US Army plans to grow Patriot missile defense force

On the same subject

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  October 18, 2022 | International, Naval

  Industry cluster forms around European patrol corvette program

  Touted as a poster child for European defense industry integration, the effort is picking up steam with support from European Union coffers.

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  July 27, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  A long-term future for Robins Air Force Base and US national defense

  By: Sen. David Perdue I grew up in Warner Robins, Georgia. As a member of the United States Senate Armed Services Committee and a former member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I know that Robins Air Force Base is an integral piece of our country's national security. Since 1996, Robins has been home to the Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System mission. JSTARS is a platform that helps with intelligence gathering and battle management. JSTARS planes are very much in demand. However, JSTARS is an aging platform. Russia and China have modernized their air defenses to keep America's specialized capabilities, like JSTARS, out of potentially denied airspace. There are growing areas of denied airspace around the world that JSTARS planes simply cannot penetrate. The Obama administration had proposed a JSTARS recapitalization that was on track to leave a significant capability gap. We fought that in the United States Senate and House by pushing for a JSTARS recapitalization that would continue the mission in non-denied airspace with new planes and avoid that gap. Now, President Donald Trump and his national security team have created an opportunity for a long-term solution for both denied and non-denied airspace. The final version of this year's National Defense Authorization Act is supported by President Trump, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson. First, the plan in the defense authorization bill secures the future of the JSTARS platform for the next 10 years, including the more than 2,500 jobs that JSTARS supports. Second, the plan accelerates the development of the Advanced Battle Management System, or ABMS, mission, which is a multidimensional platform that can access both denied and non-denied airspace. Third, the Air Force has named Robins Air Force Base as the host base of this new ABMS mission. This means that Robins will be a force for years to come, while providing for our long-term national defense by developing this technology more quickly than we would have been able to do otherwise. Clearly, this is a major win for Robins Air Force Base, the middle Georgia community and for our national defense overall. It provides certainty for the current JSTARS mission for the next 10 years. It accelerates the development of next-generation mission capabilities so desperately needed by our armed forces today. Finally, the Air Force has assured Robins' future role in dealing with modern-day threats by naming Robins the host base of the Advanced Battle Management System. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., is a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2018/07/26/a-long-term-future-for-robins-air-force-base-and-us-national-defense

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  September 19, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  Air Force Uses AI to Accelerate Pilot Training

  By Mandy Mayfield The Air Force is hoping a suite of new artificial intelligence and augmented reality technologies will help accelerate the speed at which pilots and airmen are trained, the Air Education and Training Command leader said Sept. 18. “We are actually allowing our students to explore these [AI] tools of learning and measuring what's going on in their brain, what's going on in their body, what's going on with the effectiveness of them doing the job we are trying to teach them to do,” Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, Air Education and Training Command commander, said at the Air Force Association's annual Air, Space and Cyber Conference at National Harbor, Maryland. AETC is in the midst of an experimental program, the Pilot Training Next initiative, which is utilizing AI to train pilots — in hopes of not only streamlining the process of airmen becoming flight ready — but also improving the quality of their education, Kwast said. “So the data is very promising in that we can accentuate the adult brain to learn fast, better and, I'll say, [with] more ‘stick' — meaning that when you learn something you remember it longer and better,” Kwast added. As pilots use the “emerging technologies” to learn, the Air Force is learning alongside them, aggregating each pilot's data onto a grade sheet, he said. Although leadership is enthusiastic about the new technologies, the program is still underway and results about its effectiveness aren't available yet,, Kwast said. “We aren't at the place where we can say what we can do with it yet.” Some of the beta testing should be completed by the summer of 2019, he added. Maj. Justin Chandler, a Pilot Training Next team member, also touted the technologies, saying they allow future airmen 24-hour access to pilot instruction. “The artificial intelligence allows us to ensure that they [student pilots] don't pick up bad habits,” Chandler said. http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2018/9/18/air-force-uses-ai-to-accelerate-pilot-training