Training for the High-End Fight: The Strategic Shift of the 2020’s

02/04/2021

We are pleased to announce our new book, Training for the High-End Fight: The Strategic Shift of the 2020s. 

Training for the High-End Fight highlights the essential strategic shift for the U.S. and allied militaries from land wars in the Middle East to the return of great power competition.

The primary challenge of this strategic shift will be the need to operate a full spectrum crisis management force.

That means training a force capable of delivering the desired combat and crisis management effect in dealing with 21st century authoritarian powers.

This reset in combat approach is pivotal to enhancing our escalation management skills and for protecting the liberal democracies against 21st century authoritarian powers.

Informed by interviews with officers at a number of U.S. war fighting training centers, the focus is upon the future of 21st Century combat, and how our forces are preparing for it.

This book can be purchased in e-book form on a number of global booksellers, including Amazon’s global sites.

It can also be purchased off our website at a 30% discount.

The book will appear in paperback at the end of March as well.

The new book can be found on amazon as follows:

 

Or on our website as follows:

Training for the High End Fight: The Strategic Shift of the 2020s

 

 

A Look Back to 1996: Support for TWA Flight 800

02/03/2021

U.S. Sailors assigned to Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 8 conduct flight operations with CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters aboard the dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD 51) in response to the crashed Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 800 aircraft off the coast of Moriches, New York, July 27, 1996.

TWA Flight 800 was a Boeing 747-100 aircraft that exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on July 17, 1996, after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport on a scheduled international passenger flight to Rome, resulting in the death of all 230 individuals on board.

(U.S. Navy video)

10.01.2019

Defense VI Records Center

RAAF Hornets Farewell from Williamtown Airbase

02/02/2021

By Flight Lieutenant Jessica Aldred

An eight-ship formation of F/A-18A/B Hornets filled the Williamtown skyline in a fitting farewell to the aircraft as it was retired from No. 77 Squadron on December 11.

With the squadron transitioning to the F-35A Lightning II this month, Air Force’s only remaining Hornet squadron is No. 75 Squadron at RAAF Base Tindal, Northern Territory.

Warrant Officer Engineering No. 77 Squadron Tony Collie said he had a long and unique history with the aircraft.

“I arrived at 77 Squadron in August 1988 as an aircraftman engine fitter while the unit was still in the process of receiving the new aircraft from final assembly in Melbourne,” Warrant Officer Collie said.

“I vividly remember to this day how good it was to marshal a brand new aircraft, A21-045, into our flightline and inspect such a pristine aircraft.

“77 Squadron was my first unit working on the Hornet – on arrival as an aircraftman, the new Hornets were still being commissioned into service, and now as Warrant Officer Engineering, I’m transitioning the Hornet out of service at the same squadron.

“I feel privileged that history has aligned for me to achieve my minimum and maximum enlisted rank on the same aircraft type at the same squadron.”

Air Force operated 71 F/A-18A/B Hornets at RAAF Base Williamtown and RAAF Base Tindal since 1985, with No. 77 Squadron operating the Hornet out of RAAF Base Williamtown for the past 33 years.

In that time, they have deployed on a number of operations, including Operations Falconer and Okra – the first operational deployment of fighters since the Korean War.

Warrant Officer Collie said his experience with the F/A-18A/B Hornets on Operation Falconer, in the Middle East in 2003, would stay with him.

“The whole experience to prepare aircraft and equip ourselves for operational deployment was extremely exciting,” Warrant Officer Collie said.

“I gained a firsthand perspective of how a team could operate and achieve a goal when we had a common purpose, we just got on with the task.”

The F/A-18A (single seat) and F/A-18B (twin seat) Hornets are a multi-role fighter aircraft, capable of air-to-air and air-to-ground missions. They have been an integral part of Australia’s air combat capability.

Warrant Officer Collie said it had been an exciting part of his Air Force career and was looking forward to their new chapter with the F-35A.

“I feel extremely privileged to be involved within the lifecycle of our Hornet. I definitely feel a part of its contribution to the Air Force,” Warrant Officer Collie said.

“I am excited to see what potential we will be able to achieve by mixing state of the art technology with the F-35A and highly motivated, lateral thinking and innovative men and women in Air Force today.

“I am looking forward to witnessing the capability increase that the F-35A will offer Defence as a whole after we mature from platform transition.”

This article was published by the Australian Department of Defence on January 27, 2021.

Featured photo: A formation of four F/A-18A/B Hornets over the lighthouse at Nobbys Beach in Newcastle. Photo: Corporal Brett Sherriff

For one of our visits to Williamtown Airbase which highlighted the transition from the Hornet, see the following:

The Air Combat Group in Transition: The Perspective of Air Commodore Kitcher

During the 2018 visit, we shot photos of the Hornets at the base.

The Italian Aircraft Carrier Cavour in Route to the United States: Adding F-35 Capabilities to the Fleet

02/01/2021

Our colleagues at the Italian defense journal RID have highlighted the departure of the Cavour for the United States:

“The aircraft carrier CAVOUR has left for the United States where it will embark the F-35Bs of the Navy stationed Beaufort and will acquire the certification to operate the aircraft.

“The unit, with its crew and its Commander, were greeted by the Minister of Defense Lorenzo Guerini, accompanied by General Enzo Vecciarelli, Chief of Defense Staff, by Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, Chief of Staff of the Navy, and by Admiral Paolo Treu, Commander in Chief of the Naval Squad.

“The Minister stated: “It is certainly an activity of a technical-operational nature, but with important implications on the strategic-military level for Defense and for the country on the international scene.

“In fact, Italy will become one of the few countries in the world, together with the United States, Great Britain and Japan, to be able to operate an aircraft carrier capability with 5th Generation combat aircraft.

“The convergence between Italy and the United States on the mutual strengthening and integration of their naval forces means that this mission provides as an important additional opportunity for operational validation.

“This mission will allow to further increase, also from a joint perspective, the capabilities that the Defense, and the Navy in particular, available to Italy ”

An additional article published by Naval News, provided some additional details.

“The major issue for 2021 is the ITS Cavour, our major carrier, that will be deployed here in the United States for what we have called ‘Ready for Operation Campaign’ that consists to achieve the qualification and to conduct joint and combined maritime operations by embarking F-35 Bravo air assets. The campaign will be executed in close cooperation with the U.S. Navy but especially U.S. Marine Corps. The unit is expected to arrive in Norfolk in a few weeks, actually half of February.”

“For the record, the aircraft carrier Cavour left the Arsenale Militare Marittimo (Maritime Military Arsenal) of Taranto in May 2020 after completing a 16 months refit and upgrade period to operate F-35B Joint Strike Fighters.

“Technical interventions carried out on board the aircraft carrier included the overhaul of the flight deck with a new deck coating. This was necessary to limit the thermodynamic impacts when the F-35B STOVL (Short Take Off Vertical Landing) variant will take off and land. In addition to the structures, equipment and flight systems of the deck, the ship’s island compartments, hangar, equipment store, aviation fuel storage, data distribution network, sensors and electronics were also modified and upgraded. This was required for the integration and flight operation of the F-35B from ITS Cavour.

“The Cavour upgrade phase started a month after the second Italian Navy’s F35B – individual registration code 4-02 – took off from the Cameri (Novara) Final Assembly and Check Out plant FACO to make its flight to the United States. The aircraft final destination was MCAS Beaufort, in South Carolina, where the aircraft joined the first F-35B (4-01) in supporting the training of the F-35B Italian pilots and technicians.

“The Italian Navy ordered a total of 15 F-35B fighter jets. The Italian Air Force has the same amount on order (in addition to about 60 F-35A models).”

Editor’s Note: This is the original RID piece in Italian:

La portaerei CAVOUR è partita alla volta degli Stati Uniti dove imbarcherà gli F-35B della Marina di stanza Beaufort ed acquisirà la certificazione per operare con il velivolo. L’unità, con il suo equipaggio ed il suo Comandante, è stata salutata dal Ministro della Difesa Lorenzo Guerini, accompagnato dal Generale Enzo Vecciarelli, Capo di Stato Maggiore della Difesa, dall’Ammiraglio Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, Capo di Stato Maggiore della Marina, e dall’Ammiraglio Paolo Treu, Comandante in Capo della Squadra Navale.

Il Ministro ha rilasciato parole molto importanti a proposito di questa attività affermando che“si tratta certamente di un’attività di natura tecnico-operativa, ma con risvolti importanti sul piano strategico-militare per la Difesa e per il Paese nel panorama internazionale.

L’Italia, infatti, diventerà uno dei pochi Paesi al mondo, insieme a Stati Uniti, Gran Bretagna e Giappone, a poter esprimere una capacità portaerei con velivoli da combattimento di 5ª Generazione. La convergenza di intenti tra Italia e Stati Uniti sul reciproco rafforzamento e integrazione delle proprie forze navali vede in questa missione un’importante ulteriore occasione di verifica operativa. Questa campagna consentirà di aumentare ulteriormente, anche in ottica interforze, le capacità che la Difesa, e la Marina in particolare, sapranno mettere a disposizione dell’Italia”

See also, the following:

Italian Naval Airpower: The Importance of Showing Up at Beaufort Air Station

Re-Thinking the Role of the Smaller Deck Carrier: The Case of Cavour

Cameri, Italy and the F-35: Special Report (English and Italian Versions)

 

Marines Work Tail Gunnery

U.S. Marines with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262 (Reinforced), 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), execute tail gunnery and confined area landing during MEU Exercise on Okinawa, Japan, December 15, 2020.

The 31st MEU, the Marine Corps’ only continuously forward-deployed MEU, provides a flexible and lethal force ready to perform a wide range of military operations as the premier crisis response force in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps video by Cpl. Alexandria Nowell).

OKINAWA JAPAN

12.15.2020

An Update on Rafale: January 2021

01/31/2021

By Pierre Tran

Paris – France has ordered a batch of 12 Dassault Aviation Rafale fighter jets to replace for those which the air force is handing over to Greece, the minister of the armed forces, Florence Parly, said Jan. 29.

“It is with great pleasure that today I announce an order for 12 Rafales for France,” she said at a Dassault factory at Argonay, near the Alps in southeast France.

The order is part of a speedy deal in which France sold 18 Rafales to Greece, with six new aircraft and 12 secondhand units from the French air force.

The Greek authorities signed the Rafale contract on Monday, marking the first European export order for the fighter.

The deal was worth some €2.5 billion ($3.5 billion), of which some €500 million was for missiles, an industry executive said.

The 12 secondhand Rafales were worth €400 million, financial website La Tribune reported. The order includes the aircraft, service and training, and weapons  including Scalp cruise missiles, Meteor and Mica air-to-air missiles, and Exocet AM 39 air-to-sea missiles.

The Greek order follows heightened tension with Turkey, which has pursued exploration for oil and gas in the eastern Mediterranean, a region over which Athens claims territorial rights.

The French air force will send its Rafales to Greece this summer, and those will be replaced with the latest F-3R version of the fighter, Parly said. The minister said she went to Athens on Monday to attend the “historic” contract signing.

“It is historic because it is the first time a European nation chose the Rafale as a fighter jet to assure air superiority,” she said.

“This is an industrial success for France and a capability success for Greece and above all a great victory for Europe.”

Greece joins Egypt, India and Qatar, on the Rafale export client list, while in Europe, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK have received the F-35 fighter.

The orders for Greece and replacement for the French air force come in time to plug a production gap which yawned for Dassault in 2025.

The aircraft builder is due to ship the last Rafale for India and Qatar by the end of 2022, while the last delivery of a 28-strong batch for the French air force is due by the end of 2024.

There is a further batch of Rafales to be negotiated and ordered, with delivery due between 2027 and 2030 for the French air force. Dassault is building two units per month for 11 months a year to meet its export schedule. The factories close for August, a traditional holiday month.

The Greek order shows the French effort in pursuing exports and allows the French air force to receive new fighters at the latest standard, a defense specialist said.

There are other export prospects for the Rafale and the Greek order is “good publicity,” the specialist said. There is stiff competition for arms exports between the Europe and the U.S., and it will be interesting to see what will happen with the Biden administration.

France hopes the fighter acquisition will lead to Greek orders for French warships.

“The excellence of the strategic and operational relations could also apply to a capability in the maritime sector,” Parly said when she was in Athens, adding that France would soon send proposals for Greek plans to renew its frigate fleet.

Paris could fly over the Rafale in just a few months, whereas a Greek order for the French frigate for defense and intervention would have meant a longer delivery time. The French navy is due to receive the first FDI in 2023.

That left Naval Group, the French shipbuilder, behind in the Greek race to buy weapons.

A Greek contract signing for two FDI Belharra warships and naval cruise missiles had been expected last July, but Athens had shifted sights. That two-ship deal was estimated to be worth €2 billion-€2.5 billion.

Naval Group is making an offer of four FDI frigates and service in the next few weeks, a company spokesman said.

That service included support for the four Meko frigates sailed by the Greek navy.

Dassault builds the flight control systems at the Argonay factory.

Also, see the following:

Rafale Jet Purchase Approved by Greek Parliament

Celebrating Australia Day, 2021

01/30/2021

By Peter Jennings

Like a lot of immigrants to Australia, my family settled in this country to escape a war. We came here from southern central Africa in the 1970s. What was then Rhodesia was tearing itself apart in a civil war that devastated the country, killed tens of thousands, destroyed an economy once known as the food basket of Africa and tossed to the four winds a diaspora of people, black and white, scarred with the rights and terrible wrongs of a conflict now forgotten except by those who lived it.

And Australia welcomed us, just as Australia welcomed millions before and after my family got off a boat at Circular Quay without a plan of where to go next. One of my earliest memories of Australia was eating a curry pie from a shop on the first wharf at the quay. A culinary love affair was born. I’ll get on here, I thought.

The genius of this country is that Australia has been able to accept millions of new arrivals, often people unwanted and persecuted in their own countries, often with no money or connections, often with no hope other than wanting a chance to start again. Australia took and still takes people like that and has made a marvellous, massive, moderate, multicultural success of itself.

That’s the message of Australia Day. It is a message of hope and decency. It should be possible for us to acknowledge that Australians have built a society which, frankly, is the envy of the world. Let’s just count the ways: we are among the most multicultural countries on the planet but have, in the main, avoided the sectarian disharmony that disfigures many societies. We are a peaceful democracy that regularly transitions power between parties without trashing our parliament.

We have a free press, vigorously used. We can, and often do, criticise our governments, institutions, leaders and heroes without being beaten up and put in jail. We recognise injustice and criminality when we see it and we try to stamp it out. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We are mostly respectful of each other—although that is a standard which is sadly slipping. There are 193 member states of the United Nations. If you couldn’t live here, then where would you rather be? The US? Guns. Britain? Rain. Japan? Earthquakes. Scandinavia? Winter. New Zealand? Say no more.

And the downsides, you ask? We are complacent, profoundly unstrategic and too fond of the dollar, particularly easy money. We are too slow to mobilise when we should be acting more concertedly on big problems. Sometimes we refuse to see the obvious and it takes a lot of pressure to get us to shift our opinions. We invented the Chiko Roll. So yes, there are many flaws, but the truth is that to be born here, or to arrive here, is to win one of the few lotteries of life.

As a country, we have made a dreadful, unforgivable mess of engaging with First Australians, and I can share with Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe the commitment towards us learning to have a respectful conversation with Indigenous Australians. It would be a tremendous step forward if Australia Day could become ‘a day of healing so we can all move forward together as a nation’. To get to this point I desperately hope that it won’t be necessary to burn the village down in order to save it. Yet this seems to be the preferred strategy on the part of our national broadcaster, some peak sporting bodies, and many other commentators and influencers.

In thinking about Australia Day, we should try to avoid falling into what has happened in the United States in the past four years: a polarising and sharpening of differences in such a way that searching for middle ground is treated as a form of weakness and our opponents’ views are not just wrong but contemptable.

Down that path we will end up shouting through megaphones at people who are shouting at us—through megaphones.

Is it not a sign of national immaturity that calls to change, eliminate or denigrate Australia Day fail to acknowledge the many strengths of Australia, the many unbelievably good things that the country has achieved and stands for?

A positive view of what is great about Australia does not in any way give us a leave pass for our failings, for the tragedies of history and for the need to right some awful wrongs.

But nor can we escape our history: 26 January marks the anniversary of the First Fleet’s arrival in Sydney in 1788. It happened. It’s the most significant day in the modern history of this country and from it, well, here we are today.

Australia Day should be—thoughtfully and respectfully—celebrated. We Australians are not cardboard cut-outs. We should enjoy the good things Australia stands for and we should know enough about the wider world to realise what a fine country we have become.

Do we have the moral courage to overcome our failings and move forward as a cohesive and just nation?

Yes, I think so.

The journey starts on Australia Day.

Peter Jennings is the executive director of ASPI and a former deputy secretary for strategy in the Department of Defence.

This article was published by ASPI on January 25, 2021.

Featured Image: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images.

The video highlights the Royal Australian Air Force in its 100th year celebrating Australia Day, 2021. Footage courtesy of the New South Wales Government.