30 octobre 2020 | International, C4ISR

DoD unveils electromagnetic spectrum superiority strategy

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Defense released its highly anticipated electromagnetic spectrum superiority strategy Thursday, aimed at guiding how the department will develop capabilities as well as partner on and pursue readiness within the spectrum to gain an edge on sophisticated adversaries.

In recent years, U.S. adversaries have sought high-tech methods to deny the electromagnetic spectrum, on which American forces often rely. These methods include jamming or spoofing communications, radars and munitions.

“The Nation has entered an age of warfighting wherein U.S. dominance in air, land, sea, space, cyberspace, and the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS) is challenged by peer and near peer adversaries,” the strategy stated. “These challenges have exposed the cross-cutting reliance of U.S. Forces on the EMS, and are driving a change in how the DoD approaches activities in the EMS to maintain an all-domain advantage."

"This jeopardizes the U.S. military's ability to sense, command, control, communicate, test, train, protect, and project force effectively. Without the capabilities to assert EMS superiority, the nation's economic and national security will be exposed to undue and significant risk.”

The strategy lists five strategic goals, each delving deeper into subordinate objectives. They include:

Develop superior EMS capabilities.
Evolve to an agile and fully integrated EMS infrastructure.
Pursue total force readiness in the EMS.
Secure enduring partnerships for EMS advantage.
Establish effective EMS governance.

“The new strategy will have wide-ranging impacts across the DoD. It will shape the future of the department, influencing how the DoD makes decisions on how best to design, resource and implement EMS concepts as a new foundation for multidomain war fighting,” a defense official said Oct. 29 during a briefing to reporters on the strategy on background because the DoD would not let them speak on-the-record.

The strategy pulls from previous concepts and initiatives such as the 2013 Electromagnetic Spectrum Strategy and the 2017 electronic warfare strategy. However, since those documents were devised, the operational environment has become more complex.

“The primary focus is a holistic approach to electromagnetic spectrum management and electromagnetic warfare,” the official said regarding departures from previous strategies.

In the past, the official said, some of those activities were siloed while the new strategy articulates freedom of action within the spectrum through a more holistic approach.

The strategy also noted that the DoD is transitioning from its definition that electronic warfare is separate from spectrum management to a more unified approach of electromagnetic spectrum operations, or EMSO.

The Joint Staff updated its doctrine document in May governing electronic warfare, shifting to EMSO.

The official said some of the particular technologies the department is looking for include dynamic spectrum-sharing technologies that need to incorporate sensing, accessing, sharing and maneuvers, frequency agility, frequency diversity, tools that minimize an EMS footprint, tools to reduce vulnerability detection, and resiliency against radio frequency-enabled cyberattacks.

“We're also emphasizing modular, open-systems approaches, software designed systems, [a] more platform-agnostic approach instead of defined platforms as well as being multifunction,” the official said.

The strategy paints broad strokes for what's desired and required beneath each strategic goal. However, the Pentagon is still working on a formal implementation plan to ingrain them within the department and armed services.

Within 180 days of being officially signed, the senior designated official, who is currently the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will create a road map and implementation plan alongside the Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations Cross-Functional Team. A defense official said the way forward should be finalized by March 2021.

That plan will have a series of tasks aligned to the five goals. What's more, the implementation team will identify risks to the department and outline trade-offs that must be made against other priorities within the Pentagon, the official said.

“As part of the implementation plan, we are trying to set the conditions to make the appropriate trades that are going to be necessary with all the different priorities and the modernization efforts that are going to be required as part of this strategy execution,” the official said.

https://www.c4isrnet.com/electronic-warfare/2020/10/29/dod-unveils-electromagnetic-spectrum-superiority-strategy/

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14 janvier 2019 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

Air Force wants startups to answer the call for $40M
The Air Force will hold its first Air Force Pitch Day on Mar. 6 in New York City, offering startups the chance to win small awards for their innovative ideas that same day. The service has allocated up to $40 million for the event. Startup companies and small businesses will have the chance to win up to $158,000 each. “Many mind-blowing ideas are being birthed in U.S. startup companies, but the Pentagon largely misses out on them,” Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, said in a statement. Pitch Day will mirror private sector pitch competitions, allowing for a smarter and faster delivery of awards during the event. Roper's further commentary on the event clearly reflects that he wants to avoid the sluggish contracting process of the federal government. “For our big bureaucracy, awarding a contract in months is a flash. The Pentagon must do business at the speed of ideas: inspiring and accelerating startup creativity toward national security challenges,” Roper said. The Air Force posted topics online Nov. 29. They are the subjects and problems that the Air Force is using to guide the pitches. The service also released further criteria to help guide those who wish to submit their ideas. The ideas must have the primary task of advancing national security in the air, space and cyberspace. To make this as clear as possible for contestants, the Air Force outlined three areas of particular interest: Command, Control, Communications, Intelligence and Network Technologies Battlefield Air Operations Family of Systems Technologies Digital Technologies Submissions for pitches opened Jan. 8 and will continue through Feb. 6. Then the Air Force will take a week review the submissions and invite finalists. On Pitch Day, the Air Force will select same-day winners and award payments via credit card. Any award will be a nondilutive, meaning startups won't have to give up any ownership stake for the investment. Participant companies must be U.S.-based and more than half of its owners must be U.S. citizens or legally reside in the country. In 2018, the Air Force hosted a similar type of pitch event called Spark Tank, during which airmen were “able to compete and pitch their ideas to increase the lethality of the force, and to reduce the cost of bringing power to the fight,” as Secretary Heather Wilson said. Of course, that event differed in that it was limited to only Air Force service members pitching. https://www.fedscoop.com/air-force-wants-startups-answer-call-40m/
30 octobre 2019 | International, Aérospatial

USAF’s Future Fighter Plan May Limit Growth, Study Says
By Jen DiMascio The U.S. Air Force's plan for acquiring future fighter aircraft may crimp the service's ability to grow in the future, a study of the USAF's force structure plans indicates. The study, “The Air Force of the Future,” compares the service's force structure plans during times of peak budgets—in fiscal 2020 and fiscal 1985. In fiscal 2020, a budget of $205 billion could support 5,300 aircraft. This is a little more than half of the number that the same amount of money, adjusted for inflation, could support in 1985—9,400. The same holds true for the number of personnel, the report says. It was released Oct. 29 by Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which examined three different studies of the size of the future force. As part of the report, Harrison drills further into the Air Force's spending habits to find that one factor underlying the inability to afford a larger force is the increase over time in operation and maintenance costs. “The average O&M cost per plane is 74% higher today in real terms than in fiscal 2001,” the report says. Looking more closely at maintenance costs, he finds that the most expensive aircraft to operate are the smallest fleets, such as the Boeing E-4 Advanced Airborne Command Post aircraft, the Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System and Northrop's B-2 bomber. “This is because the fixed costs of operating the fleet are distributed across more aircraft in large fleets, which brings down the overall ownership cost per plane,” the report says. “The data suggest that the Air Force could reduce operating costs by divesting aircraft that are maintained in small numbers in the current inventory and consolidating the capabilities they provide into common multimission platforms.” Air Force acquisition chief Will Roper is recommending an acquisition strategy dubbed the “digital century series.” It aims to build new fighter aircraft designed to last 3,500 flight hours in batches of hundreds, rather than the current model of pursuing advanced technology for an aircraft type that will last for decades. But Harrison estimates that the operation and sustainment cost of sustaining five different aircraft types of 72 aircraft, or 360 total aircraft, would cost about the same as sustaining 1,800 aircraft of the same type. “That's something the Air Force has got to consider,” Harrison said. “With the digital century series approach, they may end up with a bunch of small fleets and may limit the ability of the Air Force to grow in the future.” https://aviationweek.com/defense/usaf-s-future-fighter-plan-may-limit-growth-study-says
18 juillet 2023 | International, Autre défense

U.S. to announce $1.3 bln in military aid for Ukraine -sources
The United States will announce a new pledge to buy $1.3 billion worth of military aid for Kyiv in its conflict with Russia in the coming days, two U.S. officials said.

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DoD unveils electromagnetic spectrum superiority strategy

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U.S. to announce $1.3 bln in military aid for Ukraine -sources The United States will announce a new pledge to buy $1.3 billion worth of military aid for Kyiv in its conflict with Russia in the coming days, two U.S. officials said.

U.S. to announce $1.3 bln in military aid for Ukraine -sources
The United States will announce a new pledge to buy $1.3 billion worth of military aid for Kyiv in its conflict with Russia in the coming days, two U.S. officials said.