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By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — The German Defence Ministry will leave planned air defense investments and other high-profile programs involving U.S. vendors unresolved in the final months of the Merkel government, officials have told lawmakers. A Feb. 3 list of “important” but unfunded programs, as officials wrote, includes several trans-Atlantic defense efforts that have been simmering for some time. As a result, American contractor behemoths Lockheed Martin and Boeing are left to wait until a new government re-litigates Germany's defense acquisition posture sometime after the Sept. 26 election. Lockheed Martin, along with MBDA Deutschland, has been gunning for a contract on the TLVS missile defense program following more than a year of negotiations and several years of German-American co-development. The program's prospects turned dimmer last fall, as new requirements drove up costs. Unsurprisingly, TLVS now officially appears on the to-do list for the next chancellor. Notably, a project aimed at defending against short-range aerial threats, like drones or mortar fire, is also lacking a budget, defense officials wrote to lawmakers. Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer late last year reframed Germany's air defense requirements as needing greater focus on drone threats, as evidenced by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. She said a wholesale evaluation of the entire weapons portfolio would determine the way ahead, including what systems the Bundeswehr needs to counter threats of different sizes from various distances. Whatever happened with the review, it appears it did not spur an appetite to start something new soon. That leaves Germany's fleet of Patriot systems, along with a limited order of counter-drone systems made by Kongsberg and Hensoldt aimed at fulfilling Germany's commitment to NATO for 2023, as the baseline equipment for the time being. Lockheed also must wait for what happens next in the Bundeswehr's heavy transport helicopter program, which is meant to replace the fleet of CH-53G models. The Defence Ministry effectively halted the acquisition process last fall after Lockheed and Boeing went over budget with their custom offers of the CH-53K King Stallion and the CH-47 Chinook, respectively. German defense officials recently requested information from the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency about buying more standard, and presumably cheaper, versions of the desired aircraft instead. In response, Lockheed launched a formal protest, which is now on the docket of the Federal Cartel Office, as newspaper Die Welt first reported. Company officials said they want to get a ruling of whether Berlin walking away from the purchase altogether was in line with fair-competition rules. German acquisition laws make it difficult for companies to protest when the government chooses not to award any contract at the end of a competition, said Christian Scherer, a public procurement expert with the law firm CMS Germany in Cologne. “Generally speaking, you can't force the government to buy anything,” he said. “But bidders might have compensation claims.” Judging offers as economically unfeasible, for example, could qualify as a valid reason for the government to withdraw, Scherer told Defense News. At the same time, there is a legal path if companies suspect abusive implementation of the rules, especially if the government's requirements remain the same, he added. Those rules exist to protect offerers against favoritism and other forms of manipulation. “You can't go ahead and compete the same thing with the intention to award the contract to your preferred bidder.” Finally, Germany's long-term campaign of replacing its fleet of Tornado combat aircraft will remain untouched during the final months of the Merkel era, according to the Defence Ministry. Defense officials last spring settled on a mixed fleet of mostly Eurofighters plus a smaller number of Boeing-made Super Hornets for electronic warfare and nuclear missions. The decision has morphed into something more akin to a mere recommendation that would require years to play out, leading Eurofighter maker Airbus to hold out hope that U.S. manufacturers can be entirely kept out of the business when all is said and done. Tobias Lindner, a Green Party member of the Budget and Appropriations committees in the Bundestag, said the list of unfunded programs is “almost more interesting” than the acquisitions considered doable by the time the Bundestag session ends in late June. With so many big-ticket programs in limbo (15 overall), Kramp-Karrenbauer could move to set priorities and cut needless projects. “Unrealistic announcements and promises weaken trust within the armed forces and with our allies,” Lindner said. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2021/02/05/german-defense-ministry-punts-key-us-defense-cooperation-projects-to-the-next-government/

Levon Sevunts, Radio Canada International The modernization of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) will dominate the agenda of Canada-U.S. defence relations as the Biden administration gears up to repair relations with old allies and face emerging threats from resurgent Russia and ascending China, Canadian defence experts say. The continued modernization of the binational command created in 1957 was on the agenda of the first phone call between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month, and during the first calls of Canadiand and U.S. defence ministers, said Andrea Charron, head of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba. “This is at the highest levels. When the U.S. is concerned about the homeland defence and they feel vulnerable, it's something that Canada has to take very-very seriously and I think that is what's happening,” Charron told Eye on the Arctic. Canadian defence expert Nancy Teeple said she expects the Biden administration to ask Canada to contribute more to continental defence. “It opens up the question of whether Canada will participate in missile defence, it's going to push Canada towards that new fighter capability,” said Teeple, who teaches at the Royal Military College of Canada and is Postdoctoral Fellow at the North American Defence and Security Network (NAADSN). The need for NORAD modernization is driven by changes in the strategic and the global geopolitical environment, Charron said. “Where as before the primary threat during the Cold War was one peer competitor, who wasn't using greyzone tactics, or at least not to the same extent as now, we now have two peer competitors to the U.S. – China and Russia – and they are using greyzone tactics, and they're developing more sophisticated weapons like hypersonic glide vehicle weapons,” Charron said. A new generation of threats The urgency of the NORAD modernization and the paths towards that goal were outlined last fall in a paper written for the Wilson Center's Canada Institute by the former U.S. NORAD commander, retired Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, and U.S. Air Force Brig.-Gen. Peter Fesler, the current deputy director of operations at the U.S. air defence headquarters. In the paper, titled Hardening the Shield: A Credible Deterrent & Capable Defense for North America, O'Shaughnessy and Fesler argue that “with innovations in long range missiles and foreign missile defense systems as well as a changing Arctic landscape, threats to U.S. national security are closer and less deterred than ever from attacking the U.S. Homeland.” O'Shaughnessy and Fesler argue that both China and Russia have developed capabilities to target North America with a new generation of long-range and high-precision conventional weapons. They say that while the U.S. has invested billions of dollars into building ballistic missile defences to protect against strikes by rogue nations such as North Korea, Washington and Ottawa have neglected investments and upgrades of the continental defensive systems “designed to defend against the range of threats presented by peer competitors.” Moreover, the various systems in place in many cases simply can't automatically share information, they say. “The radars used by NORAD to warn of Russian or Chinese ballistic missile attack, for example, are not integrated with those used by Northern Command to engage missiles launched by North Korea,” O'Shaughnessy and Fesler write. “Even if the ballistic missile defense architecture were to detect a launch from China, it would not directly share that information with NORAD's missile warning systems. “The watch standers in the consolidated NORAD and Northern Command headquarters are forced to verbally pass information displayed on independent systems.” Putting up a SHIELD O'Shaughnessy and Fesler call for a “more holistic modernization effort” for NORAD. Northern Command and NORAD have collectively developed a modernization strategy for defence referred to as the Strategic Homeland Integrated Ecosystem for Layered Defence, or SHIELD, they write. “SHIELD is not a system, or even a system of systems, it is an ecosystem,” O'Shaughnessy and Fesler write. “It is a fundamentally new approach to defending North America.” SHIELD takes advantage of the data provided by traditional and non-traditional sources to provide a layered ability to detect any threat approaching the continent, from the seafloor to on orbit, in what NORAD and Northern Command refer to as “all domain awareness,” they write. “It pools this data and fuses it into a common operational picture. Then, using the latest advances in machine learning and data analysis, it scans the data for patterns that are not visible to human eyes, helping decision-makers understand adversary potential courses of action before they are executed.” ‘It's many things and they are already happening' Experts say figuring out Canada's role in this new “ecosystem” will be tricky politically and likely to come at a steep financial cost just as both Ottawa and Washington are deep in the red because of the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It's everything from, for example, the runways at Inuvik being extended because right now only the CF-18 Hornets can land there and we need to make it longer,” Charron said. “It's things like better communication in the Arctic because there seems to be the potential for more activity there.” Or it could be something like coming up with a new Combined Forces Air Component Commander to change the command and control structure and allow the NORAD commander to think more strategically rather than to be bogged down by the day-to-day tasks, Charron said. In addition, upgrades to NORAD capabilities also have to be guided by the need for information dominance, Charron said. “So it's many things and they are already happening,” Charron said. “For example there is a new program called Pathfinder, which is helping feeds from the North Warning System through artificial intelligence to glean more information that the North Warning System is actually picking up but current algorithms and analysts aren't able to see.” Teeple said Canada can also benefit from Washington's interest in developing continental defence, including the Arctic by developing infrastructure that has dual military-civilian use. “This provides incredible benefits if Canada can collaborate,” Teeple said. “And those benefits would be obviously involving collaboration, involving input from Northern Indigenous communities and developing systems that can enhance things like communications and other types of infrastructure in the North that would enhance their quality of life.” Canadian policy-makers should also think about some of the niche areas where Canada can contribute to the NORAD modernization and the continental defence, Teeple said. “So enhancing its sensor capabilities for early warning, obviously that involves the upgrading of the North Warning System,” Teeple said. Other roles for Canada could include non-kinetic disruptive capabilities, such as cyber capabilities, Teeple said. This could give Canada a more offensive role in the new SHIELD ecosystem that would be more palatable politically than hosting ballistic missile interceptors on its territory, she added. https://www.rcinet.ca/eye-on-the-arctic/2021/02/05/norad-modernization-to-dominate-agenda-of-canada-u-s-defence-relations-experts-say/

Steven Grundman The COVID-19 pandemic has accustomed us to living in the virtual world and hearing speculation about the ways in which our actual lives may never resume as before. Microsoft founder Bill Gates recently said he believes “over 50% of business travel and over 30% of days in the office will go away.” Explaining why the pandemic-induced surge in virtual house calls is likely to endure, Harvard's Dr. Thomas Delbanco concedes: “There are times when doctors, nurses or therapists really need to see you—no question about it. But there are also times when they really don't.” It was against the backdrop of such head-turning New Year's predictions that I spent the holidays reading about the Cold War and forming a nostalgic rebuttal to those prophesies of Zoom. At the start of my professional life, I led a surveillance platoon of the U.S. 1st Armored Division (1st AD), which was deployed to defend the “Frontier of Freedom” in the towns surrounding Nuremberg, West Germany. So it was that after cracking open Fulda Gap: Battlefield of the Cold War Alliances, I quickly thumbed forward to Chapter 7, “A Personal Perspective from Platoon Leader to Army Group” by Gen. (ret.) Crosbie Saint, who had commanded the 1st AD during my service in it. Saint's reflections transported me back to 1984 and the pastoral beauty of the Bavarian Oberpfalz, where we were actively preparing to fight a third world war. Prominent among the preparations Saint recounts was the terrain walk, a compulsory practice of every officer leading a maneuver unit regularly to traverse the ground where his troops would deploy, battle book in hand, mastering the contours of the landscape and envisioning his squads' movements in the General Defense Plan. Saint writes ardently about how “repetitive terrain walks at multiple command levels to analyze and become expert in exploiting the terrain for tactical purposes” gave the U.S. a decisive advantage over the vast armies of the Warsaw Pact. The still-clear memory of then-Lt. Grundman's own terrain walks along the monikered kill zones in my battle book—The Kemnath Bowl, Erbendorf Fire Trap, et al.—prompted me to wonder if the marvels of a virtual reality simulation would leave as indelible a mark. I doubt it. While the adoption of videoconferencing for commodity conversation is no doubt here to stay, the premium work of enterprise leadership must remain incarnate. Just as the experience of looking out from a ridgeline engages all the senses, strategic vision flows from an intuitive integration of time and space that no telemediation can fully activate. Beyond the battlefield lay other terrain walks affirming my conviction. In April 1993, just three weeks on the job as chief executive of an IBM teetering on insolvency, Lou Gerstner launched Operation Bear Hug, which directed each of the company's 250 most senior executives to visit at least five key customers over the following three months to learn why IBM had lost their trust. Years later, Gerstner wrote that Bear Hug made manifest what came to be the motive force of IBM's acclaimed transformation: “[W]e were going to build a company from the outside in and . . . the customer was going to drive everything we did in the company.” Gerstner invested this practice of deep listening to customers with the same strategic importance Saint attributed to a lieutenant's intimacy with the sight lines of his firing positions. Operation Bear Hug was a terrain walk. One of the trade secrets of my career as a business consultant to the aerospace industry is never to pass up an invitation to take a plant tour. No matter how near it is to your next flight's departure, when asked “Wanna see the shop?” the right answer is always “Of course.” When, a decade ago, I toured SpaceX's Hawthorne, California, headquarters and observed Elon Musk sitting at his desk among the busy cubicles of 30-something engineers gutting out their work in T-shirts, I instantly understood how the company's garage-shop culture could revolutionize the staid business of space launch. Years earlier, the clinical attention to workers' safety I saw at the bustling CFM56 jet engine plant in Villaroche, France, told me more about the success of the GE-Safran joint venture than even its impressive financials. So, too, did I need actually to feel the cavernous quietude in an antique defense factory to appreciate the true meaning of the sunk-cost fallacy. The aerospace plant tour is often a terrain walk. To all you leaders who, like me, find the progressively virtual world unsettling (and with apologies to a certain light lager's ad campaign), I say, “Find your terrain walk.” Once we again are free to move about, go physically to the crucible of what creates value for your enterprise and open your senses. Only from that vantage will you see truly into its future. The views expressed are not necessarily those of Aviation Week. https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/manufacturing-supply-chain/opinion-why-future-will-not-be-virtual

Posted on February 5, 2021 by Richard R. Burgess, Senior Editor ARLINGTON, Va. — Lockheed Martin's new SPY-7 radar will be sailing to sea on the ships of three navies as the company highlights the radar's capabilities for application to other navies, including the U.S. Navy. The SPY-7, which uses gallium nitride modules, initially was developed for the Navy's Air and Missile Defense Radar competition. It was adapted into the Long-Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) procured by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) as a sensor of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system. Being installed at Clear Air Force Station in Alaska, the LRDR is designed to discriminate between incoming warheads and decoys. The core building blocks [of the LRDR] are the same core building blocks in SPY-7,” said Jon P. Rambeau, vice president and general manager, Integrated Systems & Sensors, Lockheed Rotary and Mission Systems, during a Feb. 2 interview with Seapower. “[SPY-7] is a modular radar that allows us to build different configurations for both land-based and sea-based applications.” The SPY-7 has been selected by the Spanish navy to integrate it with the Aegis Combat System on its F110 frigates. The Canadian navy is procuring the radar to install it on its new Halifax-class surface combatant. Japan had selected the SPY-7 for its two planned Aegis Ashore ballistic-missile defense sites, but when the plans were cancelled in part out of concern for missile debris falling on populated areas, Japan shifted to a plan to deploy the SPY-7 on some future, unspecified sea-based BMD platform. Japan already has BMD capabilities in its Kongo-class guided-missile destroyers with Aegis systems using the SPY-1 radar. Japan, which already has placed an order for the SPY-7, “is going through a process now to determine exactly what that platform is going to look like,” Rambeau said. “We are pleased with the progress that the technology has made, and we're starting to see some uptake both here in the U.S. as well as abroad.” “SPY-7 is part of the Aegis common source library (CSL) and the interfaces are understood,” said Patrick W. McNally, director of communications for Integrated Warfare Systems & Sensors, in a statement to Seapower. “For Japan, we have completed the first of three releases which were recently demonstrated to MDA. Starting from the CSL, with over one million lines of code, Japan will be receiving the best of both Baseline 9 and 10 [Aegis software].” The U.S. Navy is considering backfitting some Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers with a radar more modern than the SPY-1, and Lockheed is keeping a watch on developments in the event the SPY-7 could complete in the program if it comes to pass. Rambeau said his company also “has some more affordable options available to upgrade some of the SPY-1 arrays to provide improved sensitivity and improved resistance to electronic attack and we think we can do that at a fraction of the cost of a wholesale replacement, so we've put forth a couple of options for upgrades to SPY-1 to both MDA and the Navy.” https://seapowermagazine.org/lockheed-martins-spy-7-radar-is-going-to-sea

NAVY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded a $478,605,019 firm-fixed-price modification (P00102) to a previously awarded contract (N0001914C0050). This modification exercises options for the procurement of five Lot Three low rate initial production Presidential Helicopters Replacement Program (VH-92A) aircraft, and associated interim contractor support, two cabin interior reconfiguration kits, support equipment, initial spares, and system parts replenishment. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut (50%); Coatesville, Pennsylvania (36%); Owego, New York (10%); Patuxent River, Maryland (2%); Phoenix, Arizona (1%); and Quantico, Virginia (1%), and is expected to be completed in December 2023. Fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount $478,605,019 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Invicta Global LLC,* Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $14,600,550 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity modification for the exercise of Option Three under a contract for base operating support services at various installations in the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Washington area of operations (AO). After award of this option, the total cumulative contract value will be $39,316,621. The work to be performed is all labor, material, equipment, management and administration for utilities, transportation and facility support services to include fire protection services, facilities management and investment, base support vehicles and equipment, urgent, emergency and routine services for facility support services. Work will be performed in NAVFAC Washington AO, including but not limited to Bethesda, Maryland (40%); Washington, D.C. (40%); Indian Head, Maryland (10%); and Dahlgren, Virginia (10%). This option period is from Feb. 1, 2021, to Jan. 31, 2022. No funds were obligated at time of award. Operation and maintenance, (Navy); and fiscal 2021 Navy working capital funds in the amount of $6,488,840 for recurring work will be obligated on individual task orders issued during the option period. NAVFAC Washington, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N40080-19-D-0311). (Awarded: Jan. 29, 2021) Opal Soft, Inc., Sunnyvale, California, is awarded an $11,979,099 cost-plus-fixed-fee bridge contract for software support services in support of Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport. Work will be performed in Keyport, Washington, and is expected to be completed by September 2021. This contract includes an option which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $19,049,565. Work is expected to be completed by December 2021. Fiscal 2021 service cost center (Navy) $3,154,151 (82.12%); 2015 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) $246,982 (6.43%); 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) $246,982 (6.43%); 2021 defense working capital fund (Navy) $84,895 (2.21%); 2021 other procurement (Navy) $42,474 (1.11%) 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) $37,996 (0.99%); and 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) $27,092.45 (0.71%) funding will be obligated at award. No contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c) (1) (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements). The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Keyport, Keyport, Washington, is the contracting activity. (N0025321C0004) DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY US Foods, La Mirada, California, has been awarded a maximum $114,700,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for full-line food distribution. This was a competitive acquisition with two responses received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are California and Alaska, with a Feb. 4, 2026, ordering period end date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2026 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is the Defense Logistics Agency, Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-21-D-3307). ARMY Oshkosh Defense LLC, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was awarded a $61,002,554 firm-fixed-price contract for 1,081 Underbody Armor Kit upgrade kits for the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2022. Fiscal 2019, 2020 and 2021 European reassurance initiative funds in the amount of $61,002,554 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-21-C-0084). Dyncorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $42,000,000 modification (P00121) to contract W58RGZ-19-C-0025 for aviation maintenance services. Work will be performed in Afghanistan and Iraq, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $42,000,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. Coastal Contractors Inc.,* Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was awarded a $9,450,839 firm-fixed-price contract for flood control of the Comite River. Bids were solicited via the internet with eight received. Work will be performed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of Apr. 8, 2022. Fiscal 2021 civil construction funds in the amount of $9,450,839 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-21-C-0005). Escal Institute of Advanced Technologies Inc., North Bethesda, Maryland, was awarded a $9,443,000 modification (P00004) to contract W911S0-19-D-0009 to provide training and certifications as required to verify and validate student proficiency in cybersecurity roles. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 5, 2022. U.S. Army Field Directorate Office, Fort Eustis, Virginia, is the contracting activity. Cottrell Contracting Corp., Chesapeake, Virginia, was awarded a $9,416,500 firm-fixed-price contract for maintenance dredging of Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Camden County, Georgia. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in Kings Bay, Georgia, with an estimated completion date of April 25, 2022. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (defense-wide funds) in the amount of $9,416,500 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (W912EP-21-C-0008). WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS SERVICES Systems Planning and Analysis Inc., Alexandria, Virginia (HQ0034-21-F-0089), has been awarded a firm-fixed-price and time and materials contract in the amount of $34,891,509. This contract is to provide support to the Office of Industrial Policy in carrying out its mission to ensure robust, secure, resilient and innovative industrial capabilities within the Department of Defense. The contractor will provide program support for the Defense Production Act Titles I and III, Industrial Base Assessments, Industry Engagement/Outreach and Strategic Communications and Business Intelligence and Analytics. Work performance will take place at the Mark Center, Alexandria, Virginia; and the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. Appropriate fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds will be obligated at the award. The expected completion date is Feb. 6, 2026. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2495622/source/GovDelivery/

Just prior to two symposiums on Marine goals and principles, Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps Troy Black spoke to Marine Corps Times about the upcoming summits, and how he views the roles of the heart of the Corps – its noncommissioned officers. https://www.defensenews.com/video/2021/02/08/sergeant-major-of-marine-corps-talks-priorities-nco-responsibilities-military-times-reports

Northrop Grumman Corporation and UK-based Ultra Maritime equipped a modified, manned Bell 407 (acting as an MQ-8C Fire Scout surrogate) platform with Ultra sonobuoys, receiver and processor to complete an unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability demonstration. This successful demonstration of the UAS ASW mission on October 29 was the first time a vertical takeoff surrogate unmanned aerial system (VTUAS) had been used to conduct a large area multistatic acoustic search. The mission payload and effects were controlled from the ground with the resultant ASW picture disseminated to locations across the globe. “Adding an ASW capability to Fire Scout's existing multi-mission capabilities would further enhance this highly-versatile platform,” said Dan Redman, Fire Scout maritime mission expansion lead, Northrop Grumman. “This ASW capability would offer commanders flexibility to employ not only UAS systems in this particular ASW role, but also utilize the increased availability of crewed aircraft more incisively against an expanded mission set. This would increase the total available effect of the manned/unmanned teamed force mix.” By jointly developing and demonstrating UAS ASW capabilities, initially on an MQ-8C Fire Scout manned surrogate as part of an industry-led initiative, the two companies are combining their world-leading expertise and experience with the aim of bringing unique ASW solutions to global customers. While the U.S. Navy has not yet identified a clear requirement for UAS ASW capability, it has shown interest in the development and continues to support and monitor progress. “Operating prototype hardware in a high-pressure real-world environment can be challenging,” said Thomas Link, president of Ultra Maritime. “Our partnership will bring an innovative and leading ASW capability into operation, combining both manned and unmanned ASW systems that will help defend our warfighters and provide increased capability to our forces.” The MQ-8C Fire Scout can fly missions in excess of 12 hours, providing commanders an unrivaled level of layered multi-source/sensor intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) and command and control/comms relay capabilities over land and sea. When operating in a manned-unmanned teaming concept, Fire Scout enables commanders to employ manned assets in a more focused manner, allowing them to exploit hybrid manned/unmanned teaming opportunities. https://www.uasvision.com/2021/02/04/northrop-grumman-and-ultra-demonstrate-unmanned-anti-submarine-warfare-capability/

By Garrett Reim The US Navy has completed the first in-flight test of Collins Aerospace's Tactical Combat Training System II (TCTS II), a system that could become the brains behind future large-scale virtual dogfights. The service tested the system on a US Navy (USN) F/A-18E Super Hornet at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, Collins Aerospace says. TCTS II's wing-tip mounted pods, integrated into ground stations and onboard computers, allow naval aviators to dogfight without actually firing a shot. The system allows virtual firing of missiles and guns. The system features a number of improvements versus older combat training systems, Collins said on 1 February. Unlike prior legacy systems, “TCTS II connects to the aircraft weapons bus securely, which provides access to classified aircraft data, and then pushes and pulls data,” says the company. “When it pushes data, it stimulates aircraft systems and sensors, so the pilot thinks they are engaging with real threats.” It can simulate situations where the aviator uses a jet's active electronically scanned array radar or infrared search-and-track sensor. The system can also simulate a number of weapons, from unclassified operational munitions to those classified Top Secret. And, TCTS II can deliver real-time kill notifications. “What starts the simulation is when the pilot pulls the trigger in the aircraft just like in a real mission,” says Collins. “It also sends a signal to the ground and range training officer's screen, showing them a sim weapon has been launched. Algorithms then run that calculation, the likelihood of a good shot in percentages, and display that to the range training officer.” The simulation also can be manipulated by personnel on the ground. “The range training officer can then decide if they want that shot to count – and remove the targeted platform from the exercise – or overrule the simulation to allow that platform to continue fighting for training purposes,” says Collins. “The shot would then be debriefed later with all interested parties and the accuracy of the shots can then be discussed.” During combat training simulations, TCTS II collects data that can later be reviewed to develop new tactics, techniques and procedures. Collins claims this speeds up development times to a “matter of weeks, instead of months or years”. TCTS II can simulate a variety of combat training, from two-on-two dogfights to exercises with more than 200 participants, the company says. It can also simulate threats from ground-based weapons. The first flight of TCTS II on the F/A-18E is part of the developmental test phase. Collins anticipates it will pave the way for a USN production decision later this year. The system is expected to be qualified on every aircraft in the service's fleet, including Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighters. https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing/collins-dogfighting-training-system-flies-on-us-navy-f/a-18e-super-hornet/142275.article

Researchers at Stanford University have developed a new type of sonar to overcome the previously insurmountable problem of seeing underwater from the air. Sound does not travel easily between air and water: there is a 65-decibel loss, which means roughly a million-fold decrease in intensity, making it makes it virtually impossible to pick up sound reflections from the air. The new technology can map the seabed and potentially detect mines, submarines and other underwater targets from aircraft. Currently, the only ways of using sonar from aircraft are sonar buoys (sonobuoys) dropped into the water, or dipping sonar lowered to the sea surface from a hovering helicopter. The helicopter cannot move while using dipping sonar, so it has to check one spot, raising the sonar, fly somewhere else, lowering the sonar again, and so on. By contrast, the new Photoacoustic Airborne Sonar System or PASS, developed at Stanford with funding from the U.S. Navy, will work from a moving aircraft. “Our vision of the proposed technology is to capture images continuously as the airborne vehicle flies over the water,” Stanford researcher Aidan Fitzpatrick told Forbes. “Similar to how synthetic aperture radar systems or in-water synthetic aperture sonar systems work today.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2021/02/04/new-sonar-sees-underwater-from-aircraft/