US Armed Forces

[Khafee]

3 ways the Pentagon wants to make buying American weapons easier
OCT. 16, 2019

WASHINGTON — America sold more than $55 billion in weapons abroad in fiscal 2019, but the man in charge of those efforts hopes to increase sales as he continues to tinker with the security cooperation system.

Security cooperation has long been a foreign policy tool in America’s pocket, but under the Trump administration, it “has been elevated to a tool of first resort for U.S. foreign policy,” Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, the head of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, said during a panel at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference.

Since taking over at DSCA, Hooper has implemented a series of reforms aimed not only at speeding the process up, but shaving costs for potential buyers. He intends to keep that reform effort going in 2020. Here’s how:

Continue to cut surcharge costs. In June, DSCA dropped a surcharge on American defense goods sold abroad from 3.5 percent to 3.2 percent; later that year, the agency also cut a transportation administration fee. Both those charges are used to support DSCA operations, but some in the security cooperation process had argued the increased prices for customers would lead potential buyers to look to cheaper Russian or Chinese goods in the future.

Hooper said that in 2020, DSCA plans to also cut the contract administration surcharge — applied to each FMS case to pay for contract quality assurance, management and audits — from 1.2 percent to 1 percent.

“This will reduce the overall costs of FMS and could potentially save allies and partners 16.7 percent in CAS surcharges in this coming year,” Hooper said.

Make it easier for customers to get custom weapon systems. The FMS system is set up to help sell weapons that are identical to systems already in use by the U.S. military. It’s easier to move a package of Abrams tanks equipped with the same gear that multiple countries use than to push through a custom version with specific capabilities. But Hooper noted that partners are moving away from standard designs and are looking for systems “designed and tailored to meet their needs. Our system was not initially designed to process these types of systems, which increases time and cost in the U.S. response.”

To help deal with that, DSCA established an “interagency non-program of record community of interest,” which involves all the agencies that have a say in the process, to figure out ways to make moving custom systems more plausible. The goal is to have a new pathway for moving those capabilities by 2020, which Hooper says will “reduce the time it takes to review request for non-program of record systems, to facilitate industry ability to compete in this global market.”

Plan out commercial offsets. Many countries require offsets from industry for big foreign military sales. These offsets are essentially throw-in sweeteners for the buying country, put together from the industrial partner. In the past, these were often things like building a new library or school. But in the last two decades, some countries specifically requested high-end technologies or tech transfer to jump-start their domestic defense industries.

Because offsets are negotiated between the industrial partner and the customer nation, the Pentagon, which serves as the in-between for an FMS case, often finds out about offsets only at the end of the process. But with offsets becoming more technological, those now require more review time, and so a deal can slow down while the relevant agencies approve the deal.

Hooper hopes 2020 will see industry better inform DSCA of potential offsets early in the process so that last minute hangups can be avoided.
“We continue to encourage our industry partners to inform the U.S. of potential offset requirements early on so that we can begin the necessary technology security foreign disclosure and policy reviews as early as possible,” Hooper said.

 

[Khafee]

Army South is 'on the lookout’ for China and Russia, starts new strategic deployment exercise
OCT. 16, 2019

Maj. Gen. Daniel R. Walrath as he took command of U.S. Army South on July 15. (Sgt. Ashley Dotson/Army)

The Army component of U.S. Southern Command is planning to send a Stryker battalion to Chile for the first strategic deployment of that kind called Southern Vanguard.

The new exercise is intended to build partner nation capacity and readiness, which ultimately fits into the role Army South plays in the new National Defense Strategy. That document largely focuses on great power competition between the United States and adversaries like Russia and China.

When the strategy does focus on smaller nation states, it mostly deals with Iran and North Korea. But the strategy’s outlook doesn’t actually conflict with the mission of U.S. forces in the southern hemisphere.

“The point of the NDS is that threats from the great power adversaries occur globally,” said Maj. Gen. Daniel Walrath, Army South’s commander.

“They are not regional threats. They are global threats.”

“What that means to us in the SOUTHCOM [area of operations] is to be on the lookout and identify where we see advances by these great powers — specifically China and Russia,” Walrath added. “That is happening. There are definite intents and actions by those countries to make advances to increase their influence and to increase their physical access in the southern region."

On the Venezuelan crisis, for instance, Walrath noted that China has been lending to President Nicolas Maduro’s government to help prop up his struggling economy, while Russia has provided military technical assistance to his security forces. But the bigger malign influence from Army South’s perspective is that of Cuba, which has been accused of revamping Maduro’s armed forces and military intelligence services to squash dissent.

This outlook is buoyed by an assessment from SOUTHCOM commander Adm. Craig Faller, who stated in testimony this July that Russia and China have been expanding their influence in the Western Hemisphere, often at the expense of U.S. interests.

Texas Army National Guardsmen work alongside the Chilean soldiers during the Chilean Mountain School course August 15-26, 2016 in Portillo, Chile. (Army)

Faller cited China’s presence and activities at Argentina’s deep space tracking facility as “concerning,” noting that Beijing could be in violation of the terms of an agreement to only conduct civilian activities there, and may have the ability to monitor and target U.S. space activities.

“Russia and China aggressively court students from Latin America and the Caribbean to attend their military schools, offering free training in cyber, policing and CN [counter-narcotics],” Faller said. “These engagements, combined with Russia’s Counter Transnational Organized Crime Training Center (CTOC) in Nicaragua, potentially provide Moscow with a regional platform to recruit intelligence sources and collect information.”

But Army South, and the United States more generally, have also been involved in intelligence sharing and training South American ground forces. In the Northern Triangle, which includes Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, the United States helps with counter-narcotics missions, for instance.

Additionally, there are two big exercises on Army South’s radar this year. The first is Exercise Panamax, which began in 2003 with three participating countries, but has since grown to include 20 nations as of last year. Panamax will be held again next summer, and serves as an opportunity to rehearse multi-lateral or multi-national response to a threat to the Panama Canal, an important waterway for maritime trade in the Americas.

“That is a key exercise,” Walrath said. “Again, it brings in players from across the joint team as well as multi-national players. That exercise alternates every other year with Integrated Advance, which focuses on a migratory operation. If there is a migratory crisis coming from Cuba or elsewhere, it is how we would respond to that. Panamax and Integrated Advance, again, alternate every other year. Panamax will be the next one that executes next summer.”

But there’s another big, and new, Army-centric exercise coming up, known as Southern Vanguard.
“We are planning to execute our first iteration of that in October of 2020,” Walrath said. “In Chile, it will involve strategic deployment from the continental United States to Chile of a Stryker battalion out of the 81st Washington Army National Guard. That battalion is going down to Chile to conduct combined live fire training with the Chilean Army for about a six-week period from beginning to end. Then there is a strategic redeployment back.”

A U.S. Army sergeant combat crawls across a rope bridge as Guatemalan special forces watch on July 17, 2019. (Army)

The operation is not specifically focused on the Chilean military. In subsequent iterations, other countries could be selected. Brazil and Colombia are two potential destinations for future years, Walrath noted.
“What sparked it I think was some initial conversations about a year ago,” he added. “We were looking for an avenue on how to get additional presence of Army forces into the southern region. This was a way to do that."

Southern Vanguard was accelerated during a visit by then Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley to Chile in the fall of 2018, Walrath said. “That helped accelerate the initial planning for a deployment to Chile,” he added

At the same time, Southern Vanguard will be a way to ensure that Army South produces readiness and doesn’t just consume it.
“It satisfies security cooperation requirements, but it provided an opportunity to build Army readiness where Army units could do a strategic deployment from CONUS, conduct training that builds readiness, and then redeploy and return to their home station more ready than when they left. It becomes a win-win, if you will, for both SOUTHCOM and the Army."

 

[Khafee]

Here’s why the US Army is under pressure from Congress to counter rockets and drones
OCT. 16, 2019

As an interim solution to counter existing threats, the U.S. Army bought two Iron Dome air defense systems. (Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is under pressure to develop an enduring indirect fires protection capability, or IFPC, before fiscal 2023 due to a congressional mandate that the service buy more stand-alone interim systems if it doesn’t have a plan for an overarching system by then.

The service bought two Iron Dome air defense systems co-developed by Israeli company Rafael and American firm Raytheon as an interim solution to counter existing threats — particularly cruise missiles. In the service’s FY19 budget, Congress mandated the Army deploy two batteries by FY20.

To fill the gap, “there was nothing else out there that was deemed feasible, acceptable and suitable to get after the threats where IFPC is intended to operate,” Brig. Gen. Brian Gibson, who is in charge of the service’s air and missile defense modernization effort, told Defense News in an interview shortly before the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference.

“We bought Iron Dome because that was the only way we were going to meet timelines. It was the right thing to do, but it’s a stand-alone weapon system and, at this point, our intent is to not buy more stand-alone weapon systems,” he said.

The Army instead would like to take the best-of-breed launchers, sensors and shooters tied together by the service’s Integrated Battle Command System to build a platform capable of countering rockets, artillery and mortar threats as well as unmanned aircraft systems and cruise missiles.

Iron Dome is “a very good weapon system for why it was designed and how it’s employed inside of Israel,” Gibson said. “There’s quite a bit of advantages, especially with its missiles and its launchers.” The question is whether the service can we integrate Iron Dome with U.S. sensors and the U.S. architecture using IBCS. Gibson explain.

"Is that feasible in cost, schedule and time without significant changes in performance?” he asked. “If the answer is ‘yes,’ that’s a pretty powerful path forward because you’re basing it on your common mission command system you have today for the rest of your force, your air defense force. You’re taking advantage of your sensors you have today and you’re not introducing another different sensor inside of your defense programs.”

That decision is still out in front of the Army, and the service is experimenting to try to decide the right path before it would have to commit to buying more interim solutions.

“For us as an Army and [the Department of Defense] and the joint force, failure would be if we are forced to buy more stand-alone weapon systems; and it’s not just Iron Dome, you pick it. I don’t care what it is,” Gibson said.

The service has to make a decision well in advance of 2023, Gibson noted, because the Army needs time to decide on a path, make
recommendations and develop a timeline. “I see that more as a near-term decision and recommendation that we’re going to seek to achieve this year,” he said.

The Army recently decided not to proceed with its self-developed multimission launcher. The service has also paused its efforts to qualify future interceptors for the IFPC program to include Lockheed Martin’s Miniature Hit-to-Kill missile.

Our thread on the same topic:

How to counter Cruise Missiles and Suicide Drones

Dear Members, As the recent attack on Saudi oilfields showed that Cruise Missiles and Suicide Drones can be tough to counter, and can slip through existing air defence systems, I thought it would be prudent if we could have a thread on this topic. @Signalian @Fenrir @Scorpion @BATMAN @AliYusuf...

world-defense.com

 

[Khafee]

US Army delays Stryker-mounted Javelin missiles
OCT. 16, 2019

Recent testing has shown that the Stryker vehicle currently is required to stop for the operator to get out so he or she can fire the weapon and climb back into the vehicle. (Capt. Jeku Arce/U.S. Army)

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is delaying the integration of Javelin anti-tank missiles onto the Stryker combat vehicle due to problems in connecting the weapon to the remote weapons station, according to Col. Bill Venable, the service’s program manager for the Stryker combat vehicle.

The service has been working to mount Javelins on the Stryker along with a 30mm cannon as part of a joint urgent operational need from the European theater.

The Stryker Infantry Combat Vehicle Dragoon was evaluated by the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Germany and the Army subsequently decided to field 30mm cannons on more of its Stryker vehicles going forward. The service initiated a competition earlier this year to come up with designs to integrate the gun onto the vehicle.

The Army incorporated a Javelin capability into the Stryker, but it required the vehicle to stop and the operator to get out and fire the system and climb back into the vehicle.

While the Army expected to complete the integration of the Javelin system on the Stryker later this year, it has delayed the effort by over a year.
Integrating Javelin and the remote weapon stations has “a specific set of constraints for this vehicle,” Venable told Defense News in an interview at the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference.

The service is taking the highly-capable and long-fielded Javelin and integrating it onto a remote weapons station that is also fielded. The RWS system is actually being taken from the flat-bottom Stryker fleet and being upgraded to accommodate the weapon.
“We have some technical risk that we’re managing. I think it’s safe to say that we’re going to slip fielding from this summer,” Venable said. “Because of the technical risk encountered in this latest test cycle, we’re going to have to slip the fielding cycle.”

The issues cropped up in the Army’s early user assessment three weeks ago, he said.

The technical difficulties have been fixed, Venable said, but the system has to get back into the test cycle and move through a materiel release approval process to get to fielding, Venable said.
“Other than that, I think the capability itself works great, the technical risk wasn’t associated with and we validated our functionality of the system,” he added. “It’s just marrying up the two, getting them to talk to each other and the fire control stations down below in the hull.”
Getting all of that integrated into a new suite of computing and presentation capabilities has “been technically challenging for the team,” Venable said.

The plan now is to field the capability to the 2nd Cavalry next summer and then to the 1-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, the following summer.

 

[Khafee]

Trump expresses confidence when asked if nuclear weapons at Incirlik are safe
OCT. 16, 2019

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President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in the Oval Office of the White House Wednesday. (Evan Vucci/AP)

In response to a reporter’s question, President Trump on Wednesday said he was “confident” about the safety of U.S. nuclear weapons at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey.

During a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in the Oval Office, a reporter asked Trump how confident he is — amid increasing tensions with Turkey over its invasion of Syria, targeting of Kurdish forces and possible U.S. economic sanctions — about the safety of nuclear weapons reportedly housed at Incirlik.

“One of the things that has been exposed by this Turkey situation is that as many as 50 nuclear weapons are at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. How confident are you of those weapons’ safety?” the reporter asked, according to a transcript of the exchange provided by the White House.

“We’re confident, and we have a great air base there, a very powerful air base,” Trump said in response. “That air base alone can take any place. It’s a large, powerful air base.”

Trump went on to reiterate that Turkey is a member of NATO.
“We’re supposed to get along with our NATO members, and Turkey is a NATO member," Trump said. "Do people want us to start shooting at a
NATO member? That would be a first. And that’s all involved having to do with NATO.”
The New York Times reported on Monday that, over the weekend, government officials had reviewed plans for evacuating nuclear weapons at Incirlik.

The Air Force, as is its usual practice, declined to answer questions about possible weapons there, and whether they would be moved. But the Air Force said Monday that no changes had been made to daily operations at Incirlik.

The presence of nuclear weapons at Incirlik has long been rumored, though never officially confirmed by the government. A Canadian senator earlier this year accidentally published a document listing the bases where U.S. nuclear weapons are kept, including Incirlik.

 

[Khafee]

Cyber Command wants to work more closely with the energy sector
OCT. 16, 2019

Cyber Command worked with the Department of Energy during a recent exercise to help bolster understanding and ensure greater defense of critical assets. (U.S. Department of Energy/AFP/Getty Images)

U.S. Cyber Command is working with the energy sector and the Department of Energy as a way to bolster their relationship in case of a malicious, or catastrophic, cyberattack.

Cyber Command follows a philosophy of persistent engagement — the notion that it has to be in constant contact with adversaries in friendly, neutral and enemy cyberspace — and officials have stressed this includes enabling other partners. It also includes using its unique authorities to operate outside U.S. networks as a way to provide warning for domestic agencies about potential threats.

Now, the Department of Defense and Cyber Command are working on a pathfinder effort with DOE. As part of the initiative, the Pentagon has tasked staffers with better understanding how the energy sector operates.

The exercise, called Grid X, examined a catastrophic power failure, Maj. Gen. Stephen Hager, deputy commander of the Cyber National Mission Force, said during an Oct. 15 panel at the annual Association of U.S. Army conference.

The CNMF’s teams watch specific adversaries and work to target those actors before they reach U.S. cyberspace.

Hager said Cyber Command’s role in the exercise was to determine what kind of help the Defense Department can provide in one of those catastrophic events. This could include offering response teams or taking action against a cyber adversary.

He also said they can conduct what’s called defensive cyber operations-response actions — which are “defensive” operations that take place off the DoD’s networks and are the same actions taken by offensive cyber teams — to make the immediate cyber effect go away.

“A lot of it is just engagement to see how they’re operating because we don’t have the authorities to do anything domestically. We have to have either a [Defense Support to Civil Authorities] request or somebody has to specifically ask us for support,” he said.

Other officials have noted the importance of these pathfinders in helping DoD be better prepared to step in an help if need be.
“Some of these pathfinder activities have been really helpful for us to understand what is actually critical and how would we approach our operations for the different perspective to help them in their defense," then Maj. Gen. Timothy Haugh, the previous commander of the Cyber National Mission Force, said in May. He has since earned his third star and leads 16th Air Force.

Hager explained the importance of this engagement and what it means for his forces.
“My soldiers and airman and Marines are getting trained on somebody’s infrastructure," he said. "And that helps us in the long run be better military folks and then it also helps us build those relationships.”

Much of the energy sector’s infrastructure is different from the internet-based infrastructure cyberwarriors are trained and operate on. The military has made an effort recently to increase training on these industrial control systems (ICS) and supervisory control and data acquisition, known as SCADA, systems for both offensive and defensive purposes given they can be both a vulnerability if targeted, but also useful targets themselves.

 

[Khafee]

U.S. Army to test a next generation ballistic missile this month
October 16, 2019

The U.S. Army is set to test a next generation ballistic missile this month, which will leverage current launchers and be capable of achieving greater ranges than current technology, according to the Army News Service.

According to a recent service news release, the Army will conduct a test of the new Precision Strike Missile or PrSM.

The Long Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team has made great strides this year, said Brig Gen. John Rafferty, the LRPF CFT director, who will be speaking Monday during the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C.

The LRPF CFT is a key component to the Army’s modernization effort, he said, aimed at delivering field artillery capabilities to enable combined arms against a near-peer competitor.

The PrSM will be a surface-to-surface, all weather, precision-strike guided missile, which will be developed and fielded to engage a variety of targets at extended ranges, according to the Army Acquisition Support Center.

“In simple terms, LRPF will modernize field artillery equipment with Soldier-informed feedback to develop next-generation weapon systems,” Rafferty said.

In addition to the PrSM, the Army recently demonstrated the new XM1113 and Excalibur M982 munitions, discharged from a prototype Extended Range Cannon Artillery self-propelled howitzer.

The goal is to streamline the process to deliver improved capabilities to the operational force. Modern weapon systems are critical to winning in multi-domain operations, meaning that we are able, as part of the Joint Force, to dominate land, air, sea, cyber, and space.”

During the evaluation process, the XM1113 Insensitive Munition High Explosive Rocket Assisted Projectile exceeded previous maximum ranges. The new projectile is slated to replace the Army’s aging M549A1 rounds, which can reach about 30 km, officials said.

Similarly, the improved Excalibur M982 is a Global Positioning System-guided projectile exhibited an increase in range beyond 40 km, officials said.

“The Extended Range Cannon Artillery will push the envelope in terms of maximum range for our tactical units, meaning our division and brigade-level forces,” Rafferty said. “Our first [Extended Range Cannon Artillery] prototype will arrive at the end of the month, followed by Soldier feedback so we can improve later prototypes.”

“All of these advancements are moving toward the goal of having game-changing technology by the year 2023,” he added.

Next week, leaders from the LRPF CFT will provide an update on their tactical, operational, and strategic efforts during a Warrior’s Corner presentation at the AUSA annual meeting in the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

“The Long Range Precision Fires team is looking forward to the Warriors Corner on Oct. 14,” Rafferty said. “Additionally, we will discuss how we are finding new ideas and new sources of technology by engaging non-traditional defense partners.”

 

[Khafee]

Boeing releases impressive footage of T-7A Red Hawk’s low altitude tests
October 16, 2019

Boeing’s defense unit has announced that U.S. Air Force’s newest trainer aircraft, the T-7A Red Hawk, successfully completed high speed low altitude testing.

“Our test aircraft successfully completed high speed low altitude testing, reaching 560 mph/901 kph at just 150 feet/45.7 meters off the ground,” the Boeing reported on 15 October.

The T-7A Red Hawk is the newest Air Force pilot training system that introduces capabilities that prepare pilots for fifth-generation fighters, including high-G environment, information and sensor management, high angle of attack flight characteristics, night operations and transferable air-to-air and air-to-ground skills.

The fighter-like trainer aircraft, which was designed for ease of maintenance, is the cornerstone of an all-new pilot training system that also includes classroom training and simulators. It will help train future fighter and bomber pilots for generations to come.

The T-7A features twin tails, slats and big leading-edge root extensions that provide deft handling at low speeds, allowing it to fly in a way that better approximates real world demands and is specifically designed to prepare pilots for fifth-generation aircraft. The aircraft’s single engine generates nearly three times more thrust than the dual engines of the T-38C Talon which it is replacing.

A $9.2 billion contract awarded to Boeing in September 2018 calls for 351 T-7A aircraft, 46 simulators and associated ground equipment to be delivered and installed, replacing Air Education and Training Command’s 57-year-old fleet of T-38C Talons.

Video released by Boeing:

Do you feel the need for speed? The @USAirForce #T7A #RedHawk will! Our test aircraft successfully completed high speed low altitude testing, reaching 560 mph/901 kph at just 150 feet/45.7 meters off the ground. pic.twitter.com/Dro5jYWzkk
— Boeing Defense (@BoeingDefense) October 15, 2019

 

[Khafee]

Expeditionary sea base USNS Miguel Keith completes acceptance trials
Oct. 16, 2019

The expeditionary sea base ship to be designated USNS Miguel Keith completed its acceptance trials on October 15, 2019. Photo courtesy of General Dynamics/NASSCO

Oct. 16 (UPI) -- The Expeditionary Sea Base ship, USNS Miguel Keith, successfully completed its acceptance trials off the California coast, the U.S. Navy announced.

The vessel left the General Dynamics shipyard in San Diego last week, completing its week-long trials on Oct. 11, the Navy said on Tuesday.

While not officially named yet, ESB 5 will be named for U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Miguel Keith, who was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam.

The USNS Miguel Keith is the third ESB variant of the Montford Point-class of Maritime Prepositioning Force vessels to be built, and is scheduled for delivery in early fiscal year 2020.

Originally referred to as "mobile landing platform afloat forward staging bases," ESB vessels serve as a mobile sea base, able to accommodate landings of small planes and helicopters, as well as equipment and personnel staging, command and control activities and humanitarian missions.

They are part of the critical access infrastructure that supports the deployment of forces and supplies to provide prepositioned equipment and sustainment with flexible distribution, the Navy said.

The vessel's design is based on the civilian Alaska-class crude oil carrier, which was also designed by General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Co.

"Our ESBs are bringing tremendous operational capability to our combatant commanders. These ships are supporting a wide variety of mission sets in the 5th and 6th Fleet and more recently have demonstrated their ability to integrate mine countermeasure mission packages," Capt. Scot Searles, Strategic Sealift and Theater Sealift program manager, said in a press release.

"These sea trials demonstrated the high quality of this ship and its readiness to join the fight," Searles said of the Miguel Keith.

 

[Khafee]

BAE Systems develops new countermeasure system to shield ground vehicles from missiles

BAE Systems, a global leader in electronic warfare, unveiled the new RAVEN countermeasure system designed to protect ground vehicles from anti-tank missiles.

The RAVEN is a proven directable infrared countermeasure capable of defeating anti-tank guided missiles, protecting ground vehicles and their crews, and improving mission effectiveness without the use of kinetic countermeasures.

The new laser-based RAVEN countermeasure system defeats incoming threat signals to protect ground vehicles from inbound missile attacks.

“The RAVEN Countermeasure system is part of a layered defense, and is easily tailored to any vehicle, mission, or budget,” said Ryan Edwards, business development manager for Soldier and Vehicle Electronics at BAE Systems. “Our vehicle protection systems improve crews’ situational awareness and survivability, regardless of their vehicle or the threats they face.”

The RAVEN Countermeasure system, is a rugged, reliable laser-based countermeasure capable of defeating a variety of guided missile threats. The system is lightweight, modular, and scalable, and provides armored forces with efficient vehicle protection in a small, cost-efficient package. It is specifically designed for capability growth to address future threats as they emerge.

RAVEN is compliant with the U.S. Army’s Modular Active Protection System (MAPS) program and is designed to integrate directly with threat detection and countermeasure cueing systems, including BAE Systems’ 360 Multifunction Vehicle Protection Sensor, a long-wave infrared situational awareness and warning system that serves as the eyes of the company’s integrated VPS suite. The 360 MVP Sensor can cue RAVEN to quickly and efficiently defeat threats and also provides 360-degree situational awareness for improved vehicle mobility, lethality, and integral survivability. As part of a layered vehicle defense system, RAVEN complements kinetic countermeasure systems with a virtually unlimited number of shots.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Army recommended the integration of the RAVEN Countermeasure system onto a Bradley Fighting Vehicle for the MAPS Program’s Layered Active Protection Demonstration, which took place in September 2019. The recommendation followed the Soft Kill Rodeo, a series of tests to determine which non-kinetic active protection system technology has the most potential.

BAE Systems’ integrated VPS suite builds on the company’s extensive experience developing aircraft survivability equipment. With decades of experience designing, delivering, and sustaining electronic warfare systems, the company has a deep understanding of the evolving battlespace and the solutions warfighters need to address emerging threats.

The company’s vehicle protections systems are developed at its manufacturing center of excellence in Austin, Texas.

 

[Khafee]

U.S. Coast Guard offloads $92M worth of smuggled cocaine
Oct. 17, 2019

Coast Guardsmen offloaded some 6,800 pounds of cocaine in San Diego on Wednesday. Photo By Petty Officer 3rd Class Alex Gray/U.S. Coast Guard/Website

Oct. 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Coast Guard offloaded more than 6,900 pounds of cocaine in San Diego that was seized from drug smugglers in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, officials said.

Offloaded Wednesday, the cocaine, which is valued at more than $92 million, was seized from drug smuggling vessels between July and October by the crews of three Coast Guard cutters including the Alert, the Robert Ward and the Seneca off the coasts of Mexico and Central and South America, the service said in a statement.

"I am extremely proud of this crew for doing their part to keep these dangerous drugs off the streets," said Cmdr. Tyson Scofield, Alert's commanding officer. "The Eastern Pacific Ocean is a challenging environment, especially on a ship that is in her 50th year of service, yet this crew persevered to disrupt the illegal flow of narcotics that fuels instability in Central and South America."

The Coast Guard said the crew of the Alert, a 210-foot, medium-endurance cutter, was responsible for two seizures, hauling in approximately 4,000 pounds of cocaine, more than twice that of the other two crews combined.

According to the release, the Coast Guard has increased its presence in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Basin as they are home to known drug trafficking routes. The measure is part of its Western Hemisphere Strategy.

"The counter-drug mission is as important now as it has ever been, and these brave men and women can return home after a 69-day patrol knowing they made a difference," Scofield said.

 

[Khafee]

Three firms net $412.9M for P-8A engine work for Australia, U.S. Navy
Oct. 17, 2019
By Ed Adamczyk

A Poseidon P-8A of the Royal Australian Air Force is depicted. Three U.S. firms shared $418.8 million in contracts for engine work on the planes for Australia and the U.S. Navy. Photo courtesy of Royal Australian Air Force

Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Three U.S. companies have been awarded contracts totaling $412.9 million for engine maintenance work on P-8A Poseidon aircraft, the Defense Department announced.

The contracts, modifications of previously awarded contracts, include Boeing receiving $193.3 million, StandardAero Inc. of San Antonio will receiving $174.7 million and AAR Aircraft Services of Indianapolis will receive $44.8 million for their work on the aircraft.

Each contract, announced on Wednesday, specifies engine depot maintenance and repair, field assessment, maintenance repair and overhaul engine repair, and technical assistance for removal and replacement of the plane's CFM56-7B28A/3 and CFM56-7B28AE turbofan engines.

The work, to support the U.S. Navy, government of Australia and other unnamed foreign military sales customers, is scheduled to be finished by October 2020 in locations areound the United States.

The P-8A Poseidon is a military variant of the Boeing 737 and is used primarily for maritime patrol.

Armed with torpedoes and Harpoon anti-ship missiles, it operates in anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and shipping interdiction roles, as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

Seven countries have the plane in their military fleets, with five others and NATO looking to acquire it. Australia has seven P-8A aircraft in operation, with five more on order. The U.S. military has 98 of them in use.

 

[Khafee]

Lockheed to study risk reduction, deliverability of redesigned nuclear warhead
Oct. 17, 2019
By Ed Adamczyk

W87 nuclear warheads sit with a Mk21 re-entry vehicle. Lockheed Martin has been contracted mature re-entry technology for the W87-1, a follow-on to the older W78 warhead, the Defense Department announced on Wednesday. Photo courtesy of National Nuclear Security Agency

Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin has received a $108.3 million contract from the U.S. Air Force for research on the Mk21A Reentry Vehicle for use with a redesigned nuclear warhead.

The deal, announced Wednesday by the Department of Defense, calls for risk reduction and technology maturation studies to offer a low-cost, low technical risk re-entry vehicle capable of delivering the W87-1 nuclear warhead using the Air Force's Ground Based Strategic Deterrent Weapon System.

The re-entry vehicle components include a high velocity nose tip, high impulse transducer, fuse, electronic devices, and various shells and other external bodywork.

The W-78 series is one of the oldest nuclear warheads in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, dating to 1979. A modification program, W87-1, began with feasibility studies in January 2019.

While the new version is similar to the W87, which can carry up to 10 nuclear warheads and was first deployed in 1986 on the MX/Peacekeeper, the W87-1 is designed as a follow-on to the W-78.

The new version is "based on a previously-tested nuclear component and will include an insensitive high explosive primary that had been designed and tested with advanced safety features," the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration said in March.

"The W87-1 will not provide new military capabilities, yet it will provide enhanced safety and security compared to the legacy W78," officials said at the time, adding that it "will be certified without the need for additional underground nuclear explosive testing."

The new contract includes development of applicable support equipment, data, flight test hardware, and infrastructure and training materials. It will include examination and mitigation of weapon system integration risks, as well as nuclear surety and certification, and system vulnerability assessments.

The work is expected to be completed by October 2022.

 

[Khafee]

Here’s who will build the US Army’s new missile defense radar
Oct. 17, 2019

Raytheon's Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor is displayed at the AUSA conference on Oct. 14, 2019. (Eric Kayne)

WASHINGTON — Incumbent Raytheon will build the U.S. Army’s new missile defense radar to replace the Patriot air and missile defense system’s current radar as part of the service’s future Integrated Air and Missile Defense System.

The company has taken its years of experience refining gallium nitride, or GaN, technology at its Massachusetts-based foundry to help design a new radar system that will provide the Army 360-degree threat detection capability in a configuration that includes one large array in the front and two smaller arrays in the back.

The contract is worth roughly $384 million to deliver six production-representative units of the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, or LTAMDS.

“Our clean-sheet approach to LTAMDS reinforces Raytheon’s position as the world’s premier air and missile defense radar capability provider,” Ralph Acaba, president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, said in a statement.

The service earlier this year held a “sense-off” at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, between three working radars from Raytheon, a Lockheed Martin and Elta Systems team, and Northrop Grumman. The service analyzed the results and was in contract negotiations with the winner as the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference, which kicked off Oct. 14.

Brig. Gen. Brian Gibson, who is in charge of the service’s air and missile defense modernization effort, told Defense News in an interview ahead of the show that negotiations were ongoing and that the award would happen soon.

Without public knowledge of the win, Raytheon brought its offering for the LTAMDS competition to the show and passed out red lanyards advertising LTAMDS that said: “No time for a blind spot,” referring to the 360-degree coverage capability.

Replacing the Patriot radar has been a long time coming. The radar was first fielded in the 1980s, and the Army previously attempted to replace the system with Lockheed Martin’s Medium Extended Air Defense System through an international co-development effort with Germany and Italy. But that program was canceled in the U.S. after closing out a proof-of-concept phase roughly six years ago.

Since then, the Army studied and debated how to replace the Patriot radar, while Raytheon continued to upgrade its radar to keep pace with current threats. The service has acknowledged there will come a point where radar upgrades will be unable to keep up with future threats.

Taking years to decide, the service moved forward on a competition to replace the radar in 2017 and chose four companies to come up with design concepts for the capability — Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Technovative Applications.

Toward the end of 2018, Raytheon and Lockheed were chosen to continue technology development under that program. But then the Army redirected its plans into a sense-off competition last fall.

Raytheon is expected to build six prototypes by the end of fiscal 2022.

The radar that Raytheon specifically designed for the Army uses next-generation GaN and is 7 feet longer but 11 inches more narrow than the current radar unit. But it no longer requires outrigger stabilizing legs. Rather, the system is held stable by jacks underneath, which means it takes up less space on the sides, according to Bob Kelley, Raytheon’s director of domestic integrated air and missile defense programs for business development and strategy.

The radar meets all of the Army’s mobility and transport requirements, Kelley said, including fitting in a C-17 aircraft.

The smaller arrays are about 50 percent of the size of the legacy Patriot system’s array, but are twice as capable due to the advancements with GaN technology, he added.

Though the Army backed off its 360-degree detection capability requirement for the competition, Raytheon has been steadfast about keeping that capability in its offering.

In addition to being able to constantly cover 360 degrees, the radar can see farther than the currently fielded Patriot radar. That radar is unable to fully support the maximum kinematic range of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement that it fires. The Army claims that its effort to tie the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System with Patriot would help the MSE missile reach its full potential.

The LTAMDS will be able to fully support current missile systems including PAC-3 MSE range capability and future missiles ranges, Kelley said.

 

[Khafee]

How does the Army know its new anti-spoofing antennas work?

The Army has bought Orolia's new simulation technology that will allow the service to test next-generation anti-jamming, anti-spoofing antennas. (Lockheed Martin)

New simulation technology will ensure the next generation of military antennas have the anti-spoofing and anti-jamming capabilities contractors claim they do.

War fighters rely on accurate positioning, navigation and timing data on the battlefield, primarily using the Air Force’s space-based GPS signal for that information. GPS is the gold standard of PNT — but it’s still vulnerable. Adversaries have developed spoofing and jamming capabilities that can either deny a GPS signal to an environment or spoof the signal, feeding false PNT data to the war fighter.

The U.S. military and industry have responded by developing anti-spoofing and anti-jamming technology to ensure war fighters can get the proper GPS signal.

Enter controlled reception pattern antennas, or CRPA.

“All next-gen military platforms are moving towards using these CRPA antennas so they can better be protected in adverse environments,” explained Tyler Hohman, director of products at Orolia Defense & Security.

But as the Army looks to adopt these antennas as an anti-spoofing, anti-jamming solution, it needs to know whether the technologies work with the platforms the service already has or is working to acquire. Orolia is touting its capabilities for simulation tech as a way for the military to test whether the antennas can deliver as promised.

“It’s tough right now for the military because they are starting to put these [antennas] on hundreds and thousands of platforms, but they need to first get them into labs and characterize how they’re going to work in certain environments, how do they work with the other subsystems as a part of the vehicle,” Hohman said. “And so we’ve designed this new simulator and are starting to sell it directly to the military so they can better test those systems.”

At the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual conference on Oct. 14, Orolia demonstrated its new BroadSim Wavefront Advanced Simulator, which provides the testing capability the Army is seeking.

The company sold one simulator to the Army and expects to deliver it by the end of the year as a way to support all future mounted testing, Hohman said. The Army will use the simulator to test its next-generation mounted and dismounted systems, though he noted that the simulator can be used for airborne or space systems as well.

“Commercial or military space vehicles that are going to the International Space Station, for example, those vehicles need to be able to accurately get there and know where they’re at and merge with the space station. So we actually have some customers that are using our technology within this system to be able to recreate those GPS and [Global Navigation Satellite System] GNSS systems so they can model those applications,” Hohman said.

Orolia said military orders for its resilient positioning, navigation and timing solutions nearly tripled in the third quarter as the Army puts increased focus on anti-spoofing technology.