COVID-19 and Live Virtual Constructive Training

02/26/2021

By Tony McCormack

The world has changed rapidly over the past 18 months and the way Australia’s defence organisation trains its people needs to change with it, or skills and readiness will surely decline.

A combination of the Australian Defence Force’s involvement in responding to natural disasters over the summer of 2019–20 and Covid-19 restrictions throughout 2020 resulted in the cancellation of major military exercises such as Hamel, and the scope of those that did proceed was reduced. Pitch Black 20, initially cancelled, was eventually held as a scaled-down virtual exercise. This pattern was consistent across the Five Eyes, with RIMPAC also drastically reduced in scale and scope.

Despite this reduction in activities, military personnel were still required to retain their individual skills and the ADF to maintain its readiness and preparedness levels. However, the lack of realistic training opportunities no doubt resulted in some atrophy of the ADF’s operational ability.

Despite the availability of a vaccine, Covid restrictions are going to remain with us for a while yet, precluding a return to large-scale training activities and preventing international travel to exercise with allies and partners. Greater investment is needed in alternative approaches that leverage emerging trends in simulation to rectify the deficiencies that the reduction in training will produce.

Live, virtual and constructive training, or LVC, is a taxonomy used mainly for military training, where there’s a mix between real people, simulated capabilities and environments, and computer-generated elements. Imagine a soldier in the field in the Northern Territory, calling in a simulated airstrike from an F-35 pilot seated in a simulator at a Royal Australian Air Force base in New South Wales against a computer-generated threat.

The holy grail of LVC is the ability to integrate all the individual components to conduct complex multidimensional training at varying levels of complexity and security, with widely dispersed personnel and platforms. The ultimate goal is an event that links all components together, giving the participants the maximum training benefit in as realistic an environment as possible.

The ADF conducts LVC to a limited extent. During 2020, the ADF participated in virtual exercises such as Coalition Virtual FlagWirra Jaya and Fleet Synthetic Training, to name a few. While all were international, they were constrained to a narrow focus on elements in the air, land and sea environments.

Unfortunately, LVC hasn’t yet reached its potential. The main obstacles are the cost of implementation and of service-specific training systems and, up until last year, the abundance of live training activities and exercises. The changed environment wrought by 2020 has provided the opportunity for a more considered approach to LVC for the ADF.

Covid-19 isn’t the only catalyst for change; the complexities of contemporary military equipment necessitate and complicate the development and implementation of LVC. The combat systems and weapons on high-end platforms such as the F-35 joint strike fighter and air warfare destroyer operate on manufacturers’ proprietary systems at high levels of classification and consume and create massive volumes of data. Stringent security protocols are required to protect both the source codes and the data that is carried, as well as access to a large amount of secure bandwidth.

These weapon systems are also expensive to operate. Combat aircraft cost tens of thousands of dollars per hour to fly, so every hour flown in a simulator means a flying hour saved, a longer period between maintenance cycles and a longer airframe life.

While increasing the scope, quantity and frequency of LVC activities would undoubtedly maximise training opportunities for the ADF and improve the skills and competencies of personnel, it will be difficult to achieve. However, there are some steps that could be taken to improve LVC opportunities.

To begin with, all relevant simulators and computer-based training systems need to be compatible with the LVC network. This will take a change to procurement processes, as current training systems often support only the needs of a particular weapon system, with little thought given to broader interoperability. Where appropriate, new and emerging systems should have LVC compatibility mandated. An extant system should be modified only if it will provide a proven return on investment.

Next, a stand-alone, multi-security, layered IT network should be established. This would remove the added bandwidth demands required to operate LVC from daily operating systems, reduce the chance of data spills and remove any possibility of a simulated scenario being mistaken for an actual event. A robust network may also help to assure manufacturers that their proprietary information won’t be shared with a competitor.

Importantly, an LVC network must be easy to join. A system that’s difficult to get into and navigate will be underutilised and likely provide no training benefit. The system needs to be built for the user and not the IT specialist.

Finally, LVC should not and cannot be pursued by Defence alone. LVC needs a balance of contributors: those who build and maintain the environment, those who provide the training expertise and those who use it. It must be a combination of military and civilian personnel with a broad mixture of qualifications and practical experience.

There’s already a community of Australian companies providing expertise and services in this area. Cubic Australia, for example, currently provides support to all three services across Australia and Milskil, mainly focuses on supporting the fighter force at RAAF Williamtown. Teaming and agreements are already in place and non-defence investments are being made. The North Queensland Simulation Park, or NQ SPARK, is a collaborative activity involving government, industry and academia that’s aimed at providing a multi-user simulation facility.

A more nuanced approach to LVC is needed but it won’t happen unless it is given a higher priority. Resources (particularly budgetary ones) and personnel need to be devoted to building the LVC enterprise. Importantly, LVC needs to be championed at the highest levels to ensure its implementation is promoted and enforced.

While the holy grail will likely never be achieved, circumstances have changed and the requirement to conduct more blended exercises creates opportunities to improve the quality and availability of LVC for the ADF. Training is about people and not just simulators or computers. Any LVC solution needs to be simple to use and provide a training benefit, not a burden.

Tony McCormack joined ASPI’s professional development staff in April 2018 after an extensive career in the Royal Australian Air Force. Image: Department of Defence.

This article was published by ASPI on February 10, 2021.

Also, see our recent book on training for the High-End fight:

In his recent review of the book, Air Vice Marshal (Retired) Geoff Brown had this to say:

For the last 20 years high-end training has continued to be a feature of major USN/USMC and USAF exercises.

However the emphasis and the training has always been modified to take account of the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

While this was a necessary requirement of the times, it did lead to a stagnation in high-end warfighting concepts as the exercises and training have remained largely unchanged for the last 20 years.

The proliferation of 5th generation technology and the threat posed and encompassed in the cyber and EW domains has continued to evolve rapidly to the point that the latest generation SAMs are not necessarily or even the most significant threats posed to the deployment of Allied Air Power.

The emphasis on operations in the Middle East has meant that the high-end exercises have not evolved as quickly as the technology or the threat.

While the U.S. has continued to develop and deploy leading edge technology for the high-end fight, the training concepts and virtual environments have not necessarily kept pace with the requirements of this new technology.

High quality and realistic training has always been and will continue to be the major determinant in military success.

Training for the High-End Fight is the only recent significant work that looks in detail at this issue.

Robbin Laird uses his significant research over the last seven years and his unprecedented access to USN, USAF and USMC senior warfighters to detail the major shift in thinking that is underway as the U.S. works through the training requirements of Allied Air Power when all the domains are contested by a capable adversary.

Japan-U.S. Bilateral Exercise “Forest Light“

From December 7th to 18th, 2020, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) conducted the Japan-U.S. Bilateral Exercise “Forest Light” with the U.S. Marine Corps in Sekiyama Training Area, Somagahara Training Area and Camp Somagahara.

“Forest Light” aims to enhance bilateral cooperation and improve bilateral response capabilities by conducting field training for bilateral operations upon the respective chain of command of the JGSDF and U.S. Marine Corps. 

Approx. 400 personnel from the 30th infantry regiment, 12th Brigade of the Eastern Army and approx. 500 personnel from the 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division participated in this exercise.

In addition, six MV-22s of U.S. Marine Corps joined in this exercise as well, and carried out the training relocation of MV-22s stationed at MCAS Futenma to mitigate the impact on Okinawa. 

Bilateral exercises in peace time are considerably important for not only maintaining and enhancing the bilateral response capabilities, but also improving the tactical skills of respective forces. Considering these points, the MOD/Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) will continue to enrich bilateral exercises.

Published by the Japanese Ministry of Defence.

 

The Australian Defence Force Shapes a Way Head: From an Historical Perspective

02/24/2021

By Ed Timperlake

Joint By Design, The Evolution of Australian Strategy is a very important new book by Robbin F.Laird.

As the author sagely points out in his preface that  “this book although focused on Australia, is not just about Australia.”

There is a strategic shift underway as land wars are left behind and alliance forces refocus on the Peoples Republic of China’s  modernization and even mobilization of all aspects of the Peoples Liberation Army.

Please do not let the term “army” lose sight of the growth of a real threat facing Australia, America and other Pacific rim countries and even India.

They put “army” in front of other services, the PLAN or Navy, PLAAF or Air force,  and the  2nd Artillery with ever increasing ICBM and IRBM missile forces all  beginning to sound General Quarters or simply get ready for combat.

The insights in the book, backed by direct evidence of a country and their National Security leaders with typical Australian courage in facing hard truths, is building out military force united in purpose using the most current combat platforms available combined with a  strategic and tactical  communication vision that pulls it all together to become the most platform for platform modern combined fighting force in the world.

Brilliant hard work went into making important acquisition decisions every step of the way and Joint by Design gives full credit to visionary leaders.

In reviewing the book I can make a very personal observation that is so important today about an Australian Navy ship known as the mighty Hobart fighting together with the American 7th Fleet in Vietnam waters in 1968.

I learned a very important lesson that is an echo from history that must always be remembered as a lesson learned in putting together complex military engagements and what is often called “the fog of war.”

The HMAS Hobart DDG 39.

HMAS Hobart DDG 39 was a true navy surface action gunfighter.

History reports that on 13 and 14 June 1968 in a running gunfight against NVA costal batteries the HMAS Hobart knocked out one gun while collecting shrapnel from their upper-deck in the exchange.

Now that is truly “guns guns guns” combat.

Sadly soon after that successful dueling gun fight tragedy struck in the dark hours of June 17 when HMAS Hobart’s crew detected incoming air and marked it as friendly.

However, it soon became one of the ugliest “friendly fire” mistakes at sea during the entire Vietnam war.

A section of USAF Phantoms let fly with their Aim-7 Sparrows without doing a visual identification (VID).

The Aim-7 is a semi-active AA missile that requires a lock on until impact.

The surface movement of ship can give a radar lock in the cockpit but without an “eyeball” VID the  missile payload once fired has no idea if it is a ship or low flying attack or recon helicopter.

A failed human operator with bad  intel created this tragedy.

In one respect the HMAS Hobart was fortunate that one of the missile warheads did not explode.

However, the missiles killed and wounded members of the crew.

Showing courage and skill under fire HMAS Hobart managed to get off five rounds of 5in shells as the Phantoms left.

The lesson of this incident rings forward from over half a century ago and is extremely important as the  U.S., Australia and other Allies begin to “train train train” to forge scalable “kill webs” to fight and win any Pacific engagement.

The attack on the HMAS Hobart cannot be written off simply as a ’fog of war” or a tragic friendly fire incident.

It was much more; it was a gross deadly failure of tactical and strategic intelligence.

How do I know because I was present afloat also on the gun line serving as a Naval Academy Midshipman serving on the Fleet Amo ship the USS Great Sitken, AE-17, and after the incident, we also tied up in Subic Bay when the HMAS Hobart made port to assess damage.

USS Great Sitken AE-17

Leading up to the attack, all elements of  the 7th Fleet and 7th AF were receiving flash traffic that the North Vietnamese were running helicopters up and down their coast at night.

Such important actionable intelligence put all units on extra vigilant air defense combat alert.

What was not known at the time because it was kept highly classified (or even worse simply American cowboy time) that the helicopters were actually CIA missions more than likely flown by their secret AF “Air America.”

It must always be noted there is always a key challenge facing force integration, namely ensuring that the intelligence that is shared provides for a common perspective.

In trying to forge together an effective modern combat force taking full advantage of revolutionary 21st Century ability to fight at the speed of light for target acquisition and target engagement to have the best payload effectiveness to kill the biggest threats working at cross purposes can defeat the allied force.

I learned this at a very young age; there is something worse than no intelligence and that is bad intelligence.

Australian leaders know this and there is a graceful end that tells me Australia is still such a U.S. special ally.

Years later as a Presidential Appointee Envoy for President Bush (41), I represented America at the dedication of the Australian Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

After Annapolis I qualified as a Naval Aviator and USMC Fighter Pilot and returned to SEA in 1973 serving as a squadron pilot in Task Force Delta trying to stop the Khmer Rouge from overrunning  Cambodia.

With the U.S. Congress ending all combat support on Aug 15 1973, the Cambodian killing fields began.

It was a very dark time, but years later my visit to Australia gave me great hope for the future.

With the never to be forgotten beat of a Huey flying out of the mist while every family who had lost someone during the Vietnam War marched in front of the dedication parade carrying their National Flag while  the band played “Waltzing Matilda,  it was a moment in time never to be forgotten.

I managed to find some of the sailors who served on HMAS Hobart many with families present.

The pride they expressed in serving on HMAS Hobart with the 7th Fleet was so evident.

The war was over for all and healing had taken place but a tragic mistake had been paid for in blood.

The battle damage of HMAS Hobart after the “friendly fire” incident is seen in the featured photo.

Robbin Laird visited the new HMAS Hobart in Sydney Harbour in 2018.

Visiting HMAS Hobart: A Key Building Block in the Remaking of the Royal Australian Navy

Joint by Design: The Evolution of Australian Defence Strategy

The French Government Launches Next Gen SSBN Studies

02/23/2021

By Pierre Tran

Paris – France was launching design studies and starting to build first sections of a third-generation nuclear ballistic missile submarine, in a bid to maintain national sovereignty and military independence, the armed forces minister, Florence Parly, said Feb. 19.

A new generation nuclear missile boat signals French ambition to hold firmly to its world military rankings, shared with Britain, China, Russia and the US.

The operational and geopolitical importance can be seen in Parly’s proudly saying Feb. 8 on social media the Emeraude nuclear attack submarine had sailed through the South China Sea, an operation denounced by China as unwarranted intrusion.

“Today, what we are launching in concrete terms are the design studies and general industrial process, procurement, and construction of the most critical parts, as well as the preparation of our industrial capability,” she said at the hydrodynamics center  of the Direction Générale de l’Armement procurement office, at Val de Rieu, northern France.

France will look to the four new boats to guarantee a “long-term operational credibility of the ocean-going element of the deterrent,” she said, adding the submarines will replace the Triomphant class of boats without a break in continuity.

The contracts are due to be signed in a few weeks or months, an industry source said.

There will be two prime contractors, with Naval Group as systems architect and building the boat, while TechnicAtome will build the nuclear engine. The DGA will manage the program, along with the CEA alternative energy and atomic energy commission.

The engine will be the K15 engine fitted on the Barracuda nuclear attack submarine, a TechnicAtome spokeswoman said.

The nuclear boiler room on the new boats will form a “link” between the boiler room of less power on the Barracuda and the nuclear boiler rooms – which will be more powerful – on the next-generation aircraft carrier, TechnicAtome said in a briefing note. The new aircraft carrier will be powered by the K22 engine.

Thales will supply a new sonar suite, which will use artificial intelligence and algorithms to handle a vast amount of data, the electronics company said.

The first of the boats will be delivered in 2035, a unit to be delivered every five years, and  the fleet operating until 2090, Parly said, adding the submarines will be slightly longer and heavier than the Triomphant boats, and be more silent – no noisier than a shoal of shrimps.

Studies will be conducted for cybersecurity, improved “acoustic discretion,” and to boost the effectiveness of sensors, she said.

First steel is due to be cut in 2023. The new class of submarines will be armed with an updated version of the M51.3 ballistic missile.

Some €4.1 billion ($5 billion) has been voted for funds for payment in the 2021 defense budget for maintaining and renewing the nuclear capability, which includes submarines, ballistic missiles, and the airborne nuclear-tipped missile. That amount is up seven percent from a year ago.

A detailed breakdown of the nuclear weapons budget is classified as top secret.

“It is too early to say what the bill will be,” said an official in the private office of the minister, regional newspaper Ouest France reported, adding that it was “too much” for those who rejected the nuclear deterrence, and “too expensive” as the missiles would only be fired in retaliation to a first strike.

On the planned sonar system, Thales has signed a memorandum of understanding with the DGA for development of a new generation of flank arrays, sonars fitted on the bow, and a towed array based on optical technology, the company said in a Feb. 19 statement.

There will also be equipment including intercept arrays, echo sounders and underwater telephones, the company said. The sonar kit will be a “significant break” from systems in service. The size of the arrays and frequency bands will deliver a higher level of precision in undersea 3D detection in terms of azimuth, elevation and range.

There will be a sensor data processing system, dubbed ALICIA or Analyse, Localisation, Identification Intégrées and Alertes, intended to allow the operator to handle the range and volume of data, and provide decision support, the company said.

The sonar system will be delivered in increments, with the technological building blocks and first versions to be fitted on the Triomphant class from 2025, and on the new-generation boats from 2035.

The new boat will be some 150 meters long, weigh 15,000 tons underwater, and carry a crew of some 100 strong, Naval News website reported. There will be 16 nuclear ballistic missiles, and four tubes for the F21 heavy torpedo and likely, a planned future cruise/anti-ship weapon.

The Téméraire submarine test fired an M51 ballistic missile in June 2020, without a nuclear warhead.

In a few weeks the DGA will mark 60 years since its founding under the then president Charles de Gaulle, Parly said, with the aim to be independent in arms, to give France a voice which would be heard and understood.

This year also marked 50 years since the first sailing of a French nuclear ballistic missile submarine, she added.

“France would not be France without its deterrence,” she said in her concluding remarks. “We reaffirm our determination of independence and sovereignty.”

Graphical Rendering of Next Gen SSBN: Credit: Naval Group

Marines and USAF Joint Ops

02/22/2021

Airmen with the 165th Air Support Operations Squadron (ASOS) conduct a casualty evacuation exercise with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261 (VMM-261) at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia, Dec. 7-16.

Marines with VMM-261 trained with airmen in shore-based operations in an unfamiliar environment prior to an upcoming deployment in Spring 2021.

VMM-261 is a subordinate unit of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, the air combat element of II Marine Expeditionary Force.

12.14.2020

Video by Lance Cpl. Yuritzy Gomez

2nd Marine Aircraft Wing

The U.S. Navy and the Challenge of Operating Maritime Autonomy Systems

02/21/2021

At times, the advocates for maritime autonomy systems seem like a church. Believers, advocates and true believers expressing anger that the ghost fleet has not yet arrived.

But for maritime autonomy systems to become key operating elements within the fleet, they will have to demonstrate their worth and that the cost in all senses of inclusion is not higher than exclusion from fleet operations.

A good sense of why this is so was highlighted in my interview with former Naval officer and naval analyst George Galdorisi.

We discussed  the infamous DASH system which he noted “failed spectacularly because the technology wasn’t robust enough.”

Then as the XO of the USS New Orleans, he had experience with the Pioneer UAV which they launched from the ship.

“We actually put small arresting wires on the deck and our commanding officer, who was a Vietnam-era A7 pilot, had one goal that week. His goal was that we left the pier on Monday morning with three Pioneers and he wanted to come back Friday afternoon with three Pioneers.

:We came back with one.”

But after a decade-and-a-half of widespread use of unmanned systems by U.S. and allied forces in the land wars, this experience has clearly reshaped the U.S. Navy’s approach to forging a way ahead for the use of autonomous systems technologies in the fleet.

And for the U.S. Navy, the missions which they envisage for such vehicles are the dull, dirty, and dangerous work where you are putting Sailors or Marines in harm’s way and would wish to outsource these missions to autonomous systems.

The Navy and Marine Corps have been using such systems in a wide range of exercises to shape proof of concept efforts in order to sort through what will most effectively meet their needs.

But key questions remain: how is the U.S. Navy addressing maritime autonomous systems in the operational maritime force?

And how best to do so to move forward?

Recently, I had a chance to discuss this challenge with LCDR (retired) U.H. “Jack” Rowley, the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Naval Architect and Ocean Engineer with Maritime Tactical Systems (MARTAC).

MARTAC is a maritime autonomous systems company to which Rowley has come after several years serving as a surface warfare officer and then working through several naval acquisition programs, including the introduction of  the LCAC program into the fleet, then followed by working on maritime autonomous systems.

With his background as a surface warfare officer, he has approached maritime unmanned systems from the standpoint of how they could best support surface warfare missions.

With his experience within the LCAC program, he gained an acute understanding of how to disperse force from a “mother ship” in the littorals.

“It was a way to put the forces ashore rapidly, directly on land, because with a hovercraft, you don’t have to worry about the waterline.”

With his time working on the DARPA unmanned maritime ASW-focused program, he gained understanding of both underwater maritime autonomous vessels and maritime unmanned surface vessels, and how they might work together as well.

As he put his experience working at SAIC/LEIDOS on the ASW Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) or Sea Hunter program: “I worked the challenges of being able to put the ACTUV together, from the aspects of the hull, the propulsion system and the controls, and I had a full software team that was working the autonomy software end of it.”

That vessel is now operating with Surface Development Squadron One in San Diego.

A follow up second vessel, the SeaHawk, is under construction in Gulfport for delivery later this year.

He came to MARTAC in 2015 to work on their Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) involved in the Trident Warrior 2015 exercise.

The MARTAC boats are scalable and operate with common operating systems and at that exercise they brought their four, six and eight foot MANTAS craft to the demonstration.

In his time at MARTAC, they have evolved the baseline platform product offering to a 12 foot MANTAS now in production and a new 38ft prototype craft has already operated in Trident Warrior 2020 and is currently in the final buildout stage preparing for operation in IBP-21 San Diego scheduled for April.

This larger family of  24-foot, 38-foot and 50-foot unmanned surface vessels will be referred to as the DEVIL RAY.

Rowley’s background as a surface warfare officer but also working the L-class fleet provides domain knowledge to bridge the work of the surface fleet as they begin work using maritime unmanned autonomous systems.

For such systems can operate from the fleet, whether it be Military Sealift Command, L-class or large or small surface fleet manned vessels.

The real-world background piece which Rowley has in spades is important to me. For much of the literature about maritime unmanned systems and presentations and briefings seem more appropriate to a cult than to a warfighting community.

In my own view, the U.S. Navy will incorporate maritime unmanned systems as they see them executing tasks and solving problems, rather than providing niche capabilities which require excessive attention and pampering. They need to be robust, logistically sustainable, and require limited manpower dedicated to them within an integrated workforce.

And they need to operate within the limits of networks, rather than requiring levels of security and bandwidth beyond the capacity of today’s fleet.

They need to operate in ways where the manpower is tailored to key tasks and they deliver capability rather than drain crucial networking or data management capabilities within the fleet. They resolve combat tasks rather than ramping up demands on the force.

Otherwise, they are simply science projects.

Rowley highlighted a way ahead from his perspective.

“What is required to operate the USVs we are now working with would be for a couple of sailors whose whole purpose in life is to monitor the USVs. They would focus on monitoring the USVs, no different from how currently electronic warfare officers monitor their frequencies. Those USV monitors would then send the information to the Tactical Action Officer (TAO) or to the Combat Information Center (CIC) watch officer as the task performance indicates.”

In other words, Rowley highlighted that for the U.S. Navy to operate USVs as part of the fleet they need to fit into the workflow of the operational fleet rather than to disrupt it, or overwhelm it.

And he highlighted that as a former EW operator, the workflow of an EW watch stander in effect could be followed.

“What I envision is the operators as supervisory controllers of the operational USVs.  Let’s look at a sample ISR mission. The USVs operate their ISR mission per their preprogramming and scan the shoreline as required.

“However, if during the mission, based on the real time data being returned from the USV camera or radar, the operator determines that a change in tasking is required, they would have the authority and the capability to  modify the program of the mission of that USV or the group of USVs in response to a new situation/threat or simply a need for the USV to gather a different set of ISR information.”

We discussed the key importance of getting USVs into the workflow in order to shape a way ahead for maritime remotes to operate within a combat force.

Maritime unmanned systems are simply that until they fit into the warfare workflow and become part of the evolving concepts of operations of the fleet.

In Rowley’s view, the U.S. Navy has the opportunity now to do so.

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

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

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

And these USVs can be fitted to do a variety of mission tasks going forward.

The featured photo is of a T-12 Mantas platform shipboard launch.

Jack Rowley

Mr. Rowley is an experienced and accomplished multi-disciplined engineering project and program management professional with over 35 years of project/program management of complex ocean, electrical, and mechanical engineering systems design.   As a retired U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Officer and Engineering Duty Officer, his experience base includes both Government and commercial sectors.

Mr. Rowley has a wide array of engineering and project management accomplishments in the areas of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering.  Prior to his retirement from the U.S. Navy, he administered, and program managed the $1.2B Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) U.S. Navy Government shipbuilding contract.  In the past decade, while at SAIC/LEIDOS, he led the SAIC IR&D engineering design team to field a NOAA sanctioned SAIC Tsunami Buoy (STB) and successfully designed, constructed, tested and deployed 24 STB buoys in the international arena.

As the engineering technical director, naval architect and technical integrator for the DARPA ASW Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV), now known as Sea Hunter, he was instrumental in the integration of the engineering solution and concept design of the ACTUV, a 131ft surface craft unmanned, autonomously controlled, trimaran with the mission to acquire and track diesel submarines.

Mr. Rowley holds the degrees of BSEE from University of Oklahoma as well as MSME and Degree of Ocean Engineer/Naval Architect from MIT.   He had been a key engineering consultant to MARTAC prior to joining them as their Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in 2015.

For a paper which expands on the themes in this article, please see the following:

https://defense.info/featured-story/2021/02/the-u-s-navy-prepares-the-way-for-unmanned-surface-vessels/

Also, see the following:

https://defense.info/system-type/martac-maritime-autonomous-systems/

CH-53K First Fleet Flight: The View from New River

02/20/2021

CH-53K King Stallion takes first fleet flight – Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron One (VMX-1) at Marine Corps Air Station New River, NC, launch the CH-53K King Stallion on its first fleet flight January 15, 2021.

The aircraft now enters a new phase of testing where it will be used to train Marines as they prepare for Operational Test and Evaluation later this year.

Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division

February 17, 2021.

In December 2020, during a visit to New River, we had a chance to talk with Lt. Col. Frank about the way ahead for the K in 2021.

This interview was published earlier this year on Second Line of Defense.

By Robbin Laird

During my visit to 2nd Marine Air Wing during the first week of December 2020, I had a chance to visit New River Marine Corps Air Station and meet with Lt. Col. Frank, VMX-1, to get an update on the coming of the CH-53K. Lt. Col. Frank showed me the simulator as well giving me a chance to experience the flying qualities and, notably, the ability to hover via using the automated systems to operate in difficult visual and operating conditions.

He joined the USMC in 2002 and has flown a wide variety of rotorcraft during his career and served as a pilot for the U.S. President under President Obama. He came to VMX-1 in 2018. He has stayed in large part to follow through the CH-53K to fruition, that is into operations.

As he put it: “It is crucial to have a CH-53 fleet that works effectively as it is a unique capability in the USMC crucial for our way ahead operationally. It is the only aircraft we have that can move an expeditionary brigade off of our amphibious ships.”

“We have about a hundred Marines here at the test detachment. We’ve been training our maintainers and our air crew on the 53K for two years now. The maintainers have been working on it since 2018, when we started the logistics demonstration, which is essentially the validation of maintenance procedures on the 53K. I have 10 pilots in the det including myself and I’m responsible for ensuring that everyone goes through the proper training syllabus.”

“All 10 of our pilots in addition to our crew chiefs and our maintainers will be the first unit to be allowed to operate a “safe aircraft for flight,” which is a term we use for the maintainers.

“Our job is to conduct initial operational test and evaluation training for six months, beginning this month and ending in May or June of 2021, where we will establish five aircraft commanders, myself being one of them, five co-pilots, that’ll be our 10 pilots.

“We’ll qualify 10 crew chiefs, and our maintainers will continue to advance in their maintenance quals. In June of 2021 is when we enter into IOC evaluations.”

“We’re going to evaluate the reliability and maintainability of the aircraft. We’re going to collect all our maintenance data, determine how long it takes to fix, how long it’s down before it’s fixed and how many flight hours it accomplishes per maintenance man hour to evaluate it.

“We will evaluate Its shipboard compatibility in June and July 2021. We are to evaluate its desert mountainous capabilities in Twentynine Palms, beginning of August and September 2021. And we also have a sorties generation rate demonstration where we will execute a surge capability of sorties from a ship in November 2021; we’ll do that for a period of about 72 hours straight, where we will fly every aircraft every day and see what they deliver.”

We discussed the importance of the fly by wire system in the aircraft, which he considers “very mature.” He did note that the USMC subjects its aircraft to some of the harshest environments in the DoD, “salt spray, open ocean, desert heat and freezing cold.”  Robustness is a crucial aspect of determining reliability. “We do not operate runway to runway. We do not store them inside; we use them in challenging conditions.”

He referred to his team as “the learning curve for the CH-53K,” similar to what happened with the Osprey or the F-35B.

He underscored that the aircraft is well along the path to IOC.

“We’ve had a lot of time with the aircraft. Our Marines have been working on it for two years now. During logistics demonstration, we took the publications, which were in their infancy, and we went through every work package.

“The bulk of the Marine Corps’ CH-53K personnel, equipment, aircraft, and support will be located at VMX-1 when the Marine Corps declares the CH-53K program is IOC.”

Lt. Col. Frank described the innovation cycle as follows: “When problems come up with the aircraft, we bring up to the program office, the program office sends it out to engineering and industry. They implement changes. They implement engineering fixes, and they incorporate them.”

While at New River, we visited the first of the CH-53Ks delivered to VMX-1, which I had seen earlier in the log demo program but now was on the tarmac.

LtCol. Frank indicated that VMX-1 is to receive six aircraft overall.

“We are to receive our next aircraft on January, February, June and September of 2021, and the last one on January of 2022. By January 22, when the sixth aircraft is delivered, we should be done with IOT and E and we should carve out a detachment size group of maintainers, pilots, and aircraft from VMX-1 to form the initial cadre of HMH-461.”

How does he compare the Es to the Ks?

“I’ve started in the Ch-53D in 2004, they’re my first love. I’ll always love them.

“They were much harder to fly. And the ease of flying this, the flight control system is probably the biggest game changer for the 53 community.

“We’re not used to anything like this. It’s very intuitive. It can be as hands off as you know, a brand-new Tesla, you can close your eyes, set the autopilot and fly across country.

“Obviously, you wouldn’t do that in a tactical environment, but it does reduce your workload, reduces your stress.

“And in precision hover areas, whether it’s night under low light conditions, under NVGs, in the confines of a tight landing zone, we have the ability to hit position hold in the 53 K and have the aircraft maintain pretty much within one foot of its intended hover point, one foot forward, lateral and AFT, and then one foot of vertical elevation change.

“It will maintain that hover until the end of the time if required. that’s very, very stress relieving for us when landing in degraded visual environments. Our goal at VMX-1 is to create tactics that employ that system effectively.

“Some communities struggle with how they use the automation, do they let the automation do everything? Do they let the pilots do everything? How to work the balance?

“We’re working on a hybrid where the pilots can most effectively leverage automation.

“If you know you’re coming into a brownout situation or degraded visual environment, you engage the automation at a point right before the dust envelops you. And then in the 53-K, you can continue flying with the automation engaged.

“You continue flying with the automation engaged, and you can override it, but as soon as you stop moving the controls, it will take your inputs, estimate what you wanted and keep the aircraft in its position.

“It’s a very intuitive flight control system, and it blends very well with the pilot and the computers. It allows you to override the computer.

“And then the second that you stop overriding it, the computer takes back over without any further pilot input.

“That’s probably the biggest game changer for our community.”

Also, see the following:

Flying the CH-53K: Visiting Marine Corps Air Station New River

 

 

 

The FCAS “Bras de Fer”: A February 2021 Update

02/19/2021

By Pierre Tran

Paris – Dassault Aviation has insisted on protecting intellectual property rights over its fighter jet technology, while Airbus Defence and Space has sought full access to that privileged information, conflicting demands which have weighed on a Franco-German led project for a future combat air system.

French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel called Feb. 5 for a resolution to differences on the FCAS project, pointing up the political significance of the industrial differences.

This was an important milestone, negotiating contracts for phases 1B and 2 of the FCAS project, and it was a “difficult moment to finalize negotiations,” Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury said Feb. 18 in a video press conference on 2020 financial results.

European sovereignty was at stake, he said, adding that it was “important to get the right structure at the beginning.”

The FCAS is under French leadership, and German partners seek a “satisfactory level” of participation, while holding talks on the sharing of “intellectual property rights, tasks and leadership,” Merkel said at a bilateral defense and security council held by video. Agreement was likely to be reached in the coming weeks, in time for scrutiny by the parliamentary Bundestag budget committee, she added.

Similar differences had to be resolved on the main ground combat system, she said.

The MGCS project consists of a new tank linked up with manned and unmanned vehicles. German industry leads that land project.

Macron said he was confident a deal on FCAS would be reached in 15 days.

It remains to be seen what kind of agreement will be reached, with some French concern political pressure might be brought to bear on French industry to cave in to German demands for access and work share.

What is at stake is a two-phase 1B contract to build a technology demonstrator for a next generation fighter, a key element in the FCAS project. That contract is worth an estimated initial €2 billion ($2.4 billion), rising to a total €4 billion by 2026 when the fighter is due to fly.

In the longer term, there are technology and work on a program estimated to be worth €100 billion over some 20 years, pitched as a political pledge for European sovereignty.

French armed forces minister Florence Parly was holding Feb. 18 a phone meeting with her German counterpart, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

Dassault and Airbus DS share the FCAS project 50:50 as joint prime contractors, with the French company taking the lead on the fighter, which will replace the Rafale and Eurofighter. Airbus DS is based in Germany, so this is essentially a Franco-German dispute.

The heads of Dassault, Airbus DS, Safran, MTU, and Joël Barre, head of the Direction Générale de l’Armement procurement office, and his German and Spanish counterparts met Feb. 17 in a bid to resolve the dispute, business daily Les Echos reported. That meeting was in the suburbs of the French capital.

Dassault was claiming 34 percent of work share after initially seeking 46 percent, with 20 percent for German, and 23 percent for Spanish partners, the report said. Spain is also an FCAS partner, and as Airbus is the major company there, that boosts the share of the work for the aircraft company.

Dassault seeks that Airbus DS accept that its technology is sealed in “black boxes,” rather than agreeing to full access for the German company.

“This is normal,” said François Lureau, a consultant with EuroFLconsult, and a former procurement chief. In negotiations, a partner will want a little bit more, and the program will be worth billions.

Macron has put on pressure and it will be up to the DGA to broker a deal, he said. That resistance to granting full access is standard practice, as can be seen in the F-35 program where the core technology is “American eyes only.”

The sensitivity over technology transfer could be seen in the denial of UK access to the source code on the F-35, despite that nation’s status as the sole tier one industrial partner. The United Arab Emirates had sought access to source code on the F-16 block 60, when the Gulf state ordered its advanced Desert Falcon version, to no avail.

Deadlines concentrate the mind wonderfully, with budgetary approval by the German parliamentary committee due to meet in April or May, and general election in September.

“When time is tight, a solution has to be found,” Lureau said. “Urgency poses the question: do you want it or not?”

Strong German Industrial Lobby

In France, there is a perception that a powerful German industry lobby has won support from the Bundestag parliament and the chancellor, while it was uncertain the French government would back domestic industry.

“My concern is that there is search for a political solution, and the (French) defense industry will get its arm twisted,” Christian Cambon, chairman of the defense committee of the French senate, told Feb. 16 the defense journalists association in a video briefing. The scale of the FCAS program was some €100 billion, he said.

The stakes are high both in value and in a company’s future know-how.

“Defense programmes like this are all about the development and acquisition of technology – and that is exactly what the Germans are holding out for,” said Sash Tusa, analyst at equity research firm Agency Partners.

“It is clearly important to address these issues as early as possible, but doing so has poisoned the Franco-German relationship at both industrial and political levels, and that is not good for SCAF (Système de Combat Aérien du Futur) as a program.”

To further strain the relations, the French plan to fly a Rafale [fighter jet] as the platform for the technology demonstrator has annoyed the German side, which has countered with a plan for a demonstrator based upon the Eurofighter, he said.

The contract for the demonstrator will set terms for who does what, and also “who knows what,” namely gaining access to the overall technology beyond the work assigned.

There is also the question how to divide the work, which is expected to be based on industrial expertise, rather than ambition to acquire new technology. That reflects the lessons learnt on building the A400M transport plane, which suffered a deadly crash and cost overrun.

In contract negotiations, there will be one subsystem plugging into another, much as there are overlaps in a Venn diagram. The subcontractors will need a certain amount of information, and the amount of information may be part of the contract talks. Airbus is reported to seek the maximum, while Dassault offers the minimum.

The companies must agree the work share on the seven FCAS sectors, or pillars, namely: the new fighter, remote carrier – or drone, combat cloud, engine, sensors, low observability, and simulation.

The Bundestag effectively sets the timetable, as the parliament must vote the budgetary approval for the FCAS contracts.

Editor’s Comment: One might ask the German chancellor to explain how a bargain over a ground platform is in any way similar to working a “system of systems.” FCAS is not an airplane. But this characterization might itself reveal deeper challenges to be met and resolved.

See also, the following: 

https://defense.info/featured-story/2021/02/japanese-uk-cooperation-shaping-new-combat-air-systems/