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.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Russian Defense Ministry Denies Reports that Its Satellite Exploded Above US
Russian Defense Ministry Denies Reports that Its Satellite Exploded Above US: The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday denied media reports of a Russian military satellite that allegedly exploded above the United States.
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.
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.
CNO's Navy Global War Game 2014 Kicks Off
CNO's Navy Global War Game 2014 Kicks Off
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.
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.
Monday, September 8, 2014
Disruptive Technology: How the Army Research Laboratory will change the future | Article | The United Sta
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.
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.
Friday, September 5, 2014
US, S. Korea set up wartime unit to destroy North's nukes: report
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.
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
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.
“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.
Analyst: DOD as much as $300 billion short if strategy unchanged - News - Stripes
Analyst: DOD as much as $300 billion short if strategy unchanged - News - Stripes
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)