Turkey’s navy deploys unmanned surface vessels during Denizkurdu drill

On the same subject

• 

  April 16, 2020 | International, Naval

  Philadelphia shipyard to build new dual-use merchant mariner training ships

  By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — A struggling Philadelphia shipyard got a new lease on life April 8 with the announcement that it had been selected to build up to five training ships for the Maritime Administration destined for use by civilian mariners attending state maritime academies. The contract, issued by Alaska-based company TOTE Services, tapped Philly Shipyard to build the first two national security multimission vessels, or NSMV, for a total of $630 million, according to the trade publication Marine Log. The ships, which will feature the latest navigation and bridge technologies, will be able to accommodate up to 600 cadets but will also be available for use by the federal government for disaster relief operations. The ships come with a roll-on/roll-off ramp and a crane that can be used for moving equipment and containers. The NSMVs will be 525 feet long and about 90 feet wide, or just a little smaller than a Ticonderoga-class cruiser, according to a Maritime Administration fact sheet. MARAD Administrator Mark Buzby said the contract is a win for American shipbuilding jobs. “Investing in maritime education creates more American jobs,” Buzby, a former Navy flag officer, said in a statement. "By the selection of Philly Shipyard, Inc., as the construction shipyard for the NSMV, this effort is not only bolstering the U.S. Merchant Marine, but the U.S. economy and vital transportation infrastructure as well.” Philly Shipyard primarily makes Jones Act ships, or vessels that exist only because the Jones Act mandates that goods shipped between U.S. ports must be sent on U.S.-flagged ships built and crewed by Americans. The rule is designed to preserve the domestic shipbuilding industry as a national security asset. Without it there would essentially be no domestic commercial shipbuilding industry. “Philly Shipyard only received one order per year during the last two years and was in danger of closing during 2020 unless it received additional work,” said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who recently led a study of the domestic shipbuilding industry. “Philly is important not just because it is a significant employer in the Philadelphia area, but also because it is one of the shipyards the government depends on to build smaller auxiliary and non-combatant ships such as Coast Guard cutters, NOAA research ships, and Navy unmanned surface vessels, survey ships, and towing and salvage vessels.” The vessels could also prove useful in the Navy's quest to identify a flexible hull that can meet a number of missions as it seeks to replace its aging logistics fleet, said Sal Mercogliano, a maritime historian at Campbell University. “I think those vessels serve as a potential hull form for maybe a hospital ship, maybe a command ship, an aviation logistics ship, a sub tender: There's potential there,” Mercogliano said. The Navy planned to develop and field two variants of a Common Hull Auxiliary Multi-Mission Platform, one for sealift purposes and one for other auxiliary ship missions such as submarine tending, hospital ships, and command-and-control platforms. But late last year, the White House blanched at a cost estimate of upward of $1.3 billion for the submarine tender variant of the CHAMP platform, planned for acquisition in 2024. For moving lots of tanks and howitzers across long distances, the NSMV isn't well-suited. But for many of the other missions the Navy needs to recapitalize, including its hospital ships, it could prove useful. “I don't think they'd be good for a roll-on/roll-off — it's not designed for a large mission bay,” Mercogliano said. “But I think for the hospital ship, a command ship, there's a lot of utility there.” https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/04/14/philadelphia-shipyard-tapped-to-build-new-merchant-marine-training-ships

• 

  October 30, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  DoD unveils electromagnetic spectrum superiority strategy

  Mark Pomerleau WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Defense released its highly anticipated electromagnetic spectrum superiority strategy Thursday, aimed at guiding how the department will develop capabilities as well as partner on and pursue readiness within the spectrum to gain an edge on sophisticated adversaries. In recent years, U.S. adversaries have sought high-tech methods to deny the electromagnetic spectrum, on which American forces often rely. These methods include jamming or spoofing communications, radars and munitions. “The Nation has entered an age of warfighting wherein U.S. dominance in air, land, sea, space, cyberspace, and the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) is challenged by peer and near peer adversaries,” the strategy stated. “These challenges have exposed the cross-cutting reliance of U.S. Forces on the EMS, and are driving a change in how the DoD approaches activities in the EMS to maintain an all-domain advantage." "This jeopardizes the U.S. military's ability to sense, command, control, communicate, test, train, protect, and project force effectively. Without the capabilities to assert EMS superiority, the nation's economic and national security will be exposed to undue and significant risk.” The strategy lists five strategic goals, each delving deeper into subordinate objectives. They include: Develop superior EMS capabilities. Evolve to an agile and fully integrated EMS infrastructure. Pursue total force readiness in the EMS. Secure enduring partnerships for EMS advantage. Establish effective EMS governance. “The new strategy will have wide-ranging impacts across the DoD. It will shape the future of the department, influencing how the DoD makes decisions on how best to design, resource and implement EMS concepts as a new foundation for multidomain war fighting,” a defense official said Oct. 29 during a briefing to reporters on the strategy on background because the DoD would not let them speak on-the-record. The strategy pulls from previous concepts and initiatives such as the 2013 Electromagnetic Spectrum Strategy and the 2017 electronic warfare strategy. However, since those documents were devised, the operational environment has become more complex. “The primary focus is a holistic approach to electromagnetic spectrum management and electromagnetic warfare,” the official said regarding departures from previous strategies. In the past, the official said, some of those activities were siloed while the new strategy articulates freedom of action within the spectrum through a more holistic approach. The strategy also noted that the DoD is transitioning from its definition that electronic warfare is separate from spectrum management to a more unified approach of electromagnetic spectrum operations, or EMSO. The Joint Staff updated its doctrine document in May governing electronic warfare, shifting to EMSO. The official said some of the particular technologies the department is looking for include dynamic spectrum-sharing technologies that need to incorporate sensing, accessing, sharing and maneuvers, frequency agility, frequency diversity, tools that minimize an EMS footprint, tools to reduce vulnerability detection, and resiliency against radio frequency-enabled cyberattacks. “We're also emphasizing modular, open-systems approaches, software designed systems, [a] more platform-agnostic approach instead of defined platforms as well as being multifunction,” the official said. The strategy paints broad strokes for what's desired and required beneath each strategic goal. However, the Pentagon is still working on a formal implementation plan to ingrain them within the department and armed services. Within 180 days of being officially signed, the senior designated official, who is currently the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will create a road map and implementation plan alongside the Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations Cross-Functional Team. A defense official said the way forward should be finalized by March 2021. That plan will have a series of tasks aligned to the five goals. What's more, the implementation team will identify risks to the department and outline trade-offs that must be made against other priorities within the Pentagon, the official said. “As part of the implementation plan, we are trying to set the conditions to make the appropriate trades that are going to be necessary with all the different priorities and the modernization efforts that are going to be required as part of this strategy execution,” the official said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/electronic-warfare/2020/10/29/dod-unveils-electromagnetic-spectrum-superiority-strategy/

• 

  May 5, 2021 | International, Naval, Land

  Textron Unveils New Prototype for Advance Reconnaissance Vehicle Program