Crooked Bough News Round-up

— Nearly $6B in Ukraine aid at risk if Congress doesn’t act by month-end

 

at 9/14/24 9:00am

Nearly $6 billion in U.S. funding for aid to Ukraine will expire at the end of the month unless Congress acts to extend the Pentagon’s authority to send weapons from its stockpile to Kyiv, according to U.S. officials.U.S. officials said the Biden administration has asked Congress to include the funding authority in any continuing resolution lawmakers may manage to pass before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30 in order to fund the federal government and prevent a shutdown. Officials said they hope to have the authority extended for another year.They also said the Defense Department is looking into other options if that effort fails.US to send $125 million in new military aid to Ukraine, officials sayThe officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the funding talks, did not provide details on the options. But they said about $5.8 billion in presidential drawdown authority, or PDA, will expire. Another $100 million in PDA does not expire at the end of the month, the officials said. The PDA allows the Pentagon to take weapons off the shelves and send them quickly to Ukraine.They said there is a little more than $4 billion available in longer-term funding through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative that will not expire at the end of the month. That money, which expires Sept. 30, 2025, is used to pay for weapons contracts that would not be delivered for a year or more.Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that as the Defense Department comptroller provides options to senior defense and military service leaders, they will look at ways they can tap the PDA and USAI funding.He said it could be important to Ukraine as it prepares for the winter fight.“One of the areas that we could do work with them on … is air defense capabilities and the ability to defend their critical infrastructure,” Brown told reporters traveling with him to meetings in Europe. “It’s very important to Ukraine on how they defend their national infrastructure, but also set their defenses for the winter so they can slow down any type of Russian advance during the winter months.”Earlier Thursday at the Pentagon, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the press secretary, noted that the PDA gives the Pentagon the ability to spend money from its budget to send military aid to Ukraine. Funding in the $61 billion supplemental bill for Ukraine passed in April can reimburse the department for the weapons it sends.“Right now, we’re continuing to work with Congress to see about getting those authorities extended to enable us to continue to do drawdown packages,” said Ryder. “In the meantime, you’re going to continue to see drawdown packages. But we’ll have much more to provide on that in the near future."The U.S. has routinely announced new drawdown packages — often two to three a month.Failure by lawmakers to act on the PDA funding could once again deliver a serious setback in Ukraine’s battle against Russia, just five months after a bitterly divided Congress finally overcame a long and devastating gridlock and approved new Ukraine funding.Delays in passing that $61 billion for Ukraine earlier this year triggered dire battlefield conditions as Ukrainian forces ran low on munitions and Russian forces were able to make gains. Officials have blamed the monthslong deadlocked Congress for Russia's ability to take more territory.Since funding began again, U.S. weapons have flowed into Ukraine, bolstering the forces and aiding Kyiv’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region. Ukraine’s forces stormed across the border five weeks ago and put Russian territory under foreign occupation for the first time since World War II.

[Category: Congress] [Link to media]

— US-Russia battle for influence plays out in Central African Republic

 

at 9/14/24 7:00am

BANGUI, Central African Republic — Hours after Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin rebelled against his country’s top military leaders, his private army’s biggest client in Africa panicked, turning for help to his foe in the West.Officials from Central African Republic, where some 1,500 of Prigozhin’s shadowy Wagner Group mercenaries were stationed, wrote a letter that day, requesting to “rapidly” arrange a meeting with a private U.S. security firm to discuss collaboration.Dated June 23, 2023, the day Prigozhin launched the armed rebellion, the letter sparked a series of private meetings, culminating in a deal with the central African nation and Bancroft Global Development. That sparked backlash from Russian mercenaries, according to a dozen diplomats, locals and analysts.US quietly reopens talks with Chad amid challenges in Africa postureThe tensions in Central African Republic are a window into a larger battle playing out across the continent as Moscow and Washington vie for influence.The Russian mercenaries — using success in staving off rebels in this impoverished nation as a model for expansion — have long been accused by locals and rights groups of stripping natural resources such as minerals and timber and are linked to the torture and death of civilians. In the wake of Prigozhin’s rebellion and suspicious death in a plane crash, the Russians are recalibrating their Africa operations. The United States, which has been largely disengaged from the region for years, is attempting to maintain a presence and stymie Russian gains as it pushes African countries to distance themselves from the mercenaries.U.S. officials blame Russia for anti-American sentiment in the region and say they’re trying to shift the narrative.“If the U.S. can’t regain a foothold, it could give Russia greater economic and political leverage,” said Samuel Ramani of the Royal United Services Institute, a defense and security think tank. “If Russia loses Central African Republic, its flagship model on the continent, there could be a domino effect in other countries.”Russia’s influenceIn recent years, Russia has emerged as the security partner of choice for a growing number of governments in the region, displacing traditional allies such as France and the U.S.Moscow aggressively expanded its military cooperation by using mercenaries like Wagner, who have operated in at least half a dozen countries since around 2017. They’re tasked with protecting African leaders and in some cases helping fight rebels and extremists.They’re also plagued by their human rights record. Two years ago in Mali, Wagner and the army were accused of executing about 300 men — some suspected of being Islamist extremists, but most civilians — in what Human Rights Watch called the worst single atrocity reported in the country’s decade-long armed conflict. And in Central African Republic, mercenaries train the army on torture tactics, including how to cut hands, remove nails, throw fuel and burn people alive, according to watchdog The Sentry.A soldier who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal confirmed torture tactics and told The Associated Press he saw mercenaries put a fellow soldier into a sweltering container as punishment. He said people could stay locked in containers for three weeks, with many dying inside.Central African Republic was one of the first places the mercenaries entered. The country has been in conflict since 2013, when predominantly Muslim rebels seized power and forced the president from office. Six of the 14 armed groups that signed a 2019 peace deal later left the agreement. Locals and the government credited Wagner with fighting back rebels who tried to overtake Bangui, the capital, in 2021. The Russians soon expanded to Burkina Faso and Niger, and have ambitions for further growth.Russia is refurbishing a military base some 50 miles from Bangui. Alexander Bikantov, Russia’s ambassador to Central African Republic, said the base will improve the country’s security.Fidele Gouandjika, adviser to President Faustin-Archange Touadera, said the base aims to have 10,000 fighters by 2030 to engage with more African nations.Some countries see Russia’s influence as a threat to their own, but conflict analysts say weakening it will be challenging if they won’t offer a similar force to pursue armed groups.Wagner is steeped in Central African Republic’s security system, and experts say that will likely prevent Touadera from easily diversifying security partners.Touadera’s office didn’t reply to written requests for comment for this story. His adviser to the country’s spy agency declined to be interviewed.Pressure from the United StatesThe U.S. had been pushing Central African Republic to find an alternative to Wagner for years. A December 2022 private meeting sought ways to improve security without the mercenaries but yielded little tangible progress, according to a U.S. official who is familiar with the talks and spoke on condition of anonymity due to the privacy of ongoing discussions.“We never really got past the confidence-building steps,” he said. “Steps on how XYZ would replace Wagner were abstract, and the door remains open.”The more assertive U.S. approach came as it faced new setbacks and tried to rework agreements in the region. Its troops left Chad and Niger, where they were no longer welcome.Still, the State Department said in a statement early this year that it wasn’t involved in the decision to establish Bancroft Global Development’s presence in Central African Republic.But Washington could deny such contracts if it wanted, said Sean McFate, a former contractor in Africa and author of “The New Rules of War.”The U.S. has used private military companies to reduce American “boots on the ground” in Africa, McFate said, and companies like Bancroft have to play by Washington’s rules if they want future government work.In response to AP questions, the U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said it uses private contractors in Africa to help countries operate more effectively, with U.S. government oversight to ensure accountability. The official said the State Department has overseen Bancroft’s work in Somalia but not Central African Republic or elsewhere.Bancroft’s backgroundWashington-based Bancroft is a nonprofit working in nine countries — five of them in Africa. Its longest-standing presence is in Somalia, where it’s operated for more than 15 years, in part training troops to fight the militant group al-Shabab.Bancroft’s involvement in Central African Republic has been shrouded in secrecy since signs emerged of its presence last fall.During an AP visit months later, rumors swirled about Bancroft’s activities, fueling speculation the U.S was bringing its own Wagner to oust Russia.But according to Bancroft founder Michael Stock, the group entered at Bangui’s behest.“Touadera felt his Russian partners were underperforming and distracted, focused too much on other lines of effort ranging from breweries to cultural centers, rather than confronting the rebels,” Stock told AP in his first interview since Bancroft began operating there.Touadera thought diversifying partners would prompt Russia to get in line and give the Americans what they wanted, Stock said.Stock received the letter from the presidency within a day of Prigozhin’s mutiny, and the two signed a deal in September, he said.Fewer than 30 Bancroft personnel work there, Stock said, helping Central African Republic with intelligence systems, interagency cooperation and law enforcement.Bancroft has invested some $1.4 million there, Stock said.Much of Bancroft’s overall funding has come from U.S. and United Nations grants. From 2018 to 2020, it received more than $43 million from the U.S., according to audits required as part of tax forms.Amal Ali, former U.S. intelligence analyst, is among critics who say that despite its yearslong presence in Somalia, Bancroft hasn’t contributed to any real eradication of terrorism.Stock dismissed such comments as uninformed and said the Somali and U.S. governments “agree Bancroft has done a great deal to damaging illegal armed groups and developing the capacity of the government to perform its national defense functions professionally.”Backlash on the groundRights groups say a lack of transparency about Bancroft’s operations has fostered an atmosphere of distrust in a country already rampant with armed actors. Wagner, a U.N. peacekeeping mission and Rwandan troops are all on the ground to try to quell violence.“Operating in a vague and nontransparent way in the Central African Republic only leads to suspicion,” said Lewis Mudge, of Human Rights Watch.Stock defended Bancroft’s work and policies. “It is perfectly normal for a government not to publicize how it is defending the people and the state,” he told AP.Last fall, as reports of possible collaboration with Bancroft emerged, Stock said he positioned a staff member at a hotel in Bangui to wait for Russia’s reaction.“We expected Russia to freak out, so for our lone staff member in Bangui we chose a Russian speaker, who was tasked to do nothing but sit in the hotel garden reading a book all day, waiting for Russians to show whether they wanted to be cooperative, hostile, or ignore us,” Stock said.Stock said that weeks later, in January, the employee was detained and questioned for hours by Russian forces and released only when Touadera stepped in.Officials in both Central African Republic and Russia didn’t respond to requests for comment on any such incident. Bikantov, Russia’s ambassador to Central African Republic, has said Bancroft’s presence had no effect on cooperation with Russia’s military.In the following months, aggression toward Americans and U.S. entities continued. Several American citizens were detained and had their passports confiscated, a diplomat who dealt with their cases said on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t allowed to speak to reporters. Rare anti-American protests erupted outside the U.S. embassy in Bangui, and local youths formed the Committee to Investigate U.S. Activities to monitor Bancroft’s movements.Gouandjika, the presidential adviser, said the government has no problem with Americans and those denied entry lacked proper paperwork.Unclear futureAs the U.S. and Russia jockey for power, African governments say they want to make their own choices.Central African Republic officials approached Bancroft, which shows that these governments haven’t become Russian puppets, said Jack Margolin, an expert on private military companies.But, he added, Russia’s reaction to Bancroft could hurt Moscow’s standing with other nations.After Prigozhin’s death, Russia moved quickly to take control of Wagner’s assets, and the defense ministry told countries where Wagner operated that it would take over. The country and its military intelligence arm have taken a more direct role in Africa operations, deploying more official detachments from its army.Russia is trying to rebrand the mercenaries, creating Africa Corps, a parallel group that could absorb Wagner, said John Lechner, a Wagner expert.In Central African Republic, it’s still unclear how much sway the Russian state has with the mercenaries, who are beloved by many and embedded in society, brewing beer and visiting markets. Still, they largely keep to themselves, walking through streets with faces covered and driving in unmarked cars.For many, Prigozhin was a national hero. Standing at a downtown monument of Russian soldiers, people lay flowers at its feet paying respects, a year after his death.For most people here, there’s little interest in squabbles among foreign nations.“There are problems between the Americans and Russians, but that doesn’t matter to us,” said Jean Louis Yet, who works at Bangui’s market. “We are here working, trying our best to make a living.“All we want is security.”AP reporters James Pollard in New York; Michael Biesecker in Washington; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; and Jean Fernand Koena in Central African Republic contributed to this report.

[Category: / Mideast Africa] [Link to media]

— America’s future advantage depends on quick adoption of advanced tech

 

at 9/14/24 6:00am

After more than two years of conflict in Ukraine, it is obvious how lower-cost, more easily producible, advanced technologies — notably unmanned systems — are giving the Ukrainian military an asymmetric advantage against a much larger and more heavily armed foe.While many aspects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine resemble World War I — trenches, barbed wires, heavy exchanges of artillery — the innovative use of drones has been game-changing. Unmanned systems are altering the character of warfare, and the ongoing integration of AI and robotics will further accelerate this dramatic shift. It is why these were my top modernization objectives during my tenure as Army secretary and secretary of defense.The potency of unmanned systems is most pronounced when it comes to small aerial drones — essentially robots — that are used today to conduct the same tasks that soldiers performed in the past: reconnaissance, surveillance, targeting and direct attack. But they do it far more efficiently and accurately. For instance, when I was a platoon leader decades ago, it typically took a couple infantrymen to destroy a tank at a max range of 3,750 meters. Today, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can do the same at far greater distances, with better success, and at much less cost. To date, Ukraine has destroyed over 10,000 Russian vehicles, nearly one-third of which are tanks. Many of these were killed by UAVs. Ukraine has also had great success using unmanned surface vehicles to sink or damage a number of Russian ships in the Black Sea.The introduction of drone swarms — think of dozens or hundreds of UAVs being employed simultaneously — will make the battlefield more lethal than ever before. From a production perspective, generating such a number is not an arduous task. At a gathering this summer of the Aspen Strategy Group that focused on AI, I co-led a panel discussion where one former U.S. official reported that Kyiv is acquiring well over 50,000 drones a month. The speed and cost at which the Ukrainians can do this compared to the United States is shocking.As important, because the software on these drones is easily modified, Ukraine’s military can keep up with the changing threats and tactics of the modern battlefield. This is something many of our existing platforms, which are defined — and usually trapped in time — by their hardware, often cannot do. The good news is that this can be remedied with more investment in American innovation and process changes.AI is also revolutionizing a wide range of administrative and logistical functions far removed from the front lines. It will do what AI does best: improve the speed, accuracy, cost and quality of decision-making. Artificial Intelligence can be used for preventive maintenance to reduce the likelihood of equipment breaking down during the fight; it can ensure the right supplies get to the right place at the right time; it can improve talent management in the force; transform supply chain risk management in the defense industrial base; and the use of large language models can hyperpower military staffs. This is the future for a broad range of ordinary military tasks, in addition to enhancing our warfighters’ effectiveness and survivability on the battlefield.All this demands that DOD accelerate its across-the-board adoption of AI and advancement of robotics and autonomy. It is an asymmetric advantage the U.S. must master first and retain preeminence over. This means investing far more in these technologies, adopting commercial standards and processes as much as possible, capturing all the department’s data in a central repository, prototyping and testing far more aggressively and showing a willingness to deploy needed systems even when one’s confidence level is less than 100%. At the same time, the Pentagon must continue to do these things responsibly, beginning with the ethical principles for AI that I established in February 2020.As the war in Ukraine rages on, we must heed the lessons from it and do everything in our power to ensure our military has the advanced AI, robotics and autonomy tools it needs to fight — and win — the battles of tomorrow. Doing so, and with a far greater sense of urgency, will serve us incredibly well in any future conflict; especially if we must face off against our greatest strategic threat today — a People’s Republic of China — with the world’s largest and most concentrated armed forces.Dr. Mark T. Esper was the 27th secretary of defense and author of the New York Times bestseller, “A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times.” He is also a partner and board member in the AI venture firm Red Cell Partners.

[Category: Opinion] [Link to media]

— US clears F-35 sale to Romania, bolstering NATO’s eastern flank

 

at 9/13/24 3:14pm

The U.S. State Department on Friday announced it has approved the sale of 32 F-35A Joint Strike Fighters to Romania in a deal worth roughly $7.2 billion.Romania’s deal for the Lockheed Martin-made F-35s will also include F135 engines made by Pratt & Whitney for each jet and a spare engine.The sale would provide Romania, a NATO member, its first two squadrons of F-35s, and the country wants to later buy 16 more jets to make up a third squadron. If the deal is finalized, it could make Romania the third Eastern European country to fly the F-35, in addition to Poland and the Czech Republic.Romania said in September 2023 that it expected to receive its first F-35s in 2030. Romania’s planned purchases could make it NATO’s largest F-35 operator on the eastern flank at a time when Russian aggression in Ukraine has worried allies.The proposed sale would “improve Romania’s capability to meet current and future threats by further equipping it to conduct self-defense and regional security missions while enhancing interoperability with the United States and other NATO members,” the State Department said. Improving this NATO ally’s security would support the U.S.’s foreign policy and national security goals, it said.The purchase would also provide logistics and maintenance support, navigation, communications and cryptographic equipment, ammunition and weapons, training for pilots and other personnel, and simulators. Lockheed primarily makes F-35s at its Fort Worth, Texas, facility.The State Department also cleared a $4.1 billion deal for Japan to buy up to nine KC-46A Pegasus refueling tankers from Boeing.

[Category: Breaking News] [Link to media]

— Massive Boeing machinist strike hits KC-46 tanker production

 

at 9/13/24 12:32pm

The massive strike by tens of thousands of Boeing machinists in Washington state will affect the company’s work on the KC-46 Pegasus refueling tanker, the company’s chief financial officer Brian West said Friday.West’s comments to the Morgan Stanley Laguna Conference came hours after more than 30,000 union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a contract and go on strike.“The tanker program is going to be impacted by the (Boeing Commercial Airplanes) factory disruption, and now work stoppage,” West said. “That is going to flow through the tanker rates, which is going to be more cost pressure.”The extent to which KC-46 production might be impacted was not immediately clear, nor was how the strike could impact other Boeing defense programs, such as the U.S. Navy’s P-8 Poseidon. Boeing builds the KC-46 on its 767 line in Everett, Washington, and the 737-derived P-8 in Renton, Washington.Further statements from Boeing and the Defense Department on the strike’s defense program ramifications were not immediately available.Boeing management and leaders of the International Association of Machinists districts 751 and W24 reached a tentative agreement on a deal for 33,000 union members that would include a 25% wage increase over the four-year life of the contract.Union leaders this week told members that while the contract did not deliver everything they sought, it would be “the best contract negotiated in our history” and recommended accepting the deal.“We have achieved everything we could in bargaining, short of a strike,” District 751 president Jon Holden said in a Monday message to union members.But that deal fell short of the 40% increase the union originally sought, angering rank-and-file members. On Thursday — the final day of the old contract — more than 94% of union members voted to reject the contract and 96% voted to go on strike. Union members are now picketing Boeing facilities in Washington.West said the company was “disappointed” by union members’ decision to reject a contract and go on strike.“Initially, we were pretty pleased,” West said. “We had an unprecedented temporary agreement that was unanimously endorsed by union leadership. Over the last few days, it became loud and clear with our union members that that offer didn’t meet the mark. So there was a disconnect.”Kelly Ortberg, Boeing’s new chief executive, is now speaking directly with workers to hear their concerns and figure out how to find an acceptable agreement, according to West.A lengthy strike will hurt Boeing’s production, deliveries and operations and jeopardize its ability to recover from its many woes, West said. Those troubles most notably include quality and safety problems with its Max series of airliners.In July, Boeing pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with the crashes of two 737 Max aircraft. That followed a January incident in which the door plug of another 737 Max blew out in flight.If the machinists’ strike is not resolved quickly, it could present further dangers for Boeing and its defense sector, which have already weathered one blow after another.Fitch Ratings, one of the top international credit rating agencies, said Friday that Boeing “has limited headroom for a strike.” If the strike lasts a week or two, Fitch said, the company’s investment-grade credit rating is not likely to change.But a longer strike, Fitch said, could seriously affect Boeing’s operations and financial outlook and increase the risk of a downgrade.West said he is confident Boeing can balance its finances and debt and keep its credit rating investment-grade.However, Boeing Defense, Space and Security is “still in recovery mode” and is likely to lose money in the third quarter, West said. These losses will in part be caused by cost pressures in Boeing’s fighter sector, as it ramps up production of the F-15EX Eagle II fighter and winds down work on the F-18 Hornet, according to West.“Development hurdles” on the T-7 Red Hawk and MQ-25 Stingray programs, which are fixed-price contracts leaving Boeing on the hook for cost overruns, have also driven up costs, West said.The U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a $2.3 billion contract in November 2023 to build 15 more KC-46s, bringing the total number of Pegasus tankers on contract to 153. But the company has also taken significant losses on the program’s fixed-price contract, with the cost overruns topping $7 billion.

[Category: Air Warfare] [Link to media]

— This Army division just ran cybersecurity for a far-away brigade

 

at 9/13/24 11:02am

One of the Army’s most modernized armored brigades and its parent division recently conducted the service’s first long-range, fully remote cybersecurity operation at the division level.The 3rd Infantry Division’s network operations and security cell remained at Fort Stewart, Georgia, in July, covering the first 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team’s cyber 6 as the Raider Brigade conducted a two-week rotation at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, California.Army officials believe that such remote cyber protection will be critical to units using cloud-dependent systems on missions, systems increasingly being fielded to the force. The division cell’s oversight of Internet firewalls, sensors and scanners for a unit more than 2,300 miles away occurred during one of the brigade’s most demanding rotations to date.Nearly every upgrade is hitting this armor brigadeBrigade soldiers fought across 120 miles during their time at the center, Maj. Gen. Chris Norrie, 3rd ID commander, said Wednesday at the Maneuver Warfighter Conference at Fort Moore, Georgia.The brigade conducted five force-on-force operations, a full live-fire attack into a hasty defense and seized 20 objectives, Norrie said.“That’s a really demanding pace and scale for an armor brigade, but it is consistent with what we might expect if we had to go fight large-scale ground formations,” Norrie said.The cyber soldiers back in Georgia detected 17 million digital threats and manually investigated more than 3,000 alerts as they supported the brigade, according to a division statement.“We took a capability that was being underutilized at the brigade level and brought up the ability to provide a cyber defense to any of our units,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Gregory Hazard, who heads the unit’s Cybersecurity Operations Center.Hazard stressed that the remote cell was still in the “proof of concept stage” but the division has already heard from other divisions interested in how they can replicate the concept.Brigade commander Col. Jim Armstrong spoke Thursday at the conference, noting how current adversary threats in cyber and other areas are forcing units to adapt.“We must not cede this freedom of maneuver,” Armstrong said in a statement to Army Times. “We must re-create maneuver space in multiple domains to maintain our capacity to kill the enemy.”The division was the first in the Army to receive a slew of upgrades in 2022, including new Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, new maintenance and diagnostic tools, the M109A7 Paladin howitzer, the M2A4 Bradley Fighting Vehicles and the M1A2 Sepv3 Abrams tank.At the time, the division also tested the new Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, which it has since fielded and it was the first brigade to deploy a full complement to the training center, Armstrong said.Armstrong shared other highlights from the rotation.The division conducted the first heavy Immediate Response Package since 2003, a scalable, combat-ready force ready for short or no-notice deployment, Armstrong said.That package includes a company’s worth of Bradleys, JLTVs, tracked maintenance vehicles, fuelers, cargo trucks and about 60 soldiers.Deploying the response package required C-17 Globemaster plane transports that landed at airstrips meant to replicate real-world remote locations rather than a standard airport.The combination of new equipment and cyber protection helped the brigade conduct the first successful armored brigade combined arms breach of an urban site at nighttime in more than 20 years, Armstrong said.

[Category: Land] [Link to media]

— Pentagon readies for 6G, the next of wave of wireless network tech

 

at 9/13/24 8:54am

Since transitioning most of its 5G research and development projects to the Chief Information Office last year, the Pentagon’s Future Generation Wireless Technology Office has shifted its focus to preparing the Defense Department for the next wave of network innovation.That work is increasingly important for the U.S., which is racing against China to shape the next iteration of wireless telecommunications, known as 6G. These more advanced networks, expected to materialize in the 2030s, will pave the way for more dependable high-speed, low-latency communication and could support the Pentagon’s technology interests — from robotics and autonomy to virtual reality and advanced sensing.Staying ahead means not only fostering technology development and industry standards but making sure that policy and regulations are in place to safely use the capability, according to Thomas Rondeau, who leads the Pentagon’s FutureG office. Staking a leadership role in the global competition, he said, could give DOD a level of control over what that future infrastructure looks like.“If we can define those going into it, then as we export our technologies, we’re also exporting our policies and our regulations, because they’re going to be inherently part of those technology solutions,” Rondeau told Defense News in a recent interview.The Defense Department started making a concerted investment in 5G about five years ago when then Undersecretary of Research and Engineering Michael Griffin named the technology a top priority for the Pentagon.In 2020, DOD awarded contracts totaling $600 million to 15 companies to experiment with various 5G applications at five bases around the country. The projects included augmented and virtual reality training, smart warehousing, command and control and spectrum utilization.The department has since expanded the pilots and pursued other wireless network development projects, including a 5G Challenge series that incentivized companies to move toward more open-access networks.The result has, so far, been a mixed bag. Most of the pilots didn’t transition into formal programs within the military services, Rondeau said. Several of the failed efforts involved commercial augmented or virtual reality technology that wasn’t mature enough for DOD to justify continued funding.Among the projects that did transfer, Rondeau highlighted a pilot effort at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington to provide fixed wireless access to the base. The project essentially replaced hundreds of pounds of cables with radio units that broadcast the communications network to the personnel who need it. Today, the system is supporting logistics and maintenance operations at the base.“This could be a huge benefit for readiness, but also I think it should be very cost-effective way to slim down on everything that you pay for cables,” Rondeau said. “That will be a continued, sustainable project.”This and other transitioned pilots will likely make their way into a formal budget cycle by fiscal 2027, he added.DOD also saw some success from the 5G Challenges it staged in 2022 and 2023 to encourage telecommunication companies to transition to an open radio access network, or O-RAN. A RAN is the first entry point a wireless device makes into a network and accounts for about 80% of its cost. Historically, proprietary RANs managed by companies like Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung have dominated the market.“They’re driving a world where they control the entire system, the end-to-end system,” Rondeau said. “That causes a lack of insight, a lack of innovation on our side, and it causes challenges with how to apply these types of systems to unique, niche military needs.”The 5G Challenge offered companies a chance to break open that proprietary model by moving to O-RANS — and according to Rondeau, it was a success. The initial challenge then expanded into a broader forum that addressed issues like energy efficiency and spectrum management. Ultimately, the effort reduced energy usage by around 30%, he said.Rondeau said that while much of the focus of these initiatives was on 5G, the work has informed the Pentagon’s vision and strategy for 6G, which the department believes should have an open-source foundation.“That is a direct result of not only my background and push for some of these things, but also the learnings that we got from the networks we’ve deployed, from the 5G Challenge,” he said. “All these things come into play that led us towards an open-source software model being the right model for the military and, we think, for industry.”One of the FutureG office’s top priorities these days, a direct outgrowth of the 5G Challenge, is called CUDU, which stands for centralized unit, distributed unit. The project is focused on implementing a fully open software model for 6G that meets the needs of industry, the research community and DOD.The office is also exploring how the military could use 6G for sensing and monitoring. Its Integrated Sensing and Communications project, dubbed ISAC, uses wireless signals to collect information about different environments. That capability could be used to monitor drone networks or gather military intelligence.While ISAC technology could bring a major boost to DOD’s ISR systems, commercialization could make it accessible to adversary nations who might weaponize it against the U.S. That challenge reflects a broader DOD concern around 6G policies and regulation – and drives urgency within Rondeau’s office to ensure the U.S. is the first to shape the foundation of these next-generation networks.“We’re looking at this as a real opportunity for dramatic growth and interest in new, novel technologies for both commercial industry and defense needs,” he said. “But also, the threat space that it opens up for us is potentially pretty dramatic, so we need to be on top of this.”

[Category: Pentagon] [Link to media]

— France tests space lasers for secure satellite downlink in world first

 

at 9/13/24 8:06am

PARIS — French technology firms used laser to communicate between a low-orbit nano satellite and a commercial ground station in an experiment sponsored by the French Defence Innovation Agency, with France’s Armed Forces Ministry dubbing the test a world first.A satellite from Unseenlabs with a laser payload established a stable link for several minutes with an optical ground station supplied by Cailabs, according to the ministry, which provided €5.5 million ($6.1 million) in funding for the project. The successful test this summer opens the way to integrating the system on France’s future military satellites, the ministry said.The point-to-point nature of lasers makes them more secure than radio frequencies, and they can’t be jammed the way radio can, Cailabs CEO Jean-François Morizur told Defense News in an interview on Thursday. Additionally, a laser link can transfer very large files such as detailed Earth images in minutes, something that might require multiple orbits using radio signals, the CEO said.“Anti-jamming is a big one,” Morizur said. “Low probability of detection, low probability of intercept means you can deploy it in some difficult contexts, you just don’t have the same signature as an RF antenna. Putting that on a ship makes sense, because you then reduce the radio footprint of your ship – both for ship-to-ship and ship to satellite.”The higher data rates offered by laser are important for intelligence applications, as the growing volume of detailed satellite images of Earth is creating “very, very big files” that can be “quite tricky” to transfer with today’s satellite radio transmitters, according to the Cailabs CEO.The successful test will make it possible to use space-based laser comms on mobile, land-based, naval and airborne platforms, the Armed Forces Ministry said. While the experiment is not the first for space-to-Earth laser communications, it’s the first using a commercially available ground station, according to Morizur.The French government is keeping some information around the testing under wraps, including details on the date or who provided the laser payload. The ministry said the Keraunos project contributes to objectives in the 2024-2030 Military Programming Law to strengthen France’s space capabilities.One of the goals of the Keraunos optical communications satellite project is to mitigate the effect of atmospheric turbulence that can hurt transmission quality, the ministry said. While the laser system used in the test will pass through some clouds, it can’t penetrate heavy cloud cover, according to Morizur.The changed security situation in the world has accelerated government thinking around space, “one of the battlegrounds,” with a growing realization that space supremacy will be important, according to Morizur. In addition, the reduction in launch costs and cheap access to space are speeding up the space economy, he said.“The more the space economy is growing, the more you have new tools, it becomes a field like any other, basically, where battle happens.”The Cailabs ground station used in the test consists of a dome with a large telescope and several smaller ones, with the complexity being in processing the laser light, “that’s kind of where the magic happens,” Morizur said. The ground station can be made truck-sized, according to the CEO. Cailabs competitors include Safran in France and BridgeCom in the United States, he said.Cailabs has seven ground stations under contract, including the one used in the test for the Armed Forces Ministry and a second one on order for the French government, as well as stations to be built for civilian clients including the European Space Agency and South Korea’s Contec. Most orders are for civilian applications, mainly for imagery, according to Morizur.Morizur said the market for radio satellite gateways is valued at around $3 billion a year, and while optical ground stations will initially be a fragment of that, over time the opportunity will be “in the billions.”Cailabs is currently leading in technology, price point and product maturity with its ground stations, and was picked for a number of recent competitive contracts, according to the CEO. The company has set up a team in the United States, where it sees contract opportunities, “and we are looking forward to supporting the U.S. government in many different ways,” Morizur said.The company, which was co-founded by Morizur in 2013 and which has raised €46 million from investors, is unprofitable for now as it continues to spend on R&D and expansion, the CEO said. Cailabs received more than €10 million in orders last year, and “we stopped calling ourselves a startup a few years ago,” he added.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

— Ukraine wants 12 Viper attack helicopters spurned by Slovakia

 

at 9/13/24 4:55am

WARSAW, Poland — As Slovakia’s government wobbles over the previous Cabinet’s plan to buy 12 AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters from the United States, Ukrainian officials are intensifying their lobbying in Washington to secure the aircraft for their defense against Russia.The U.S. State Department in July approved a tentative foreign military sale of 12 Vipers, made by Bell, to Slovakia for an estimated $600 million, a hefty increase compared to the initial offer of $340 million extended to the previous Slovak government. The discount was in part due to the fact that a deal with the initially envisioned recipient of the U.S. equipment, Pakistan, had fallen through.A senior industry official close to the talks said Bratislava’s efforts have since aimed at decoupling the discount from the Vipers and instead apply it to other prospective purchases like F-16 warplanes and air-defense systems. That has left officials in Washington miffed, the industry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations.Meanwhile, Vadym Ivchenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker for the Batkivshchyna party, told Defense News that Ukraine has shown interest in the 12 Vipers since 2022. At that time, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces filed a letter of request to the U.S. to obtain the aircraft through a foreign military sale.“We need these helicopters for our soldiers who are fighting on the frontline in the Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and other regions but also leading an operation in the Kursk region,” Ivchenko told Defense News.As a member of the parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, Ivchenko said he has written letter to U.S. lawmakers to convince the Biden administration to reroute the Vipers to Kyiv if Slovakia turns them down.“Slovakia should decide what kind of weapons and equipment they require for their military, and if they don’t need these helicopters, then their delivery to Ukraine should take place as soon as possible,” he said.Ivchenko said that officials in Kyiv are also making efforts to host the production of Bell helicopters at a designated Ukraine-based facility.“We wish to deepen our industrial cooperation with the United States to produce such helicopters in Ukraine,” according to the lawmaker. “This foreign investment would be guaranteed by the Ukrainian government.”In March 2023, then-Slovak Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď announced the U.S. had offered to Slovakia the copters along with AGM-114 Hellfire II air-to-ground missiles, valued at about $1 billion, for roughly a third of their regular price to compensate the country for its donation of Soviet-designed Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter jets and 2K12 Kub air defense systems to Ukraine.However, since a new Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Robert Fico was sworn in last October, Bratislava has suggested that attack helos are no longer high on its shopping list. Instead, the Slovak ministry would rather use the offered discount to buy Patriot air defense systems or additional F-16 fighters on top of the 14 jets it ordered in 2018, local officials suggested.Naď, who chairs the opposition Demokrati (Democrats) party, told Defense News the new government in Bratislava, which is more aligned with Russian interests, still has gripes about the transfer of outdated fighters and air defense systems to Ukraine during the early days of the war. Fico officials now claim those donations had no basis in law, making Slovakia the only country of Eastern European allies to Kyiv where legal trouble is brewing over military aid to Ukraine, Naď said.Industry officials have noted that the latest U.S. offer for the Vipers no longer includes Hellfire missiles, attributing the change in scope to growing discontent in Washington.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

— Italian Air Force’s famed acrobatic squad changes course on new planes

 

at 9/13/24 3:07am

ROME — Italy’s Air Force acrobatic team is to switch to flying the Leonardo M-346 jet trainer after using the aging M-339 for decades, the Italian Air Force announced on Thursday.The upgrade marks a change of plan for the team known as the Frecce Tricolori, which had previously planned to use Leonardo’s M-345 jet – a more basic version of the M-346.The announcement of the use of the M-346 was made on Thursday at Istrana Air Base in Italy with the presentation of a jet in Frecce Tricolori colours, coinciding with the team’s return from a tour of the United States.“The version of the M-346 presented in Istrana today will be produced by Leonardo for the National Aerobatic Team with specific requirements of the Italian Air Force,” Leonardo said in a statement.The Air Force originally envisioned adopting Leonardo’s M-345 for the acrobatic role as well as to replace all its M-339 trainer aircraft which entered service in 1982.While the M-346 is designed as an advanced jet trainer, the M-345 is built to compete with equivalent turbo-prop basic trainers on operational costs.The M-346 is now in service with the air forces of Italy, the Republic of Singapore, Israel, Poland, Qatar and Greece, while Turkmenistan and Nigeria have purchased the light fighter version.Nigeria is due to take delivery of the first six of 24 aircraft it has ordered by year end, the country’s Air Force has said.Pilots from Canada, the U.K., Germany, Japan, Austria, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sweden and the Netherlands have sent pilots to train on M-346 in Sardinia, Italy.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

— Navy to commission first sub designed for both men and women sailors

 

at 9/12/24 3:02pm

The Navy is slated to commission its very first Virginia-class submarine designed for a fully gender-integrated crew on Saturday.A submarine designed and built for both genders has been a long time coming. The New Jersey is entering the fleet roughly 14 years after then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates ended the ban on women serving on subs in 2010. Female officers did not join the submarine force until 2011, and such roles only opened up to enlisted sailors in 2015.A commissioning ceremony for the submarine will occur in Leonardo, New Jersey, according to the Navy. It is the third Navy vessel bearing the name of the Garden State.This officer is the first woman to serve as XO of a submarineHII-Newport News Shipbuilding delivered the New Jersey to the Navy in April.Female trailblazers in the submarine community include Lt. Cmdr. Amber Cowan, who became the first woman to serve as the executive officer of a submarine in 2022 aboard the ballistic missile submarine Kentucky.Master Chief Information Systems Technician (Submarine) Angela Koogler also became the first woman to serve as a chief of the boat, the senior enlisted adviser to the commanding and executive officers, aboard the nuclear ballistic missile submarine Louisiana that same year.Plans are underway to expand the number of submarine vessels with women. Adm. William Houston, then-commander of Naval Submarine Forces, said last year that he signed a “major revision” to the Navy’s plan to integrate women into the submarine fleet. The new guidance calls for women officers to serve on 40 submarines – up from the original 30.

[Category: Naval] [Link to media]

— Army picks two companies to get small drones to brigade combat teams

 

at 9/12/24 2:19pm

The U.S. Army has picked Anduril Industries and Performance Drone Works to provide Small Uncrewed Aircraft Systems, or SUAS, to Army units as part of an effort to buy capability fast and get it into soldiers’ hands as the service races to modernize its force.Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George has called the effort “transformation in contact,” where the service buys available commercial-off-the-shelf capability and then battle tests it with soldiers, instead of spending decades developing something before fielding it only to discover it is outdated by the time it gets to units.“Transforming in contact is the way our Army can adapt its formations and get new technology in the hands of soldiers to experiment, innovate, learn, and change at the pace required,” George said in a statement Thursday. “The Company Level Small UAS Directed Requirement effort is a great example of how we are achieving this.”The program “is another example of the Army’s ability to rapidly move from an idea to a requirement, to a competition, to testing, to contract awards for production,” the Army’s acquisition chief, Doug Bush, added. “This shows the acquisition system can move at the pace needed to support the Army, especially in rapidly emerging technology areas like small uncrewed aircraft systems.”Anduril and Performance Drone Works will provide the first tranche of systems that will meet the company-level SUAS requirement in a deal valued at $14.42 million. The service approved the requirement in June 2023.Change of plans: US Army embraces lessons learned from war in UkrainePerformance Drone Works’ C-100 UAS and Anduril’s Ghost X will give brigade maneuver companies the ability to conduct reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition missions. The drones will be reconfigurable with modular payloads and attritable.The Ghost X drone was spotted earlier this year as part of the Army’s human-machine integration evaluation event at Fort Irwin, California, where it served as the preliminary eyes of an infantry company concealed by the surrounding mountains readying to reclaim a village held by the enemy as part of a live-fire exercise.The Army is prioritizing the acquisition of small, adaptable and expendable drones as it continues to learn from drone use in the Ukraine and other ongoing wars.The service was able to move quickly in selecting drones for the first tranche because both platforms are already on the Defense Innovation Unit’s Blue UAS list of technology approved for Defense Department use, the statement notes.

[Category: Land] [Link to media]

— US Space Force is urged to flag emerging humanitarian crises on Earth

 

at 9/12/24 10:24am

The U.S. Space Force should play a greater role in tracking factors related to human security, like food production, climate trends or energy distribution, for military decision-makers, according to a new report from RAND Corp., a federally funded research center.That’s because the service’s access to communication, navigation and intelligence satellites provides a unique opportunity to monitor non-military factors that often lie at the heart of conflict on Earth, the authors argue.The report from the public policy research firm highlights the military’s role in disaster prevention and crisis response, pointing to portions of the 2022 National Defense Strategy and National Security Strategy that link national security to humanitarian challenges like food insecurity, energy shortages, climate change and terrorism.“Although several U.S. government agencies and commercial partners collect and monitor indicators that are potentially related to human security, the [Space Force’s] role as a military service makes it a natural nexus for embedding human security principles and perspectives in the security workforce,” RAND states.The report comes as Space Force capabilities to track missiles, monitor bad behavior in orbit and support military operations on the ground are in high demand. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Defense News this summer that to meet current demand and expand into new mission areas, the service’s $30 billion budget needs to double or triple.That kind of budget growth is unlikely in the near future, and RAND acknowledges this challenge in its study, noting an increasing appetite for imagery and data collection, in particular.“Such an expansion is likely difficult to justify, given that the Space Force’s capacity cannot meet current operational demand,” RAND states. “Although the [Space Force] can potentially play a leading role in the human security area, it will need to rely on partnerships, likely with both public and private organizations, to provide the needed capabilities and capacities.”Growing capacity and acquiring new systems will require long-term investment, but for now the service should lean on its relationships with international allies, commercial industry and other government agencies “define metrics related to human security through security cooperation training efforts.”The Space Force should also develop training for its workforce on how to factor human security into its data collection and analysis, injecting relevant scenarios into wargames and exercises, RAND says.As a case study on the impact space capabilities could have in preventing or managing humanitarian crises, the report explores the famine in Somalia, where over one million people have been displaced due to drought.Space capabilities could be used to track environmental indicators like land degradation, water level changes and weather conditions. Satellites could also observe changes in food production, identify whether resources were being hoarded and identify migration patterns and indications of political violence.“By using space capabilities to monitor such human security indicators as those proposed in this paper, the [Space Force] can help identify human security challenges as they are emerging, thus opening the door to interventions — potentially involving both resources on the ground and in the broader international community,” RAND states. “Such interventions might help prevent the escalation of cascading challenges.”

[Category: Space] [Link to media]

— The aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt is leaving the Middle East

 

at 9/12/24 9:41am

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon’s rare move to keep two Navy aircraft carriers in the Middle East over the past several weeks has now finished, and the Theodore Roosevelt is heading home, according to U.S. officials.U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had ordered the TR to extend its deployment for a short time and remain in the region as fellow carrier Abraham Lincoln was pushed to get to the area more quickly. The Biden administration beefed up the U.S. military presence there last month to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies and to safeguard U.S. troops.U.S. commanders in the Middle East have long argued that the presence of a U.S. aircraft carrier and the warships accompanying it has been an effective deterrent in the region, particularly for Iran. Since the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip began last fall, there has been a persistent carrier presence in and around the region — and for short periods they have overlapped to have two of the carriers there at the same time.Prior to last fall, however, it had been years since the U.S. had committed that much warship power to the region.All the Houthi-US Navy incidents in the Middle East (that we know of)The decision to bring the Roosevelt home comes as the war in Gaza has dragged on for 11 months, with tens of thousands of people dead, and international efforts to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and the Hamas militant group have repeatedly stalled as they accuse each other of making additional and unacceptable demands.For a number of months earlier this year the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower remained in the Red Sea, able both to respond to help Israel and to defend commercial and military ships from attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen. The carrier, based in Norfolk, Virginia, returned home after a more than eight-month deployment in combat that the Navy said was the most intense since World War II.U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements, said the San Diego-based Roosevelt and the destroyer Daniel Inouye are expected to be in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s region on Thursday. The other destroyer in the strike group, the Russell, had already left the Middle East and has been operating in the South China Sea.The Lincoln, which is now in the Gulf of Oman with several other warships, arrived in the Middle East about three weeks ago, allowing it to overlap with the Roosevelt until now.There also are a number of U.S. ships in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, and two destroyers and the guided missile submarine Georgia are in the Red Sea.

[Category: Naval] [Link to media]

— What if Russia resumes nuclear tests?

 

at 9/12/24 5:58am

Vladimir Putin’s Russia is again rattling its nuclear sabre. On Sept. 1, it warned of a new nuclear doctrine to counter Western “escalation” in Ukraine. Putin has hinted that Russia might, as one option, resume nuclear testing. The U.S. and NATO must carefully consider their nuclear responses.I was the last U.S. nuclear testing negotiator with the USSR before it collapsed in 1991. My opposite, a top Soviet nuclear figure, did not hide his fury at Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, for ending testing in 1990.Today, Russia is increasing its reliance on nuclear arms in threatening Ukraine. Recently, Moscow hosted a nuclear exercise near Ukraine and another in Belarus. Russia may also have moved “several dozen” tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus. A resumption of nuclear testing would further escalate this nuclear intimidation.Efforts to end nuclear tests date to 1963, when the United States and the Soviet Union signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty, forcing nuclear tests underground. In 1974, the two countries signed the Threshold Test Ban Treaty, limiting test yields to 150 kilotons of TNT, or 10 times the Hiroshima blast.International negotiations in the 1990s produced a draft Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). But the U.S. Senate refused to consent to the Treaty in 1999and it has not entered into force. Opponents faulted the CTBT for being unverifiable and risking the viability of the U.S. deterrent. Proponents said the pact would lock in U.S. design superiority and help deter the spread of nuclear weapons.Both Russia and the U.S. say they have not conducted tests that would undermine the CTBT. But the U.S. has charged Russia with undertaking secret “supercritical” tests (producing a self-sustaining fission chain reaction).Since ending nuclear testing in 1992, the U.S. has assessed the performance of its nuclear arms through research and modeling, testing electrical components, and sub-critical nuclear testing. Russia lacks the best supercomputers, but its weapons may have greater tolerances and be easier to assess. Some Russian specialists likely favor new nuclear testing to improve warhead designs or address aging or corrosion.Russian President Vladimir Putin said in June that “if necessary, we will conduct” nuclear tests, but there was no need yet. If Russia does test, it is likely to abide by the limits prescribed by the Limited Test Ban and the Threshold Test Ban agreements—but not allow U.S. on-site monitoring.A “demonstrative” blast, suggested by a Putin ally, might be aimed at pressuring the West to cease military support for Ukraine. But the West would surely refuse.The U.S. has warned of “catastrophic consequences” if Russia were to strike Ukraine with nuclear arms. But despite Moscow’s heightened nuclear threats, NATO officials say no changes are needed in the alliance’s nuclear posture.A Russian resumption of nuclear testing could change this calculus. The Kremlin could view the lack of a U.S. or NATO nuclear response to its intimidation as a sign of weakness. But a U.S. or NATO nuclear military response might be the only way to induce Russia to pull back from its irresponsible nuclear behavior.One such response could be for the U.S. to resume nuclear testing. This would show determination, and perhaps bring some technical benefit. But testing would be costly if it’s not needed for technical reasons, it may draw strong international criticism, and it could provide political cover for proliferators to test. This seems like an unattractive option.Another option could be for the U.S. to deploy new nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles (SLCM-Ns), which Congress is already funding. The U.S. Navy is reluctant to encumber warships that already have conventional missions. But SLCM-N deployments could enhance NATO’s theater nuclear posture and raise the military cost to Russia of its nuclear threats.Third, the U.S. and NATO could put nuclear forces in Poland if it were interested. The U.S. would have to provide Poland with dual-capable F-35 aircraft to deliver nuclear bombs. (Warsaw is already buying another F-35 variant.) This option could respond directly to Russia’s movement of nuclear arms into Belarus, and it could enhance NATO’s theater nuclear posture.A 1997 NATO-Russia accord states that the alliance has “no intention, no plan, and no reason” to put nuclear arms in new member states. But Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and nuclear intimidation would seem to render this pledge obsolete.A U.S. or NATO nuclear military response might be the only way to induce Russia to pull back from its irresponsible nuclear behavior.William Courtney, an adjunct senior fellow at RAND, was U.S. Commissioner in negotiations with the USSR to implement the Threshold Test Ban Treaty, and subsequently ambassador to Kazakhstan and Georgia.This op-ed was updated after publication to correct the year of the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963.

[Category: Opinion] [Link to media]

— How a sailor shortage is crippling ship maintenance at sea

 

at 9/11/24 3:38pm

The Navy’s manning shortages are curbing the service’s ability to repair its ships while at sea, according to a watchdog report released Monday.Sixty-three percent of executive officers — a ship’s second-in-command — surveyed reported that insufficient manning made it “moderately to extremely difficult to complete repairs while underway,” according to a Government Accountability Office report released Monday.At-sea basic maintenance and repairs are critical to ensuring a ship can carry out its mission, according to the GAO.But Monday’s report, based on interviews of sailors and leaders across the fleet, reveals that basic maintenance duties and repairs are hindered not only by manning shortages, but also by inaccurate Navy guidelines and substandard training.As of late last year, the Navy was lacking nearly 14,000 enlisted sailors to keep its aircraft carriers, surface ships and attack submarines properly manned, according to the GAO.The watchdog also found that aircraft carriers, cruisers and amphibious assault ships did not have enough enlisted sailors assigned to them to meet requirements for safe operations as laid out by the Navy Manpower Analysis Center.Navy should be ‘offended’ by its own maintenance and manning faults, admiral says“The Navy has not provided crew levels sufficient to meet the ship maintenance workload,” one sailor told GAO investigators.This results in a smaller crew having to do more work, compounding the stressors of ship life.“More capable sailors that perform a lot of maintenance get burned out and tired of taking up the slack for other sailors and leave the Navy to do the same work for better pay and working conditions,” another sailor said in the report.Exacerbating the manning shortages are sailors assigned to a specific ship who may not always be on hand for duty, due to illness or temporary assignments to another ship.“Navy executive officers and sailors told GAO there were widespread concerns about sailor training,” the report states.Sailors also aren’t always prepared for their jobs aboard ships, and those serving in maintenance-heavy roles “may be less experienced than other sailors on that same ship,” according to the GAO.Training for sailor-led maintenance is also insufficient, sailors told the watchdog.Sailors attend A school after boot camp to get initial training with instructors and computers, but some interviewed by GAO questioned how well A school prepared them for their shipboard duties.“Specifically, sailors expressed dissatisfaction with both the quality of training — whether it prepares them to perform maintenance aboard ship — and the format in which training is delivered,” the report said.The Navy is working to enhance sailor-led maintenance training through its Ready Relevant Learning initiative, which involves distributing videos of sailor-led maintenance to schoolhouses, according to the report.The Navy is also aiming to share these videos with sailors via cloud based services and remote support.Still, videos for certain maintenance specialties like electrical repair are not yet available, and some sailors noted that video training is not always reliable on the ship, given limited bandwidth.“More (maintenance) training should be conducted before a sailor arrives at their ship and while they are transitioning between commands,” one sailor told the GAO.The GAO offered several recommendations, including that the service improve the “quality of information on the number of ship’s crew available for duty” and guarantee that personnel numbers and skill levels for certain kinds of maintenance are tailored for specific ships and classes.“The Navy’s guidelines for performing ship maintenance are sometimes inaccurate with respect to the time and personnel needed and are not written appropriately for sailors’ maintenance skills and supervisor’s experience levels,” the watchdog said. “Ensuring the Navy’s guidelines better reflect the actual number and skill level of maintenance personnel will enhance sailors’ ability to maintain ships.”The Navy agreed with these recommendations, according to the watchdog.The GAO surveyed executive officers from 232 ships in the fleet with a 91% response rate and met with more than 140 leaders and 200 sailors on 25 ships for the report, which began in January 2023 and ended earlier this month.Go here to read the full report.

[Category: Naval] [Link to media]

— Turkey advances plan for a national air-defense shield

 

at 9/11/24 3:56am

ISTANBUL — Turkey has finalized key plans for its Çelik Kubbe – Steel Dome – air defense system, a project designed to enhance the nation’s airspace security with advanced, multilayered defense capabilities.The decision came during the second meeting of the Defence Industry Executive Committee (SSIK), chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last month. The Steel Dome aims to integrate a wide range of air defense assets, creating a real-time operational picture and enabling centralized control with the help of artificial intelligence.The Steel Dome is a domestic initiative developed by Aselsan in collaboration with Roketsan and Turkish government research institute TÜBİTAK SAGE. It brings together existing and future sensors, communication networks, and weapons under one system for comprehensive airspace protection.The project’s goal is to establish a unified defense network capable of defending Turkey against emerging aerial threats like drones and missiles.According to Sıtkı Egeli, an associate professor at İzmir University of Economics, the Steel Dome is not entirely new but rather an effort to integrate various air and missile defense systems developed over the past decade.“The real key to successful air defense is not just having the right weapons, but integrating all these components under a single command and control system,” he said.As envisioned, short-range systems like the Korkut self-propelled anti-aircraft gun and Sungur missiles will form the dome’s inner layer. Medium-range Hisar A+ and Hisar O (RF) missiles will engage threats in the middle layer, while the outermost layer will rely on the long-range SİPER missile, which is expected to exceed a range of 100 kilometers. Roketsan is developing an advanced version of SİPER that will extend the range to 150 kilometers.Turkey is incorporating Aselsan-made radars and communication systems, including the HERİKKS air defense command and control system and the RADNET radar network at the hub of the behemoth program. The components are designed to create a real-time air picture for decision-makers.Non-kinetic interceptors like the Gökberk laser weapon and the Alka direct-energy weapon also are slated for eventual incorporation into the Steel Dome, but those technologies still need development.According to Egeli, Turkey had planned to use the ACCS (Air Command Control System) architecture, developed in the 2000s for joint use by all NATO members, as the brains of the new program. But unresolved issues over the alliance software led Turkey to develop a national solution as a supplement instead, he said.Egeli added said that the Russian S-400 air defense system, purchased by Turkey in 2017, will not be part of the Steel Dome architecture, as the S-400 does not align with Turkey’s long-term air defense strategy.

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

— Iran sending Russia batch of close-range missiles, Pentagon says

 

at 9/10/24 2:32pm

Iran has sent close-range ballistic missiles to Russia, which could start using them to attack Ukraine “within weeks,” Pentagon officials said Tuesday.The missiles can reach a maximum of 75 miles and allow Russia to maintain its stocks of more valuable, and more menacing, long-range fires, according to Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.While Russia hasn’t yet used them, Ryder said dozens of its military personnel have trained inside Iran on the missile system — known as the Fath 360. Ryder wouldn’t specify how many Russia has received, but the U.S. Treasury Department said that Moscow signed a contract late last year for “hundreds” of missiles, with the first such batch now arriving.“This is a deeply concerning development,” Ryder said during a Tuesday briefing.Since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, Russia has relied on its partners — in almost all cases other U.S. adversaries — to refill its stocks. Iran has been a particularly avid supplier, shipping one-way attack drones, missiles and other lethal aid to Russia throughout the war.In return, Russia is sharing other information with Iran, including on nuclear and space technology, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday.“This is a two-way street,” said Blinken, who is traveling to Kyiv to meet with members of the Ukrainian government.Last week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin gathered a group of countries that regularly meet to support Ukraine’s self-defense. There, as in past meetings, the officials discussed how to supply Kyiv with enough air defense missiles and batteries. Russia has routinely battered Ukrainian military and civilian targets during the war, and in recent weeks launched its two largest salvos to date.In response, Ukraine has asked repeatedly that the U.S. lift limits on how far inside Russia it can fire its own long-range weapons provided by the U.S. The White House so far has declined to do so, in part out out of concern that looser rules could escalate the war and in part because the long-range ATACMS missiles are scarce.“I don’t believe one specific capability will be decisive,” Austin said after the meeting last week, arguing also that Russia had already moved almost all of its threatening aircraft out of range.

[Category: Pentagon] [Link to media]

— NATO shepherds 10 firms whose tech could help the alliance

 

at 9/10/24 10:18am

NATO’s defense technology accelerator announced Tuesday it picked 10 companies to transition to the second phase of competition, which not only brings additional funding but tailored support as they look to break into the national security sector.The firms are part of the Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic’s inaugural cohort, which NATO announced last year. The organization, known as DIANA, chose 44 companies for Phase I, selecting firms whose technology could address needs in both defense and commercial markets.The companies participated in a competition series last fall that took place across five cities: Tallinn, Estonia; Turin, Italy; Copenhagen, Denmark; Boston; and Seattle. During the events, companies used emerging technology to solve real-world defense challenges.“To move into Phase II, innovators had to demonstrate progress in their commercial and defense market potential, the technical viability and novelty of their solutions, and their investment readiness,” NATO said in a statement. “Review panels comprised technical, defense and innovation experts.”The 10 companies that will transition to the next phase of DIANA’s challenge series are:· Aquark Technologies, a quantum firm based in the United Kingdom· Astrolight, a laser communications company in Lithuania· Dolphin Labs, an ocean-observation company in the U.S.· Ephos, a computing firm based in Italy· Goldilock, a UK-based privacy firm· IONATE, a U.K. firm specializing in smart energy platforms· Lobster Robotics, a mapping company based in the Netherlands· Phantom Photonics, a Canadian quantum sensing company· Revobeam, a polish antenna firm· Secqai, a computing company in the U.K.The selected firms will receive up to €300,000 ($330,000).DIANA is jointly funded, which means NATO doesn’t draw from the common fund that allies are required to contribute toward. Instead, member nations choose whether to pay into DIANA. The U.S. Defense Department last year appointed Jeffrey Singleton, U.S. principal member and head of the delegation to the NATO Science and Technology Board, as the U.S. representative to DIANA’s board of directors.The accelerator has more than 100 affiliated test centers across nearly every country that partners with NATO. That includes 28 “deep-tech” accelerators, two of which are located in North America.

[Category: Pentagon] [Link to media]

— Russia launches massive naval drills with China

 

at 9/10/24 9:43am

The Russian military on Tuesday launched massive naval and air drills spanning across both hemispheres and including China in joint maneuvers.The “Ocean-24” exercise spans the Pacific and Arctic Oceans, the Mediterranean, Caspian and Baltic Seas and involves over 400 warships, submarines and support vessels, more than 120 planes and helicopters and over 90,000 troops, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. The maneuvers will continue through Sept. 16, the ministry said.Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments to military officials that the war games are the largest of their kind in three decades, and that China’s warships and planes were taking part. China confirmed that on Monday, saying the two countries’ navies would cruise together in Pacific, but gave no details.A total of 15 countries have been invited to observe the drills, Putin said, without naming them.“We pay special attention to strengthening military cooperation with friendly states. Today, in the context of growing geopolitical tensions in the world, this is especially important,” Putin said.The Russian leader accused the United States of “trying to maintain its global military and political dominance at any cost," seeking “to inflict a strategic defeat” on Russia in its war with Ukraine and to “break the established security architecture and balance of power in the Asia-Pacific region.”“Under the pretext of countering the allegedly existing Russian threat and containing the People’s Republic of China, the United States and its satellites are increasing their military presence near Russia’s western borders, in the Arctic and in the Asia-Pacific region,” Putin said, stressing that “Russia must be prepared for any development of the situation.”Russia and China, along with other U.S. critics such as Iran, have aligned their foreign policies to challenge and potentially overturn the Western-led liberal democratic order.With joint exercises, Russia has sought Chinese help in achieving its long-cherished aim of becoming a Pacific power, while Moscow has backed China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and elsewhere.Russia’s Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said the drills are aimed to train “repelling large-scale aggression of a potential enemy from ocean directions, combating unmanned boats, unmanned aerial vehicles, defending naval bases, conducting amphibious operations and escorting transports.”

[Category: / Europe] [Link to media]

— Boeing to launch space-based quantum demo in 2026

 

at 9/10/24 8:20am

Defense giant Boeing today announced plans to demonstrate quantum networking in space — a technological feat that, if successful, could help change the way the military processes data and identifies targets.The company plans to launch the effort, dubbed Q4S, in 2026 using its own research-and development money. The experiment will demonstrate a concept called entanglement swapping — the ability to bring together, or entangle, the quantum states surrounding particles that haven’t previously interacted. The process is required to build expansive, hack-resistant networks in space.Boeing set out to tackle the entanglement swapping challenge in 2021 with the goal to move as quickly as possible to push quantum technology as far as it could, according to Jay Lowell, chief engineer for disruptive computing, networks and sensors. Through the demonstration, the company hopes to learn more about how to build quantum networks that could prove transformational for a number of industries, including defense.“We chose a goal that nobody else had accomplished, and we saw no one out there trying to do this,” Lowell told Defense News in a recent interview. “We knew it needed to be done to get where we want to go, which is the development of global quantum networks that connect sensors and computers around the world.”The U.S. government spends about $1 billion each year on quantum technology development through its National Quantum Initiative, which it established in 2018 to help maintain an edge over China.In the last decade, China has conducted several significant experiments aimed at reaching breakthroughs in quantum networking. In 2016, the country’s Quantum Experiments at Space Scale demo showed that it was possible to establish quantum keys across long distances. In 2022, it followed up that effort with the Jinan-1 launch, generating keys at a much faster rate.Lowell described entanglement swapping as “more than twice as hard” as key distribution.“From an impact perspective, these are the technologies that we need to validate are going to work in order to have the hope of building the quantum networks we want to build,” he said.The yearlong mission aims to demonstrate entanglement swapping between two sources within a single satellite. Working with its payload and technology partner, HRL Laboratories, Boeing has completed several key design reviews and will run an integrated payload test this month. The payload is slated to be delivered within a year, Lowell said.California-based Astro Digital, which is building the satellite the payload will fly on, will start production of the spacecraft in 2025.Boeing’s focus throughout design and testing has been to build backups and contingencies into the system to reduce risk of mission failure, Lowell said.“There are only a few things that, if they fail, we’re dead,” he said. “We’re pretty confident that if those few things work, everything else will go fine and we will get very useful information out of this experiment.”If Q4S is able to demonstrate entanglement swapping within one spacecraft, Boeing’s next target is to develop a multi-satellite experiment to prove the capability works within a small, space-based network. Lowell said the company is exploring government and commercial partnerships for the next phase, but could also build the mission with internal funding.Q4S and any future experiments are part of a broader emphasis within Boeing on demonstrating new technologies as well as how those capabilities fit within the company’s existing portfolio, he noted.“The better we do that, the easier it is for our customers to understand the context of what it is that they’re getting in a way that’s recognizable to them,” Lowell said. “The better conceived the demonstration is, the closer it allows the customer to see the vision that we have and to start sharing in that vision or even pull us along further towards their vision.”

[Category: Space] [Link to media]

As of 11/22/24 7:57pm. Last new 9/14/24 9:22am.