US State Dept OKs potential sale of anti-ship missile system to Latvia -Pentagon

On the same subject

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  December 8, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  Defense Department Looking Beyond 5G

  12/7/2020 By Jon Harper The Pentagon continues to pump additional funding into 5G technologies that have military and commercial applications. But it is also eyeing 6G and other next-generation communications capabilities. The term 5G refers to the oncoming fifth generation of wireless networks that will yield a major improvement in data speed, volume and latency over today's fourth-gen networks, known as 4G. In October, the Defense Department announced $600 million in awards for 5G test bed and experimentation activities at five U.S. military test sites. The work will be expanded to seven additional sites next year. “These activities represent the largest full scale 5G tests for dual-use applications anywhere in the world,” Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Kratsios told reporters. Commercial partners on the sites will include AT&T, Ericsson, Federated Research, Nokia and the Scientific Research Corporation. “This testing experimentation will not only dramatically improve our warfighting capabilities, it will also bring new uses and opportunities for this technology to the private sector,” Kratsios said. “These sandboxing activities at military bases harness the department's unique authorities to pursue bold innovations and game changing technologies.” Nations that master advanced communication technologies will enjoy long-term economic and military advantages, he added. Initial use cases for 5G envisioned by the Pentagon include integrating augmented reality and virtual reality into mission planning and training; developing “smart” warehouses to enhance logistics operations; and dynamic electromagnetic spectrum sharing in congested and contested environments. Starting in 2021, there will be an emphasis on the security aspects of 5G as well as innovations in next-gen capabilities such as 6G and 7G, Joseph Evans, the Defense Department's principal director for 5G, told reporters. Broad agency announcements on those topics are slated to be released in the January 2021 timeframe, Evans said. Elsa Kania, an adjunct senior fellow with the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, suggested the Pentagon might be getting ahead of itself. “I will be a little bit skeptical of talk of 6G when 5G is still at a nascent stage in so many fronts and we have yet to explore or exploit the full potential of 5G,” she said during a panel discussion. “I'm sure we will hear much more about 6G in the years to come, but I think for the time being, keeping the focus on how to ensure that 5G itself is secure and reliable” is a better approach. https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/12/7/defense-department-looking-beyond-5g

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  January 16, 2024 | International, Aerospace

  Northrop test fires rocket motor for new nuclear missile

  Northrop Grumman aims to rein in the risks facing the Sentinel ICBM program, which Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has said is "struggling."

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  February 4, 2019 | International, Naval

  Italian row with France unsettles naval industry cooperation

  By: Tom Kington ROME — A series of diplomatic rows between France and Italy, culminating in the exchange of insults between leaders, is casting doubt on naval industry cooperation between the countries. Moves by France's Naval Group and Italy's Fincantieri to integrate their shipyard work has coincided with a crescendo of acrimony between Rome and Paris following the election last year of Italy's first populist government. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and French President Emmanuel Macron have battled over who should take responsibility for migrants that sail to Europe from Africa, with Salvini last month calling Macron a “terrible” president who deserved to be voted out of office. Italy's second deputy prime minister, Luigi Di Maio, who leads the anti-establishment Five Star party, has meanwhile openly backed the so-called Yellow Vest protesters who have rioted on the streets of France in protest at Macron's government and its policies. Asked about the verbal attacks from Rome on Jan. 27, Macron replied: “Italy is a great people; the Italian people are our friends and deserve leaders worthy of their history.” Underlying the row is the Italian government's new nationalism, which has put it at loggerheads with the European Union and Macron, who is seen by Rome as a pro-globalism politician. The spat is expected to increase as both Italy's ruling parties — Five Star and Salvini's League party — get on the campaign trail ahead of European parliamentary elections in May. Pierside troubles Analysts fear fallout for defense industry collaboration between the countries, which starts with the well-established satellite and space joint venture between Italy's Leonardo and France's Thales. But the main concern is the naval deal, which was signed last October, under which Fincantieri and Naval Group created a 50-50 joint venture to build and export naval vessels. Fincantieri CEO Giuseppe Bono said he hopes the deal is the start of wider collaboration. Speaking at the launch of Italy's ninth FREMM frigate on Jan 26, Bono played down the frictions with France, telling reporters, “We are part of the same alliance, we have common history,” and adding that the diplomatic tensions “will not influence the work we are doing with Naval Group.” But one analyst was less sanguine. “It's a complicated deal, and as it gets more complicated, external events become more influential,” said Jean Pierre Darnis, scientific adviser at Rome's IAI think tank. “If ministers from the two countries don't meet, and we are waiting for [the] next bilateral [meeting], problems won't get resolved. Right now the Italian-French business community is very concerned,” he added. The naval deal was spurred by an earlier accord for Fincantieri to take control of French shipyard Chantiers de l'Atlantique. That deal, too, was up in the air when France and Germany referred the agreement to the European Commission for anti-trust scrutiny last month. “What has happened is extremely serious, France and Germany behaved wrongly. It throws into doubt all accords,” Italy's Salvini said. Bono said he was confident the EU would not oppose the deal, given it is “in the interests of Europe,” echoing claims that a consolidated European shipbuilding industry would enable competition since it could compete with large players outside Europe. But Europe's ability to consolidate industry was again thrown into doubt in January when Macron and German leader Angela Merkel agreed to forge closer ties between Germany and France to head off the political challenge in Europe from populist governments like Italy, Hungary and Poland. One consequence, warned Italian IAI analyst Michele Nones, was that closer Franco-German ties could squeeze Italy out of access to defense industry funding provided by the new European Defence Fund. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2019/02/01/italian-row-with-france-unsettles-naval-industry-cooperation