1 avril 2021 | International, Aérospatial
France Preparing to Offer Rafale Jets to Ukraine as MiG-29 Replacement
France Preparing to Offer Rafale Jets to Ukraine as MiG-29 Replacement
25 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial
The U.S. Navy’s New Drone Could Team Up With Stealth Fighters
The U.S. Navy is spending $13 billion buying 72 MQ-25 Stingray tanker drones for its 11 aircraft carriers. The idea is for the Boeing BA-made MQ-25s to refuel manned fighters, extending their range while also relieving the fighter squadrons of their own tanking duties.
But the MQ-25 always had potential to be more than just an aerial-refueler. With its stealthy airframe and high endurance, it could be a surveillance plane and even a light strike platform, too.
At least one fleet community isn't waiting for the Navy and Boeing to adapt the MQ-25 to other missions. The fleet's airborne command-and-control weapons school at Naval Base Ventura County in Point Mugu, California, already thinks of the Stingray as more than a tanker.
Robbin Laird, a military analyst and writer, spoke to Cmdr. Christopher Hulitt, the head of the school, and summarized the conversation at Second Line of Defense.
Laird and Hulitt's main point is that the Navy is acquiring new aircraft with highly-sophisticated communications systems and sensors. The F-35C stealth fighter. The E-2D early-warning plane. The MQ-4C high-altitude drone. And the MQ-25.
Where before, E-2s would fly over a maritime battle, detecting targets and relaying commands to fighters, now a new system is coming together. The F-35C, E-2D, MQ-4C and MQ-25 all possess the qualities of a sensor- and command-and-control platform. So instead of passing information just one way—from an E-2 to a fighter—in coming years info could begin moving in all directions.
An F-35C in stealth mode might detect an enemy ship using its passive sensors and beam, via secure datalink, the target's general location to the nearby MQ-25 that just refueled the F-35C. The MQ-25 could hand off the data to an E-2D. The E-2D crew could instruct the operators of an MQ-4C to steer their drone toward the enemy ship's location.
Once the MQ-4C pinpoints the ship, the E-2D could then pass the targeting data back to the F-35C as well as to other allied vessels and planes, all of which could fire missiles. Imagine this whole process happening in minutes.
“It is about deploying an extended trusted sensor network, which can be tapped through various waveforms, and then being able to shape how the decision-making arc can best deliver the desired combat effect,” Laird wrote.
The Navy hopes to deploy the first MQ-25s as early as 2024.
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17 mai 2018 | International, C4ISR
How would NATO respond to a cyberattack?
By: Martin Banks NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says “it is time we all woke up to the potential dangers of cyber threats.” Speaking at a conference on cyber crime in Paris May 15, Stoltenberg said, “In the Second World War there was a popular saying, ‘Loose lips sink ships.' Today, it is weak passwords, failing to add software updates, or opening unfamiliar emails. Simple things. But if we get them right, we go a long way to protecting ourselves.” Stoltenberg was speaking at the Ecole Militaire in the French capital on a major conference on NATO's so-called “Cyber Defence Pledge” which, he said, had helped nations to look at their cyber-defences in a more holistic way. NATO countries have faced a series of attacks in recent years. In France, TV-Cinq Monde was taken off air by hackers while Fancy Bear, a group associated with the Kremlin, hacked the main political parties in the United States in what Stoltenberg called “a brazen attempt to influence the 2016 election.” Last year's WannaCry attack forced Renault to halt production at several of its factories and a cyberattack brought hospitals in the UK to a standstill. “The very nature of these attacks is a challenge,” Stoltenberg said. “It is often difficult to know who has attacked you or even if you have been attacked at all. There are many different actors. “Governments, but also criminal gangs, terrorist groups and lone individuals. Nowhere is the ‘Fog of War' thicker than it is in cyberspace,” he said. “If these were hard attacks, using bombs or missiles instead of computer code, they could be considered an act of war. But instead, some are using software to wage a soft-war - a soft-war with very real, and potentially deadly consequences.” In 2014, NATO leaders agreed that a cyberattack could trigger Article 5, meaning that an attack on one ally is treated as an attack on all allies. He added, “I am often asked, ‘under what circumstances would NATO trigger Article 5 in the case of a cyber-attack?' My answer is: we will see. The level of cyberattack that would provoke a response must remain purposefully vague as will the nature of our response. “But it could include diplomatic and economic sanctions, cyber-responses, or even conventional forces, depending on the nature and consequences of the attack.But whatever the response, NATO will continue to follow the principle of restraint. And act in accordance with international law.” In less than two years, almost every ally had upgraded their cyber defences with France leading the way, investing €1.6 billion and employing thousands more cyber experts. He also pointed to Nato's new Command Structure and Cyber Rapid Reaction teams. https://www.fifthdomain.com/international/2018/05/16/how-would-nato-respond-to-a-cyber-attack-well-see/
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12 septembre 2023 | International, Naval
How US Marines can protect commercial shipping in the Gulf
Successfully deploying Marines on commercial ships could require overcoming thorny logistical hurdles.