Talisman Sabre 2021: Multi Systems Live Fire Mission

08/11/2021

A live fire activity featuring different weapons systems from land, air, sea and cyber was conducted at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 (TS21).

Synchronising traditional warfare and digital assets, TS21 participants conducted an attack against a simulated adversary on Townshend Island. “Multi-domain Strike” capability is one of the ADF’s newest joint warfighting concepts.

Held every two years, TS21 is the largest bilateral training activity between Australia and the United States aimed at testing the ADF’s interoperability with the US and other participating forces.

In addition to the United States, TS21 involves participating forces from Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Australian Department of Defence

July 20, 2021

Shaping a Way Ahead for the Assault Support Community: Visiting the “War Eagles” of MAG-29

08/10/2021

By Robbin Laird

During my visit to 2nd Marine Air Wing in July 2021, I had a chance to discuss the way ahead for the assault support community with the Commanding Officer of MAG-29, Col. Joyce, and with Maj. Bowing, the Operations Officer for MAG-29.

In terms of aircraft, MAG-29 has CH-53E in the heavy lift squadrons, and AH-1Z Vipers and UH-1Y Venoms in their light attack helicopter squadrons.

The Marine Corps is scheduled to deliver the CH-53K to MAG-29, as well as adding Link 16 and full motion video capabilities to the H-1 assets.

These upgrades will provide significant options for the aircraft to support the way ahead as part of the evolving capabilities for the assault force.

For Col. Joyce, the return of naval integration is really the return to his roots in his initial operational time in the USMC.

He has also served on the Navy staff in the N98 Air Warfare Division as the Marine Corps officer working with Naval aviation, where discussions of how to leverage and integrate the Marine’s role as naval aviators into the future maritime fight were a daily event. Non-Marines often forget that Marine Corps aviators are indeed Naval aviators and as such provide a key access point in the effort to find new ways to integrate the two forces.

As Col. Joyce put it: “We are really talking about reintegrating our Naval Force.

“Getting back to our roots as a Corps to provide Fleet Marine Forces for service with the Fleet.

“Our history over the past six decades may be filled with periods of sustained operations ashore, but our legacy as a Corps is that of naval campaigning, amphibious operations, and the conduct of such land operations as may be essential to the prosecution of a naval campaign.

“Today’s reintegration focus is oriented on a vision of maritime warfighting designed to posture the Naval Force for the next six decades.”

Col. Joyce entered the Marine Corps towards the end of the Cold War and is one of the officers I have interviewed in the Navy or the USMC over the past three years that brings real operational experience in this strategic competition environment.

Major Bowing has been part of the Huey community from the beginning of his time in the USMC and has served for three years in MAWTS-1 working assault support training and concepts of operations.

One issue we discussed was the integration of Link-16 and full motion video upgrades for the H-1s and their potential impact.

Col. Joyce put it this way: “I believe the integration of Link-16 along with many other digital interoperability (DI) efforts should help us look at ourselves differently moving forward.

“I would argue the attack and utility community over the last 20 years largely viewed our pursuit of DI efforts such as Link-16 from a consumer’s perspective. Meaning, we wanted the ability to ingest mostly targeting data via Link-16 to create a tactical effect on the battlefield from our own platform.

“I would also suggest this idea is consistent with the way we’ve been tactically employed over the past two decades.

“But the future of naval campaigning and maritime warfighting, especially within the close-in, confined, and contested key maritime terrain of the littorals, requires the HMLA community to view ourselves much more as participants and enablers of larger kill chains and kill webs.

“This means attack and utility capabilities out forward – acting as an extension of the Marine Littoral Regiment (MLR) – to screen, scout, and sense within both the landward and seaward areas of the littorals.

“As participants in a larger kill web, we must be able to gather, disseminate, receive, exploit, and/or act on the information depending on the tactical task assigned.”

“Our core missions within Assault Support Aviation will remain vital in future littoral battles – conducting assault support operations, providing forward arming and refueling points, conducting aviation reconnaissance and surveillance, and conducting aviation delivered fires remain core competencies of the future force.

“What is different from our recent past is the explicit focus on supporting Surface Warfare and Sea Denial operations.”

“What do we bring to that fight?

“Where are the warfighting gaps?

“Can we fill those gaps?

“Should we fill those gaps?

“How do we contribute to anti-surface warfare (ASuW) missions?”

“These are some of the questions we’re looking at right now within MAG-29.

“We are the only Service viewing this future environment through the lens of a Stand-In (versus Stand-Off) force.

“How do we contribute to Surface Warfare and Sea Denial operations as part of the Stand-In Force?

“How do we continue to provide close-in support to the MLR maneuvering throughout the landward area of the littorals in a high-threat non-permissive environment, while enabling the larger kill web oriented on Sea Denial operations within the seaward area of the shallow blue waters?

“Are we postured through ongoing DI initiatives to gather, disseminate, receive, and exploit information across subsurface, surface, air, and information domains?

“I would argue this is a paradigm shift in mindset from our operations over the past 20 years in the desert.

“Lethality across Assault Support Aviation, including our heavy lift platform, remains a critical as ever in the future fight.

“But our ability to screen, scout, and sense within the littorals and then contribute to the larger kill web may be even more important in the years to come.”

Looking ahead, the leadership of 2d MAW is clearly looking at working towards the tactical missions that are likely to be dominant in the 2030 timeframe.

As Col. Joyce hammered home: “There is absolutely a critical role for Assault Support Aviation looking forward. When you look at the shear expanse of geography, force dispersion and distribution, and challenges with our maritime logistics fleet in just one example, I can’t envision a situation where somebody tells me we have too much heavy lift capability.

“What we must do as a community to help the larger Force Design effort is to focus our analysis on capabilities, rather than specific platforms.

“We must experiment ruthlessly with those capabilities through the lens of future tactical tasks and missions.

“And then focus our platform modernization efforts and develop aviation tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to deliver those needed capabilities to the Fleet Marine Force.”

His earlier discussion with regard to how assault support can contribute to sea control and sea denial is an example of what he means by looking at capabilities through different tactical or mission lenses.

Rather than define the mission sets by the primary operations of the past twenty years in the Middle East, the aperture is being opened to correlate capabilities with evolving mission sets.

They are adding the CH-53K to the force, and Col. Joyce underscored that the new platform brings new capabilities to the force.

But rather than simply describing how the platform is replacing the CH-53E, the focus needs to be upon how to leverage new capabilities to deal with evolving mission sets. The Marine Corps has been investing in capabilities to  respond globally to crisis and contingency and build the capabilities to compete and blunt potential adversary’s aggression.

As Col. Joyce put it: “Logistics is our pacing function.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s the High North or the Indo-Pacific.

“Assured logistics, assured movement, and assured sustainment of the force requires the capabilities that the heavy lift team brings to the fight. And the CH-53E and future CH-53K is the only heavy lift rotary-wing capability within the Department of Defense.

“The CH-53K is simply an exponential leap in heavy lift capability in terms of range, payload, and digital interoperability.”

“No one can predict with precision what the future holds. Advances in long-range precision strike, unmanned systems, loitering munitions, low earth orbit system sensing, and AI/ML will change how we currently perform our warfighting missions.

“But Close Air Support, Strike, Aerial Delivery, Assault Transport, Air Evacuation, and Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel to name a few absolutely have a future role in the Nation’s Crisis Response force.”

Major Bowing built on the discussion and added a core point, namely the weaponizing of communication.

The sharing of information and data as part of the shaping of enhanced capabilities for an integrated distributed force is a key part of the way ahead for shaping the role for the assault support community.

We did not discuss the following point specifically, but if one combines a number of thoughts which have been shared by Marines at both II MEF and 2nd MAW with me, the blending of assault support with C2/ISR warfare could well emerge from the process of working integration with the Navy.

In an August 2021 exercise, we will see the establishment of an advanced expeditionary sensor base built around a G/ATOR Radar.

The assault support community – notably by heavy lift – can deliver that radar to such a base.

The C2 community is very capable of not only supporting G/ATOR at that base but could fly in the Osprey, which is an assault support asset, and with a roll-on roll of capability, provide the C2 linkages from that sensor base to the key combat nodes in the kill web, as was done in last year’s Deep Water exercise.

One could establish on another advanced expeditionary base information warfare Marines or MIG- combat members who could contribute to spoofing, jamming, or various disinformation efforts in support of the deployed force, and again that would be a payload delivered by the assault support force.

In other words, the assault support community can deliver a wider array of payloads than simply direct kinetic force.

Indeed, if one focuses on maritime kill webs, the Marines really do not need to carry weapons to the point of attack; they can deploy capabilities which can find targets, communicate those targets to other fire solution combat capabilities, and contribute to the electronic warfare aspects of the fight.

With the flexibility inherent in roll-on roll of capabilities on the Osprey a variety of mission support elements could be put on the unique tiltrotor-enabled range and speed asset.

And with an ability to put interior fuel cells into the Osprey, endurance is enabled as well.

In other words, capabilities seen through the lens of expanded mission sets can drive the transformation process.

Featured Photo: A Marine Corps UH-1Y Huey and two AH-1Z Vipers with Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 167 conduct training at Marine Corps Air Station New River, North Carolina, July 16, 2020. HMLA-167 conducted flight operations to improve proficiency and maintain mission readiness. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Juan Dominguez)

 

Triton Begins Multi-Intelligence Capability Phase

According to a press release published on July 29, 2021 from NAVAIR, the U.S. Navy has conducted first MQ-4C Triton test flight with multi-intelligence upgrade.

The Navy conducted its first test flight of the MQ-4C Triton in its upgraded hardware and software configuration July 29 at NAS Patuxent River, beginning the next phase of the unmanned aircraft’s development. 

The MQ-4C Triton flew in its new configuration, known as Integrated Functional Capability (IFC)-4, which will bring an enhanced multi-mission sensor capability as part of the Navy’s Maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Targeting (MISR&T) transition plan.

Triton’s Integrated Test Team (ITT) comprised of the U.S. Navy, Australian cooperative partners, and government/industry teams completed a functional check flight and initial aeromechanical test points, demonstrating stability and control of the MQ-4C after a 30-month modification period.  

“Today’s flight is a significant milestone for the program and a testament to the resolve of the entire ITT, their hard work, and passion for test execution and program success,” said Capt. Dan Mackin, Persistent Maritime Unmanned Aircraft Systems program manager. “This flight proves that the program is making significant progress toward Triton’s advanced multi-intelligence upgrade and it brings us closer to achieving the initial operational capability (IOC) milestone.” 

Multiple Triton assets have been modified into the IFC-4 configuration in support of IOC in 2023.  A single test asset is in the current IFC-3 configuration to support sustainment of deployed systems as well as risk reduction for IFC-4. 

Currently, two MQ-4C Triton aircraft in the baseline configuration known as IFC-3 are forward deployed to 7th Fleet in support of early operational capability (EOC) and Commander Task Force (CTF)-72 tasking. VUP-19 will operate Triton to further develop the concept of operations and fleet learning associated with operating a high-altitude, long-endurance system in the maritime domain.

“The MQ-4C Triton has already had a tremendous positive impact on operations in USINDOPACOM and will continue to provide unprecedented maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities which are especially critical to national interests with the increased focus in the Pacific,” Mackin said.

Triton is the first high altitude, long endurance aircraft that can conduct persistent Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions to complement the P-8 in the maritime domain. The Navy plans to deploy Triton to five orbits worldwide. 

Featured Photo: An MQ-4C Triton flew its first test flight in its new hardware and software configuration July 29 at NAS Patuxent River, Md. The new configuration will bring an enhanced multi-mission sensor capability as part of the Navy’s Maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Targeting (MISR&T) transition plan. (U.S. Navy photo)

 

July 2021 Japan-UK Defence Ministerial Meeting

08/09/2021

According to a press release from the Japanese Ministry of Defence, the Japanese and UK defence ministers met on July 20, 2021 in Japan.

On July 20, 2021, commencing at 13:00 for approximately 60 minutes Minister KISHI held a Defense Ministerial Meeting with Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Ben Wallace.

1  The two Ministers welcomed their first face-to-face meeting and Minister Kishi welcomed the accompanying of the 1st Sea Lord and the Chief of Air Staff to Japan. Secretary Wallace welcomed the recent deepening of Japan-UK defense cooperation and stated that the UK would like to strengthen cooperation with Japan that shares the same values. Minister Kishi stated that Japan and the UK, as countries who share fundamental values, should address together challenges that we are facing in the Indo-Pacific.

2  With respect to the Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21) led by HMS Queen Elizabeth on its way to Japan, the two Ministers shared the recognition that through bi/multilateral exercises and the CSG21’s visit to Japan:

  1. the defense cooperation between Japan and the UK—standing on a long history and tradition—has elevated to a “new level;”
  2. the UK’s commitment to realize a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” is a robust and an irreversible one; and
  3. Japan-UK defense cooperation serves not only for the security of Japan but for securing the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific region and the international community, and that it will also tackle global challenges.

3  The two Ministers confirmed that, during the CSG21 visit to Japan, HMS Queen Elizabeth would berth at the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, and that the other escort ships would dispersedly berth at the following ports: JMSDF Yokosuka, JMSDF Maizuru, JMSDF Kure, U.S. naval base Sasebo and the White Beach area.

4 The two Ministers affirmed accelerated discussion to explore FX/FCAS collaborations at sub-system level, with a special focus on Power and Propulsion System. Furthermore, both Ministers also agreed to intensify efforts toward a bilateral arrangement between both ministries that is necessary for implementing that collaboration of Power and Propulsion System, if it is agreed to be conducted. They welcomed that a new cooperative research on chemical and biological protection technology was started this month.

5  The two Ministers also exchanged views on the regional issues in the Indo-Pacific. Regarding the East China Sea and the South China Sea, they once again expressed their will to strongly oppose unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion, and any activities that escalate tension regarding the situation. They concurred the importance of a free and open maritime order based on the rule of law, in particular the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

6  Regarding North Korea, the two Ministers condemned the launches of ballistic missiles by North Korea which violate UNSC resolutions and pose a threat to the peace and stability of the region, and shared the view that, including the repeated launches of ballistic missiles by North Korea thus far, those posed a serious challenge to the international community as a whole. Upon that, the two Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to closely coordinatetoward the complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement of all of North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles of all ranges, including collaboration on responses against “ship-to-ship transfers.”

Talisman Sabre 2021: Anti-Aircraft Missile Live Fire

The RBS 70 is a short-range anti-aircraft missile weapons system used by the Australian Army. Soldiers and officers of 16th Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery conducted an RBS70 live-fire in conjunction with the Patriot surface to air missile firing by the United States Army during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2021 (TS21).

Held every two years, TS21 is the largest bilateral training activity between Australia and the United States aimed at testing the ADF’s interoperability with the US and other participating forces.

In addition to the United States, TS21 involves participating forces from Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Australian Department of Defence

July 20, 2021

Airbus KC-30A Works Singapore DSTA on Automated Air Refueling

08/08/2021

By the Australian Defence Business Review

Airbus has announced it has completed the development phase of its A330 multi-role tanker transport (MRTT)-based automated refuelling system during trials with the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA).

Completed in early 2021, the trials involved 88 fully-automated dry and wet contacts and transfers of nearly 30 tonnes of fuel to RSAF F-15SG and F-16D/D+ fighters. The trials follow an earlier series of tests which comprised seven automated hook-ups between an RAAF KC-30A and Airbus’s A310 MRTT testbed in 2018.

Dubbed SMART MRTT or A3R, the automated aerial refuelling capability is designed to reduce air refuelling operator (ARO) workload, improve safety, and to optimise the rate of air-to-air refuelling (AAR) transfer in operational conditions.

“We had the opportunity to test our system with different receiver types ensuring the right fit of our systems, while gathering extensive data key to completing the A3R development,” Airbus SMART MRTT Manager, Luis Miguel Hernández said in a May 20 release. “The team were able to test the limits of the system successfully, verifying its robustness and ability to automatically track receivers with varying configurations.

“We have built an extraordinary relationship based on mutual trust,” Hernández added. “Teams from all sides worked as a single unit during the test campaign and it is always a pleasure to fly with such a professional crew. They are the first partner nation involved in the development of the SMART MRTT, and we are honoured to have them on board.”

Nest step for the automated system is military certification by operators once the results of the trials have been examined. Current MRTT/KC-30A operators include Australia, the UK, Singapore, South Korea, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, France, and NATO, while India has indicated its intention to order the aircraft. The UK does not operate with booms, so won’t use the automated system.

This article was published by ADBR on June 9, 2021 and was written by Andrew McLaughlin.

 

The US and the UK Extend Their Carrier Cooperation Agreement

08/06/2021

In a July 13, 2021 article on the UK Ministry of Defence website, the extension of the carrier cooperation agreement was highlighted.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and his US counterpart Lloyd Austin have extended an agreement to enhance cooperation on aircraft carrier operations as they met in Washington.

The two met in Washington DC for a day of high-level talks on a range of shared security challenges, discussing the UK-US defence partnership, NATO, Afghanistan and the Carrier Strike Group.

UK-US defence cooperation is the broadest, deepest and most advanced of any two countries in the world, combining the biggest defence budget in the world with the biggest in Europe, and the pair discussed opportunities to further deepen that partnership.

Mr Wallace and Mr Austin extended an existing agreement covering Enhanced Cooperation on Carrier Operations and Maritime Power Projection, due to expire in January 2022, by an additional year.

It comes as UK and US forces make their way 26,000 nautical miles around the world as part of the UK-led Carrier Strike Group (CSG21), projecting reach and influence and reassuring allies with a series of over 70 engagements, joint exercises and operations.

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said:

“It was great to meet up with Lloyd Austin again after our meetings in London and Brussels.

“The US continues to be the UK’s most important defence partner and we are working together, across all domains, to confront future threats. There is much to do but the extension we agreed will ensure that we can cooperate even more seamlessly with our forces across the globe.”

The extended agreement lays down guidelines to ensure the generation, training and operation of both nations’ carrier forces are harmonised and effective, maximising and maintaining interoperability as both forces evolve and modernise to meet the threats of the future.

The unique interoperability of the UK and US carrier forces is demonstrated by the key role US forces are playing in the UK’s current Carrier Strike Group deployment, CSG21. Nine ships, 32 aircraft and 3,700 personnel set sail in May, led by the UK’s new aircraft carrier HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH, on the Strike Group’s seven-month maiden operational deployment around the world.

The integration of US destroyer USS The Sullivans and ten Marine Corps F-35B jets into CSG21 shows our intent to further improve interoperability between NATO Allies as we jointly develop 5th generation carrier strike capability. The deployment is emblematic of how the US and UK work together to defend our shared values, uphold the rules-based international order and tackle the threats of the future.

VMFA-115 Trains with the Finnish Air Force

By Robbin Laird

During my visit to 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing in July 2021, I had a chance to talk with MAG-31, notably the VMFA-115 Operations Officer, about their squadron’s time in Finland training with the Finnish Air Force last month.

Because I was in MCAS Cherry Point, and not at MCAS Beaufort, we did the discussion from a conference room at MCAS Cherry Point. The MAG-31 operations officer, Lt. Col. Waller and the VMFA-115 Operations Officer, Maj. Simmermon discussed the training effort with me.

Originally, VMFA-115 was to participate in a multi-national exercise, Arctic Challenge 2021. But because of COVID-19 restrictions, their engagement became a bilateral exercise with the Finnish Air Force.

This provided an important window on how one might modify training going forward.

What VMFA-115 learned was how the Finns fight.

How they operate their air force in a truly distributed manner. How they use their roads for landing sites; distributed logistical support and work under the shadow of Russian long-range fires.

Clearly, Marines learning to fight as the Finns fight is a good thing, and part of the cross-learning process which is necessary for U.S. forces to be familiar with various concepts like distributed maritime operations, littoral operations in a contested environment, and expeditionary advanced base operations.

All concepts that provide an understanding of how to operate in the High North back to the Baltic Sea.

This is how Maj. Simmermon put the experience:

“A year ago, we were preparing for Arctic Challenge 21. If we had participated in an Arctic Challenge exercise, it would have been a big mission planning exercise and very scripted.

“We would have most likely used our own tactics and tried to incorporate into what the other countries were doing for their own tactics.”

“But it became a bilateral exercise called ILVES. We were able to train with them in their tactics. A great tactic VMFA-115 was able to observe was the Finns diverting and spreading out to reduce the effects from a potential strike on their location.  They showed us how they’re able to set up expeditionary arresting gear, where they put their support and how they taxi the aircraft.

“We then had one of their instructor pilots get in their simulator with us, where we practiced road landings which was a relatively benign mission, really; just taking off and landing on small, short expeditionary runways.

“The whole system relies largely on the logistics support and the infrastructure for their road runways, which are already in place.”

He added: “Doing the bilateral training that we did during ILVES, exposed us to smaller level tactics, techniques, and procedures, which I had never seen before.

“Those conversations and briefs would not have been available in a big exercise like “Arctic Challenge ,“ but it was as you mentioned, a whole logistics and infrastructure aspect of aviation, as well as a unique divert strategy, and changing the way your force is employed by consolidating in the air and understanding their TTPs.”

“It reminds you that even as a globally deployable force, it’s important to see that there are a lot of different ways and different geographical locations, specifically Finland and their neighbors that change the way an aviation unit fights or how a conflict in general is executed.”

“Seeing how other nations fight was very valuable.

“I would emphasize that going to any country that has a different defense strategy or offensive strategy for that matter is very eye opening, if they’re willing to share with you some of their considerations and how they employ their forces.”

When visiting Finland in 2018, I discussed with a senior Finnish defense officer, who was former head of the Finnish Air Force, the unique way the Finns use their air combat capabilities in the defense of Finland.

As Lt. General Kim Jäämeri put it: “It is becoming clear to our partners that you cannot run air operations in a legacy manner under the threat of missile barrages of long-range weapons.

“The legacy approach to operating from air bases just won’t work in these conditions. For many of our partners, this is a revelation; for us it has been a fact of life for a long time, and we have operated with this threat in the forefront of operations for a long time.”

I also discussed with Norwegian Air Force officers, their ramped up cooperation with the Finns and Swedes in airpower integration.

This is being done in part with their cross-border training,

As I noted in a 2018 interview: “From 2015 on, the three air forces have shaped a regular training approach, which is very flexible and driven at the wing and squadron level.

Major Ertsgaard added that “We meet each November, and set the schedule for the next year, but in execution it is very, very flexible. It is about a bottom-up approach and initiative to generate the training regime.”

“The impact on Sweden and Finland has been significant in terms of learning NATO standards and having an enhanced capability to cooperate with the air forces of NATO nations.

“And the air space being used is very significant as well. Europe as an operational military airspace training area is not loaded with good training ranges.

“The range being used for CBT is very large and is not a cluttered airspace, which allows for great training opportunities for the three nations, and those who fly to Arctic Challenge or other training events. And the range flies over land so there is an opportunity for multi-domain operational training as well.”

Since 2018, the Marines have ramped up their efforts to train in the Nordic region and to operate in cold weather.

With the Nordics ramping up their defense capabilities and working greater integration with each other and with their North Atlantic partners, there are enhanced opportunities for Marines to work in the region as well.

I discussed the importance of Nordic defense and its impact on U.S. forces learning with VADM Lewis in my interview with him on July 16th, the day after the ceremony launching the Allied Joint Forces Command Norfolk for full operational capability.

In the period in which 2nd Fleet was re-established, the Nordic nations have clearly ramped up their defense efforts and cooperation with each other and with the United States and NATO.

This learn from others approach is a key part of how VADM Lewis has led his command.

As he commented: “That has been my mantra from day one here: learning from our regional operations. As we work how best to operate in the region, we are learning from our regional partners some of the best ways to do so.”

And for the Carolina-based Marines, this means expanded opportunities to learn from our Nordic partners as well as they worked enhanced integration with the U.S. Navy.

For a detailed look at the role of Nordic defense modernization in meeting the challenge of direct defense in Europe, see our recent book on the subject: