Air defence in the spotlight, what to expect from DefExpo 2020, and lessons from Surface Navy

In this episode of the Weekly Defence Podcast we bring you the latest from the 32nd annual Surface Navy symposium in Washington DC; we talk about air defence systems and how they work; we discuss the US Army’s decision to cancel OMFV solicitation, and, looking forward to India hosting its biennial DefExpo next month, consider whether the country is ready to tackle its huge list of not-too-competently managed procurements. 

• News Round-up (00:45)

VP Content Tony Skinner discusses an interesting opinion piece by The Geobukseon on India’s procurement practices. With the DefExpo 2020 exhibition being held in Uttar Pradesh early next month, The Geobukseon considers whether and how India will be able to manage its morass of defence procurements, which have negatively affected the armed forces in past decades. 

Reporter, Land Flavia Camargos Pereira gives an insight into the US Army’s decision to terminate the current acquisition process for the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV). This followed the receipt of only a single bid in the competition to replace the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. 

• Deep dive – Air Defence Systems (16:25)  

Following the catastrophic events of 6 January, which confirmed that a Russian-made, Iranian- operated Tor-M1 system was responsible for the Ukrainian airliner crash near Teheran, Director of Analysis Matthew Smith and Senior Analyst Ilker Aktasoglu discuss how air defence systems are operated, what are challenges the industry is currently facing, the pressures operators are under, and what fail-safes are in place. 

• Surface Navy Symposium and interview with Lockheed Martin (30:00) 

VP Content Tony Skinner chats to Senior Editor, Naval Richard Thomas who was on the floor of the 32nd annual Surface Navy Symposium in Washington DC last week.

The biggest stories from the naval domain include the Maritime Strike Tomahawk, which is no longer expected to achieve its milestone this year following a delay in achieving initial operational capability; and the UK RN which will see its fleet escort numbers dropping in the next years as the build schedule for the Type 26 and Type 31 frigates struggles to keep pace with the planned out-of-service dates of the ageing Type 23 class.

Richard also speaks to VP of Naval Combat and Missile Defence systems at Lockheed Martin, Jim Sheridan, about ship self-defence systems.

This episode was produced and recorded by Noemi Distefano with music and sound mixing by Fred Prest.