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Meeting Coverage > ACR
Recurrent Post-Transplant Lupus Nephritis Declining
— Single-center study credits improvements in immunosuppression
by Howard Wolinsky, Contributing Writer, MedPage Today October 23, 2018
CHICAGO -- Recurrent lupus nephritis, a complication for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) with end-stage renal disease who undergo kidney transplant, has been declining thanks to improvements in immunosuppression, a University of Tennessee researcher told a press conference Monday at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting here.
Debenda Pattanaik, MBBS, MD, a rheumatologist at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, said, "In our practice, we are seeing less recurrence, and patients are doing better compared to what has been reported in the literature."
He said previous studies have shown a "variable" rate of recurrent lupus nephritis in transplant patients ranging from 3% to 46%.
His study of 38 patients shows a recurrence rate of 11%.
The Tennessee patients received transplants between 2016 and 2017. Patient electronic medical records were reviewed retrospectively along with information from the United Network for Organ Sharing database. Researchers noted demographic information and transplant and dialysis-related information, including kidney biopsy, graft loss, and survival.
Pattanaik attributed this dramatic drop in recurrence rates to improved immunosuppressive regimens in recent decades.
At present, the standard regimen, introduced in the late 1990s, includes prednisone, tacrolimus, and mycophenolate mofetil. Previously, patients received a regimen, introduced in the mid-1960s, prednisone, azathioprine, and cyclosporine.
Pattanaik noted mycophenolate mofetil may be an important factor because it is used to treat proliferative lupus nephritis.
Press conference moderator Jason Liebowitz, MD, a second year rheumatology fellow at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, questioned whether there might have been undetected recurrences in the Memphis group.
Pattanaik said it is possible because patients in earlier research underwent routine "protocol biopsies," while his patients were biopsied if they displayed symptoms.
The mean age of patients in the Tennessee study was 41, 89% were women, and 89% were African Americans.
Four of the 38 patients (11%) had biopsy-proven lupus nephritis recurrences. Patients had spent a median of 4 years on dialysis.
Ten patients (26%) had graft loss or death during a mean follow-up of 1,230 days.
Pattanaik stressed that graft loss secondary to recurrence of lupus ought to be less of a concern when rheumatologists and nephrologists are recommending renal transplants for their patients.
He said rheumatologists should be activists for this patient population, which typically is young with many potential years ahead. He said patients with SLE with end-stage renal disease ought to be considered as good candidates for renal transplantation as patients with diabetes and hypertension. "They can have as good an outcome," he said.
The study authors disclosed no relevant relationships.
Source Reference: Pattanaik D, et al "Recurrence of lupus nephritis in renal transplant recipients" ACR 2018; Abstract 711.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This inspired jacket is adopted from the movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, worn by Chris Pratt in women's style so get ready Star-Lord fans to wear it as it is now available at our online store.
This Guardians of the Galaxy Star lord jacket for women is made of PU Leather. Front features are erect collar with high quality zip closure and for the wrist comfort, belted cuffs included for the adjustment. Mainly there are two waist pockets with over buttons and two inside pockets along with internal viscose lining. Ladies followers of GOTG Vol 2 now can be part of Guardians team with this star lord jacket women's version so get it for your costume, Cosplay shows, and events and transform a star-lord look.


Elements Used By A Search Engine.
Q5. Briefly describe the three elements used by a search engine.
Spiders or Web crawlers: It is a software that browse the Internet in a systematic manner. They are also known by various other terms such as ants, bots, automatic indexers, Web spiders, and Web robots. In general, Web crawlers are used to maintain a duplicate copy of all the visited pages and indexing of the downloaded pages to provide quicker and better searches.
Indexing software: It is a software that receives the list of Web documents and Web addresses collected by the Web crawler. The indexing software extracts the information from the Web documents and Web addresses and then prepares the index of the available information. Finally, it stores the data in the database.
Search algorithm: It refers to the mechanism of searching the keywords in the database of a search engine. If the searched keyword is found in the database, then the Web documents and Web addresses related to the keywords are displayed to the user.


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  styleUrls: ['./order-success.component.css']
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


This performance was part of the First Friday Art Walk Series in St. Augustine, a great time for audience, friends, and family who were visiting and looking for something to do in St. Augustine on New Year's Day.
The Cathedral Basilica was full and the voices filled the church with awesome song and music. Truly a lovely evening.


Happy Memorial Day, everyone…..One thing we do not want to forget on this opening summer holiday is the reason for the day. We want to remember that it's more than the opening of summer or the end of school or a long weekend at the lake.
When I was a kid, my grandparents called it "Decoration Day." In the tiny community where they lived, there was no one to look after the only cemetery. In a showing of respect for those who had passed on, volunteers hoed weeds, repaired fences, pruned trees and did anything else that was needed to make the cemetery looked cared for. And some honored their own loved ones by decorating their graves.
This custom wasn't confined to where my grandparents lived. It did and still does take place all over the country. Unfortunately, however, to a great degree, we've gotten away from it. These days, too many of us don't have time or are too far away. And there are a hell of a lot of us who don't even know what Memorial Day is about. That's sad.
In these days when we're losing or have lost so many of our young men and women to causes that no longer seem worthwhile, let's don't forget them. There's a famous quote and I've been searching for the origin all week, but haven't found it. It says, "All gave some, but some gave all." Let's don't forget that either.
On another topic, I'm making a few changes to the blog. Some you might have noticed, some you might not have.
You might have noticed the book list is missing. I had this great slide show through a site called http://www.slide.com. Around the first of the year, they announced they would be taking their site down at the end of March and we who had slide shows created through them should do something different.
So far, I haven't found a user-friendly site on which I can create a slide show that WordPress will accept. WordPress recommend a site and I put together a slide show there. But then WordPress rejected it and continues to reject it. I can't figure out how to get past their rejection.… Like everything in the computer world, if you aren't a guru, anything you do has a steep learning curve. Did I say I'm not a guru?
The other thing you might notice is a link in the right-hand column to The Anna Jeffrey Times. This is a baby newspaper. It features headlines and a few articles about current events. I would like to give it its own page in the blog so that you don't have to leave the blog to glance at it, but so far, WordPress hasn't let me do that either. I suspect it can be done and I hope to eventually figure it out.
The last thing I've done is put the archives in a drop-down box. It's all still there, so if there's a past blog you want to view, you can find it by using the drop-down box.
"Figuring it out" is how I have to approach everything I do on the computer. I've owned a computer of some kind for twenty-five years, so you'd think I'd be smarter, wouldn't you?
But I'm nothing, if not determined. Eventually I'll get that book list back up there as a slide show and eventually I'll get The Anna Jeffrey Times on its own page.
Meanwhile, while I struggle with it, if any of you *are* gurus and want to make some suggestions, I'm certainly receptive.
Earlier this week, I turned on one of my favorite TV financial shows and there was Barnes & Noble's CEO announcing that Microsoft had purchased 17.5% of Barnes & Noble. Their stock immediately rose by 10%. I'm posting some links at the end of the blog to articles about the deal.
This was huge news, I think, because just after Christmas, Barnes & Noble had reported a terrible Christmas season and a 20% stock drop. Most people had pretty much written them off, or at least the brick-and-mortar part of that business. And I already knew that Amazon had owned the 2011 Christmas season with their digital readers.
This is a definite game-changer for B&N. And it might be a game-changer for the whole digital book community. A cash infusion from a rich company like Microsoft might well be the balm that soothes all of B&N's ills. In addition, Microsoft will be releasing Windows 8 at the end of this year and no doubt some of that technology will find its way into the Nook.
On the same day, I surfed over to B&N's Web site and saw where they had announced a new reader. The Simple Touch with Glow Light and it retails for $139. Glow Light will enable a reader to read in bright sunlight. No other tablet—not even iPad or Kindlefire—has this feature and I suspect B&N probably owns it. You can learn all about it at B&N's Web site.
So can a whole new generation of tablets and e-readers soon hit the market?
The DOJ suing Apple and the major publishers for price fixing and then the publishers settling with them is also a game-changer. At this point, I've lost track of what Apple has done. I don't know whether they settled, too.
All of it bodes well for readers. The B&N CEO reported that 57% of books are now purchased as e-books. No one knows how much that number will increase this year, but unquestionably, it will. Shoppers continue to buy tablets and readers, even though it isn't Christmas. And most of the readers who already have them are huge fans of them. Not only do they love the readers themselves, they also love getting books at a cheaper price. No telling what will be for sale by the time the 2012 Christmas season rolls around. It's so exciting.
In my house alone, we now have 2 Kindles. And in the past 2 weeks, I've downloaded half a dozen free books..
Speaking of free books, I want to also remind you that THE LOVE OF A STRANGER will be a free download in the Kindle store on Amazon on May 14th and 15th. That's a Monday and Tuesday. You don't have to have a Kindle. You can download it to your computer, to your iPad or even to your phone if you pick up the Amazon app. I don't think you can download it to a Nook. Amazon and B&N are in fierce competition on these machines.
So that's my exciting news for this week. What do you think? I know everyone is happy to see Barnes & Noble saved. But being in bed with Microsoft, what will it become now?


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Tag Archives: ASuW
NSS and SDSR 2015: My review of the military context
The National Security Review and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 has been published, rather late in the day but nevertheless published. One immediate difference from the 2010 reviews is that both the National Security Strategy (NSS) and the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) are combined together. That makes a big difference, but I'll deal with the strategy part in a later post. First, the military (which forms the defence part):
The Royal Navy:
* Senior service in the NSS and SDSR 2015 stays almost as expected.
* Major ships in surface fleet stay at the small number of 19. But only eight/8 x Type 26 Global combat Ships will be ordered, the anti-submarine variant with Sonar 2087. Five more will appear later, but possibly more with a revised version for "General Purposes". As many point out, this goes back to the original C1 and C2 variants. Would we thus get more than thirteen/13 type 26 frigates? What exactly will this GP variant be like? Will it have Mk41 Vertical Launch Silos (VLS)? Or are they copying my old idea?
* The graphic shows "up to 6 Patrol Vessels". Batch 2 River-Class Frigates for sure, plus HMS Clyde, plus the two more that the document (page 31) that will be ordered. I suspect these two/2 additional vessels will also be Batch 2 River-Class? So goodbye to the Batch 1 Offshoere Patrol Vessels (OPV). All seems really good–These can help patrol the Caribbean to some extent and release Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) vessels for other more pressing commitments. It well, also means the Scottish workers have more secured jobs for a while. Lucky them.
* No mention of other patrol vessels, especial the Gibraltar Squadron. Will there be any change?
* Only twelve/12 Mine-counter measure vessels are specified in the graphic, down from the fifteen/15 the Royal Navy has at present. No mention if these are the Mine countermeasures and Hydrographic Capability (MHC) future variant, though they are likely to be. That's ok but only if they can extend their reach to the present commitments–the MENA area–or possibly elsewhere.
* Goodbye HMS Ocean. No mention in the graphic or elsewhere. Instead, "We will enhance a Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier to support this amphibious capability." That, as I and many others point out, is not a practical use of the QEC but well has to be.
* The LPDs and LSDs will stay, ok.
* No mention of the Point-Class Ro-Ros, but they will likely stay.
* No mention of the Merlin HM4/Mk4 variants, oh wait, they put that under the Army graphic. Typo or just saying it's Joint Helicopter Command (JHC) controlled?
* Royal Marines with Arctic capability. Well, not exactly new; they have operated in Norway for a long time.
* Six/6 Fleet Tankers. Is this four/4 Tide-Class tankers plus the two/2 Wave-Class fuel and support tankers/support ships? Will the Wave-Class ships be replaced in the distant future? Ok, not a worry.
* Three/3 Fleet Solid Support Ships. At present it is RFA Fort Victoria, RFA Fort Rosalie and RFA Fort Austin. Will Fort Rosalie and Fort Austin be replaced by newer Solid Support Ships, again built in South Korea?
* No mention of a replacement for RFA Argus and RFA Diligence. So sad though you did say it it was to be considered. Liar.
* Likely or most likely no change in the number of Merlin HM2/MK2 ASW/ASAC helicopters. Which you know, means a tight Tailored Air Group (TAG). Boo…
*Type 45s may be part of a future Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD).
* Not forgetting the Queen-Elizabeth Class Carriers. Still no confirmation how they will operate, especially with HMS Ocean going away. The TAG is questionable even with the 138 F-35B order which will arise only in the distant future. There are still questions regarding the order. For example, this report says "It means the UK will have 24 F35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft available on its two new aircraft carriers by 2023." Does that mean 24 on one operational carrier or 24×2 = 48 on both carriers? Let's take it as 24 on HMS Queen Elizabeth. What about the 138-24 others (besides OCU and OEU?) As Justin Bronk points out, could they be the A version?
* Of course, Successor-class, that is the SSBNs will be procured. The submarines that cannot do anything.
* The Army 2020 model is no more; it is Army 2025. Instead of the austerity-linked but nice plan by General Sir Nicholas Carter (see this), the Army 2025 plan alters the Reaction and Adaptable Forces. Now there will be two/2 x Armoured Infantry (AI) Brigades, down from 3 from the original plan and a change from the typical division size. Wait, two/2 "Strike Brigades" that that could quickly deploy anywhere with independent logistical footprint.
* Strike Brigades?! They want to draw in the 589 Ajax (SCOUT SV) Brigades to form these brigades. But Ajax was to be for the original 3 AI brigades, not playing with a new fantasy fleet concept. What will these Strike Brigades consist of? Say one of the existing AIs and one brigade from the Adaptable Force (AF), maybe 7th Infantry Brigade. What else besides Ajax? Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) formerly UV, formerly FRES UV. Ok. But what else? How on earth are they independent in terms of logistics? And if you need to deploy a division, will the Strike Brigade (single) become a AI?
* A further question: What happens to the third Challenger 2 Armour regiment with these Strike Brigades? Will the disband/stay in suspended animation or will they be re-organised into the two other AI brigades? Good that Challenger 2 LEP will continue but well tank's gun is outdated.
* Warrior CSP will continue–will all the six/6 Armoured Infantry battalions get the CTA 40mm gun?
* Upgraded helicopters–expected, nothing new.
* "Two innovative brigades comprising a mix of Regulars and specialist capabilities from the Reserves able to contribute to our strategic communications, tackle hybrid warfare and deliver better battlefield intelligence." From the AF brigades? What will these be? MRV-P centred?
* 16 Air Assault Brigade stays but any change?
* Field Hospitals stay in the Joint Force (Command). See below.
* No mention of the Armoured Battlefield Support Vehicle (ABSV).
* No mention of upgrades or replacement for the Defender planes or Gazelle.
* No core mention of MIV and MRV-P and other key projects that will replace soon to OSD assets.
* Of course, the magical 77th Brigade will remain as a soft-power enabler.
* Hey look, Commander Land Forces is now Commander Field Army. Great priority change.
* It gains the most as it did in the 2010 SDSR. Junior Service wins.
* 20 "Protector" RPAS, basically MQ-9 Repear upgraded. Not new, announced before.
* Nine/9 PBoeing P-8 Poseidon, the expensive US MPA, to be based at RAF Lossiemouth. The usual cheers around, and it shows how incorrect Mark Hookham is. But 1) They wont appear instantly; 2) RAF and the Royal Navy have no air-launched Harpoons left so they can't conduct ASuW 3) UK Stingray torpedoes and MK 11 depth charges need to be integrated onboard. Its "overland surveillance capability" is questionable.
* Amazingly, Sentinel R1, the formerly to-be-scrapped aircraft, will stay on "into the next decade". Possibly they will help the P-8s or act as interim aircraft until the P-8s reach Full Operational Capability (FOC).
* They "el-cheapo: Shadow R1 will stay on until 2030. Really not bad for a propeller plane that could be taken up be Defender (theoretically). And the UK will get two more of them, bringing the total to eight.
* Sentry E-3 and the Rivet Joint (not Air Seeker!!!) stay on till 2035. Any upgrades darling?
* Hey, you didn't want to keep the C-130s before. Hey! You are keeping 14 of the J models. Plus still aiming for 22 A400Ms plus just only 8 C-17ERs. Suddenly there's the money to keep the C-130s? Ok, the Special Forces are really happy. More on that later…
* Along with the P-8s and keeping of Sentinel R1, you get this new drone that "will fly at the very edge of the earth's atmosphere and allow us to observe our adversaries for weeks on end". As Beth Stevenson points out, it is likely to be the "Airbus Defence & Space Zephyr high-altitude pseudo-satellite".
* T1 Typhoons to form additional 2 x Squadrons, but only around 12 planes each, down from the 13-15 as seen in FOIAs like this. It is yet to be seen where they will be based given that RAF Lossiemouth will be choked full of planes.
* F-35s as above. But with the great projected order, isn't it time to given all light blues and all dark blues to Squadrons and dark blue FAA Squadrons?
* Voyager Fleet: You get Cameron Fore One or PM Force One. Save money, give prestige it works out well. But please UK, don't abuse it.
* The Future UCAV research project with France will continue. Yay..
Joint Forces (Command):
* Special Forces will get the most high-tech equipment. But with a shrunken active force, you would (still) struggle to get enough people to operate this. More later…
* Will you even have enough reserve special forces personnel?
* Joint Force Command, particularly, PJHQ, will get more stars (my FOIA). With a shrunken force, don't try a top-heavy leadership. Won't sound out well with the lower ranks.
* Space Operations Centre–a mouthful. For non-military means as well?
* How much effort will be place on cyber, since it is a Tier One threat?
Larger questions:
* So much of the SDSR and NSS is on equipment. How about personnel shortfalls? Getting women and minorities into the armed forces is only one bit to gain strength. You won't get enough personnel for these major high tech assets–the carriers, the surface ships, the submarines, the F-35s, the additional Typhoons, the Army units etc. Personnel shortages hasn't but must be addressed.
* When will the new equipment and assets be ready?
* Buying Yank stuff. Do you have a plan if prices increase?
* Will you really spend 2% of GDP on Defence and ho much contingency money is there?
* Any plans to increase, not alter, the personnel size? Or will you make cuts to unit strengths? No use claiming to have a division-sized force when the companies or battalions are under-sized.
* Will the joint model between departments (not JFC), ie. DFID, FCO, improve?
* How much change will there be for this Joint Force 2025 between now and 2020?
Next up, reviewing the Strategy…
PS: Did I miss anything out?
Posted in British Army, Defence & Security, Royal Air Force, Royal Marines, Royal Navy	| Tagged 2010 SDSR, 77th Brigade, A400M, ABSV, Adaptable Force, Ajax, anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, Armoured Battlefield Support Vehicle, Armoured Infantry Brigade, Army 2020, Army 2025, ASuW, ASW, British Armed Forces, British Army, C-130J, C-17, Cam Force One, CFA, Challenger 2, CLF, Commander Field Army, Commander Land Forces, Conservative Party, Department for International Development, DFID, E-3 AWACS, Eurofighter Typhoon, F-35B, FCO, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, FRES UV, Gazelle, General Sir Nicholas Carter, Global Combat Ship, JFC, Joint Force 2025, Joint Force Command, Joint Forces Command, LPD, LSD, Mechanised Infantry Vehicle, Merlin HC3, Merlin HC3A, Merlin HC4, Merlin Helicopter, Merlin Mk1, Merlin Mk2, MIV, MQ-9 Reaper, MRV-P, Multi Role Vehicle-Protected, NSS, NSS 2010, NSS 2015, Out of Service Date, P-8 Possession, personnel shortfall, pinchpoints, PJHQ, RAF Lossiemouth, Reaction Force, Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, SAG, SCOUT SV, SDSR 2015, Security Assistance Group, Sentinel R1, Sentry E-3, Shadow R1, Special Forces, Special Forces Support Group, Strike Brigade, Tranche 1, Type 26 Frigate, UV, Voyager, Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme
There were once 16 frigates…can we have 16 again please?
The former UK Coalition government and the present Conservative government has occasionally talked about how they will improve the Royal Navy by mentioning the Type 26 Global Combat Ship/Frigate project. It is stated in many media circles that there will be a "like for like" replacement, that is each of the current 13 Type 23 frigates will be replaced by 13 Type 26 frigates. (See for example this, this , this and this. What some people don't remember or realise is that there once were 16, not 13 Type 23 frigates in the Royal Navy Fleet.
I'm talking about HMS Norfolk, Marlborough and Grafton, the first, third and twelve ships of the Duke-class frigates. These ships served the Royal Navy for 15, 14 and 9 years respectfully before they were (sadly) transferred to the Chilean Navy as a result of the 2003 Defence White Paper, "Delivering Security in a Changing World". Norfolk served as part as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)'s Standing Naval Force Atlantic and visited areas such as the Falklands and South Africa. Marlborough was the first ship to be on scene to assist the USS Cole in the aftermath of the Al-Queda-led attack. Grafton, well, she serve in the areas as Type 23s would serve (I can't find much information on HMS Grafton, anyone who is willing to contribute?)
My point is, these sold-off Type 23s can some use for the Royal Navy during their service. There of course is the debate or debates should they have been sold off and what they could have done if they were kept. Let's however focus on the future. It is well stated that 13 Type 26 frgates will be insufficient to meet defence/Royal Navy operations or even sustain the Queen Eliabeth-class carrier-led task force. This can be seen in the former Defence Select Comittee's report Re-thinking defence to meet new threats (particularly page 27). Since the harp is a "like for like" replacement for the Type 23s, why not have 16 Type 26 frigates instead?
This immediately sounds like a "fantasy fleet" idea but it in fact is a plausible plan for Future Force 2020. The extra 3 Type 26s need not be exactly the same as the 8 anti-submarine warfare variants or the 5 General Purpose (GP) variants. They could for example:
1) Have less Mk41 VLS cells and use the remainder stuff for storage space, electronic equipment etc
2) Be used to patrol benign areas like "Atlantic Patrol (North)" or the Caribbean. You don't need 24 VLS strike cells to chase down smugglers. Nor do you really need 48 Sea Ceptor/CAMM-N missiles unless there is a massive aerial threat to the ship. So the 3 extra frigates could have a reduced displacement by cutting down the number of Sea Ceptor missiles by say a third of a half. This again would free up more space.
3) Having reduced the offensive capabilities does not really mean these extra frigates will be useless. They could be compensated with a larger mission bay so that more Royal Marines or Special Forces could be stored or more of their gear. The hangar could be enlarged so that a maritime Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and helicopter could be launched simultaneously or that these frigates could carry 2 Merlin helicopters–one for general duties; the other for anti-submairne warfare.
The extra Type 26s could mirror their sister ships. I've always wondered why the Royal Navy wished to have the 5-8 system and deny five frigates from having the excellent Sonar 2087. However, since that will unlike change, why not boost the GP variant with 3 extra ships? They could:
1) Again have the same layout as their GP sisters, thus giving the Royal Navy greater anti-surface warfare (ASuW) capability and land-attack options.
2) They could gain have a different or smaller layout and still be deployed as GP ships but for task like anti-mine operations or again, special forces deployment. The former could be a viable option with these extra Type 26 frigates used as "motherships" for the mine warfare vessels instead of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA)'s Bay-class ships. This would allow the Bay Landing Ship Dock (LSD)'s to be used for their primary roles.
There are many other possibilities that the extra thee ships could be used for but I'm sure you get the idea–16 is a number that should be the case, not evne just aimed for. Now of course, there are counter arguments to having more than 13. First, people would say that the Royal Navy personnel strength is not at or anywhere near 1005, as shown in the monthly statistics. So asking for more would be nice, but impractical. Second, as it is with the Conservatives and even some parts of Labour, it would be costly to build so many new warships. Third, people might say 13 is enough since by the thirteenth ship, Scotland might be independent and not allow rUK (rest of the UK) to use its construction yards.
I would say first, personnel strength is critical for all of the British armed forces but for the Type 26, it can be varied and even reduced, especially for three extra ships. Second, costs are relative and it may be the case that the cost could drop or that there could be some sensible funding of the defence budget. As for Scotland, well, the Type 26 is for the current UK and should be so. There are of course other counter arguments, but you get my idea.
So big wigs in the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces, can we please do a proper like for like replacement for the Type 23s?
Posted in Royal Navy	| Tagged anti-mine, anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, ASuW, ASW, Atlantic Patrol (North), Bay-Class, Caribbean, Coalition Government, Conservative Party, drugs, Duke-Class, frigate, Future Force 2020, HMS Grafton, HMS Marlborough, HMS Norfolk, Landing Ship Dock, Merlin Helicopter, mine, mine hunter, mission bay, RFA, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Royal Marines, Royal Navy, South Africa, Special Forces, Type 23, Type 23 Frigate, Type 26, UAV, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, USS Cole
The Type 26 Frigate: The October 2014 Letter
Something letters/emails/news releases/literature exaggerates, other times the just lie to the reader. This parliamentary letter from current UK Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Fallon, to the current Chairman of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee Rory Stewart may be telling a huge lie or exaggerating, or simply giving the facts which could have been given earlier. I focus of several parts of the letter.
First, Fallon's reply states or rather confirms that the Type 26 may (the design isn't finalised) carry the the Mk 41 VLS tubes. This is significant as previously, it was a toss up between Mk 41 or the SYLVER VLS, which the Royal Navy already uses on its Type 45 destroyers. There has been many articles on the pros and cons regarding each different VLS system, but the Mk 41 certainly is the better choice for the Royal Navy in terms of practicality (Others have covered this in greater detail so I won't–for the moment). In any case, the sweating of whether it was going to Mk 41 is finally over.
A second more surprising topic/issue brought up from the letter is the number of VLS cells, 24. Now, if you skim through old articles and blogs about the Type 26, everyone said the first model in around 2012 had 24 cells. Then in 2013 with the high likelihood of it moving to Mk 41, the number dropped to 16, given the almost definitive displacement and dimensions of the ship. You can view NavyRecognition's articles here and here and watch the two Youtube videos below.
16 tubes in my view would be pushing it to the bare minimum so the letter would be on the surface a welcome. But 24 tubes would mean a ship with a larger displacement (noting that the MK 41 is a heavy tube) and of large dimensions. Secretaries of State and politicians are known for never telling the truth or setting the facts straight. Stil, this is from a SoS to a Select Committee Chairman, most possibly for a report (I can't figure out what the letter is exactly for; any guesses?). 24 is a nice touch but not without complications.
Third, the possibility of exaggeration comes in the types of weapons the Mk 41 VLS cells may fire. The letter says "Such as the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile), to anti-ship missiles and Anti-Submarine Rockets…". First part, the well known Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM). It's already in the Royal Navy, that is, with the Trafalgar-Class and the Astute-Class SSNs. But unlike the US Navy, the Royal Navy fires TLAMs via their torpedo tubes, not submarine VLS tubes or using Mk 41 VLS on their surface ships. It would mean buying the TLAM variant that can be fitted into a Mk 41 VLS tube, altering the costs complications. But ok, it's nice Fallon tells Stewart that the Type 26 will/may fire the TLAM. (Personally, I'm not a strong proponent of the Type 26 being a land-attack ship).
Second part, "to anti-ship missiles". Ok, here it is not an exaggeration or a lie but just reiterating a "known-unknown" (I'm not a Rumsfeld supporter btw). No one knows what anti-surface warfare (ASuW) missile the Royal Navy will be getting. Ok, the fantasy fleet people think it's going to be the US Nay's next-generation Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) (see here). That's fine, but the missile isn't exactly out yet or even projected to be sold to the UK. Others suggest the future SPEAR III missile may be the future ASuW weapon. That supposedly can quad-pack into the Mk 41 so that would be 24×4=96 SPEAR III missiles if all the cells are filled (never the case). But again, SPEAR III isn't out yet (though it is a UK project).
Third Part which could be an exaggeration of the Type 26's capabilities or a real fact is the "and Anti-Submarine Rockets" part. This undoubtedly refers to the RUM-139 VL-ASROC or simply ASROC, the only possible rocket launcher with a torpedo in it. Now, that would be a wonderful weapon for the Type 26, especially the eight of them fitted with the Sonar 2087 sonar, the supposedly best kind of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) sonar around. ASROC however needs the torpedo to be effective. So far, the USN and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) use the Mk 46 or Mk 50 torpedo in their ASROCs. The Royal Navy's Stingray torpedo has never known to be fitted on a ASROC type rocket, nor launched vertically. Again, costs come into play if this is a fact. Or an exaggeration?
There's some more to be picked out of the Fallon-Stewart letter such as the Future Anti-Surface Guided Weapon (Light) (FASGW (L)) missile. It will be called the Martlet. Other issues, well read the letter yourself.
To be expanded later.
Posted in Royal Navy	| Tagged anti-ship missiles, Anti-Submarine ROCket, anti-surface warfare, ASROC, Astute-Class, ASuW, Chairman, Defence Committee, FASGW(L), Future Anti-Surface Guided Weapon (Light), House of Commons Defence Select Committee, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, JMSDF, Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, LRASM, Martlet, Michael Fallon, Minister, Mk 41 VLS, Rory Stewart, Royal Navy, Secretary of State, Selective Precision Effects At Range, SPEAR III, SSN, SYLVER A50, SYLVER A70, SYLVER VLS, Tomahawk, Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, Trafalgar-Class, Type 26, Type 26 Frigate, United States, US Navy, USN, Vertical Launch System, VLS
CAMM: The saviour missile for the British Armed Forces
Posted on September 27, 2014 by ipeanddevelopment
Everyone on the net for several years now has been talking about the Common Anti-Air Modular Missile or CAMM. It, along with its other support components, is also rather known as the Future Low-Altitude Air Defence System or FLAADS. For the Royal Navy, CAMM will be known as the Sea Ceptor missile (an easier name to remember than the two acronyms!), destined to be fitted on the present Type 23 Frigates and their successor Type 26 frigates (see the official MOD release). CAMM-L, L standing for "Land", will be the replacement for the ageing or outdated Rapier missile system in the British Army (see the official MOD release).
So what are my views regarding this future missile/missile system? First, the sea version, the Sea Ceptor, is certainly many steps up from the Sea Wolf missile system currently on the Royal Navy's Type 23s. The first advantage is that of range and altitude. Sea Wolf, a veteran of the Falkland War, has a maximum range of 10 km (the upgraded version) and a flight ceiling/altitude of 3050 m (or around 3000 m). In stark contrast, the MBDA brochure states that CAMM/Sea Ceptor has a range "in excess of 25 km" (let's just keep it at 25 km). The maximum flight altitude is not stated (so far as I can search, if you know, inform me), but I would gather it should be just a bit shorter than MBDA's existing Aster 15 missile, which are on the Type 45 Destroyers. (The Aster 15 has a range "in access of 30 km" and flight altitude of 13 km. So I would wager a guess that the Sea Ceptor missile would reach 10 km.)That of course means it might not reach high-altitude bombers/strike aircraft, especially since "Bear" bombers, "Backfire" bombers and others can fly at higher altitudes).
A second crucial advantage for this new missile is it size–99 kg, length of 3.2 m and diameter 0.16m. This means that it can be quad-packed on either the American Mk41 or European SYLVER Vertical Launch System. Now, this link says that from around 2015, the Type 23s will have a "1 for 1 replacement"–32 Sea Wolfs replacement by 32 Sea Ceptors in 8 cell VLS. That's nice–that means a 8 cell VLS with more room to spare on the frigates.But a stronger advantage for a quad-packed cell means that CAMM can augment the anti-air missiles on board the six Type 45 destroyers. Type 45s currently have 48 ASTER 15 and ASTER missiles in SYLVER A50 0 VLS cells–the actual combination is never known (I would wage 30 ASTER 30s and 18 ASTER 15s, although defenseindustrydaily.com says otherwise.) The DID website recommends by quad-packing 12 SYLVER A50 cells, you can add 48 Sea Ceptor missiles, and have 36 ASTERS–20 ASTER 30s, and 16 ASTER 15. That would bring a total of 84 SAMs to bear in a single Type 45, making in close enough to say the US Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyer or Ticonderoga-class cruisers. (No one can say exactly how many SM-2,3,6 missiles those USN ships carry, since thry also fill their VLS cells with ASROC and Tomahawk missiles).
I would go a bit more conservative and allocate only 8 of the 48 SYLVER A50 cells with Sea Ceptor, that is, a total of 32 Sea Ceptor missiles with 40 ASTER missiles of any combination (I would wager 25 ASTER 30s and 15 ASTER 15s, but then again the exact combination is never known. CAMM's size then will (if the RN does ever quad-pack them on Type 45s) boost the firepowwer on the 6 most advance destroyers and leave the additional space behind the SYLVER A50 cells purely for ASuW missiles and/or land attack missiles. (This again is just a theory; it is up to the policy makers to decide. The additional space could well be more more Sea Viper/Sea Ceptor missiles, though that would leave the Type 45 again with just a gun.)
A third advantage of the CAMM (N)/Sea Ceptor missile/missile system is its secondary ability to "engage small naval craft". In other terms, it is able to strike Fast Inshore Attack Craft (FIAC) or in even more layman terms, it has a anti-ship missile attack/anti-surface warfare warefare capability. Now, first thing firsts. Even if the range of the Sea Ceptor is in excess of 25 km, I doubt it can strike surface targets that far away. I would wager say a maximum range of around 10 km. What ever the range, this ASuW capability will give the Type 45, 23 and 26s added ASuW capability. This is especially so for two of the Type 45s, as both of them will not gain the 4 quad-Harpoon launchers leftover from the Type 22s. It also means that all Type 45s gain an AAW/ASuW missile that was missing since the Sea Dart missile retired with the Type 42 Destroyers.
I believe that's a quite a bit on the CAMM-N/Sea Ceptor. But CAMM's creation is also crucial for the British Army, to replace their age old Rapier FSC missiles. The British Army's 16th Regiment Royal Artillery is the main/sole operator of the Rapier missile. As this book suggests, 16th RA's configuration is "four batteries each of two troops with three fire units per troop". Each fire unit contains eight ready-to-fire missiles. The missile can strike targets at a maximum altitude of around 3,000m and a maximum range of 6,800m.(Also view this link). If we take the Sea Ceptor adverts range of 25 km to be around the same (land launched and ship launched missiles of the smae kind usually reach difference ranges), it will still mean a new missile with a range more than four times than of a Rapier's. I would assume CAMM-L's max altitude should be higher than the Rapier's 6.8 km as well.
This link (and this) shows a mock up of 12 CAMM-L missiles in a launcher vehicle (name unknown). From the above, one Rapier battery will contain at least 48 Rapier missiles in the two troops, not counting reloads. If CAMM-L is 12 missiles per launcher unit, that would mean maybe two fire units per troop instead, create personnel reduction and thus benefits. Beyond this of course, having CAMM-L as a replacement for Rapier would mean much stronger protection of brigades/the Falklands/which every unit against not just aircraft but ballistic missiles and possibly even unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). If all turns out well, CAMM will arrive just as the Rapier bows out in 2020. Definitely one missile need by the British Army for quite a long time especially given the threat of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), airstrikes from manned aircraft and helicopters or even surface-to-surface missiles which as prevalent in "Eastern bloc" armed forces (9K720 Iskander, though I'm not finger pointing).
CAMM is also slated to be CAMM-A/CAMM (A), replacing or complementing the really good ASRAAM. This article will, however, not cover that area. First, there's little talk about the aerial variant, and secondly, there's nothing that spectacular since the ASRAAM is (as stated) a pretty good missile. Anyway, the Sea Ceptor variant and the CAMM-L (or whatever name the British Army will give the land variant) provides the British Armed Forces of the future with a missile that should create a potent Future Force (FF) 2020. The missiles characteristics is definitely what the Army and the Navy requires, regardless whether the number of assets (ships and land units) increase or decrease after defence reviews. A saviour for the Armed Forces…
PS I know, abrupt ending. Will edit and expand later.
Posted in British Army, Royal Air Force, Royal Navy	| Tagged 16th Regiment Royal Artillery, 9K720 Iskander, airstrikes, anti-aircraft warfare, anti-surface warfare, Arleigh Burke-class, ASTER, ASTER 15, ASTER 30, ASuW, British Army, CAMM, CAMM (A), CAMM (L), CAMM (N), Common Anti-Air Modular Missile, FLAADS, Future Low-Altitude Air Defence System, Global Combat Ship, gunships, Harpoon, helicopters, Iskander, MBDA, Mk 41 VLS, Rapier, RGM-84, Royal Air Force, Royal Artillery, Royal Navy, Sea Ceptor, Sea Dart, Sea Wolf, SYLVER A50, Type 22, Type 22 frigates, Type 23, Type 23 Frigate, Type 26, Type 26 Frigate, Type 42, Type 42 Destroyers, Type 45, Type 45 Destroyer, UAV, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Vertical Launch System, VLS


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Jim Libby
****Jim's secret super-power is buying the right clothes for any woman!****
Jim was born in Maine, in the USA, but has made his home in Vienna, Austria and has a built his career as a performer, director and catalyst. He has performed in some of Europe's most illustrious theatres including, Vienna's Volksoper and Volkstheater, Berlin's Admiralspalast, Würzburg's Stadtstheater, London's Ealing Studios and many more. He has worked continually in television and film, as a host of the world-wide broadcasted series, Hello Austria, Hello Vienna, and as an actor and voice-over artist in several prize winning film productions.
In the world of improvisational theatre, Jim is in great demand.He is a founding member of the English Lovers and has performed with or taught literally thousands of actors, directors, dancers, musicians and just plain people, on the application of the ideologies of improvisation: From the creation of theatre and performance, to team building, communication skills and more.
Jim helped to create the very first, fully improvised performance piece to ever be taken into the repertoire of a German state theatre. He also helped to create the very first, fully improvised, radio drama for the BBC, A Time to Dance, which was nominated for a Sony Acadamy Award and co- directed the first, fully improvised feature film to be produced in Austria, Another One Opens, which after several cinema runs, and winning a few prizes, has recently been released on DVD.
Jim is often on tour teaching, developing shows, and working as a key-note speaker, as well as performing throughout Europe and North America.
jim@english-lovers.com
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