement as an Iranian power play.
"Today we are witnessing the instability of the region in which we live and in which Iran is trying to profit by extending its influence by dispatching two warships to cross the Suez Canal," Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his office.
"Israel views with gravity this Iranian initiative and other developments that reinforce what we have said in past years about the Israel's security needs."
Last week, Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called the move a "provocation."
Egypt has given two Iranian ships permission to use the waterway en route to Syria.
The move - the first time Iranian warships will have transit ted the canal since the Islamic revolution of 1979 - is "routine" and "short term," an Iranian diplomat said.
"This will be a routine visit, within international law, in line with the cooperation between Iran and Syria, who have strategic ties," the diplomat said.
"The ships will spend a few days in Syrian ports for training purposes," having already visited several countries including Oman and Saudi Arabia."
A senior Suez Canal official said that the warships had yet to reach the waterway, after Iranian television earlier reported that they were already in the Mediterranean.
"No Iranian ships have passed. Not today, not yesterday, not the day before," according to operations room chief Ahmed al-Manakhly.
Manakhly did not say when the Iranian ships were scheduled to arrive, but canal officials have privately said they were expected early Feb. 21.
Kharg has a crew of 250 and can carry up to three helicopters. Alvand is armed with torpedos and anti-ship missiles.
Egypt's MENA news agency reported that the request for the ships to pass through the Suez Canal said they were not carrying weapons, or nuclear or chemical materials.
During his weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said Israel viewed the movement as an Iranian power play.
"Today we are witnessing the instability of the region in which we live and in which Iran is trying to profit by extending its influence by dispatching two warships to cross the Suez Canal," Netanyahu said, according to a statement from his office.
"Israel views with gravity this Iranian initiative and other developments that reinforce what we have said in past years about the Israel's security needs."
Last week, Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called the move a "provocation."
Egypt has given two Iranian ships permission to use the waterway en route to Syria.
The move - the first time Iranian warships will have transit ted the canal since the Islamic revolution of 1979 - is "routine" and "short term," an Iranian diplomat said.
"This will be a routine visit, within international law, in line with the cooperation between Iran and Syria, who have strategic ties," the diplomat said.
"The ships will spend a few days in Syrian ports for training purposes," having already visited several countries including Oman and Saudi Arabia."
A senior Suez Canal official said that the warships had yet to reach the waterway, after Iranian television earlier reported that they were already in the Mediterranean.
"No Iranian ships have passed. Not today, not yesterday, not the day before," according to operations room chief Ahmed al-Manakhly.
Manakhly did not say when the Iranian ships were scheduled to arrive, but canal officials have privately said they were expected early Feb. 21.
Kharg has a crew of 250 and can carry up to three helicopters. Alvand is armed with torpedos and anti-ship missiles.
Egypt's MENA news agency reported that the request for the ships to pass through the Suez Canal said they were not carrying weapons, or nuclear or chemical materials.
IDEX 2011 Underway in Abu Dhabi
ABU DHABI - The largest defense equipment exhibition in the Middle East opened in the United Arab Emirates capital Abu Dhabi on Feb. 20, as military spending continues to grow in the region amid rising tensions.
The International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) 2011 opened with a parade of helicopters, fighter jets and armoured vehicles, in the presence of UAE Prime Minister and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum.
The 10th edition of the biennial show is taking place as the region is hit by a wave of protests that toppled veteran leaders in Tunisia and Egypt and threatens other regimes.
The conference, which will continue until Feb. 24, hosts more than 1,000 exhibitors. Nearly 50,000 visitors are expected from around the world.
More than 30 pavilions most of them belonging to the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Britain, France and Germany, were spread over 124,000 square meters (0.05 square miles).
A naval defense industries exhibition, Navdex, is being organized for the first time this year.
Manufacturers worldwide are racing to seal contracts with Gulf states, who are fearful of Iran and possessing spending power buoyed by high oil prices.
The six Gulf Cooperation Council countries - Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait - along with Jordan are set to spend $68 billion on defense in 2011, according to research firm Frost & Sullivan. Their spending is expected to reach nearly $80 billion in 2015.
Sheik Mohammed shakes hands with executives from Lockheed Martin and Boeing at IDEX 2009. The 2011 edition of the show opened Feb. 20 in Abu Dhabi. (Staff file photo)
The 10th edition of the biennial show is taking place as the region is hit by a wave of protests that toppled veteran leaders in Tunisia and Egypt and threatens other regimes.
The conference, which will continue until Feb. 24, hosts more than 1,000 exhibitors. Nearly 50,000 visitors are expected from around the world.
More than 30 pavilions most of them belonging to the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Britain, France and Germany, were spread over 124,000 square meters (0.05 square miles).
A naval defense industries exhibition, Navdex, is being organized for the first time this year.
Manufacturers worldwide are racing to seal contracts with Gulf states, who are fearful of Iran and possessing spending power buoyed by high oil prices.
The six Gulf Cooperation Council countries - Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait - along with Jordan are set to spend $68 billion on defense in 2011, according to research firm Frost & Sullivan. Their spending is expected to reach nearly $80 billion in 2015.
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