The Finnish Defence Forces purchase pilot training services from Patria

On the same subject

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  June 23, 2021 | International, Aerospace

  German government ups the pressure in $1.1B Poseidon purchase petition

  As is the case with other large military investments awaiting a decision, the aircraft acquisition would exceed current budget projections here.

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  December 10, 2019 | International, Naval

  BREAKING: Marine Corps Planning Major Program Cuts

  By Jon Harper SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — The Marine Corps intends to divest itself of legacy systems as it transforms into a more mobile and expeditionary force, the service's commandant said Dec. 7. In recent decades Marines have been busy fighting land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But now they must prepare for a potential conflict in a naval environment against advanced adversaries such as China, Gen. David Berger told reporters at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California. “We cannot wait any longer before we start adjusting our service to what we've got to be six, seven, eight years out,” he said. “We have lots of changes we have to make and ... we have to get rid of legacy things in the Marine Corps. We've got to go on a diet. We've got to get back on ship. We've got to become expeditionary again.” What types of legacy systems will be on the chopping block? “Big, heavy things,” Berger said. “Expensive things that we can't either afford to buy or afford to maintain over the life of it. Things that don't fit aboard ships. Things that can't fire hyper velocity projectiles. Things that don't have the range that we're going to need or the precision.” Mobility will be critical in future fights, he noted. Marines must be able to operate from ships or ashore, and move back and forth between domains. Other platforms that could see cuts include manned logistics vehicles and aircraft. “All those things we're going to trim down,” Berger said. The service is also looking to add new capabilities. The commandant did not identify specific systems that the Marines plan to buy, but he provided a flavor of the types of platforms that will be on the shopping list. “Think unmanned. Think expeditionary. Think very light. Think things that we can sustain forward without a huge logistical train,” Berger said. Unmanned logistics vehicles and aircraft are examples of new technologies that the service is interested in. Human beings will still be on the battlefield, Berger noted. “I just don't need them driving a truck delivering chow” if a self-driving platform could perform the task, he said. Drones could also deliver supplies. “Amazon does it. Why wouldn't we do it?” he asked. Unmanned combat aircraft are also on the wish list, he noted. The Marine Corps has been conducting wargames and simulations to help determine how the force should be redesigned for potential future combat scenarios that might occur 10 years out. “We're in the last stages of that,” Berger said. That effort will likely wrap up in late January or early February. Force composition changes will be made over 10 years, but some will begin next year, he said. Officials are examining “every part of our air-ground team,” Berger said. A wide range of capabilities are being looked at. “From individual equipment to crew served [weapons] to F-35s and everything in between.” The analysis will help determine which programs will be killed, trimmed or added, he said. The service needs new weapon systems that can find and kill enemy ships at range from ship or shore. “We have to become a naval force that's lethal in terms of putting at risk another naval force,” Berger said. In the future, large numbers of unmanned air and ground systems could function as motherships that launch other robotic vehicles and drones to conduct missions, he said. A major funding realignment is planned over the next five years. “You'll see a little bit of it” in the fiscal year 2021 budget blueprint, Berger said. “The big muscle movement — that will come in ‘22, ‘23, ‘24 in a big way.” https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2019/12/9/marine-corps-planning-major-program-cuts

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  March 12, 2019 | International, C4ISR

  The Army hopes a new satellite will help alleviate congestion

  By: Adam Stone The U.S. Air Force is expected to launch the next satellite in its Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) program as early as March 13, a move that will bolster the military's foundational communication network. The addition comes at a time when the military is under increasing pressure to build up its communication capacity as tactical battlefield sensors and other data feeds create the need for added throughput. “The more data we use, the more congested it gets. Having more satellites gives us greater capability to deliver more information in a hurry,” said Army's Lt. Col. Anthony Whitfield, Product Manager, Wideband Enterprise Satellite Systems (PdM WESS). WGS is the military's fundamental communications network and has an estimated cost of about $4 billion, according to the Government Accountability Office. The system of 10 satellites, built by Boeing, provides bandwidth and communications for tactical C2, C4ISR, battle management and combat support information. While WGS-10 was originally slated to complete the constellation, it now seems likely more satellites may come. In the most recent omnibus spending bill, Congress appropriated funding for two additional WGS satellites, although SpaceNews reported there are questions about funding the launch of those payloads. Should those future satellites come to fruition, Army leaders would have no complaints. In addition to fielding the ground control units that operate the constellation, “the Army is also one of the biggest users of WGS, and anything that can help us to deliver information across the globe for our senior leaders to make decisions -- we would welcome that,” Whitfield said. In fact, the Army has taken steps lately to bolster its own operation capacity around WGS. In 2018 the Army's Cyber Center of Excellence unveiled a wideband training and certification system (WTCS), for students enrolled in the school's Satellite Systems Network Coordinator Course. Soldiers training to staff the Army's wideband satellite communications operations centers (WSOC) located at five military installations worldwide, can use the system to leverage classroom learning against simulations generated from real-world events. “By using [that training system] to ‘train how we fight,' WSOC operators will be better prepared to deliver their 24/7, no-fail mission to enable satellite communications for our Warfighters. It is all about operational readiness, the Army's number one priority,” said Col. Enrique Costas, the Program Manager for Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems, in announcing the new training tool. The Army's focus on supporting WGS falls in line with an overall military emphasis on the importance of satellite communications. “We must continue to build a robust SATCOM network that includes our allies and partners and leverages commercial SATCOM industries to integrate, synchronize, and share global SATCOM resources,” Air Force Gen. John Hyten, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, told the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee in 2018. “Our protected wideband communications are essential for allowing the warfighter to communicate in contested environments.” New capacity WGS-10 also will bring with it a more sophisticated payload, with more robust communications capabilities. “It provides the bandwidth to transfer your data ― that hasn't changed ― but we are always looking to move that data faster,” Whitfield said. “When we originally built WGS 1, 2 and 3 they were built to certain specs, they provided a certain capacity. Over time it has gotten better. We moved forward, we have continued to build additional capacity.” For security reasons, Army leaders have not disclosed the exact nature of the latest enhancements. In addition to supporting American forces, the enhanced networking capability will be leveraged by a coalition of allied forces that support the WGS constellation, including Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and New Zealand. Looking ahead, SATCOM analysts have said that the congressional nod toward WGS 11 and 12 could shift the dynamic away from commercial satellite providers, who have long been angling for a bigger piece of the military space market. It remains to be seen, though, whether and how the Pentagon will decide to pursue future WGS acquisitions. “There has been an analysis of alternatives for what's next. That analysis has been conducted and we are awaiting further guidance. Right now, we don't know what is next,” Whitfield said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/c2-comms/satellites/2019/03/08/the-army-hopes-a-new-satellite-will-help-alleviate-congestion