Drone advances in Ukraine could bring new age of warfare

On the same subject

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  February 4, 2019 | International, Land

  Pentagon releases RFP for ‘optionally manned’ Bradley replacement

  The Pentagon seeks industry feedback on the draft request for proposals for Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle (OMFV) vehicle. The U.S. Army on 31 January posted a request for proposal (RFP) on Federal Business Opportunities for OMFV combat vehicle that will be designed for and used by military forces to maneuver Soldiers in the future operating environment (FOE) to a position of advantage, in order to engage in close combat and deliver decisive lethality during the execution of combined arms maneuver. In a notice posted on the Federal Business Opportunities Website, the army called on companies to submit their plans to develop pre-production prototypes of new combat vehicles. The Next-Generation Combat Vehicle – OMFV must exceed current capabilities while overmatching similar threat class systems. It must be optimized for dense urban areas while also defeating pacing threats on rural (open, semi-restricted and restricted) terrain and be characterized by the ability to spiral in advanced technologies as they mature. Since its inception, the NGCV-OMFV program has represented an innovative approach to Army acquisition by focusing on delivering an essentially new capability to the Armor Brigade Combat Teams (ABCTs) while under a significantly reduced timeline, as compared to traditional acquisition efforts. This will be achieved by leveraging existing material solutions with proven capabilities coupled with new technologies to meet the requirements. The draft request sticks to the original target of awarding up to two EMD contracts during the second quarter of fiscal year 2020. Each contractor at that time will deliver 14 pre-production vehicles, as well as two ballistic hulls and turrets. One of the U.S. Army's top research centers has already achieved considerable success in developing a prototype of the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle (NGCV). Some sources claimed that the United States Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) are now nearing production of demonstrator of new robotic vehicle build onto a surrogate platform. https://defence-blog.com/army/pentagon-releases-rfp-for-optionally-manned-bradley-replacement.html

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  October 26, 2017 | International, Aerospace, Security

  ICAO traveller identification event highlights key aviation role in combatting terrorism and cross-border crime

  ​ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu delivered the opening address to the ICAO's 13th Traveller Identification Programme (TRIP) Strategy Symposium, taking place at the UN agency's Montréal headquarters. The world's foremost travel document and identity management event, this latest edition of the TRIP Symposium is seen as an important step in maintaining the global momentum on anti-terrorism priorities recently achieved through the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Montréal, 26 October 2017 – The fight against international terrorist and criminal movements took another step forward this week, as experts and senior officials gathered for ICAO's 13th Traveller Identification Programme (TRIP) Strategy Symposium. “The ICAO TRIP strategy reinforces the global line of defence against international terrorist movements, cross border crime, and the many other threats to the safety and security of civil society and international aviation,” stressed ICAO Secretary General Dr. Fang Liu in her opening address to the event. “The main part of our work in this area is conducted under Annex 9 to the Chicago Convention, on Facilitation. Facilitation activities are strongly supportive of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the ICAO TRIP Strategy also significantly contributes to UN Security Council Resolutions 2178 and 2309.” The world's foremost travel document and identity management event, this latest edition of the TRIP Symposium is seen as an important step in maintaining the global momentum on anti-terrorism priorities recently achieved through the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Dr. Liu presented an aviation security brief to the UN Security Council this September, having also been invited to its Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) meeting in July of 2017. Along with enhanced screening and security checks, the CTC has highlighted the important role of airlines in tracking the global movement of higher risk passengers. “Specifically, the CTC recognized the importance of national authorities sharing advanced passenger information (API),” Dr. Liu noted. “And while many States have not yet introduced related API programmes, I would like to remind them all that API sharing became mandatory under ICAO Annex 9 as of 23 October this year.” 2017 TRIP Symposium sessions provided participants with new insights into latest screening and risk-based security measures, while stressing the importance of partnerships and capacity-building as States work to shore up their respective lines of defence. “States' implementation of the TRIP strategy requires coordinated action between many government and industry entities,” Dr. Liu commented, “but we are also aware that TRIP implementation capacities vary from government to government. ICAO and States are addressing this gap by fostering cooperation among both States and industry, intensifying coordination at regional and local levels, and by mobilizing donor contributions.” The extended TRIP planning and implementation guidance needed by States was further addressed at the event through the launch of ICAO's TRIP Compendium. The new and comprehensive reference document showcases related initiatives by partners such as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), INTERPOL, the European Union, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), while further collating a range of additional ICAO guidance material. The 2017 TRIP Symposium coincided with two important ICAO workshops on its Public Key Directory (PKD) and new approaches to API, side-events conducted in partnership with the United Nations' Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (UNCTED) and other international organizations. Panama has recently become the 59th State to take advantage of the PKD's encrypted validation, which maximizes the benefits of ePassport security, but Dr. Liu stressed that ICAO expects to see greater buy-in the months ahead. “Although more than 80 per cent of the ePassports in global circulation are issued by States already participating in the PKD, many are still not taking advantage of it to authenticate the chip-based data,” she reiterated. The 2017 TRIP Symposium was centred around the theme of “Making Air Travel more Secure and Efficient”, reflecting the fact that well-designed security technologies also support the improvement of the passenger experience and the efficiency of facilitation processes more generally. “It is only by ensuring both of these priorities in a balanced way that our proposed solutions will be truly sustainable,” Dr. Liu concluded. While benefitting from the event and its workshops, 2017 TRIP Symposium participants also enjoyed a wide-ranging exhibition showcasing the latest industry technology and process innovations. The event gathered close to 600 officials from 82 States and 14 international organizations and will conclude at ICAO today. https://www.icao.int/Newsroom/Pages/ICAO-traveller-identification-event-highlights-key-aviation-role-in-combatting-terrorism-and-cross-border-crime.aspx

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  October 16, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR

  The US Navy’s ‘Manhattan Project’ has its leader

  David B. Larter WASHINGTON – The US Navy's top officer has tasked a former surface warfare officer turned engineering duty officer to create a powerful, all-connecting network service leaders believe they will need to fight and win against a high-end foe such as China. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday tasked Rear Adm. Douglas Small to lead an effort that will “develop networks, infrastructure, data architecture, tools, and analytics that support the operational and developmental environment that will enable our sustained maritime dominance.” Calling the effort “Project Overmatch,” Gilday called it the Navy's top priority after the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine. “Beyond recapitalizing our undersea deterrent, there is no higher developmental priority in the U.S. Navy,” Gilday said. “All other efforts are supporting you. Your goal is to enable a Navy that swarms the sea, delivering synchronized lethal and non-lethal effects from near-and-far, every axis, and every domain.” In the past, Gilday has referred to the effort to field a powerful network as its “Manhattan Project,” harkening back to the rapid development of the atomic bomb in the 1940s. The urgency behind the effort to create this network highlights the growing sense of unease the Navy has around its position in the world as China builds towards its goal of achieving first-rate military power status by 2049. “The Navy's ability to establish and sustain sea control in the future is at risk," Gilday said in his letter. “I am confident that closing this risk is dependent on enhancing Distributed Maritime Operations through a teamed manned/unmanned force that exploits artificial intelligence and machine learning. I am not confident we are building the Naval Operational Architecture connecting and enabling this future force as quickly as we must.” The network is to connect with the Air Force's Joint All-Domain Command and Control effort, which the services are all lining up behind. Breaking Defense first reported the memo. Small started his career as a surface warfare officer but became an engineering duty officer in 1997. He has a background in electronic warfare and above-water sensors, as well as work at the Missile Defense Agency. In the Oct. 1 memo, Gilday has tasked him to report after 60 days, then every 90 days after that. In a separate memo to Vice Adm. James Kilby, the Navy's top warfighting requirements officer, Gilday said he wanted the Navy to develop both a concept of operations and a coherent kill chain based on an “any-sensor, any-shooter,” construct, an idea that would mean that any track obtained by any sensor can be passed to any ship or platform with a missile with which to kill it, something that would be enabled by Small's network. ‘We don't have and adequate net' In comments last year, Gilday said the Navy needed to move out with urgency to create a powerful network. “The biggest challenge for us is to join all the main command and control,” Gilday said. “We're building netted weapons, netted platforms, and netted [command-and-control] nodes, but we don't have an adequate net, and that's a critical piece.” The Navy has been working toward a concept of operations that links its ships, aircraft and unmanned platforms by way of communications relay nodes — such as small drones — or whole ships — such as the future frigate or high-tech aircraft like the E-2D Hawkeye. The idea is to spread the force out over a wide area, as opposed to clustered around a carrier, to put a maximum burden on Chinese intelligence and reconnaissance assets. This spread-out, networked force would connect the various shooters so that if any individual node in the network sees something to kill, any Navy or Air Force asset with weapons within range can kill it. This has led to a push for ever-longer-range missiles. But to make it work, all the pieces must be linked on a reliable communications network. The current architecture, according to the Navy, is insufficient for the job, given Chinese and Russian investments in electronic warfare that can interfere with communications. https://www.c4isrnet.com/naval/2020/10/14/the-us-navys-manhattan-project-has-its-leader/