The Navy’s Program Executive Office Littoral and Mine Warfare (PEO LMW) has seen a steady growth in foreign interest in technologies ranging from efforts to counter improvised explosive devices (IED) to maritime surveillance systems, according to a service official.
Japan and South Korea, for example, are showing an interest in acquiring the next generation Airborne Mine Countermeasures (AMCM) systems.
The effort is run out of the mine warfare program office (PMS-495) and ITT [ITT] is the prime contractor for AMCM.
Foreign military sales (FMS) guidance prohibits PMS-495 from pitching systems to potential foreign buyers, although the office does work closely with the prime contractors as they market to U.S. allies and partners, Anne Sandel, PEO LMW, told sister publication Defense Daily recently.
Releasability of any technology is dependent upon approval from the Technology Transfer Security Assistance Review Board (TTSARD).
“We ask them to have the potential customer contact both my staff and the in-country Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) to gauge the true level of interest,” Sandel said. “If we determine there is interest, we will offer informational briefings to the potential customer on the system.”
The key to the process is the network among PEO LMW, industry partners, ODC and the Navy International Program Office, she added.
In return, PMS-495 also has the opportunity to see what systems and technologies allies and partners are developing through Data Exchange Agreements (DEA) with those foreign entities, Sandel said.
“The DEA is intended as a collaborative tool for the government to government exchange of research, development, test and evaluation information on a reciprocal basis,” she added. “A key goal of the DEA program is to establish and nurture relationships between technical communities of the U.S. government and the technical communities of other nations for future acquisition and promoting broader defense relationships.”
PEO LMW is also seeing foreign interest grow for obtaining the Counter Radio Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare (CREW) system and capabilities, Sandel said.
The CREW program is run by PMS-408–the Joint Counter Radio controlled improvised explosive device Electronic Warfare/Explosive Ordnance Disposal (JCREW/EOD) program office.
“We have at least six countries from all over the world that have expressed specific interest in CREW, plus numerous countries have expressed at least a casual interest,” she said. “Many more countries, world wide, have ‘borrowed U.S. CREW systems for sue as force protection in theater.”
Over the years PMS-408 has seen FMS for its JCREW/EOD systems grow from $12.4 million in FY ’09 to $224 million in FY ’10, Sandel noted.
The program office is prohibited from directly marketing its technologies, although it is not really necessary, Sandel said.
“The actual manufacturers are actively engaged in marketing world-wide,” she said. “Symphony, in particular, in addition to others.”
Lockheed Martin‘s [LMT] Symphony is a vehicle-mounted IED jammer.
Sandel noted PMS-408 gets limited insight into other countries’ CREW capabilities during the actual FMS process. “We get greater insight through international cooperation agreements.”
A number of companies make different CREW systems ranging from manportable, vehicle mounted to an allied forces variant.
PMS-485, the Maritime Surveillance Systems program office, has a more than 20-year FMS program with Japan to provide that country two Surveillance Towed Array Sensor Systems (SURTASS) and support those systems, Sandel added. “[It is] one of the longest FMS relationships in PEO LMW,” Sandel said.
PMS-485 has an International Exchange Agreement with the United Kingdom on shallow water surveillance systems, she added.
“Through this process, the U.K. and U.S. exchange data on new technologies and provide test results of prototype systems.”