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Since 1790, the Coast Guard has safeguarded the American people and promoted national security, border security, and economic prosperity in a complex and evolving maritime environment. The Coast Guard saves those in peril and protects the Nation from all maritime threats.
As a branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, a law enforcement organization, a regulatory agency, a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community, and a first responder, the Coast Guard employs a unique mix of authorities, broad jurisdiction, flexible operational capabilities, and a network of partnerships.
The Coast Guard is the principal Federal agency responsible for maritime safety, security, and environmental stewardship in U.S. ports and inland waterways, along more than 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline, throughout the 4.5 million square miles of U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and on the high seas.
The over 50,000 members of the Coast Guard operate a multi-mission, interoperable fleet of 259 Cutters, 200 fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, and over 1,600 boats. Operational control of surface and air assets is vested in two Coast Guard geographical Areas (Pacific and Atlantic), nine Coast Guard Districts, and 37 Sectors located at strategic ports throughout the country.
Five Mission Support Logistics and Service Centers provide services for operational assets and shore facilities. Coast Guard program oversight, policy development, and personnel administration are carried out at Coast Guard Headquarters located on the St. Elizabeths campus in Washington, DC.
Recently, VMX-1 tested the Viper Attack Helicopter with the JAGM weapon, and for the purpose of enhancing the Marine Corps’s capability to support maritime/littoral missions.
This is how the December 2, 2021 USMC press release described the effort:
HEADQUARTERS MARINE CORPS – Marines from Marine Operational Test & Evaluation Squadron 1 (VMX-1) conducted an operational test and evaluation of the joint air-to-ground missile (JAGM) from an AH-1Z Viper, Nov. 3-7 at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
VMX-1 fired and evaluated the JAGM to determine its suitability and effectiveness to support expeditionary advanced base operations, such as conducting sea denial operations within the littorals and supporting sea control operations.
Personnel from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Two One (HX-21), Naval Air Systems Command Direct and Time Sensitive Strike program office (PMA-242), Army Program Executive Office Missiles and Space, Air Force 780th Test Squadron, as well as industry partners were on location to observe and analyze the data from the test event. This event can lead to significant improvements in lethality of attack helicopters by arming them with newer munitions equipped with two sensor technologies and optimizes missile performance on maritime targets.
“Watching these professionals from across the services and industry come together to test the effectiveness and work on improvement for this weapon system is truly a phenomenal experience,” said VMX-1 Commanding Officer Col. Byron Sullivan. “The team is doing everything possible to ensure this capability will be the needed upgrade that enhances our ability to use precision strikes against fast-moving maritime targets.”
The team observed the test from locations across Eglin Air Force Base, honing in on weather considerations, telemetry and instrumentation, coordinating with the pilots, and observing the impact zone. Ultimately, the data collected will be analyzed to determine overall system effectiveness and develop the tactics, techniques, and procedures for its employment.
“Executing this type of concept development is very critical to get it right on paper and put more effective systems in the hands of the warfighter,” said Maj. Thomas Hutson, the Assault Support department head at VMX-1 and member of the JAGM test team.
This test is part of a larger effort to upgrade the AH-1Z and UH-1Y aircraft, in alignment with the Commandant’s vision of force modernization vision to maintain a competitive edge against potential adversaries.
The mission of VMX-1 is to conduct operational test and evaluation of Marine Corps aviation platforms and systems.
And in an interview we did last year, we discussed the way ahead with regard to Viper modernization which included the coming of the addition of the JAGM capability to the fleet.
That article was entitled: “The AH-1Z and Its Evolving Contribution to Marines in the Maritime Fight,” and was published on April 15, 2020:
By Robbin Laird
My recent discussions with Major Thomas Duff and Mr. Michael Manifor, HQMC Aviation, APW-53, Attack and Utility Helicopter Coordinators, about the Viper maritime attack helicopter provided insights into how this asset is evolving as the MAGTF itself is being reshaped for its broader spectrum missions beyond the land wars, to maritime operations, and support for embarked Marines being inserted into various types of land operating bases, including distributed expeditionary bases.
The APW-53 leaders underscored that “the Viper contributes to the entire span of assault operations. Marines are inserted in places where they can influence the fight, and it requires synchronized assault support operations involving aviation assets to do it quickly and effectively.”
They emphasized as well that the two-man team in the Viper works closely with the Ground Combat Element and with their training and operational experience are an integrated part of the C2 process with the GCE commanders. As a result, “with the Viper crew you’ve got a dedicated fires team that lives, breathes, eats, and thinks ‘how do I destroy the target, and support the ground scheme of maneuver’.”
As noted in the last article, “the Viper is involved in the entire span of assault operations. Prior to an assault, they prep the battlespace, including doing armed reconnaissance. They support fixed wing aircraft in a deep air support role, and when the Ospreys and CH-53s advance to the objective area, they provide an air escort role. With Marines in the objective area, they provide direct ground support for ground movement working directly with the Ground Combat Element.”
USMC AH1-Z Mission Sets. Credit Graphic: Second Line of Defense
What I am going to do in this article, is to look at the organic systems on the Viper which allows the 2-man crew to be able to deliver this wide-ranging mission set, and then to highlight how the additions coming with the digital interoperability upgrades allow the Viper to expand its capabilities to both contribute to the fight and to pursue an integrability con-ops which allows it to play an even broader role within the evolving maritime domain.
The baseline NAVAIR chart of what is currently on the Viper provides a catalogue of the systems onboard the aircraft, but by discussing with the APW-53 team, these systems come to life in terms of how operators work with these systems to be able to be “involved in the entire span of assault operations.”
What follows is my interpretation of what I have learned about the systems onboard the Viper and how the Marines have used them and in the case of the impact of the digital interoperability upgrades, how they could be used in the return to the sea and enhanced priority on maritime missions.
The Two-Man Crew and Strike Capabilities
A good place to start is that this is an attack platform with two crew, each with their own cockpit, placed in a front to back position. Each cockpit with the exception of about a half dozen switches is essentially the same.
But in each cockpit, the Marines can fire weapons and do so in support of one another. The Marine aviator can fly and fight from either cockpit and can fight simultaneously from those cockpits. And they can track different mission solutions, such as an air-to-air mission for one, and an air-to-ground for the other.
The systems slide above refers to a fully integrated cockpit and fire control system. The sensors and the fire control system onboard the aircraft allow the two-man team to take on multiple targets using a variety of weapon systems simultaneously. In other words, the two-man teams have a flexible ability to use the onboard weapon systems because of the nature of the fire control system on the aircraft.
The fire control system is capable of tracking multiple targets which allows for efficient engagement. This can be especially useful against moving targets in the maritime environment,
With the upgrades coming soon via the digital interoperability initiative, the Viper through its Link 16 upgrade along with its Full-Motion video access upgrade, can have access to a much wider situational awareness capability which obviously enhances both its organic targeting capability and its ability to work with a larger swath of integrated combat space.
This means that the Viper can broaden its ability to support other air platforms for an air-to-air mission set, or the ground combat commander, or in the maritime space.
A key capability which the Viper has is its high-powered machine gun. Given that the Viper can easily land on virtually any ship which the Navy or MSC operates, it can bring its machine gun as well as its Hellfires, or its rockets with a laser seeker into the sea control domain.
The increasing threat from small boats and unmanned air vehicles or the coming threat from unmanned surface vessels highlights the importance of having a platform which can use a variety of strike capabilities to destroy these relatively low value assets with potentially a high impact on the fleet.
Unmanned assets may look smart, but when running into a machine gun, they return to simply being drones.
The combination of what the organic asset can do with its expanded span of SA and shared targeting information through the DI upgrades provides a new role for the Viper within the maritime force.
This role is inherent within its current configuration coupled with the DI upgrades.
The Weapons Onboard
The systems slide above highlights the organic weapons capabilities carried by the Viper.
The Viper carries a three-barreled machine gun. for close-range (up to 2km) engagement and 750 rounds of ammunition.
“With the gun in a fixed-forward position, the pilot can aim by maneuvering the helicopter.
“Either crew member can slave the turret to the helmet-mounted sight and aim the gun by looking at the target.”
The second is the AGM-114 Hellfire. This missile provides a significant ground attack capability which has been used throughout the land wars, but also has a significant capability to strike maritime surface targets as well.
The Viper will soon (IOC FY20) have the ability to fire the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM). This missile provides increased lethality through dedicated maritime modes, enhanced moving target capability, and selectable fuzing; providing capability against both fast attack craft and small surface combatants. Millimeter wave (MMW) guidance increases survivability by providing a true fire-and-forget capability, removing the requirement for a terminal laser.
The third are APKWS rockets which is a 70-millimeter rocket with a laser guided seeker.
There are other precision-guided weapons on the market, but few consistently hit their intended target with pinpoint accuracy, while leaving minimal collateral damage. Our guidance section is designed to lock onto targets from over 3 kilometers away, keeping your aircraft and laser designators at a safe distance from threats.
Innovative by design, the APKWS rocket includes advanced DASALS seeker optics located on all four guidance wings. Once fired, the wings deploy, and the optics lock in, guiding the rocket to the target – delivering accuracy when it matters most.
Wing slot seals protect optics from adjacent firings, sand, and moisture prior to launch to ensure no damage or debris inhibit the seeker from locking onto targets
Optics lock onto moving or stationary targets in open or confined areas, supporting a wide variety of missions, and eliminating the possibility of a lost or uncontrolled rocket after launch
40-degree instantaneous field of regard enables a broad capture area for the rocket to adjust mid-flight and stay on track to its target
To date, 17 of the world’s most utilized rotary- and fixed-wing launch platforms are qualified with BAE Systems’ APKWS laser guided rocket system, including:
The fourth is an AIM-9M sidewinder.
This is a premier air-to-air strike missile, and is widely used by the United States and its allies in that role.
The Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-9 Sidewinder is a supersonic, short-range air-to-air missile developed by the U.S. Navy in the 1950s. Entering service in 1956, variants and upgrades remain in active service with many air forces after five decades. The U.S. Air Force purchased the Sidewinder after the Navy developed the missile at China Lake, California.
The Sidewinder is the most widely used missile the U.S. Armed Forces, employed on the Navy/Marine’s F/A-18A-D, F/A-18E/F, AV-8B, AH-1 and the Air Force’s F-16, F-15, F-22 and A-10 aircraft. Additionally, the Sidewinder is flown by over 30 international customers on over 12 different types of aircraft.
The missile’s main components are an infrared homing guidance section, an active optical target detector, a high-explosive warhead, and a rocket motor.
The infrared guidance head enables the missile to home on target aircraft engine exhaust. An infrared unit costs less than other types of guidance systems, and can be used in day/night and electronic countermeasures conditions. The infrared seeker also permits the pilot to launch the missile, then leave the area or take evasive action while the missile guides itself to the target….
In short, the onboard weapons for the Viper provides a wide range of mission mixes which the aircraft can perform.
They range from air-to-air, to air-to-ground, from air-to-surface in a maritime domain provides a significant mission flexibility to which the aircraft can provide.
And because it is fully marinized, it can land and refuel with virtually any ship operating in the fleet, which means it can contribute to sea control, which in my view, is a mission which the amphibious task force will engage in with the expanded reach of adversarial navies.
The announcement of the AUKUS partnership has prompted the old accusation that Australia is ‘trying to find its security from Asia rather than in Asia’ to resurface in public debate, most recently in former prime minister Paul Keating’s recent National Press Club address.
The basis for this view is twofold.
First, Australia is seeking the assistance of the United States and United Kingdom—neither of which could be described as Asian by any reasonable definition—to obtain nuclear-powered submarines. AUKUS necessarily rests upon the longstanding ANZUS alliance with the US, our historical, constitutional and contemporary security links with the UK, and the legacy of trust from intelligence-sharing with both countries through the Five Eyes. Undeniably, a commonality of language, culture and respect for democracy is a part of it too, though this is sometimes reduced to the racially tinged epithet ‘Anglosphere’.
Second, the desire for nuclear propulsion seems to have given the impression that Australia seeks greater range and underwater speed so we can zoom through and past our neighbours to get to East Asian flashpoints. It implies a sense of Australia’s impatience with the vacillation of the ASEAN nations in confronting new maritime security realities, and a go-it-alone approach. The truth of how the future submarines may confirm or disprove this impression remains to be seen and, assuredly, many things will have changed before they hit the water.
But the ‘security from Asia rather than in Asia’ accusation obscures the significant and growing efforts of the Royal Australian Navy to engage in the region, as demonstrated by the recently concluded Indo-Pacific Endeavour (IPE) mission. While in many ways it’s an example of classic naval diplomacy—with port visits, joint exercises and gifting of medical stores from HMA Ships Canberra and Anzac—the activities across Southeast Asia in the past three months actually represent the cumulative effort of the joint services and a whole-of-government approach from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the Australian Civil-Military Centre.
To underscore the point of finding security in Asia, IPE 21 took the unprecedented step of appointing Captain Constancio Reyes of the Philippine Navy as the task group’s deputy commander, an invitation which also marked the milestone of 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Such was the enthusiastic reception for Reyes’s appointment that other regional navies have already registered interest in participating should multinational command become an ongoing feature.
It is a significant signal of trust between nations.
With IPE now in its fourth iteration, and ably led this year by Commodore Mal Wise despite the unenviable constraints of the Covid-19 pandemic, why are such achievements being overlooked? One answer is that, unlike a visiting British carrier strike group or German frigate, an Australian task group visiting the ASEAN nations is less remarkable for the fact that it is our neighbourhood, and our engagement efforts are regular and longstanding.
Rather than mere symbolism, IPE’s activities with each partner nation were painstakingly negotiated over 2021 to ensure the highest value for them. As a prosaic matter, the only time IPE seems to make headlines is when a Chinese intelligence vessel berths alongside or lasers are pointed at aviators. No journalists were onboard this year, and all interactions with foreign navies have been described as ‘safe and professional’.
There are legitimate questions to consider about the implications of nuclear-powered submarines for Australia’s immediate neighbours. Concerns about nuclear proliferation will be asked and must be answered. Port visits by Collins-class submarines have been an important part of the RAN’s naval diplomacy in the past 20 years, from the regular replenishment visits to Singapore to more diplomatically freighted visits to Brunei and New Caledonia.
With no requirement for refuelling, and representing the most closely guarded military technology, the future of such visits by nuclear-powered submarines is unclear. But earlier versions of IPE had the explicit task of introducing Australia’s landing helicopter docks to the region and reassuring our neighbours that, despite their being amphibious assault ships, there was no intention to assault anyone. IPE could one day fulfil a similar function for the nuclear-powered submarines.
In any case, the notion of Australia finding security either in or from Asia is a false dichotomy. We must continue doing the former where we can, the latter where we must—and both will be done better alongside the friends and allies we maintain from outside our immediate region.
Justin Burke is a non-resident fellow at the Center for Maritime Strategy and Security at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University and a PhD candidate in naval strategy at Macquarie University.
This article was published under the title ” Indo-Pacific Endeavour shows Australia’s security found in, not from, Asia” by ASPI on November 19, 2021.
HMAS Sirius during her transit to Sembawang, Singapore, as part of Indo-Pacific Endeavour 21.
HMAS Sirius sails in company with Nimitz class supercarrier USS Carl Vinson during a Regional Presence Deployment.
HMAS Sirius conducts a replenishment at sea with USS Lake Champlain during a Regional Presence Deployment.
Royal Australian Air Force Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornet fighters pass over HMAS Canberra while conducting air warfare serials during Exercise Bersama Gold.
Ships company of Indonesian Navy ships KRI Gusti Ngurah Rai wave farewell to HMAS Anzac on completion of Exercise New Horizon.
Paris – The United Arab Emirates signed Dec. 3, 2021 contracts worth a total €17 billion ($19 billion) for 80 Dassault Aviation Rafale fighter jets, MBDA missiles, and 12 Airbus Helicopter Caracal H225M helicopters, the armed forces ministry said.
The UAE Tawazun arms acquisition authority signed Rafale orders worth €14 billion with Dassault, and with MBDA contracts worth €2 billion for Mica Next Generation air-to-air missiles and Black Shaheen cruise missiles, the private office of armed forces minister Florence Parly said in a telephone press conference.
There was also a deal for 12 Caracal military transport helicopters worth a further €1 billion.
President Emmanuel Macron was in Dubai for the contract signing, on a two-day visit to the Gulf. The UAE was the first stop, then Qatar later on Friday, and on to Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
“This is an historic contract: I am proud to see the excellence of French industry at the summit,” Parly said in a statement.
Meanwhile, a UAE official said the negotiations on the Rafale had been held in strict confidence, with the talks separate from UAE plans to acquire the F-35 joint strike fighter. The UAE’s interest in the Rafale hit headlines just last month after lengthy silence.
The UAE has been in talks with the U.S. for a prospective order for 50 F-35s, after the then president Donald Trump authorized the sale to Abu Dhabi. That green light for a big U.S. arms deal followed the UAE agreeing to open bilateral ties with Israel.
The Biden administration pursues negotiations with the UAE on the F-35, although the pace of talks has slowed, Reuters reported.
Washington sees Abu Dhabi’s ties with China as too close, particularly the use of Chinese 5G communications and data networks, permission for local port access for the Chinese navy, and Chinese offers of sensitive military technology.
The French arms deals with the UAE will not require authorization under the U.S. International Trade in Arms Regulations, the French defense ministry official said.
ITAR, which clears overseas sales of U.S. components, had previously held up delivery of the Scalp cruise missile to Egypt.
France eventually managed to clear that hitch and shipped the airborne weapons, part of Cairo’s initial order for 24 Rafales. Egypt went on to confirm an option for a further 12 Rafales.
The then French president François Hollande, on a visit to the White House, had to ask his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama to get clearance for delivery of the Falcon Eye spy satellite to the UAE, after ITAR withheld authorization for shipment of US components.
More Than a Decade in Waiting
France has been in talks on and off with the UAE on the Rafale for more than a decade, with presidents Nicholas Sarkozy and Hollande in pursuit, until Macron sealed the mega-deal, the largest single export order for the French fighter jet.
Talks on the Rafale deal started a year ago, the defense ministry said. The first delivery will be in 2027, with the last in 2031.
The Rafale will be in the F4 version, which is under development for the French services.
The UAE has requested for the same standard as that operated by France, the Gulf official said.
The fighter is now more capable than it was 10 years ago, the French ministry official said.
A key feature of the Rafale F4 will be connectivity, for sharing information among pilots, based on the Thales Contact software defined radio network.
This capability aims to cut dependence on voice communications and allow data, such as targeting information, to be shared with fellow pilots over the network.
The F4 is also to be equipped with a Multi-Function Array, combining radar, electronic warfare, and communications.
Thales worked on the MFA in a feasibility study for the Future Combat Air System-Development Program, a joint Anglo-French project launched under the 2010 Lancaster House defense treaty.
Another F4 feature includes satellite communications.
The UAE deal secures a decade of activity, with output of the Rafale rising to two or three per month from the present one per month or 11 per year. Dassault closes the production line in August for the annual company holiday. A Rafale takes three years to be built.
Dassault has looked into that increased production for some time, following export deals signed with Egypt, India, and Qatar.
More recently, deals for second hand Rafales flown by the French air force were agreed with Greece and Croatia. The former has added a further six Rafales to an initial batch of 12 units, with the latter is acquiring 12 used fighter jets in a deal worth almost €1 billion.
France has sold a total 236 Rafales in foreign markets, after failing to sign export orders for many years, beaten by orders for the F-15 and F-35.
France ordered a 12-strong batch of Rafales to replace those being sold to Greece.
The UAE has long been a client nation for French weapons, being the only other operator of the Leclerc tank.
The UAE bought the Mirage 2000-9 in the 1990s, which flew alongside the Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 60.
France last year won arms export orders worth €4.9 billion, down from €8.3 billion in the previous year.
The forecast for this year was to rise above €10 billion, the defense ministry spokesman, Hervé Grandjean, said June 2.
Black Shaheen is the export version of the French Scalp cruise missile, co-developed with the UK, where it is known as Storm Shadow.
The major contractors on Rafale are Dassault, electronics company Thales and engine builder Safran.
Featured Photo: The French Air Force participating in the Trilateral Exercise in 2015 held in Norfolk VA and the Rafale was photographed by Second Line of Defense during the exercise.
Developing an understanding of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is essential for Air Force, and Defence, to enable personnel to make smarter and faster decisions, often in high-risk situations.
To effectively and ethically adopt and deploy game-changing AI technology, a fundamental understanding of what it can and can’t do must first be recognised.
AI such as data-led decision support systems and Air Force’s Cognitive Assistant Avatar – AIMEE, are force multipliers that have the potential to deliver quicker and safer military effects using fewer resources. Jericho Disruptive Innovation held a series of AI Fluency sessions to assist Air Force’s adoption of these rapidly growing technologies.
To get the kind of combat effect which U.S. forces seek, integratability of key elements of the force is crucial. It is not the old concept of network centric warfare being pursued, but rather integration of modular capability-based task forces to deliver the desired combat effect in the distributed battlespace.
But how do you resolve the integration challenge?
And how do you measure the capabilities of the adversary to counter our intentions with their own integrated capabilities and to what extent?
As Paul Averna of Cubic Corporation put it in a recent interview with me: “For interoperability and integration to be realized, it is necessary to determine the aggregate effect of different capabilities working together. Rather than just acquiring a variety of systems and training to get good at using those different systems, we need to integrate key force elements and to determine aggregate effect for the different ways we might choose to meet Commander’ Intent. And with regard to peers, we know that they are fielding capable or potentially capable systems but how good are they at force integration?”
Put in other terms, mixing and matching capabilities and training to blend them together into an integrated force package and understanding various potential combat effects from different force packages is a key way for the U.S. and its allies to fight and win against peer competitors.
But as Averna noted, it is not simply acquiring a system or capability and then training to operate that system or deliver that capability, it is about training to generate various integrated combat effects.
Recently, the U.S. Navy successfully completed a training effort which provides a solid foundation for reshaping training in a way that will achieve more effective paths to force integratability.
As Carrie Munn and Erin Mangum of PMA-265 put it: “The F/A-18 and EA-18G Program Office (PMA-265) completed a successful technology demonstration for the Secure Live Virtual Constructive Advanced Training Environment (SLATE) at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland last month. The event included four flight tests, supported by Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 and industry partners, The Boeing Company and Cubic Corporation.
“The demonstration showcased the Synthetic Inject to Live (SITL) – Live Virtual Constructive (LVC) system’s maturity and performance in supporting training against near-peer threats, while validating its technology readiness level with the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and EA-18G Growler.
“The resulting SLATE SITL capabilities, technical specifications and lessons learned are currently in work for transition into the Navy’s Training Program of Record, the Tactical Combat Training System (TCTS) Increment II. Merging the two technologies presents the quickest way to get the best capabilities into the hands of the fleet as quickly as possible.
“The SLATE system connects Live (manned aircraft) with Virtual (manned simulators) and Constructive entities (computer-generated forces) in a robust training environment that replicates the threat density and capability required to prepare military forces for the high-end fight.
“These LVC capabilities fully link “Live” aircraft with the common synthetic environment used across U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force training enterprises, providing efficiencies for both Services.
“The SITL LVC capabilities demonstrated by SLATE are essential to providing our warfighters with a complex and realistic training environment that promotes combat readiness,” said Megan Sullivan, PMA-265 SLATE Integrated Product Team lead. “The event’s completion informs planning and enables more rapid fielding to the fleet.”
This is a good description of the training effort, but what it does not do is highlight that this really is about training as a weapon system enabling modular task force integration.
That perspective was very clear from talking with Paul Averna of Cubic Corporation who was a key participant in the training effort at Pax River.
What the exercise allowed was for the Blue Side to bring a number of disparate assets into an air-surface offensive and defensive force which confronted a Red Force operating at much greater range than the live exercise area provided. And the Blue Force was able to integrate assets against a Red Force operating a force package designed to attack an air-maritime force operating off of the waters of the Pax River range.
The live range was off of Pax River and the live aircraft – Super Hornets – had SLATE pods attached to them which allowed them to operate with the ground based testing teams operating both Red and Blue assets. The SLATE pods allowed for the simulated capabilities to integrate into the live aircraft’s combat systems and be part of the integrated air and combat picture available to the pilots of the live aircraft.
There were four live events during the month of September during which various parts of the technical data package that the technologies and training architecture embodied were tested. The technical data package is owned by the government which allows it to work with industry to deliver capabilities rapidly to the fleet.
The training exercise was the first time that live Super Hornets operated together with virtual F-35s and worked their integration in terms of when they would interact and what they would expect while interacting during a mission working together. They connected with MH-60 Romeo ASW helicopters operating from the simulators at NAS JAX along with surface fleet assets working froma Aegis combat simulator as well.
This was the first time that the Navy had fielded their simulated training system in a pod onboard a live aircraft so testing involved working through the integration between ground test systems and the live flight aircraft.
With regard to the Red Side, they used guising technologies to turn live training aircraft into simulated advanced Red aircraft with the flight profile and various capabilities of those aircraft. Other Peer capabilities were included as well into the Red Side package.
The exercise highlighted why DoD needs to pivot to SITL-LVC enabled training. It is crucial to provide realistic threat emulations, to allow red and blue assets to operate beyond the physical ranges themselves, and to provide for the level of security to conduct operational proficiency training for force integration. The September flight events used currently available capabilities developed through the Secure Live Virtual Constructive Advanced Training Environment technology led by NAVAIR’s PMA-265 Advanced LVC team.
Put another way, one of the key aspects of the exercise was that realistic employment ranges were not confined to the Pax River live training airspace.
The Red Force operated well outside of the physical range to operate against the air-maritime force operating within the physical training range.
The training environment allowed for multiple skills to be tested concurrently in the simulated combat situation. Live platforms worked with constructive weapons and trained in an integrated manner with the Blue Force to shape a dynamic sanctuary from which to prevail against the Red Force.
And with the training technology, they were able to exercise fighter integration TTPs which encompassed both kinetic and non-kinetic effects. With third party targeting capabilities as a key part of the evolving kill web approach, working who the sensor is and who is the shooter is a key part of combat integration needed in a peer fight. The September exercise demonstrated that the training technology clearly can facilitate such combat learning.
The ability for each platform community to figure out how to plug into this training environment is facilitated by the common standards and protocols providing by the training system. This is true for both the air and surface communities in the Navy, with the potential to bring additional Fleet assets into the common training environment through integration of the Minotaur fusion system into the advanced training system already shaped and exercised in September 2021 at Pax River.
This is not a nice to have capability, but a necessary one if winning is the goal of combat. Understanding integrated combat effects generated by diverse force packages is a key way-ahead for the kill web force; but training to do so is a work in progress.
Featured Photo: Mike Wallace, Boeing test pilot with Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23, utilizes the Manned Flight Simulator at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, during the Secure Live Virtual Constructive Advanced Training Environment (SLATE) demonstration. (U.S. Navy Photo)
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1 RAR) Ready Combat Team (RCT) completed the new Regional Combat Team Warfighter Exercise at the Jungle Training Wing in Tully and at the Cowley Beach Training Area in Far North Queensland.
The RCT roled as the Air Mobile Combat Team of the Australian Amphibious Force operating and fighting in dense jungle, urban facilities and coastal terrain.
They completed a range of dismounted missions including reconnaissance, patrolling, rural village clearances, ambushing, attacks and defensive actions.
The activities included armoured support from 2nd Cavalry Regiment and air assault from 5th Aviation Regiment.
