Robbin Laird, Author at Second Line of Defense

Emerald Warrior 21

Posted on April 28, 2021 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

04/28/2021

Navy aircrew from the Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Nine conduct training with U.S. Air Force Special Tactics operators assigned to the 24th Special Operations Wing during Exercise Emerald Warrior-21, Hurlburt Field, Florida, Feb. 18, 2021.

Water operations training is part of training for exercise Emerald Warrior that focuses on U.S partner nation relationships while emphasizing joint force interoperability.

HURLBURT FIELD, FL.

02.18.2021

Video by Senior Airman Michelle Di Ciolli

Air Force Special Operations Command Public Affairs

SofaGate: EU-Turkish Relations

Posted on April 27, 2021 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

04/27/2021

By William Gourlay

It’s said that politics makes for strange bedfellows. In diplomacy, it would seem that it’s seating arrangements that can be tricky. At a 6 April meeting of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council head Charles Michel with Turkey’sfamously combative President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, von der Leyen was left, for one uncomfortable moment, without a chair.

Footage has emerged of the meeting in Ankara as Erdogan and Michel take up seats while von der Leyen is left to hover awkwardly. She was eventually ushered to a nearby sofa, but according to protocols, she, at equivalent rank to Michel, should have been afforded the same status—in this instance, a chair.

EU–Turkey relations have lately been tetchy, not least due to Turkey’s confrontational foreign policy in the eastern Mediterranean. But speaking after meeting with Erdogan in Ankara, von der Leyen applauded Turkey for demonstrating an interest in ‘re-engaging with the European Union in a constructive way’ and highlighted a desire to ‘give our relationship a new momentum’.

There was an outpouring of indignation at von der Leyen’s relegation—accusations flew about who was responsible for the faux pas that led to ‘sofagate’. But this distracts from another controversy: the EU’s decision to engage with Erdogan at a time when Turkey’s authoritarian drift is accelerating. A US State Department report from 2020 outlines a litany of human rights transgressions and restrictions on political freedoms in Turkey. In deciding to visit Ankara, the EU turned a blind eye to democratic backsliding and human rights violations, effectively letting Erdogan get away with it.

The timing of the EU visit was particularly questionable coming only two weeks after Erdogan’s snap decision to withdraw from a Council of Europe accord that protects women’s rights. Turkey signed the treaty in 2011—it’s known as the Istanbul Convention, no less—but Erdogan bent to local critics who claim the accord undermines traditional Turkish values. And he did it at a time of rising violence against women in Turkey, and apparently against the wishes of many Turks. International observers met the decision with dismay: the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejcinovic Buric, called it a ‘huge setback’ and US President Joe Biden said he was ‘deeply disappointed’.

EU officials have long stressed that any resumption of talks with Turkey would be ‘phased, proportionate and reversible’. EU Council President Charles Michel has previously stated, ‘Rule of law and democracy are absolutely key to any dialogue we have with Turkey.’

Erdogan has appeared at times to be playing ball. In March, he announced a new human rights action plan to protect freedom of expression and enshrine the right to a fair trial by 2023, the centenary of the Turkish Republic. The declaration was met with scepticism from some quarters. An obvious question arises: Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) has governed Turkey since 2002, so why has it not already been able to protect human rights and the rule of law?

According to a Turkish proverb, it’s easy to make commitments but harder to deliver. Erdogan is big on promises, but doubts remain over his willingness to deliver human rights protections and political freedoms, particularly to his opponents. Recent weeks have seen court proceedings brought to dissolve the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), on allegations that it colludes with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and the revocation of the seat of, and subsequent arrest of, HDP parliamentary member Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu.

Accusing pro-Kurdish parties of PKK sympathies and broad-brush allegations of terrorist complicity are tried-and-tested tactics in Turkish politics, but Gergerlioglu, who isn’t even Kurdish and was previously president of a leading human rights organisation, appears to have run afoul of prosecutors for relentlessly highlighting rights abuses.

As with leaving the Istanbul Convention on women’s rights, proceedings against the HDP and the pursuit of Gergerlioglu have attracted a chorus of criticism from international bodies, including the European Parliament.

Turkey and Erdogan, in particular, don’t take kindly to criticism. With disagreements mounting in recent years, Erdogan has increasingly taken Turkey in new foreign policy directions, including military interventions in Syria, northern Iraq, Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh. He has overseen resurgent, exclusivist nationalism and fostered the idea that Turkey should reclaim its earlier position as regional leader. As a result, some view Turkey as a troublesome international actor.

Erdogan, however, realises that isolation is not in his or Turkey’s best interests—hence the attempt to resuscitate relations with the EU. For its part, the EU understands the vital role Turkey plays in housing enormous numbers of Syria refugees who would otherwise head for European shores. So, for now, rapprochement may be the order of the day—as long as the seating arrangements can be sorted amicably.

William Gourlay is a research associate at the Middle East Studies Forum at Deakin University and the author of The Kurds in Erdogan’s Turkey (2020).

Featured Image: Murat Kula/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images.

This article was published by ASPI on April 20, 2021 under the title “EU engagement gives Turkey a free pass on human rights violations.”

And we learn today from an article by Eszter Zalan published in EUObserver:

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Monday (26 April) blamed sexism for events earlier this month in Ankara, where she was relegated to a sofa during a meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the presence of European Council president Charles Michel.

In unusually personal and passionate comments in the European Parliament, von der Leyen said “it happened because I am a woman”.

In her most detailed account of the incident that became known as “Sofagate”, she said she expected to be treated as the president of the European Commission. But she was not.

“I cannot find any justification for how I was treated in the EU treaties, so I have to conclude that it happened because I am a woman. Would this have happened if I had worn a suit and a tie?,” she said.

The Navy Re-Focuses on the High-End Fight: What Implications for the Navy Reserves?

Posted on April 26, 2021 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

04/26/2021

By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake

In working on our book for USNI press, we have focused on how the U.S. Navy is reworking its approaches to shape new capabilities for the high-end fight. Obviously, a refocus from a two-decade primary role in supporting land wars to a return to blue water expeditionary operations is a significant one. And clearly one which affects the Navy’s reserve forces as well.

Recently, we had the privilege to talk with Vice Admiral John Mustin, Chief of Navy Reserve, N095, to find out how he was working the way ahead to make sure the reserves integrate into full spectrum crisis management which if deterrence fails will lead to a high-end US and Allied Air/Sea combat campaign.

The key point which he made in the guidance he released last Fall on the way ahead for the Navy reserves is visionary: “… the changing geopolitical environment forces us to modernize our thinking, our force structure, our training and our operations to address the realities of a future conflict. Simply said, we cannot assume tomorrow’s war will look like yesterdays. Hence my Theory of the Fight includes accelerating our transformation to ensure we get, and remain, ‘future-ready.”

Vice Admiral Mustin went on insightfully to state: “The reserve force today is optimized perfectly to support the global war on terror. Many of our processes, our unit structures, billets, training procedures, even the way that we mobilize sailors do a fantastic job meeting the specific requirements of a counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, non-maritime, land-based conflict, particularly in CENTCOM and the horn of Africa.

“My comment in my commander’s guidance was that is not likely to be effective to address the next conflict, and if I am reading the tea leaves properly in this era of great power competition, we’re going to need very different skills.

“The Navy has recognized this, and the Navy is transforming. And I did not feel that the reserve force was working quickly enough to reflect that transformation in our reserve-specific force structure, processes, and procedures.

“We are working very closely with the fleet commanders. We are focusing on answering their needs. ‘What is it that you need and value?” And equally important; “What does the reserve team do for you today that you don’t value?

“My job has been to take fleet feedback and then shape the future structure of the reserve force, to address those specific needs. For the numbered Fleets there are several capabilities that leap to the fore, specifically emphasis on their maritime operations centers, both capacity and capability. Related but not explicitly tied to the maritime ops center is expeditionary logistics that are explicitly tied to our distributed maritime concept of operations. And one echelon down is a focus on expeditionary advanced base operations.

“Everything I just described is ripe for reserve force contribution. We’ve begun the process now to determine where we have elements of the reserve force that are relatively low value as it relates to CNO and fleet priorities. How can I harvest some of the current existing units and billets to meet priority needs, and how can I take our sailors out of low value jobs and create new high value jobs given the strategic shift to the high-end fight?

“That’s an initiative underway right now, and I’m happy to report there’s a number of things that I’m able to do in this fiscal year. There are also certainly things that are on the roadmap for fiscal year 22 and some for 23 and 24 and beyond. But I want to move out now because I just don’t know that we’re going to have a lot of time to make those changes when the shooting starts.”

In World War II a well-respected historian Max Hastings in a seminal work, “Inferno” determined that after a difficult start the US Navy was at the end of the war the most effective fighting force of all combatant forces of all nations. Admiral Mustin took pride in that historical example but correctly observed that today the U.S. Sea Services may not have the luxury of time. They must be trained and equipped to win the fight and get it right, right now.

Question: We are focused on the strategic shift and how that demands significant change in warfighting and escalation dominance.

A different set of skill sets are clearly required.

Clearly, we have seen at Second Fleet, that a key priority is C2 for a distributed integrated fleet.

This requires different skill sets as well.

There is a whole new generation of digital warriors in our society as well.

How are you focusing on re-shaping the reserves to harvest the opportunities in civil society and to focus on the critical skill sets for the “new” Navy, so to speak?

Vice Admiral Mustin: “That’s a perfect scene setter. I completely agree that what made us successful over the last 20 years, post 9/11 is not what’s going to make us successful into the next few decades.

“Working with Vice Admiral Lewis has been important as well. As Second Fleet Commander, he clearly understands that we need to shape a new approach. When I was in High School in the 80’s, my father was Second Fleet Commander, so I can legitimately say that “The new Second Fleet is not your father’s Second Fleet.

“What he wants and what we are offering started with a clean sheet of paper as it relates to the design of the reserve force for C2F.

“I’ve looked at every other numbered fleet to determine which model works best for us. And then, perhaps not surprisingly, I recognized the reserve design supporting each fleet was different. What that tells me is that there is a need for us to establish a template where we can get at 80% of the core competencies, the missions, functions, andtasks associated with the C2 in the maritime element. And then there’s certainly some peripheral amount, call it 20% hypothetically, tailored to the region, the AOR, the theater. Shaping a template for C2 is a key element around which we can shape fleet design going forward, as well as shaping the skills required to support that design.

“If you go on the second fleet watch floor right now, there will be a handful of reserve officers and sailors that are standing watch. And early in my tenure I mentioned to Vice Admiral Lewis, that rather than build a team that shows up a weekend a month, two weeks a year during exercise support requirements, why don’t we build a team that’s fully integrated so that they work with their chiefs of staff, their division directors, their N codes as we call them, their department heads by function. And let’s have them plugged in every day, not just on weekends.

“And I don’t mean 365 days, but if an average sailor can do roughly 38 days a year — that’s just the sum of a weekend a month, and two weeks a year. There’s nothing that says it has to be a weekend a month and two weeks a year, I could do 30 days consecutively and then not see them again for six months, or we could do groups of five days or 10 days., We can be as flexible as we want.

“If we invest time upfront to training them to their watch station, then we get production time out of them by having them show up and actually stand the watch. And that’s good for second fleet as well as for the reserve sailors, because they earn a credential that is permeable and enduring. So they can then take a billet at their next job at another fleet. That means that the skills that we’ve invested in them are permeable and they can plug in immediately to another fleet.

“Admiral Lewis was very receptive to the idea and frankly, after hearing it said, “Okay, this isn’t a course of action. This is your tasking, make it happen.” He has been very receptive to saying, let’s build full integration. I don’t want there to be a distinction. And I told him if we do this right, no one will ever know the difference between a reserve and an active sailor. You’re just a sailor. And you’re a sailor that’s contributing to the requirements of second fleet, whether that’s at an expeditionary environment or operating at the headquarters building.”

Question: The reserves bring significant experience to the active-duty force.

This has been a key to navy success in the past, how do you see this going forward?

Vice Admiral Mustin: “The focus on fleet ops is critically important to me. I just had a conversation with CNO today about the strategic imperative to restore seagoing ratings to the reserve force. Right now, we do a fine job in staff headquarters, but when it comes to getting folks on the waterfront, it’s more of a challenge. For every sailor that says I’ve got the time and the inclination, we can get them afloat, so that’s a goal of mine.

“A key problem we face is not having a lot of time to mobilize in the face of significant conflict. With regard to our reserve component, there are two kinds of readiness. There is mobilization readiness, and there’s warfighting readiness. Mobilization readiness is the cost of being a reserve sailor. You need to maintain your readiness to mobilize when asked. And that means you’ve done your dental checks and your medical checks, and you’ve done your physical fitness assessments and your general military training. That’s kind of the standard stuff that title 10 pays for in the number of days, the weekend a month and the two weeks a year, and that’s up to you.

“You don’t get a Navy Achievement Medal for being mobilization ready. In fact, if our sailors can’t maintain mobilization readiness, I will ask them to leave the service because it’s a privilege to serve, not a jobs program.

“The more challenging side is the warfighting readiness piece. And that’s where I’m investing a lot of time and effort to understand the training pipelines, the timelines, the costs, the billets, the units, et cetera, because my assumption is we need to be ready on day one of a conflict. I’m also working very diligently to improve the processes to mass mobilize our people.

“And I’ve committed to the CNO that in January of 2022, we will be able to mobilize 49,000 sailors in 30 days, which is about 15 times the throughput capacity we had when I took office here.

“We need to be ready to go because we’re not going to have five years to ramp up, to get good at our jobs like we did in World War Two. We have to be good at our jobs now. I want to use every penny of training dollars and every iota of time when we have our precious sailors in uniform, and get them training to be good at their billets, because I just don’t feel like we’ve got the luxury frankly, of waiting.

“And that said, I will tell you, I’m thrilled that we just celebrated our hundred- and six-year anniversary as a reserve force. And though we have contributed in every significant conflict in our nation’s history, post-World War I, we’ve never been caught by surprise in mobilizing the reserve force.

“What does that mean? Well, I told you, we have to be ready because it’s likely to be short notice. This means having the reserves as a key contributor to the active-duty force, particularly as its builds out for conflict, and that means having the kind of experienced reserve sailors that you referred to as key players in the process.”

Question: Do you see the transition of the technological revolution embodied by people being involved with the Navy as reserves as having value added?

Vice Admiral Mustin: “I absolutely do. And you hit the nail on the head. I can write a book on the countless stories of folks who have a unique set of civilian skills, that are ready to serve the nation in uniform.

“There are a wide variety of critical skills that the reserve force brings to bear: think big data and analytics, data visualization, predictive analytics, 3D manufacturing, space, cyber, unmanned and autonomous systems. We’ve got folks who work in all of those program areas as civilians, and also in units that support the operations or the concepts of employment.

“We’ve got Silicon Valley folks, we’ve got venture capitalists, private equity players who understand what’s happening in the technology sector and areas where we can take advantage and apply their skills and insights to what we do in uniform. The challenge I wrestle with frankly, is how do you scale that?”

In short, we focus in our forthcoming book on the evolution of the Navy as it is reshaped into a distributed, integrated force, which we see operating through kill web. What we learned from Vice Admiral Mustin is that the reserve force that he is involved in building will give the Navy a unique capability to staff out such a force. What we learned is that the reserve force that is being shaped going forward, we’ll be able to empower the fleet to operate that way.

Vice Admiral John Mustin

Vice Admiral John Mustin is a native of Alexandria, Virginia. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Weapons and Systems Engineering and was commissioned in 1990. He holds a Master of Science in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and a Master of Business Administration (cum laude) in Finance and Management from the F. W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College. He earned his Joint Professional Military Education from the Air University’s Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base.

Mustin’s sea duty assignments include command of Expeditionary Strike Group 2/Task Force 29; commissioning operations officer on USS Donald Cook (DDG 75), and aboard USS Vincennes (CG 49), where he served as combat information center officer, navigator and the air warfare commander of the Independence (CV 62) Battle Group.

Affiliating with the Navy Reserve in 2001, Mustin served at Navy Reserve (NR) Carrier Strike Group 2 / USS George Washington (CVN 73) Strike Group during Operation Enduring Freedom. Other staff assignments include NR Chief of Naval Operations for Operations, Plans and Strategy (N3N5) at the Pentagon Navy Command Center; Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron 14; NR Carrier Strike Group 10 / USS Harry S Truman (CVN 75) Strike Group; and Personnel Mobilization Team 101. Additionally, he served as the inaugural Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Navy Reserve Enterprise Director, responsible for the reserve manning, training and equipping of the 1000-billet LCS surface reserve force.

Other command tours include NR Joint Staff South; NR U.S. Fleet Forces Command Maritime Operations Center, Greensboro; NR Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron 6; and Inshore Boat Unit 22, including a mobilization to Kuwait during Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. His other flag assignments include deputy commander of Naval Surface Forces, spanning the Surface Type Commanders of the U.S. Pacific and Atlantic fleets; as a plankowner and the deputy commander of the re-established U.S. Second Fleet; and as vice commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command.

Mustin became the 15th Chief of Navy Reserve on 7 August 2020. As Commander, Navy Reserve Force, he leads approximately 59,000 Reserve Component personnel who support the Navy, Marine Corps and joint forces.

His awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, Navy Battle Efficiency ‘E’, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal and various service, expeditionary, unit and campaign awards.

The featured photo: WASHINGTON (Aug. 7, 2020) Vice Adm. John Mustin is administered the oath of office by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday upon his promotion to vice admiral before assuming the office the Chief of Navy Reserve. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Class Mathew J. Diendorf/Released)

Arctic Warrior 2021

Posted on April 26, 2021 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

American and Canadian personnel participate in a simulated aerial assault as part of Arctic Warrior 21.

A detachment from the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 450th Tactical Helicopter Squadron, based out of Petawawa, Ontario, joins elements of 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, and 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, both from Fort Wainwright, for the flight.

FORT WAINWRIGHT, AK

02.17.2021

Video by Eve Baker

Fort Wainwright Public Affairs Office

An Update on the USS Gerald R. Ford, April 2021

Posted on April 25, 2021 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

04/25/2021

ATLANTIC OCEAN – Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) successfully completed Combat Systems Ship’s Qualification Trials (CSSQT) April 17, representing a major milestone in validating the ship’s capability to defend itself and the crew.

The trials, which commenced in February, consisted of five phases. The completion of the final phase, 2C, and CSSQT overall, is the culmination of years of planning, training, ingenuity and thousands of working hours for the ship’s current and previous crews.

“I could not be more proud of our Sailors and their historic accomplishment,” said Capt. Paul Lanzilotta, Ford’s commanding officer. “CSSQT was a live-fire, hands-on opportunity to prove the self-defense capability of this fine warship. We always intend to use our embarked air wing to influence our adversaries at great ranges from the ship, but if they’re able to get a shot at us, this event has shown our crew the formidable nature of our organic weapons.”

According to ship’s CSSQT project officer, Larry Daugherty, phase 2C was the “prove it” phase for the ship, which had already completed multiple detect-to-engage scenarios with live aircraft. In 2C, Ford faced off against rocket propelled drones capable of speeds in excess of 600 miles per hour; towed drone units (TDU) that simulate rockets; and remote controlled, high-speed maneuvering surface targets (HSMST).

The crew countered, relying on their skills and training to operate Ford’s advanced defense systems. They used the rolling airframe missile (RAM) launchers, firing off RIM-116 missiles; the NATO launchers to fire the evolved sea sparrow missiles (ESSM); and the Mk-15 Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) to fire armor-piercing tungsten bullets at 4,500 rounds per minute.

“The crew crushed it, firing off four missiles [two RIM-116 and two ESSM], and all of them were conducted with precision control by combat direction center (CDC) watch teams, they executed perfectly,” said Daugherty. “All command and control decisions were made correctly, and the [systems] were engaged when they were supposed to be engaged and everything went out on time.”

The ship’s defense missiles engaged the drones and CIWS took out the TDUs and HSMSTs. All three TDUs were destroyed, and two of those TDUs were ripped to shreds, according to Daugherty. All three HSMSTs were destroyed as well.

“Those Sailors not only took out the first two HSMSTs, they punched holes in them, set them on fire, and they both sank,” said Daugherty. “On the third one, the CIWS operator was so good that he actually hit the target further out than the weapon system’s maximum effective range and put it [dead in the water] DIW.”

As the first crew to fire Ford’s missiles and complete this mission, it is a huge accomplishment, according to Chief Warrant Officer 2 Todd Williamson, Ford’s fire control officer, and it began with the on-load of the missiles.

“Getting missiles transported and loaded onto a ship is a big movement that requires national coordination between multiple entities,” said Williamson. “The ship’s Fire Controlmen and Weapons Department were the backbone of the handling evolution, while Ford’s Aviation Intermediate Maintenance Department provided material handling equipment readiness support. Our [In-Service Engineering Agents] ISEA were also on-hand to provide oversight.”

The first few days of the nearly week-long exercises for 2C were some of the most challenging, according to Williamson. “For Weapons Department and Combat Systems Department, it was two 18-hour back-to-back days just to get set-up and complete telemetry checks,” he said.

The telemetry checks provide the capability to record the flight performance characteristics and fusing of RAM and ESSM missiles to ensure they are capable of hitting their intended targets, according to Daugherty.

There were other system checks, system and equipment tuning, ordnance uploads, preventative maintenance checks and casualty repairs, which collectively made for an extremely complex series of exercises. According to Fire Controlman 2nd Class Douglas Huyge, who has been aboard Ford for two years, his team was up for the challenge.

“I am 100 percent impressed with the way the division worked together to achieve this goal,” said Huyge. “People who are in leadership positions dream of dream-teams like this, we worked hard to get here and we executed the mission.”

CSSQT is the culminating combat systems test of Ford’s 18-month post-delivery test and trials (PDT&T) phase of operations. Following PDT&T this month, Ford will commence preparations for Full Ship Shock Trials, scheduled to occur during the summer, to validate the ability of new construction ships to carry out assigned missions and evaluate operational survivability after exposure to an underwater shock.

“[CSSQT] was probably the single-handed greatest feeling I’ve felt on this ship so far,” said Huyge, describing how he felt watching the live-fire evolution in CDC, after many years of hard work. “I would say what I felt was fulfillment. It was a high level of fulfillment.”

USS Gerald R. Ford is a first-in-class aircraft carrier, and the first new aircraft carrier designed in more than 40 years. The ship is underway for Independent Steaming Event 18 (ISE 18), as part of her PDT&T phase of operations.

Special thanks to LCDR Desiree Frame, PAO, USS Gerald R. Ford for sending up this article which was published by the U.S. Navy on April 24, 2021.

For our report last year on the USS Gerald R. Ford, see below:

Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Jacob Chavez, from Houston, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) weapons department, operates an electrically enclosed forklift during an ammunition onload on the flight deck, April 9, 2021. Ford is in port Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled window of opportunity for maintenance as part of her 18-month post delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Angel Thuy Jaskuloski)

Sailors assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) weapons department receive ammunition cases during an ammunition onload on the flight deck, April 9, 2021. Ford is in port Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled window of opportunity for maintenance as part of her 18-month post delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Angel Thuy Jaskuloski)

Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Zackery Myers, from Eastover, South Carolina, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) weapons department, operates an electrically enclosed forklift during an ammunition onload on the flight deck, April 9, 2021. Ford is in port Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled window of opportunity for maintenance as part of her 18-month post delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Angel Thuy Jaskuloski)

Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Juan Torres, from Milwaukee, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) weapons department, moves ammunition onto one of the ship's advanced weapons elevators during an ammunition onload on the flight deck, April 9, 2021. Ford is in port Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled window of opportunity for maintenance as part of her 18-month post delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Angel Thuy Jaskuloski)

Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Juan Torres, right, from Milwaukee, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) weapons department, moves ammunition onto one of the ship's advanced weapons elevators during an ammunition onload on the flight deck, April 9, 2021. Ford is in port Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled window of opportunity for maintenance as part of her 18-month post delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Angel Thuy Jaskuloski)

Aviation Ordnanceman 2nd Class Guillermo Romero, from Fresno, California, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) weapons department, moves ammunition onto one of the ship's advanced weapons elevators during an ammunition onload on the flight deck, April 9, 2021. Ford is in port Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled window of opportunity for maintenance as part of her 18-month post delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Angel Thuy Jaskuloski)

Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Adlan Benitezcruz, from San Juan, Puerto Rico, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) weapons department, operates one of the ship's advanced weapons elevators during an ammunition onload on the flight deck, April 9, 2021. Ford is in port Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled window of opportunity for maintenance as part of her 18-month post delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Angel Thuy Jaskuloski)

Fire Controlman 2nd Class Anthony Anadon, from Stockton, California, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford's (CVN 78) combat systems department, prepares an Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) for upload into a missile launcher during an ammunition onload, April 9, 2021. Ford is in port Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled window of opportunity for maintenance as part of her 18-month post delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Angel Thuy Jaskuloski)

Sailors assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford's (CVN 78) combat systems department load an Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) into a missile launcher during an ammunition onload, April 9, 2021. Ford is in port Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled window of opportunity for maintenance as part of her 18-month post delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Angel Thuy Jaskuloski)

Fire Controlman 2nd Class Maxwell Clark, from Milton, Washington, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford's (CVN 78) combat systems department, loads an Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) into a missile launcher during an ammunition onload, April 9, 2021. Ford is in port Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled window of opportunity for maintenance as part of her 18-month post delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Angel Thuy Jaskuloski)

Sailors assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) weapons department, operate an electrically enclosed forklift during an ammunition onload on the flight deck, April 9, 2021. Ford is in port Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled window of opportunity for maintenance as part of her 18-month post delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Jackson Adkins)

Sailors assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford's (CVN 78) combat systems department load an ESSM during an ammunition onload, April 9, 2021. Ford is in port Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled window of opportunity for maintenance as part of her 18-month post delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Jackson Adkins)

Sailors assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford's (CVN 78) combat systems department prepare to load a RIM 116 Block missile into a rolling airframe missile launcher during an ammunition onload, April 9, 2021. Ford is in port Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled window of opportunity for maintenance as part of her 18-month post delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Jackson Adkins)

Fire Controlman 1st Class Arik Garcia, left, from Beavercreek, Colorado, and Fire Controlman 2nd Class Brandon Miner, from Date City, Florida, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) combat systems department, load a RIM 116 Block missile into a rolling airframe missile launcher during an ammunition onload, April 9, 2021. Ford is in port Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled window of opportunity for maintenance as part of her 18-month post delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Jackson Adkins)

Sailors assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford's (CVN 78) combat systems department, attach two MK 45 hand trucks to a crane on Ford’s flight deck, April 13, 2021. Ford is in port Naval Station Norfolk for a scheduled window of opportunity for maintenance as part of her 18-month post delivery test and trials phase of operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Curtis Burdick)

Sailors assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford's (CVN 78) combat systems department, remove a RIM-116 missile from the ship’s aft rolling airframe missile mount in preparation for combat systems ship qualification trials (CSSQT), April 14, 2021. CSSQT is a Naval Sea Systems Command requirement to verify that ship personnel can operate and maintain their combat systems in a safe and effective manner. Ford is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting it’s final independent steaming event of post-delivery tests and trials. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Zack Guth)

Fire Controlman 2nd Class Jumaani Cooper, from Baltimore, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford's (CVN 78) combat systems department, grounds a strap to an umbilical cord on a NATO evolved sea sparrow missile as part of combat systems ship’s qualifications trials (CSSQT), April 15, 2021. CSSQT is a Naval Sea Systems Command requirement to verify that ship personnel can operate and maintain their combat systems in a safe and effective manner. Ford is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting its final independent steaming event of post-delivery tests and trials. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Robert Stamer)

Fire Controlman 2nd Class Charles Seddon, from Wasilla, Alaska, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford's (CVN 78) combat systems department, secures a crane to the flight deck while performing over-the-side missile handling as part of combat systems ship’s qualifications trials (CSSQT), April 15, 2021.CSSQT is a Naval Sea Systems Command requirement to verify that ship personnel can operate and maintain their combat systems in a safe and effective manner. Ford is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting its final independent steaming event of post-delivery tests and trials. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Robert Stamer)

Fire Controlman 2nd Class Charles Seddon, from Wasilla, Alaska, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford's (CVN 78) combat systems department, secures a crane to the flight deck while performing over-the-side missile handling as part of combat systems ship’s qualifications trials (CSSQT), April 15, 2021. CSSQT is a Naval Sea Systems Command requirement to verify that ship personnel can operate and maintain their combat systems in a safe and effective manner. Ford is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting its final independent steaming event of post-delivery tests and trials. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Robert Stamer)

Fire Controlman 2nd Class Douglas Huyge, from Kalamazoo, Michigan, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford's (CVN 78) combat systems department, secures a crane to the NATO sea sparrow missile while performing over-the-side missile handling as a part of combat systems ship’s qualifications trials (CSSQT), April 15, 2021. CSSQT is a Naval Sea Systems Command requirement to verify that ship personnel can operate and maintain their combat systems in a safe and effective manner. Ford is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting it’s final independent steaming event of post-delivery tests and trials. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Robert Stamer)

Fire Controlman 2nd Class Douglas Huyge, from Kalamazoo, Michigan, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford's (CVN 78) combat systems department, holds the line tight to prevent a NATO evolved sea sparrow missile from swaying while performing over-the-side missile handling as a part of combat systems ship’s qualifications trials (CSSQT), April 15, 2021. CSSQT is a Naval Sea Systems Command requirement to verify that ship personnel can operate and maintain their combat systems in a safe and effective manner. Ford is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting its final independent steaming event of post-delivery tests and trials. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Robert Stamer)

A close-in weapons system aboard USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) is tested on Ford’s fantail as part of combat systems ship qualification trials (CSSQT), April 15, 2021. CSSQT is a Naval Sea Systems Command requirement to verify that ship personnel can operate and maintain their combat systems in a safe and effective manner. Ford is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting its final independent steaming event of post-delivery tests and trials. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Robert Stamer)

Fire Controlman 2nd Class Tyler Westbrook, from Fort Huron, Michigan, assigned to USS Gerald R. Ford's (CVN 78) combat systems department, operates a close-in weapon system (CIWS) console during a live-fire exercise as part of a combat systems ship qualification trials (CSSQT), April 15, 2021. CSSQT is a Naval Sea Systems Command requirement to verify that ship personnel can operate and maintain their combat systems in a safe and effective manner. Ford is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting its final independent steaming event of post-delivery tests and trials.(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Curtis Burdick)

A rolling airframe missile (RAM) launcher fires a RIM-116 missile from USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) during combat systems ship qualification trials (CSSQT), April 16, 2021.CSSQT is a Naval Sea Systems Command requirement to verify that ship personnel can operate and maintain their combat systems in a safe and effective manner. Ford is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting its final independent steaming event of post-delivery tests and trials. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Robert Stamer)

A rolling airframe missile (RAM) launcher fires a RIM-116 missile from USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) during combat systems ship qualification trials (CSSQT), April 16, 2021. CSSQT is a Naval Sea Systems Command requirement to verify that ship personnel can operate and maintain their combat systems in a safe and effective manner. Ford is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting its final independent steaming event of post-delivery tests and trials. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Robert Stamer)

An evolved sea sparrow missile (ESSM) launches from one of USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN 78) weapons sponsons during combat systems ship qualification trials (CSSQT), April 16, 2021. CSSQT is a Naval Sea Systems Command requirement to verify that ship personnel can operate and maintain their combat systems in a safe and effective manner. Ford is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting its final independent steaming event of post-delivery tests and trials. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class William Spears)

Cyber-Coercion Must Be Fought with a Comprehensive National Strategy

Posted on April 25, 2021 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

By Bernard Barbier, Jean-Louis Gergorin and Admiral Edourd Guillaud

“Cyber-coercion” calls for putting together intelligence, protection, international action and retaliation capabilities, three former senior national security officials point out.

Op-ed. At the beginning of the year 2020, in a world that was yet to imagine how much it would be disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, we warned about a series of cyber threats and called for reflection and action against what we called “cyber-coercion”: any computer exploit aimed at intimidating State or corporate leaders, in order to gain political and strategic benefits from the former or a financial ransom from the latter.

The open letter published by the Club informatique des grandes entreprises françaises (Cigref – IT club of French major corporations) on November 18 2020, addressing Prime Minister Jean Castex, was a warning cry. The number of successful cyberattacks, including those using ransomware which block an organisation’s IT system until a ransom is paid, increased fourfold in a year’s time. Attacks are more and more sophisticated, and they’re aimed at companies and public utilities. Almost all of them originate in a criminal ecosystem blooming in those countries which have not ratified the 2001 Budapest Convention on cybercrime.

A profitable criminal activity

Free from any form of prosecution, powerful groups may engage in direct cyberextortion as well as in the sale of those tools making such actions possible to any criminal customer: « ransomware as a service ». Self-serving tolerance by official services in those States harbouring them and the magnitude of earnings have turned cyberpiracy into the most profitable, and least risky criminal activity in human history, which accounts for its exponential growth.

News, published in December 2020, that a thousand private and public organisations including all major federal executive departments, the NSA, Microsoft and the very effective cybersecurity company FireEye were compromised by cyber intrusion, represent a real departure from the previous state of strategic affairs. It all happened with an undetected modification of a network management software update.

The addition into software updates unrolled between March and May of a Trojan called “Sunburst” prepositioned at the heart of the most critical IT systems an implant which, to this day, seems to have been used only for espionage purposes. It could very much as well have been used for sabotage.

Until Sunburst was discovered and precisely identified, only recently, the State which created it – i.e. Russia, as almost every US official except Donald Trump believes – enjoyed “digital first strike capability” against civilian and military infrastructure in the US. Sunburst was only found when its perpetrators stole FireEye’s offensive technical tools. It is probable that this capacity to include an undetectable Trojan in a software update has already been used elsewhere. The threat is therefore critical.

A four-pronged action plan

In this context, cyber-coercion, of criminal as well as of governmental origin, must be fought with a national, integrated and comprehensive, anti-coercion strategy. It would include four tightly connected parts: intelligence, protection, international action, and retaliation capability. Intelligence services must identify who is responsible for the attacks, and the technical signature of these attacks. In order to achieve this aim, cooperation between official intelligence services, cybersecurity agencies and reliable cyberthreat intelligence companies is paramount.

Protection is a necessary, yet not sufficient condition for security. Incidentally, the Sunburst attack is a major warning about the necessity to no longer rely on the initial certifications of software products only. Software update screening technologies must be found. Finally, it’s abnormal that France, as an exporter of digital brains, cannot stimulate the creation and development of cybersecurity software companies more efficiently, and put an end to the US-Israeli duopoly in the European market.

International action must not only aim at regulating cyberspace, following president Macron’s call on November 12th , 2018 in Paris [speech for the inauguration of the Internet GovernanceForum, at the Unesco], but also use all bilateral and multilateral means available to push those governments perpetrating or protecting cyberattacks to amend their ways. But individual sanctions are only one type of tools, the effectiveness of which is rather limited ; conversely, the commercial weight of the EU offers important perspectives.

“Ambitious and achievable goals must be set. It’s an illusion to believe that cybercrime can be wiped off; it’s within our grasp to curb it.”

Finally, the French cyberdefence doctrine must include the capability to engage in retaliations which would be proportionate to any attack against civilian as well as military infrastructure deemed essential. Following the impetus of Thierry Breton [EU commissioner for internal market], the European Commission has significantly announced a new cybersecurity strategy.

In order to fight at the appropriate level, ambitious and achievable goals must be set. It’s an illusion to believe that cybercrime can be wiped off; it’s within our grasp to curb it.

The fight for cyber could draw an inspiration from the Atalante operation against piracy, implemented in the Indian Ocean since 2008, in which the European Union relied on a first contributing country (France), to bring together speed and effectiveness. Retaliation against cyber-coercion could be piloted by the ComCyber [joint military cyber command, which was formed in 2017] or the direction générale de la sécurité extérieure (DGSE – Foreign Intelligence agency), or by an integrated common team, as is the case in Great Britain, at the national level or in cooperation with allies.

Without any change in the doctrine already mentioned regarding the comprehensive nature of cyber-defence, there will be no deterring effect whatsoever, and nothing will prevent events such as the massive cyberattack against the Rouen university hospital in November 2019 to multiply and become more and more serious.

Faced with milestones represented by the exponential growth of ransomware and the Sunburst operation, our country must very quickly start to engage in a strategic reassessment and abandon the incremental logic which has been guiding our cyber=defence until now, and which is no longer suited to the current context. More than ever, it seems indispensable to us that the President of the Republic should rely on a national cyber coordinator [coordonnateur national cyber (CNC)], comparable with the national intelligence and anti terrorism coordinator [coordinateur national du renseignement et de la lutte contre le terrorisme (CNRLT)], who has already demonstrated his effectiveness.

Bernard Barbier, former technical director at DGSE. A former director of the Information Technologies and Electronics laboratory [Laboratoire d’électronique et de technologies de l’information (LETI)], he is a member of the Académie des technologies.

Jean-Louis Gergorin, senior lecturer at Sciences Po. Former head of policy planning at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he is a co-author of «Cyber. La guerre permanente » (Les éditions du cerf, 2018).

Admiral Edouard Guillaud, former Chief of the General Staff of the French armies.

OP-ED. Published in French on Le Monde, dated 5th of January, 2021.

Aussie Liaison Officer Assigned to Japanese HQ Component Command

Posted on April 23, 2021 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

04/23/2021

According to a story published by the Japanese Ministry of Defence:

On January 13, 2021 Major Howlett of the Australian Army was appointed as liaison officer at the HQ Ground Component Command. It is the first time for the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) to accept a liaison officer from a country other than our ally, the United States.

Australia is a special strategic partner with which Japan shares strategic interests and universal values including respect for freedom, human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. As such, Japan’s relationship with Australia is now more important than ever before.

The Defense White Paper published in February 2016 stated that, among its foreign relations, Australia will continue to place the highest priority on its alliance with the U.S. while aiming to nurture and deepen practical relations with partners in the Indo-Pacific region, which includes Japan. Australia actively contributes to the peace and stability of the international community through the deployment of Australian troops overseas to achieve the strategic defense objective of providing military contributions to joint operations that serve its national interest in an international order based on the rule of law.

Japan and Australia share various values on the Indo-Pacific region. It is certain that Japan and Australia can contribute to peace and stability in the region with direct cooperation in order to achieve a security environment that is desirable for both countries.

Unmanned Integrated Battle Problem 21: Test and Verify

Posted on April 23, 2021 | by Robbin Laird | Leave a Comment

The pathway for the U.S. Navy to integrate unmanned surface vessels into its fleet operations is for these vehicles to be able to effectively and efficiently support real-world tasks that fit into maritime concepts of operations, rather than being disruptive technology to mission operations and undercutting combat capability.

in an interview with Jack Rowley, the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Naval Architect and Ocean Engineer with Maritime Tactical Systems (MARTAC), he argued that the U.S. Navy has the opportunity to do so now.

According to Rowley: “The Navy has, in the past year, shown excellent initiative on the need for both USVs and UUVs within the Maritime Environment.

“To the point that they have set up a UUVRON-1 in Keyport, WA and the SURFDEVRON-1 in San Diego to start using them with fleet assets, not only in scheduled exercises, but to also begin looking at using them to visualize what they can do as a key player with manned fleet units.”

In other words, the U.S. Navy is moving closer to the opportunity to incorporate unmanned maritime surface vessels as part of its modular task force approach to operating the force as a kill web.

Currently, the experiment, test and verify process is underway in what Pac Fleet is calling “Unmanned Integrated Battle Problem 21.”

In an April 15, 2021 3rd Fleet story, the opening of the exercise was highlighted.

The Navy begins its inaugural multi-domain manned and unmanned capabilities exercise Apr 19. The exercise will feature unmanned capabilities “Above the Sea, On the Sea and Below the Sea.”

Led by U.S. Pacific Fleet and executed by U.S. 3rd Fleet, Unmanned Integrated Battle Problem 21 will generate warfighting advantages by integrating multi-domain manned and unmanned capabilities into the most challenging operational scenarios.

The exercise will feature operational, unmanned systems such as the MQ-9 Sea Guardian Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, the Medium Displacement Unmanned Surface Vessels Sea Hunter and Sea Hawk, and small and medium Unmanned Undersea Vehicles with modular payloads.

“Building off advances achieved over the past decade in unmanned aviation, Pacific Fleet is answering the Chief of Naval Operations’ drive to put the Navy’s Unmanned Campaign Plan into action,” says Rear Adm. Robert M. Gaucher, director of maritime headquarters at U.S. Pacific Fleet. “Furthermore, by exercising our full range of unmanned capabilities in a Pacific warfighting scenario, UxS IBP21 directly supports U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s warfighting imperative of driving lethality through experimentation.”

Unmanned systems alongside the traditional, manned naval force will give the U.S. Navy the advantage needed to fight, win and deter potential aggressors. This exercise will directly inform warfighters, warfare centers and developers to further incorporate unmanned capabilities in day-to-day Fleet operations and battle plans.

“The overall goal is to integrate our unmanned capabilities across all domains to demonstrate how they solve CNO and Fleet Commander Key Operational Problems,” says Gaucher. “To get after these problems, UxS IBP21 will include maneuvering in contested space across all domains; targeting and fires; and intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance.”

A Distinguished Visitor Day, hosted aboard Naval Base San Diego, April 16, will enable Navy officials and Fleet commanders to view the unmanned capabilities prior to their operational use in the exercise.

U.S. 3rd Fleet leads naval forces in the Indo-Pacific and provides the realistic, relevant training necessary to flawlessly execute our Navy’s timeless roles of sea control and power projection. U.S. 3rd Fleet works in close coordination with other numbered Fleets to provide commanders with capable, ready assets to deploy forward and win in day-to-day competition, in crisis, and in conflict.

Gidget Fuentes in an article published by USNI News on April 20, 2021 provided an overview on the exercise:

Off the southern California coast this week, the Navy has amassed a small fleet to help figure how its operational forces can use aerial drones, autonomous surface and subsurface vehicles in an integrated fight at sea and in the air to support the manned fleet.

That’s the overarching goal of “Unmanned Integrated Battle Problem 21,” a U.S. Pacific Fleet-led exercise to “exercise unmanned command and control, wring out tactics, techniques and procedures, and give our operators experience with unmanned systems at sea in a combat environment,” according to 3rd Fleet, which is overseeing the exercise that runs April 19 to 26.

“Our goal for this exercise is to evaluate these unmanned systems and how they can actually team with manned systems,” Rear Adm. Jim Aiken, technical manager for the exercise and Carrier Strike Group 3 commander, said during a Tuesday media call. “We’ll be able to evaluate what we can do and what we can’t do in trying to create an advantage – a warfighting advantage. Sometimes, that would be in reconnaissance, sometimes that would be surveillance, sometimes that will be we’ll be able to move data faster, command and control.”

Then “we’re going to make sure it gets into the hands of the sailors,” Aiken said, adding: “We need to move things from the technical community to the tactical community.”

“We need to move things into the hands of sailors and then let sailors use their ingenuity,” he said. Junior sailors and junior officers “just don’t sit quietly. They’re able to contribute, they’re able to apply these types of systems into capabilities in order to make warfighting” TTPs….

And in an Office of Naval Research piece published on April 22, 2021, the exercise was highlighted as follows:

Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Lorin Selby today declared “the state of our Naval unmanned capabilities is truly unmatched,” and vowed continued support for the nation’s ongoing transition to a hybrid manned-unmanned force in the future.

Speaking during a visit to San Diego for the U.S. Pacific Fleet-led Unmanned Integrated Battle Problem 21 (IBP21), Selby said the exercise, which puts into operation different unmanned vehicles “Above the sea, On the sea and Below the sea,” demonstrates that America’s growing focus on autonomous capabilities is showing impressive results.

“We are not yet where we want to be,” said Selby, “but we are getting closer. As our potential adversaries go all-in on unmanned platforms, we must and will maintain a dominant force that can meet and defeat any challenge.”

During the exercise, a large number of multi-domain unmanned platforms—including unmanned aerial, surface and underwater vehicles (UAVs, USVs and UUVs, respectively)—are being put into real-world, “blue-water” environments, working in sync with manned platforms in actual combat drills designed to support Pacific Fleet objectives in the Indo-Pacific region.

Many of the platforms in IBP21 are supported by the Naval Research Enterprise (NRE), which Selby commands. Comprising the Office of Naval Research (ONR); the Naval Research Laboratory; and the Office of Naval Research Global (ONR Global), the NRE is tasked with providing the capabilities and long-term vision ensuring U.S. naval dominance today and into the future.

While many platforms in IBP21 are classified, officials are highlighting the Medium Displacement Unmanned Surface Vehicles (MDUSV) Sea Hunter and its new sister craft, Sea Hawk, as well as a long-endurance UAS—all of which can be used for surveillance, anti-submarine warfare and other missions.

Sea Hunter is already a proven player in the Navy’s unmanned portfolio. In 2019, the vessel completed an autonomous trip from San Diego to Pearl Harbor, a distance of over 2,000 nautical miles, and returned, demonstrating credible and relevant naval capability.

Both MDUSVs can host multiple payloads and perform multiple missions to support Sailor and Marine objectives—and both are seen as game-changers.

Indeed, the performance of many new unmanned technologies are leading the Navy and Marine Corps to rethink concepts of operations, as noted in the widely publicized naval document “Unmanned Campaign Framework,” which was recently released by the Department of the Navy.

The Unmanned Campaign Framework notes autonomy will complement, not replace, manned assets, and will provide warfighters far more options in combat.

Dr. Marcus Tepaske, who leads ONR Global’s Experimentation and Analysis program and is coordinating many platforms in use during IBP21, confirmed naval unmanned capabilities are accelerating. He said these kinds of large-scale exercises are essential to ensure what works in theory will work in the fleet.

“The best test you can put a technology through is one where the warfighters get to work with it,” Tepaske said. “Real-world applications are messier, dirtier, wetter and absolutely more beneficial than anything we can test in a lab.”

“Getting the warfighters’ feedback on using these unmanned systems will be one real measure of success for IBP21.”

Coordinating multi-domain manned and unmanned teaming efforts with so many different systems is in itself a daunting challenge. That job is being led by Pacific Fleet crews aboard USS Michael Monsoor (DDG-1001), one of three Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyers with unique advanced capabilities for command and control.

Ultimately, experts say, autonomous systems are here to stay.

Dr. Jason Stack, ONR’s technical director and autonomy lead, is encouraged by the forward thinking and real-world forward movement represented by IBP21. Intelligent autonomous systems, he said, will be an essential part of the Navy and Marine Corps in the near-term.

“When you read the Unmanned Campaign Framework, the serious challenge we face from well-funded, highly-motivated, competitive naval forces around the world—all accelerating their autonomous capabilities—is clear,” he said.

Stack noted that the U.S. and allied partners have a more robust commitment to the ethical use of unmanned systems and artificial intelligence when compared to some other nations.

“Our goal is to operationally integrate and continuously improve the types of intelligent and autonomous technologies that Pacific Fleet is testing right now,” he said. “We will do this ethically and responsibly by always ensuring our Sailors and Marines can exercise the appropriate levels of human judgement over our machines. This will be our enduring competitive advantage.”

The IBP21 exercise is the initial step in the Navy’s commitment to operational experimentation with autonomous systems in the fleet. Following its completion, the Navy and Marine Corps will assess what worked, what didn’t, and how to accelerate unmanned capabilities for the fleet and force.

Featured Video: (April 16, 2021) Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas W. Harker discusses unmanned vessels at Pier 12 on Naval Base San Diego during Unmanned Integrated Battle Problem 21 (UxS IBP 21) Distinguished Visitor Day, April 16. U.S. Pacific Fleet’s UxS IBP 21, April 19-26, integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into the most challenging operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (U.S. Navy video by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Matthew F. Jackson)

PACIFIC OCEAN (April 21, 2021) An MQ-9 Sea Guardian unmanned maritime surveillance aircraft system flies over the Pacific Ocean during U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem (UxS IBP) 21, April 21. UxS IBP 21 integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into challenging operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Shannon Renfroe)

PACIFIC OCEAN (April 21, 2021) An MQ-9 Sea Guardian unmanned maritime surveillance aircraft system flies over Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) during U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem (UxS IBP) 21, April 21. UxS IBP 21 integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into challenging operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Shannon Renfroe)

SAN DIEGO (April 19, 2021) Sailors in the U.S. 3rd Fleet Joint Operation Center establish communications with participating units as part of U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem 21 (UxS IBP 21), April 19. U.S. Pacific Fleet’s UxS IBP 21 integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class David Mora Jr.)

SAN DIEGO (April 19, 2021) Personnel assigned to Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUV) Squadron 1 prepare a CARINA unmanned undersea glider for launch in support of U.S. Pacific Fleet’s UxS IBP 21, April 19. UxS IBP 21 integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (Courtesy U.S. Navy photo)

SAN DIEGO (April 19, 2021) A CARINA unmanned undersea glider from Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUV) Squadron 1 launches in support of U.S. Pacific Fleet’s UxS IBP 21, April 19. UxS IBP 21 integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (Courtesy U.S. Navy photo)

PALMDALE, Calif. (April 21, 2021) An MQ-9 SeaGuardian unmanned maritime surveillance aircraft system prepares to launch from General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility, Palmdale, Calif., in support of U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem (UxS IBP) 21, April 21. UxS IBP 21 integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into challenging operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (U.S. Navy courtesy photo provided by General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems Incorporation)

PALMDALE, Calif. (April 21, 2021) An MQ-9 SeaGuardian unmanned maritime surveillance aircraft system launches from General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility, Palmdale, Calif., in support of U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem (UxS IBP) 21, April 21. UxS IBP 21 integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into challenging operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (U.S. Navy courtesy photo provided by General Atomics-Aeronautical Systems Incorporation)

SAN DIEGO (April 22, 2021) An ADARO unmanned system interacts with the Navy’s newest Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Oakland (LCS 24) in support of U.S. Pacific Fleet’s UxS IBP 21, April 22. UxS IBP 21 integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Nicholas Ransom)

SAN DIEGO (April 22, 2021) An ADARO unmanned system participates in U.S. Pacific Fleet’s UxS IBP 21, April 22. UxS IBP 21 integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Nicholas Ransom)

SAN DIEGO (April 20, 2021) The Seahawk medium displacement unmanned surface vessel launches for the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem 21 (UxS IBP 21), April 20. UxS IBP 21 integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Thomas Gooley)

SAN DIEGO (April 20, 2021) The Seahawk medium displacement unmanned surface vessel launches from Naval Base Point Loma for the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem 21 (UxS IBP 21), April 20. UxS IBP 21 integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Thomas Gooley)

SAN DIEGO (April 20, 2021) The Sea Hunter medium displacement unmanned surface vessel launches from Naval Base Point Loma for the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem 21 (UxS IBP 21), April 20. UxS IBP 21 integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Thomas Gooley)

SAN DIEGO (April 20, 2021) The medium displacement unmanned surface vessels Seahawk, front, and Sea Hunter launch for the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem 21 (UxS IBP 21), April 20. UxS IBP 21 integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Thomas Gooley)

SAN DIEGO (April 20, 2021) A Sea Hunter and Seahawk operator prepares to launch the medium displacement unmanned surface vessels from Naval Base Point Loma for U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Systems Integrated Battle Problem 21 (UxS IBP 21), April 20. UxS IBP 21 integrates manned and unmanned capabilities into operational scenarios to generate warfighting advantages. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Thomas Gooley)