5 octobre 2020 | International, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army has discontinued its Rapid Equipping Force stood up during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to get urgently needed capabilities into the field in 180 days or less.
As the Army shifts from a focus on counterinsurgency operations to going up against near-peer adversaries like Russia and China across air, land, sea, cyberspace and space domains in large-scale operations, the REF's utility and mission has been in question.
The service is also disbanding its Asymmetric Warfare Group.
“As our focus changes to great power competition and large-scale combat operations, Army analysis indicated that the personnel and resources could best be utilized in building the operational fighting force,” an Oct. 2 Army statement read. “To ensure the value of organization's work over the past 14 years is not lost, all lessons learned will be maintained by the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center, via the Center for Army Lessons Learned, Centers of Excellence and other [Training and Doctrine Command] enterprise stakeholders.”
The discontinuation won't happen overnight. Both organizations will be fully deactivated by the end of fiscal 2021 “and will transition the mission of providing immediate support to other organizations,” the statement noted.
Over the past several years, the REF hung on to certain missions and continued to advocate for its relevancy.
A year ago, Defense News sat down with the REF's director in a new, smaller office space at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, in a conference room surrounded by small counter-unmanned aircraft systems that it was rapidly fielded to units and considered one of its success stories.
In 2017, the REF was focused on counter-drone technologies; dismounted electronic warfare equipment; tethered intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities; and urban operations equipment including up-armored commercial vehicles. But many of those technologies have found other homes within the Army.
As the service stood up its new security force assistance brigades, the REF expected a surge in work to support the needs of those units in the field as they deployed. The REF played a small role at the time, providing the first SFAB with a few items it needed ahead of deployment such as communications gear and an item that assisted the unit with indirect fires.
Last year, the REF was highlighting its nearly 10-year-old Expeditionary Lab, a 3D-printing trailer that can be deployed downrange to solve problems for units operating in austere environments.
Col. Joe Bookard, who is still the REF's director, told Defense News at the time that the REF would continue to fill the niche of urgently supplying soldiers with capabilities to meet immediate needs while they are deployed. He said that, in a way, the REF has been doing what Army Futures Command is doing now, but on a smaller scale: providing capabilities that are rapidly procured to a small number of soldiers for evaluation, and then refining those capabilities as needed.
In 2019, the REF addressed 400 requirements sent from combatant commanders to address operational capability gaps, Bookard said. Among some of the recent success stories is the tiny Black Hornet, an unmanned aircraft system that is now a program of record and was fielded as the Soldier Borne Sensor.
The REF was also working to transition two hand-held counter-UAS capabilities — the DroneBuster and the Drone Defender — to the larger force as official programs.
https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/10/02/army-discontinues-rapid-equipping-force/
1 juin 2023 | International, C4ISR
SpaceX's Starlink, the satellite communications service started by billionaire Elon Musk, now has a Department of Defense contract to buy those satellite services for Ukraine, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
15 octobre 2019 | International, C4ISR
ARLINGTON, VA, October 14, 2019 ̶ Leonardo DRS announced today it has been awarded a $14.7 million dollar contract to provide next-generation, near real-time battlespace awareness capabilities for the U.S. Army's Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar (C-RAM) program directorate at Redstone Arsenal, AL. The company's Joint Tactical Terminal - Integrated Broadcast Service (JTT-IBS) radio system is used by the U.S. military and select allied military forces to receive and transmit near real-time multi-source threat, survivor and Blue Force Tracker data among airborne, land-based and ship-board tactical systems. It enables world-wide beyond line of sight situational awareness by connecting tactical users and intelligence nodes over UHF SATCOM. Under the contract with the Defense Logistics Agency, the Leonardo DRS Airborne and Intelligence Systems business will provide 81 JTT-IBS tactical terminal sets to complete fielding of C-RAM's situational awareness and command and control cells. The JTT-IBS provides a key capability in C-RAM's mission to provide in-theater force protection against the indirect fire and Unmanned Aerial Systems threats. “We are proud to be a trusted provider of JTT systems to the U.S. Army's Missile and Space Defense units over the past 15 years and ensuring warfighters have the best situational awareness available to them,” said Larry Ezell, vice president and general manager of the Leonardo DRS Airborne and Intelligence Systems business unit. “As the operational need of JTT systems increase, we look forward to continue working with existing and new customers to provide this long trusted critical situational awareness equipment and support to the war fighter.” Leonardo DRS recently completed design and certification efforts on the third-generation JTT-IBS adding to its family of systems currently operational in Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Special Operations applications. The latest JTT-IBS is positioned for long-term operations as the Army continues to modernize. Leonardo DRS's JTT systems are the only certified IBS transmit capability in production today. Leonardo DRS provides a family of Joint Tactical Systems supporting Integrated Broadcast Service (IBS) receive-only and IBS transmit users across multiple airborne, land and sea platforms. These systems are well positioned as the leading solution for the pending Joint Tactical Terminal – Next Generation (JTT-NG) acquisition program. To see more of the Leonardo DRS Tactical Terminal technology, visit: https://www.leonardodrs.com/TacticalTerminals About Leonardo DRS Leonardo DRS is a prime contractor, leading technology innovator and supplier of integrated products, services and support to military forces, intelligence agencies and defense contractors worldwide. Its Airborne and Intelligence Systems business unit is a global leader and strategic partner committed to delivering world-class, full life-cycle defense and intelligence products that protect the security of our nation and our allies. From air combat training to state-of-the-art electronic warfare systems, our technology is deployed by virtually all U.S. military and government agencies around the world. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Leonardo DRS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Leonardo S.p.A. See the full range of capabilities at www.LeonardoDRS.com and on Twitter @LeonardoDRSnews. For additional information please contact: Michael Mount Senior Director, Public Affairs 571-447-4624 mmount@drs.com View source version on Leonardo DRS: https://www.leonardodrs.com/news/press-releases/leonardo-drs-to-provide-joint-tactical-terminal-integrated-broadcast-service-systems-to-us-army/
4 novembre 2021 | International, Aérospatial
A new request for proposals will govern the agency's new commercial imagery contracts.