Blue Spear : Is Singapore Ditching The Harpoon?

Harpoon Block II. Image : Boeing

On 15th July 2020 Singapore Technologies Engineering ( STE ) announced that its Land Systems division has signed an agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries ( IAI ) to set up a joint venture in Singapore, with each having a 50 percent share. The joint venture, named Proteus Advanced Systems, will leverage the strengths and track record of its parent companies to market and sell advanced naval missile systems, including a next generation anti-ship missile ( AShM ) system.

Under its Land Systems arm, STE manufactures an entire range of NATO-standard ammunition from the humble 5.56mm ball M193 round to 155mm artillery shells but anti-ship missiles are definitely not its forte. IAI on the other hand can be considered the pioneer in anti-ship missiles having developed the very successful and war-proven Gabriel missile since 1970.

As revealed by STE to Defense News, it appears that the two defense giants have been collaborating to develop a new generation AShM known as Blue Spear for a few years. Also known as 5G SSM ( 5th generation surface-to-surface missile ), Blue Spear " is an anti-ship missile system that introduces an advanced and novel approach which addresses the challenges of the modern naval arena for years to come ".

STE's role in the development of Blue Spear includes the design, development and production of major subsystems like the booster motor and warhead. It claimed that the development of Blue Spear and the joint venture was a commercially driven initiative by both companies and is " not driven by any ongoing customer requirement". Or is it? Which of STE or IAI's customers could have a requirement for and could afford an advanced AShM system? What is the best way to market a new weapon system to international customers?

The parent companies of Proteus Advanced Systems are either completely state-owned ( IAI ) or government-linked ( STE ). Although STE is a publicly listed company on the Singapore Stock Exchange, its most substantial shareholder is Temasek Holdings, the investment arm of the Singapore government, whom as of 1 Apr 2020 has a 52.13% share through direct and deemed interests. STE's most loyal and important customer of course is none other than the Ministry of Defense of Singapore. Similarly, 20% of IAI's sales goes to the Israeli defense ministry and the State of Israel is by no doubt IAI's most important customer.

With regards to the development of Blue Spear, it is probably of no coincidence that both the Israeli Navy and the Singapore Navy are equipped with the ageing Harpoon AShM and will soon have to decide if they should be upgraded to the latest standards or to field a completely new design. The joint venture suggests that the latter is more likely the case.

 

Stealth frigate RSS Intrepid fires Harpoon during Ex Pacific Griffin 2019
Photo : Mindef

The Harpoon In The RSN

The Harpoon is an all-weather, sub-sonic, sea-skimming, over-the-horizon, fire-and-forget anti-ship missile developed and manufactured by McDonnell Douglas ( now Boeing ). It can be considered one of the most commercially successful AShM in history with over 7500 units produced since it came into service with the US Navy in 1977. It has been sold to 31 countries apart from the United States.

The versatility of the Harpoon missile is such that it can be surface-launched, submarine-launched or air-launched, with the variants designated RGM-84, UGM-84 and AGM-84 respectively.

Many factors contributed to the Harpoon's success of which I will mention two. Focusing on the surface-launched version alone, in the early years, it out-ranged its contemporaries with its over-the-horizon capability with a published range of 70nm ( 126km ). Its relative compactness means that it can be launched from canisters bolted to the upper deck of almost any surface combatant from fast attack crafts to battleships.




RSS Victory in its original configuration with Harpoon, torpedo tubes,
variable depth sonar and angled auxiliary mast. Photo : Lurssen

Indeed one of the reasons why the Republic of Singapore Navy ( RSN ) acquired its Victory-class missile corvettes ( MCV ) which are equipped with the Harpoon AShM in the late 1980s was because it found itself having to keep Singapore's sea lines of communication open out to at least a thousand kilometers but its existing Sea Wolf - class missile gunboats ( MGB ) with Gabriel AShM out-ranged by its neighbours. It would later upgrade the MGB to carry a mix of 2 Gabriel and 2 to 4 Harpoon AShM. With a full load displacement of 254 tons and a length of 45 meters, the Sea Wolf - class MGB was probably one of the smallest platform to ever accommodate the Harpoon missile.




Upgraded Sea Wolf class MGB with Harpoon and Gabriel. Photo : Mindef

With the Harpoon AShM, the RSN acquired the beyond-the-horizon capability in anti-surface warfare ( ASuW ) for the first time and for a while it gave the RSN the upper hand when it came to the range of the various AShM among the regional navies. This technological edge however gradually became eroded with the passage of time with the emergence of newer and more advanced AShM in the inventories of its regional peers.

The MGBs were eventually decommissioned in 2008 and were replaced by the Formidable-class stealth frigates which were also armed with the Harpoon missile as their primary ASuW strike weapon. The Harpoon variant on these advanced frigates are sometimes stated as the RGM-84C ( Block 1B ) which are really ancient but are likely to be the marginally more advanced RGM-84D ( Block 1C ) as shown in the photo from MINDEF below. If indeed this were to be true, then the RSN would very soon need to either upgrade these old Harpoons to the latest Block II+ ER standard or risk facing obsolescence.



RSS Stalwart executing a designated time-on-target
Harpoon firing during Ex Pacific Griffin 2017.
RSS Supreme fired the other Harpoon. Photo : Mindef



Enlarged from photo above : RGM-84D-3

It is worth noting that more than a decade had passed since the commissioning of the stealth frigates and they will soon approach the mid-point of their life-cycle, the perfect time to have them acquire new capabilities via some service life extension program ( SLEP ). It has been planned as such even before the frigates have been commissioned ( see image below ).

Excerpt from keynote address by Mr Peter Ho, Permanent Secretary ( Defense )
at the Naval Platform Technology Seminar 2003.
Source : National Archives of Singapore.

After serving in the RSN for thirty years, the Victory-class MCVs are themselves due for retirement by 2025, to be replaced by a new class of locally designed and constructed vessels known as the Multi-Role Combat Vessel ( MRCV ) and these will need to be equipped with modern AShM as well.

So to regain the technological edge it used to have against its regional near-peer rivals the RSN clearly has a need for an advanced surface strike weapon for its frigates and its next-generation corvette replacements in the next 5 to 10 years. For that the RSN has several broad options : upgrade its existing stock of old Harpoons to the latest standard, buy a new missile system off-the-shelf, or opt for an indigenous design customized for itself. Each option has its own merits and risks.

 

RGM-84N Block II Harpoon skimming the waves.
Image : Boeing

Upgrading the Harpoon

Having been designed in the mid-sixties and first deployed in the late seventies, the Harpoon missile might be getting old but it has an undeniable strength - reliability. It simply works as advertised, each time and every time.

During RIMPAC 2018, six Harpoon missiles had been fired against two decommissioned USN ships from various platforms including air, surface and sub-surface assets from several participating nations. All six missiles hit their targets as intended. Especially interesting was the UGM-84 encapsulated harpoon launched by the nuclear attack submarine USS Olympia ( SSN-717 ). The UGM-84 had been taken off the regular armament of USN attack submarines for the past twenty years in favour of the Mk 48 Advanced Capability ( ADCAP ) heavyweight torpedo as the boat's preferred anti-ship weapon. Even after two decades of storage, the Sub-Harpoon scored a hit against the landing ship tank USS Racine. An AGM-84 air-launched Harpoon fired from an Australian P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft also struck the LST hulk.

Simultaneous time-on-target Harpoon firing, RSS Tenacious
RIMPAC 2018. Photo : MINDEF

Notably, the RSN's stealth frigate RSS Tenacious carried out a simultaneous time-on-target Harpoon firing with two missiles aimed at the ex-USS McKlusky, an Oliver Hazard Perry - class frigate. Both missiles happened to hit the hulk at the waterline which was rather unusual for the Harpoon missile. As a result the hulk sank much faster than anticipated and several other naval combatants were deprived of their chance to participate in the sink exercise ( SINKEX ). Through inference the remaining two missiles would have come from a participating USN P-8A.

As a result of this positive demonstration of the Harpoon's reliability, even the USN is showing renewed interest in upgrading the Harpoon missiles in its inventory and the UGM-84 might once again be part of the SSN's offensive weaponry.

The USN has not procured new Harpoon missiles for many years and all its latest Block II Plus Extended Range Harpoons are upgraded from its existing pool of RGM-84D ( Block 1C ) missiles. Each conversion kit from Boeing Defense and Aerospace would cost the US government perhaps $268000, a paltry sum compared to the cost of manufacturing a brand new Block II+ ER missile which is probably in the region of several million. For example Finland's 2018 request for 100 RGM-84Q-4 ( Block II+ ER ), 12 RGM-84L ( Block II ), 12 Block II+ ER upgrade kits, 4 RTM-84Q and 4 RTM-84L together with all the necessary spares, repair equipment, training and support was estimated to cost US$622 million.

Compared with the older Harpoon versions, the most advanced II+ER has a lighter but more lethal warhead and a more fuel efficient turbojet engine that together almost doubled its range. It also inherited the low cost inertial measurement unit from the JDAM program and the GPS guidance kit of the SLAM-ER missile. A net-enabled data-link enables the missile to receive in-flight targeting updates and there is also enhanced resistance against electronic countermeasures. So not only is its range increased, its connectivity and survivability has also been improved significantly.

Should the RSN choose to upgrade its RGM-84D Harpoons to the latest Block II+ ER standard, there will be considerable cost savings since it has a ready pool of Block 1C Harpoons to work on with all the necessary maintenance, repair, training and support infrastructures. But how many new tricks can you teach an old dog? One of the negative attributes of the Harpoon not amendable through the usual upgrades is its sub-sonic speed in this modern era of super-sonic AShMs. Being slower means giving the enemy combatants more reaction time to deploy countermeasures and initiate effective evasive maneuvers. It is also less stealthy compared to more recently introduced AShMs like the AGM-158C LRASM and can be detected more easily, reducing its chance of hitting its target. The need for a proprietary launcher for the Harpoon missile alone which cannot be loaded with other shipboard missile types means less flexibility in deployment and dedicated instead of shared resources and that can also work against the upgrade-harpoon option.

IAI Gabriel V AShM. Image : Finnish Navy

Off-The-Shelf Solutions

After half a century of evolution, there is currently no shortage of modern AShMs that can give the ageing Harpoon missile a run for its money. In fact many do out perform the Harpoon in one way or other. The Norwegian Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile and the IAI's Gabriel V AShM are two such examples contemporary sub-sonic anti-ship missiles. Examples of supersonic AShMs include Taiwan's Hsiung Feng III and the vertical launched Brahmos which is of Indian and Russian origin.

Buying mature anti-ship missile systems that have already completed their development cycles offers the lowest exposure to product development risks. It may result in rapid system integration and mitigation of any existing capability gap. However such ready solutions may not always be an exact match for the sometimes unique operational needs of the host country.

Singapore for instance has the great fortune of being strategically located along an important maritime route linking the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean where an estimated 5.3 trillion dollars of trade transit annually. It is the world's second busiest container port and is surrounded by shallow seas and numerous islands. Access to the Port of Singapore is via the narrow and busy deep water passage known as the Straits of Singapore where an estimated 2000 vessels of all types transit daily. Together with the equally busy Straits of Malacca to its north-west, these are major maritime choke points where the risk of piracy and the risk of collision between vessels are high. To conduct maritime interdiction operations in such congested littoral environments would be understandably challenging. Yet the RSN also has to be equally proficient in open-ocean operations in deep water environments such as the South China Sea, since its raison d'etre is to keep Singapore's sea lines of communications open. To find an anti-ship missile that can excel in both littoral and open-ocean domains may not be easy and since the RSN has such unique requirements, it might have decided to develop its own next-generation AShM rather than source for a ready made system.

 

 

Extreme congestion in Singapore Strait. Image : Marine Traffic

USS John S McCain damaged below the waterline after collision with
oil tanker in Singapore territorial waters near Pedra Branca 21 Aug 2017.
 Note the deck mounted Mk 141 quad Harpoon launchers. USN Photo. 

5G SSM



To have local defense engineers research and co-develop the next generation advanced anti-ship missile for Singapore probably made the most sense for the reasons mentioned above. Apart from ensuring complete customization for its operational requirements, designing and producing an indigenous AShM can also benefit the local state-linked defense industry by diversifying its product portfolio and allowing it to nurture new talents and acquire new design and manufacturing capabilities.

The setup of a joint venture between the Israeli and Singapore defense giants to market the 5G SSM and the tacit admission that the collaboration had been ongoing for a few years probably means that the missile is already in an advance stage of product development. As usual it is a matter of selecting the best time to make the official announcement so as to avoid alarming Singapore's regional peers least it triggers an arms race which is likely inevitable in the long run. Even then, the announcement was extremely low key appearing only on the webpages of IAI and STE and in a short article in the Straits Times of Singapore. So far almost nothing is known about the Blue Spear missile except it has advanced features to overcome the challenges of modern naval warfare. Here are some characteristics that the 5G SSM could possibly have.


Range - likely to be significantly greater than that of the current RGM-84D in the RSN's inventory to keep pace with the NSM, MM-40 Block 3, Otomat Mk2 and even the supersonic Yakhont, in service with regional navies. 200 to 250km is a reasonable estimate.

Speed - Likely to remain high sub-sonic rather than super-sonic considering that the RSN's area of operation included congested littoral environment.

Survivability - Must include low observability features with reduced radar cross section and infra-red signatures to decrease the detection rate and have enhanced electronic counter countermeasures to defeat the enemy ship's soft-kill and hard-kill capabilities.

Connectivity - Secure 2-way data-link to enable mid-flight course correction and to receive targeting updates from a variety of sources including surface combatants, maritime patrol aircrafts and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Accuracy - Possibly an AI selectable hybrid terminal guidance combining active and passive modes

Lethality - Advanced warhead design effective against both ship hulls and hardened land installations.

Versatility - Equally adept in littoral and open-ocean environments with secondary land attack capabilities.

Deployability - Preferably adaptable for both large and small vessels, compatible with both vertical launch systems and canister launchers.


Whatever its final form takes, the Blue Spear has to be far superior to the Harpoon Block 1C that it will presumably replace, by virtue of its adoption of the latest technologies which was not available to the designers of the Harpoon four decades ago. It should also have better performance compared to the most advanced Harpoon Block II+ER. With this rationale the RSN will probably be better off developing a cutting edge new generation AShM rather than upgrading its old Harpoons.

Having the Singapore and Israeli Navies adopt the 5G SSM can potentially make it easier to market the missile to other international customers. Endorsement of the weapon by two of the world's highly regarded navies is the best advertisement for this new missile system. While the Harpoon missile has served the RSN well for the past three decades, without an upgrade, its remaining days might be numbered. It might quietly fade into history in the next five to ten years as the Victory-class MCV gets decommissioned and the Formidable-class frigates get put through their SLEP, swapping the Harpoon for the Blue Spear.

Proteus Advanced Systems

Incidentally, in Greek mythology, Proteus is the oracular god of the sea who can predict the future, but will only do so when held captive. He is elusive and will constantly change his shape in order to avoid being captured. He is the herdsman of the sea beasts, one of several deities whom Homer refers to as " Old Man Of The Sea ". From the capability of Proteus to assume many different forms comes the adjective protean, meaning able to change frequently or easily, with the connotation of versatility, adaptability and flexibility. By naming their joint venture Proteus Advanced Systems what might IAI and STE be hinting at, if any?

 

Update 10th Sep 2020

I have received information that the scheduled retirement of the Victory-class missile corvettes have been pushed back by a good 5 years, from the original 2025 to 2030. This will be the final and maximum extension of service. The MLU carried out around 2010 was supposed to extend the service life of the MCV by 20 years at the most.

Presumably the MRCV project will also be delayed by 5 years since they are meant to replace the MCV.

So it would seem that the Harpoon missile will continue to reign in the RSN for another decade .... but highly unlikely beyond that.

COVID-19 : Radical Changes For Naval Operations And Future Ship Designs Needed

Coronavirus by TP Heinz via Pixabay

As I write, the coronavirus pandemic which began as a mysterious respiratory illness in Wuhan City of China late last year has now engulfed the whole world with more than 1.4 million infected and more than 82000 deaths. The disease is officially known as COVID-19 ( coronavirus disease 2019 ) and the virus responsible for the illness is the SARS-CoV-2 ( Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 ).

Symptoms of the infection can range from asymptomatic to being a flu-like illness with malaise, fever, cough and dry throat, to severe respiratory distress requiring critical care. Being a viral illness meant that there is no effective treatment against it and it is largely left to the immune system to deal with the infection. Any medical intervention is therefore limited to providing life support and preventing further spread of the contagion.

Since the virus spread by means of droplets and surface contact, conditions of crowding and close person-to-person contact would facilitate its transmission. It was therefore not surprising that in Jan 2020 the Diamond Princess, a cruise ship which carried a total of 3711 passengers and crew, became a hotbed for COVID-19 transmission. It was quarantined at the Japanese port city of Yokohama since early February but because of poor, inadequate and perhaps ineffective infection control onboard, the total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 eventually reached 712 with 567 passengers and 145 crew members infected. 12 had died.




The crowded pilot house of the Gerald R Ford ( CVN-78 ) during replenishment-at-sea.
 It is impossible to achieve any meaningful physical distancing when
working and living onboard a ship. USN Photo

Now the living conditions onboard a warship is not much different from those onboard a commercial vessel. Space is always a premium on a ship. Confining a large group of people to a small area for an extended duration is the prime recipe for a highly contagious disease to spread. During a pandemic, all ships, merchantman or man-of-war, are simply floating incubators, epidemiological time bombs waiting to explode. With the news that the nuclear-powered attack carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt ( CVN-71 ) has been ravaged by the coronavirus and is now anything but war capable, we know that even the world's mightiest navy is not immune to this health menace. Is there anything that can be done to minimize the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak onboard a warship? Of course there are, but it would mean many of our traditional habits and the way we conduct our businesses and carry out our missions would have to be modified or changed drastically. Perhaps every future ship design would have to include special areas for medical treatment and isolation and even berthing arrangements and living quarters have to be redesigned.

As a case study we can look to the USS Theodore Roosevelt to appreciate what a tiny virus can do to a large warship in a matter of days.






The USS Theodore Roosevelt at the South China Sea with the
America Expeditionary Strike Group 15th Mar 2020. USN Photo.

The Grounding Of A Carrier

The Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group ( CSG ) comprising of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and its surface and submarine escorts including the guided missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill ( CG-52 ) and several destroyers departed San Diego on 17th Jan 2020 for its Indo-Pacific deployment.

The CSG arrived at Apra Harbor, Guam, on 6th Feb after sailing across the Pacific Ocean. We can assume the sailors were granted their well deserved shore leave on Guam and they had also participated in various community relations activities over that weekend, such as interacting with young kids from a school, clearing and cleaning up a trail in a nature park, repainting of a veteran's memorial, and some other miscellaneous repairing and rebuilding projects.

It then sailed westwards and arrived at Da Nang on 5th Mar to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the normalization of US-Vietnam diplomatic relations, becoming the second US aircraft carrier to make a port call in Vietnam since the fall of Saigon in 1975. As it was a high profile visit, the CSG was met by a whole host of Vietnamese and US government and military officials including Adm. John C. Aquilino, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, and U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink. Needless to say, there were also plenty of functions and receptions for the senior ranks to attend both ashore on onboard ship. For the lower ranks, the usual community relations projects were unavoidable. Somehow the military just love these social out reach programs and they can never have enough of them.




Reception at Da Nang 5th Mar 2020 : Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink
with COMPACFLT Adm John Aquilino (R),
COMCARSTRKGRU9 RAdm Stuart Baker (L)
and Capt Brett Crozier ( extreme L ). USN Photo.

Roosevelt ship crew dancing with locals at Dorothea's Project Legacies
Charity Center Da Nang 6th Mar 2020. USN Photo.

Military dignitaries from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
 visited the carrier on 7th Mar 2020. USN Photo.

After Da Nang, on 15th Mar the CSG deployed to the South China Sea and sailed with the America Expeditionary Strike Group and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit as a combined Expeditionary Strike Force. On 18th Mar the CSG even managed some joint exercise with aircrafts like the F-15C from the US Pacific Air Forces operating out of Kadena AFB in Okinawa with a B-52H thrown in.

Exercising with the Air Force in the Philippine Sea 18th Mar 2020. USN Photo.

By 24th Mar however, the first cases of coronavirus infection has been reported among 3 ship crew onboard the Teddy Roosevelt. The number of the infected increased to 8 just a day later. Most of the infected only showed mild symptoms but they were flown off the aircraft carrier to the US Naval Hospital Guam for further tests, evaluation and quarantine. To fight the worsening outbreak, the US Navy had by then ordered the diversion of the carrier back to Guam and to have all of her 4845 sailors and airmen tested for the coronavirus. Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly insisted that the carrier was still fully operational despite the disease outbreak but we known otherwise. How can a carrier be combat ready when it is tied at pier-side?

Captain Brett Elliott Crozier, USN. CO USS Theodore Roosevelt.
Photo : Wikipedia

Unfortunately for the Teddy Roosevelt, the number of infected sailors just kept increasing exponentially. By the time the carrier docked at Guam on 27th Mar the figure had risen to 25 infected. Soon after it became 36, and then 70. Worried about the health and safety of the sailors and airmen onboard the carrier, the commanding officer Captain Brett Crozier wrote a memo to the naval high command pleading for help to contain the outbreak, specifically to authorize the removal of about 4000 ship crew to a land based facility for two weeks of quarantine while a skeletal crew remain shipboard to run and maintain critical systems and deep clean the ship. The problem was Guam being an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean did not have means to quarantine 4000 people on land. The captain's memo was somehow leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle and before anyone knew, the entire world had learnt about the Roosevelt's predicament.

Aerial view of Apra Harbor, Guam with USS America (LHA-6)
at pier side 21 Mar 2020. USN Photo.

 As a result of his plea and the publicity it generated, arrangements have been made to transfer about three thousand sailors ashore for quarantine. Not all could be evacuated as a skeletal crew had to remain onboard to operate critical systems that could not be shut down, like the Roosevelt's two Westinghouse A4W pressurized water nuclear reactors. Security and fire fighting details and a few hundred ship crew will have to remain onboard to deep clean the carrier which was estimated to take about 10 days. One thousand had left the ship on 1st Apr, with more to follow. It generated a lot of unhappiness among the local population of Guam who were rightly afraid that the sailors would introduce the coronavirus to their island.

So far all the infected personnel are medically stable and do not require hospitalization, ventilator support or critical care. Nobody from the Roosevelt has yet died from the infection but the captain's actions would eventually cost him his job. On 2nd Apr Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly relieved Capt Brett Crozier of his command citing loss of confidence and lack of leadership in times of crisis. He left his ship amidst a rousing send off by the ship crew, who clearly believed that their commanding officer had acted with their safety and well being at heart. By then the number of infected had already reached 114.

Seabees from the 1st and 5th Naval Mobile Construction Battalion
with vehicles to transport sailors to shore based quarantine facilities
3rd Apr 2020. USN Photo.

COMSEVENTHFLT Vice Admiral Bill Merz visits barracks
housing quarantined sailors at Guam 5th Apr 2020. USN Photo.

By 5th Apr Defense Secretary Mark Esper told CNN there were 155 infected. Even the poor captain himself had come down with the infection and is currently in quarantine. He had shown symptoms before he left his command.

The latest twist of this saga was that Thomas Modly himself was forced to resign as the acting secretary of the Navy on 7th April, a day after he described Capt Crozier as " too naïve or too stupid " to be in command, in a speech given during his visit to the aircraft carrier. The abrupt manner of Capt Crozier's dismissal as the commanding officer without going through a board of inquiry and due process was also a sticking point among naval personnel. The latest infected numbers on 7th Apr stood at 230 and it will surely go up in the coming weeks.*

As anyone could see, in about slightly more than a week, there were more than two hundred personnel who contracted the virus and the aircraft carrier is effectively non-operational being confined to port with more than half its compliment disembarked and on quarantine. We might never know how the virus first infected the ship, but a common assumption was from the 5 day port visit to Da Nang ( 5th - 9th Mar ). With the bulk of its crew now in quarantine, I suspect the Roosevelt's COVID-19 cases will peak in two weeks though new cases will continue to emerge sporadically for several more weeks since not all ship crew could be quarantined at the same time.

The good news is that since most of the ship's compliment are young and presumably healthy, most of Roosevelt's COVID-19 cases should recover with hopefully minimal complications. And once these people recover, they should have immunity against the coronavirus and they can even be deployed to provide care for their COVID-19 stricken compatriots without the need for those cumbersome personal protective equipment! They can also be a reliable donor source for the promising but not yet FDA-approved convalescent plasma therapy where the neutralizing antibodies against the coronavirus present in the plasma of recovered patients is transfused to help the acutely infected recover. In the unlikely event that a huge proportion of the ship crew eventually acquires the infection and the herd immunity threshold ( HIT ) is reached, the rest of the uninfected members will then be protected. The problem is this coronavirus outbreak is so new that nobody really knows what its HIT is. For measles, the HIT is between 90 to 95% to achieve herd immunity. Other less contagious diseases have lower HIT.

* 10 Apr - infected ship crew now hits 416. 3170 tested negative with 1164 results still pending. One sailor in ICU.

* 11 Apr - 92% ship crew tested. 550 positive, 3673 negative. 3696 moved ashore.

* 13 Apr - 585 infected. One death.

* 15 Apr - 615 infected. Majority asymptomatic ( 350 ). Chief Petty Officer Charles Thacker identified as sailor who died.

* 23 Apr - 840 positive. 4098 negative. 4234 moved ashore. 88 recovered. Tests completed.

* 28 Apr - USN COVID-19 Update website says 940 active cases, 29 recovered. Change in reporting parameter means only those with 2 successive negative tests count as recovered.

Infection Control Measures For COVID-19

To prevent personnel from acquiring and spreading COVID-19 onboard warships especially during deployments of prolonged duration, navies have to completely change the usual way peacetime naval operations are conducted.

As COVID-19 numbers keep rising in every country which can only mean there is sustained local / community transmission of the coronavirus, it is inevitable that some military personnel would have been infected as well. Whereas the ground and air force personnel could be immediately isolated and sent home or quarantined at a designated facility when found to be infected, the same arrangements could be impossible for naval personnel during a major deployment. Here are some changes that can potentially make a difference in the prevention of contagion onboard deployed ships.


Defer Unnecessary Trainings And Deployments


Just as the general public had been told to avoid and defer all unnecessary travels, the navy should also limit their fleet deployments to those that are of absolute necessity. All training deployments should be deferred until the pandemic has run its course. All chest-thumping / show-of-force type operations like those Freedom of Navigation operations should cease immediately. Training exercises can be postponed. If it is about saving lives like search and rescue missions, medical relief missions for the pandemic, or if the sovereignty or survival of the nation is at stake, like nuclear deterrence missions, proceed with caution.


Pre-Deployment Quarantine


The incubation period ( time between exposure to the development of symptoms ) of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is said to be between 2 to 7 days with a mean ( average ) of 4 days. In some cases the incubation period can be as long as 14 days. In order to ensure all embarked ship crew are healthy and not carrying or incubating the virus, they should be put to 14 days of pre-deployment quarantine. It should preferably be done at a base facility where there are rooms with attached toilet and shower, one individual to each room. There should be daily temperature checks and the monitoring of symptoms.

Any individual who develops fever or flu-like symptoms during this 14 day isolation period will have to be thoroughly checked for COVID-19 infection. Only if the individual is well and symptom free at the end of the 14 days can he or she be allowed to embark for deployment.


Vessel Preparation For Deployment


While the ship crew are under pre-deployment quarantine, the usual routine pre-sailing ship preparation will perhaps have to be undertaken by their squadron mates. Fuel, ammunition and food supplies have to be loaded, preferably in quantities sufficient to last the entire deployment if practicable. Such stores should be sanitized prior to loading onboard ship with the appropriate method, disinfectant spray, ultraviolet light etc. Medical supplies including personal protective equipment, medications, diagnostic equipment will have to be catered for. The ship should be deep cleaned prior to the embarkation of those who passed quarantine.


Special Measures When Underway


Ship crew should refrain from group gatherings like briefings and meetings as much as possible. They should try to maintain a physical distance of at least a metre from each other if practicable. Meal times should be staggered to avoid having large groups in the mess hall. The use of recreational facilities like the gym and ward rooms should similarly be regulated to maintain physical distancing.

Since ship systems need to be manned continuously once underway, the crew would have been organized into different teams to work in shifts. Members of different teams should also refrain from mingling with each other after-shift so that in case any team member is down with an infection and the entire team has to be in quarantine, at least the other teams would not be affected.

Another important area to note is movement of personnel between different vessels of the task group should be prohibited. Similarly transfer of personnel in and out of each ship should also be limited to medical or other emergencies only.


Avoiding Unnecessary Port Calls


This will be tough as port calls are frequently the highlight of every deployment. Who does not like the opportunity to visit a foreign city and experience a different culture even if it is only for a few days? Many things happen during port calls as ships replenish their depleted food supplies and take on fuel if necessary. The host country might organize a reception ashore for the ship's company and then the ship will have to reciprocate by hosting a shipboard reception during which lots of guests and ship officers and crew will mingle and party. There is no doubt that such functions are standard naval protocol and can foster the development of bilateral ties, friendship and camaraderie. They are also potential hotbeds for COVID-19 transmission and should be banned altogether during this pandemic.

It is also a common practice for navies all over the world to conduct community relations events or community outreach programs whenever the ship docks at a foreign port. So visiting some orphanage or old folk's home, repainting a school, cleaning up a beach or a park .... becomes mandatory for the lower ranks. These activities can frequently bring real benefits to the local communities, touch lives and also hopefully benefit the participants by accentuating their sense of humility seeing and serving the less fortunate. Again, during an epidemic or pandemic, these relations building activities should cease completely. The opportunity to serve will always remain and can be engaged again after the disease outbreak is under control.

For short deployments ships should therefore be as self-sufficient as possible and avoid port calls altogether. For longer deployments, port visits should be limited to taking on and off-loading essentials and no shore leave should be granted. No visitors should be allowed onboard the ship unless of absolute necessity, like the harbor pilot to ensure safe navigation into and out of the port. Even then keep a safe physical distance and provide the pilot with a surgical mask if he is not already wearing one and remind him not to touch anything. And don't forget to clean up the bridge after he leaves.

Good Personal Hygiene

Perhaps the single most important measure against the spread of the coronavirus is the practice of good personal hygiene. An infected person will be shedding a lot of the virus through the nasal mucous and phlegm from the throat. When he or she sneezes or coughs, droplets can land on surfaces or be directly inhaled by others in close proximity. An infected person's hands will be also likely be heavily contaminated with the virus if he or she wipes the nose without subsequently washing the hands.

With the understanding of how the virus spreads, frequent hand washing with soap or the use of disinfecting hand rubs are therefore the best defense against getting infected. Keep your hands clean and try not to touch your face or rub your eyes because that's how the virus enters your body - through the eyes ( conjunctiva ), the nose or the mouth via your dirty hands.

Wash your hands before you have your meal and also after you have visited the toilet. Coronaviruses can be shed through the feces of an infected person. Sometimes viral RNA can be detected in the feces long after they have recovered from the illness, though it could be just viral genetic material and not the viable virus itself. So shared heads / communal toilets must be kept clean. Common areas should be regularly cleaned with disinfectants.

Masks

There is now sufficient evidence to suggest that pre-symptomatic spread of the coronavirus can occur. Universal mask wearing might be a good idea for all personnel onboard the ship for self protection and for protecting others should one fall sick and unknowingly spread the virus during the incubation phase. Exemptions can be made for those in anti-flash gear.

A properly made disposable surgical mask has a waterproof middle layer that prevents respiratory droplets from a sick person from escaping and infecting other people. An N95 type respirator is not necessary for non-medical use. Not only are some types of N95 mask not fluid resistant, they are also very uncomfortable to wear and may result in the wearer touching the face much more frequently to adjust the uncomfortable mask resulting in higher risk of infection.

Masks alone cannot prevent COVID-19 infection and must be used in combination with other measures for infection control. Between them, hand washing and physical distancing are still more important.

There is currently a worldwide shortage of masks, surgical as well as N95, as the pandemic rages. Most mask manufacturing countries have restricted and then banned their export altogether with the hope of keeping whatever is available for themselves. Since we are nowhere even near the peak of the pandemic, mask shortages will be the order of the day for many many months to come. Conserve your masks and save your stock for later when shit really hits the ceiling. Quartermasters and medics guard your mask supplies like gold and ration them carefully.

Unless you have an unlimited supply, do not discard your mask after a single use like what most would do before. Instead, keep the disposable mask clean and you can reuse it for 2 or maybe 3 days. When removing the mask for later use, remember not to touch the outer, potentially contaminated surface of the mask. Hold it by the straps and keep it in a clean zip lock bag. If surgical masks are not available, studies have shown that even reusable / washable cloth masks can be better than no mask at all.



Impact On Future Ship Designs


As the world population continue to grow and our insatiable demand for resources drive us towards large scale exploitation of nature, human exposure to wild animals will increase exponentially and with it the number of zoonotic diseases. A zoonosis is an infectious disease caused by a pathogen that has jumped from its usual animal host to humans. Some recent examples include Marburg Haemorrhagic Fever ( 1967 W. Germany ), Ebola virus disease ( 1976 Sudan, Congo), Hanta virus pulmonary syndrome ( 1993 Four Corners, US ), H5N1 Avian Influenza ( 1997 Hong Kong ), Nipah virus disease ( 1998 Malaysia ), SARS ( 2002 Hong Kong ), MERS ( 2012 Middle East ) and COVID-19. These emerging infectious diseases frequently cause severe symptoms and carry with them high mortality rates.

To cater for these ever frequent disruptive epidemics, naval architects should design future warships with special considerations for disease prevention and treatment. Living quarters and work spaces could be bigger. Hot bunking should be a thing of the past. Every sailor should have his or her own room, even if it means it has to be capsule hotel style, small and cramped. The current bunking arrangement of segregation by rank, that is, Officer's mess, Petty Officer and Chief Petty Officer's mess, Junior Rank's mess, should be reviewed. It involves too much movement and intermingling of ship personnel. Instead ship crew should be divided into watch keeping teams and personnel from the same team bunk together, regardless of rank. So a ship can have several such sleeping quarters for different watch keeping teams and each should have its own heads, shower, laundry facilities, mini pantry, recreation area and maybe even a mini gym.

The ship should have dedicated rooms for medical treatment and isolation in case of a disease outbreak onboard the ship. Each isolation room should have its own toilet and sink so that the crew member in isolation need not get out of the room to wash or relieve himself. This requirement can be tough to meet on a small platform like Singapore's Victory-class missile corvette which is 62m long and has a displacement of 595 tonnes, but nobody says you should build designs like these anymore.

The future ship should also have advanced communications links between different compartments to transmit real time video and audio signals to reduce the need for the ship crew to physically gather for meetings and briefings.

The ultimate goal could perhaps be to eliminate the human crew altogether. If we can have a frigate-sized unmanned surface vessel that is remotely controlled and unmanned droid-carrying amphibious assault ships, we will not have to worry about diseases and outbreaks. In the event of war, there will be no casualties to worry about either! A Little far fetched but this day may arrive sooner than we think.

And lastly, for our readers whose town or city might be in lock down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a gentle reminder to STAY HOME and help flatten the epidemiological curve in your country.

Gimme STOVL : Singapore Decides On The F-35B



F-35B of the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501
Photo : Lockheed Martin

On 9th Jan 2020, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency ( DSCA ) announced that the US Department of State had just approved a potential Foreign Military Sale ( FMS ) to Singapore of up to 12 F-35B Short Take-Off And Vertical Landing ( STOVL ) aircraft and related equipment for an estimated cost of USD 2.75 billion.

Singapore's interest in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter ( JSF ) program had began in Mar 2004 when it became a security cooperative participant. For a very long time the Singapore government seemed contented to just monitor the progress of the JSF program as it matured. There were numerous instances when defense analysts and news agencies had indicated that Singapore might be ready to acquire the F-35 but the JSF deal had remained elusive. It even failed to materialize during Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's visit to the White House in 2016, at the invitation of President Obama.

All that changed in Jan 2019 when Minister for Defense Ng Eng Hen announced that Singapore had identified the F-35 as a suitable candidate to replace its ageing F-16 fighters and would be acquiring a small number of the stealthy 5th generation fighter for a full evaluation of its capabilities and suitability before deciding on a full fleet.

By Mar 2019 it was revealed that Singapore would be requesting for an initial four F-35 JSF with an option for eight more, variant unspecified. Months of media speculation followed, but we now know that Singapore has selected the F-35B, the STOVL version which is the most expensive among the three F-35 variants.

The F-35 In A Nutshell

At a cost of more than USD 400 billion, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is the most expensive weapons program the world has seen. Its aim is to produce an affordable fifth generation multi-role stealth fighter to replace various legacy fighters of the US and its closest allies. The F-35 comes in three variants, all having similar performance characteristics and share commonality in parts and processes in order to capitalize on the economies of scale to reduce procurement and sustainment costs. The variants cater to the differing service-specific requirements by the Air Force, Navy and Marines. To put it simply, the F-35A is the conventional take-off and landing ( CTOL ) version for the Air Force, the F-35B is the STOVL version for the Marines while the F-35C is the carrier variant ( CV ) for the Navy.

The JSF program is plagued with multiple issues from technical deficiencies, delays to cost overruns and the root of its many problems can be traced to its developmental concept of " concurrency ". The idea that in an era where new technology is emerging at an unprecedented rate, an aircraft design will be obsolete the moment its development has concluded. In order to field aircrafts with the latest technologies earlier, they will be produced before tests and trials are completed and eventually upgraded along the way to the latest standards.

Despite its troubled past, the JSF program has matured over the years and has seemed to turn around to deliver what was originally promised - affordable stealth. Unit prices have continuously fallen in the past several years due in part to an increase in production efficiency and to the economy of scale from an increase in aircraft orders.

New Capabilities for the RSAF

Acquiring the F-35B will bring two completely new capabilities to the Republic of Singapore Air Force ( RSAF ) - STOVL and Stealth. Between the two, I would believe STOVL is the most unique since there is not another country in the Asia Pacific region save Japan that has confirmed plans for such a capability.

Stealth technology can become an increasing crucial capability to have as Singapore's regional near-peer rivals begin to acquire sophisticated aircrafts like the Su-30 and Su-35 which can out-class even the RSAF's most advance fighter like the F-15SG. It can ensure higher survivability of the aircraft and pilot in an extremely hostile threat environment.

STOVL is equally important to ensure sustained generation of air operations in the event of disruptive attacks to Singapore's airbases. Aircrafts with short field capabilities can be dispersed and hidden more effectively on the ground and can have alternative means of take-off and landing even when the conventional runway is made unavailable by a pre-emptive strike.

In addition, having STOVL capable jets means that should the Singapore Navy decide to replace its Endurance-class landing ship tank with something bigger like the Endurance-160 Joint Multi-Mission Ship, these helicopter assault ships can be potentially modified for F-35B operations as well, converting them into light aircraft carriers. The JMMS then becomes mobile airfields at sea, projecting airpower and will be an added insurance against complete annihilation through a coordinated attack on Singapore's land based runway infrastructure.





F-35B of the Patuxent River Integrated Test Force
attempts vertical landing on the Queen Elizabeth II
3rd Nov 2018. Photo : USN 

STOVL : Unique Capability At A Price

The F-35B is not just the only modern STOVL jet fighter that is currently in production, it is also capable of supersonic flight. Its predecessor the AV-8B Harrier II which is also STOVL capable is at best only sub-sonic. This short field and austere field capability is the unique selling point of the F-35B but it comes at a price.

The requirement for STOVL capability in the F-35B meant that its design is the most complex among the three F-35 variants. It needed a proprietary shaft driven LiftFan propulsion system and an engine nozzle that can swivel 90 degrees when in STOVL mode. This in turns imposes limits on the size of the internal weapon bay and the internal fuel capacity which translates to a reduction in the weapons payload and combat radius. It even imposes structural limits and the F-35B has the lowest maximum g-rating among all the variants. Understandably the unit cost of the F-35B is also consistently the highest compared to the other variants.

So in view of the various technical setbacks peculiar to the F-35B, is the STOVL a capability worth having? The answer has to be an absolute yes if you intend to have fixed-wing flight operations on non-catapult equipped aircraft carriers like the navies of the United kingdom, Italy and Japan. It will also be a resounding yes for a small nation like Singapore which lacks strategic depth and has air bases that can be vulnerable to a determined attack by rocket, artillery and mortar fire from across its boarders.

Looking at the broader picture, the non-STOVL variants, the F-35A and the F-35C, also suffered similar functional and structural setbacks albeit to a lesser degree simply because of the requirement that all three variants had to have shared design and components with various degrees of commonality. In other words, the Marine Corps' insistent that STOVL capability must be included in their variant essentially resulted in the Air Force and the Navy having to accept compromises on their variants too. Compared with its 4th generation peers that it is meant to replace, the F-35 is frequently found to be a little lacking in maximum speed, agility, range and payload. The saving grace is that the F-35 more than makes up for all these shortfalls through its superior suite of sensors, avionics, sensor fusion and low observable technology, all of which shall be briefly reviewed below.

F-35 specifications. Source : LMC

Very Low Observable

The F-35 is a fifth generation fighter which, according to its main contractor Lockheed Martin, is defined by the combination of Very Low Observable ( VLO ) stealth, advanced sensors, information fusion and network connectivity within a supersonic, long range and highly maneuverable aircraft.

VLO stealth technology is an integral part of the F-35's design. The clever use of shapes to deflect radar waves, the careful selection of materials that can dissipate radar energy and the internal carriage of weapons, fuel and embedded sensors means that it is much harder for the enemy to detect the F-35. The radar cross section ( RCS ) of the F-35 is the smallest when it is viewed head-on but less so when viewed from the side and even worse when viewed from the rear so it is hardly all-aspect stealth. It is also mainly stealthy in the X-Band, the most common frequency used by fire control radars and less so in other lower frequencies.

As much as it is hyped, stealth is not equivalent to invisibility to radar but rather a significant reduction in the detectability. Any advantage a stealth aircraft has can be undermined by several means including the use of infra-red search and tract technology to detect the heat signature of a stealthy aircraft and through the use of radar operating in frequencies other than the X Band, like L-Band or VHF.

While the level of stealth afforded by the F-35 is not at the same level as that of the F-22 Raptor, it is less costly to maintain as there is less dependency on expensive radar absorbing coating and that is definitely a good thing.

Distributed Aperture System

The electro-optical Distributed Aperture System ( DAS ) is a new generation of sensor system currently only found on the F-35 consisting of six identical high resolution mid-wave infrared ( MWIR ) sensors mounted all around the airframe in such a way as to provide an unobstructed 360 degree coverage for enhanced situational awareness. The DAS sends high resolution augmented reality imagery in real time to the pilot's helmet mounted display allowing them to see their surrounding environment with clarity day or night. It can provide functions including missile detection and tracking, launch point detection and countermeasures cueing, aircraft detection and tracking ( situation awareness IRST and air-to-air weapons cueing ), day and night navigation, and precision tracking of friendly aircraft for tactical maneuvering. Designated the AN/AAQ-37, the DAS is developed by Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems and has its fair share of teething problems though they have largely been resolved by now. More than a thousand DAS units have been delivered by Northrop Grumman so far, for installation on aircrafts up to and including LRIP Lot 14.

In 2018, Lockheed Martin announced that Raytheon has been selected to develop the next generation DAS which will be expected to have better performance, higher reliability and lower sustainment costs. They will be installed on all Low Rate Initial Production ( LRIP ) Lot 15 aircrafts for delivery in 2023.

Raytheon's next generation DAS. Source : LMC

 

 

Electro-Optical Targeting System

 

 

The AN/AAQ-40 Electro-Optical Targeting System ( EOTS ) is an internally mounted advance MWIR targeting sensor developed by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Sensors. The EOTS integrates targeting forward looking infrared ( TFLIR ), infrared search and track ( IRST ), laser range finder / designator and laser spot tracker functionalities to provide the F-35 with precision air-to-air and air-to ground targeting capability. The low drag, stealthy EOTS is integrated into the F-35's fuselage ventrally just behind the nose cone with a faceted sapphire window and is linked to the aircraft's central processor by a high-speed fiber-optic interface. Utilizing the mid-wave portion of the IR spectrum provides a sharper image and is less susceptible to target obstruction by smoke or haze.

 

Lockheed Martin has already developed the next generation Advanced EOTS which will provide a range of multi-spectral sensing options including high-resolution mid-wave infrared, short-wave infrared and near infrared. It will have enhanced image detector resolution, high-definition TV and IR marker. The advanced EOTS will  be available for integration on the F-35's Block 4 development and will sharpen the F-35's close air support capabilities.

 

 

 

Source ; F-35 Joint Program Office

The EOTS on a F-35A. Source : LMC

 

EOTS functionalities. Source  LMC

Multi-Mission Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar

The AN/APG-81 active electronically scanned array ( AESA ) radar installed on the F-35 is developed by Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems. It is the next generation version of the AN/APG-77 AESA radar that was first fielded on the F-22A Raptor. It allows the F-35 to engage air and ground targets at long range and also has significant electronic warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance functions. Its solid state technology and elimination of moving parts ensure better reliability compared with mechanically scanned antenna radars. The AN/APG-81 also has inherent low probability of intercept ( LPI ) features to minimize the likelihood of its emissions being usefully detected by enemy airborne or ground based receivers.

The AN/APG-81 is designed to operate as a radar, an electronic support measures ( ESM ) receiver, and a jammer. It has passive and active air-to-air and air-to-surface target detection, track and identification capabilities. It also enables synthetic aperture radar mapping, ground and sea moving target detection and track and air-to-surface ranging. As good as it is, the AN/APG-81 is still lacking a wide field capability in its sea search mode, being able only to seek out a narrow zone in front of it. This deficiency will be rectified in the F-35 Block 4 upgrade being carried out from 2019 to 2024. Together with the integration of partner nation ordnance like Norway's Joint Strike Missile which will also happen during Block 4 upgrades, the maritime strike capabilities of the F-35 will be greatly enhanced.



AN/APG-81 AESA radar. Source : Northrop Grumman

Integrated Communications, Navigation and Identification Avionics

The AN/ASQ-242 integrated communications, navigation and identification ( CNI ) avionics suite developed by Northrop Grumman is designed to provide the F-35 with secure, electronic countermeasures resistant voice and data communications; precise radio-navigation and landing capabilities; self-identification and BVR target identification; and network connectivity with off-board sources of information. All these at a reduction in size, weight and power requirements compared with legacy systems.

The CNI sub-systems includes the Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL), Link 16 data link, single-channel ground and airborne radio system (SINCGARS), IFF interrogator and transponder, HAVE QUICK radio, AM, VHF, UHF AM, and UHF FM radio systems, GUARD survival radio, radar altimeter; tactical air navigation (TACAN), inertial navigation system ( INS ), anti-jam GPS, instrument landing system ( ILS ) for conventional runways and aircraft carriers, the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS), and the TADIL-J tactical digital information link with Joint-Variable-Message-Format (JVMF) communications.

The CNI system provides inter-operability with existing legacy military and civilian communications, radio-frequency navigation, and identify friend or foe ( IFF ) / surveillance systems. It is also interoperable with the appropriate civilian systems for US and European airspace operations.

Electronic Warfare / Countermeasures System

The AN/ASQ-239 electronic warfare / countermeasures ( EW/CM ) system developed by BAE is designed to provide the F-35 with a high degree of air-to-air and surface-to-air threat detection and self protection. It can search, detect, identify, locate and counter radio-frequency and infrared threats.

Its advance avionics and sensors enables real time, all aspect, broad-band coverage of the battlefield, maximizing detection ranges and giving the F-35 pilots evasion, engagement, countermeasure or jamming options. In other words it allows the F-35 to dominate the electromagnetic spectrum.

The EW subsystem serves as a signals collector which provides radar warning, identifies the geolocation of electronic emitters, tracks multiple aircrafts simultaneously, provides high gain electronic support measures ( ESM ), high gain electronic countermeasures ( ECM ) and high gain electronic attack via the AN/APG-81 radar's multifunction array.

The countermeasures subsystem provides multiple self-defense responses, including pre-emptive and reactive techniques, based on available expendable payload ( MJU-61/64/68/69 IRCM flares and ALE-70 RFCM fiber-optic towed decoys ) and threat-specific self-protection plans.

Lockheed Martin claims that due to the inherent, built-in electronic warfare capabilities the F-35 does not require a dedicated electronic attack aircraft to support it. That could potentially free up other aircraft to perform electronic attack missions to protect less stealthy aircraft. This organic jamming capability of the F-35 through its AESA radar, teamed with advanced jamming algorithm packages, can potentially provide 10 times the jamming power of legacy aircraft.

Various elements of the AN/ASQ-239
Source : LMC





The F-35's T-1687/ALE-70(V) fiber-optic towed decoy
works similarly to the F/A-18's AN/ALE-55 shown above.
Source : BAE Systems

Sensor Fusion

The F-35's advanced sensor fusion allow pilots to harness information received from all their onboard sensors to create a single integrated picture of the battlefield. Such information is then automatically shared with other pilots and command and control operating centers on their network via a secure datalink such as the Multifunction Advanced Data Link ( MADL ).

Helmet Mounted Display System

The F-35's Gen III Helmet Mounted Display System ( HMDS ) is an interface that provides pilots with intuitive access to vast quantities of flight, tactical and sensor information for advanced situational awareness, safety and precision. All the information that the pilots need to complete their mission is projected onto the helmet visor rather than on a traditional Heads-up Display. It reduces the pilot's workload and increases responsiveness. In addition, real-time imagery from the DAS's six IR cameras streamed to the helmet allows the pilot to virtually look through the airframe providing the equivalent of x-ray vision. The HMDS enables pilots to target weapons by looking at and designating targets. It does so by tracking the position of the helmet to determine the gaze of the pilot and supplies information such as target identity and distance. This off-boresight targeting capability is especially useful when used in combination with modern all-aspect air-to-air missiles like the AIM-9X. The helmet also offers visor-projected night vision and eliminates the separate use of night vision goggles.

All these functionality comes at a price though. The F-35's super helmet costs a whopping $400000 and has to be custom made for each aviator to ensure a precise fit for the tracking system to work accurately. Rockwell Collins, the maker of the helmet, estimated that every F-35 on order will need 2.5 to 3 helmets over their service life due to wear and tear, damage and pilot attrition and replacement.

F-35 Helmet. Source : USAF

Auto Ground Collision Avoidance System

Work done on the F-16's auto ground collision avoidance system ( AGCAS ) has enabled fielding of this revolutionary flight safety system on the F-35 seven years earlier than originally scheduled. The AGCAS integration could have began as early as 2019 and has been estimated to prevent more than 26 ground collisions over the service life of the F-35.

Autonomic Logistic Information System

The Autonomic Logistic Information System ( ALIS ) of the F-35's fleet managing system is the web enabled IT infrastructure that was meant to support cost effective sustainment throughout the life time of the aircraft. It however did not live up to expectations and has been blamed for, among other things, the F-35's poor mission capability rates in the past. It will be replaced by a new system known as Operational Data Integrated Network ( ODIN ) starting from late 2020 which it is hoped will be more user-friendly, secure and less prone to error. Full implementation will be expected by 2022.

 

Core Missions

Armed with such a dazzling array of advanced sensors and capabilities, the multi-role F-35 can be tasked to perform the following missions :

Air superiority - offensive and defensive counterair
Strategic attack / Air Interdiction against high value strategic and mobile targets
Close air support
Suppression / destruction of enemy air defense
Electronic Warfare
Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
Extended surface warfare - maritime strike  ( with future F-35 Block 4 upgrades )

 

 

F-35 releasing JSM from its internal weapon bay
during maritime interdiction. Illustration : Kongsberg

Singapore's Cautious Buy

The F-35 has come a long way since the commencement of the JSF program in 2001. All three variants have achieved initial operational capability ( IOC ), with the F-35B of the Marine Corps first to do so in 2015 with Block 2B software which allows for initial warfighting capability. It was followed by the USAF's declaration of IOC for the F-35A in 2016 with the Block 3i software and lastly the USN for the F-35C with the Block 3F full warfighting capability software by Feb 2019. The long drawn system development and demonstration ( SDD ) phase has concluded in April 2018 and a new phase known as Initial Operational Test And Evaluation ( IOT&E ) has began. The successful conclusion of the IOT&E, initially due in Jul 2019 but currently delayed by problems relating to the Joint Simulation Environment facility, will pave the way for the commencement of full rate production ( FRP ).

Production numbers are peaking with a record number of 134 F-35s delivered in 2019 and that figure is expected to be surpassed in 2020. The combined all variants production numbers have reach 491 aircrafts by December 2019. The unit cost of all variants have continued to fall for the past few years and the latest LRIP Lot 14 F-35B for delivery in 2022 has a unit cost of S101.3 million, significantly lower than the LRIP Lot 11's $115.5 million or the LRIP Lot 10's $122.4 million. With the latest LRIP Lot 12 to Lot 14 F-35A CTOL variant Lockheed Martin even managed to lower the unit cost to their promised less than $80 million target, a year ahead of schedule.

Yet the F-35 has still not ironed out all its teething problems, though it probably will in time to come. Also, although unit prices have steadily fallen, operating costs have not. At between $34000 to $36000 per hour, the F-35 cost significantly more to operate compared with the legacy aircrafts it was meant to replace, like the F-16 ( $24000 per hour ) or F/A-18 ( $24400 per hour ). The fatal crash of a F-35A of the Japan Air Self Defense Force in April 2019 would have added uncertainties to its air worthiness and safety record but it was eventually attributed to spatial disorientation of the pilot. The event nonetheless delayed Singapore's decision making process to buy the F-35. It is therefore not surprising that the Singapore government only committed itself to an initial four aircraft purchase, with an option for eight more. It is not even enough to form half a squadron, and as declared the initial four aircrafts will be used for tests and evaluation. It will be crucial to find out, among other things, if the Pratt & Whitney F135 engine can actually produce enough vertical thrust in the typically hot and humid environment of Singapore to allow for hovering and vertical landing of a laden F-35B.

 

STOVL Above Stealth

Singapore's selection of the F-35B demonstrates that above all, it values the STOVL capability and the basing flexibility and operational flexibility it brings. If stealth and sensor fusion were its main focus, it would have chosen the F-35A CTOL variant like most other non-US operators of the F-35. It is even willing to trade physical attributes like range, payload and agility for the inclusion of STOVL, which in retrospect makes a lot of sense. The greatest strength of the F-35 is not about its absolute speed, rate of climb, range on internal fuel, sustained turn rate, maximum payload or maximum g-rating. Many legacy 4th generation fighters do better on those parameters. The real value of the F-35 is its survivability in an access denied high threat environment and its superior networking capability thanks to its VLO technology, all-encompassing sensors, organic self-protection mechanisms and connectivity. The planned closure of the Paya Lebar Air Base after 2030 will have the Republic of Singapore Air Force operating out of its three other remaining air bases, Sembawang, Tengah and Changi. That makes the adoption of STOVL capabilities very sensible as it can mitigate some of the risks of air operations disruption from airfield denial attacks.

In the United States, the F-35B has not only changed the way which the Marine Corps' Amphibious Ready Groups conduct their missions, it has given them new blue-water capabilities in the absence of a carrier nearby. The LHAs and LHDs have suddenly turned into mini-carriers in their own right and find themselves taking on missions normally assigned to carrier strike groups. These are mind boggling stuff that was just impossible a few years ago.





Mini carrier : USS America ( LHA-6 ) staged with 13 F-35B
of the VMFA-122 in the eastern Pacific 8th Oct 2019.
Photo : USN



What Happens Next

The Department of State has in principle given the green light for Singapore to acquire up to 12 F-35B fighters but Congress must still approve the deal. Congress was formally notified of the proposed sale on 9th Jan 2020 and has 30 days to review it before it is approved. Given the good bilateral relations between Singapore and the US and the fact that Singapore is a strategic friend and a major security cooperation partner of the US in the Asia Pacific region, the Congressional Note, a necessary FMS formality, will likely be approved without issues. With Congressional approval, final terms will be negotiated for the Letter of Offer and Acceptance.

Singapore may have deliberately timed its F-35 purchase to coincide with the end of LRIP and the beginning of full-rate production. Since current LRIP Lot 12 to Lot 14 for delivery between 2020 and 2022 are likely to have been fully allocated, the assembly of Singapore's initial four F-35B could be assigned to later production lots like LRIP Lot 15 / FRP. Whichever production lot they come from, Singapore is likely to receive the F-35B Block 4 with the latest software upgrades and enhanced warfighting capaibities.

All four initial F-35B are likely to end up at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina where all international F-35B pilots and maintainers are trained. They will form a training detachment where the first batches of RSAF pilots and ground personnel will undergo training with their USMC counterparts from the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 ( VMFAT-501 )  and other foreign entities from the UK, Italy and Japan.

Only when sufficient numbers of F-35Bs have been procured, such as when the addition option of eight F-35B have been exercised and sufficient pilots and maintainers trained will some of these new generation fighters be brought back to Singapore for integration with the rest of the Air Force. What follows will be the achievement of IOC and FOC.

The RSAF already has some of the assets and capabilities that will be essential for supporting 5th generation fighter operations, such as the Leonardo M-346 lead-in fighter trainer for pilot training prior to F-35 operational conversion and the Airbus A-330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport ( MRTT ) for aerial refueling during deployments. It is worthwhile to note that the F-35B ultilises the probe-and-drogue method for aerial refueling similar to all other USN and USMC fixed wing aircrafts, instead of the flying boom method common to USAF tactical fighters, including the F-35A. So apart from the MRTT, perhaps the refueling capabilities of the RSAF's ageing KC-130B and KC-130H might again be put to good use, provided they are still in service in the 2030s!





F-35B of VMFA-121 refuels from a KC-130J
over the East China Sea Oct 2018. Photo : USN

 

 

F-35B refueling from KC-130J near MCAS Beaufort
18th Mar 2015. Photo LMC

Sending A Message To China?

Hardly. The news media had it all wrong. While nobody apart from totalitarian and despotic regimes loves China, it does not mean that Singapore's F-35 buy is directed at China, or any other country for that matter, as the Ministry of Defence has claimed. This is especially true as Singapore does not have any territorial disputes with China and China is also one of Singapore's largest trading partners. But it does have a vested interest in ensuring its sea lines of communication remains secure and open so that trade flows are not disrupted.

The notion that Singapore can work together with the other F-35 operating countries in the Asia Pacific, namely Australia, Japan and South Korea, to contain China is also without merit. Why would Singapore want to get involved with the squabbles between China and each of these countries? Has it not had enough of its own problems?

Therefore this F-35 acquisition is just another routine force renewal exercise aimed at replacing the ageing F-16 fighters which have been in service with the RSAF since 1998. Nobody should really read too much into it or worry about it .... at least until the Joint Multi-Mission Ship is constructed.

F-35B performs ramp-assisted take-off onboard
HMS QEII in Nov 2018. Photo : USN