Nouvelles

BY MARCUS WEISGERBER The single-seat jet is being built to shoot down enemy aircraft, pound targets on the air, and even hit ships at sea. The new F-15 combat aircraft that Boeing is pitching to the U.S.Air Force would have a single-seat cockpit and a host of new weapons, including anti-ship missiles, Defense One has learned. If the Air Force bites, the so-called F-15X would be the Pentagon's first new Eagles since a 2002 purchase of the air-to-ground variant known as the F-15E Strike Eagle. But various allies have purchased newer variants of the Cold War air-superiority fighter, as recently as last year. The X version would largely resemble the ones Qatar ordered in 2017, tuned up with the latest technology for the new era of great-power competition envisioned in the Pentagon's National Defense Strategy, according to people with knowledge of the plane's development. Boeing officials declined to comment. The Air Force and Boeing have been talking about how new F-15Xs would be cheaper to operate than the current fleet of F-15s, which date as far back as the early 1980s. The talks have been going on for over a year, according to sources with knowledge of the discussions. The X variant would benefit from upgrades funded by allies who have bought F-15s: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore and South Korea, which have collectively spent about $5 billion to develop new technology for their jets, the sources said. Compared to the Air Force's existing F-15s, the new ones would have better flight controls, displays, and radars, and more powerful engines that allow the planes to carry a larger payload. Like the air-to-air F-15C, and unlike the Strike Eagles, the new F-15X would have just one seat. Large digital display screens would replace the analog dials inside older F-15s. The planes could carry all of the existing equipment, like targeting pods, used across the existing Eagle fleet. The F-15X will also be able to carry anti-ship weapons that allies have paid to test and install. In all, the plane could carry 29,000 pounds of weapons. The F-15's range, speed and payload separates it from other fighter jets in the U.S. military. “There's really nothing like it,” said Richard Aboulafia, vice president for analysis at the Teal Group, a Virginia-based consulting firm. The additional weapons would allow the plans to fly new missions. It is expected to cost about $27,000 per hour to fly the F-15X. That's about $5,000 less than an F-15E. Currently, F-15Cs used by the Air National Guard to defend the continental United States. Other C squadrons based in England and Japan. F-15Es are primarily based in North Carolina, Idaho and England. The Air Force is amid a sweeping review that is examining the mix of planes in its fleet, which senior officials are quick to point out is the smallest and oldest in the service's history. The F-15X is being pitched to complement existing F-22 Raptors and F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, to handle various missions where there is little risk of being shot down by surface-to-air missiles. The view of only flying stealthy, fifth-generation fighters solo into battle without a complement of other other jets “appears to be going away,”Aboulafia said. Still, he said, “unlikely but not inconceivable.” Congress has been supportive of the F-15 program. The just-out-of-conference 2019 National Defense Authorization Act includes about $1 billion for a host of upgrades to existing F-15s, including electronic warfare. People with knowledge of the program say the new equipment being purchased for the oldest F-15Cs could be installed on the new X variant. Looking to the future, the sources said, the F-15X is ideally suited to carry hypersonic weapons. https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2018/07/heres-look-new-f-15x-boeing-pitching-us-air-force/150039/

BERLIN (REUTERS) - THE top U.S. Air Force general in Europe on Wednesday said it was critical to ensure any future British fighter jet was compatible with the U.S. F-35 stealth fighter built by Lockheed Martin for a number of U.S. allies, including Britain. General Tod Wolters, commander of U.S. and NATO air forces in Europe, told reporters on a teleconference that he had watched Britain's unveiling of a new fighter jet development effort electronically from afar, but had not spoken with UK officials specifically about the new combat aircraft program. UK officials launched the new Tempest fighter jet program last week at the Farnborough Airshow outside London. Wolters said officials from both countries had discussed future combat air capabilities in the past, and agreed on the need to ensure any new systems could work with existing weapons. "One of the key ingredients that has to go into any future systems is to make sure that it's interoperable with existing systems and certainly the systems that that UK is embracing," he said, referring to Britain's growing fleet of F-35 fighter jets. "As the UK decides to go forward with a system that could be called Tempest, we would hope that it would be as interoperable as possible with the great system that they've just acquired ... the F-35B," he said. CERTAIN He said he was certain that Britain was looking very closely at the issue, which he called "critical". Britain has said it is looking for international partners for the new development program, and is already in discussions with Sweden, Japan and other countries. Wolters sidestepped a question on whether the United States could also play a role. He did announce plans to bring U.S. radar-evading, or fifth-generation, aircraft to Europe in the coming months to continue efforts to integrate those capabilities with fifth-generation aircraft operated by allies, and with older fourth-generation weapons in Europe. He declined to provide details on whether the F-35 or F-22, both radar-evading aircraft, would be brought to Europe, or when. https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2018-07-25/us-general-says-future-uk-fighter-jet-must-be-compatible-with-f-35

By: Andrew C. Jarocki   The communication system which keeps the president in touch with the nuclear triad during a crisis will now be the responsibility of the head of U.S. Strategic Command. The change came about from concerns that the nuclear command, control and communications systems, or NC3, lacked a clear chain of command under the current structure. The system is comprised of satellites, radars and fixed or mobile command posts. “The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has appointed the commander of U.S. Strategic Command to be the NC3 enterprise lead, with increased responsibilities for operations, requirements, and systems engineering and integration,” a U.S. STRATCOM spokeswoman told SpaceNews. The Pentagon's 2018 Nuclear Posture Review found the NC3 system “subject to challenges from both aging system components and new, growing 21st century threats” such as cyber warfare. The report also warned that “Russian nuclear or non-nuclear strategic attacks could now include attacks against U.S. NC3." “The Secretary [of Defense] has told me multiple times," Gen. John Hyten, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, said in a recent speech at the nuclear submarine base in King's Bay, Georgia. "Besides your day-to-day operational responsibilities ... your next highest priority is to make sure we get nuclear command and control right.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/c2-comms/2018/07/25/strategic-command-will-now-oversee-nuclear-communications/

By: Valerie Insinna LONDON — In 2016, the Air Force opened a new office to evaluate the airworthiness of military aircraft it didn't plan to buy, thus making it easier for those U.S. companies to sell internationally. Now its flagship effort with Textron's Scorpion jet has been suspended. After moving through the first phase of the airworthiness assessment, Textron decided to step away from the process, Bill Harris, Textron's vice president for Scorpion sales, confirmed in a July 14 interview. The reason, he said, is that the company opted to pool its financial resources in support of its AT-6 Wolverine turboprop that the Air Force is evaluating as part of the light attack experiment. If turned into a program of record, that opportunity could be worth several hundred planes. “AT-6 is a very important program,” Harris told Defense News at the Royal International Air Tattoo. “Any smart company moves their resources where they need to go, and all of our efforts with the Scorpion are privately funded.” The Air Force announced in July 2016 that it had signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, or CRADA, with Textron. The agreement was the first of its kind, aimed at allowing the Air Force to gain insight into technologies they aren't purchasing and to clear away some of the evaluations that must be done before a sale to a foreign nation. That agreement — along with the opening of a new Non-DoD Military Aircraft Office (NDMAO)— garnered much media attention in the months following. In an August 2016 interview, the head of the NDMA office said that a CRADA to assess the Lockheed Martin-Korean Aerospace Industries F/A-50 was soon to be signed, and that another agreement for a different aircraft could be on its heels. However, no such agreement on the F/A-50 or any other aircraft ever surfaced, and the work of the NDMAO faded into obscurity. Textron may have suspended its efforts to assess the Scorpion jet, but the NDMAO is working on two active projects, said Robert FitzHarris, the deputy director of the service's airworthiness office, in a statement. One involves the an agreement between the Air Force and General Atomics to conduct an airworthiness assessment of the MQ-9B SkyGuardian drone and the SeaGuardian, its maritime variant, he said. The CRADA is the first between the office an a maker of unmanned aircraft. In essence, SkyGuardian is a version of the MQ-9 Reaper that will be certified to fly in any airspace safely. The drone has already found its first customer: the United Kingdom, which could buy anywhere from 21 to 26 copies. Beyond that, the airworthiness assessment could raise the confidence levels of other countries interested in buying SkyGuardian. And, importantly, it gives the U.S. Air Force a window into the MQ-9B's capabilities — which could help SkyGuardian break into the U.S. market. IOMAX is also engaged in a CRADA with the Air Force for an assessment of its Archangel turboprop aircraft, FitzHarris said. Like General Atomics, IOMAX has sold the Archangel internationally, but the addition of an airworthiness assessment from the Air Force may help attract new customers or pave the way for speedier sales. Both the General Atomics and Iomax efforts are still in Phase 1, where the Air Force and company lay out an “airworthiness assessment basis” that establishes a common understanding of how the airworthiness of a given aircraft would have been evaluated and graded. Phase 2 revolves around submitting test reports, risk assessments and engineering data to the Air Force, who then conducts a technical assessment based on that data. “We don't do flight testing. We simply rely upon the data provided by the collaborator," FitzHarris told Defense News in 2016, when he was leading the NDMA office. "There's testing, analysis, all of these things that typically feed into an assessment,” he said. “We have the technical expertise to take that [...] and give an assessment of compliance. Where there is compliance lacking or data lacking, we're going to assess risk and then we provide that information in an assessment package back to the collaborator." Textron is open to restarting the airworthiness assessment effort for Scorpion in the future, provided it's able to nail down a first customer to help offset the expense of doing the evaluations, Harris said. "[Once] we that launch customer, then we'll re-initiate that program,” he said. “Until we get that, being privately funded and not a program of record with the air force, that continues to be all on our nickel.” https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/riat/2018/07/25/textron-is-no-longer-working-with-the-air-force-on-an-airworthiness-assessment-for-the-scorpion-jet-but-these-two-companies-are/

DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN In May, the federal government announced that it had decided on modernizing the RCAF's search and rescue helicopters rather than take another route, such as purchasing new aircraft. Leonardo was selected to upgrade its Cormorant search-and-rescue helicopters and provide seven additional aircraft. The government doesn't have full details on what this will cost taxpayers as various options have to be sorted out. But it gave an estimate of the project as between $1 billion and $5 billion, a price tag that includes the purchase of simulators and support equipment. Last month, the federal government acknowledged that it had received correspondence from a number of aerospace firms raising issues about the sole-source deal with Leonardo. “We have received some responses,” Pierre-Alain Bujold, a spokesman for Public Services and Procurement Canada, stated in an email to Defence Watch at the time. “PSPC officials are currently reviewing the responses, in collaboration with the Department of National Defence and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.” “Once this review is complete, officials will determine appropriate next steps and inform respondents accordingly,” Bujold added. But industry representatives now report that they have been informed of the government's decision and their concerns were dismissed. The sole-source deal will proceed. (Sikorsky had pitched the Canadian government on new build S-92s. The S-92 is the basis for the RCAF's new Cyclone helicopter. Other companies also suggested it made more sense to have a common fleet of S-92s/Cyclones to conduct maritime missions as well as SAR). But Department of National Defence officials say it was determined that it was more cost effective to stay with the Cormorant fleet as it is a proven aircraft the RCAF knows well. The upgrade program is expected to include the latest avionic and mission systems, advanced radars and sensors, vision enhancement and tracking systems. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/industry-concerns-about-cormorant-modernization-pushed-aside-project-to-proceed

Edmonton International Airport Press Release An autonomous security all-terrain vehicle (ATV) developed by the Alberta Centre for Advanced MNT (microprocessor and nanotechnology) Products (ACAMP) is ready to patrol the perimeter security fence at Edmonton International Airport (EIA). The unarmed vehicle is controlled remotely by humans and can also drive autonomously, incorporating machine-learning to perform its tasks. “Safety and security is our number one priority at EIA and the autonomous ATV security vehicle will enhance our patrol of the perimeter fencing that secures the 7,000 acres of land at our airport,” says Steve Maybee, EIA's vice-president of operations and infrastructure. “The partnership with ACAMP to build the vehicle is also part of a larger effort to foster innovation, collaboration and economic diversification through our Airport City's growing number of technology and aerospace companies.” The new vehicle system includes navigation, path planning, obstacle avoidance, animal and human recognition, communication systems to airport security, geo-fencing, situational awareness and analysis and more. The autonomous ATV patrols will focus on the following: Identifying damage to the chain-link fence and fence posts, verifying barbed wire is taut and undamaged, and detecting holes or gaps under the fence; Detecting human or animal activity; and Searching for obstacles using LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging). “The partnership with EIA has helped us build a customizable platform that uses the latest in artificial intelligence, telematics, communications and other technologies that has application worldwide,” said Rosy Amlani, ACAMP's CFO and vice-president of business development. EIA is a member of the Advanced Systems for Transportation Consortium established by ACAMP and supported by the Government of Alberta. ACAMP is a member of the Alberta Aerospace and Technology Centre at EIA. ACAMP and EIA were able to harness technologies developed by consortium members to construct and test the autonomous ATV security vehicle, readying it for regular use at EIA. https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/autonomous-security-vehicle-to-patrol-edmonton-international-airport-perimeter-fence/

By: Valerie Insinna LONDON — The Air Force scored a major win in the 2019 defense authorization bill: Not only will it be able to cancel the JSTARS recap program, it is getting additional funds for its alternative effort called Advanced Battle Management System. However, the service will have to make some concessions in terms of its plans to retire the existing E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System fleet, which is used for ground surveillance and command and control missions. The Air Force had planned to retire three E-8Cs in 2019 that had become “hangar queens” cannibalized for spare parts for the rest of the fleet, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said earlier this year. However, according to the new defense policy bill unveiled Monday, it will not be able to retire any of the 17 planes until “increment 2” of the ABMS system is declared operational, although Congress will allow the Air Force secretary to phase out planes on a case-by-case basis if an aircraft is no longer mission capable. While the Air Force has not spelled out to the public exactly what comprises its ABMS plan, it involves a host of different upgrades for existing platforms —for instance the MQ-9 Reaper and E-3 AWACS early warning aircraft — that will allow them to network together in new ways. A congressional aide told Defense News on July 24 that the Air Force have three ABMS increments in a series of classified briefings to members of Congress' defense committees. Phase one, which lasts from now until about 2023, involves upgrades to datalinks and some space-based technologies, as well as linking sensors from several stealth platforms and drones together, the aide said. Increments 2 and 3 quickly get into more classified territory, said the aide, who declined to provide greater specifics. The defense authorization bill would accelerate ABMS by adding $120 million for six MQ-9 Reapers, which the aide said could be used to help boost the architecture's ability to prosecute targets during a low-end conflict. It also included $30 million to continue development of the ground moving target indicator radar developed by Northrop Grumman for the JSTARS recap program. In addition, Congress levied a number of other restrictions and reporting requirements on the Air Force as part of the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act, including: The Air Force's plan for modernizing and sustaining the current JSTARS fleet, including how it will increase the availability of the E-8Cs to support demands worldwide. Quarterly reports from the Air Force secretary on the progress of ABMS. Certification by the defense secretary that the Air Force has a long term funding plan that will allow it to retain JSTARS and that the ABMS acquisition strategy is executable. A report on ABMS from the Government Accountability Office, which provides independent oversight to Congress. The report will review the maturity of the plan and any risk associated with fielding or funding it. A directive to the Pentagon's Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office to reexamine the cost and schedule for restarting a re-engine effort of the E-8C, which had begun in 2008 but was since abandoned. The Air Force “procured three ship-sets of engines, after investing $450.0 million, and the engines remain unused,” even though “the legacy E-8C engines are the number one issue driving excessive non-mission capable maintenance metrics for the E-8C fleet,” the bill stated. The end of the JSTARS recap program is bad news for Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman, who were each vying for the prime contractor spot and the $6.9 billion contract for engineering, manufacturing and development. A total of 17 new planes were planned to be built throughout the program. Over the past year, Air Force leaders grew disenchanted with JSTARS recap, saying that new battle management planes would not be survivable in future, contested battlespaces. But while the Senate defense committees leaned in to support ABMS, House lawmakers sought to force the service to keep going with JSTARS recap. Will Roper, the Air Force's top acquisition official, told Defense News on July 17 that he was hopeful that Congress would move forward with ABMS. However, he still acknowledged that the Air Force had never modernized a “system of systems” like ABMS before. “It definitely needs to be a program where we embrace failure up front and prototype, because there's going to be a lot of learning to do about how do you make things work together as a team,” Roper said. “We get a sense of how commercial industry is solving it and I imagine we can use a lot of their lessons learned, but probably not all of them.” Infighting in Georgia What was once a disagreement between the House and Senate seems to have turned into a fight among the members of the Georgia delegation. In a surprising move, Republican Rep. Austin Scott pointed the finger at Sen. David Perdue, a fellow Georgia Republican, for allowing the recap program to be cancelled. Georgia's Robins Air Force Base is home to the 461st Air Control Wing, the joint Air Force-Army unit that operates JSTARS. “When Senator Perdue [...] withdrew his support of this program which the Georgia Congressional Delegation – including Senator Perdue – has overwhelmingly supported throughout the last seven years, it effectively ended the program,” said Scott. “Unfortunately [...] the replacement aircraft will not be fielded, forcing a higher risk to our men and women in uniform by continuing to fly the 48 year old legacy JSTARS aircraft which are in need of recapitalization.” Perdue hit back in his own statement, saying that ABMS is a better long term solution for Robins. “The Advanced Battlefield Management System will give us the capability to access both restricted and non-restricted airspace. This is a necessity in supporting our troops in harm's way as well as our overall intelligence gathering,” Perdue said. “With the solution I support, we save JSTARS jobs, maintain the JSTARS fleet into the next decade, accelerate the implementation of ABMS, and gain a new mission for Robins. All of this guarantees a very bright future for my hometown base.” https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/07/24/jstars-recap-is-officially-dead/

Dakota Wood SUMMARY America's military—engaged beyond capacity and in need of rebuilding—is at a crucial juncture. Its current “big-leap” approach to preparing for future conflict carries great risk in searching for revolutionary capabilities through force-wide commitments to major single-solution programs. The Heritage Foundation's Rebuilding America's Military Project (RAMP) recommends that the U.S. military instead adopt an iterative, experimentation-heavy approach that can achieve revolutionary outcomes at less risk through evolutionary improvements that build on each other until transformative tipping points are reached. Critical to this is a military culture that is immersed in the study of war and a force of sufficient capacity to prepare for the future while also handling current operational commitments. https://www.heritage.org/defense/report/rebuilding-americas-military-thinking-about-the-future

By: Maddy Longwell Congress used its annual defense policy bill to require leadership at the Department of Defense to double down on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Pentagon officials have repeatedly said artificial intelligence is a critical technology to staying ahead of potential adversaries. Earlier this month, the Defense Department reorganized its leadership structure to put a greater emphasis on emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence. In addition, the Pentagon said it plans to spend $1.7 billion over the next five years to stand up a new Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, according to new budgeting figures. Most recently, in an agreement between Congressional negotiators released July 23, lawmakers called for the Pentagon to establish a new commission to review advances in AI technology, a 15-member body that would meet regularly until October 2020. Members will be appointed by the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Commerce and members of congressional defense committees. The commission will focus on AI, machine learning and associated technology with respect to national security and defense. It is expected to review the competitiveness of U.S. technology and foreign advances in AI, potential workforce and education incentives to attract and recruit talent for AI and machine learning technology jobs and research ways to foster emphasis and investments in research to stimulate the development of AI technology. The commission is tasked with presenting an initial report to the President and Congress within 180 days of the passage of the bill. It is also expected to produce annual comprehensive reports on the same topics, which will be publicly available. In addition to the new commission, the NDAA bill establishes other changes to address AI, machine learning and quantum science technology. They include: A designated official to coordinate AI and machine learning technology development The bill instructs the Secretary of Defense to designate an official who will be responsible for “developing a strategic plan to develop, adopt and transition artificial intelligence technologies into operational use.” This version encourages the official to partner with industry, academia and private industries, and use the “flexibility of regulations and acquisition,” to develop and field AI and machine learning technology for the Department of Defense. Reports submitted by the Secretary of Defense about US competitiveness in emerging technologies The bill also requires that the Secretary of Defense and Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency submit classified reports that compare the capabilities of the United States and its adversaries in emerging technology areas. The reports are expected to evaluate hypersonic, AI, quantum information science and directed energy weapons technologies. The NDAA bill says that reports should include evaluations of spending, quantity, quality, test infrastructure, work force and the willingness of adversaries to use technology. Improving the Air Force supply chain The NDAA bill allows the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics to use funds for “non-traditional technologies and sustainment practices [which includes artificial intelligence] to increase the availability of aircraft to the Air Force and decrease backlogs and lead times for the production of parts.” The assistant secretary is able to use up to $42.8 million for research, development, test and evaluation. https://www.c4isrnet.com/newsletters/daily-brief/2018/07/24/how-congress-wants-dod-to-tackle-ai-and-machine-learning-in-2019/