Dassault Aviation receives order for 12 Rafales for French Air and Space Force

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  6 août 2019 | International, Naval

  USS New York, USS Oak Hill conduct live-fire missile training

  By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Lyle Wilkie, USS New York LPD 21 Public Affairs ATLANTIC OCEAN -- The amphibious transport dock ship USS New York (LPD 21) completed a live-fire exercise in which the ship fired missiles at a drone using the ship's self-defense Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) system Saturday, Aug. 3 (NNS) -- The amphibious transport dock ship USS New York (LPD 21) completed a live-fire exercise in which the ship fired missiles at a drone using the ship's self-defense Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) system Saturday, Aug. 3. The live-fire exercise is in preparation for the New York's upcoming deployment with the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group. The Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD 51), also part of the amphibious ready group, conducted a live-fire exercise Saturday as well. “We are doing this exercise to verify full operation of our kill chain for our RAM system,” said USS New York Fire Controlman Chief Christopher Campbell. “The weekly overall combat system operability tests and RAM's daily system tests assess every part of the kill chain except the actual launch of the missile. This is our opportunity to ensure that the missile will launch prior to deployment.” In order to prepare for an exercise of this magnitude it takes a great deal of preparation. “Preparation for this exercise started a month or longer before we even loaded the missiles,” said Fire Controlman 2nd Class Austin Jones. “We had to ensure each missile cell received the proper signals to fire missiles and make sure the launcher was in overall good condition before receiving and firing missiles. All the fire controlmen have accomplished more than 150 man hours of maintenance in preparation for this shoot. The exercise was a way to show how effective training in the combat systems department has been and how prepared the New York is to use the RAM system on board.” The fire controlman aboard was not the only one involved in this exercise. “All combat watch standers, bridge watch teams and many other people were involved in this exercise,” said Jones. “Each person has a specific role from safeties to launching the missile to coordinating procedures in case of a dud, or misfire.” This exercise is the last event for the Surface Warfare Advanced Tactical Training (SWATT) exercise where the New York, alongside the Oak Hill and flagship Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5), have been tested in many avenues of war fighting. “This is a culminating event where watch standers and systems can be rigorously tested to prove their capability and effectiveness while also utilizing state of the art data extraction systems to continue our pursuit for perfection,” said Lt. j.g. Joshua Sexton, Fire Control Officer aboard New York. “This is proof of not only capability and effectiveness but also confidence in both the system and, most importantly, the watch standers' ability to stay in the fight.” Warships assigned to the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, including New York, are participating in the SWATT, in the Atlantic Ocean, to maintain readiness, proficiency, and lethality. https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=110462

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  16 octobre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR

  The US Navy’s ‘Manhattan Project’ has its leader

  David B. Larter WASHINGTON – The US Navy's top officer has tasked a former surface warfare officer turned engineering duty officer to create a powerful, all-connecting network service leaders believe they will need to fight and win against a high-end foe such as China. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday tasked Rear Adm. Douglas Small to lead an effort that will “develop networks, infrastructure, data architecture, tools, and analytics that support the operational and developmental environment that will enable our sustained maritime dominance.” Calling the effort “Project Overmatch,” Gilday called it the Navy's top priority after the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine. “Beyond recapitalizing our undersea deterrent, there is no higher developmental priority in the U.S. Navy,” Gilday said. “All other efforts are supporting you. Your goal is to enable a Navy that swarms the sea, delivering synchronized lethal and non-lethal effects from near-and-far, every axis, and every domain.” In the past, Gilday has referred to the effort to field a powerful network as its “Manhattan Project,” harkening back to the rapid development of the atomic bomb in the 1940s. The urgency behind the effort to create this network highlights the growing sense of unease the Navy has around its position in the world as China builds towards its goal of achieving first-rate military power status by 2049. “The Navy's ability to establish and sustain sea control in the future is at risk," Gilday said in his letter. “I am confident that closing this risk is dependent on enhancing Distributed Maritime Operations through a teamed manned/unmanned force that exploits artificial intelligence and machine learning. I am not confident we are building the Naval Operational Architecture connecting and enabling this future force as quickly as we must.” The network is to connect with the Air Force's Joint All-Domain Command and Control effort, which the services are all lining up behind. Breaking Defense first reported the memo. Small started his career as a surface warfare officer but became an engineering duty officer in 1997. He has a background in electronic warfare and above-water sensors, as well as work at the Missile Defense Agency. In the Oct. 1 memo, Gilday has tasked him to report after 60 days, then every 90 days after that. In a separate memo to Vice Adm. James Kilby, the Navy's top warfighting requirements officer, Gilday said he wanted the Navy to develop both a concept of operations and a coherent kill chain based on an “any-sensor, any-shooter,” construct, an idea that would mean that any track obtained by any sensor can be passed to any ship or platform with a missile with which to kill it, something that would be enabled by Small's network. ‘We don't have and adequate net' In comments last year, Gilday said the Navy needed to move out with urgency to create a powerful network. “The biggest challenge for us is to join all the main command and control,” Gilday said. “We're building netted weapons, netted platforms, and netted [command-and-control] nodes, but we don't have an adequate net, and that's a critical piece.” The Navy has been working toward a concept of operations that links its ships, aircraft and unmanned platforms by way of communications relay nodes — such as small drones — or whole ships — such as the future frigate or high-tech aircraft like the E-2D Hawkeye. The idea is to spread the force out over a wide area, as opposed to clustered around a carrier, to put a maximum burden on Chinese intelligence and reconnaissance assets. This spread-out, networked force would connect the various shooters so that if any individual node in the network sees something to kill, any Navy or Air Force asset with weapons within range can kill it. This has led to a push for ever-longer-range missiles. But to make it work, all the pieces must be linked on a reliable communications network. The current architecture, according to the Navy, is insufficient for the job, given Chinese and Russian investments in electronic warfare that can interfere with communications. https://www.c4isrnet.com/naval/2020/10/14/the-us-navys-manhattan-project-has-its-leader/

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  28 juin 2018 | International, Naval

  Spain cleared to buy five Aegis systems

  By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON – The U.S. State Department has cleared Spain to purchase five Aegis weapon systems, potentially worth $860.4 million. The systems would be placed aboard Spanish frigates, which are interoperable with NATO allies such as the U.S. Spain currently operates five existing Aegis-equipped frigates. Adding the systems to Spain's fleet will “afford more flexibility and capability to counter regional threats and continue to enhance stability in the region,” according to an announcement posted by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. In addition to the five systems, the package includes six shipsets Digital Signal Processing, five shipsets AWS Computing Infrastructure MARK 1 MOD 0, five shipsets Operational Readiness Test Systems (ORTS), five shipsets MK 99 MOD 14 Fire Control System, five shipsets MK 41 Baseline VII Vertical Launching Systems (VLS), two All-Up-Round MK 54 Mod 0 lightweight torpedoes, twenty SM-2 Block IIIB missiles and MK 13 canisters with AN/DKT-71 warhead compatible telemeter, as well as other equipment. Being cleared by the State Department does not guarantee a sale will be completed. Congress can still intervene, and final price and quantity are often altered during negotiations. The proposed sale is being handled under a Foreign Military Sales vehicle. Should the sale clear, it primary work would be done by Lockheed Martin in Moorestown, NJ, and Manassas, VA; Raytheon in Waltham, MA; and General Dynamics in Williston, VT. There are also a “significant number of companies under contract with the U.S. Navy that will provide components and systems as well as engineering services” to support the sale, the DSCA notes. https://www.defensenews.com/smr/nato-priorities/2018/06/26/spain-cleared-to-buy-five-aegis-systems