Climatic Effect On Modern Weapon Systems Sales In The Middle East SUBJECT AREA - Topical Issues CSC 95 EXECUTIVE SUMMERY Title: Climatic Effect On Modern Weapon Systems Sales In The Middle East. Author: Major Ahmed Rashed Al-Mo'awdah, Bahrain Defense Force. Thesis: I intend to explore the impact of Persian Gulf region environmental and climatic effect on the acquisition of military equipment employed in this geographic area with enphasis on the establishment of strict performance requirements. Background: The Persian Gulf is one of the harshest climate areas of the world. The weather and the nature of the area can cause the buyers and the manufacturers of the weapons and equipment to carefully study the performance and the use of these systems and equipment in this area. We experienced many problems testing and maintaining the military weapon system and the equipment. I will focus this study on the climatic and natural aspects of this area. At the same time, I will explore the problems from the sides of the consumer and manufacturer of the weapon systems and military equipment. Recommendation: By examining these problems I found that the manufacturers must conduct detailed studies of the needs of the Persian Gulf's armed forces equipment needs and the effect of the environment on their successful oprerations. Climatic Effect On Modern Weapon Systems Sales In The Middle East. Introduction: I intend to explore the impact of Persian Gulf region environmental and climatic effect on the acquisition of military equipment employed in this geographic area with emphasis on the establishment of strict performance requirements. Geography and climate of the Persian Gulf. The Persian Gulf area is considered one of the harshest climate areas of the world. it's located in the northern hemisphere. The Persian Gulf 's desert area consists of the following regions. 1. Saudi Arabia. 2. United Arab Emirates. 3. Kuwait. 4. Qatar. 5. Sultanate Of Oman. 6. Bahrain. 7. Southern area of Republic of Iraq. 8. West and South of The Islamic Republic in Iran. All of these countries are occupying the center area of the Middle East.1 The Land: The land area is a flat desert in most of its area. At the same time it has lot of mountains and some hill areas in some places such as western Saudi, Oman and the western region of Iran. The mountains in this desert are very hard to pass through, very high and rocky. These areas need mostly tough vehicles and a large number of lifting aircraft. The land area is not a desert area everywhere. It consist of moving sands, rocky flats, mud areas, oases, swamps, hills and mountains. Usually the weather is very hot in the summer time and warm in winter. In the winter time it gets warm in the day time but in the night it becomes extremely cold. In the summer time the weather gets extremely hot and dry in the day time but becomes fair at the night time.2 The Coasts: The Coastal areas are the most heavily populated. People have lived there for thousands of years because the coasts are the natural trading gates to the world.3 The Persian Gulf's area is not populated as much as the other areas of the world because of the weather, but it has a high density of population on the coastlines. The geography is very simple. Persian Gulf's coasts are flat and open that you may see around twenty miles behind the coastline in the good weather condition days. Dust is not always found in these areas. In the Persian Gulf there are two types of winds generally, the Northern winds which comes from Iraq and the southern winds which blow from India and Pakistan. The northern Wind carries the sand and cools the weather unlike the southern wind which usually carries moisture. In addition, it heats the temperature around 10 to 20 degrees. The weather is extremely hot in the summer time which is around seven to nine months long. It becomes humid and hot especially in June, July, August and September. Usually in these areas the humidity is around 60% to 90% in all the year but it becomes more intense in the summer time.4 The Sea: The depth of the sea in Persian Gulf varies from a few feet to two hundred or three hundred feet in most areas. There are few locations in the sea which may exceed that depth. The nature of Persian Gulf's sea can limit the effectiveness of many kinds of ships. At the same time, it may require some mid size kinds of ships and landing craft if we combine that nature with the nature of the coastlines.5 Hovercraft and small ships would be most useful for amphibious operations but, if we looked at the need of using submarines or big battleships then some special considerations arise. Also some of these countries may not need these kinds of weapon systems because it may effect their economy.6 Some Major End Items: Most of the military equipment requires maintenance and protection against corrosion which may occur by the continuous heat and the concentrated moisture.7 Chemical material must be protected against heat to avoid spoiling. At the same time, all of the electronic equipment must be protected from the direct heat specially while operating in real contingency operation or training. I will explain some of the major problems we are facing while operating our equipment in the Persian Gulf area. Vehicles: The military vehicles are the first military equipment to be affected by the weather. As it is known, the military forces are mobile in all the armies in the world. In the Persian Gulf the main problem in the land area is the heat, dust and dry weather. In the Persian gulf, the vehicles are driven for long distances in the hot weather. This causes the vehicles to consume more oil in order to lubricate the engine and more water to cool it. These are not the only two considerations, there are many other factors that may affect the vehicles such as the sanding wind and the hot roads. Sanding wind is that kind of blowing wind which usually carries high amounts of sand and dust. It usually blows in the summer time and grinds the painted surfaces and scratches the windshields and the optical external devices. The sanding wind can penetrate the microscopic gaps between the moving parts of the engines and track to produce severe damage to the vehicle. The vehicles have to be painted around twice or more than the same vehicles in Europe or United States. The desert's hot roads and the asphalt parking surfaces and roads can causes severe wear to the tires, tracks and tracks pads.8 By examining many operating vehicles in the Persian Gulf area we discovered that we need extra time for maintenance, extra spare parts and extra lubricants and coolants than the same vehicles serving in the other good weather countries around the world. The costs of maintenance are increasing according to the weather conditions during the hot seasons. In the winter time, the budget consumed on maintenance decreases because the weather becomes slightly colder and the dust usually stays on the ground. That's why many training operations are scheduled between September and April. Aircraft: Buying an aircraft from United States may not be that big a problem to find it compatible with the Persian Gulf's Area. Most of the American weapon systems are ready to be used in the Persian Gulf. They may require some modifications but usually they are capable and compatible for use in the Persian Gulf.9 Many of the European Manufacturers do not produce their weapon systems to work in all climatic conditions. Consequently, the modifications would cost much more than the estimated price. These modifications have to be paid for because these European manufacturers do not make necessary modifications until paid at least the half of the total price of the project. Modification costs must be added in advance to be a part of the big picture.10 The military aircraft are affected by the weather because they usually fly in variable altitudes. The pilots complain of the low visibility during the summer time because the dust sometimes goes up to 10,000 feet. The dust can penetrate the tiny parts of the aircraft equipment increasing the cost and the needs of maintenance so the aircraft can fly in a safe and good condition. The maintenance shops therefore spend more hours maintaining the aircraft and that is what raises the cost of each flying hour to more than the double the regular flying hours assigned by the manufacturers. At the same time, the fuel in areas by the coasts may contain more moisture than the fuel in the land areas and this requires critical fuel saving and storage. Also the hot weather can cause many problems to the weapon systems when they fire on low altitudes because of the heat produced by the weapon itself, including the high weather temperature. Helicopters face more problems from the dust than the fighters because the helicopters usually fly on low altitude. That requires more modifications to enable the helicopters to perform the regular assigned missions. The modifications usually come in filtration equipment, special fuel valves and optic sight lenses. These problems can causes much greater modification costs to enable the pilots and helicopter crew to perform the assigned desert missions. Major weapon systems: The weapon systems vary from the personal weapon such as the pistol to the biggest weapon such a rocket launcher, tank, mobile artillery, battleship, etc.. These weapon systems can operate in all weather conditions but in the hot weather the functioning of these systems becomes limited. For example, operating a howitzer in winter time can be more improved because the howitzer may not go overheated by the ratio of fire. In the summer time the howitzer may not fire more than one round every three minutes because the users cannot load the projectiles and the charges according to the heat of the breech and the recoil system. The same thing happens with the tanks and the launchers. The new tanks are operating the firing procedures according to computerized calculations but if the computer went down then it will be operated manually.11 In this case the ratio of fire will be decreased to the lowest ratio. In addition to the heat of the weapon itself, there is another major problem that most of the crews cannot handle. It is the heat inside the crew compartment in the tank or the self-propelled howitzers and launchers. These kinds of weapons require air-conditioning systems. This air-conditioning system have to be an NBC (Nuclear, Biologic, Chemical) capable system in order to reduce the risk of the NBC attack. Many of these weapons are sold without the air-conditioning system which is needed in this part of the world. If that was supplied then the dust may close that filtration system. Most of the soldiers carry their personal arms on the shoulder in the tactical and training operations. The desert climate may cause the solider to spend more time in maintaining his personal weapon. That effects the training and operations time because the time spent in maintenance can be used for training or to improve operational performance. Usually many personal weapons fail during the training and operations because the sand and dust reduces the effectiveness of the personal arms. Electronic Equipment: The electronics can get a big share of the weather effect in Persian Gulf area. Currently about 90% of the weapon systems use electronic devices such as computers, digital radios, laser equipment, night sights, radar systems and other types of electronic equipment. The electronic equipment is totally effected by the heat and moisture. If we operate any electronic system by the coast we may face the DEW problem and then we have to wait until the system dries so we can operate it. Sometimes the systems do not dry because of the high amount of moisture in the air. In this case, transferring the system to the unit maintenance or to the base maintenance would be the best solution. If not the moisture only, we may also face the overheating problem which may kill the electronic circuits. Some of the electronic equipment does not allow the moisture to get into the inner components but the heat can destroy it. As an electronic devices user, I examined some electronic equipment failures in the summer time such as the surveillance radar systems and communications equipment. Although the moisture may effect the technical performance, it can add more local noise to the radar systems. The radar system usually requires an air-conditioning system to protect the radar from the heat, the moisture and the dust. These air-conditioning system cost more if we had to buy a limited quantities of radar systems.12 Medical Supplies: Obviously the medical supplies cost too much to be delivered in the exact time and location. The medical supplies have to be in the best condition to be given to the person who need it in the battlefield. In peace time situations the medical supplies are kept in a good environment to prevent the heat from effecting them. During operations, medical supplies are delivered to the patient by the medical team or within the unit's medical section. Patients need a good place to stay during their recovery phase. The best location is generally under the protection of tents. Hot weather and dust cause the tents to spoil and damage. Tent must also be air-conditioned, air filtered, situated on good wood floor and loaded with suitable containers to keep the medical supplies in a good condition.13 At the same time, water has to be delivered to the medical area from distant places because it's not easy to find good water in the desert. Medical support and medical equipment are effected by the heat, dust and corrosion. Clothing During my service in the Persian Gulf, I had to work in the hot desert for long periods to do some training. One of the problems was the type of clothing we used. By sweating during the daytime, many soldiers suffered several kinds of irritation because of the petroleum materials used in the fabric which our uniforms are made of. Light fabric materials are recommended in the desert but the soldiers may not experience any major skin problems due to the heat in winter time. In summer times it's a big problem because of the perspiration and the heat of the direct sun. Logistics and supporting equipment The logistics department in the armed forces of the Persian Gulf spend double the cost of maintenance than the other departments. As I mentioned, the need of lubrication and spare parts consume the biggest share of their budget.14 Then comes the storage and the climate conditioning which is needed to keep the supplies in good conditions. On the battlefield the need for supplies doesn't stop. Supplies are needed for maintaining and operating the equipment. The water is needed in the summer time more than the winter time for drinking and for personal use as well maintenance. It is required for suppliers to be able to cross the desert and work in that climate. According to the previous discussion, the need for good, reliable supply vehicles is growing in proportionate to the growth of the forces. Usually the desert is an open area. It forces the supply teams to add more camouflage to there positions to avoid land surveillance. They are also forced to provide good protection from direct fires by digging in and increasing the number of soldiers and observation point. Conclusion & Recommendation. By examining these problems I found that the manufacturers have to study the needs of the Persian Gulf's armed forces more carefully. They must provide those armed forces with a technology that enables their equipment to operate in this environment. In addition, the Persian Gulf's armed forces are depending on the modern weapons to protect their lands. The use of high technology weapon systems has to include the electronics systems, which are totally affected by the weather conditions. Manufacturers have to provide electronic weapon systems which can work in all these harsh conditions. We know it is not easy to provide an integrated system like this because the of nature of the electronic elements, However they have to provide a weapon which can survive and operate in order to be successful. Al-Mo'awdah, Ahmed R. Major, BDF 1 Annex A, Map of the Middle East. 2 LTC. Ahmed Al-Taweel, Kuwait Air Force, Air Operations Department, Interview, Feb. 18th, 1995. 3 Bahrain Trading Report 1993, Port gateway to Gulf market, Ministry Of Information, Bahrain. 4 Al-Taweel. 5 MAJ. Mark Schwan, USMC, Interview, Mar 13th, 1995 6 Schwan. 7 MAJ. Martin Westphal, USMC, Interview, March 17th, 1995, Westphal's extensive desert experience. 8 Westphal. 9 Schwan. 10 Schwan. 11 Westphal. 12 Al-Taweel. 13 CAPT. Marcela Monahan, USMCR, Interview, March 16th, 1995. 14 Monahan. 15 Monahan. BIBLIOGRAPHY Al-Taweel, TLC. Ahmed, Kuwait Air Force, Air Operations Department, Interview, 18 Feb. 1995. Bahrain Trading Report 1993, "Port gateway to the Gulf Market", Ministry Of Information, Bahrain, 1993 "Map of the Middle East", Marine Corps University, Mar 1993 Monahan, CAPT. Marcela, USMCR, Supply Officer, Interview, 16 Mar 1995, Quantico, VA Shwan, MAJ. Mark, USMC, Interview, 13 Mar 1995, Quantico, VA Westphal, MAJ. Martin, USMC, Tank Officer, Interview, 17 Mar 1995, Quantico, VA
