The Royal Australian Navy Re-Launches its Combat Training Exercises

06/24/2020

By Lieutenant Ryan Zerbe

Seven warships sailed in the past week from Navy bases on both sides of the country to undertake a range of training activities to test newly upgraded systems and exercise as part of a maritime task group.

HMA Ships Canberra, Hobart and Stuart departed Fleet Base East in Sydney, while HMA Ships Anzac, Arunta, Ballaratand Sirius sailed from Fleet Base West in Western Australia.

Anzac will undertake sea qualification trials following her recent mid-life upgrade and Ballarat will sail to the east coast for unit readiness training, while the remaining ships will sail in company for a period of force Integrated training, essential for maritime task group operations.

This training period will take place off Australia’s east coast and in northern waters.

Commander Surface Force Commodore Stephen Hughes said the ships were heading to sea for training that would enable them to test their systems, conduct mariner and warfare training in areas such as ship handling, damage control, emergency drills and task group warfare.

“This year has tested us in ways we would not have expected 12 months ago, but by putting multiple ships and more than 1300 Navy people to sea from both sides of the country we are demonstrating we’re seaworthy, adaptive and operationally ready,” Commodore Hughes said.

“Some of these ships will deploy as a task group for Exercise Rimpac 2020 off Hawaii, incorporating high-end tactical exercises and working with partner nations.

“Anzac’s sailing is an important milestone as the newly upgraded frigate completes her successful integration of new systems and capabilities as part of a scheduled trials period.”

Acting Commanding Officer of Ballarat, Lieutenant Commander Michael Forsythe, said the ship’s company was looking forward to returning to sea for high-end training and work-ups.

“We’ve spent the year so far in the west conducting mariner skills evaluations and sea qualification trials, so to sail out for some even more complex training to test us is welcome,” Lieutenant Commander Forsythe said.

“Getting back to sea for longer periods, putting Ballarat through her paces and continuously refining our training is the best way for us to stay ready to fight and win at sea.”

This article was published by the Australian Department of Defence on June 18, 2020 and was entitled, “Seven ships sail as fleet resumes training.”

 

Indo Pacific Bomber Deployment

Approximately 200 Airmen and four 9th Bomb Squadron B-1B Lancers from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, arrived at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, on short notice to conduct missions in the Indo-Pacific theater to support Pacific Air Forces’ training efforts with allies, partners and joint forces; and strategic deterrence missions to reinforce the rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific region.

05.07.2020

Video by Tech. Sgt. David Scott-Gaughan

Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs

The Royal Air Force and Qatar Emiri Air Force Typhoon Squadron

06/21/2020

On June 19, 2020, the UK Ministry of Defence highlighted the next step in their cooperation with Qatar.

The Royal Air Force and Qatar Emiri Air Force (QEAF) Typhoon Squadron, known as No.12 Squadron, have marked an important milestone as they commenced flying as a Joint Squadron

Based at RAF Coningsby, No.12 Squadron is a unique initiative between the UK and Qatar and will provide the QEAF with valuable experience operating the Typhoon as they prepare to receive their first aircraft. With deliveries commencing in 2022, the aircraft are part of a £5.1 billion deal between BAE Systems and the Government of Qatar.

The flags of both nations were raised at RAF Coningsby this week as Typhoons with new Squadron markings flew for the first time, signalling the Squadron’s readiness to train pilots and ground crew from both air forces.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said:

“No.12 Squadron is a testament to our enduring friendship and commitment to Qatar, the only nation with which the UK has a Joint Squadron. Together we are protecting populations and securing our mutual interests across the Middle East.”

His Excellency Dr Khalid bin Mohammad al Attiyah, Minister of State for Defence Affairs said:

“The first flight of No. 12 Squadron marks an important milestone in the commitment of the Qatari Emiri Air Force and the Royal Air Force to deliver on excellence.”

The raising of the flags of The State of Qatar and the United Kingdom side by side in commemoration of the first joint flight represents the alignment of vision and strategy in building for a stable and prosperous future for both nations and the world.

The UK has a long history of working with international partners in our Armed Forces, with such defence engagement recognised as key to strengthening partnerships and promoting our national interest. However, No. 12 Squadron is the first Joint Squadron in the RAF since the Second World War and Battle of Britain.

The Joint Squadron was stood up on 24 July 2018 and will drive closer collaboration between the RAF and QEAF, putting our bilateral security and defence relationship on a long-term and sustainable footing.

An article by Kirstie Chambers published on June 19, 2020 added:

Wing Commander Chris Wright, Officer Commanding 12 Squadron, told Forces News: “The joint squadron specifically will now grow its Qatari elements, to the point that we will train upwards of 16 pilots over the next few years ahead of the delivery of their own planes.

“So, 12 Squadron will continue to grow from where it is today, it will increase the complexity of the training that we do and will also involve some deployments out to the Middle East in support of their sovereign exercises.”

He also said the training is “truly is an exchange of ideas”.

“It would be naive of us at best to pretend that we don’t have anything to learn,” Wng Cmdr Wright added. 

12 Squadron was stood up in July 2018 and will now prepare for exercises at the end of the year.

Featured Photo: RAF and Qatari Air Force pilots. Crown copyright.

 

HMAS Toowoomba Returns from the Middle East

06/20/2020

HMAS Toowoomba provided support to International Maritime Security Construct (IMSC) and Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) coalition partners in the Middle East Region as part of the Ship’s six-month deployment on Operation MANITOU. Toowoomba’s Ship’s Company supported both the IMSC and the CMF as part of the Australian Defence Force’s contribution to support international efforts to promote security, stability and prosperity in the region.

This was the 68th rotation of a Royal Australian Navy unit in the Middle East Region since 1990 and is Toowoomba’s sixth deployment to the region and second as part of Operation MANITOU.

Credit: Australian Department of Defence

June 18, 2020

Standing C2 on Its Head: It is a Force Generator, Not Simply a Force Enabler

06/17/2020

By Robbin Laird

As we work through force structure change to deal with the new strategic environment, terms like C2, ISR and training are being changed significantly.

New concepts of operations are being shaped, with modifications of existing platforms to play new roles and responsibilities, and new platforms being designed to enable an integratable force.

With the crafting of an integrated distributed force able to operate through interactive kill webs, the ability and capability to shape task forces appropriate to crisis management challenge is enabled.

To do so effectively, rests upon how specific platforms can work together, which, in turn, depends in significant part on what wave forms they have onboard which enables them to work together in a crisis management environment.

In my discussion with the Navy Air Boss earlier this year, we focused on a better way to describe how the US Navy is reworking its fleet concepts. They are no longer simply doing training for a set piece carrier air wing, they are evolving it with regard to an integratable air wing.

In that discussion, we highlighted the rethink from operating and training an integrated air wing to an integratable air wing.

Vice Admiral Miller provided several examples of how this shift affects the thinking about new platforms coming onboard the carrier deck.

One such example is the new unmanned tanker, the MQ-25. The introduction of this new air asset will have an immediate effect in freeing up 4th gen fighters, currently being used for tanking, to return to their strike role.

Even more importantly from a transformation perspective, the MQ-25 will have operational effects as a platform which will extend the reach and range of the CVW.

But MQ-25 will be a stakeholder in the evolving C2/ISR capabilities empowering the entire combat force, part of what, in my view, is really 6th generation capabilities, namely enhancing the power to distribute and integrate a force as well as to operate more effectively at the tactical edge.

The MQ-25 will entail changes to the legacy air fleet, changes in the con-ops of the entire CVW, and trigger further changes with regard to how the C2/ISR dynamic shapes the evolution of the CVW and the joint force.

The systems to be put onto the MQ-25 will be driven by overall changes in the C2/ISR force.

These changes are driving significant improvements in size, capability, and integration, so much so that it is the nascent 6th gen.

This means that the USN can buy into “6th gen” by making sure that the MQ-25 can leverage the sensor fusion and CNI systems on the F-35 operating as an integrated force with significant outreach.

It is important to realize that a four-ship formation of an F-35 operating as an integrated man-machine based sensor fusion aircraft is can operate together as a four-ship pack fully integrated through the CNI system, and as such can provide a significant driver of change to the overall combat force.

This affects not only the future of training, but how operations, training, and development affect individual platforms once integrated into the CVW and larger joint force.

This is having a significant impact on Naval Air Warfare Development Center (NAWDC) based at Fallon.

I have conducted a wide range of interviews with NAWDC officers, and the change driven by the integratable air wing focus is dramatic.

Not only is the training of platforms being altered, but NAWDC has set up two weapons schools, one MISR or Maritime ISR, and the other focused on dynamic targeting, both of which are in turn based on the ability of the force to be integratable, which is rooted in available wave forms.

When I refer to standing C2 on its head, what I mean is simply, that C2 and wave form availability is becoming a foundational element for force generation in contested combat environments, rather than simply being ways to connect platforms operating in sequential operations.

A clear case in point is the changing nature of what an amphibious task force can deliver as integratability is shaped going forward with a USMC force which can operate common wave forms with the US Navy and the US Air Force.

For example, with common wave forms, the Viper attack helicopter can marry upon with the Seahawk Romeo to provide an entirely new flank defense and attack capability for the amphibious task force.

What is required are common wave forms, and common training to shape such a capability.

The key point is that without the common wave forms an entire force structure capability is currently absent which is crucial for sea control and sea denial activities which COULD be generated by the amphibious task force.

In a recent discussion with Marines at Aviation Headquarters at the Pentagon, the potential along these lines was highlighted.

By working integration of the MH-60 Romeo helicopter with Viper, the fleet would gain a significant defense at sea capability. 

Integration of the two helicopters within the amphibious task force would allow them to provide an integrated capability to screen and defend the flanks of the afloat force.

The MH-60 crews are optimized to integrate into the Navy’s command and control architecture, and with onboard sensors can help detect potential targets and direct Vipers to engage threats.

The integration of Link-16 will make this effort even more seemless.

My interviews with NAWDC have underscored how the Navy is working through the question of how the integratable air wing will change when the MQ-25 joins the fleet, and working ways for the Romeo to work with MQ-25 and Advanced Hawkeye will inform Romeo as part of its fleet defense function.

“The Romeo community is already looking at how having sensors onboard the MQ-25 can expand the reach and range of what the Romeo’s onboard sensors can accomplish for the maritime distributed force.

“It is also the case that as sensor demands currently made on the Romeo can be shifted elsewhere.

“The Romeo can refocus its task priorities and enhance its contributions to broader mission sets such as ASW and to focus on contributing capabilities that other platforms within the strike group are not prioritized to perform.”

Clearly, integrating Romeos which fly onboard the amphibious class ships with the Viper would provide a significant enhancement of the flank defense capabilities for the amphibious task force.

And working a Romeo/Viper package would affect as well the evolution of the Romeos that would fly off of the L class ships as well.

And all of this, frees up other surface elements to support other missions at sea, rather than having to focus on defending the amphibs as greyhound buses. 

Another example of what the new generation of C2 can do is clearly the CNI system within the F-35, which enables the Marines to not just integrate their F-35s and to work a different approach to knowledge management to inform the maneuver force, but allows Marine Corps F-35s to be integratable with joint and coalition F-35s as well.

The integration of the F-35 into the Marine Corps and its ability to work with joint and coalition F-35s provides significant reach to F-35 empowered mobile bases afloat or ashore

In a recent interview which I conducted with Major Brian “Flubes” Hansell, MAWTS-1 F-35 Division Head, we discussed at length what the coming of the F-35 and its integratability capabilities meant for the evolution of the USMC and its role with joint and coalition partners.

The coming of the F-35 to the USMC has expanded their ability to operate within a broader kill web and to both empower their expeditionary bases as well as to contribute to the broader kill web approach.

The Marine’s F-35s are part of the broader joint and coalition force of F-35s, and notably in the Pacific this extends the reach significantly of the Marine’s F-35s and brings greater situational awareness as well as reach to other strike platforms to the force operating from an expeditionary base as well as enhancing the kill web reach for the joint or coalition force.

As Major Hansell put it: “By being an expeditionary, forward-based service, we’re effectively extending the bounds of the kill web for the entire joint and coalition force.”

The F-35 is not just another combat asset, but at the heart of empowering an expeditionary kill web-enabled and enabling force. On the one hand, the F-35 leads the wolfpack. As Major Hansell put it: “During every course, we are lucky to have one of the lead software design engineers for the F-35 come out as a guest lecturer to teach our students the intricacies of data fusion.

“During one of these lectures, a student asked the engineer to compare the design methodology of the F-35 Lightning II to that of the F-22 Raptor.

“I like this anecdote because it is really insightful into how the F-35 fights.

“To paraphrase, this engineer explained that “the F-22 was designed to be the most lethal single-ship air dominance fighter ever designed.  Period.

“The F-35, however, was able to leverage that experience to create a multi-role fighter designed from its very inception to hunt as a pack.”

Simply put, the F-35 does not tactically operate as a single aircraft.

It hunts as a network-enabled, cooperative four-ship fighting a fused picture, and was designed to do so from the very beginning.

“We hunt as a pack.

Future upgrades may look to expand the size of the pack.”

The hunt concept and the configuration of the wolfpack is important not just in terms of understanding how the wolfpack can empower the ground insertion force with a mobile kill web capability but also in terms of configuration of aircraft on the sea base working both sea control and support to what then becomes a land base insertion force.

None of this would be possible without a revolutionary transformation of C2/ISR and data fusion integratability across the F-35 force.

Put bluntly, C2 systems are no longer commodities added platform by platform; they are the operating infrastructure within which platforms find their role within a scalable, tailorable combat force. 

Also, see the following:

C2, the Knowledge Base and the Kill Web

VMFA-115

U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18C Hornets with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115 perform aerial refueling with a KC-130J Super Hercules, attached to Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152, off the coast of Japan, April 28, 2020.

F/A-18C Hornets refuel in the air to increase their operational range and enhance the Marine Corps’ ability to effect sea control and denial in the Indo-Pacific.

MCAS IWAKUNI, JAPAN

04.28.2020

Video by Lance Cpl. Jackson Ricker

1st Marine Aircraft Wing