Lockheed Martin's entry in a competition for a new U.S. Marines Corps amphibious combat vehicle has successfully completed rugged off-road testing.
The testing, over a 10-day period, was to evaluate the Havoc's capabilities. It was conducted at the Nevada Automotive Test Center's Butte Mountain Trail course -- a mile-long course with nearly 1,000 feet of elevation change and with rocky stretches."Over the course of 10 days of testing, we performed more than 40 test runs up and down the mountain while demonstrating the vehicle's ride quality and crew comfort," said Scott Greene, vice president of Ground Vehicles at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "Not once did the Havoc fail."The testing was funded and conducted by the company.The Havoc is an armored 8x8 multi-mission amphibious expeditionary ground combat vehicle. It is based on the Armored Modular Vehicle of Finnish defense company Patria, which is Lockheed's partner in the vehicle competition.It is 25.4 feet long, 9.3 feet wide, has a top speed of 65 miles per hour and can carry about a dozen people.A request for proposals for a new amphibious combat vehicle is expected to be issued by the Marines next year.
As cyber force grows, manpower details emerge | Military Times | militarytimes.com: The military will need to expand its force of cyber warriors beyond plans for 6,200 personnel, and the individual services are hammering out the manpower-related details of precisely how to build that force from the ground up, according to a new Pentagon report.
The emerging requirements have the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps developing an array of new recruiting tactics, extended service commitments, training programs, retention bonuses and unique career tracks for the cyber career field, says the report, a copy of which was obtained by Military Times.
The document outlines the service-specific efforts to meet U.S. Cyber Command’s current requirement to stand up a “Cyber Mission Force” with 133 teams of cyberwarriors by the end of 2016. That’s just the beginning for a career field that is likely to see dramatic growth despite budget cuts affecting most of the military.
“It is DoD’s assessment that additional capability may be needed for both surge capacity for the [Cyber Mission Force] and to provide unique and specialized capabilities” that can contribute to a “whole-of-government” and “whole-of-nation” approach to securing U.S. cyberspace, the report says.
The high operations tempo for airmen in Europe shows no sign of abating given the heightened uncertainty in the region and the world, says the Air Force’s top commander in Europe.
In the future, U.S. Air Forces in Europe may need to rely on supplemental forces from elsewhere to maintain current operations in the long term in eastern Europe, said Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and U.S. Air Forces Africa.
“We can work it from here in the short term,” he said in an interview Monday with Stars and Stripes. “It can’t go on forever.”
When Gorenc took charge of USAFE-AFAFRICA in August 2013, the command was recovering from the unprecedented stand-down of several Europe-based fighter squadrons due to sequestration budget cuts.
As the march to wind down the war in Afghanistan was underway and the United States was shifting its military focus to the Pacific region, Europe braced for yet more post-Cold War reductions.
Then, at the end of February, Russia invaded the Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.
A wind turbine at Cape Cod Air Force Station, part of Joint Base Cape Cod, Mass., is partially powering one of the largest ground-based missile warning radars in the United States.
The 6th Space Warning Squadron at JBCC operates the Phased Array Warning System, named PAVE PAWS. The radar operates around the clock and has a 3,000-mile reach down the east coast and over the Atlantic Ocean.
Although its main purpose is to detect submarine-launched ballistic missiles, PAVE PAWS also tracks satellites in low-Earth orbit. To achieve this range, the radar requires massive amounts of energy, amounting to a $1.6 million annual electric bill.
"We are one of the largest energy consumers on the Cape," said Stephen Mellin, support officer for the squadron. "Most of the energy used on the site is directly related to the radar itself."
In an effort to reduce its energy intensity, the 6th SWS partnered with Air Force Space Command and the Air Force Civil Engineer Center to install two 1.68 megawatt wind turbines on the site.
"Cape Cod is a really good place to put wind turbines," Mellin said. "Our wind resources are some of the best in the country."
The energy produced by the turbines is sold directly to the local utility company and, in return, the 6th SWS receives energy credits back on its bill.
"In the first six months of operation, the project generated $668,068 in credits," said Fox Theriault, energy analyst at AFSPC. "When you look at this project and the money it is saving, the impact is huge. Projects like this help us achieve energy goals with visible savings."
The $8.5 million project was funded by the energy conservation investment program, a subset of the military construction program. ECIP was created to fund military projects that save or produce energy on military sites, thus reducing Department of Defense energy costs.
The payback period for the PAVE PAWS wind turbine is 8 to10 years. The lifespan of the turbine is twice that.
"The wind turbines have a 20-year life expectancy," Mellin said. "So we're looking at half of their time up here being past the payback period."
The 6th SWS and AFSPC also worked with Cape Light Compact and the local utility company to complete a site energy audit in order to identify other energy-saving opportunities.
"We changed light bulbs from T12s to energy-efficient T8 bulbs, we put variable-frequency drives on our equipment to save energy, and even changed out the old exit signs with new LED signs," Mellin said.
"Space Command was the first in the Air Force to replace old technology parking and roadway light fixtures with new state-of-the-art LED fixtures," Theriault said.
"The 6th Space Warning Squadron was one of the recipients of these fixtures and the installation could not be happier. The fixtures have been 100-percent maintenance-free and provide much better lighting for the security personnel."
The effort has helped the 6th SWS achieve its energy goals.
"We conducted $300,000 worth of energy-efficiency upgrades that have saved more than $150,000 annually, which amounts to a 2-year payback period, all at no cost to taxpayers," Theriault said.
Even with all of these successes, the 6th SWS is always looking for new ways to save energy.
"We are trying to be very proactive about energy savings, looking for whatever conservation measures we can find to do," Mellin said. "We're working prudently to save money for taxpayers."
Last summer in Berlin, President Barack Obama called for "bold reductions" in U.S. and Russian tactical nuclear weapons to ease the risk of annihilation in Europe.
Obama was referring to the roughly 200 B61 nuclear bombs that the U.S. has deployed in five NATO nations stretching from the Netherlands to Turkey - and a Russian arsenal estimated at 2,000 tactical weapons.
But since last summer, that hopeful outlook has evaporated. Russia's incursions into Ukraine and nuclear threats made by Russian President Vladimir Putin have killed any chance that the U.S. would withdraw its tactical nuclear weapons anytime soon.
"Withdrawing our relatively few weapons would be the absolute wrong signal at this moment," said James Stavridis, the retired U.S. admiral who was NATO chief until 2013 and is now dean of the Fletcher School of international affairs at Tufts University.
"Throughout my period of command as the NATO supreme allied commander, my personal view was that it was time to consider withdrawing the weapons from Europe," he said. "However, given Russian activities of the past months and the potential for a return to a period of significant friction between Russia and the alliance, I now believe we should keep the weapons in Europe, despite the costs and risks associated with doing so."
CIA stops spying on friendly nations in W. Europe: Stung by the backlash over a German caught selling secrets to the U.S. and the revelations of surveillance by the National Security Agency, the CIA has stopped spying on friendly governments in Western Europe, according to current and former U.S. officials.
The pause in decades of espionage was designed to give CIA officers time to examine whether they were being careful enough and to evaluate whether spying on allies is worth running the risk of discovery, said a U.S. official who has been briefed on the situation.
Under the stand-down order, case officers in Europe largely have been forbidden from undertaking "unilateral operations" such as meeting with sources they have recruited within allied governments. Such clandestine meetings are the bedrock of spying.
CIA officers are still allowed to meet with their counterparts in the host country's intelligence service and conduct joint operations with host country services. Recently, unilateral operations targeting third country nationals — Russians in France, for example — were restarted. But meetings with independent sources in the host country remain on hold, as do new recruitments.
Read more at http://gazette.com/cia-stops-spying-on-friendly-nations-in-w.-europe/article/feed/159409#9BdszVZfbkOGRplD.99
Obama was referring to the roughly 200 B61 nuclear bombs that the U.S. has deployed in five NATO nations stretching from the Netherlands to Turkey - and a Russian arsenal estimated at 2,000 tactical weapons.
But since last summer, that hopeful outlook has evaporated. Russia's incursions into Ukraine and nuclear threats made by Russian President Vladimir Putin have killed any chance that the U.S. would withdraw its tactical nuclear weapons anytime soon.
"Withdrawing our relatively few weapons would be the absolute wrong signal at this moment," said James Stavridis, the retired U.S. admiral who was NATO chief until 2013 and is now dean of the Fletcher School of international affairs at Tufts University.
"Throughout my period of command as the NATO supreme allied commander, my personal view was that it was time to consider withdrawing the weapons from Europe," he said. "However, given Russian activities of the past months and the potential for a return to a period of significant friction between Russia and the alliance, I now believe we should keep the weapons in Europe, despite the costs and risks associated with doing so."
US Seeks to Keep Artillery Brigade Near Korean DMZ | Military.com: The U.S. wants to keep an artillery brigade stationed near the Demilitarized Zone after the planned relocation of American forces to the southern half of South Korea, according to media reports.
The request to keep the 2nd Infantry Division's 210th Fires Brigade at Camp Casey was made earlier this week during military consultations in Seoul, according to South Korea's Yonhap News. U.S. officials claimed that moving the brigade would hurt its combat readiness, and have "repeatedly and strongly" pushed to keep the unit in Dongducheon, the report said, citing unidentified diplomatic sources.
Officials from South Korea's Ministry of National Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff would not comment Friday. But earlier this month, South Korean officials said the U.S. would not leave residual forces along the DMZ, though American officials didn't rule out the prospect of leaving some troops behind "temporarily."
A spokeswoman for U.S. Forces Korea said Friday that "any decision to temporarily leave U.S. forces north of the Han (River) will be based on operational necessity. The goal of all (South Korean) and U.S. alliance initiatives is to build adaptive capabilities to deter and defeat future provocations and fight and win should deterrence fail."
Militants Planned to Target US Ships With Hijacked Pakistani Frigate | Military.com: Al-Qaida militants, who tried to hijack a Pakistan Navy frigate earlier this month, intended to use it to target U.S. Navy vessels on anti-terrorism patrol in the northwestern Indian Ocean, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing Pakistani security officials.
The Sept. 6 raid, which was foiled after a firefight and a suicide bombing, was carried out in part by Pakistan Navy personnel who had been recruited by al-Qaida, the report said, adding it raised fears about terrorist infiltration of the nuclear-armed nation's military forces.
Describing the Karachi raid as the first major operation carried out by al-Qaida's newly formed regional wing, the Journal said its timing may have been set to mark the start of the affiliate or to coincide roughly with the anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.
News of the attempted seizure of the frigate, PNS Zulfiqar, the report said was initially kept from the media, and the details of the incident are only beginning to emerge.
It was pointed out that the Pakistan Navy works closely with the U.S. Navy and other foreign maritime forces in combating terrorism, piracy and the drug trade in the Indian Ocean. That cooperation includes the docking of ships from allied nations in Karachi.
Militants Planned to Target US Ships With Hijacked Pakistani Frigate | Military.com: Al-Qaida militants, who tried to hijack a Pakistan Navy frigate earlier this month, intended to use it to target U.S. Navy vessels on anti-terrorism patrol in the northwestern Indian Ocean, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing Pakistani security officials.
The Sept. 6 raid, which was foiled after a firefight and a suicide bombing, was carried out in part by Pakistan Navy personnel who had been recruited by al-Qaida, the report said, adding it raised fears about terrorist infiltration of the nuclear-armed nation's military forces.
Describing the Karachi raid as the first major operation carried out by al-Qaida's newly formed regional wing, the Journal said its timing may have been set to mark the start of the affiliate or to coincide roughly with the anniversary of the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.
News of the attempted seizure of the frigate, PNS Zulfiqar, the report said was initially kept from the media, and the details of the incident are only beginning to emerge.
It was pointed out that the Pakistan Navy works closely with the U.S. Navy and other foreign maritime forces in combating terrorism, piracy and the drug trade in the Indian Ocean. That cooperation includes the docking of ships from allied nations in Karachi.
US Seeks to Keep Artillery Brigade Near Korean DMZ | Military.com: The U.S. wants to keep an artillery brigade stationed near the Demilitarized Zone after the planned relocation of American forces to the southern half of South Korea, according to media reports.
The request to keep the 2nd Infantry Division's 210th Fires Brigade at Camp Casey was made earlier this week during military consultations in Seoul, according to South Korea's Yonhap News. U.S. officials claimed that moving the brigade would hurt its combat readiness, and have "repeatedly and strongly" pushed to keep the unit in Dongducheon, the report said, citing unidentified diplomatic sources.
Officials from South Korea's Ministry of National Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff would not comment Friday. But earlier this month, South Korean officials said the U.S. would not leave residual forces along the DMZ, though American officials didn't rule out the prospect of leaving some troops behind "temporarily."
A spokeswoman for U.S. Forces Korea said Friday that "any decision to temporarily leave U.S. forces north of the Han (River) will be based on operational necessity. The goal of all (South Korean) and U.S. alliance initiatives is to build adaptive capabilities to deter and defeat future provocations and fight and win should deterrence fail."
Dempsey: Syrian Rebel Training May Take 12 Months | Military.com: Moderate Syrian rebels, once they are made battle-ready by a U.S.-led coalition, may be asked to help restore the border between Syria and Iraq that Islamic State group militants have effectively wiped out, the top American military official said Thursday.
Army Gen. Martin Dempsey cautioned, however, that it may be a year before the Syrian rebel force that President Barack Obama calls a key element of his strategy for destroying the Islamic State group is ready for action.
"We think if we can restore the border, it goes a long way to beginning to put the kind of pressure on ISIL that will lead to its ultimate defeat," Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, using a common acronym for the group that U.S. intelligence officials estimate has up to 31,000 fighters.
Speaking to a small group of reporters after meeting with his French counterpart, Dempsey said it will take three or four months to begin the $500 million training program, which gained final congressional approval Thursday as part of a major spending bill and went to Obama for his signature.
“We start off with a baseline Griffin and add an extended range rocket motor. This more than triples the range of the current Griffin and it has more than twice the range of the Hellfire,” said James Smith, the business development lead for Raytheon’s advanced missile systems.
The existing Griffin missile, which can be launched from the air, sea or land, uses GPS and laser guidance technology. The new variant now being tested allows infrared technology to work in tandem with laser designation, Smith explained.
The Navy is scheduled to conduct a live-fire demonstration of a Kongsberg-built Naval Strike Missile (NSM) aboard USS Coronado (LCS 4) while underway in the Pacific Ocean Sept. 24.
The Kongsberg NSM is a long range precision strike missile designed to be launched from a variety of ships against a variety of targets. This demonstration is intended to test the capabilities of the Norwegian-made missile from a sea-based platform against a Mobile Ship Target (MST) and provide insights into the weapon's stated capabilities of increased range and lethality.
"We saw what the missile could do from a Norwegian ship during RIMPAC, and now have the opportunity to see it perform from one of our ships," said Rear Adm. Jon Hill, Program Executive Officer, Integrated Warfare Systems. "We're excited to see what potential the missile has as a possible future warfighting tool for the U.S. Navy."
The planned live firing demonstration of the NSM will take place under the Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) program and will act as a demonstration of the missile's potential to execute an anti-surface warfare role. The Navy uses the FCT program to take advantage of foreign technologies that offer potential opportunities for increasing the warfighting capabilities of US ships.
The NSM is currently used on Norwegian Nansen Class frigates and Skjold Class missile torpedo boats, and in the Polish Coastal Missile Division. Kongsberg has previously contracted with the U.S. Navy to supply simulation training tools for Navigation, Seamanship, and Shiphandling Training (NSST) programs.
Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS), together with Program Executive Office Littoral Combat Ships (PEO LCS), will coordinate the demonstration. In the event of inclement weather or an unfavorable sea state, the demonstration will be conducted Sept. 25.
PEO IWS is affiliated with the Naval Sea Systems Command. The PEO IWS organization is responsible for developing, delivering and sustaining surface ship and submarine combat systems, and for implementing Navy enterprise solutions across numerous ship types.
Flightlines » Breedlove may get the ‘force structure pause’ he’s been asking for all along: Pentagon leaders may not go through with downsizing U.S. military forces in Europe given the continuous problem of Russia’s behavior in the east, Gen. Philip Breedlove, commander, U.S. European Command and NATO Supreme Allied Commander, told reporters during a Pentagon news conference Sept. 16.
“I have talked to leadership here about a function to re-address those decisions,” Breedlove said days after NATO leaders met in Wales to discuss the alliance’s response to the crisis in Ukraine. “Because those sequester decisions were clearly made before Russia-Crimea, I see this building now moving towards a review of those decisions.”
In an interview with Air Force Times Sept. 2, Breedlove said he has continuously asked defense leaders to “take a knee” and determine what cuts are appropriate given the current climate in Eastern Europe:
Pentagon: Foggo Tapped to Lead U.S. 6th Fleet - USNI News: The Navy’s current assistant deputy chief of naval operations for operations, plans and strategy (N3/N5) has been nominated to take command of U.S. naval forces operating in Europe and Africa, according to a Wednesday release from the Pentagon.
Rear Adm. James G. Foggo III, if approved by the Senate, will take command of U.S. 6th Fleet and promoted to vice admiral.
A career submariner, Foggo served on USS Sea Devil (SSN-664), USS Mariano G. Vallejo (SSBN-658) and USS Narwhal (SSN-671).
He commanded Los Angeles-class attack boat, USS Oklahoma City (SSN-723).
Foggo’s other assignments included commander of Submarine Group Eight, commander submarines, Allied Naval Forces South and deputy commander of U.S. 6th Fleet.
"The intention is to down-select to one," DefenseUndersecretary Frank Kendall told reporters after a speech atthe annual Air Force Association conference.
He said the Air Force expected to make a decision sometimenext year about which company or team would build the new bomber but did not provide any specific timetable.
Textron touts G-CLAW air-burst weapon: Textron's Guided Clean Area Weapon has successfully completed a live-fire demonstration at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
G-CLAW, which utilizes GPS navigation, is a weapon that glides down onto its target with a parachute, explodes in air and showers bomb fragments over a wide area.
The fragmenting warhead is scalable for use against personnel and armor.
Textron Systems Weapon & Sensor Systems said that a demonstration G-CLAW, dropped by a Cessna Caravan from an altitude of 10,000 feet and exploded within four yards of the designation spot, validated its guidance, warhead and fusing capability.
Jet packs for U.S. soldiers? Yes, it could happen - The Washington Post: The U.S. military hasn’t been shy about its desire to use technology to develop a new generation of super soldiers. But here’s one effort that is sure to raise eyebrows: jet packs to make combat troops faster on foot.
The equipment is worn like a backpack as part of Arizona State University’s “4MM” project, according to a new video released by the school. That stands for “four-minute mile,” which researchers want all U.S. service members to be able to do while wearing the jet pack.
“In a warfare-type arena, this could be potentially the difference between life and death,” Jason Kerestes, a research on the project, says in the video. “If you think of a Navy SEAL or an Army soldier that has to get in somewhere quick and do whatever they’ve go to do, but maybe get out of there just as quickly … these devices can really help soldiers to not only accomplish their goals and succeed in their missions, but potentially save human lives as well.”
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh was blunt in his warning about the condition of such aircraft as the F-16 fighter jet and the B-1 bomber, both of which have been flying for decades. The service recently grounded dozens of F-16D two-seater models made by Lockheed Martin Corp. after finding cracks between the front and rear pilot seats in a section called the canopy longeron sill, a strip of metal that affixes to the fuselage.
“Airplanes are falling apart,” he said during a presentation Tuesday at the Air Force Association’s annual conference. “I don’t care if it’s B-1 oil flanges that are breaking and starting fires or if it’s F-16 canopy longerons that are cracking. There’s just too many things happening because our fleets are too old. They’re just flat too old. We have to re-capitalize.”
Air Force trying to protect F-15s in Europe | Air Force Times | airforcetimes.com: Air Force leaders are crossing their fingers that F-15 fighters will stay at least another year in Europe through the “Europe Reassurance Initiative,” a $1 billion funding plan the White House proposed in June currently in the hands of congressional members.
“As part of that billion dollars, we would propose monies in order to keep those F-15s in Europe for an additional year, ... so we’re hoping Congress will approve that as a good way forward,” Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James told reporters during a joint briefing with Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh Tuesday.
Although the proposal would only be good for one year, James said there could be a secondary proposal depending on the European situation one year from now.
The Air Force proposed in the fiscal 2015 defense budget request in February to retire 51 F-15C Eagles, including 21 based overseas, a majority of which are with the 493rd Fighter Squadron, RAF Lakenheath, England. But the fighter mission is critical to maintaining a forward air presence given the latest developments with Russia’s repeated incursions in Ukraine.
“We will have to adapt using the forward force structure in Europe, the F-16 force structure and others, to cover the missions that the F-15Cs would cover,” Gen. Philip Breedlove, commander, U.S. European Command and NATO Supreme Allied Commander, said in a Sept. 2 Air Force Times interview.
“One of the things that hurts the most about losing the F-15C is it presents to me a unique tool in that it is a defensive capability ... It’s easy for me to put them forward in a situation like we found ourselves in, in this recent challenge and say I have put defensive counter air forward,” he said.
Boeing and the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation are the winners in the competition to carry American astronauts to the International Space Station, NASA announced on Tuesday.
The awards reflect a fundamental shift in NASA’s human spaceflight program, relying on private companies rather than the traditional hands-on approach, in which the space agency designed and operated the spacecraft.
The first flights could take off as soon as 2017.
“We have credible plans for both companies to get there by that period of time,” Kathryn Lueders, the manager for NASA’s commercial crew program, said during a news conference on Tuesday. “We will not sacrifice crew safety for that goal.”
Boeing received a $4.2 billion contract. Space Exploration Technologies — better known as SpaceX, of Hawthorne, Calif. — received a $2.6 billion contract.
“Today we’re one step closer to launching our astronauts from U.S. soil on American spacecraft and ending the nation’s sole reliance on Russia,” said Charles F. Bolden Jr., the NASA administrator.
Artificial Spleen Could Increase Survival Odds for Future Sepsis Patients: Sepsis - a life-threatening over-reaction by the immune system to infection - afflicts 18 million people a year worldwide and kills between 30 and 50 percent of them. Sepsis poses a significant threat to warfighters who suffer combat injuries that predispose them to infection.
Antibiotics can kill sepsis-inducing microbes but their overuse is contributing to the threat of drug-resistant microbes and they don't neutralize the toxins that some pathogens leave behind. Commercial dialysis equipment can remove toxins from the blood but is not built for routine use in theater.
DARPA's Dialysis-Like Therapeutics (DLT) program seeks to develop integrated, portable and ruggedized technology that would enable widespread deployment of dialysis treatment to fight sepsis. The program recently tested a novel prototype that could greatly advance sepsis treatment and lead to increased survival of future sepsis patients.
As reported in Nature Medicine, the DLT program successfully demonstrated one of the first technologies for pathogen removal via blood filtration. With a design inspired by the human spleen, the shoebox-sized prototype removes many of the microbes and toxins that can trigger sepsis.
Artificial Spleen Could Increase Survival Odds for Future Sepsis Patients: Sepsis - a life-threatening over-reaction by the immune system to infection - afflicts 18 million people a year worldwide and kills between 30 and 50 percent of them. Sepsis poses a significant threat to warfighters who suffer combat injuries that predispose them to infection.
Antibiotics can kill sepsis-inducing microbes but their overuse is contributing to the threat of drug-resistant microbes and they don't neutralize the toxins that some pathogens leave behind. Commercial dialysis equipment can remove toxins from the blood but is not built for routine use in theater.
DARPA's Dialysis-Like Therapeutics (DLT) program seeks to develop integrated, portable and ruggedized technology that would enable widespread deployment of dialysis treatment to fight sepsis. The program recently tested a novel prototype that could greatly advance sepsis treatment and lead to increased survival of future sepsis patients.
As reported in Nature Medicine, the DLT program successfully demonstrated one of the first technologies for pathogen removal via blood filtration. With a design inspired by the human spleen, the shoebox-sized prototype removes many of the microbes and toxins that can trigger sepsis.
ACC, PACAF focused on Pacific pivot | Defense News | defensenews.com: Two of the Air Force’s largest major commands will see their leadership change in the coming months, as both train and prepare for the shifting focus toward the Pacific.
Gen. Mike Hostage, commander of Air Combat Command, is set to retire in January. Gen. Hawk Carlisle, commander of Pacific Air Forces, will take his position once confirmed. Lt. Gen. Lori Robinson, vice commander of Pacific Air Forces, has been nominated for her fourth star and PACAF command.
These changes come as ACC and PACAF airmen take part in a Defense Department-wide pivot to the Pacific and prepare to face a new generation of issues in the region.
Rocket Engine Presents Unexpected Budget Challenge | Defense News | defensenews.com: Renewed tensions with Russia has made it clear the US Air Force will have to develop a homegrown rocket engine to launch military equipment. The question is: What does that mean for the rest of the service’s budget?
Following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, the Obama administration issued sanctions against top Russian officials. In retaliation, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin threatened to cut off delivery of the RD-180 rocket engine, used by the United Launch Alliance (ULA) on its Atlas V launch vehicle, for military launches.
Since ULA is the only company certified to launch Pentagon equipment into space, the threat predictably kicked off a series of concerned statements and demands from Capitol Hill. And while both the Air Force and ULA say there has been no real bite behind Rogozin’s bark — ULA received a shipment of two RD-180s in August — momentum is well underway to develop a new engine program.
ACC, PACAF focused on Pacific pivot | Defense News | defensenews.com: Two of the Air Force’s largest major commands will see their leadership change in the coming months, as both train and prepare for the shifting focus toward the Pacific.
Gen. Mike Hostage, commander of Air Combat Command, is set to retire in January. Gen. Hawk Carlisle, commander of Pacific Air Forces, will take his position once confirmed. Lt. Gen. Lori Robinson, vice commander of Pacific Air Forces, has been nominated for her fourth star and PACAF command.
These changes come as ACC and PACAF airmen take part in a Defense Department-wide pivot to the Pacific and prepare to face a new generation of issues in the region.
What's Next: USAF Lays Groundwork To Replace Fighter, Tanker Fleets | Defense News | defensenews.com: As US Air Force leaders gather this week outside of Washington, they bring a warning: Potential adversaries are spending big on technology, and the US can’t afford to fall behind.
Much of the focus of the Air Force Association conference will be on a series of recapitalization programs that will get underway in the next few years. But even as the Air Force tries to inject new systems into its fleet, it has its eyes on the horizon and what could be the next wave of recapitalization programs.
The most notable is the program known as “F-X”, “next-generation air dominance” or, much to the chagrin of the service, “sixth-generation fighter.” This would be the replacement for the F-22 and provide air dominance for the 2030s, 2040s and 2050s.
“It’s not a big money driver at the moment, but it’s really important for the future of the Air Force and I personally am going to spend a lot of my energy on it,” said William LaPlante, Air Force undersecretary for acquisition. The program is also a priority for Gen. Mark Welsh, Air Force chief of staff, and Pentagon acquisition head Frank Kendall, he added.
Boeing Eyes 737-700 Solution for New JSTARS | Defense News | defensenews.com: Boeing is officially planning a variant of its 737-700 commercial jetliner as a competitor for the Air Force’s next-generation Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) replacement.
“Based on the known US Air Force requirements at this point, we believe the 737-700 provides the size, weight, power and cooling to meet today’s and tomorrow’s Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System missions,” Caroline Hutcheson, Boeing spokeswoman, wrote in an email.
The current JSTARS surveillance fleet, 18 planes strong, is based on a modified Boeing 707-300 airframe. The systems are equipped with long-range radars the Air Force says can locate, track and classify ground vehicles at a distance of up to 124 miles.
U.S. defense industry says global turmoil swaying budget hawks | Reuters: (Reuters) - Images of two Americans being beheaded and of Russian tanks rolling through Ukraine have boosted pressure on Congress to roll back $1 trillion in mandatory defense cuts that the defense industry blames for almost 100,000 job cuts in recent years.
U.S. lawmakers this week signaled support for President Barack Obama's plan to take action against Islamic State extremists in Syria and Iraq.
For now, the Pentagon is working on the assumption that the fiscal 2016 budget will include deep spending cuts that were partially offset in 2014 and 2015, and further reductions in personnel.
But executives from Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) and Boeing (BA.N), government officials and industry analysts told the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit this week that more lawmakers now recognize that current global crises meant a different approach was needed - in part because of relentless lobbying by the industry.
Military leaders have warned that lower troop numbers pose a bigger security risk and could even force the abandonment of elements of Obama's defense strategy.
NASA is making steady progress on its Orion spacecraft, completing several milestones this week at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for the capsule's first trip to space in December. Engineers finished building the Orion crew module, attached it and the already-completed service module to the adapter that will join Orion to its rocket and transported the spacecraft to a new facility for fueling.
"Nothing about building the first of a brand new space transportation system is easy," said Mark Geyer, Orion Program manager."But the crew module is undoubtedly the most complex component that will fly in December. The pressure vessel, the heat shield, parachute system, avionics -- piecing all of that together into a working spacecraft is an accomplishment. Seeing it fly in three months is going to be amazing."Finishing the Orion crew module marks the completion of all major components of the spacecraft.
It’s Not Airpower Vs. Boots On Ground Any More « Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary: As the Ukrainian and Middle Eastern crises roil our world, the debate quickly turns on which path will work best to deal with the evolving threats: boots on the ground, or planes in the air operating without boots on the ground. The specter of responses to the 9/11 attack and the various engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq naturally shade everyone’s perspectives.
But changing capabilities and concepts of operations are obliterating the classic distinction. The Marines have become the only tiltrotor enabled force in the world; the Air Force and Navy have shaped highly integrated air grids, and advances in both the lethality and effectiveness of manned and unmanned aviation have grown.
The past decade’s experience of the need to shape a very large and expensive ground grid from which to feed Special Forces and ground operations is not one the US is going to repeat anytime soon.
At the same time, conflict is evolving as well. The evolving pattern of 21st century conflict is emerging. It is a pattern in which state and non-state actors are working to reshape the global order in their favor by generating conflicts against the interests of the democracies but which the democracies are slow to react.
Russia will respond to the United States' "prompt global strike" programme designed to take out targets within an hour by upgrading its nuclear and space defence forces, its deputy prime minister said Wednesday.
"Our response to the prompt global strike strategy is upgrading our strategic nuclear forces and resources -- the strategic rocket forces and the naval ones -- and also developing air and space defence resources according to the plans we have finalised," Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees defence, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.He spoke after President Vladimir Putin held a government meeting on Russia's defence spending at which he accused Western countries of provoking the Ukraine crisis in order to "revive NATO."Using Cold War rhetoric, Putin complained of "new threats appearing" including the buildup of NATO forces in eastern Europe, the development of the US missile shield in Europe and Alaska and the development of the 'Prompt Global Strike' programme.
A big majority of Europeans (73 percent) say NATO should be engaged in the
territorial defense of Europe; by comparison, 59 percent of Americans and 57
percent of Turks wanted NATO so engaged.
These are among the results of a survey conducted by the German Marshall Fund
of the US between June 2 and June 26 covering trans-Atlantic security
cooperation and other issues.
The survey was based on questions asked to a random sample of 1,000 men and
women in 13 countries (10 EU countries: France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the
Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom plus the
United States, Russia and Turkey).
“In area or out of business. NATO should go back to basic territorial
defense. There is less enthusiasm for out of area expeditions. Article 5 [on
collective NATO defense] is back in,” was how Ian Lesser, senior director,
foreign and security policy, at the German Marshall Fund of the US, interpreted
the data at a launch event of the survey here Tuesday.
While a majority of Americans (53 percent) said that NATO should provide arms
or training to other countries to help defend themselves, a majority of
Europeans (52 percent) disagreed.
Both Europeans (61 percent) and Americans (58 percent) agreed that NATO is
still essential to their security.
The White House, which has relied on economic sanctions and the threat of international isolation to deter Russia from escalating its involvement in Ukraine, has been reluctant to step up military assistance for fear that it will lead to an escalation in the fighting and provoke Moscow.
The $70 million in aid the United States has pledged includes rations, radios, concertina wire, first-aid kits and limited supplies of body armor, but no arms. But much of the assistance is still in the pipeline, including such important items as night-vision goggles. The United States has also promised to train 700 members of Ukraine’s National Guard, but that program is not scheduled to get underway until 2015.
The White House, which has relied on economic sanctions and the threat of international isolation to deter Russia from escalating its involvement in Ukraine, has been reluctant to step up military assistance for fear that it will lead to an escalation in the fighting and provoke Moscow.
The $70 million in aid the United States has pledged includes rations, radios, concertina wire, first-aid kits and limited supplies of body armor, but no arms. But much of the assistance is still in the pipeline, including such important items as night-vision goggles. The United States has also promised to train 700 members of Ukraine’s National Guard, but that program is not scheduled to get underway until 2015.
US Army Europe uses technology to conduct exercises with different nations: U.S. Army Europe uses its latest simulation technology to join two training exercises from different countries and allow commanders to view and control troop movements as though units from both exercises are operating in the same area.
Paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade will appear to drop into Germany near Munich, which is just south of the main body of the Saber Junction exercise, in Hohenfels, Germany.
In actuality, the 173rd Airborne will be dropping onto an airfield in Latvia. Using an unclassified commercial internet connection, simulation systems in both locations communicate troop movements and allow a Lithuanian brigade commander in Hohenfels to control the multinational forces involved in the exercise.
The troop movements of both exercises are overlaid onto a map. The troop movements of the unit that is physically on the ground in Germany are transmitted via a global positioning satellite system built into the radios of soldiers and vehicles and fed to a simulation system.
The movements of the Soldiers in Latvia are also transmitted via GPS, but the computer system must take the GPS signal and make it appear as the Soldiers are in the exercise operating area in Germany.
The simulation training is not limited to ground troop movements. Simulated unmanned aircraft systems can be fed into the simulation systems as well to give leaders a "live" picture of the battleground.
Helicopter pilots can also take part in the battles as they fly simulators over the artificially built world. Simulated flights save on fuel costs and reduce noise pollution near training areas and are immune to weather that might otherwise ground aircraft.
Penn study demonstrates wearable sensors to detect firearm use: A new study from the University of Pennsylvania demonstrates that wearable sensors could one day transform the correctional system by tracking gun use by community-based offenders, who account for a disproportionate share of fatal and non-fatal shootings.
Currently, detecting and deterring this type of crime can be challenging in the absence of reliable evidence that a particular community-supervised offender illegally used a firearm.
In the study, published this week in the journal PLOS ONE, Charles Loeffler, an assistant professor of criminology at Penn, demonstrates the feasibility of using low-cost, wearable inertial sensors to detect firearm usage.
To conduct the study, Loeffler used sensors similar to those found in fitness trackers to recognize wrist movements and other signals corresponding to firearm use. Research participants included officers from the Penn Police Department, construction workers and individuals engaged in routine daily activities.
The resulting sensor data was used to train a detection algorithm that achieved more than 99 percent accuracy in classifying individual gunshots, demonstrating that firearm use can be reliably distinguished from a range of potentially confusable human activities.
Vehicle agility involves the ability to autonomously avoid incoming threats, either by rapidly moving out of the way or reconfiguring the vehicle so incoming threats have a low probability of hitting and penetrating-all without injuring the occupants in the process.
This concept video illustrates three of many potential approaches: active repositioning of armor, burst acceleration and suspensions that would enable the vehicle to dodge.
Ground-based armored fighting vehicles and their occupants have traditionally relied on armor and maneuverability for protection. The amount of armor needed for today's threat environments, however, is becoming increasingly burdensome and ineffective against ever-improving weaponry.
GXV-T seeks to develop revolutionary technologies to enable a layered approach to protection that would use less armor more strategically and improve vehicles' ability to avoid detection, engagement and hits by adversaries. Such capabilities would enable smaller, faster vehicles in the future to more efficiently and cost-effectively tackle varied and unpredictable combat situations.
Israel, US test upgraded Arrow 2 missile interceptor: Israel and the United States on Tuesday successfully conducted a joint test of an upgraded Arrow 2 ballistic missile interception system over the Mediterranean Sea, the defence ministry said.
"An Arrow 2 missile was launched and performed its flight sequence as planned," the defence ministry said in a statement, with a spokesman confirming the system had been upgraded.
The two countries carried out similar tests in January, and in September last year, as Washington was considering military action against Syria.
Russia's defence ministry earlier released a statement reporting a missile launch from the Mediterranean Sea towards the eastern Mediterranean coast.
Arabs rally behind US efforts for anti-jihadist coalition: Arab nations rallied Tuesday behind US efforts to form a broad coalition against jihadists in Iraq and Syria as Secretary of State John Kerry headed to the region to cement their support.
Regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia is to host talks Thursday between Kerry and ministers from 10 Arab states and Turkey on joint action against the Islamic State group.
The moves came as Britain announced it was shipping $2.6 million (two million euros) worth of weapons to Kurdish forces fighting the jihadists in Iraq.
Earlier in the day, the American Meteor Society published more than 30 reports from alleged eyewitnesses, who claimed they observed a blast of Russia's Kosmos-2495 imaging reconnaissance satellite.
Over 80 service members from across the Department of Defense, as well as Australia, Canada, Japan and United Kingdom, are participating in the CNO's Navy Global War Game 2014 in Newport, R.I., Sept. 8-12.
Global '14 is hosted by the Naval War College, and is the third in a series of the Chief of Naval Operations' Title 10 war games that focuses on assuring access for the joint force.
"This War Game provides the opportunity for Commanders to hone their skills and employ capabilities in defeating anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategies. The scenario will enhance overall synergy across multiple domains," said Rear Adm. James G. Foggo III, assistant deputy chief of naval operations for operations, plans and strategy. "This is the time to identify the seams and remove any daylight between us. We integrate, coordinate, and align how we gain and maintain access in a variety of scenarios."
This year's effort is intended to contribute to the continued improvement of Command and Control (C2) of joint operations in a contested and cross-domain environments. Global '14 is focused on examining how a C2 system is organized to plan, direct, monitor and assess operations at the operational level of war. "Global '14 is all about the C2 system - the processes and authorities - that a commander utilizes to effectively command and control assigned forces in order to achieve a desired operational outcome," said Prof Don Marrin, Navy Global War Game Director. "While combat capabilities play a key role in combat outcomes, so does the C2 system that a commander utilizes, and we're working to provide future commanders with a system that is better-suited to address emerging operational challenges."
Title 10 war games refer to a series of major Service Chief sponsored war games that address future concepts and capabilities in the context of the Services' Title 10 responsibilities to organize, train, and equip their forces in order to carry out their roles and functions as a component of the national instrument of military power.
The Global '13 War Game investigated Command and Control informed by the Joint Operational Access Concept (JOAC) and the supporting multi-service Air-Sea Battle concept under JOAC. The project consisted of a number of pathway events, culminating in the Global'13 Capstone War Game, which was conducted in September 2013. Global '14 will explore key areas that were identified in the lessons learned from Global '13, which can be found in the 2013 game report.
Disruptive Technology: How the Army Research Laboratory will change the future
Scientists are unlocking the mysteries of power, energy and lethality in the search for new materials and technologies. The U.S. Army Research Laboratory conducts fundamental research, which endeavors to provide revolutionary capabilities to the Army of 2025, and beyond.
In the science of lethality and protection, we face challenges as we look into the future and wonder what it will be like. We make predictions that guide the research of the underlying science that will have a significant impact, 20 to 30 years into the future.
Our mantra is "assured delivery, overwhelming effects." Our research focuses on ballistic science and builds upon Army Research Laboratory's legacy as the world's foremost expert in interior, exterior and terminal ballistics.
We rely on sensor and targeting information from other sources as we focus our investigations on weapon launch, flight and target defeat. We further break down our programs into three technical areas:
• low-cost hyper-accurate weapons • disruptive energetic and propulsion science • lethal and scalable effects
We also have smaller efforts in the areas of electric fires, directed energy and Soldier lethality.
LOW-COST, HYPER-ACCURATE WEAPONS
In the future, we see every weapon system as being precise with a grand challenge of hitting moving targets at extended ranges without the use of terminal guidance. We aim to make these systems affordable by relaxing overly stringent constraints placed on the flight actuation and the guidance, and navigation and control technologies. We will accomplish this goal by conducting research in the areas of flight sciences and estimation and control theory.
Since we're looking far out onto the horizon, we must also consider how we will operate in what I would call a countered-environment, where traditional technologies like GPS are denied. This may happen because the enemy jams or attacks the weapon's electronics. For example, if GPS is jammed or denied, we can fall back to a different constellation of navigational sensors, which use advanced algorithms and mathematical solutions to guide the weapon to the target. The challenge we face is that some of these advanced algorithms cannot yet be processed in real-time on a chip that meets the size of smaller projectiles.
One nascent research area is image-based navigation at different bands with compressive sensing. This is where we use emerging sensing and blob detection techniques to locate threats, either identified before, at, or after weapon launch.
After threat detection, we must navigate and maneuver the weapon, further complicated by the fact that weapons fly at different mach numbers and may or may not be spinning. We have expanded our research into omnisonics -- sub-, trans-, super- and hyper-sonic -- as well as morphing airframes, which can change shape depending on what regime it is operating, and thus offer the potential to extend our range by more than 300 percent, with unprecedented maneuverability.
While we want to put precision in every weapon, it most likely will be too costly for the Army to field weapons with pinpoint accuracy in large numbers.
One of our more far-reaching concepts is called parent-child. In this concept, one weapon is designated as the parent and the other ones are called the children, which have a lower cost than the parent. The parent flies out and collects target information in real-time and then communicates and syncs this information with its children. The weapons then swarm and attack the threats identified by the parent weapon, providing overwhelming lethality when compared to current use of weapons on the battlefield.
Initial modeling shows that we could double or triple our current lethality using this approach.
DISRUPTIVE ENERGETICS AND PROPULSION SCIENCE
When combined with our other research areas, disruptive energetics and propulsion science have the potential to bring about revolutionary advances to the way we fight. We have known for several years that the performance of current energetic materials, which are based solely on carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen chemistry, has reached a plateau. As such, several new research endeavors focused on higher density carbon-, hydrogen-, nitrogen- and oxygen-based energetic molecules and novel classes of materials, such as extended solids, were begun at the Army Research Laboratory.
These new molecules and materials have the potential to increase energy by up to 30 percent or more, thus resulting in new weapon platforms, which have an order of magnitude more power relative to those using current propellants and explosives.
Before synthesizing higher density novel energetic materials, we use a complex suite of reactive multiscale materials modeling codes, developed using Army mission and high-performance computing resources, to computationally assess the potential performance and vulnerability characteristics of candidate molecules. These codes provide insight into the sensitivity and eventual performance and allow us to screen many different molecules before synthesis, thereby increasing number of molecules that we can investigate while reducing developmental time.
Unlike conventional energetics that are synthesized via traditional bench-top organic synthesis, the new extended solid class of materials, takes advantage of ultra-high pressure, which allows one to increase the energy stored between two atoms through manipulation of the bonding structure.
At our new state-of-the-art laboratory, we start our synthesis with a gas and then through a combination of high-pressure and temperature the gaseous material is converted into a solid with a highly strained network. In many cases, when the pressure is released the material simply converts back to a gas without any significant energy release. However, our computational models revealed several techniques for the stabilization of the highly strained solid, thus preventing the transformation back to the gaseous material. Using these insights, we were recently successful in experimentally recovering an extended solid from its high pressure synthesis conditions, which represents a significant breakthrough and a world's first. We are in the process of producing additional material so we can characterize several of its energetic characteristics in small scale experimental tests. Additional experimental efforts are also underway to develop techniques for larger scale production.
LETHAL AND SCALABLE EFFECTS
Our final core research area studies the behavior and effects of a projectile when it hits its target. Right now, we focus not only on delivering the right amount of energy to the target, but also on delivering that energy more precisely. At the same time, we are studying methods to service multiple threats with a single configurable penetrator that will be effective against armored vehicles, building, bunkers and personnel. Here we rely on the kinetic energy of the penetrator to destroy the varying target.
Another developing concept redistributes the energy on target to make a more effective use of it. Traditionally, if we look at the lethality of a single weapon, we waste a lot of energy because it is concentrated around the impact point and at further distances from the target, there is very little effect. This redistribution, delivered by a parent-child swarms approach, will be a significantly more effective use of the energy against a target.
CONCLUSION
We are not alone in our pursuit of overwhelming lethality as we partner and collaborate with the other RDECOM centers, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, universities and industries research laboratories, as well as defense research organizations from other countries.
We use communities of interests and practices, technology project agreements, cooperative research agreements and data exchange agreements as the mechanisms for these collaborations. This strategy guarantees information sharing that will be vital in reaching our joint goals of being able to reach farther and more effectively conduct joint operational missions.
There will be other emerging technologies in the Army of 2025 and beyond, like directed energy and electric fires. Directed energy will become more important as it transitions from its current state as a strategic asset with a large footprint due to size to generate, condition, store and deliver power to a tactical asset as the current power and energy footprint for directed energy weapons shrink in size.
We will shortly see high-powered microwaves or lasers on the battlefield accomplishing some of the missions of more traditional weapons for a simple reason: Directed energy provides the opportunity to allow the Soldier of tomorrow to possess an infinite magazine. These weapons will not need ammunition resupply. As long as there is electric power, Soldiers will have an unlimited supply of firepower.
There is still a myriad of challenges to completely fulfill the promise of this technology. As researchers develop solutions for power, energy and thermal management issues, directed energy when combined with ballistic weapons will wield unprecedented lethal effects to accomplish the mission in a decisive manner.
US, S. Korea set up wartime unit to destroy North's nukes: report: South Korea said Thursday it would create a joint military unit with the United States, as a report suggested the contingent would target North Korea's weapons of mass destruction if a full-scale conflict broke out.
The mechanised unit led by a US major general will be set up in the first half of next year, the South's defence ministry said, as part of elaborate preparations for any future war between the two Koreas.
"It will be the first combined field combat unit to carry out wartime operations," a defence ministry spokesman said without elaborating on its mission.
He declined to confirm a Yonhap news agency report that its remit would include eliminating weapons of mass destruction in the nuclear-armed North if war breaks out.
The ministry said the contingent would have a joint office of US and South Korean staff in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, where the US 2nd Infantry Division guards a strategically important area as a deterrent to an invasion by North Korea.
In the event of an all-out conflict, a mechanised South Korean brigade would join forces with the US division, which is armed with helicopters and other advanced weapons, it said.
US, South Korea to form combined division next year - News - Stripes: The U.S. and South Korea will form a combined division early next year to improve the allies’ warfighting capabilities and create more opportunities for efficient joint training, defense officials said Thursday.
“It is also going to serve as momentum to overcome problems, including sentiment and language, between the U.S. and South Korean troops,” said a spokesman for South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense.
He said the combined division will be headquartered in Uijeongbu and headed by an American commander with a South Korean deputy.
U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti told reporters last November that a combined division was a “strong possibility” and would “be a strong additive to our alliance.”
Few details were released Thursday, though USFK said in a statement that “combined planning at all affected levels of command is ongoing.”
“The aim of the Combined Division is to enhance the combined defense of the ROK (Republic of Korea) and readiness of the Alliance…the initiative is designed to enhance Alliance capabilities for the defense of the ROK,” the statement said.
The Department of Defense will be hundreds of billions of dollars short of what’s needed to enact the nation’s official defense strategy in coming years, a new report on the nation’s defense budget released Thursday predicts.
To execute programs and plans laid out in budget and strategy documents, DOD will need $200 billion to $300 billion more than allowed by automatic spending limits known as sequestration, according to the report by Todd Harrison, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a nonpartisan Washington think tank.
And the analysis doesn’t take into account the demands of new and intensified conflicts in places such as Ukraine or Iraq, where the United States has been pulled back into airborne combat missions. Since June, the U.S. has spent some $600 million on limited airstrikes and an advisory mission aimed at halting the advance of Islamist insurgents.
And earlier this week in Estonia — a nation nervous that its neighbor Russia is intent on dragging it back into a revived Soviet sphere — President Barack Obama hammered home the point that the United States would stand firmly behind all its NATO allies.
The United States now must decide whether to provide more defense funding or trim military missions — and potentially tell some partners overseas they’re on their own, Harrison said.
US sending 200 troops for drills in Ukraine: Pentagon: The United States will send about 200 troops to take part in a US-led annual exercise in Ukraine later this month, the Pentagon said Wednesday, in a show of solidarity with Kiev.
The presence of 200 soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade will mark the first deployment of US ground troops to Ukraine since the Kiev government's conflict with pro-Russia separatists erupted earlier this year.
Dubbed "Rapid Trident," the yearly exercise was set for September 13-26 and will involve more than a dozen countries, including "approximately 200 personnel" from the US military, spokesman Colonel Steven Warren said.
"It's a peacekeeping exercise," said Warren, and would focus in part on countering homemade bombs.
The drill was due to be held in Yavoriv, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) from Lviv in western Ukraine.
US sending 200 troops for drills in Ukraine: Pentagon: The United States will send about 200 troops to take part in a US-led annual exercise in Ukraine later this month, the Pentagon said Wednesday, in a show of solidarity with Kiev.
The presence of 200 soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade will mark the first deployment of US ground troops to Ukraine since the Kiev government's conflict with pro-Russia separatists erupted earlier this year.
Dubbed "Rapid Trident," the yearly exercise was set for September 13-26 and will involve more than a dozen countries, including "approximately 200 personnel" from the US military, spokesman Colonel Steven Warren said.
"It's a peacekeeping exercise," said Warren, and would focus in part on countering homemade bombs.
The drill was due to be held in Yavoriv, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) from Lviv in western Ukraine.
How does the warfighter launch a grenade at the enemy and ensure that it hits the target if the enemy is defiladed, or concealed, behind natural or artificial obstacles?
According to Steven Gilbert, the solution is simple. Use Small Arms Grenade Munitions, or SAGM.
SAGM is a munitions round that aims to provide warfighters with the capability of shooting a 40-mm low-velocity grenade from an M203 or M320 rifle-mounted grenade launcher with the certainty that, if their target is hiding or behind an object, damage will still be inflicted.
The round more than doubles the lethality of the current 40-mm grenade against defilade targets. It also does not require the user to carry extra weapon accessories, reducing the Soldier's load.
Gilbert is a project officer from the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey.
He and a team of about 10 engineers from the Joint Service Small Arms Program are in the third phase of the SAGM three-phase project.
The project began in 2011. The first phase of the project entailed making the fuze component smaller, while maintaining its functionality using a standard M433 grenade round. Gilbert described the round as being complementary to the XM25. The XM25 is a Counter Defilade Target Engagement System, which has an onboard laser system that determines the distance to the target.
"SAGM is complementary to that. We are not competing against it," Gilbert explained. "The XM25 provides direct fire. SAGM is indirect."
The second phase was to make the fuze "smart" by including sensors, so that the round detonates in what is known as "airburst"-- over and past defilade obstacles that are detected by the sensor.
During this phase, engineers worked to integrate sensors and logic devices that will help to scan and filter the environment and then autonomously airburst the fuze in the ideal spot.
Now, in the third phase, engineers are working to optimize the fuze sensor from phase two and improve its ballistic accuracy, as well as integrate the fuze with a live high-explosive warhead.
"Warfighters currently lack the ability to achieve desired accuracy and incapacitating effects against personnel targets in defilade at ranges from 51 to 500 meters," Gilbert explained.
With this new capability, much like a smart phone, the grenade can perform a task without being told to do so by the user.
Thus, when it is fired, it will recognize its surroundings and can detonate over an obstacle that might conceal the enemy.
The ballistic trajectory of legacy 40-mm ammunition inhibits optimal engagement of personnel threats under cover. For these reasons, engineers are also working to optimize ballistic trajectory and the overall accuracy and effectiveness of the grenade.
"There are three modes of firing," Gilbert said. "Airburst after detecting defilade is the first. Then, the default is point detonation or when it hits the target. Lastly there is a self-destruct feature which decreases collateral damage and reduces unexploded ordnance left on the battlefield or training ranges."
The team successfully demonstrated the Phase Two sensor technology, in November 2013.
"The technology demonstration was conducted at Redstone Arsenal (Alabama) and it was shown that the sensor correctly detected defilade and air-bursted the round behind the defilade. This capability will inflict maximum lethality to any enemy personnel seeking cover behind defilade."
However, the SAGM project is not expected to be in the hands of the Project Manager Ammunition Systems until July 2015.
NATO faces limited options over Ukraine conflict: Western leaders are planning a powerful show of unity at a NATO summit this week against what they see as Russian aggression in Ukraine, but the measures will remain limited due to a lack of political consensus on direct intervention.
The planned deployment of thousands of NATO troops and military equipment in Eastern Europe is intended to reassure NATO member states in the former Soviet bloc and is bound to anger Russia as it will challenge a key NATO-Russia deal.
But the summit in Wales on Thursday and Friday is likely to stop short of an outright challenge to Moscow on the spiralling conflict in eastern Ukraine, which is threatening to degenerate into all-out war between Russia and Ukraine.
"The likelihood of any type of overt military intervention is highly unlikely," said Robin Niblett, director of the Royal Institute for International Affairs (RIIA) in London.
"There is no support for it at an alliance level. No one is going to go on their own," he said, pointing out that there is no obligation on NATO to act as Ukraine is not a member and does not enjoy the same principle of "collective defence".
The Ukraine crisis is forcing NATO back to the basics of collective defence in Europe as Russia seeks to restore influence in its Soviet era backyard, analysts and officials said.
NATO leaders meeting Thursday and Friday in Wales must now ensure the alliance can react quickly and credibly after years spent well beyond its original remit -- the defence of western Europe against the Soviet Union, they said. "We now have NATO returning to it's basics, focusing primarily on collective defence and coming out of 20 years of operations with all the experience that that has given and facing new challenges that we did not expect," said Douglas Lute, the US Ambassador to the alliance in Brussels.
- Changed strategic environment -
The Ukraine crisis, NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen warns repeatedly, is the most serious threat to Euro-Atlantic security since the end of the Cold War.
Worse still, it comes as Russia has increased defence spending by 50 percent over the past five years while NATO countries have cut their's by some 20 percent, Ramussen said recently.
"We must reverse the trend," he said.
"NATO now faces a very changed strategic environment from just six months or a year ago," said one diplomat in Brussels, home to the alliance's HQ.
Tusk, tipped as the European Union's next president, claimed that "our Western community is threatened by war, not just in eastern Ukraine", as Poles marked 75 years since the outbreak of World War II.
"There is still time to stop those for whom violence, force and aggression have again become part of their political arsenal," Tusk said in a clear reference to Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis during ceremonies to mark Nazi Germany's attack on Poland on September 1, 1939.
NATO Set to Ratify Pledge on Joint Defense in Case of Major Cyberattack - NYTimes.com: When President Obama meets with other NATO leaders later this week, they are expected to ratify what seems, at first glance, a far-reaching change in the organization’s mission of collective defense: For the first time, a cyberattack on any of the 28 NATO nations could be declared an attack on all of them, much like a ground invasion or an airborne bombing.
The most obvious target of the new policy is Russia, which was believed behind computer attacks that disrupted financial and telecommunications systems in Estonia in 2007 and Georgia in 2008, and is believed to have used them in the early days of the Ukraine crisis as well.
But in interviews, NATO officials concede that so far their cyberskills are limited at best.
