June 9, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
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January 4, 2019 | International, Land
New in 2019: Army Europe adds new units, boosts air defense, artillery
By: Todd South
The new units the Army plans to add to its troops stationed in Europe are a small but crucial part of its support of allies and force projection on the continent.
That ongoing work has seen increases in rotations, a focus on improving ground vehicle lethality and protection, and reactivating units with a European battlefield focus.
U.S. Army Europe announced in September that it would add another 1,500 troops to units that would be stationed in the following areas of Germany: Grafenwohr, Ansbach, Hohenfels and Baumholder.
Currently there are about 33,000 U.S. soldiers in Germany alone.
Though the complete standup and stationing won't conclude until September 2020, according to plans, the base of those units begins building now.
And that includes a field artillery brigade headquarters, two Multiple Launch Rocket Systems battalions and supporting units at Grafenwohr, a Short-Range Air Defense battalion at Ansbach and other supporting units at Hohenfels and Baumholder.
In addition, existing units will move within the country.
That includes one military police brigade headquarters and a battalion headquarters moving in Bavaria, a signal battalion to Baumholder and a truck company to Kaiserslautern.
These changes are part of an overall move back to power projection and ally support, which had declined following the peak of U.S. troop stationing in the 1980s, a drawdown through the 1990s and during the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Our number one priority is readiness, which must be sustained through training, personnel and equipment. We set the theater to support operational plans and contingencies throughout Europe and enable an efficient flow of forces as needed, so we must maintain critical capabilities and enhance interoperability,” Col. Joe Scrocca, spokesman for U.S. Army Europe, told Army Times.
Beginning in 2016, the Army announced nine-month deployments for an armored brigade combat team in Europe, putting more troops in the region to train with Eastern European allies, especially in Poland, Romania and the Baltics.
Today, there are more than 8,000 rotational soldiers in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
The Army also is beefing up its equipment in Europe. In late 2017, the first of the Army's upgunned Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle-Dragoon — which features a 30mm cannon instead of the previous M2 .50-caliber machine gun — arrived at the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.
The same unit was also among the first to receive the Common Remotely Operated Weapon Station capable of firing a Javelin missile, also called the CROWS-J.
The initial fielding that began in August included 86 systems across the Army with another fielding planned for late 2020.
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August 8, 2018 | International, C4ISR
In contemporary warfare, cyber trumps nukes
By: Shalom Lipner Nuclear proliferation appears to weigh heavily on U.S. President Donald Trump's mind. Standing next to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Helsinki last month, Trump said ominously that it's “probably the most important thing that we can be working on.” Since then, Trump has proposed dramatically to negotiate denuclearization with Iran — after threatening the country with “consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before” — and even floated the idea of a second meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un with the goal of dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal. For someone whose projection of power derives so intensely from online networks, Trump is surprisingly old-fashioned. During the 1964 presidential campaign, President Lyndon Johnson aired a spot deemed so controversial than it never ran a second time. As an innocent, young girl picked petals off a daisy in the park, her voice was drowned out slowly by a launch countdown. Then, narrating against the backdrop of a mushroom cloud, Johnson proclaimed: “We must either love each other, or we must die.” His Republican opponent, Barry Goldwater — the implicit warmonger who was not even mentioned by name — lost by an overwhelming margin. But the more contemporary battlefield of cyberspace merited not one single mention in Trump's remarks alongside Putin in Finland. Unless you count the infamous Democratic National Committee server, that is, which he referenced nine times. While Trump obsesses about politics, the U.S. is exposed to great danger. Drawing a direct comparison to 9/11, Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, has warned that America's “digital infrastructure ... is literally under attack.” He fingered Russia as the “most aggressive foreign actor” and awarded dishonorable mentions to China, Iran and North Korea. Trump then chose to accept Putin's denials of Russian interference over the assessment of his intelligence chiefs. His subsequent reversal was unpersuasive. Full Article: https://www.fifthdomain.com/opinion/2018/08/06/in-contemporary-warfare-cyber-trumps-nukes/
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June 11, 2019 | International, Aerospace
Fighter Competitions to Watch
Over the next decade, the world may see deliveries of 3,164 new-build combat aircraft, according to Aviation Week's Fleet Data Services. That includes a whopping 1,771 Lockheed Martin F-35s, as deliveries are expected to ramp up from 147 in 2020 to 178 in 2021. At least 386 of the aircraft to be delivered by 2029 have yet to be competitively awarded. Here is a look at some of the largest defense fighter contests underway. Full article: https://aviationweek.com/fighter-competitions-watch-0