March 16, 2021 | International, Land
America now accounts for 37 percent of global arms exports, almost double that of its closest competitor Russia, according to new information from SIPRI.
https://www.defensenews.com/global/2021/03/15/us-increases-dominance-of-global-arms-exports/
November 28, 2024 | International, Land
Incidents of drone incursions near US air bases in the UK and Russian IRBM use in Ukraine raised concerns over the UK air defence capability.
June 25, 2020 | International, Aerospace
By: Ian Williams In 2017, I helped author the CSIS report “Missile Defense 2020,” a broad look at the history, status and future of the U.S. homeland missile defense system known as Ground-based Midcourse Defense. The report argued that the establishment of GMD had put the United States in an advantageous position relative to the North Korean missile threat, but this advantage would be short-lived if the United States failed to improve GMD through incremental milestones and regular testing. GMD has had some notable achievements with this strategy. The Pentagon, however, seems to be moving away from this proven approach to GMD, attempting great leaps rather than manageable steps. This riskier approach could make the United States less secure over the near and long term. Until recently, GMD had been following a well-defined road map, with good results. After a series of flight-test failures from 2010-2013, the Missile Defense Agency began a rigorous effort to root out anomalies within the system's Ground-Based Interceptors, or GBI. MDA carried out a successful intercept in 2014, followed by intercepting an intercontinental ballistic missile-class target for the first time in 2017. In 2019, GMD engaged an ICBM target with a salvo of two GBIs, marking another first for the system. MDA also expanded the fleet to 44 GBIs and is constructing a new Long Range Discrimination Radar in Alaska to provide the system much-needed sensor support. These achievements were supposed to be followed by an incremental modernization of the GBIs. The plan was to incorporate a new Redesigned Kill Vehicle around the year 2020. The RKV would be similar in concept to those currently deployed but incorporate new technologies and nearly 20 years of lessons learned. Another part of the plan was to give the GBIs a new booster, one that gave the war fighter the option of using either two or three stages, thereby providing the system more time and space to engage incoming missiles. MDA also set its sights on a set of longer-term objectives. These goals included a space-based sensor layer for tracking missile threats, and a GBI equipped with multiple kill vehicles that would greatly expand the capacity of the GBI fleet. While the volume kill concept had great appeal, MDA recognized the need for a developmental step between the current kill vehicles and a more advanced, unproven concept. Historically, U.S. missile defense has done best when pursuing steady, achievable goals. The highly successful Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program, for example, has consistently adhered to the mantra: “Build a little, test a little, learn a lot.” The RKV program, however, ran into delays. Yet, rather than continue trying to fix the program, the Pentagon opted to abandon it and skip directly to a more advanced, multi-kill vehicle approach called the Next Generation Interceptor. NGI is an ambitious, 10-plus year endeavor that carries significant risk. In the near term, it means that the president's goal to add 20 more GBIs to the fleet will go unmet, as those GBIs were supposed to be capped with RKVs. Any expansion to the GBI fleet before 2030 will require the design and construction of a modernized unitary kill vehicle of some kind. Absent any effort to expand or modernize the GBI fleet, homeland missile defense will likely fall behind the North Korean missile threat while NGI matures over the next 10 years. The decline will increase U.S. vulnerability to coercion by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at a time when the U.S. military is scrambling to address Chinese and Russian aggression. Furthermore, a major delay of NGI a decade from now (or worse, a failure for NGI to materialize at all) would leave the United States with a fleet of GBIs falling rapidly into obsolescence, squandering decades of resources and effort. To be clear, the United States should continue developing NGI. Missile threats to the U.S. homeland continue to grow at an alarming pace, in quantity and complexity. But the Pentagon and Congress should support these longer-term efforts while still investing in nearer-term options that keep U.S. homeland defenses current to North Korean missile capabilities, hedge against NGI failure and preserve U.S. investments in the GMD system. A potential path forward may lie in the Senate's version of the fiscal 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which contains draft language that would require the deployment of 20 additional GBIs equipped with an interim, unitary kill vehicle by 2026. Three years ago, we titled our study of GMD “Missile Defense 2020” because we believed that this year would be the start of a new chapter in U.S. homeland missile defense. Obviously, much has changed with the cancellation of RKV. Yet, despite all its challenges, this year may still provide the opportunity to make the kind of decisions that will strengthen our national security in the near and long term. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/06/24/countering-missile-threats-means-addressing-the-present-while-planning-for-the-future/
June 27, 2019 | International, Other Defence
By: Todd South FORT BELVOIR, Va. – Beginning in July, soldiers in Hawaii and at Fort Benning, Georgia will be able to buy the Army's newest field uniform – the Improved Hot Weather Combat Uniform. Following the first delivery of 2,000 uniforms to those sites, the Army will roll out more batches of the uniform in six more waves through February 2020 when it will be available at all military clothing stores. Don't sweat it yet. The IHWCU is not a clothing item required for inspections but it is an option that soldiers will have to use how they see fit in hot climates and even in garrison in situations where they would wear the Army Combat Uniform. The IHWCU maintains the same Operational Camouflage Pattern as the current ACU and comes in at about the same price, which runs approximately $100 for the set, depending on sizes, Col. Stephen Thomas, project manager, soldier protection and individual equipment at Program Executive Office-Soldier told Army Times. The most notable change when the two uniforms are side by side is that the IHWCU has no breast pockets. But changes go deeper once a user dons the lighter, more breathable and streamlined uniform built to help keep soldiers cool with improved airflow but also more comfortable with a new material that dries from soaking wet within 60 minutes. Thomas got to experience that firsthand recently when wearing the new uniform to a Pentagon meeting and getting caught in a downpour. “As soon as we pull in, the bottom falls out of the sky,” the career light infantryman said. Walking through security, he was leaving puddles of water but by the time he finished his first meeting he was essentially dry. The seven waves of deliveries will start at 2,000 for the first wave and conclude with a 5,000- to 6,000-uniform wave next year. After that production will depend on demand, Thomas said. If soldiers like them and buy them, then the Army will order up more. The seasoned colonel recalled a more distant uniform change having a certain effect. When he was a second lieutenant, the Army had the standard Battle Dress Uniform, but it was heavier than necessary for hot climates. So, similarly the Army produced a “lightweight” summer BDU, which also was not a required clothing item but quickly became the standard uniform most soldiers wore for comfort. “What ended up happening is it became a uniform of choice,” Thomas said. “I think this will have the same results.” The new uniform uses a 57 percent nylon and 43 percent cotton blend to reduce the weight of the uniform by a pound and increasing drying rates and air flow. Other not immediately recognizable but important additions include reinforced elbow and knee areas, helping to prevent ripping. Changes to contours by designers have used a “raglan” sleeve that is more fitted, less baggy with less bunching or binding as is sometimes common with the current ACU, Thomas said. The knee areas are also better tailored to allow for movement where the ACU can sometimes snag or drag when wet, said Lester Smith, systems acquisitions manager at PEO Soldier. And the crotch gusset allows for the same freedom of movement in the trousers, also preventing drag and keeping the pants in a better position, especially when loaded down with cargo pocket items or wet. How the Army developed the uniform includes laboratory and field testing by scientists at the then-Natick Soldier Systems Center in Massachusetts. That work kicked off in 2015, after soldiers pointed out problems with the existing uniform options for hot, wet environments such as those often encountered by soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii and soldiers rotating through the ongoing Pacific Pathways exercises that partners U.S. soldiers with Indo-Pacific region militaries, many in very hot, often jungle environments. The results were pushed to PEO Soldier in 2017, which did a large scale test with 25th Division soldiers and others beginning in January 2018 and which resulted in further changes and adjustments that ultimately became the soon-to-release IHWCU. Along the way, the Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center, 25th Infantry Division, 6th Ranger Training Brigade, Jungle Operations Training Center and Maneuver Center of Excellence contributed to testing and evaluations. Pentaq, NIB, Goodwill Industries and ReadyOne are the companies producing the uniform for military clothing stores. Key features of the new IHWCU include: Blouse Single-breasted Raglan sleeve front with a five (5) button closure Fold-down collar with a fusible interlining Long sleeves with cuffs with one button and three buttonholes for an adjustable cuff tab The top of the button down closure is open to accommodate a pen Front placket has a loop tape for the Rank Patch Coat has two bellow-style top opening upper sleeve pockets and includes an eyelet drain-hole Sleeves have an elbow reinforcement patch Both sleeves have an Identification Friend or Foe tab cover that can be opened and closed using hook and loop fastener IFF tab cover is centered and sewn onto the sleeve above the upper sleeve pocket Double turned and cleaned finished hem Trousers Covered fly with a four (4) button/ buttonhole closure, or three (3) button/buttonhole closure, depending on size Seven (7) belt loops Two (2) side hanging pockets Two (2) front side pleated cargo pockets with three (3) button/ two (2) buttonhole closure flaps High end of cargo pockets at front of pocket rather than rear like ACU Two (2) lower leg side pockets with one (1) button/ one (1) buttonhole closure flaps Side cargo pockets shall have three (3) sewn-in eyelets hidden by the bellows Double needle seat patch and a pleated knee reinforcement incorporated into the pant leg at the knee One (1) piece single gusset Two (2) front side hanging pockets Mesh fabric attached on the inside of the trousers at the bottom of the legs as inner cuffs Bottom of the trousers leg hems, the inner cuffs, and the waistband shall have drawstrings How the IHWCU came to be First they stripped down the ACU and then added the following items: Chest, calf and back pockets were removed to reduce weight and dry time. Blousing strings were eliminated from trousers to allow for airflow and drainage. The elbows, knees and seat were reinforced with 330 denier nylon, a thicker nylon that increases durability and abrasion resistance. Crotch gussets, extra patches of fabric that reduces stress on the seams, were added to prevent blowouts common to the Flame Resistant ACUs. Buttons were used on the ACU blouse instead of a zipper, with the intent to increase air flow. Another hot weather version in early testing incorporated mesh into the uniform design and had all of the same changes as the stripped down ACU except it used a zipper instead of buttons. With this version soldiers didn't need to blouse their boots because a mesh material inside the trouser leg along the ankle. By tucking in the mesh, soldiers could get air flow and also keep insects or leeches from getting at them. Some early testing added a “knit yoke” or wicking material to the back of the trouser waist band. That add-on was to wick away pooling sweat that often accumulates there. Wicking draws moisture away from the body so that it can evaporate. They also looked at two different Army Combat Shirt changes, testing both a cooling material for the torso and collar and also a wicking version. Between 2015 and 2016 the Army conducted four uniform user test evaluations, three of those only on material, not design. The first was a 50/50 nylon/cotton weave with ripstop reinforcement, just like the standard ACU. The second had the same blend but used a “twill weave” to make it stronger and more tear resistant. The third used a 38/38/24 blend of nylon, cotton and PTFE, polytetrafluoroethylene: a compound use in Teflon coatings. The fourth version was 100 percent nylon ripstop. Without cotton it takes on less water and weighs less but is still as strong as nylon. The fifth version was a 57/43 nylon/cotton blend, which was the final choice for the current IHWCU. Full article: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/06/26/tired-of-sweating-in-your-acus-try-these-new-hot-weather-cammies/