US working with ‘Five Eyes’ nations, Japan on information warfare

On the same subject

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  November 18, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  US Air Force chief’s top modernization priorities aren’t what you think they are

  By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force is spending tens of billions of dollars every year to buy new aircraft, including F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, KC-46 tankers, the T-7A trainer jet and more. But none of those platforms makes the list of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown's top three modernization priorities. “In some cases, I'm not so much enamored with airplanes, although, you know, I flew airplanes,” Brown said during a Nov. 12 interview where Defense News asked him to list his top three weapons priorities for the Air Force. “It's really the capability” that matters, he said. "And as we look at, you know, future conflicts, we may be fighting differently. I don't know that for a fact. But when I came in, cyber wasn't a thing. Now it is. Space was a benign environment. Now, not as much. Here's what Brown put on his list: 1. Nuclear modernization Brown pointed to the recapitalization of the Air Force's nuclear weapons and delivery systems as his No. 1 modernization priority. “Nuclear modernization is there at the top,” Brown said. “That's important.” The Air Force plans to field new ICBMs and develop a new stealth bomber, almost concurrently, through the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent and B-21 Raider programs. During Brown's four years as chief of staff, both efforts will hit critical milestones. The B-21 program is further along, having completed a critical design review in 2018. The first B-21 bomber is currently under construction by Northrop Grumman at the company's facilities in Palmdale, California. In August, Maj. Gen. Mark Weatherington, commander of Eighth Air Force, said the aircraft would fly in 2022. The Air Force plans to buy at least 100 B-21s, though it is considering a larger program of record. Meanwhile, the Air Force awarded Northrop a $13 billion contract for the GBSD program in September. Although the legacy Minuteman III ICBMs won't begin to be retired and replaced until 2029, it will be Brown's job to ensure the program stays on track and gets the funding it needs during the pivotal early days of its engineering and manufacturing development stage. Aside from major delivery systems, the Air Force is also pursuing a dual-capable air-launched cruise missile: the Long Range Standoff Missile. The Air Force is responsible for two legs of the nuclear triad — intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear bombers — with the Navy responsible for ballistic missile submarines. With the Navy currently replacing its current Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines with the Columbia class, all of the nation's major nuclear modernization bills will be coming to a head around the same time. That may create pressure on the Air Force's and the Navy's budgets in the coming years, especially as spending is projected to flatten. But the services have contended there is no time to waste when it comes to nuclear modernization — all programs must stay on schedule. 2. Advanced Battle Management System Like his predecessor, now-retired Gen. Dave Goldfein, Brown wants the Air Force's shooters and sensors to be able to instantaneously share data with the joint force — a concept the military has termed Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control. Brown's second priority, the Advanced Battle Management System, is the Air Force's effort to field a series of technologies that will make CJADC2 a reality. “I look at ABMS [as critical] because that's going to help us enable our decision-making and how we contribute to Joint All-Domain Command and Control,” Brown said. (The “C” in the concept's name was recently added.) However, Brown acknowledged the service has more work to do to convince lawmakers of the viability of the ABMS program. The Air Force envisions ABMS as a family of systems — think everything from cloud computing technologies, artificial intelligence algorithms and smart devices alongside traditional communications gear like radios. Instead of issuing exact requirements, the service wants to test what industry has available in a series of “on ramp” exercises, eventually buying what works after technologies are customized to meet user needs. Congress, however, has been skeptical. While the Air Force requested $302 million for the program in fiscal 2021, the House and Senate Appropriations committees would subtract anywhere from $50 million to almost $100 million from that sum, citing concerns about the service's acquisition strategy and lack of detailed requirements. “That's feedback to me, feedback to the Air Force that something is maybe being lost in the translation,” Brown said. “We're doing this a bit different than we have done a traditional acquisition program. ... And for us, for the Hill, it is a bit different. I think it's an area that we, as an Air Force, do need to do a little bit better job of how we talk it up.” 3. Cutting-edge acquisition methods Brown's third modernization priority isn't a program at all: He wants to see continued advancements in new acquisition methods that allow the Air Force to more quickly buy new equipment at lower prices. Currently, “by the time [new technology] gets to the hands of the war fighter, the software that's in it is a decade or two decades or 15 years old. How are we able to do things a bit faster in that regard?” Brown said. He pointed to advanced manufacturing processes like digital engineering, which employs detailed data and models during the design of a product, and simulates how it will be manufactured, tested, operated and sustained throughout its life cycle. Air Force acquisition executive Will Roper has heralded techniques like digital engineering for enabling the rapid development and recent first flight of a full-scale demonstrator aircraft, which was tested as part of the service's Next Generation Air Dominance program. Roper told Defense News in September that it will be up to Brown and other Air Force leaders to decide whether it's worth buying into the Digital Century Series plan for NGAD, which would involve the service more rapidly purchasing small batches of aircraft from various manufacturers. While Brown didn't comment on whether the Air Force has committed to the Digital Century Series model for purchasing future combat jets, he cited the approach as one that could potentially speed up the fielding of new technologies. “If we keep doing the same approach we have since I've been in the Air Force and expect a different result, then we're not going to do very well,” Brown said. “We have to change our approach. And this drives change in our thinking, change about how we think about acquisition, it changes how we as an Air Force engage with and collaborate with [the Office of the Secretary of Defense], with [the Pentagon's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office], with the Hill, with industry. And, you know, I think we've gotten some traction in certain areas, but it's going to require constant dialogue and collaboration and transparency.” https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/11/17/the-air-force-chiefs-top-modernization-priorities-arent-what-you-think-they-are/

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  March 15, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Canada is long overdue for a national climate security strategy

  Ottawa does not have a national climate security strategy, which leaves Canada vulnerable to security risks related to climate change, writes researcher and policy analyst Luthfi Dhofier.

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  May 28, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  China cozies up to Japan and South Korea as ties with U.S. sour over coronavirus

  Chinese leader Xi Jinping is welcomed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe upon his arrival for a welcome and family photo session at Group of 20 leaders summit in Osaka last June. | POOL / VIA REUTERS BY TOMOYUKI TACHIKAWA KYODO BEIJING – While China's tensions with the United States and Australia have been sharply intensifying over its handling of the new coronavirus outbreak, the Asian power has been apparently aiming to bolster ties with its neighbors — Japan and South Korea. As relations with Washington are expected to worsen at least until the U.S. presidential election later this year, Beijing has been making friendly overtures toward Tokyo and Seoul with an eye on economic revival after the pandemic passes, diplomatic sources said. Many foreign affairs experts are carefully watching what kind of foreign policy China will adopt at the postponed annual session of the country's parliament, the National People's Congress, scheduled to be convened next Friday. Recently, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has accused Beijing of failing to curb the spread of the virus, first detected late last year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, and of not sharing relevant information in a timely manner. Trump has said the United States could even “cut off the whole relationship” with China, while threatening to impose tariffs as punishment for Beijing's alleged mishandling of the epidemic in the critical early months. Amid growing uncertainties over ties with the United States, “China is really eager to strengthen cooperation with Japan to revive the economy, which was hit hard by the virus outbreak,” a diplomatic source said. “For Japan, China is an essential trading partner. Japan also thinks the economy cannot rebound without cooperation with China. They are unlikely to be willing to ignite a controversy,” he added. In March, the Chinese Foreign Ministry abruptly announced a temporary ban on foreigners entering the country. The measure has applied even to those who hold a valid visa or residence permit. Beijing, however, has sounded out Tokyo on partially easing the restriction so that businesspeople who test negative for the new virus can travel between the countries, Japanese government sources said. China has already started to allow the entry of South Korean businesspeople meeting certain conditions in an attempt to ensure a smooth supply chain, which has been seriously disrupted in the wake of the virus spread. President Xi Jinping was quoted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry as telling South Korean President Moon Jae-in during a phone conversation on Wednesday that Beijing and Seoul “were the quickest to set up a joint response mechanism, and have maintained a track record of zero cross-border infections.” “The two sides also opened the first ‘fast-track lane' for urgently needed travels without compromising control efforts to facilitate the unimpeded operation of the industrial chain, supply chain and logistic chain in the region,” Xi told Moon. A source familiar with the situation in East Asia said, “For the time being, China's diplomacy may be determined by how much some countries can contribute to the economy. I'll be paying attention to what Foreign Minister Wang Yi says at the National People's Congress.” Tokyo has also taken a softer stand against China than other nations, as the governments of the world's second- and third-biggest economies have been trying to improve their ties by effectively shelving bilateral rows. Japanese Ambassador to Canada Yasuhisa Kawamura was quoted by China's Embassy in the country as telling Ambassador Cong Peiwu on May 8 that Tokyo is opposed to politicizing the pandemic and will work in tandem with Beijing to prevent infections. Earlier this month, the Japan Coast Guard said two China Coast Guard ships had approached and chased a Japanese fishing boat in Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The group of uninhabited islets, called Diaoyu in China, are controlled by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing. Relations between the two countries have been often frayed by the territorial dispute, but strains did not escalate this time. Globally, more than 4.5 million cases of infection with the new virus have been confirmed, with the number of deaths exceeding 300,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Meanwhile, China is facing some pressure over other countries regarding the virus outbreak, including Canberra that has asked for an independent investigation into the origins of the new coronavirus, prompting China to suspend beef imports from four major Australian meat processors, citing labeling and certification issues, in an apparent retaliatory move. “We will need an independent inquiry” to “learn the lessons,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters on April 23. Australia is one of China's largest trading partners. “Now people are aware of my view about having the sort of authorities that would enable independent public health inspectors to be able to go into areas where a virus of potential pandemic implications can be understood quickly,” Morrison added. The Chinese Embassy in Canberra released a statement on April 28 saying Ambassador Cheng Jingye has “called on Australia to put aside ideological bias, stop political games and do more ... to promote the bilateral relations.” The Chinese Commerce Ministry has indicated that, following an 18-month investigation, it will impose anti-dumping tariffs on Australian barley. The punitive step would deal a stunning blow to Australia's agricultural sector. “If an independent inquiry is conducted, China may be blamed for the virus outbreak. China is worried that the proposal will be raised at the WHO's general assembly that will begin Monday,” a diplomatic source said, referring to the World Health Organization. China is also at odds with the United States, Europe, New Zealand and others over Taiwan's participation in the WHO as an observer. Beijing has long considered the self-governing, democratic island a renegade province awaiting reunification. The WHO has been criticized by the United States and some of its allies for having turned a blind eye when China allegedly withheld information that could have helped limit the epidemic. The global body's director general, Tedros Ghebreyesus, has strenuously rejected such accusations. Trump, who is believed to be attacking Beijing to gain public support ahead of the presidential election, has been one of the strongest critics of the WHO, calling it “a puppet for China.” In recent weeks he has frozen funding to the U.N. agency. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has also said Japan, along with the European Union, will seek an investigation into the WHO's initial response to the coronavirus spread at the two-day annual meeting of its decision-making body in a virtual setting. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/05/17/national/politics-diplomacy/china-japan-ties-us-coronavirus/#.Xs_4ijpKiUl