News Story: From Concept To Combat - Making Multi-Domain Battle Real

By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR

WASHINGTON: The concept called Multi-Domain Battle – a single seamless offensive across land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace – may seem futuristic, but the Army wants to start implementing at least parts of it right now. In wargames, doctrine, and interservice dialogue, “it’s actually becoming reality,” said Gen. David Perkins.

As one of the fathers of Multi-Domain Battle and head of the Army’s powerful Training and Doctrine Command, Perkins laid out three main efforts in a roundtable with reporters yesterday:

• Wargames: The Army and Marines are jointly creating an experimental unit, the Multi-Domain Task Force. The roughly 1,500-strong formation will join in ongoing multi-domain exercises sponsored by Adm. Harry Harris, head of Pacific Command and the Navy’s most vocal advocate of the Army’s Multi-Domain Battle concept.
• Collaboration: Army leaders are consulting with the other services and foreign militaries. One prominent example is a February conference among leaders of the Army’s Training & Doctrine Command, the Air Force’s Air Combat Command (ACC), Navy Fleet Forces Command, and NATO’s Allied Command Transformation, all conveniently close together in coastal Virginia. Perkins and ACC commander Gen. James Holmes are co-writing a paper on the concept.
• Doctrine: This fall, TRADOC will issue a new edition of its pivotal Field Manual 3-0, Operations, that will incorporate Multi-Domain Battle. The Air Force, Navy, and Marines have all had input on the document, Perkins said. A new manual may seem a modest step, but for the first time, Multi-Domain Battle evolves from a broad concept about future operations into specific doctrine the Army can execute here and now.

Read the full story at Breaking Defense

News Report: India, Israel Ink Deal for Air Defense System, Radars, UAVs Worth $4.3 Bln

Indian companies have signed 12 strategic agreements ranging from air defense systems, radars, anti-ship missiles to medium altitude long endurance UAVs in India under technology transfer worth $4.3 billion during the first formal meeting of India-Israel CEOs forum in Tel Aviv.

New Delhi (Sputnik) – The meeting took place at the end of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit.

Pune-based Kalyani Strategic Systems Ltd has signed a joint venture agreement with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) for addressing a range of opportunities across air defense systems, radars, anti-ship missiles and command & control systems for the Indian armed forces. Both the companies will produce weapons worth $1.54 billion over a period of 7-10 years.

The two CoChairs of the India Israel CEO Forum sign and exchange the Joint Intentions document. Very smooth discussion and conclusion. pic.twitter.com/xpu8FQwe9A

— Dr A Didar Singh (@SecyGEN_ficci) July 6, 2017

News Story: Aussie gov't announces upgrades to air force fleet

CANBERRA, July 5 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government on Wednesday announced plans for a 582.5- million-Australian dollar (443.5 million U.S. dollar) upgrade for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF)'s fleet of six E-7A Wedgetail airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft.

In a media release, the nation's Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne said the Wedgetail was one of the most advanced pieces of technology within the RAAF, and that the upgrades to the early warning and control capability would maintain Australia's dominance in the air.

"The Wedgetail is a modified Boeing 737-700, with the addition of advanced Multi-Role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar and 10 mission crew consoles. It is one of the most advanced pieces of aerospace technology in the Australian Defence Force," Pyne said.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Singapore's armed forces to reorganize for terror threat

SINGAPORE, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has to reorganize to respond to terrorism threat, said Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen at the SAF Day Interview.

"Now the reorganization occurs at a backdrop of changing assumptions, in which attacks that could occur in Singapore may increase in scale, frequency and impact," the minister told media earlier this week.

He said the SAF will train more National Servicemen to deal with homeland security and will open a dedicated training institution called the Island Defense Training Institute (IDTI) in July, which has a mission to train National Servicemen to conduct joint operations with the Home Team.

Each year, about 18,000 full-time and operationally ready National Servicemen will be trained for capabilities for homeland security, he added.

Read the full story at Xinhua

Industry: Lockheed Martin Team Congratulates Australia in joining the global Aegis Fleet

ADELAIDE, Australia, June 16, 2017 – Lockheed Martin Australia congratulates the Commonwealth of Australia for receiving its first Aegis-equipped ship, HOBART at a ceremony marking the occasion today in Adelaide. 

The handover of HOBART to the Department of Defence marks a significant milestone for Australia – officially joining the Lockheed Martin global Aegis fleet alongside Japan, Spain, Norway, the Republic of Korea and the United States.

HOBART marks the 107th ship to join the fleet and the sixth Allied nation to benefit from Aegis capabilities.

“Lockheed Martin Australia is continuing to invest in growing Australia’s maritime workforce. We are proud of the superior warfighting capability of Aegis and stand ready to support the Commonwealth with future programs – such as Australia’s Future Frigates, said Vince Di Pietro, Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin Australia.

News Story: Bharat Electronics forecasts $1.5B in sales as India boosts domestic production

By: Vivek Raghuvanshi

NEW DELHI — India's state-owned defense electronics enterprise Bharat Electronics Ltd., BEL, has increased sales by 17 percent in fiscal year 2017, according to Venkateswara Gowtama Mannava, chairman and managing director. 

“The company has projected the sales to grow from the current level of $1.35 billion to $1.54 billion next year,” Gowtama said. 

He added, “BEL will create new business partnerships with both domestic and overseas defense companies and enforce quick decision making within the company in order to remain competitive in the Indian defense market.”  

The market will become much stronger, he said, because the government has made much quicker decisions and the (procurement) cycle time is shorter. Many of the pending cases have been resolved. 

The list of weapons projects executed for the Indian defense forces include the short-range surface-to-air missile system Akash, a handheld thermal imager with laser range finder systems, a 3-D tactical control radar, a weapon locating radar, upgraded L/70 air defense guns, fire control systems, hull mounted sonars, radio relays systems, major sub-systems of integrated air command and control systems and ship-borne electronic warfare systems. 

Gowtama announced that the company has an order of $6.15 billion. "There is no vertical where we do not have an order at this point of time," he said. 

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: GMD Missile Defense Hits ICBM Target, Finally

By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.

WASHINGTON: Two days after North Korea’s latest missile launch, the US conducted a successful test of its homeland missile defense system for the first time in almost three years. Codenamed FTG-15, today’s event was also the system’s first test ever against an “ICBM-class” target, as opposed to lesser surrogates, the Missile Defense Agency announced. The painful history of Ground-based Mid-course Defense (GMD) — which, as GAO notes, has cost $123 billion since 2002 — now stands at nine successful tests out of 18 since 1999, exactly 50 percent.

“Today’s intercept means that hit-to-kill deniers are going to have an even harder time contending that homeland missile defense doesn’t work,” said Thomas Karako, missile defense director at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. “This is an important day for homeland missile defense, and a bad day for Kim Jung-un.”

How bad a day? If that 50 percent hit rate carried over into real-world operations — and critics like the Union of Concerned Scientists say the tests have been unrealistically easy — it means the current inventory of 36 Ground-Based Interceptors (GBI) could shoot down 18 incoming ICBMs before coming up empty. That’s probably enough to cope with North Korea or Iran, at least in the near term. US policymakers have emphasized for years that this “limited” missile defense system is not designed — or powerful enough — to be used against China or Russia, which have vastly more missiles.

The Missile Defense Agency will build up to 44 GBIs by year’s end, a marginal improvement, but it’s well aware that “two interceptors to stop one incoming” is ugly math. That’s why MDA has accelerated development of a Multi-Object Kill Vehicle (MOKV), which turns each interceptor into a kind of precision-guided shotgun, firing multiple warheads at multiple incoming targets from a single GBI rocket. Originally scheduled to enter service around 2030, the MOKV will now go on GBIs in 2025. Funding requested for 2018 is $259 million, out of a $7.9 billion MDA budget.

Read the full story at BreakingDefense

News Story: Pakistan Unveils VLF Submarine Communications Facility

By: Usman Ansari

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan on Tuesday unveiled a very low frequency (VLF) communication facility that will enable it to communicate with deployed submarines. 

Mansoor Ahmed, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center and expert on Pakistan’s nuclear program and delivery systems, said the facility is vital for command and control of submarines carrying a nuclear deterrent patrol, and the announcement essentially confirms Pakistan has established a preliminary, sea-based arm of its nuclear deterrent. 

"The Naval Strategic Force Command inaugurated in 2012 is now closer to being the custodian of the country's second-strike capability," he said. 

According to an official news release by the military’s Inter Services Public Relations media branch, the VLF facility is at a new base, PNS Hameed, near Pakistan’s main port of Karachi, and is the first of its 

kind in the country. 

“The secure military communication link in the VLF spectrum will add new dimensions by enhancing the flexibility and reach of submarine operations," the news release said.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

Industry: Systematic assist NZDF in NEA Programme

SitaWare Edge (Image: Systematic)

Systematic announces the award of a contract to assist New Zealand Defence Forces to complete Tranche 1 of the Network Enabled Army (NEA) Programme.

This will involve Systematic’s SitaWare Suite of COTS products for C4I, along with design and implementation support services that leverage Systematic’s extensive international experience of C4I initiatives. 

“Systematic will provide an Enterprise License for the full SitaWare Suite including Headquarters, Frontline and Edge products”, explains Mike Magill, President Systematic Asia-Pacific, “this enables interoperable C4I capabilities at all levels of command including not just static headquarters units, but also vehicles and dismounted commanders. In addition to the COTS based software at the heart of the C4ISR capability, we will also assist the NZDF team in providing architecture and system design services, along with implementation and integration support. A key feature of the support services is that they will take account of evolving and maturing requirements through the set-up of an ‘Agile’ project environment managed by Systematic.”

Industry: Northrop Grumman Highlights Fifth-Generation C4ISR Systems Integration Capabilities at Land Forces 2016

Company to showcase systems enabling interoperability across joint and coalition forces, enhanced situational awareness, optimised command and control, and cyber resilience

ADELAIDE, Australia, Sept. 06, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) will highlight key capabilities and programmes that offer the advantages of next-generation command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) at the Land Forces 2016 defence exhibition and forum. 

Land Forces 2016 takes place at the Adelaide Convention Centre, Sept. 6-8. Northrop Grumman’s exhibit in the U.S. pavilion is at Stand 2K6.

“The conference provides an excellent opportunity to showcase our unrivalled end-to-end C4ISR capabilities,” said Ian Irving, chief executive, Northrop Grumman Australia. “Our highly advanced, secure C4ISR systems provide critical decision-making intelligence and allow global defence forces to sense, share, target, fix and finish missions faster.

News Story: Indian Excludes Foreign Vendors From Its Air-Defense Upgrade

A S-125 Pechora air defense system in a parade in
Azerbaijan 2013 (Image: Wiki Commons)

Vivek Raghuvanshi

NEW DELHI — India's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has asked the Indian Air Force (IAF) to modernize its aging Russian Pechora air defense systems by using only domestic defense companies in accordance with the "Make in India" policy.

Last month, IAF issued a $272 million tender to digitize 16 Pechora systems, and the request for proposals was sent to domestic companies Tata Power SED, Larsen & Toubro, Reliance Defence and Engineering Limited, Offset India Solutions, Mahindra Defence Systems, state-owned Bharat Electronics Limited, and Bharat Dynamics Limited.

Currently Indian defense companies do not have the capability to digitize Pechora systems on their own and so they forge technical partnerships with overseas defense companies, according to a senior IAF official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The original equipment manufacturer of Pechora systems is Russia's Almaz-Antey, and all Russian defense companies only prefer to work with only state-owned defense companies," he said.

The Pechora upgrade program includes the refurbishment of its missile-guidance radar and the integration of its radar with an Integrated Area Command and Control System (IACCS). The upgrade will provide a fresh lease of life for ten years, the IAF official added.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Story: Indian Battlefield Management System Advances

NEW DELHI — The two consortia competing to provide India's new battlefield management system (BMS) have submitted their detailed project reports and the Defence Ministry will order prototypes within six months.

The proposed $6 billion system will be built in the "Make in India" category and reserved only for domestic companies. The two development agencies, Tata Power SED with Larsen & Toubro, and state-owned Bharat Electronics with Rolta India, submitted their detailed project reports last month, said a Defence Ministry source.

The reports will be vetted by the Army's Integrated Project Management Team and the MoD will then issue orders for development of the BMS prototypes within six months, said the MoD source, as effort is made to hasten creation of the system.

The development agencies will choose overseas partners for technical assistance but the tender will only be awarded to the domestic companies under the Make in India category.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

Think Tank: DWP 2016 - the future of C4ISR

Part of the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN)

Annaliese FitzGerald

Broader investment in C4ISR is becoming increasingly critical in the face of evolving threats and changes in technology according to the 2016 Defence White Paper.

The Government plans to invest around $22 billion (out-turned prices) or 9% of the Integrated Investment Program to improve intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, space, and cyber capabilities over the next decade.

The key C4 Investments include:

• A Military Satellite Capability to enhance Australia’s satellite communications operations and overall communications capability ($507 million)
• Common Operating Picture Capability Program, a situational awareness capability for effective decision-making and mission execution ($500–600 million)
• Position, Navigation and Timing Capability to enhance operational effectiveness ($750–$1 billion)
• Air Operations Centre ($750 million–$1 billion)

To bolster intelligence capabilities modernised all-source intelligence systems will be implemented across the organisation. Specifically investment in intelligence and mission data capabilities will support pre-programming of the Growler, Joint Strike Fighter and Poseidon aircraft, Hobart Class Air Warfare Destroyers and modern armoured vehicles.

News Story: Control Issue Stymies Creation of Indian Spec Ops Command

Indian Army soldier involved in a counter-terrorism operation

By Vivek Raghuvanshi

NEW DELHI — Lack of agreement on who would control a separate Indian Special Forces Command (SFC) has stymied creation of the unit despite the military's urgent desire for one.

Army officers said that Defence Ministry bureaucrats do not want to relinquish control of the SFC to the defense forces, while MoD bureaucrats claim inter-service rivalry regarding control of the SFC is the primary problem.

The Jan. 2 terrorist attack on an Indian Air Force base at Pathankot near the Pakistan border has opened a fresh case for establishing an SFC.

Whereas a special committee, the Naresh Chandra Committee, set up by the MoD strongly recommended a Special Forces Command in 2013, the previous government left the decision to the new government. However, the new government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains non-committal on the issue, said Nitin Mehta, a defense analyst.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

Industry: Thales awarded new (Australian) contract to support rapid deployment on operations

Thales in Australia has signed a three-year extension to its Command and Intelligence Systems Support Organisation (CISSO) contract with the Department of Defence, providing hardware and software support services to its critical Command & Control and telecommunications systems used on operations.

Over 300 deployed Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems will be supported over the life of the contract, including scalable networking technologies and other solutions to help Australian Defence Force commanders plan and make decisions on operations.

The systems will form part of the Army’s LAND 2072 Phase 2B battlespace telecommunications capability, and will be sustained by a robust support system to ensure the highest levels of availability.

Editorial: Could China Be About to Transform Its Military?

By John Costello

There has been talk of radical reform of decades. Finally, it looks like it might happen.

The PLA is long overdue for a complete overhaul. We’ve been saying it for years, and so has the PLA. Leading China military scholars of today all agree. The PLA is an outdated, unwieldy force that belies a growing technical prowess. I am not the first to note the PLA’s glaring issues vis-à-vis fighting and winning wars; Dennis Blasko has already made many excellent points in his article earlier this year.

The chief issues can be boiled down to this: If the PLA wants to fight and be effective, it needs to enable a joint operational command environment, reform defense acquisition, reduce the role of its ground forces, and rein in regional parochialism. Of course, this premise is based not on its often vague and tepid stated goals – “defend Chinese sovereign interests.” Rather, we should look deeper to the strategic signaling indicating its military intent over the last ten years. Greater global power projection, humanitarian aid, anti-piracy participation, among other objectives (the creation of the carrier notwithstanding). If the PLA wants to do the things it seems to want to do, it needs to change.

Aside from the ground forces issue, the United States faced similar problems (albeit of a different degree and scale) before the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act (or the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, or, “GNA”).

Until 1986, each service maintained their own logistics, doctrine, and planning apparatus independent of the others, causing a costly redundancy and duplication of effort. Operational authority was directed from the president, through the Secretary of Defense, down through the services to operational units, mired in a bureaucratic game of telephone resulting in a grossly unwieldy military. GNA abolished the operational distinctions between different services and allowed national command authorities – the president and secretary of defense – to exercise direct operational control over combatant commands, regional or mission-defined areas of responsibility. To put it bluntly, GNA cut out the operational middle-man, simplified the chain of command, and allowed the defense establish to benefit from a more centralized acquisition and logistics structure.

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: South China Sea - Satellite Imagery Shows China’s Buildup on Fiery Cross Reef

By Victor Robert Lee

The new capabilities may include sophisticated over-the-horizon radar.

Recent satellite imagery of Fiery Cross in the Spratly Islands reveals that China’s construction of facilities on the reef is more ambitious than previously appreciated, with one of its building complexes on track to rival the Pentagon in size. The complex, located in the midsection of the manufactured island a thousand kilometers off China’s coast, has a current footprint of approximately 61,000 square meters, not including large adjacent tracts where additional foundations are being laid. As a benchmark, the Pentagon has a footprint of 116,000 square meters, not including its interior courtyard.

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: How China and India’s Noisy Nuclear Subs Contribute to Instability in Asia

Chinese Type-094 Jin class Ballistic Missile Submarine

By Franz-Stefan Gady

Beijing and New Delhi’s ballistic missile subs fail to provide an adequate sea-based nuclear deterrent.

While U.S. and Soviet missile-carrying ballistic submarines (SSBNs) with their invulnerable second-strike capability have helped maintain nuclear deterrence – and as a consequence peace – during the Cold War, Chinese and Indian subs in Asian waters today could trigger instability and conflict for the simple reason that they are just still too easy to detect.

This is the argument put forward in a new paper [PDF] by the Lowy Institute, which states that Chinese and Indian ballistic missile submarines are not yet technologically advanced enough and too few in number to provide their respective countries with an invulnerable nuclear arsenal that would deter an aggressor from launching a nuclear attack for fear of retaliation.

With both China and India modernizing their submarine fleets this, of course, may change in the long-run once Chinese and Indian SSBNs have reached a certain operational maturity level. Until then, however, strategic stability will be hard to come by given geopolitics and the noise created by Chinese and Indian subs patrolling in Asian waters.

Read the full story at The Diplomat

USA: US 3rd Fleet Participates in Talisman Sabre 2015

From Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet Public Affairs

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet concluded participation in Talisman Sabre 2015, a two-week biennial joint-training exercise let by U.S. Pacific Command and the Australian Defence Force (ADF), July 18.

More than 33,000 U.S. and Australian personnel, 21 ships, three submarines and 200 aircraft participated in the evolution, making it the world's second largest maritime exercise. Military assets from both nations conducted various types of training at sea, ashore and in the air off the Australian coast and in the United States 7th and 3rd Fleet areas of responsibility.

"Talisman Sabre 2015 provided a great opportunity for our 3rd Fleet team to work together with the Royal Australian Navy to train in a high-end, mid-intensity warfighting scenario to improve joint combat training, readiness and interoperability," said Vice Adm. Kenny Floyd, commander, U.S. 3rd Fleet. "This exercise improves both nations' ability to work together, preparing U.S. and Australian service members to work together to provide security in the region and around the world."

USA: U.S., Australian Forces ‘On Board’ for Talisman Sabre

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Indra Bosko

Australian Army Capt. Kevin Jolley is one of 260 augmentees who recently checked in aboard the U.S. 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) prior to exercise Talisman Sabre. (U.S. Navy/MC2 Indra Bosko) >>

SYDNEY - More than 260 military and civilian augmentees from Australia and the U.S. arrived on board U.S. 7th Fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) July 6, bringing additional manpower and capabilities to the 7th Fleet staff prior to the start of exercise Talisman Sabre 2015.

Talisman Sabre 2015 is a bilateral combined joint exercise between the Australian and U.S. militaries. More than 30,000 personnel will participate in this biennial military training in various locations throughout Australia during July.