NATO eyes 2,000 extra troops for Afghanistan: official: "US General David Petraeus, the commander of the war in Afghanistan, has requested 2,000 extra troops to bolster a crucial mission to train Afghan security forces, a NATO official said Monday.
The mission would come on the heels of the deployment of tens of thousands of soldiers who were sent as part of a surge strategy aimed at crushing a resilient Taliban insurgency, the official said.
'There is now a discussion under way for additional resources, principally trainers, that could be sent to Afghanistan to bolster the mission,' said the official, who requested anonymity.
At least 750 of the new soldiers would focus on training Afghan forces, he said, refusing to give more details about the rest of the mission. He said it was premature to say when the 2,000 extra troops would be deployed."
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
China needs 'carrier-killer' missile: press
China needs 'carrier-killer' missile: press: "China needs a "carrier-killer" missile deterrent as a counter-balance to US naval supremacy in the Pacific, the state-controlled press said Monday.
"China undoubtedly needs to build a highly credible anti-carrier capability," the Global Times said in an editorial.
"Not only does China need an anti-ship ballistic missile, but also other carrier-killing measures," added the paper, which is published by the People's Daily, print mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party.
"Since US aircraft carrier battle groups in the Pacific constitute deterrence against China's strategic interests, China has to possess the capacity to counterbalance," it said.
US military analysts have warned China is developing a new version of its Dongfeng 21 missile that could pierce the defences of even the most sturdy US naval vessels and has a range of 20,000 kilometres (12,400 miles) -- far beyond Chinese waters."
"China undoubtedly needs to build a highly credible anti-carrier capability," the Global Times said in an editorial.
"Not only does China need an anti-ship ballistic missile, but also other carrier-killing measures," added the paper, which is published by the People's Daily, print mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party.
"Since US aircraft carrier battle groups in the Pacific constitute deterrence against China's strategic interests, China has to possess the capacity to counterbalance," it said.
US military analysts have warned China is developing a new version of its Dongfeng 21 missile that could pierce the defences of even the most sturdy US naval vessels and has a range of 20,000 kilometres (12,400 miles) -- far beyond Chinese waters."
Friday, September 3, 2010
New Multi-Purpose HELLFIRE II Missile
New Multi-Purpose HELLFIRE II Missile: "Lockheed Martin's multi-purpose AGM 114R HELLFIRE II missile struck and destroyed a stationary tank target in its third proof-of-principle flight test, a ground-launch test configured to simulate launch from an unmanned aerial system (UAS).
The R model, or "Romeo" missile, features a multi-purpose warhead that enables a single HELLFIRE missile to cover all of the target sets of the currently fielded laser-guided variants.
The missile, armed with a live warhead, was fired at a stationary M60 tank located 6.4 kilometers downrange. Immediately before launch, test equipment emulating an airborne UAS launch platform sent targeting data and warhead delay selection commands for an armored target to the missile.
The missile was launched in lock-on-after-launch mode with a high trajectory to simulate launch from a UAS.
"
The R model, or "Romeo" missile, features a multi-purpose warhead that enables a single HELLFIRE missile to cover all of the target sets of the currently fielded laser-guided variants.
The missile, armed with a live warhead, was fired at a stationary M60 tank located 6.4 kilometers downrange. Immediately before launch, test equipment emulating an airborne UAS launch platform sent targeting data and warhead delay selection commands for an armored target to the missile.
The missile was launched in lock-on-after-launch mode with a high trajectory to simulate launch from a UAS.
"
U.S. vehicles destroy Afghan bombs by rolling over them | McClatchy
U.S. vehicles destroy Afghan bombs by rolling over them | McClatchy: "
Seventeen U.S. troops fell to improvised explosive devices in a five-day period that began Aug. 27, and the weapons accounted for about 60 percent of the 485 International Security Assistance Force deaths this year through August, according to iCasualties.org, which tracks casualties in the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts. IED's also are a prime cause of casualties among Afghan civilians.
The threat requires specialist IED hunters and specially designed vehicles. The Husky is the lead vehicle in an IED clearance convoy of hulking, bizarre-looking vehicles — with such names as the Buffalo — that seem like creations for a sci-fi movie.
The Husky carries just one person, who's the driver and operator, perched on top of the vehicle in a tiny cab, basically just waiting to drive over any bomb the equipment doesn't detect, and hoping that the machine is strong enough to avert serious injury.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/09/02/100084/us-vehicles-destroy-afghan-bombs.html#ixzz0yURNcaIu"
Seventeen U.S. troops fell to improvised explosive devices in a five-day period that began Aug. 27, and the weapons accounted for about 60 percent of the 485 International Security Assistance Force deaths this year through August, according to iCasualties.org, which tracks casualties in the Afghan and Iraqi conflicts. IED's also are a prime cause of casualties among Afghan civilians.
The threat requires specialist IED hunters and specially designed vehicles. The Husky is the lead vehicle in an IED clearance convoy of hulking, bizarre-looking vehicles — with such names as the Buffalo — that seem like creations for a sci-fi movie.
The Husky carries just one person, who's the driver and operator, perched on top of the vehicle in a tiny cab, basically just waiting to drive over any bomb the equipment doesn't detect, and hoping that the machine is strong enough to avert serious injury.
Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/09/02/100084/us-vehicles-destroy-afghan-bombs.html#ixzz0yURNcaIu"
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Chief scientist describes future technology
Chief scientist describes future technology: ""Humans today are still more capable than machines, but by 2030 that is absolutely not going to be the case anymore," said Dr. Werner Dahm, the Air Force Chief Scientist, in describing one of the conclusions he reached during the Air Force's first in-depth look at future technology in more than a decade.
The man charged with providing independent, objective scientific advice to Air Force leadership was at the Air Force Association Technology Symposium Aug. 26 to make a presentation titled 'Technology Horizons: A Vision for Air Force Science & Technology During 2010-2030.'
The report gives an informed analysis of how the world of science and technology will develop during the next 20 years and indentifies candidate technologies that offer the greatest potential return for limited investment dollars.
"I would argue that the Air Force, perhaps more than any other service, is absolutely critically dependant on science and technology and, as a consequence, the broad set of debates that occur to help us make the best investment choices and the best programming decisions to advance those technologies is also absolutely critical," Dr. Dahm said.
More than a year in the making, this report follows in the legacy of Dr. Theodore Von Karman's 1945 report to Gen. Hap Arnold, 'Toward New Horizons: Science, the Key to Air Supremacy,' that laid the foundation for the post-World War II Air Force. It has been 15 years since the Air Force last made a concerted effort to chart the future of science and technology.
One of the initial challenges, Dr. Dahm said, was that to field a desired capability in 2030, the programming and acquisition processes must start years earlier. The report identifies new technologies that could be developed during the first 10 year step, and then from those technologies, asks what new capabilities could be fielded in the second 10 year step.
"Out of that set of possible capabilities, we have to hold those up against the likely strategic environment the Air Force is going to be facing in 2030, as well as the fiscal constraints the Air Force is going to be operating under," Dr. Dahm said.
Choosing from that list of possible capabilities and targeting technology investment dollars is the true challenge.
"The effort here is to take a visionary, but credible, approach to identifying those science and technology areas that are disproportionately valuable," Dr. Dahm said. "If those 30 (potential capability areas) actually span a broad enough set across the service core functions, then we could be fairly sure that the technology areas that underlay those 30 (potential capability areas) are good candidates for investment."
From this process, Dr. Dahm briefly covered three of the report's major findings.
The first, he cited, is a greater use of highly adaptable, autonomous systems to achieve both improved capability and the benefit of reducing manpower costs.
"We are not talking about simply more or better remotely piloted aircraft, although that is certainly part of it, but we are talking autonomy writ large," he said.
However, the influx of autonomy will bring along the challenge of proving that autonomous systems are not only effective in the lab but will perform the way they should under every imaginable scenario.
The second finding Dr. Dahm presented spoke to the rapid evolution of technology to a state beyond natural human capacities.
"In our lifetimes, we are going to cross through that point where the human will increasingly become the weakest link, and so we will move to having the human be augmented in some ways with technology," he said.
It is not just a matter of building better interfaces between humans and machines, he said. In fact by 2030, man and machine will be coupled in such a way where it is difficult to tell where one starts and the other ends.
Lastly, Dr. Dahm stated the Air Force must focus a greater fraction of science and technology investments on research to support increased freedom of operations in contested environments.
"Today, we generally operate in permissive environments, but that will not be the case in 2030," he said. "Technologies that can support the Air Force's ability to operate in those kinds of contested environments can be absolutely critical."
The types of environments he cited warranting particular emphasis in terms of research are resilient cyber domains, operations in GPS-denied environments and electromagnetic spectrum warfare.
The first volume of the Technology Horizons report has been cleared for public release.
"This is meant to have an enduring value to the Air Force," Dr. Dahm said in closing. "This report has, I believe, a balanced, very credible science and technology vision for the Air Force. It is not just about a bunch of technologies that can be opportunities. It goes much, much further to map out those opportunities to the strategic and fiscal environment we will face.""
The man charged with providing independent, objective scientific advice to Air Force leadership was at the Air Force Association Technology Symposium Aug. 26 to make a presentation titled 'Technology Horizons: A Vision for Air Force Science & Technology During 2010-2030.'
The report gives an informed analysis of how the world of science and technology will develop during the next 20 years and indentifies candidate technologies that offer the greatest potential return for limited investment dollars.
"I would argue that the Air Force, perhaps more than any other service, is absolutely critically dependant on science and technology and, as a consequence, the broad set of debates that occur to help us make the best investment choices and the best programming decisions to advance those technologies is also absolutely critical," Dr. Dahm said.
More than a year in the making, this report follows in the legacy of Dr. Theodore Von Karman's 1945 report to Gen. Hap Arnold, 'Toward New Horizons: Science, the Key to Air Supremacy,' that laid the foundation for the post-World War II Air Force. It has been 15 years since the Air Force last made a concerted effort to chart the future of science and technology.
One of the initial challenges, Dr. Dahm said, was that to field a desired capability in 2030, the programming and acquisition processes must start years earlier. The report identifies new technologies that could be developed during the first 10 year step, and then from those technologies, asks what new capabilities could be fielded in the second 10 year step.
"Out of that set of possible capabilities, we have to hold those up against the likely strategic environment the Air Force is going to be facing in 2030, as well as the fiscal constraints the Air Force is going to be operating under," Dr. Dahm said.
Choosing from that list of possible capabilities and targeting technology investment dollars is the true challenge.
"The effort here is to take a visionary, but credible, approach to identifying those science and technology areas that are disproportionately valuable," Dr. Dahm said. "If those 30 (potential capability areas) actually span a broad enough set across the service core functions, then we could be fairly sure that the technology areas that underlay those 30 (potential capability areas) are good candidates for investment."
From this process, Dr. Dahm briefly covered three of the report's major findings.
The first, he cited, is a greater use of highly adaptable, autonomous systems to achieve both improved capability and the benefit of reducing manpower costs.
"We are not talking about simply more or better remotely piloted aircraft, although that is certainly part of it, but we are talking autonomy writ large," he said.
However, the influx of autonomy will bring along the challenge of proving that autonomous systems are not only effective in the lab but will perform the way they should under every imaginable scenario.
The second finding Dr. Dahm presented spoke to the rapid evolution of technology to a state beyond natural human capacities.
"In our lifetimes, we are going to cross through that point where the human will increasingly become the weakest link, and so we will move to having the human be augmented in some ways with technology," he said.
It is not just a matter of building better interfaces between humans and machines, he said. In fact by 2030, man and machine will be coupled in such a way where it is difficult to tell where one starts and the other ends.
Lastly, Dr. Dahm stated the Air Force must focus a greater fraction of science and technology investments on research to support increased freedom of operations in contested environments.
"Today, we generally operate in permissive environments, but that will not be the case in 2030," he said. "Technologies that can support the Air Force's ability to operate in those kinds of contested environments can be absolutely critical."
The types of environments he cited warranting particular emphasis in terms of research are resilient cyber domains, operations in GPS-denied environments and electromagnetic spectrum warfare.
The first volume of the Technology Horizons report has been cleared for public release.
"This is meant to have an enduring value to the Air Force," Dr. Dahm said in closing. "This report has, I believe, a balanced, very credible science and technology vision for the Air Force. It is not just about a bunch of technologies that can be opportunities. It goes much, much further to map out those opportunities to the strategic and fiscal environment we will face.""
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
U.S. forces transition to Operation New Dawn
U.S. forces transition to Operation New Dawn: "The United States military marked a historic milestone Sept. 1 as it made the transition from Operation Iraqi Freedom to Operation New Dawn. This transition signifies a formal end to U.S. military combat operations and reaffirms the U.S. military's commitment to the Iraqi Security Forces and the government and people of Iraq.
The transition to stability operations began almost two years ago and was made possible by increased capability of Iraqi Security Forces. As the ISF troops improved their ability to combat terrorists and provide security for the Iraqi people, U.S. military members gradually moved into a supporting role and started conducting stability operations.
As part of Operation New Dawn, U.S. Forces have three primary missions: advising, assisting, and training the Iraqi Security Forces; conducting partnered counterterrorism operations; and providing support to provincial reconstruction teams and civilian partners as they help build Iraq's civil capacity.
Operation New Dawn also shifts the U.S. Government emphasis from predominantly military to predominately civilian as the U.S. officials assist Iraqis in accordance with the Strategic Framework Agreement.
Officials in the departments of Defense and State, along with international and nongovernmental organizations, will continue working together, assisting as Iraq officials build civil capacity. This transition represents a change in the nature of the U.S. commitment to the government and people of Iraq, but not a change in the level of commitment. The U.S. government will continue to strengthen its enduring strategic partnership with Iraq.
"
The transition to stability operations began almost two years ago and was made possible by increased capability of Iraqi Security Forces. As the ISF troops improved their ability to combat terrorists and provide security for the Iraqi people, U.S. military members gradually moved into a supporting role and started conducting stability operations.
As part of Operation New Dawn, U.S. Forces have three primary missions: advising, assisting, and training the Iraqi Security Forces; conducting partnered counterterrorism operations; and providing support to provincial reconstruction teams and civilian partners as they help build Iraq's civil capacity.
Operation New Dawn also shifts the U.S. Government emphasis from predominantly military to predominately civilian as the U.S. officials assist Iraqis in accordance with the Strategic Framework Agreement.
Officials in the departments of Defense and State, along with international and nongovernmental organizations, will continue working together, assisting as Iraq officials build civil capacity. This transition represents a change in the nature of the U.S. commitment to the government and people of Iraq, but not a change in the level of commitment. The U.S. government will continue to strengthen its enduring strategic partnership with Iraq.
"
Lockheed Martin Advancing On Next-Generation Commercial Remote Sensing Satellite System For GeoEye | Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin Advancing On Next-Generation Commercial Remote Sensing Satellite System For GeoEye | Lockheed Martin: "The Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] team developing GeoEye's next-generation, high-resolution commercial Earth-imaging satellite system known as GeoEye-2, has successfully completed on-schedule a System Requirements Review (SRR), an important program milestone that precedes the Preliminary Design Review.
With launch scheduled to support start of operations in 2013, Lockheed Martin is developing GeoEye-2 under a fixed price contract to support the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s (NGA) EnhancedView commercial imagery program. GeoEye was awarded an EnhancedView contract worth up to $3.8 billion on Aug. 6, 2010. EnhancedView is designed to provide critical geospatial situational awareness and global security information to intelligence analysts, war fighters and decision makers. GeoEye's commercial users will also benefit from access to imagery from GeoEye-2.
The successful SRR verified the maturity of Lockheed Martin's system design for meeting the key user requirements and the team's readiness to proceed with the Preliminary Design Review phase scheduled for completion later this year.
“This important review effectively demonstrated the advanced state of our GeoEye-2 design and how we can significantly improve the quality and quantity of commercial space-based imagery for our customer,” said Allen Anderson, Lockheed Martin's GeoEye-2 program director. “We look forward to rapidly fielding this critical capability and achieving mission success on this important program.”
Bill Schuster, GeoEye’s chief operating officer, commented, “We are pleased to again be partnering with Lockheed Martin to leverage their 50-year heritage of building advanced satellite imaging systems. Lockheed Martin and their subcontractors are assembling a best-in-class team to build and launch GeoEye-2 so we can meet all of our requirements under the EnhancedView program.”
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, a world leader in the most advanced space-based systems for government and commercial customers, is under contract to deliver GeoEye-2 and the associated command and control system. The spacecraft will feature a new high-resolution ITT camera that has been in development for more than two years.
Lockheed Martin designed and built the world’s first commercial, high-resolution, Earth-imaging satellite, IKONOS, which has been providing 0.82-meter ground resolution imagery to GeoEye's customers around the globe for more than a decade.
"
With launch scheduled to support start of operations in 2013, Lockheed Martin is developing GeoEye-2 under a fixed price contract to support the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s (NGA) EnhancedView commercial imagery program. GeoEye was awarded an EnhancedView contract worth up to $3.8 billion on Aug. 6, 2010. EnhancedView is designed to provide critical geospatial situational awareness and global security information to intelligence analysts, war fighters and decision makers. GeoEye's commercial users will also benefit from access to imagery from GeoEye-2.
The successful SRR verified the maturity of Lockheed Martin's system design for meeting the key user requirements and the team's readiness to proceed with the Preliminary Design Review phase scheduled for completion later this year.
“This important review effectively demonstrated the advanced state of our GeoEye-2 design and how we can significantly improve the quality and quantity of commercial space-based imagery for our customer,” said Allen Anderson, Lockheed Martin's GeoEye-2 program director. “We look forward to rapidly fielding this critical capability and achieving mission success on this important program.”
Bill Schuster, GeoEye’s chief operating officer, commented, “We are pleased to again be partnering with Lockheed Martin to leverage their 50-year heritage of building advanced satellite imaging systems. Lockheed Martin and their subcontractors are assembling a best-in-class team to build and launch GeoEye-2 so we can meet all of our requirements under the EnhancedView program.”
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, a world leader in the most advanced space-based systems for government and commercial customers, is under contract to deliver GeoEye-2 and the associated command and control system. The spacecraft will feature a new high-resolution ITT camera that has been in development for more than two years.
Lockheed Martin designed and built the world’s first commercial, high-resolution, Earth-imaging satellite, IKONOS, which has been providing 0.82-meter ground resolution imagery to GeoEye's customers around the globe for more than a decade.
"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)