9 août 2018 | International, Terrestre
By: Jen Judson
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- The U.S. is seeing the need more and more to become increasingly interoperable with allies when it comes to missile defense, but there are many challenges still to overcome, according to a panel of former and current missile defense stakeholders at the August 7 Defense News Missile Defense Networking Reception.
“Probably the challenge that we struggle with the most with regards to our foreign partners is increasing and enhancing our cross-domain solution capability,” Col. Francisco Lozano, the Army's project manager for the service's Lower Tier Project office within the Program Executive Office Missiles and Space, said. “So not only just the ability to share information between our international partners in a given combat scenario but actually to do it at a high enough fast data rate so that the information is relevant and actionable.”
The Army has worked toward this in exercises in Europe specifically, not just focusing on missile defense, but all levels of information sharing as it attempts to tie together systems and networks so, if the coalition had to respond in a crisis, information would flow more freely and in a more timely fashion for allies and partners to fight together.
“So that becomes important for us to continue to improve, especially as just U.S. defense systems in general proliferate across multiple different countries” Lozano said.
The colonel noted that the Army is finding ways to learn from its partners and allies that are involved in regular combat operations even if they are not directly connected system-to-system.
“We stay tied in very closely with them and it has become a great partnership situation where we are continuing and able to work very closely in their country to understand the execution of engagements, what impacts are on certain systems and certain environments operated 24/7 for very long periods of time, understand the relevancy of certain threats and how those threats are employed and then improve those through [tactics, techniques and procedures] and [concepts of operations] not only for a given country but also for ourselves,” Lozano said.
24 février 2023 | International, Aérospatial
The Swedish defence products maker Saab has received an order for defence equipment worth 8 billion Swedish crowns ($767.54 million), the company said on Friday.
14 mai 2019 | International, Aérospatial
BY MARCUS WEISGERBER A U.S. delegation is scheduled to brief Polish defense officials eager to buy the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter later this month, U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said Monday. The American team is expected to discuss the costs of buying the Lockheed Martin-made jet as well as the warfighting capabilities it would bring to the Polish military. “They want to deepen their relationship with the United States of America in part by interoperability of advanced equipment,” Wilson said after a Meridian International Center event in Washington. “Those discussions are continuing. We're providing the information that might be needed for them to make a decision.” Poland has been looking to replace its Soviet-era MiG-29 Fulcrum and Su-22 Fitter fighters for several years. Its air force has 31 MiG-29s and and 18 Su-22s, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies' 2019 Military Balance. In recent weeks, Polish officials said they would buy 32 F-35s. “The Polish government has decided that they want the F-35 and they're in discussions with the United States,” Wilson said Monday. U.S. officials heading to Poland is a sign that the potential deal is going through the standard foreign military sale process. The F-35's design and electronic equipment make it difficult to track for advanced surface-to-air missiles — like the long-range S-300 SAMs that Russia deploys in its Kaliningrad exclave north of Poland. When the U.S. Air Force deployed F-15 fighters from the 104th Fighter Wing to Estonia in 2016, the jets flew close to those Russian surface-to-air missiles. “When you take off [in Estonia] you were either in or very close to being in a Russian [surface-to-air-missile] system out of Kaliningrad,” Col. Tom Bladen, operations officer with the 104th Fighter Wing, told Defense One in October 2016. Earlier this year, the U.S. Marine Corps flew its F-35B jump jets in Syria, where Russia has also deployed the S-300. Last month, the F-35 program director listed Poland as a potential purchaser along with Greece, Singapore, Spain, and Romania. Vice Adm. Mat Winer submitted his written testimony to the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee. Later in April, Poland Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak told local media that a F-35 deal was “not far away.” While the sale has not been approved by the U.S. State Department, Wilson said it came up when she visited Poland in April. “[T]hey want to be allied with the United States,” the secretary said. “If there's one thing that's really clear, is they fear and detest the Russians.” Wilson touted Warsaw's defense spending, which has been increasing for nearly three decades. Poland is one of seven NATO members who spends above 2 percent of its annual gross domestic product on defense. Buying a fifth-generation fighter is expensive and includes an abundance of training, infrastructure, and maintenance costs beyond the aircraft themselves. Right now, an F-35A, the Air Force version of the Joint Strike Fighter, costs just under $90 million each. For comparison purposes, in January 2018, the Pentagon estimated the sale of 34 F-35s to Belgium at $6.53 billion when all associated costs are factored in. Poland already flies 48 Lockheed-made F-16 fighters. https://www.defenseone.com/business/2019/05/mw-poland-f-35/156971/
8 juin 2020 | International, C4ISR
Andrew Eversden and Nathan Strout Special Operations Command has formally created a new program executive office that is dedicated to software June 1. The command's head of acquisitions said the organization is reorganizing as it shifts its focus to software-defined systems and artificial intelligence. “I have made the decision to reorganize SOF (Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics) slightly in respect to the National Defense Strategy,” said James Smith, the command's acquisition executive. “The first thing we did was decide to stand up a PEO for SOF Digital Applications.” Smith acknowledged the decision was made in response to shortcomings when it comes to developing artificial intelligence and machine learning for Special Forces applications. “The idea that the SOF acquisition force sucks when it comes to artificial intelligence and machine learning--okay, guilty ... this is our major effort to get better, to build competency,” said Smith. “I am looking to this PEO to start to lead us and lead the Department of Defense in excellence in acquisition of software to include artificial intelligence and machine learning.” The new PEO represents a shift for the command as it looks to embrace a more software-forward approach. “Everything I've asked you for over the last decade has been hardware defined and then software enabled,” Smith told members of industry. “We really need to move to a relationship where I'm asking you for things that are software defined and hardware enabled.” Army Col. Paul Weizer, who was originally brought in to lead PEO Rotary Wing, was tapped to lead the new office, and he said he's looking for all the help from industry he can get. “Right now, my structure is in Jell-O,” Weizer said at the virtual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference. “If you've always had some burning issue or nagging concern about how the organization is structured and how you're able to interact, what you're able to do to interact and there's always been something you wanted, this is the time. Contact me and my office. I have an opportunity to change and shape and form this organization." The new office aspires to become the “one-stop shop” for software intensive digital applications for special operations forces and industry to share what capabilities they can provide. To achieve that, SOF offices that are “software intensive” will be folded into the new approach, Weizer said. These programs include the Distributed Common Ground System-SOF; Mission Command/Current Operating Picture; Tactical Assault Kit-Core; Special Operations Mission Planning and Execution; SOF Planning, Rehearsal, and Execution Preparation; and the SOF Digital Ecosystem. Weizer said he expects SDA to reach initial operating capability in 60 to 90 days. Following that milestone, SDA will hold industry days. The office will continue to operate in Tampa, Fla., with satellite offices in Fort Belvoir, Va. and Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va. Weizer also said that he does not expect the technical workforce to be made up primarily of active-duty military. Instead, he said that SDA will serve as program managers and contract out development to industry. In the meantime, his biggest challenge will be finding talent well-versed in software procurement to join the ranks of SDA. In his senior ranks, he's looking for people who want to help out. “I'm looking for the individual who's already made too much money and has been successful in software and really wants to help out the SOF community," Weizer said. “If you're that individual that's ready to take one for the team, come give me a call.” He is also keen to meet with contractors that do not typically work in the defense industry but might have innovative ideas for the new office. “[If] you have some ... great banking algorithm and now you also think it might help find terrorists, I'd like to know that. I'd like to see that,” Weizer said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2020/06/05/special-operations-command-is-reorganizing-to-focus-on-software-and-ai/