DAILY NEWS SUMMARY – 11 July 2011

DAILY NEWS SUMMARY – 11 July 2011


Canada's military hardware sales soar - Most Canadian arms went to close NATO allies, but others found their way to human rights abusers.
Canada was the 12th largest exporter of military hardware in the world in 2010, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
This represents a significant spike in sales from 2008 and 2009, when Canada was the 15th largest international arms dealer.
Most of these guns, bombs, aircraft and armored vehicles went to close NATO allies, but Canadian arms also found their way to human rights abusers - including Saudi Arabia, China, Libya and Tunisia.
Between 2006 and 2009 Canada exported $1.4 billion worth of military gear, according to the Report on the Export of Military Goods from Canada for 2007-2009, published by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Canada exported military hardware to 70 countries between 2007 and 2009, and currently has arms embar-goes on Myanmar (Burma), Belarus and North Korea.
Sales to NATO allies accounted for $737 million, or 52 per cent, of all reported sales from 2006 to 2009. Among the top NATO buyers were Britain, France, Germany and Norway.
Such close non-NATO allies as Australia and New Zealand also made major purchases, as did South Korea.
Airplanes, helicopters and aerospace components were the hottest items, with sales totaling more than $387 million in three years. Bell helicopters and Bombardier jets were big sellers, as were aircraft engines from Pratt & Whitney.
Canada's high-tech defense sector has also boomed, with strong sales of sensors and guidance and fire control systems. Canada also sold aircraft-and ship-based radar systems to a range of countries, as well as imaging equipment and computer software.
The Light Armored Vehicle III (LAV-III) has been used heavily by Canadian Forces in Afghanistan, and the vehicle - produced by General Dynamics Land Systems Canada - is selling quickly on the international market. Fleets were purchased by the United States, Saudi Arabia, Australia and New Zealand.
Canada also exported nearly a quarter billion dollars worth of guns, bombs and ammunition from 2007 to 2009, to countries ranging from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
The $1.4-billion sales figure disclosed by the government does not include military sales to the United States. These figures are not disclosed, the report says, "due to close and long-standing military co-operation with the United States, including the integrated nature of North America's defense industry."
Kenneth Epps is a longtime arms trade watcher with the Canadian security think-tank Project Ploughshares.
He says the government's reporting on its arms exports is woefully incomplete, and estimates that three-quarters of all of Canada's military exports go to the United States.
Ploughshares calculates that Canada exports between $1.5 to $2 billion worth of military goods to the United States each year, a figure that dwarfs military exports to all other countries.
"Given that the U.S. market there surpasses all other markets combined, Canada is reporting less than half the true picture," he said.
Epps said this unreported U.S. data also conceals weapons shipments that pass through the United States before being exported onward to countries like Pakistan. (Source: Ottawa Citizen)


Navy Memo to Panetta: $2.3 Billion Needed For Marine End Strength Of 186,800 - The Marine Corps will need an extra $2.3 billion to restore its end strength to 186,800 Marines after the fiscal year 2012 defense budget request put the service on a path to only 182,000, according to a memorandum to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta obtained by InsideDefense.com.
The Marines opted to slash active-duty end strength from 202,100 to 182,000 with "the understanding [the numbers] would be reviewed upon the completion of the Marine Corps' force structure review," states the June 14 memo. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus signed the document, which broadly lays out the "priorities, challenges and opportunities" for the Navy and the Marine Corps.
Once the Marine Corps completed its force structure review, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates approved active-duty end strength of 186,800, or an increase of 4,800 above what was set in the proposed FY-12 budget.
"The cost to restore the approved end strength and implement a more responsible drawdown rate is $2.3 billion," the memo states. "If this funding is not restored, the Marine Corps will be forced to make steep cuts in procurement and in manpower at a time we are still at war."
The drawdown would take place in FY-15 and FY-16.
Marine Corps leaders have refused to move off of the 186,800 figure despite budgetary pressures. Amos said at an event in May that even with the current push for savings at the Pentagon, the Marines believe the conclusions of the force structure review will hold up to scrutiny. Lt. Gen. Dennis Hejlik, commander of Marine Corps Forces Command, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic, Marine Corps Bases Atlantic and Marine Corps Forces Europe, told reporters in June that an 8 percent reduction in the force was about right and the Marines would not consider going lower.
The memo outlines a list of other priorities and challenges facing both the Navy and the Marine Corps. It discusses the AirSea Battle initiative, noting that the service "may have to accept increased risk in 'general purpose force' areas" due to fiscal challenges. It also lays out the importance of recapitalizing the ballistic missile submarine fleet in the 2020s, the challenge of meeting demand -- which far exceeds capacity-- and the issue of a "fragile maritime industrial base and specialized research and development capacity," which needs protecting.
For the Marine Corps, the memo notes that the service needs Panetta's support for the force structure review, and it asserts the importance of the troubled short-take-off, vertical-landing variant of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, as well as the amphibious combat vehicle program that will replace the canceled Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle. The Marines will also need to carefully balance reset and equipment modernization to "forgo the costs of replacing gear worn out through 10 years of sustained combat," the memo states. (Source: Inside Defense)


DEFENSE WATCH - Reprogramming Rundown. The Pentagon’s $5 billion omnibus reprogramming request, dated June 30 and now before Congress, seeks to shift money for varied vehicle efforts including $51 million for 14 more M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift and Evacuation Systems (HERCULES). Other proposed shifts include $45 million for testing vehicle technology to help the Army Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) effort. The reprogramming seeks a correlating $45 million cut from GCV funding, dropping levels to $413 million for the nascent program for which the service plans to soon award technology development contracts. The 91-page reprogramming notably seeks to shift monies to replace munitions used during military action in Libya, including $310 million for buying Tomahawk missiles. (Source: Defense Daily)