20 septembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial, Terrestre
By: Shawn Snow
In yet another sign the Corps is becoming increasingly concerned about air defense, the Corps decided to slap a counter-drone system on a Polaris MRZR all-terrain vehicle.
It's called the Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System, or LMADIS, and it's comprised of two MRZR vehicles, a command node and a sensor vehicle.
The system is a “maneuverable ground-based sensor, electronic attack, C2 [ command and control] system," 1st Lt. Ariel Cecil, the commander of the Low Altitude Air Defense detachment for Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 166, said in a video posted by the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
The LMADIS can detect, track, identify and take down drones with electronic attack, according to Cecil.
The MRZR counter drone system is currently deployed with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit where it recently participated in the Theater Amphibious Combat Rehearsal exercise in Djibouti.
The Corps has been investing heavily in counter air and drone threats. It's an issue the Marines really haven't had to focus on for some time now.
But as the Corps begins to face down more sophisticated hostile actors there's no guarantee Marines will always operate on a battlefield where they own the airspace.
That means enemy air or drone attacks are now a reality the Corps must plan for.
And increasingly, drone technology has found its way into the hands of terrorist groups and ragtag militias.
ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria have been known to weaponize small commercial quadcopter drones, dropping small munitions and hand grenades on Iraqi and partner nation forces. Even the Taliban in Afghanistan have gotten in the game, using small drones to film attacks on remote Afghan army outposts.
But the big threat, according to the Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Robert B. Neller, is that adversaries will eventually learn how to control these small attack drones in massive swarms.
“When you think about enemy air attacks, you think about jets and bombers and stuff,” Neller said at the Atlantic Council in April. “I think the real future in enemy air attack is going to be swarming drones.”
So, the Corps has embarked on an ambitious plan to field a new suite of tech to bolster the Corps' air defense and counter drone capabilities.
Two such systems are the Ground Based Air Defense-Transformation, or GBAD, and the Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar, or G/ATOR.
The GBAD systems is basically a detection system with laser weapon that can track and destroy drones, and it's mountable on the Corps' new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle or Humvee. That program is still undergoing testing and evaluation.
The G/ATOR system has been in the Corps' arsenal since 2013 and it can detect rockets, mortars, artillery cruise missiles, and drones. The system is highly mobile making it integral to the Corps' distributed operations plan in the Pacific should a conflict come between the U.S. and China.
And the Corps is also dishing out money to modify Stinger missiles as part of Service Life Extension Program.
11 décembre 2024 | International, Aérospatial
The Slovak Ministry of Defense will start formal steps toward the purchase of three C-390s in January 2025.
12 juin 2018 | International, Terrestre
PARIS — France has given a brand name for its planned light multi-role armoured reconnaissance vehicle, or VBMR: Serval. The French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly confirmed “the forces are waiting impatiently for these Light VBMR,” in a June 11 speech to mark the official opening of the Eurosatory trade show. “They will be efficient, protectors, innovative,” she added. “I believe they will be feared and decisive for our strategic security. For these Light VBMR, they lack nothing, except a name. It is a real honor to baptize these Light VBMR with the name Serval.” That name was a tribute to the “know-how and audacity” of the French forces and borrowed from a desert cat known for its “dexterity, speed and smarts,” she said. The French forces conducted the Serval combat operation in Mali, which ran from 2012 to 2014 and took its name from a wild cat found in sub-Saharan Africa. The French parliament has approved the multi-year defense budget, which has boosted the order for Light VBMR by 420 units to 978, she said. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/eurosatory/2018/06/12/meet-serval-frances-next-multi-role-armoured-vehicle/
9 juin 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
Leo Shane III The biggest defense news on Capitol Hill this week will be taking place behind the scenes rather than in public view, as lawmakers grapple with the military's response to recent nationwide protests and their own plans for next year's Pentagon budget. On Monday, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville and District of Columbia National Guard Commander Maj. Gen. William Walker will brief members of the House Armed Services Committee in a non-public meeting. The session was originally scheduled for late last week, amid concerns that guardsmen may have overstepped their roles as security support for D.C. police responding to some of the massive racial equality demonstrations outside the White House in recent days. The protests were sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black man prosecutors say was murdered by a white Minneapolis police officer. Since then, Pentagon officials appear to have tamped down President Donald Trump's suggestions that active-duty troops should be brought in to help handle the work, creating a massive show of force to “dominate” the streets of major cities across the country. But House Armed Services Committee members have said they still have lingering questions about how those discussions progressed, and whether guardsmen were put in an uncomfortable political role instead of their traditional support response. Democratic members are also sparring with Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, after committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Wash., vowed to bring the Pentagon leaders to Capitol Hill for a full public hearing on the issues this week. Esper and Milley have thus far refused, although Pentagon officials said they are negotiating scheduling issues for a possible future appearance. “The DoD legislative affairs team remains in discussion with the HASC on this request," Navy Cmdr. Sean Robertson, a Pentagon spokesman, said last week. "In the meantime, DoD has committed to provide Army Secretary McCarthy, Army Chief of Staff Gen. McConville, and D.C. National Guard Commanding General Maj. Gen. Walker to brief the committee next week on the presence of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., this past week.” Smith and 30 other Democratic committee members called Esper's refusal to appear this week “unacceptable.” Several members of the committee have vowed to include the issue in the annual defense authorization bill. Subcommittee mark-ups of the massive military budget policy measure are scheduled to begin on June 22. The Senate Armed Services Committee is beginning its mark-up of the authorization bill this week, with the first two subcommittee section votes scheduled for Monday afternoon. The full committee mark-up will take place starting on Wednesday. Unlike their House counterparts, however, nearly all of that work will be done behind closed doors. Senate committee officials have said in the past that they can more quickly and efficiently navigate the hundreds of legislative issues within the bill if they keep the work out of public view, to allow seamless transition between classified and non-classified topics. The only portion of the Senate authorization bill work to be made public will be the personnel subcommittee mark-up, set for Tuesday at 2 p.m. The hearing will be streamed through the committee's web site, as restrictions on public access to the Capitol complex remain in place because of the coronavirus pandemic. The House Armed Services Committee will have a public hearing on a separate topic later this week: Ellen Lord, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, will testify on Wednesday about the impact of the ongoing pandemic on the defense industrial base. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2020/06/08/key-debate-on-military-protest-response-budget-priorities-set-to-happen-behind-closed-doors-on-capitol-hill/