In November, President Barack Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform released a stunning report detailing areas where commission members say they found $200 billion of proposed cuts in the federal government—and although the report was released on the Marine Corps’ 235th birthday (Nov. 10), the USMC took a beating.
Al Qaeda-linked terrorism has become a franchise operation, spawning imitators around the world who, while not directly connected to the original network of Osama bin Laden, nevertheless embrace its ideology and goals. The emergence of the imitators, including homegrown terrorists in the West, reflects the ability of Al Qaeda to change its structure and adapt operations after nine years of warfare in Afghanistan, which drove it from its base and killed many senior operatives.
Saudi Arabia could join the U.S., Japan and the Netherlands in deploying Aegis ballistic missile defense (BMD) systems at sea. The Saudi navy wants eight Surface Combat Ships (SCS) from Lockheed Martin, and is negotiating with the U.S. Navy over equipment and weapons. In a press conference at Euronaval in Paris (see p. 39), Orlando Carvalho, president of Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors, said the purchase could be finalized in the next few years. SCS is a 3,000-ton vessel for export based on the Littoral Combat Ship.
Reviewed by BILL SWEETMAN THE DREAM MACHINE: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey BY RICHARD WHITTLE Simon & Schuster, 2010 454 pp., $27.00 Rick Whittle is nicer to the V-22 Osprey than I would have been, but that was probably how this book got written.
The U.S. Army has given every indication it is in no hurry to move ahead with its $40-billion Ground Combat Vehicle (GCV) program, even as it sticks to its publicly stated desire to start churning out a planned 1,450 infantry vehicles starting in 2017.
Ground refueling of the F-35 may be as futuristic as the aircraft, after testing of a robot refueling station by the Air Force Research Laboratory. The Automated Aircraft Ground Refueling system is designed to reduce hazards associated with manual operations. The prototype uses a wheel-driven platform with a manipulator arm, connected to a pivot point on the ground by a 30-ft. metal truss. In the test a mock F-35 interface panel “parked” at a refueling spot. The platform, guided by the truss, traversed a 90-deg. arc to the panel.
Bill Sweetman (Washington), Andy Nativi (Washington)
Survivability and situational awareness (SA) were major themes at the Association of the U.S. Army show here in October. With many big Army programs in disarray from fluctuating requirements, companies and groups see an opportunity to promote new applications and products.
Over the past five years Mexico has been the scene of some of the world’s most gruesome violence—car bombs, beheadings and mass executions—in a multifront war that pits the government against powerful drug cartels, the cartels against one another, and both against innocent civilians caught in the crossfire.
The first stealth frigate in the Russian navy, the first-in-class Admiral Gorshkov, was launched Oct. 29, from Severnaya Verf shipyard in St. Petersburg. The keel was laid down in 2006. Construction is 40% complete. The ship is to be handed over to the navy in 2011. Since 2009 the shipyard has been building the second ship of the class, the Admiral Kasatonov, which will be ready in 2012. Officials earlier voiced plans to procure 20 Gorshkov-class frigates for the navy’s four fleets, but production will depend on funding.
Bossier City, La., won’t be the central node in the Pentagon’s cyberwar strategy, but it will mold cyberwarriors. The town, home to Barksdale AFB, was on the shortlist for the Air Force’s Cyber Command, and spent $100 million on infrastructure improvements and buildings, including a Cyber Innovation Center, to sweeten the pot. But plans change. Cyber Command is now at Ft. Meade, Md. Bossier City, though, is resourceful.
Lt. Gen. George J. Flynn has many duties in the U.S. Marine Corps: deputy commandant for combat development and integration; commander of Combat Development Command; and commander of Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command. He is also overseeing a Force Structure Review that was ordered in August by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
With the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program likely to be hit by further delays on top of the 13-month slip in development announced in February, competitors are beginning to see hope for the future despite tight budgets worldwide. The JSF program office canceled an appearance at Defense IQ’s October fighter conference here. People talking about other programs, though, were no longer shy about benchmarking their favorite jets against the ambitious U.S.-led project, now five years behind its original schedule with a sixth in the offing.
The U.K.’s Strategic Defense and Security Review came out at the end of October with big changes, affecting much of the armed forces including the Joint Strike Fighter buy. The beginning of November saw a potentially significant defense treaty signed between England and France. In Spain, the A400M continued flight trials. Meanwhile, in the U.S., we were waiting for details on the coming GCV, LCS and KC-X competitions. Here are representative Ares comments, edited for clarity.
Two unmanned helicopters could be delivering supplies to U.S. Marines in forward operating bases in Afghanistan by late 2011, after a competition the Naval Air Systems Command (Navair) plans to start early next year to select a system. The competitors for a contract to perform in-theater demonstrations of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) cargo helicopter are Boeing’s A160T Hummingbird and an optionally manned K-MAX helicopter from Lockheed Martin Corp. and Kaman Helicopters.
Terrorism, smuggling and other activities are forcing countries with long coastlines to bolster surveillance capabilities. Coastal radars are effective assets, but many have shortcomings that affect coverage. ITT Electronic Systems of Van Nuys, Calif., has developed a coastal radar that it says broadens coverage, improves sector surveillance, is unaffected by adverse weather conditions, resists electronic countermeasures (ECM) and is interoperable with other radars and command and control (C2) systems.
Love is in the air: One wonders how many shipwrecked sailors regained the will to live upon seeing this 1960s-era SA 321 Super Frelon helicopter arrive to rescue them. The helo was one of several historic aircraft on display at Euronaval in Paris (see p. 39).
Ten years ago, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley conducted a novel experiment at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, a training facility at Twentynine Palms, Calif. The goal: create a network of micro-sensors capable of tracking vehicles on the ground. A small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) dropped tiny sensors—known as “smart dust” or “motes”—over a target area. The sensors tracked passing cars and relayed the data to the UAV flying overhead.
The U.K. Defense Ministry has begun fielding the first airborne thermal-imaging cameras from Selex Galileo with advanced Albion technology. RAF Chinook helicopters were equipped during an upgrade in June with Titan 385ES-HD airborne turrets containing high-definition SLX Merlin medium-waveband (3-5-micron) infrared (IR) cameras that use Albion detectors.
Soldiers may power small electronic devices by doing nothing more than flexing nanoscale generators. Work by Zhong Lin Wang, a professor at Georgia Tech, shows it is possible to generate a 3-volt charge by compressing a nanogenerator—in this case layers of nanowires built up on a thin metal electrode and a sheet of polymer film, in test samples measuring 2 X 1.5 cm. (0.78 X 0.59 in.). The nanogenerators use the piezoelectric effect, which creates a charge when specially fabricated structures are flexed or compressed.
Israel and the U.S. recently renewed their agreement to continue cooperative development of the David’s Sling weapon system (also known as Magic Wand), extending the agreement signed in 2008 that paved the way for development of an advanced short-range ballistic missile defense program.
Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) can replace divers in routine but potentially hazardous jobs. One example of the capabilities UUVs offer was displayed at Euronaval (see p. 39). Roving Bat from ECA of La Garde, France, is being upgraded with 32 ultrasonic sensors, installed on the front end, that oscillate against the hull of a ship to measure thickness and detect corrosion. ECA says the sensors can be programmed to flag millimeter thicknesses that fall short of a preset minimum, indicating corrosion. The upgrade will be available in 2011.
Most nations have marines—amphibious assault forces that act as first responders when governments project power. Theater commanders will say the benefits of a mobile force of marines, operating with naval support and dedicated air and ground assets, cannot be overstated, especially in an era of asymmetric warfare and littoral operations. So effective is this model of rapid light infantry that even landlocked Paraguay has a battalion of marines.
Elbit Systems says its U.K.-based company, UAV Tactical Systems, has been awarded a follow-on contract worth $70 million to provide intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance support to British forces using the Watchkeeper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Watchkeeper is based on Elbit’s Hermes 450 UAV, and is built in the U.K. by UAV Tactical Systems, a joint venture of Elbit and Thales U.K. Watchkeeper entered service with the British Army this year.
The U.S. Army has for years poured millions of dollars into trying to build big, complex networks that can push huge amounts of information around the battlefield in real time, connecting small, dispersed units to headquarters, while linking every unmanned sensor and vehicle.
Christina Mackenzie (Paris), Pat Toensmeier (Paris), Robert Wall (Paris)
The future of naval warfare continues to tack toward smaller vessels, littoral operations and security missions. Add to this the budget constraints most navies are working with and the need for multimission capabilities, and it’s clear that much of the emerging naval technology is being directed at these needs.
