Experienced Instructor Pilots operating T-6A Texan II aircraft practice advanced aerial maneuvers over Lake Amistad in Del Rio, Texas, June 25, 2020.
The purpose of the training was to further develop flying capabilities and skills of experienced instructor pilots through advanced form flight.
DEL RIO, TX, UNITED STATES
06.25.2020
Photo by Master Sgt. James May
In this special report, the findings from a recent visit to Jax Navy and to Mayport, with regard to the maritime patrol enterprise are highlighted.
Interviews were conducted with the P-8, Triton, and Romeo communities.
The US Navy is in the throes of a significant transition, one which is very evident when you compare the report we published from an earlier visit to Jax Navy with this one.
A recent story published by the UK Ministry of Defence on July 23, 2020 provided an update on the build out of the P-8 base in the UK.
DE&S, the MOD’s procurement arm, will take control of the £100 million strategic facility at RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland.
Clocking in at over 33,000 square metres, the facility includes a three-bay hangar and accommodation for two squadrons, as well as state-of-the-art training equipment and facilities for those working on the fleet of nine Poseidon aircraft.
Designed and built by Boeing Defence UK (BDUK) and local construction partner Robertson, more than 300 employees worked on the building at Lossiemouth during the peak of the two-year project.
Defence Minister Jeremy Quin said:
“The new Poseidon fleet will reassert the UK in the maritime patrol arena. It will play an invaluable role in our national security for decades to come. The state-of-the-art Lossiemouth facility provides the fleet with an ideal base while helping to create and sustain jobs in Scotland.”
Once operational in the autumn, the facility will be the workplace for 470 additional military and civilian personnel, taking the total number of people working out of the coastal base to about 2,200.
Michelle Sanders, P-8A Poseidon team leader at DE&S, said:
“The new strategic facility at RAF Lossiemouth is a great example of successful delivery through co-operative working. DE&S, Boeing Defence UK and Robertson have worked closely since the project began in early 2018 and here we are, just over two years later, taking delivery of this splendid new building. The focus of our work now shifts to preparing it for handover to the RAF later this year.”
The first RAF Poseidon – named Pride of Moray – arrived from the USA and touched down at Kinloss Airfield in February 2020, followed by the second – named City of Elgin – in March. Both aircraft are currently flying from Kinloss until the Lossiemouth facility and runway are formally opened.
RAF Air Cdre Richard Barrow said:
“The strategic facility at RAF Lossiemouth is going to be an outstanding working environment optimised to support the RAF’s new Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft.
“But, more than that, it is going to be the home of our new capability where our crews, engineers, mission support staff and contractors will work together to deliver this essential Defence output.
“Delivered by Defence Equipment and Support and Boeing Defence UK, the project has progressed at impressive speed and will deliver exactly what we need in time to meet the arrival of our new aircraft at RAF Lossiemouth in the autumn.”
Terence Bulloch, the third aircraft in the fleet, is named after the highest-scoring pilot in Coastal Command during the Second World War. It has completed the painting stage and is having its mission equipment fitted at the Boeing Defence facility in Seattle.
Anna Keeling, managing director of Boeing Defence UK, said:
“We are incredibly proud to be handing over this state-of-the-art facility to DE&S after two years of hard work and investment, and we are excited to begin a new phase of Boeing’s partnership at RAF Lossiemouth.
“It’s a further sign of our more than 80-year commitment to the UK and we could not have done it without the support of the local Morayshire community, both on and off base.”
In the coming months, DE&S will oversee the installation of computers, audio-visual technology and the IT network to ensure the facility meets the RAF’s requirements.
Simulators and training devices for the Poseidon air and ground crews will be delivered and their installation will begin, while a separate ground support equipment (GSE) hangar will also be built by Robertson.
All nine Poseidon aircraft, which are based on the Boeing 737 Next-Generation airliner, are expected to be in the UK by the end of 2021.
UK Government minister for Scotland David Duguid said:
“This new £100 million strategic facility at RAF Lossiemouth is a further investment from the UK Government in the area’s economy, and demonstrates the important role Scotland plays in our defence network.
“We look forward to seeing the facility put to good use playing an essential role in our national security and creating sustainable jobs for the future of the area.”
The featured graphic: A rendering of the Poseidon Strategic Facility at RAF Lossiemouth. Crown copyright.
By Robbin Laird
While it is important to think about 2030, the air-maritime force is in the throes of significant innovation NOW and laying the foundation for significant change in the near to the mid-term.
And this happening by reworking the integratability of key elements of the force and evolving the concepts of operations of key platforms working together in core functional warfighting areas.
A key case in point is the MH-60 Romeo helicopters as anti-surface and ASW assets shaping a way ahead to work more effectively in force integration with other key assets.
In the ISR world it is about reshaping ways P-8s and Romeos can work together.
This is a work in progress, but again, because these are EXTANT platforms the challenge is to focus on enhanced integrability to deliver enhanced capability in a key functional area, which is anti-surface warfare and ASW.
In part, this is allowing the Romeo helicopters to move away from a primary role of protecting the carrier projecting power to contribute to the land wars and returning them to blue water operations. The advanced sensors on the Romeo are then used as part of the reshaping of blue water operational capabilities.
The Romeos are providing significant contributions to Air Wing and surface asset long range maritime strike packages, and will only result in enhanced lethality with added focus on training and interoperability with the P-8s.
The P-8s are ISR and C2 strike aircraft that also do ASW.
How best to integrate them with the strike force?
How best to work through how they can contribute to fleet wide maritime strike?
My discussions and recent visit to NAWDC highlighted how there is a clear interest and priority to better integrate the P-8 into fleet strike operations.
This is a work in progress, but again this is an EXTANT platform, whose software code is being rewritten based on operations to provide for a more integrable capability or to sort through its role within the integratable air wing which is reshaping how a kill web enabled fleet can operate more effectively in blue water operations.
The Romeos are part of working a new approach to what the NAWDC team refers to as blue water expeditionary operations.
In an earlier piece, I highlighted how CDR Nathaniel “Velcro” Velcio, the HSM Weapons School, Atlantic looked at the way ahead.
And now during my July 2020 visit to San Diego, I had a chance to get the perspective of Captain Jeffrey Melody, Commander, of the Helicopter Maritime Strike Wing, Pacific (i.e. HSM Community) on the way ahead as well.
The Romeos deploy both to carriers as well as cruisers or destroyers. They deploy a 25-man detachment to cruisers or destroyers with two MH-60R helicopters; and for the carrier they deploy a five-helicopter CVN Element led by its Commanding and Executive Officers.
In addition, the HSC Community’s MH-60 Sierras are deploying for combat logistics and support as well as working with Fire-Scout detachments.
This means the community is working the concepts of operations of manned-unmanned teaming to deliver more persistent ISR in the extended battlespace.
There is a concerted effort to augment Romeo and P-8 integration.
According to Captain Melody, once a year there is a meeting held at Jacksonville bringing together the two communities where the junior officers who work the platforms can share operational experience and to work through ways to operate as a more integratable force.
And as I saw in a visit to Mayport in June 2020, there is an enhanced effort to work Seahawk and P-8 integration as well.
The West coast Helicopter Maritime Strike Wing works with the P-8s at Whidbey Island.
Obviously, the distance from San Diego to Washington is considerably greater than the short distance from Jax Navy to Mayport, which can enable the East Coast wing greater opportunities for integrated training.
This type of integration is clearly worked in Hawaii as well.
According to Captain Melody: “We look to overcome the distance hurdle by leveraging the long legs of the P-8 and have a standing invite for them to fly down to participate in the ASW portion of the basic phase certification exercises our Weapons School conducts throughout the year, along with an annual South American Navy submarine exercise, DESI-Ex, both on the SoCal Offshore ASW Range.”
This is a work in progress; but, again because these are existing platforms, they enhance the integrability of the fleet now and build out new capabilities as they work towards future operations as well.
Too often, there is the notion in defense public discourse which does not pay enough attention to the innovations in integratability going on right now.
This work is especially significant because working ISR integratability and third party targeting leveraging sensor networks is crucial now but a clear foundation for shaping an effective way ahead.
And as they do so, their ability to reach out to other elements of the sensor network, such as Triton allow, the Romeos and P-8s to do a better job supporting the strike fleet as well.
A key way to enhance the sensor network could well be to add passive sensors to some of the new assets coming into the fleet, such as the MV-22B, the MQ-25 or maritime remotes.
The key challenge is to ensure that those sensors provide information which can inform the strike force, rather than just accumulate information.
It is clear that the HSM community has worked hard the past few years to enhance their role in the high-end fight.
With regard to surface warfare core capability there has been a key shift to provide for such an enhanced role. In the period of support to the land wars, the HSM capabilities were primary used to for small boat warfare, primarily in the Restricted Waters transit arena.
Now they have transitioned to leveraging their advanced sensor suites to contribute to the long-range maritime strike and electromagnetic warfare arenas, which have become key areas of effort with great Power Competition and Distributed Maritime Operations.
Efforts such as greater integratability of the Romeo with the P-8 lay a solid foundation for further evolution of usable sensor networks which inform not debilitate decision making for the integrated distributed force.
This is a work in progress, but one which is delivering enhanced capability and lethality to the FLEET now, and not just a slide in a briefing about the 2030 future force.
Featured photo: LCpl. Denton A. Stewart, a flight equipment technician Marine assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (Reinforced) 164, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, watches an MH-60S Sea Hawk, assigned to the “Wildcards” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 23, land aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8). Makin Island, homeported in San Diego, is conducting routine operations in the eastern Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Aaron Sperle)
Two Combatant Craft Medium (CCM) operate in the Mediterranean Sea near the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS New Yok, June 18, 2020.
New York was conducting operations in U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in support of regional allies and partners, and U.S. national security interests in Europe and Africa.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
06.18.2020
Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Lyle Wilkie
In a news story on the Norwegian government website published on June 7, 2020, the release of a new report on Nordic cooperation was announced.
Last week the Nordic Foreign Ministers received the report “Nordic Foreign and Security Policy 2020: Climate Change, Hybrid & Cyber Threats and Challenges”.
On 30 October 2019, the foreign ministers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden decided to task Mr. Björn Bjarnason of Iceland to prepare an independent report with non-binding proposals on how to further develop Nordic cooperation on foreign and security policy. This tasking marked ten years since Mr Thorvald Stoltenberg of Norway drafted a similar report presenting a range of recommendations of which a large share have already been implemented.
In the mandate, delivered to Mr. Bjarnason on 2 December 2019, he was requested to specifically focus on the scope for cooperation in addressing global climate change, addressing hybrid threats and cyber issues, and strengthening and reforming multilateralism and the rule-based international order. The mandate moreover stipulated that the report and the proposals should be ready by mid-year 2020. In his work he enjoyed the support of a reference group of experts and analysts from each of the five Nordic countries.
The Nordic Foreign Ministers express their appreciation to Mr. Bjarnason for his important work and look forward to studying the report’s recommendations. They will formally discuss the concrete proposals at their meeting in Copenhagen in September during Denmark’s presidency of the N5 cooperation.
The report can be read below but one of the more interesting sections is on cyber and hybrid threats.
Part of that section reads as follows:
Hybrid threats, including cyber-attacks and disinformation/influence operations, pose a serious and increasing challenge to the Nordic countries. By taking advantage of the vulnerabilities of democratic and open societies, hybrid threat actors undermine Nordic security, prosperity, and values.
Hybrid threats are ambiguous and designed to allow deniability. Therefore, it is difficult, but even more important, to address them. In all the capitals, interlocutors emphasized that the Nordics could meet these challenges more effectively together
While countering cyber-attacks and other hybrid threats is first and foremost a national responsibility, the Nordic countries must work closer together to keep up with ever more determined and sophisticated adversaries. Without duplicating existing structures and means of cooperation, such as NORDEFCO, there is potential for strengthened Nordic cooperation on several aspects of hybrid threats and cyber issues.
The importance of multilateral cooperation of like-minded states in fighting cyber and hybrid threats is undisputed.
All Nordic countries recognize the importance of The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE) in Helsinki, which supports participating states’ individual and collective efforts to enhance their capabilities, resilience, and preparedness to counter hybrid threats. Hybrid CoE is a bridge between the EU and
NATO. The Nordics, except for Iceland, are active members of the Centre. The Nordics equally recognize the importance of the work of the EU STRATCOM.
There are three key terms often used in connection with hybrid threats: situational awareness, resilience, and deterrence. Going beyond this, developing countermeasures against aggression, is increasingly needed.
Cyber has been described as an abstract realm with its high-speed communication lines, data collections and processing capabilities. The results of these virtual world processes are felt when they hit the real world. Hybrid warfare happens in the real and the virtual world.
The real-world’s segment is in principle well observed and understood, while the virtual segment operates stealthily in the invisible world of computers and networks until it shows effects in the real world.
State and non-state actors deploy hybrid means to challenge countries and institutions that they see as a threats, opponents or competitors to their interests and goals.
The range of methods and activities is wide, including: espionage; influencing information; meddling in elections; intellectual property theft; exploiting logistical weaknesses like energy supply pipelines; economic and trade-related blackmail; undermining international institutions by rendering rules ineffective; terrorism or increasing the sense of insecurity; threatening civilian air traffic, maritime communications, energy cables and causing maritime incidents.
Strong arguments have pointed out that one should actually not talk about “hybrid threats” but rather “hybrid warfare” as at least some Nordic countries are under constant attack.
It is of utmost importance to share experiences, not only to learn from one another but also to better realize whether there is a pattern to irregularities that might be part of a larger, strategic hybrid action directed against some or all of the Nordic countries. Being up to speed when it comes to tactical and technological trends in the field is crucial.
While attribution is a national responsibility, multinational solidarity is a vital part of hybrid and cyber deterrence. The Nordic countries should join hands in condemning those conducting hybrid warfare where part of the game is to deny any culpability.
The two state actors most often mentioned as posing a threat to the Nordics in this regard are Russia and China.
These states have developed effective subversive means that go much further in weakening their targets than fake news and disinformation do. Such means have been used before to prepare the ground for illegal annexation, as seen in the Crimea
in the spring of 2014.
That event represented a swift culmination of prolonged Russian efforts to destabilise Ukraine. Russia’s denial of any responsibility characterised the aftermath. Apart from the illegal incursion in the South China Sea, China conducts lower key hybrid operations than Russia.
Social engineering and economic espionage are Chinese trademarks having social, economic, and financial aims, mirrored in their efforts to gain access through strategic investments and research projects.
It is important to conduct foreign investment screening with special emphasis on security, i.a. in 5G systems and critical infrastructure.
The leading role of Nordic companies like Ericsson and Nokia in this field is often highlighted as important for ensuring a high-tech competition edge
nordicreport_2020And an e-book version can be read below:
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By Australian Defence Business Review
The ADF has deployed 150 personnel and 10 aircraft to Anderson AFB on Guam to participate in multi-national joint-force exercises with the USAF, US Navy, and Royal Australian Navy.
The air task unit comprises six F/A-18A/B classic Hornets, two EA-18G Growlers, an E-7A Wedgetail, and a KC-30A MRTT. The two week deployment will see the aircraft conduct air-sea integration exercises with the RAN task group which is on its way to the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises in Hawaii, as well as surface and airborne elements of the US Navy and USAF.
The RAN task group – comprising the LHD HMAS Canberra, DDG HMAS Hobart, ANZAC class frigates HMA Ships Stuartand Arunta, and the oiler HMAS Sirius – transited through the South China Sea in mid-July, before conducting sailing and helicopter cross-decking exercises with the USS Ronald Reagan carrier strike group (CSG) in the Philippine Sea.
“Some of our most advanced capabilities including the EA-18G Growler and the Guided Missile Destroyer, HMAS Hobart, will be able to integrate in a combined air and sea environment,” Defence Minister Senator Linda Reynolds said in a statement. “This deployment demonstrates Defence as a capable force, with an ability to conduct complex and extended deployments at sea and in the air organically and with our regional partners.”
The Guam exercises will help fine-tune the RAN’s preparation for RIMPAC, but also allows the ADF to develop its Air-Sea integration with our own and allied forces for future joint operations.
“Exercising as a joint force across air and sea allows the Navy and Air Force to understand each other’s warfighting activities, to fight better in the maritime environment, make decisions quickly and fully employ their forces across multiple domains,” Minister Reynolds said.
This article was published by ADBR on July 24, 2020.
The RAAF has successfully demonstrated its ability to remotely control an unmanned aerial system (UAS) by piloting a Sky Ranger R70 quad-rotor UAS from a C-130J Hercules of 37SQN.
Credit: Australian Department of Defence
June 10, 2020