March 9, 2023 | International, Naval
Commandant pushes amphibious warship funding as next budget emerges
Berger the Pentagon isn’t giving the Navy and Marine Corps a sufficient budget to fund amphibious warships.
July 22, 2020 | International, C4ISR
WASHINGTON — The Army has created a new entity within is operations and plans directorate, G-3/5/7, to focus on non-physical capabilities and better ready the service for multidomain operations.
The new directorate, Department of the Army's Management Office-Strategic Operations (DAMO-SO), was created about six months ago and replaces DAMO-CY, which focused primarily on cyberspace operations. The organization now encompasses cyber, electronic warfare, information operations, space, enterprise IT networks, tactical communications networks, data architectures and artificial intelligence.
“We're an organization that pulls together a lot of the multidomain operating capabilities. Things like cyber, electronic warfare, information operations, space,” Brig. Gen. Martin Klein, director of DAMO-SO, told C4ISRNET in a July 20 interview. “We're also bringing into the directorate the capabilities of really underwriting the Army's ability to digitally transform into this new era ... Part of what we've been asked to do is underwrite multidomain operations and then to digitally enable our warfighting systems.”
The office will serve as the Army point of contact for joint initiatives with the other services, namely Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2).
Klein said his organization is the Army's lead entity for the JADC2 cross functional team. The team will also work with the Air Force in experimenting with its Advanced Battle Management System, which is considered an early possibility for the JADC2 program.
“One of the tenets of multidomain operations is the recognition that we fight and win as a joint force,” he said. “A lot of what I do, frankly, is develop capabilities with the Army but coordinate those capabilities throughout our sister services to make sure that we can fight and win certainly in the competition space ... in conflict if it should arise.”
Additionally, the team will work to standardize data and data architectures within the Army and joint force to ensure interoperability.
But a key distinction between the predecessor organization and the newly formed office was the importance of space, Klein said.
“As the Army looked at the Multidomain Task Force and, in particular, how to win in multidomain contested operations, we came to the realization of how interdependent our space-based capabilities are,” he explained.
One of the key premises to the office was the notion of better posturing the Army in the competition phase against near peer adversaries that are seeking to exploit the so-called gray zone below the threshold of armed conflict.
The new office works as an integrator across the Army – especially within the G-3/5/7 – of how offices can better organize, restructure or resource these non-kinetic capabilities. Along with Army Futures Command, it also looks at emerging capabilities and, with the various program executive offices, examines what capabilities are needed now.
“What we primarily do is we address this capability through a policy lens, but we also go forward and do resourcing ... we work with a strategy team here in the Army G-3/5/7 to make sure that competition and conflict strategies are deconflicted and we certainly work without operational folks ... to make sure when we go through a plan and when we mobilize ... that we have the right organizations within our cyber, electronic warfare and our information operations space,” Klein said.
Klein said he was tasked to keep his finger on the pulse of the emerging multidomain concept as others across the Army look at how the Army will fight in 2028 and beyond. In doing so, his outfit will make recommendations regarding force structure changes or capabilities that could be endorsed by the Army.
“End to end, we're developing a desired capability that our chief and that our secretary of defense need in order to fight and win against a near peer adversary,” he said.
DAMO-SO will participate in upcoming exercises and advise on combat training center rotations to ensure units are defending against these non-kinetic tools that can cripple communications. One exercise includes the forthcoming Project Convergence, a data sharing test and experiment to take place in the fall.
“It's really bringing long range precision fires, weapon systems and some of our modernization efforts together under the rubric of a data enabled cloud orchestrated system to be able to do the experimentation necessary,” he said.
Ultimately, Klein said he hopes the office will provide a great benefit.
“As that lead integrator, we can bring multiple perspectives from multiple different vantage points all the way form strategic down to the tactical to make sure that 0 as we're developing these capabilities, as we're exercising and as we're coming up with new things of use in the existing systems - we get back best practices,” he said.
March 9, 2023 | International, Naval
Berger the Pentagon isn’t giving the Navy and Marine Corps a sufficient budget to fund amphibious warships.
January 4, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY Fulcrum IT Services LLC, Centreville, Virginia, has been awarded a labor-hour contract (HHM402-19-C-0012) with a ceiling amount of $128,003,638 for all-source intelligence analysis and operational support services to the Joint Intelligence Operations Center–Korea (JIOC-K), U.S. Forces Korea and six divisions in Korea. Work will be performed in the Republic of Korea with an expected completion date of July 13, 2024, if all options are exercised. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $10,000,000 are being obligated at time of award. This contract was a competitive acquisition and seven offers were received. The Virginia Contracting Activity, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity AIR FORCE Defense Research Associates Inc.,* Beavercreek, Ohio, has been awarded an $11,098,274 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for research and development. This contract provides research and development to transition technologies related to long-duration multispectral sensor technology utilizing radiation from numerous sources to obtain warfighter objectives/advantages. Work will be performed in Dayton, Ohio, and is expected to be complete by January 6, 2025. This award is the result of a Small-Business Innovation Research Phase III request for proposal. Fiscal 2018 research and development funds in the amount of $200,000 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio is the contracting activity (FA8650-19-C-1600). Northrop Grumman Corp., Aerospace Systems, Azusa, California, has been awarded a $7,688,550 contract option modification (P00029) to contract FA8810-15-C-0001 for Defense Support Program (DSP) on-orbit satellite and anomaly resolution support. This support provides root-cause analysis as a key component of the lifetime extension of DSP. Work will be performed in Azusa, California; Aurora, Colorado; and Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $7,688,550 are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value is $108,244,260. Space and Missile Systems Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, is the contracting activity. Awarded on Dec. 31, 2018. ARMY Torch Technologies Inc., Huntsville, Alabama, was awarded an $8,802,273 modification (000043) to contract W31P4Q-09-A-0021 for engineering, integration, test and analysis. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2019. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $8,802,273 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. CORRECTION: The contract announced on Jan. 2, 2019, for $60,736,752 to O'gara-Hess & Eisenhardt Armoring Co. LLC,* Fairfield, Ohio, has not been awarded. No award date has been determined at this time. *Small business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1723912/source/GovDelivery/
March 15, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Security
The bilateral cooperation comes in the wake of the Abraham Accords signed Sept. 15 between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, highlighting a new era of diplomatic relations and potential defense agreements between the two countries.