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By: Todd South BETHESDA, Md. — The explosive ordnance disposal community has played a key role in operations in recent wars, and that role will only grow as the Pentagon shifts its focus to major combat operations against near-peer threats. With that growing role, the equipment those EOD technicians carry with them will change, too. At the National Defense Industrial Association's annual Global EOD Symposium recently, multiple speakers focused on how the community has spent the past two decades primarily working the improvised explosive device threat. But they cautioned that old and new threats will emerge in major combat. Repeated throughout their comments was the admonition that the community must be “full EOD, not just IED.” To meet that mission, the Army is turning to technology to help fill the gaps. Pat McGrath, chief of the materiel development branch for Army Training and Doctrine Command's EOD concerns, laid out some of the new items in the works. Army EOD teams will soon have three aerial drones, soldier-borne sensors, tiny “nano” helicopter drones and tethered Unmanned Aerial Sensors at their disposal. The enhanced render safe kit will also include binocular night vision devices, lightweight dismounted X-ray machines, lightweight electronic countermeasures, and lightweight mobile detectors for radiation and chemicals. The Army needs 176 kits and expects to have initial operational capability by 2021, McGrath said. Full article: https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/08/22/army-eod-soldiers-will-soon-get-a-whole-new-kit-and-new-robots

By: Daniel Cebul Lockheed's Martin second GPS III satellite has passed all of the U.S. Air Force's technical and safety tests and is ready to be launched, likely in 2019, according to a company statement Aug. 21. The statement marks the formal designation that the satellite is “available for launch.” The first GPS III satellite was available for launch in September 2017 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and is set to liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida before the end of 2018. The next satellite will launch aboard a rocket from United Launch Alliance. The new satellite constellation is expected to be a significant improvement over the current generation of satellites. According to Harris Corp., the company that provides Lockheed Martin with the satellites navigation payload, the next-gen satellites are equipped with “a Mission Data Unit (MDU) with a unique 70 percent digital design that links atomic clocks, radiation-hardened computers and powerful transmitters." This allows for signals three times more accurate than those on current GPS satellites, the company said. In addition to being more accurate, the satellite is also eight times more resistant to jamming. This model also adds and maintains signals to ensure compatibility with Global Navigation Satellite Systems and provide stronger signal integrity. Harris also unveiled an upgraded payload in November 2017 to be used for the Air Force's GPS III Follow On (GPS IIIF) program, which will begin with the 11th GPS III satellite. This next-gen payload will grant the clock signal for a new GPS III Search and Rescue (SAR) payload, and extend the satellite's service life. Lockheed Martin is expected to be the prime contractor. In June, the third GPS III satellite completed thermal vacuum and environmental testing to simulate how the satellite will hold up in the space's unforgiving environment. https://www.c4isrnet.com/c2-comms/satellites/2018/08/21/air-forces-next-gps-satellite-ready-to-boost-accuracy-anti-jamming-capabilities

Computers on the battlefield take a beating. Beyond the everyday wear and tear, they also must endure extreme temperatures and often violent vibrations. To help ensure its systems give soldiers and commanders the information they need, the Army relies on its Mounted Family of Computer Systems program. Known as MfoCS, pronounced em-fox, the program covers detachable tablets to fully-loaded, vehicle-mounted workstations. C4ISRNET spoke recently with Bill Guyan, vice president of business development for Leonardo DRS, about advances in battlefield computing. C4ISRNET: We hear a lot about a new emphasis on the hardening of security of contractors. And not just contractors, but primes, and then their contractors. Obviously this has become a point of concern for DOD leadership. Bill Guyan: One of the big areas of emphasis for the Army in the procurement of the [Mounted Family of Computer Systems] (MFoCS) and particularly MFoC2 II, were areas related to security, both from a cyber security standpoint and the ability to assure that the system was free from malware or any external threat. So there's a very comprehensive supply chain risk management strategy put in place and for this program we believe that this is the most secure edge computing system that the Army's ever purchased. It's absolutely critical that it be so, since ultimately there will be somewhere between a 100,000 and 125,000 of these systems fielded across the Army and Marine Corps, at the edge of the battlefield with each one of these systems serving as potential on ramp to the network and in an area of situational awareness that is absolutely mission critical. There was a time when we derived quick benefit from having an advantage and a capability that our opponents didn't. And over time the capability has evolved from a nice to have capability to a mission critical capability that we'd be hard pressed to fight without. C4ISRNET: The Army has put a lot of emphasis on size, weight and power. Can you explain how that manifests itself on the battlefield? Guyan: We optimize size, weight and power in two ways. At the hardware level we optimize by staying at the leading edge of available technologies, available commercial technologies and rapidly adapting and adopting them for employment in this mission critical extreme environment. The computers and displays are the soldiers' path to the network. It has to work at -40 centigrade and it has to work at 80 degrees centigrade. It has to work in extreme vibration and it has to work in contested EMI environments. It has to work all the time. For example, we led the charge in the adoption and fielding of solid state hard drives versus rotating media, which allowed us to not only improve the resiliency of the system, but also to reduce size, because we no longer have to isolate the rotating hard drive from the shock and vibration. We also migrated from the old backlight technology to an LED backlight, which is much more reliable, particularly in shock vibration at temperature extremes. But it also requires far less power. The other thing that we've been able to do is rapidly adapt the latest processor technologies when they're available. Of course, processors continue to get faster, smaller, and use less power. We're able to make sure that every generation of system can deliver more computing capability for less power, and less power means less heat. Full article: https://www.c4isrnet.com/show-reporter/technet-augusta/2018/08/21/what-reduced-size-weight-and-power-mean-on-the-battlefield/

By Stephen Carlson Aug. 21 (UPI) -- The U.K. Royal Navy has accepted Thales' newest 2093 mine countermeasures sonar after extensive sea trials. The 2093 variable depth sonar has been in Royal Navy and worldwide service since the 1980s. The current version being adopted by the U.K. is a wideband variant expected to be installed on the Sandown-class minesweeping vessels, Thales said in a news release. The system has undergone 3 months of trials over the summer onboard the HMS Grimsby minesweeper. It is expected to be installed as the standard countermine system aboard Royal Navy ships, according to Thales. 2093 Wideband is a multi-frequency variable depth sonar system designed to detect mines in all depths of water. The sonar receiver and transmitter are part of a towed array which is lowered below the ship by cable cable, which allows it to penetrate oceanic temperature layers. Thermal layers can block or interfere with sonar signals, making depth of the system important for some applications. The system is based off the 2193 hull-mounted system that is in use on the Hunt-class minesweeper and other ships. The system is expected to be widely exported to nations in Asia, the Middle East and Europe that already use similar legacy systems. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2018/08/21/Thales-to-provide-new-minehunting-system-to-UK-Royal-Navy/7951534870862

By: Sam LaGrone The next phase of the Navy's effort to replace its decades-old ALQ-99 jamming systems on its fleet of electronic warfare aircraft is in a holding pattern amid a protest from a company cut from the competition, USNI News has learned. As part of rapid acquisition push for the new jamming technology, the Navy is splitting up the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) ALQ-99 replacement work into three increments based on the frequencies the system must block – high-band, mid-band and low-band – to help shield U.S. aircraft from anti-air radar systems. In 2013, Raytheon won a $276 million award for the first portion of the NGJ project – the ALQ-249 mid-band jamming part of the new system – and was awarded an additional $1.2 billion for the work in 2016. In late 2017, Naval Air Systems Command announced a “demonstration of existing technology” contract to shape how it would pursue the low-band increment. The work would create “[a] demonstration that will lead to an assessment of the maturity level of the technologies that might be applied to a low band jammer pod,” a NAVAIR spokesperson told USNI News in a statement on Tuesday. “This will help inform the appropriate acquisition strategy of the program.” Last month, L3 and a team of Northrop Grumman and Harris were selected to move forward from a field of four competitors that also included Raytheon and a Lockheed Martin and Cobham team, USNI News has learned. Soon afterwards, Raytheon filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office, arguing it should have been selected to move forward with the low-band jammer effort. Both L3 and the Northrop Grumman/Harris team confirmed that their low-band tech was selected for potential further study by NAVIAR but referred additional questions to the Navy due to the ongoing protest from Raytheon. “We have a mature and exceedingly capable offering for Next-Generation Jammer Low Band,” a Northrop spokesman told USNI News in a statement. “Northrop Grumman stands ready to demonstrate that technology.” USNI News understands a Lockheed Martin/Cobham team was not selected for further study. A Lockheed spokesperson referred questions to the Navy citing the protest. In a short statement, Raytheon implied the Navy did not fully take into account the benefits of the company's existing investment into the ALQ-249 mid-band jamming technology. “We believe there were errors in the government's evaluation,” Dana Carroll, a Raytheon spokeswoman, told USNI News in a statement. “Our low-risk, open architecture pod effectively and affordably counters modern threats while maximizing reuse of proven technology and taxpayer investment.” The GAO has until October to reach a decision on Raytheon protest. The Next Generation Jammer program has been a weak point the Navy's push to revitalize its aerial electronic warfare portfolio after the service shrugged off developing an improved capability for years in favor of other priorities. The program was placed on the backburner for years while the U.S. was mostly engaged in conflicts with largely uncontested airspace. Full article: https://news.usni.org/2018/08/21/l3-northrop-selected-next-generation-jammer-work-program-stalled-raytheon-protest

Aireon and the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) announced Aug. 22, 2018, that air navigation service providers (ANSPs), aircraft operators, regulators and search and rescue organizations can now pre-register for their free, global Aircraft Locating and Emergency Response Tracking (ALERT) service. The Aireon ALERT service will provide the last known position of an Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B)-equipped aircraft that is in an apparent distress state or experiencing a loss in communication. The service is only available to aviation stakeholders and offers precise position reports, free of charge. The Aireon ALERT system is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2019 and will be operated out of the IAA North Atlantic Communications Centre in Ballygirreen, County Clare, Ireland. Enabled by Aireon's unique space-based ADS-B service, Aireon ALERT will fill a critical need within the aviation industry. For the first time, ANSPs, aircraft operators, regulators and search and rescue organizations will have access, on request, to exact position data for an aircraft in distress over the oceans, remote areas and anywhere else they may need aircraft position information in an emergency. “We are proud to host and operate the world's first truly global aircraft locating and emergency response tracking facility, based on the Aireon system's capabilities,” said Peter Kearney, chief executive officer of the IAA. “Our facility will be providing Aireon ALERT services 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. As long as an aircraft is broadcasting on 1090 MHz ADS-B, we will be able to locate it anywhere worldwide. This is a unique and secure cloud-based service, designed to the highest data protection standards.” Full article: https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/aireon-alert-now-open-for-pre-registration

BY: GARRETT REIM NASA started a several months-long series of flights on 3 August to identify the physiological impacts of flying in high-performance military aircraft on the human body. The flights are being conducted at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California and will take place over 160 flight hours. The tests are managed by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center at Langley Research Center in Virginia. During the tests researchers will measure the breathing of five NASA pilots flying in F-18A/B and F-15D aircraft, while they use different equipment types and experience different flight conditions. The flight conditions that will be tested include benign environments, typical in instrument proficiency training, to more strenuous environments, such as those found in high altitude, aerobatic manoeuvring and combat manoeuvring, according to NASA. In recent years, the US Navy and Air Force have been perplexed by an increase in the number of pilots experiencing physiological events during flight across a variety of aircraft. Symptoms from physiological events include cognitive impairment, numbness, tingling, lightheadedness, behavioral changes and fatigue. Data collected will just serve as a baseline for comparison because NASA's aircraft still use the legacy technology of a Liquid Oxygen System as opposed to newer military aircraft that utilise an Onboard Oxygen System. https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/nasa-begins-test-flights-to-study-physiological-even-451308

By Oriana Pawlyk The U.S. Navy Blue Angels are poised to receive new, retrofitted F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter aircraft in the next few years. The Navy on Monday awarded Boeing Co., the F/A-18's manufacturer, a $17 million firm-fixed price contract to configure nine F/A-18E and two F/A-18F aircraft to the standard Blue Angels' aircraft structure. The squadron, which typically maintains 11 aircraft, currently flies the F/A-18C/D models. While an upgrade, the new aircraft would not house the common nose cannon system used for strike operations. Like the Air Force Thunderbirds, the demonstration team uses "clean jets," aircraft without missiles or bombs. However, the Blue Angels' F/A-18s are "capable of being returned to combat duty aboard an aircraft carrier within 72 hours," if necessary, according to the team's fact sheet. Full article: https://www.military.com/dodbuzz/2018/08/15/boeing-gets-contract-upgrade-navys-blue-angels-super-hornets.html

By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR. ARLINGTON: As the Army reboots its battlefield radio networks, it's jettisoning exquisitely custom-made military waveforms and moving to simpler — but more capable — commercial radio protocols. The move is underway on three fronts, Maj. Gen. David Bassett, the two-star Program Executive Officer for command, control & communications – Tactical (PEO C3T), says: The Army's already moving its backpack-mounted tactical radio, the Manpack, from the milspec Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) to the commercial TSM waveform, with both Harris and Rockwell Collins now integrating TSM in their radios. (Special operators already use TSM). They're currently selecting vendors to do the same for their handheld Leader Radio, mainly used by junior and non-commissioned officers on foot. Bassett's staff told me to expect an award sometime in September. They're exploring alternatives to the Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW) as the “backbone” of the Army's tactical network. TSM is one candidate but there are others, including some still in development, Bassett told me in an interview here. It's all part of a wider effort to rebuild the Army's command, control, and communications (C3) networks for war against a high-tech great power. Speaking at a cyber and networks conference held here Aug. 2 by the Association of the US Army, Bassett said the Army will conduct operational testing of new command systems — including two lower-complexity alternatives to complement the current mainstay, JBC-P — and start fielding them, he said, “this fall.” Why the rush? Army systems like WIN-T(Warfighter Information Network – Tactical) worked adequately as long as we had big bases in Afghanistan and Iraq, with plenty of time to set up extensive infrastructure and minimal enemy interference. China and Russia, however, have cutting-edge cyber and electronic warfare attackers to hack the network software, powerful electronic warfare units to jam its transmissions, and long-range precision guided missiles that can easily target large, stationary command posts. So last year Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley ordered a crash program of improvements, cancelling planned WIN-T upgrades in favor of new technologies, many from the thriving commercial IT sector. “It was kind of a shock to the system,” the Army's Chief Information Officer, Lt. Gen. Bruce Crawford, told the AUSA conference. “The Army came forward and said there were some programs it wanted to halt and some things it fundamentally wanted to do differently.” Appealing To Industry Gen. Milley's announcement met with initial resistance, including on Capitol Hill, but inspired intense interest from industry. Maj. Gen. Bassett himself had come to the AUSA conference from a meeting in Raleigh, one corner of North Carolina's thriving“research triangle,” where he had briefed 400 representatives from some 126 companies. “Down in Raleigh, the challenge that I gave them was learn how you fit into our network design. Propose solutions that will fit into our network,” Bassett said. “We want them to become part of that infrastructure rather than competing with it.” https://breakingdefense.com/2018/08/army-takes-its-radio-network-commercial-can-you-hear-me-now