USS Ross in Sea Breeze 21

07/09/2021

ODESA, Ukraine (July 2, 2021) Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71), Ukrainian navy Island-class patrol boat Starobilsk (P191) and (P190) return to Odesa, Ukraine during Exercise Sea Breeze 2021, July 2, 2021.

Exercise Sea Breeze is a multinational maritime exercise cohosted by the U.S. Sixth Fleet and the Ukrainian Navy since 1997.

Sea Breeze 2021 is designed to enhance interoperability of participating nations and strengthens maritime security and peace in the region.

(U.S. Navy video by Mass Communications Specialist 1st Class Richard Hoffner/Released)

The Role of II MEF Information Group: The Perspective of Its Commanding General

07/08/2021

By Robbin Laird

During my most recent visit to Camp Lejeune, I had a chance to talk with the CG of the II MEF Information Group and his team.

The meeting was suggested by the CG of II MEF, Lt. General Beaudreault, who underscored: “I think it would be hugely valuable to just rifle a bunch of questions, because there’s a lot going on in the information space that we’re also coordinating and collaborating with Second Fleet, Sixth Fleet but primarily Sixth Fleet.

“Whether it’s BALTOPS, Sea Breeze, and the other exercises that are going on, or real-world operations, we are in the competitive information space every day against our competitors.

‘Col. Brian Russell is front and center on leading that effort. In many ways, I think he’s the best I’ve ever met in working in that space. And he’s very well connected and he’s not shy about reaching out to organizations like the 16th Air Force and other joint partners, on how all of us are working collaboratively in the information domain.”

Needless to say, I did follow up, and the CG’s assessment of his information group certainly was on the mark.

At the end of this article, I have included an April 2021 article by Col. Russell in which he discussed what it takes to be successful in the information warfare space. He labelled his article the five OIE or operations in the information environment truths.

We started the discussion with Col. Russell highlighting that the MIGs or Marine Information Groups we first stood up in 2018.

All the MEFs have a MIG, and they have indeed shaped an association of the practioners of the art who will next meet in September 2021. He noted that “the MIG was borne out of the MEF Headquarters Group here. We had some of the components already, but they were reorganized under a different construct with some different capabilities, like the communication, strategy and operations company. Psychological operations capabilities, defensive cyber capabilities, were packaged in this MEF Information Group.

“I think the key for the MEF Information Group is taking all those capabilities and making them work together rather than having operational silos such as just coms and just intel; we need to work information operations as a whole.”

Col. Russell then underscored: “Marines are the original hackers, in my sense. You give them a piece of technology and a piece of equipment, and you give them a different mission, they will absolutely reconfigure that kit or gear to meet that mission.

“We’ve done that throughout our entire history.

“I think of my cyberspace marines, my coders, my application developers, really as cyberspace engineers. They can modify that terrain to our operational advantage and make it go faster, better. Or they can modify that terrain to make it harder for the adversary to disrupt our operations.

“We need to realize that in the information space everybody fights.

“Whether you recognize it or not, whether you like it or not, you are in the information environment. All of our marines on their computer systems every day are in that environment, you need to be careful about it, but we can maximize some opportunities as well.”

He argued that for a MIG to be successful they need to pursue a campaign approach.

It is about working in a joint warfighting context and being embedded with the joint force as well. In the case of II MEF, there is a concerted effort to work with 6th Fleet, for example, and to shape Naval-Marine Corps integration in the information space.

The allied piece is certainly of increasing importance as working a distributed force able to operate over an extended battlespace requires effective communication in the information space.

For example, in the recent BALTOPS 50 exercise, “we had a team with the 30-commando information exploitation group supporting 45-commando, also operating with second MEB.”

These two groups are part of the UK Royal Marines.

A key task for the MIG in the operations information environment is providing information environment battlespace awareness.

According to Col. Russell: “We scope our efforts to the need at hand, what is the commander interested in his particular area of operation?

“We could support US EUCOM in the high north, working with our Norwegian partners, or we support MEF forces in the exercise Sea breeze right now with division forces on the ground in the Ukraine.

‘There is a complicated information environment in Sea Breeze, so what do we need to do to provide that commander on the ground with an awareness of what is going on around him, not only from the threat perspective, but the opportunities in the information space.

“What does the commander of 1/6 want to think about the COMMSTRAT photo of his marine and the Ukrainian navel entry brigade soldier working together, that really helps with the narrative that we’re trying to attain there, that’s the level of thinking the commanders need to take nowadays.

“We help provide that to elements of the MEF, and it gets back to a basic ground truth in the information domain: humans are in fact more important than hardware.

“We get very technical focused sometimes in this information warfare fight.

“There’s a human adversary behind that trying to influence whatever we’re doing, we need to understand what that is.

“But this true from the standpoint of the individual marine in terms of his training and education: how do we make that marine resilient to the message he’s going to get from a Russian on his cellphone while he’s overseas during an exercise?

“I think that’s the aspect we have to take as commanders, prepare for the environment, understand the adversary approach to it, and then make our marines resilient to adversary information in the operational environment as well.”

Clearly, operating effectively in the information environment is a key part of crisis management and escalation control.

By gaining significant battlespace awareness, one is better positioned to be proactive and to act with the most relevant means without generating undue escalatory pressures.

For example, prior to Sea Breeze 21, the USCG sent a white hull into the Black Sea, which provided a “gray zone” capability, and assessing Russian as well as U.S. allied reactions to that deployment provided useful input to understanding the evolving information operational environment.

The-Five-OIE-Truths

Or the article can be read in e-book format:

Shaping Crisis and Escalation Management Capabilities: 2nd ESG and II MEB Work the Challenges

07/07/2021

By Robbin Laird

The strategic shift from the Middle Eastern land wars to the high-end fight revolves around effective crisis management. With the 21st century authoritarian powers working hard to make the world safe for authoritarianism, the liberal democracies need to focus on protecting and expanding their abilities to defend their interests.

The USMC has been the nation’s crisis management force throughout my lifetime.

But after a long period engaged in land operations, how will the USMC effectively become a full spectrum crisis management force which deters peer competitors and contributes most effectively to escalation control?

In part the answer revolves around the Navy in transition working effectively with the USMC to combine sea-basing and mobile basing into an effective engagement force.

When I visited II MEF in April 2021, I learned from its CG, Lt. General Beaudreault, that the Commandant of the USMC gave him very clear guidance when he took over the command: “Paraphrasing the guidance: tighten your lifelines with Second and Sixth Fleets. As the Navy shapes itself to do distributed maritime operations, how do we help, and how do we reconfigure?”

When I visited II MEF again at the end of June 2021, I had a chance to meet with Lt. General Beaudreault as well as Colonel Garrett Benson and we focused on a way ahead being worked by II MEF with regard to shaping new crisis management and escalation control capabilities,

The initial conversation was with Colonel Benson and highlighted the strategic shift underway.  The Colonel had recently been involved with the BALTOPS 50 exercise and operated aboard the C2 ship, Mt. Whitney. And in that capacity worked closely with the joint and coalition force on the C2 aspects of that exercise.

His background in the USMC has been completely wrapped up in the land wars, with his coming to II MEB being his initial engagements with operating from the sea. Indeed, his coming to II MEB is focused upon the integration the Navy and working new ways ahead with regard to joint operations from the sea.

As he put it: “Right before I checked into the MEB I was actually CJTF-OIR chief of operations. When I got back to the MEF, it was an uphill ramp for me to get back into the Russian problem set.”

He noted that over the past 18 months, ESG 2 and 2d MEB have been engaged in a number of exercises to work ways to craft more integrated approaches. But that is really prelude to the next phase of development.

Lt. General Beaudreault underscored that an agreement was being coordinated with 6th and 2nd Fleets whereby 2d MEB would stand up an integrated headquarters, potentially based at Camp Lejeune that would work integrated operations between the fleet and the MEB.

Although details will need to be worked with regard to the standing up of an integrated naval headquarters, the strategic direction was clear.

“Conceptually, this force would be ESG 2 integrating with 2d MEB to form an integrated naval headquarters that supports NAVEUR. When ESG 2 and Second MEB came together and went to a BALTOPS, they went to the Mount Whitney to train and then were disestablished and went back to their respective locations.

“But we are interested in creating a permanent structure which stays together. Whether it’s for exercises, we see it as an opportunity to command rotational forces in the high north. When we send battalions or squadrons or a fighter squadron to Finland, all of those kinds of organizations could be underneath the integrated headquarters.  The goal is to create permanent structure, with full-time personnel.”

He added that it would function in some ways like Task Force 51/5 which had been established under CENTCOM in 2018.

And as Vice Adm. Jim Malloy, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 5th Fleet/Combined Maritime Forces, noted concerning the integrated Task Force 51/5 command:

“Task Force 51.5 is an integrated force that demands a combination of agility and forethought from its leaders, in part because it’s a unique command model that is innovative and new. This Task Force remains vital and irreplaceable in this region – a catalyst for tailored combat effects and an accelerant for Amphibious Forces from the sea. Their tactical strength and ability to be ‘where it matters, when it matters’ protects American and partner lives and assets.”

The command could work flexibly with the “relevant nations” in a crisis response as well. And there is a clear interest to work with allies as they transform their force insertion capabilities from the sea as well. An example would be the UK’s Littoral Response Group North.

As Johnathan Bentham noted in his article on this new UK force:

“The LRG is part of a broader initiative to adapt the UK’s amphibious forces to operate in a more dispersed and agile way in response to the increasingly challenging environments that they are now facing. These adaptations include a new Future Commando Force, as reforms to the Royal Marines are being dubbed, with greater focus on technology and raiding missions from the sea. The LRG idea could form part of that, including within a larger UK or multinational force, and the latest deployment has involved exercises with NATO allies and other partners, including this year’s BALTOPS exercise in the Baltic Sea.

“As part of this, the LRG is being used as a testbed for a range of innovative capabilities including uninhabited systems. These changes are also meant to provide force packages able to undertake a range of maritime security tasks, potentially including counter-terrorism, limited interventions and evacuation operations, as well as humanitarian assistance and disaster-relief missions. Another priority for the LRG concept is to maintain forward presence and undertake capacity building and defence diplomacy, a key component of a wider effort to increase the Royal Navy’s global presence and improve its responsiveness.”

Lt. General Beaudreault added: “The new integrated command would give the NAVEUR commander a third operational arm.

“He’s got Second Fleet, he has Sixth Fleet, and now he would have this Task Force to provide him more C2 options to support distributed maritime operations.

“And this focuses on a key question: what do we want an integrated naval headquarters to do in support of NAVEUR?

“The answer is more effective crisis management and escalation control.

“This organization could be a key part of escalation management and help to create both pressure and potential off ramps in a crisis.

‘Amphibious forces forward deployed in international waters are able to deter, assure, ratchet up or dial down until policy makers can get some kind of resolution to the crisis.”

In our discussions with the 2nd Fleet and with the Allied Joint Force Commander, Norfolk, VADM Lewis, he underscored the importance of the command structure as a weapon system.

This would be an additional weapon system in the quiver of the Atlantic fleet commanders.

The featured photo: U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Brian D. Beaudreault, commanding general, II Marine Expeditionary Force, speaks at a Rehearsal of Concept meeting to prelude the official start of MEFEX 21.1 at Fort A.P. Hill, VA, Nov. 3, 2020. A Rehearsal of Concept provides participants within the exercise an opportunity to practice combat mission plans and put contingency plans into place. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Cheyenne Stillion)

HMAS Ballarat Ends Deployment: June 2021

HMAS Ballarat has come to the end of a three-month deployment to Southeast and Northeast Asia where it conducted a number of navy-to-navy engagements with partner nations across the region, including the United States.

Following a request from the Indonesian Government, HMAS Ballarat also assisted in the search for the missing Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala 402.

The Anzac Class Frigate also successfully completed Operation Argos supporting the enforcement of United Nations Security Council sanctions on goods moving into North Korea.

Over a two-week period, HMAS Ballarat’s MH60R helicopter was flying up to two sorties to gather information on vessels of interest suspected of being involved in illegal ship-to-ship transfers of sanctioned goods.

The Indo-Pacific is at the centre of global commerce, so it’s important that the Royal Australian Navy working with partner nations maintain a presence to promote a secure and stable region.

Australian Department of Defence

June 27, 2021

Sea Breeze 21

07/05/2021

ODESA, Ukraine (July 2, 2021) Ukrainian navy Island-class patrol boats depart a pier as the River-class offshore patrol vessel HMS Trent (P224) and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) return to Odesa, Ukraine, July 2, 2021, during Exercise Sea Breeze 2021.

Exercise Sea Breeze is a multinational maritime exercise cohosted by U.S. Sixth Fleet and the Ukrainian Navy in the Black Sea since 1997.

Sea Breeze 2021 is designed to enhance interoperability of participating nations and strengthen maritime security and peace within the region.

(U.S. Navy video by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jack D. Aistrup/Released)

Perth Back in the Water after Upgrades

07/04/2021

By Harriet Pointon Mather

Anzac-class frigate HMAS Perth was back in the water on July 1.

She was lowered out of the dry dock at the Australian Marine Complex at Henderson, Western Australia, after completion of upgrades to her radar capabilities, communications systems and crew-habitable areas, which are a major part of the Anzac Midlife Capability Assurance Program.

Commanding Officer Perth Commander Anthony Nagle said the complexity of the manoeuvres to get her back in the water required precise coordination.

“The undocking itself is a lengthy process – moving a vessel that is 118m long, nearly 15m wide and that weighs 3900 tonnes requires meticulous management,” Commander Nagle said.

“This is a significant step towards the completion of Perth’s upgrade, which will now move on to the final stages, enabling the ship to return to the fleet and undertake deployments and exercises with our regional partners in 2022.”

This article was published by the Australian Department of Defence on July 2, 2021.

A French Defense Update from Minister Parly, July 2021

By Pierre Tran

Paris – It was natural for the U.S. president, Joe Biden, to encourage the Swiss authorities to opt for an American fighter jet in the Swiss competition, Florence Parly, armed forces minister said July 2.

“There is nothing new under the sun,” she told the defense journalists association in the elegant ministerial offices at Brienne House, when asked about Biden’s reported role in the Swiss selection of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter.

The Swiss Federal Council said June 30 the F-35 had been picked over competing offers of Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet, Dassault Aviation Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon, with the latter pitched by the German Airbus unit.

There were media reports that Biden called on Switzerland to pick a U.S. fighter jet when he flew to Geneva for a June 16 summit meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

“It is the law of competition,” Parly said. France could not win every deal.

The arms export market was “extremely competitive,” she said, so it was not news that each country sought to support its “excellent industrial offering.”

When a president was abroad, it was part of the job to help win an arms export deal, she said.

Promoting French arms exports was an important part of her ministerial duties, she said, even if she was not a president.

There had been recent success in Europe, and the year was not over, she said.

Finland is due to decide by the end of the year which fighter jet to replace an aging fleet of F-18s. France won a deal to supply new and secondhand Rafales to Greece.

Parly met March 22 her Swiss counterpart, Viola Amherd, in Berne, with the ministers discussing greater cooperation, including security of the skies, cybersecurity, and nuclear, bacteriological and chemical warfare, and increasing women’s role in the services.

France had offered the Rafale and SAMP/T surface-to-air missile from Eurosam, a Franco-Italian joint-venture of MBDA and Thales. Switzerland picked the Raytheon Patriot.

Parly had earlier pointed up the importance of the June 25 visit of U.S. state secretary, Anthony Blinken, which signaled full support for France.

There was also U.S. help in the sub-Saharan Sahel region, with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, inflight refueling, and air transport to back French forces, she said.

France was “highly committed” to delivering 12 submarines to Australia and  significant local content was “very important,” she said, when asked about Australian calls for cancellation of the naval project, which was reported to be late and costly.

There have been serious French efforts in the last few months to meet Australian demands on the submarine project, which was “highly strategic” to meeting the threat in the Pacific zone, she said.

President Emmanuel Macron met June 15 the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, at the Elysées office, and the French head of state said the French government and industry were committed to going “further and faster” on the attack submarines, the pillar of the partnership between the two countries.

Morrison told reporters, “I appreciate the direct role that he (Macron) has played in ensuring that we’ve seen a much-improved position come forward from Naval over the last six months,’ Mail Online website reported June 16.

‘But there is still a long way to go,” he said.

The Australian defense minister, Greg Moriarty, was reported to be looking at options if the submarine contract with France were cancelled.

On cooperation with Germany, Parly said talks could be resumed on the bilateral projects Main Ground Weapon System and Maritime Airborne Warfare System, as the German parliament had approved funds for work on the Future Combat Air System.

Support for the FCAS project had been the top priority.

Berlin’s order for a five-strong fleet of P-8A Poseidon has sparked French concern a plan to build a European maritime patrol aircraft in the MAWS project has been shot down.

The German Poseidon order may be a “gap filler,” but that remained to be seen, she said.

On the MGWS project, Nexter of France, and German partners Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall were in talks to agree the industrial organization, she said, and perhaps an agreement could be reached in the second half of the year.

MGWS is a plan to replace the French Leclerc and German Leopard 2 heavy tanks.

Exercise Southern Jackaroo : An Update

By Private Jacob Joseph

With more than seven live-fire traces open simultaneously, the culminating activity of Exercise Southern Jackaroo, held from June 15-24, took months to plan, and included forces from the US Marines and Japan Ground Self-Defence Force.

Private Brendan Hannam, from 5 Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (5RAR), fired the first Javelin in the Mount Bundey Training Area.

“I didn’t realise I would actually get to fire a Javelin on this exercise,” Private Hannam said.

Private Hannam’s action involved a direct attack while the US Marines, just meters away, simultaneously fired a top down attack.

A coordinated fire mission from Australian MAG 58 and US .50cal machine guns followed against targets on the adjacent hillside.

Watching the heavy weapons at the support by fire position, Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force Officer In Charge bilateral exercises Major Mitsuo Matsuda observed a way to improve his soldier’s training with more barrel change drills.

“Japanese soldiers do not fire the same amount of ammunition on our live fire ranges so they do not get to change barrels very often,” Major Matsuda said.

Japanese forces also took advantage of the larger Australian ranges on day one, firing their Type 01 LMAT anti-tank missile at moving targets for the first time.

It was also the first time snipers from the three nations participated in a two-day, live-fire practice, which included moving targets travelling up to 40kmph and long-range shooting beyond 2km.

Australian and US gunners from 103 Battery and US Marine Corps Mike Battery used the exercise to test a digital link between gun detachments, according to Bravo Detachment Commander Bombardier Eduardo Osborne.

“There’s a digital radio inside the gun that can send trajectory and elevation information between computers,” Bombardier Osborne said.

While the exercise aimed to develop a combined arms relationship between militaries, there were also personnel exchanges, according to 5RAR Lance Corporal Joshua Young, who worked with Japanese and US forces at the urban training facility.

“We showed them how we did our individual up to section level SOPs, like quartering drills and signals, so they could operate without talking,” Lance Corporal Young said.

Soldiers practised urban clearances and explosive breaching serials, and received a visit from Chief of the Defence Force General Angus Campbell who spoke about the importance of Australia’s strategic partnerships.

US Marine Rotational Force–Darwin Commanding Officer Colonel David Banning said Exercise Southern Jackaroo was a key exercise for the United States Marines based in Darwin with the rotational force.

“This is a critical building block in terms of our ability to gradually increase the complexity of what we’re doing with our partners,” Colonel Banning said.

“We’re focused on maintaining our tactical capability so we have the flexibility to respond to whatever situation we might encounter.”

The US Marines will participate in exercises Talisman Sabre and Koolendong in the coming months. The Japanese forces will return home in early July.

This article was published by the Australian Department of Defence on June 30, 2021.

Featured Photo: A Japan Ground Self-Defense Force soldier provides cover while a U.S. marine and an Australian soldier make entry during Exercise Southern Jackaroo. Photo: Sergeant Sheota Shirakawa