1 décembre 2020 | International, Naval
By: Mike Yeo
MELBOURNE, Australia — Asia-Pacific nations are embracing the use of unmanned solutions for maritime missions, with several nations bordering the Pacific Ocean and with extensive littorals either operating or planning to acquire unmanned systems for use in the domain.
The countries' reasons for doing so vary, from a desire to monitor the activities of China's increasingly powerful and assertive Navy to watching for pirates or transnational criminals. And the platforms chosen range from Australia's Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton ― a high-altitude, long-endurance UAV ― to the more modest Insitu ScanEagle, which the U.S. government has donated to a number of Southeast Asian nations.
Taiwan watches China
In early November the Trump administration approved four separate arms sales requests from Taiwan, including one for four General Atomics MQ-9B “weapons-ready” unmanned aircraft, for an estimated value of $600 million. The package also includes the Raytheon SeaVue maritime multirole patrol radars, suggesting Taiwan will acquire the SeaGuardian variant of the MQ-9B.
The package also includes two mobile ground control stations, 14 embedded inertial navigation/global positioning systems, and Wescam MX-20 multispectral targeting systems. No weapons were included in the package, although the SeaGuardian can carry laser-guided bombs and Hellfire air-to-ground missiles. The drone's manufacturer, General Atomics, has displayed artwork showing the aircraft carrying sonobuoy dispensers and lightweight torpedoes.
The U.S. Defense Security and Cooperation Agency, in announcing the potential deal, said the “proposed sale will improve the recipient's capability to meet current and future threats by providing timely Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), target acquisition, and counter-land, counter-sea, and anti-submarine strike capabilities for its security and defense.” (DSCA announcements do not represent final sales. If there is no congressional objection, the customer can begin negotiating over price and quantities, which often change by the time a final sale is completed.)
The SeaGuardian would certainly improve Taiwan's information-sharing capabilities with American forces, a critical consideration in the event of a potential invasion by China, which sees the self-governing island as a rogue province and has vowed to reincorporate it with the mainland, by force if necessary.
Japan's Coast Guard operations
U.S. ally Japan, which has warily eyed China's increasingly powerful military and paramilitary forces, has also shown interest in the SeaGuardian. General Atomics has been marketing the drone to Japan's Coast Guard, which is seeking an unmanned aerial system for the persistent monitoring of foreign vessels operating within Japan's vast exclusive economic zone, or EEZ.
These foreign vessels include fishing boats suspected as being part of China's Maritime Militia or Coast Guard. These forces have frequently entered the contiguous zone of the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands that China also claims as its own.
The SeaGuardian recently participated in a demonstration for the Japanese Coast Guard, which is the country's primary agency in charge of maritime safety during peacetime in its territorial waters and EEZ. When these bodies of water are combined, the area makes up the sixth largest of its kind in the world.
According to the Coast Guard, the SeaGuardian flew a total of 150 hours over 13 flights during the demonstration, which showcased its various capabilities. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force is also likely to seek a similar UAV to complement its manned aircraft and helicopters.
The American footprint
Meanwhile, in southeast Asia, several countries are receiving Insitu ScanEagle drones under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program.
The region faces challenges ranging from the ongoing dispute between six neighbors — including China — over the ownership of the potentially resource-rich Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, to longstanding issues over piracy.
A Pentagon contract announced in 2019 saw almost $48 million awarded to Boeing subsidiary Insitu for 34 ScanEagles destined for the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, which will take delivery of 12, eight, eight and six ScanEagles respectively by 2022.
Deliveries have already started, with Malaysia receiving its first ScanEagle in May this year. It is unclear whether the funds for this contract came from the Pentagon's partner capacity-building program or the department's maritime security initiative for regional countries, announced in 2015.
One potential application for unmanned aircraft in the maritime environment is search and rescue. Another U.S. Indo-Pacific ally, Australia, is developing artificial intelligence to assist in such missions. The algorithm is expected to help recognize life rafts and other vessels in the water.
The Royal Australian Air Force has already run several test flights to trial its system, which is equipped with a sensor and processor built from commercial off-the-shelf components, such as GoPro cameras, that can potentially be fitted onto any manned and unmanned aircraft.
During the trials, it was found the AI system performed better than humans in sighting and identifying objects in the water, such as life rafts. It was also able to recognize a black, upturned life raft 70 percent of the time — a notable outcome given the AI was trained to recognize the orange color of an upright life raft.
21 mai 2024 | International, Sécurité
Representatives from the Armenian Ministry of Defence met with their counterparts at NATO Headquarters at the end of April to review activities conducted within the framework of NATO’s Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) for Armenia.
25 septembre 2020 | International, C4ISR
Mark Pomerleau The Marine Corps wants to provide information on demand. However, sensing, harnessing and acting upon the vast amounts of data produced daily is an enormous challenge and now the Corps is turning to its 2019 blueprint for the information environment. “If you were building a house, you would never just hire plumbers, framers, roofers and say build me a house,” Jennifer Edgin, Assistant Deputy Commandant for Information, said Sept. 22 during a virtual panel as part of Modern Day Marine. Rather, she noted, most would start with the design of the house and how things connect. “That's how we began with our journey in the Marine Corps Information Environment Enterprise, by publishing a blueprint. That outlined our future state vision, our case for change and the major muscle movements that we were tackling with that,” she said. Published in March 2019 and classified as “controlled unclassified information,” the blueprint is a unified technical, physical and business model that documents the design of the Marine Corps Information Environment, Edgin told C4ISRNET in written responses to questions. It connects users with data to support a mission and codifies the policies, standards, services, infrastructure, technical design and architectural elements required to deliver capabilities to Marines. Extremely technical in nature, the blueprint is meant to guide the development and employment of capabilities needed and provides acquisition officers guidance and constraints while also conveying a common language. The first iteration covers five key areas to include digital transformation, governance, transitioning to the cloud, standardization and information dominance. “The future state of warfare requires the Marine Corps to think differently, encourage innovation, and embrace new business models for change that focus on enhancing the access, capabilities, and user experience throughout the Information Environment,” Edgin said. “This blueprint unites and aligns efforts to digitally equip Marines for the future ... The benefit of the blueprint is that it articulates information that cannot easily be visualized. For example, it is very easy to see physical assets like trucks or planes however, it is difficult to articulate information technology assets and visualize how they are employed.” Edgin noted yesterday that the Marine Corps Enterprise Network modernization plan followed the blueprint, taking the blueprint and breaking it down into action plans. Taken together, both documents are meant to guide a transformation the office of the Deputy Commandant for Information is seeking to realize, one that provides secure information on demand leveraging technologies such as cloud computing, resilient mesh networks and emerging technology such as machine learning. “Information doesn't have a geographic boundary,” she said, “you're seeing more of that cross functional team, cross functional approaches where we can really harness all of the best and brightest of authorities and ideas so that we can provide that information on demand.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2020/09/24/how-the-marines-want-to-provide-information-on-demand/
16 février 2023 | International, C4ISR
Joint All-Domain Command and Control has "become a buzzword," Rear Adm. Susan BryerJoyner said at the West 2023 conference.